The Local Church | Lecture 10 : BC203-TLC-20260917

Okay. All right. Welcome to the next lecture. Um we will be in the next two hours going through the blue blueprint of the local church. We're looking at the different pictures. Right? So the Bible gives us the blueprint for the local church. What's a blueprint? The blueprint is the structure. The blueprint is the pattern for us to follow. Before any building is built, the architects always have a blueprint, right? And so the local church, the Bible gives us different pictures, different images for the local church to be. Okay? So today we're going to start with picture number four, the army of God. The army of God. Okay. Are we all okay? Yes. Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2:3-4. 2 Timothy 2:3-4. I'll just read it. You therefore must endure hardship. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. So you must endure hardship. So every believer, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus must endure hardship like a soldier. What does a soldier? What is the context? Hardship as a good soldier. What does a soldier do? Fight. Ultimately, he fights. Right? So the context is every believer will have battles. That's why at the end of his letter in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul writes, "I have fought the good fight." At the end of his life, he's saying that I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith faith. I have finished the race. Meaning when we put our faith in Jesus, every believer, all of us will have battles that we have to fight. And so the New Testament is full of military language. Fight the good fight of faith. Wage the good warfare as a good soldier. Right? And so the church, what does this mean for the local church? As a church, we must understand, we must equip the church to fight the good fight. The church is supposed to be believers that are like an army. The church is not supposed to be weak. There's the church should not be weak. The church should be strong like an army before any battle. An army trains. Trains they they understand strategies. They understand tactics of their enemy. They understand um uh weapons. They practice their weapons. No soldier enters the battlefield without practice, without any equipping, without any preparation. So in the same way the church should be a place where we train, where we equip every believer to be a good soldier so that we all can be like Apostle Paul at the end of our life saying I have fought the good fight. I'm not stayed in the sideline. I'm not weak but I have fought. How do they how do they know how to fight in the church? So if the church is not teaching, is not equipping, something is wrong. Because if the church ignores how to fight our battles in life, it's a weak church. Are we understanding? We all remain babies. Who enters the battlefield? Soldiers, not children. So if the church is only filled with children, nobody's going to fight. So we all need to make that journey to mature ourselves to become stronger in our faith. Okay. Now how do we now we need to understand what is this fight? What is this warfare? Let's go. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. against flesh and blood, but against power, against rules of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the >> heavenly places. Yeah. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual host of wickedness. So every believer who puts their faith in Jesus, this is the battle. Where is the battle? It's in the spiritual realm. We don't battle against flesh and blood. We don't battle against our boss, our neighbor, our city, our politicians. No, we battle against spiritual hosts. See, very interesting. Jesus said to Peter, "Satan has asked for you." When we put our faith in Jesus, we all have a enemy. There's an enemy. So when when God has called Peter to be the see c e p h a s simply means the rock supposed to be the rock. Jesus says to Peter Satan has asked for you that he may sift you. Sift you means shake you. Exact opposite of what God called him. What does the enemy come? John 10:10. Enemy comes to steal, kill, destroy. Please know that this is a very real battle. The church needs to know, every believer needs to know that this the enemy is real. He will come to steal, kill, destroy. But Jesus says, "I have come to give you life and life in abundance." So the local church should be a place where the believer knows how to fight the enemy. And then when Jesus says to Peter, Satan has asked for you to sift you like sand. I have, he says, I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you. So Jesus says Jesus is fighting for Peter in the spiritual realm. How does he fight? I have prayed for you. Imagine when you put your faith in Jesus, there's a target on your back. Please know that enemy is not happy. Kingdom of darkness is not happy. When a church is in a city, there are spiritual hosts in that city. And so there is a battle. There's a real battle. And we need to equip the church. We need to equip believers to fight. Are we understanding? Because if we are silent, what will happen? Nobody will know. We don't know how to fight. We don't know what to pray. We don't know how to fight. And so what happens when we don't know? People start giving up. Sickness, bondage, depression, anxiety, thoughts, so many problems. But the church has forgotten to teach. You can overcome. You can fight. You can actually get to the end. You can actually receive your blessing. You can actually inherit the promises of God. But when the church doesn't teach how to fight, people give up. Are we understanding? Right? See, it's like this. Of the 12 disciples, everyone received a promise. Correct? Everyone received. In fact, Jesus says in uh one of the parables, you will be sitting in thrones with me, 12 thrones. And one of the thrones was for Judas. But we all know what happened. He gave up. He took his own life. He didn't fight. He didn't go to Jesus for restoration. So in the same way the church needs to be a place where people are equipped. So as pastors and ministry leaders this is a very very important picture for the church to build an army where every believer learns how to fight the good fight of faith. Are we understanding? We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Meaning you know even for even you know we all uh we all complain about the government right government but Paul writes pray we don't fight we don't need to go and fight for them pray Romans chapter 13 it says government officials are chosen by God appointed by God this is Romans chapter 13 1-6 and so we need to pray for them you know if you want to see change in your city, in your town, don't go and argue with politicians. First, pray for them. Are we understanding? They are appointed by God. So pray. When the church comes together to pray, there is some change that will happen. Are we understanding? Yeah. So, this is very important. Now, one of the things uh that's a hindrance or we we we we spoke about Ephesians chapter 6:12 where rulers of the darkness of this age. You know what these rulers of the darkness of this age will do? They will blind people. Do you know one of the biggest hindrances to the gospel is people's eyes being blinded. So let's read 2 Corinthians chapter 4 3-4. 2 Corinthians 4 3-4. I'll read this. But even if our gospel is wailed, it is wailed to those who are perishing whose minds the God of this age has blinded. So how are people perishing? Because the god of this age, who is the god of this age? Satan. has blinded their eyes who do not believe less the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them. See this is what the enemy does when when the when Ephesians 6:12 it says rulers of the darkness of this age this is what it is doing to the whole world blinding people to see Jesus. So what should the church do? Pray that the light of the gospel will penetrate and open their eyes. See we all pray no Lord let many believers come to Christ. What should we also pray? That their eyes will be opened. That their eyes will be opened. that the God of this age who has blinded their eyes through your gospel will open their eyes and see you. This is one of the biggest hindrances why people don't come to Christ because they are blinded. So what should the church pray? Lord, open the eyes of the people of this city, of this town, of this village because every town, every village has spiritual hosts and they are blinding. So we need to pray against these against these things. That's the role of the church. So as a church, as a ministry, as as pastors, as leaders, you have to you have to make people pray in your apartment, in your village, in your town. Lord, open the eyes of the people of this city, people of this town, people of this village. Amen. And what we need to know is the weapons that we have. Every soldier has weapons, right? Ephesians chapter 6, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, right? And all these things, shield of faith, sword of the word of God, right? We have weapons. These weapons are powerful. Okay, let's read 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3-5. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Think about this. We walk in the flesh, but we don't war in the flesh. That's what Paul writes. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Right? So we do not war according to the according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are not fleshly but they are mighty in God. Meaning we have spiritual weapons and they are mighty. See a lot of times we use our own weapons, our own energy, our own thoughts, our own mind thinking they are powerful. Lord, I'll use my own gift. I'll use my own everything our own. But God is saying, don't walk in the flesh. Don't use carnal weapons. Use weapons that are mighty in God. Helmet of salvation. What is the helmet of salvation? It protects our mind knowing that we are saved. My mind belongs to Christ. Helmet of salvation. Breastplate of righteousness. Knowing that I am covered clothed in righteousness. I have a right standing with God. No lie of the enemy can tell me I am not clothed with righteousness. That's what breastplate of righteousness mean. Right? Shield of faith. With my faith I can I can conquer any weapon any arrow from the enemy. So use those weapons and so many other weapons. We have the name of Jesus. Name of Jesus that above every other name that at the name of Jesus every tongue will confess, every knee shall bow. Amen. So we have the name of Jesus. We have the word of God which is a sword of the spirit. Meaning in the spiritual realm, if you want to use your sword, what do we use? The word. If you want to cut the enemy, what do you use? the word you can cut the enemy literally right so the word of God it's sharper than any double-edged sword are we understanding then the blood of Jesus that is our weapon the blood of Jesus we are covered we are clothed so in in in the book of Exodus what did God tell the people of Israel when the angel of darkness comes you put your doorpost apply Apply the blood. Apply the blood on the dopose. No sickness, no oppression, nothing can enter the house because the house is covered with the blood. Same way as New Testament believers when we put our faith in Jesus, we are covered in his blood. That is why we partake in the communion almost every Sunday or whenever we come into fellowship. Why? Why do we partake in the communion? To remember that the wafer is the body, the juice is the blood. We keep reminding ourselves that I am covered. We are covered. So the church needs to teach all this. The name of Jesus, the word of God, blood of Jesus. Um then prayer and intercession that's another weapon. So what did Jesus say to Peter? I have prayed for you. Satan has asked for you but I have prayed for you. So when we see people who are struggling, who are oppressed, what can we do? Pray. Pray for them. It's a it's a very very powerful weapon. Prayer and intercession. Then praise and worship. What happens when we praise? What happens when we worship? The Bible says, the psalist says God is enthroned in the praises of his people. When we praise God, when we worship God, God's presence is there. That's why every church service should have praise and worship because God is enthroned in that place. People experience his presence. And when you experience his presence, you you experience freedom. You experience liberty. Are we understanding? Praise and worship. Then there are so many weapons. Another just another weapon. Ephesians chapter 2, it says we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we are above everything. The enemy is below us. Every situation, every circumstance is below us. Why? Because we are seated in the heavenly places. So the way we look at problems, the way we look at circumstances, the way we look at situations should be very different. I'll give you an example. When you are in the bottom of a mountain and and you look at a mountain, very big. But when you stand on top of the mountain, it changes. That's what it means to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Your perspective, your view is different. But the church needs to know this. So as pastors, as leaders, we need to encourage, we need to teach about this that the church is the army. Teach them about these weapons. Build them up in their faith so that every believer in church is able to fight. Are we understanding? So what is picture number four? The army of God. The church needs to be the army where we fight, where we use these weapons. They are mighty in God. Amen. Then Jesus says to the church, "And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." See, the church carries the kingdom, the authority, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail. Gates of Hades simply means the enemy. the gates of hell shall not prevail. That is what the church is supposed to do. Right? So um the church needs to be equipped and taught to be an army otherwise it'll remain weak. We need to teach people how to fight. We need to teach people how to use the name of Jesus, how to pray so that we build a strong church. Amen. Okay, next picture. Picture number five. So, picture number four was all about the army of Christ. Picture number five. Very interesting picture. I'm not sure if all of you would have heard about this or maybe for the first time you're seeing this, but the church is supposed to be the bride of Christ. Very interesting. The church is supposed to be the bride of Christ. Okay. So, Revelations chapter 19 verse 7. Revelation 19:7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come. Who is the lamb? Jesus. The marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. Revelations chapter 19 verse 7. This is written in your Bible. So let us be glad. So he's telling all the believers, let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come. Which means there is coming a time where Jesus will receive the church and it'll be like a marriage. Marriage of the land has come, lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. So what should the church do? So first of all, what is the church? The bride because this verse is saying and his wife. What is wife? Wife means bride. Bride has made herself ready. The church is the bride of Christ. And we need to make ourself ready because there is coming a time in the second coming of Christ where he will receive the church and this will be like a marriage. So we know this Ephesians 5:2-32. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25-32 it says so Paul is writing husbands love your wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So Paul is saying just like an earthly marriage how husbands love the wife Christ loves the church. Christ is the husband. Church is the wife. bride. Christ is the bridegroom. Church is the bride. John the Baptist also says this, "I might decrease, he might increase so that he may become the bridegroom." Right? So all throughout scripture, the church is described or all throughout the New Testament, the church is described as the bride of Christ. Are we understanding? What does God say about his bride? What what are some things God says about his bride? Jeremiah 31:3. Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. As the bride, we receive the love of God. As husbands love their wife, we receive the love of God. As the bride of Christ, we receive his loving kindness. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Meaning this love does not run on empty. It is always abounding. That's what everlasting love means. God loves his church with an everlasting love. Then Isaiah 62:4 and 5, for the Lord des delights in you. And then verse 5, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. As the husband rejoices over his wife, God rejoices over the church, over his people. Are we understand this? So important. The church, the local church should be a place where we are like the bride of Christ. We receive the love of God. Where every believer experiences the love of God. Are we understanding? So when we are part of church, the church should be a place where we become the bride of Christ, where we receive the love of God. We receive the everlasting love of God. So what should the bride do? So we we we understand what how God looks at the bride. What should the bride do? What should the church do? First we love God wholeheartedly. We love God wholeheartedly. What is the greatest commandment? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, body, strength, everything. We give our whole self to God. That's what love means. We give our whole We give our entire being. Every part. Lord, you take every part. My mind, my soul, my heart, my body. I give my whole self to you. That's what true love looks like. Where we don't withhold anything. We love him with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole body. You see when um in Luke chapter 7, Luke chapter 7, when uh Jesus is in Simon the Pharisees house, so Simon the Pharisee welcomes Jesus and he gives him a meal and all that. He's a great host. Then there is a sinful woman who comes behind Jesus and anoints his hair and feet with oil. Every and and then Simon the Pharisee says, "Do you not know who this woman is? She's a sinner." But Jesus says, "This woman has done rightly." Meaning she is pouring out her heart. You are a good host. Yes, you're taking care of me. But this woman has done something greater. She has anointed me. That's what a bride does. She brought an expensive jar of oil. Expensive. Costly. That's what love does. It's costly. It requires sacrifice. Church should be a place like that where we don't become just like Simon the Pharisee. We oh take care, we do all these good. No, we go above and beyond. Are we understanding? Where it's sometimes it's costly. Sometimes it it it's it's like a sacrifice we bring. And then Jesus says about this woman, wherever this gospel is preached, this woman's account will be remembered because she has anointed me. Okay. Question. Jesus died on the cross, right? He was the lamb that was to be slain. Now in the Old Testament whenever a sacrifice was presented to be sacrificed it had to be anointed by the priests. Do you know how Jesus was anointed before he went to the cross? Who anointed him? This woman. She actually did the work of a priest. None of his disciples did. Not Mary, not Lazarus, not Martha, none of his friends, not his mother. Who anointed the sinful woman? Because Jesus says, "She has anointed me." Are we understanding? So this is what love, this is what it means to love God. to to really love God, it might it it'll require a sacrifice. It'll require sometimes it it is costly. Amen. So number one, what should the bride do? We must love. So the church needs to be a place where we wholeheartedly love God. Our devotion, he becomes our everything. The church should be that place. Very sadly sometimes the church is very distracted and um we know that Jesus was so angry when his own house was used as a marketplace. He turned the tables because they got distracted. What is a church supposed to be? Church should be a place where everyone loves where everyone's where everyone pours out their love towards God. And so this is one of the pictures where we as a bride love God wholeheartedly. Amen. Second, the bride is a recipient of unconditional love. 2 Corinthians 11:2. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I have betroought you to one husband that I may present you as a chasteed virgin to Christ. See everything that Paul did in his ministry, what he's doing in his ministry when he's going to all these places, he is presenting them to Jesus as I have betroought you to one husband that I may present you as a chasteed virgin to Christ. I might present you as a pure person to Christ. What is our role in ministry? We have to present people to Christ. Bring them to Christ. Bring them pure, wholehearted to Christ. Are we understanding? That's one of the work of the minister. Not to draw them to yourself. Draw them to Jesus like John the Baptist. Present them pure wholeheartedly. And number three, very important. So first, what should the bride do? Love. Second, receive his love. Third, the bride makes herself ready. We read this in Revelation chapter 19. His wife has made herself ready, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation chapter 19 verse 7 and 8. And to her it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So as the bride of Christ, we have to make ourself ready. How many of you have gone to weddings? You have attended a wedding, right? The bride is always so usually traditional traditional weddings. The bride wears a white gown. Sometimes it's a white sari, right? They and the bride usually takes the whole day to prepare for that big day. She will do all sorts of she will do all sorts of things. go to the makeup, go to the this thing and then select the right uh garment, purchase the garment, help get people to help her put. And so the church, the bride of Christ needs to prepare themselves for Christ. And then he says, how do we prepare ourselves? Verse eight, how do we prepare ourselves? Very interesting. Just look at that. To her it was granted to be arrayed in the fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen. Linen is the righteous acts of the saints. How do we become how do we put on fine linen spiritually? By displaying righteous acts by walking righteously. Are we understanding? So we prepare ourselves by displaying righteous acts. What are righteous acts? Where we become more and more like Christ in everything we do in our speech, in our words, in our actions, in our character, in our thoughts, in our desires, in our ambition. We become more and more like Christ. Amen. So the the church should be that bride who prepares herself. Now in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus is talking about a parable of 10 virgins. How many of you know that parable? 10 virgins, right? He's talking about his second coming to his disciples. What happens in that parable? Five virgins, they run out of oil. And five virgins, so Jesus is telling his disciples, five virgins had extra oil to light up their lamp. Whereas another fine the the other five virgins, they were not ready. They did not have any oil. And so he says these five virgin that were able which had extra oil that was able to light up their lamp were able to enter the wedding banquet and the five were left out. The five were left out. So the church, the bride of Christ needs to always have their lamp lit. What does that mean? So always fellowship with the Holy Spirit. that oil represents the work of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Every believer, the church should be a place where we walk with the Holy Spirit every day, every time. So that we do not know when Jesus is coming back, but when he comes back, he sees that we are carrying the oil. We are ready, right? We are walking with the Holy Spirit. We are ready. So the church should be a place where we are burning. Our lamps are burning always. Prayer, worship, righteous acts, walking with the Holy Spirit. Keep ourselves burning. Amen. All right. Last picture before we close for this lecture. Picture number six. Picture number six. The local church should be a house of prayer and worship. The local church should be a house of prayer and worship. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2:5. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So the church is supposed to be a royal, a holy priesthood. The church is supposed to be a priesthood where everyone is a priest. Now you know in the Old Testament what would priests do? They would take the sacrifice and they would burn it. And in Leviticus God put an instruction. The altar always needed to have fire. It should never go out. The church should always be a place of sacrifice. Like a priest always be on fire. the church. That should be that's the image, right? And so this is Le Leviticus 6:13. A fire shall always be burning on the altar. It should never go out. That's God's desire that as priests we always worship, always praise him because our worship, our praise is like a sacrifice. Are we understanding? Yeah. You know when we you know when we praise God, when we worship God, it's a sacrifice that goes to heaven. And so when he says the church, you be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, the church should be that place. The church should not be a place where we play games, where we do entertainment. No, the church should be a place where we offer offer up spiritual sacrifices where each one of us as priests come together and offer up our spiritual sacrifice. Right? Romans 12:1 it says, let's read that. Romans 12 verse 1. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament what was the sacrifice? It was dead. They had a lamb or a fruits or whatever. It was all dead. But in the New Testament what should be the sacrifice? Your body living. Your body should be the sacrifice. You place yourself in the altar. In the Old Testament, they would bring sacrifice and put it on the altar. In the New Testament, Romans 12:1, it says to present your bodies. So, the church should be a place where we present ourselves as a living sacrifice. And then it says, "Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." wholly acceptable. Meaning your body should be holy. Just as they brought sacrifice, they they made sure in the Old Testament all the sacrifices, they made sure that the lamb was without blemish. In the same way, your body should be holy, should be acceptable. Meaning, check your heart before you worship. Is it holy? Is it acceptable? Check your character. Check your thoughts, your desires, your ambition. Is it pure? Then it becomes a holy and acceptable sacrifice. See, anyone can come to church and lift up their hands and say, "Praise the Lord." But if they have hurt in their heart, if they have pride, if they have greed, it's not acceptable. So the church should be a place where everyone offers themselves as a living sacrifice pure, holy, acceptable. That's why when you come to church, pray that prayer. Lord, clean my heart. Lord, forgive me if I have said something against you. Because then your praise, your worship becomes like a living sacrifice. Amen. Verse two. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is God's will for us that we present ourselves as a pleasing sacrifice. See, we all say no when we go to church, we all tell each other that was a great worship set, amazing songs, great band. But actually the question we should ask is how was our heart, everyone can sing great worship songs, everyone can and all of that is good. All of that is good. Everyone can have a great worship set. Everyone can have great sound. More importantly, was the church presenting a living sacrifice? The church should be that place. More than all our perfect chords, more than all our songs, our heart. Amen. Yeah. And then in John 4 23- 24, John 4 23- 24. So Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. So it's then Jesus says in verse 23, the hour is coming and now is when true worshippers which means there is false worship. Correct? True worshippers will worship the father in spirit and truth. How do we worship God truly? In spirit and in truth. Spirit from our spirit inside out. truth. There is no deception. There's no whale. There's no mask. Dar is coming when true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth. In spirit from the inside out in truth. No mask, no veil. Everything we give. We just come transparent. Come plainly. We're not hiding anything. Amen. And then it says for the father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. You know the the thing is a lot of us focus see that verse 24 god is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Doesn't say those who worship him must come with a guitar. Doesn't say those who worship him must come with a good voice. What is the father seeking? true worshippers who worship him in spirit and so we should all the local church should be a place where we worship God in spirit and truth spirit from the inside out truth there's no mask there's no deception there's no lies Lord we just worship you for who we are wherever we are whether I feel good whether I feel bad we will worship you whether my mood mood is good, whether my mood is bad, we will worship you. That's what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. Amen. And so we need to the local church should be a place should be a house of prayer and worship. That's why every Sunday in most churches they have a dedicated time worship. Yes, we do use instruments but the whole church should engage in that worship. Amen. So the local church should be that place and we all know this. So one is house of worship should also be a house of prayer. Prayer and worship. So Jesus says this in Matthew chapter 21 when he's cleansing the temple. Jesus quoted Isaiah, prophet Isaiah, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." See, if there is no, this is God's desire for his church to be a house of prayer for all nations. See, Jesus taught us to pray. No, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What is his will? This one of the will is this that the house should be my house should be a house of prayer for all nations which means the local churches the church should be a place of prayer where people are praying. If that is missing something is missing. If all you do in church is talk and but if if if it's missing prayer very something is really missing one thing you should not miss in church is prayer that's why at APC every Sunday we take time to pray we pray for a city pray for our nation India we pray for our nation so whatever works for your maybe there are some other issues in your city. You can pray. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family. Pray for issues in your city. But the church should be that place where we pray. If it's missing, something is missing. Because Jesus says, "My house, if the church belongs to Jesus, his desire is that his house should be a place of prayer for all nations." So as pastors and leaders we need to be very careful to allocate to spend time in prayer. Encourage all the believers to pray. Amen. Yeah. So we looked at three pictures. First army. What's the second picture? Saint pride. Third picture, house of prayer and worship. Yeah. So, three pictures. So, in the next lecture, we'll look at four more pictures and we'll be done with the blueprint. Right. So, um Oh, time is up. I didn't have time for questions. So, we'll start the next hour. If you have any questions, you can ask questions and then we'll go to the next set of pictures. Yeah. Is this helping? Are we learning? Yeah. Okay. God bless you. We will see you in 10 minutes. Thank you.