 Okay, recording has started. Okay, I'll come back, everyone, to our second hour of our lecture. So what we've done, what we've covered in the first lecture earlier, now we talked about the rest, sorry, the joy, the resilience and rest of faith. So when we are walking in faith, we are able to intentionally walk in joy, resilience and in rest. Then we spoke about some of the enemies to faith. The fact is we have to fight the good fight of faith. That means obviously there are some things we have to fight against. And so we just try to itemize or list out some of the things we have to fight against. And so we mentioned things that could be some that are personal, like things like guilt, shame, condemnation, feelings of incapability, you know, you fight against those things, a lack of knowledge of God's word, a lack of understanding who we are in Christ. These are things we have to make an effort to get into the word and know that this is who we are and live by it. And then there are all these things that Satan puts against us, thoughts of doubt, fear, worry, all those kinds of things. And they come against our faith, intending to cause us to depart from a place of faith, get into a place of doubt, unbelief, in God's word. And so we said that. And based on the questions we had, what we said was, you know, we can differentiate what's from God and what's from the devil by the simple thing that if God is really testing our faith, he's calling us basically to a place of great obedience. He says, come on, obey me like this. So, you know, calling us to a place of greater obedience, that's God's test, where a Satan's test of faith or coming against our faith is causing us to disobey and depart from a place of faith in God in his word. That's how we differentiate it. But every time our faith is tested, it's an opportunity to go up to a greater level of faith in God, to become stronger in our faith. And that's the journey we make. So it's good for us to understand that in this journey of faith, there are enemies of faith. There are things that will come against our faith. But we have to fight the good fight of faith and lay a hold of that what God has promised us and hold on to the confession that we have confessed before people. We've told people we believe God. We have told people that we trust his word. We have mentioned to people who our God is, we hold on to it. We hold on to the confession that we've confessed in the presence of many witnesses. The last thing I want to cover for us today has to do with understanding the perimeters of faith. There are two things I want to cover. Today we'll do perimeters of faith. Next week we will talk about the avoiding presumption in faith and we will cover that next week. When we say the perimeters of faith, now we must understand that there are boundaries within which faith can operate. So faith is not something that we just use arbitrarily in God to do things that are outside of what God intended. So we need to understand what are the boundaries of faith and how does faith operate within God's boundaries. So that's what this lesson is intended for. It's just to make sure that we stay on the right track. We don't get off of the right path as we learn to walk by faith. We walk in faith within the knowledge of God's will. That means because we know that this is God's will, we can operate in faith. Faith operates where the will of God is known. So when you know the will of God, you operate in that. For instance, we know it is God's will to heal people. Why? Because he said, I am the Lord Jeheela. We know it's God's will to save people. Why? Because he is Saviour. We know it is God's will to provide. Why? Because he said, I am your provider. So that will of God is known in that matter and therefore you can have faith in line with that, in line with the will of God. So nobody needs to question you when it comes to healing. It's just God is healer. So there's nothing wrong in believing for somebody to be healed. God is provider. There's nothing wrong in believing for some need to be met. Because that's aligned to who God is. It's who he said in the word. So faith operates within, in that realm where the will of God is known. However, faith cannot override the sovereignty of God. That means faith does not control God. So, you know, faith is not me trying to control God. No, that's not right. That's not how faith is or what faith is. It doesn't override who God is. Doesn't override the sovereignty of God. So, for instance, God is sovereign and he has decided that he's going, I'm just speaking an example, that he is going to come and receive his church back for himself, his believers. So let's, I'm referring to what the scriptures teach us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where Christ will come and he will come for his church. His people will believe in him and he'll raise them up and, you know, give them all glorified bodies. Now that's sovereign. That's what God decided. Now I can't use my faith to say, Lord, you don't come down to collect us. By faith, I'm saying we will all come to you in heaven and I can't do that. You know, and it's a silly example, but the point is I cannot override what God has planned by my faith. No, he in his sovereignty has already decided certain things and I can't override God's sovereignty by faith. Right? So, faith has its boundaries within which it operates. So I just listed out some of these things. For example, number one, faith cannot oppose God's plan. So this was what I was referring to, the return of Christ. So God has a time when Jesus will return. I can't say I am declaring Jesus return today. You know, it's not going to happen. There's a time when God is going to make all things new, new heavens and new earth. I cannot say I am declaring by faith that by the end of 2021 we will have new heavens and new earth. It's not going to happen. God has a plan. God has decided, right, on when he's going to do these things. So I cannot oppose. I cannot dictate God's plan. You know, that's something what God has decided. He will do it when he wants to do it. Number two, faith cannot violate the written word of God. You know, if God has said something in his word, that's what it is. I cannot violate the written word of God. For example, the word of God says that there will be people who go to hell because they don't believe in Jesus Christ. I can't say by faith I'm telling all the people in hell go to heaven. It may sound very nice, but I cannot violate what God has put in his word. His word says whoever was not found whose name was not written in the book of life was cast into a lake of fire. That's Revelation chapter 20 and verse 15. That's the written word of God. I can't undo that. I can't say by faith I'm saying that all these people will go to heaven and I know whatever God has written in his word it is written. I cannot violate what is written in the word of God. Thirdly, faith cannot control or manipulate another person's life. That's important. A typical example would be in a boy and a girl relationship situation. Some guy, he likes a girl, so he goes before God and you know I want to marry that girl and I just by faith declaring that you will make her love me. You can't do that. You can't use faith to control and manipulate somebody else's will. God never, you don't find that anywhere in the Bible. Each person has their own choice. So I can't say God you said whatever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you would have them and you know imagine the single guy. He says God I desire for that girl to be my wife and I want her to love me. I desire it. I believe it. I receive it in Jesus name. No you can't do that. Why? Because the other person has also to make a choice. That person should also love you and you know it's a mutual decision. You can't just manipulate somebody other some other person's will through faith. So what we can do is we can pray. I say Lord if this is your will for both of us to love each other and get married and live life together then you speak to our heart and just as you know and you reveal your will to both of us that's what the single single people should do but reveal and then God will speak to their hearts and if God speaks and puts in both their hearts that yeah this is God's plan then they will come together but if it's not respect the other person's choice respect what God is doing for the other person in their life. Don't try to manipulate through faith and control them and try to force these things. If people get into a lot of trouble when they misapply the word of God or misapply faith right. Fourthly, faith cannot force a gift or a work of God into a heart of unbelief. That means for instance I cannot force a person to get saved you know but what we can do is we can definitely share the gospel and we can pray for them that God would move upon their hearts that God would speak to them that God would remove the things that are keeping them from making a decision to follow Jesus Christ you know so those are prayers we can pray we can pray that God would open their eyes God would encounter them God would send people who would you know influence them in a very positive way for the kingdom of God so we can those are prayers we can pray but I cannot by faith determine that person's salvation I cannot say in the name of Jesus I declare you saved now no I can pray I can release the word of God I can speak the promises of God about that person I can pray and intercede for that person and so on but I cannot force a gift of God into that person's heart that's something that person has to receive from God by faith right so you must understand you know how to correctly use faith because the reason you know I intentionally put this chapter is because sometimes people hear about faith and then they start trying to control other people with faith and that's not right we you know basically if we are trying to control people through spiritual means that is called witchcraft right that's what black people who practice the dark arts and black magic and engage with demonic spirits that's what they try to do they try to control people through evil spirits and witchcraft and so on but we don't do that we can pray for people we can pray for God to speak to them we can pray for God to move on their hearts that is perfectly fine but we don't try to use faith to control or manipulate people right so faith cannot oppose God's plan or God's already faith cannot oppose the written word of God faith cannot control another person's will and faith cannot force something into their heart when they don't want to receive it you know just pray for God to open their hearts right so understand some of these things and also you know just some side comments remember that faith is not you know mind over matter it's not like us you know what is mind over matter is that whole idea is well if you just keep thinking something in a certain way it will affect matter it'll affect the situation now that's not what faith is right faith is us believing in God and then using what God has given to us to make change in our life situations it's not mental gymnastics we're not trying to force ourselves to believe something no faith is based on God's word and that's something we understand right it's a way of life we live by faith now this is something we discussed last week already so that I want to address it again you know we know that even if there's some people in doubt we can continue walking in faith we don't have to let their doubt affect us we have a choice we can continue walking in faith right so understand these these bound that the boundaries within which faith has to operate that within these boundaries we can use our faith and operate in the word of God so basically the most important thing for us is stay with the written word of God when you stay with God's word when you stay with what the Holy Spirit is putting in your heart you are safe there are some things that are not written in the word which the Holy Spirit was speaking to your heart of course about things that he has planned for you things that God wants you to have and those are things God was speaking to your heart by his Holy Spirit and when you know that God has put that in your heart then of course go have faith for him faith in him to do that and you can you can have it right so any questions here on this chapter on the parameters of the boundaries of faith did we all understand it any questions go ahead Divya yeah thank you pastor I do not know whether this is related to this topic but I just want to ask about that instance where Moses when the Israelites sinned against God with the golden calf that time Moses pleads with God like God really wanted to destroy that those people who who did it and wanted Moses descendants right to inherit the land so and Moses pleaded and God it says like God changed his mind about what he was going to do so was it against the will of God Moses was praying in faith was it against the will of God because God had already you know expressed that he wanted to destroy the people yeah that yeah that I do not know whether it is related to this topic but just I just want to clarify yeah yeah good good question good question so we find like what Divya just referred to we find several examples in the Bible where God changed his mind now and most of the time that change in mind happened because you'll find two kind two conditions one is either somebody on earth was praying or somebody on earth repented so it shows us the power of intercession and the power of repentance so this is expressing to us that God was intending to carry out judgment God said okay time has come and in the case where you know that Divya referenced when the people had sinned and they were in rebellion and you know God just called these people like stiff necked and stubborn people and they were just in rebellion to God you know after all that he had done after all that he had proved to them and shown them they would still go away from who God is they're still going worship false God so create do some other things and God reached and God said look I'm just going to wipe them out and Moses will start again but then so that's expressing God's intent expressing what God is planning to do is look look I've had enough it's time for judgment and then somebody intercedes in this case it was Moses who interceded there are times when other men you'd find prophet Amos or Elisha you know in the case of King Ahab Elijah was there he went and gave a word to a King Ahab and when Ahab repented God changed the plan God was going to destroy but God extended mercy to him because he repented so you find that somebody interceded or somebody repented and that basically averted God's judgment okay so it was not an overriding of God's will but it was an aversion saying God extend mercy because somebody's interceding or because somebody has repented it's a God extended mercy or God extended mercy because somebody repented now when you look at what happened for the people of Israel there were numerous times Moses interceded and God changed his mind but eventually what happened there was a finality to it meaning that entire generation that was walking like this into rebellion would not enter into the promised land right so the God was very gracious to them kept coming all the way close to the promised land but then there was still a rebellion God said okay you're all going to die in the wilderness and a new generation will get in you know so there was a finality to it there was numerous times when God forgave but then they didn't enter into the land of promise so to answer a question intercession there's an overwrite the will of God it changes the mind of God in a sense instead of judgment God releases mercy and the book of Joel is one of those examples where the Prophet Joel calls the people to fasting and repentance and says you know God is coming to bring judgment but if you repent if you turn to God with fasting and so on he will leave mercy he will leave goodness but correctly the disobedience of the people deserves God's judgment but if they repent turn to him there would be mercy so in that sense the mind of God is being changed for that people for that situation either through intercession or repentance okay thank you pastor so it is almost like only when such situations right like judgment or things like that that God changes in case of intercession or repentance yes okay thank you thank you good any other questions today okay so we're going to close in a few minutes next week will be our last set of lectures I'm going to I'm going to talk a little bit about faith and presumption which means just to again these are all guidelines you know to keep us all on the right track to make sure that we're not presumptuous in our exercise of faith and then after that we'll do a quick review of everything we've covered in this course starting from chapter one through we'll review everything and with that we will be completing this course and then what I will do is I will have to create three assessments for you which I will put out and then you will take the rest of November just to do those assessments a simple easy assessments based on the entire course but we will not have lectures after next week right so November November 5th next Friday we should be completing the content the course content in terms of lectures and then the rest of November will be time for you to work on the assessments which I will put out in the classroom as well as in the e-learning portal for those who are using the e-learning portal is it okay all right so let's pray we'll wrap up today and we'll meet again next Friday for our final lectures and you will wrap things up okay good all right could I ask somebody to please close in prayer to Fina can you to Fina yeah why don't you pray please yes first Jai heavenly father we come to another name of Jesus we thank you for this beautiful day and for the amazing study about faith that we had God we praise everyone who is right here help us to grow stronger in your faith each and every day we are learning a lot of things about faith through this class as we grew as a believer every day help us to grow in our faith help us to always keep believing on you trusting you and leaning on you in everything that we do we bless our pastor and everyone right here thank you for filling us with an understanding heart thank you for helping us to learn a lot of things as we have learned a lot of things help us to apply it in our life and be like they with Daniel and live for you each and every moment of this life in Jesus name and faith amen thank you once again thank you everyone I look forward to seeing you again next week God bless Fina