 Okay. So, let's continue. So, some foundations about cell groups we looked at. So, this will be helpful when you start, if you ever start a cell group or in your church or in your ministry, you have cell groups and then these are important things to bring in. These are important tools to evaluate and also it's, I mean, the whole cell group model is a very important, very, let's say, as a, if you see the way it is structured, you know, if you look at let's say, you know, all through church history, right, you see what has happened, like there's a restoration in all the restorative moves of God, we see that there is a reformation of theology. You know, that's, you know, that is the spiritual truth, which was, during the dark ages, we see that, okay, a lot of things were either constrained, right, held back by the body of Christ to the body of Christ. And also, a lot of things were lost, right, simply because of, you know, denominationalism or simply because of nominal Christianity, right. So we see that there was a reformation of theology, right, all this entire, all this deep spiritual truths, God is, the God brought it back in the rest of, and we studied this in the restorative moves of God, God bringing back, okay, about salvation, about the spirit of God, about healing and deliverance and gifts of the spirit and the apostolic ministry, the equipping of the saints, the, the, the sainthood of the, or the, you know, the priesthood of the believer, where every believer is a minister of God, right, so all that we see being restored. Another thing that is being restored is the, what we see is a reformation of structure, you know, the reformation or change of church structure itself, where it is, it is not about, you know, just one person who's doing all the work. But, you know, there is this reformation of structure where you see that, along with the reformation of theology, there is also the reformation of church structure where you see that, okay, every believer rising up and taking his or her place in the body of Christ, being equipped to serve, to minister, right. So how does that happen? That will happen only if there is a change in structure, if there is a reformation of structure, because if the structure of the church does not allow this to happen, does not allow, let's say, equipping the saints. Okay, if the structure of the church is structured in such a way that it does not raise up leaders, right, it does not encourage leaders to go and, you know, take their place in the body of Christ. It might mean even, you know, starting something on their own, it might mean starting, you know, their own work in some other place, you know, their own ministry in some other place. So if the church is structured in such a way, you know, it has its rules and laws and, you know, leaders or one person who's there, then, you know, it doesn't permit the move of God, right. It restricts what God really wants, just like how the, how, you know, there was no understanding of the truth and that restricted the move of God, right, but God brought back so the same way we see there is a reformation of church structure as well. And we see that in the, in the cell groups, and which are a very important way in which the believers can be equipped for ministry. Discipleship, they don't stay as believers, mere believers just coming and going and, you know, attending. They don't stay that way, but they move from there to be disciples, they move from there to be ministers and their leaders, right. So, so this is a, this is something that we see. So it's important that, you know, at some point that we recognize it, right, we receive the importance of it and then bring it into, you know, our churches, right, or if it is already there to, to make it even more effective. Some of us who are part of life groups or cell groups to see how can be even more effective, right, how can leaders be raised up to, you know, to do the work of ministry, how can others become disciples, strong disciples rooted in the word, right, led by the spirit of God, how can they become strong disciples, right, how can they, how can they discover they're calling, how can we help them to do that, right. So these are things that the church can do, or, you know, if you are in a leadership position that you can bring in, you know, if you, if you think on these lines, and, you know, evaluate along these lines and say, Okay, I need to help people to become, you know, this. So that will be helpful, right. Okay, so let's look at leaders becoming leaders, leaders, so there are some, you know, areas of focus. So there are some important things that we need to consider that we need to look at. Okay. So first of all, you know, these, some of these things are repetitions. So I will just go quickly, you know, maintaining a strong personal walk with God. It goes without saying that the person whom we are considering to be a self group leader, or if we ourselves are self group leaders, to maintain a strong personal walk with God. And the importance of doing or obeying the word of God, even before we teach it, right, obey it, live it, live it out in our own lives, before we actually teach it to others and instruct others in it. Right. Because the Lord Jesus says, you know, Matthew five hours 19 the latter part of it says, Okay, whatever who so ever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, whoever does and teach. And so that's the order. And the right priority, right, Matthew 15 and verse 40 talks about how leaders can be blind, you know, how leaders, if they don't, you know, if they're not visionaries or if they're blind to the truth, then they will lead others also in the same way. Okay, so, so which means that as a leader, as spiritual self group leaders, we need to be spiritually strong in our personal lives. Because we cannot teach others what we have not learned. We cannot lead others to places where we have not gone before. And we cannot give others what we do not have. So, so the importance for us to, you know, the place where we are right now, spiritually, we can definitely, you know, minister, and the thing is to keep growing, so that we can take others also to higher levels of growth, higher levels of maturity, special maturity in our journey. So as we grow, as we experience breakthroughs to take others also into the same, right. So the importance of progressing in our walk with God, progressing in our growth in maturity and Christian Christ likeness. Right. So which means that we ourselves need to maintain the discipline of seeking God, being with him, the importance of God's word in our lives. Right. Not just intellectually knowing but following it with all our hearts, and, and doing it. Right. Okay. So second thing is to maintain a life that is constantly consecrated. Okay, what does it mean constantly consecrated? Okay, anyone? What does it mean? And you say constantly consecrated? What does consecrated mean? What does it mean to consecrate something? Anyone? It's set apart for a purpose. Yeah, simple, right. It means that something is set apart. We read about the vessels or utensils in the temple that were temple that was, that was consecrated, that was set apart for holy use. It was not used for anything common. Right. It was for, for the, what was used to be used in the act of worship or in what was, it is never to leave that boundary. Right. So our lives to be set apart. And that is not one event, but it is a journey. Right. It is not one day of the week, but it's every day of the week. It's not one hour in the day, but it is every hour of the day. Right. To be constantly consecrated, to be constantly set apart. Okay. So that is something, again, as spiritual leaders, as believers actually, it applies to us as believers, but more so as spiritual leaders. Okay. So, which means that we are, as we are constantly setting apart our lives, constantly, moment by moment, you know, we are, we are just saying, God, my life is yours. Lord, the choices I make, Lord, I want to delight, I want to delight your heart. Lord, I don't want to grieve the spirit of God in the choices that I make, in the words that I speak, in even the meditations of my heart, Lord, let it be acceptable God, day in and day out of Father God. You know, I want to walk a consecrated life. I want to live a consecrated life. Right. So when we do that, then we will not give any room for the devil to work in our lives. Okay. Because we see that the devil is defeated. We see that the Lord Jesus on the cross, he defeated, he disarmed the powers of the enemy. But the only power that he will have is what we give. The only permission that the devil will have is the permission that we give, the door that we open, the access that we give. It could be, you know, the devil will try to force his way in. And if we allow that, if you don't resist, then he has his way. Or if we give place for the devil. Right. So Ephesians 4 talks about, you know, let the sun not go down on your wrath. Nor give place for, nor give the devil a foothold. Right. So in continuing in the works of the flesh, right, wrath, contentions, outbursts of wrath are described as, we studied in Galatians, right. These are described as works of the flesh. Works of the flesh are evident. It says, and then it lists on all these things. So if one is continuing in it, if one is tolerating that or, you know, persisting in that in our own lives, then we are giving clear room for the devil to work in our lives. Okay. So, and, and we know what the devil will, what the enemy does, he comes to destroy the work of God, whatever spiritual progress that we have made as leaders, or, you know, whatever way we want to minister, it just comes to destroy that. So the importance of being constantly consecrated, fully consecrated to God. Right. When one first Peter 5 and verse 8 says, be sober, be vigilant. Okay. So being sober means don't be intoxicated. Right. And figuratively, it means don't be just influenced by the works of the enemy. Don't be intoxicated. Don't be influenced. Don't be swayed by the wrong spirit. Right. So be sober. Be vigilant. Be alert. Be, you know, be of a temperate mindset or character. Because your adversary as a roaring lion, he walks around seeking whom he may devour whom he may destroy. So that's the only reason the enemy walks about. So be alert, be sober, be vigilant. Okay. Then if there are strongholds, get rid of it. Deal with it. Right. Strongholds. We studied about that. And we, when we looked at, when we studied emotional healing and deliverance, we looked into that. And then also a good resource to go through is one of our books, The Conquest of the Mind. Right. That's a good book to look at. So demonic strongholds in the realm of our soul, in the realm of our thinking, in the realm of our imagination. Because what happens is if there is a stronghold, then it becomes our actions follow through. Okay. Because if there's a stronghold in our thinking, if there is a stronghold in our mind, imagination, that influences our action. Right. And sometimes we are thinking, you know, why is my behavior like this? You know, maybe why am I fearful? Why am I indecisive? Why am I, you know, upset and angry? Why? You know, the thing is to check our thoughts, our imaginations and our thought processes, they could be strongholds. So if there are demonic strongholds, which are leading to unhealthy behavior, sinful behavior, that needs to be dealt with. Okay. A mind that considers evil good and evil as good. A mind given to worldliness, Satan's foothold in a believer's life. So it's like giving a foothold, giving a place for Satan. Okay. And when Satan comes, he comes to hold, restrict our, you know, make our ministry ineffective, unfruitful. Okay. So strongholds, thought patterns, which we have become tolerant to sin, we have compromised and maybe replace the truth with a lie. Okay. So these are, this is what a stronghold is. So we need to check our lives and see how we can break that down, reverse that process, reverse it with the truth, accept the truth, receive the truth. And so break that stronghold. Okay. Okay. Consistent, immoral thought and behavior opens up doors of entrance to the enemy into areas of our mind, affections and body. So our responsibility is to keep all of this out of our lives. Shut the doors of the enemy. Now it's not a difficult thing. It's not an impossible thing. Because scripture is very clear. We, again, when we studied the Galatians, we saw how we are encouraged or exhorted to walk in the spirit. You know, when we walk in the spirit, it's very, very clear, Ephesians 5, I'm sorry, Galatians 516, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Okay. So the key is to walk in the spirit as led by the spirit, as prompted by the spirit, delighting the spirit and not quenching the, or quenching or grieving the spirit. Right. Okay. So to be a conqueror in this area is to bring down the strongholds to set ourselves free. And another resource is laying the ax to the root of, laying the ax to the root, which talks about, you know, self and jealousy and pride and lust. So that's something that we can look at. Also, these are useful things to go back. I know every beginning of every, you know, every academic year in the Bible College, you know, you've heard that message laying the ax to the root and the importance of it. That's why it's repeated that, well, these things can creep into a believer's life, creep into a leader's life. So we need to be vigilant, aware, and lay the ax to the root, so that these things don't hinder the work of God, or our ministry is not hindered. Okay. Okay. Then receiving healing for offenses, hurts and wounds. So why are we looking at all this? We are looking at, you know, one preparing oneself to be a leader, like a spiritual leader, right? A cell leader is a spiritual leader. So, you know, one has to be healthy. And definitely this is one area where we can easily fall, like being offended, being hurt. Yes, it is true that, you know, in life, in ministry, there are many opportunities which come our way to be hurt, right? Because people say some certain things, people do certain things, and they, you know, we get offended by the words that they speak or their actions, right? So, you know, if you look at Acts 24 and verse 16, and this is what is written, and herein do I exercise myself to always, to have always a conscience void of offense towards God and towards men. Okay. So, the thing is this, that to constantly, to 24 and verse 16 says, I exercise myself. Let me see if there's another translation of it, the version of it. Okay. So, this being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense towards God and men. Okay. I always strive, which means I put an effort, I work at it in order to have a conscience, which is without offense towards God and towards man. So, you see, both towards God and towards man, sometimes we can be offended with God, but how can we do that? How can you, you know, how can you forgive that person? How can you raise up that person? You know, how can you use that person? You know, these are things, which means that we are hurt, you know, hurt and offended. We are carrying some offense in our, in our lives, in our hearts, in our hearts, you know. Sometimes, so we ask those things, how can you use that person, Lord, I know that person, I know what he does, I know what she does, and how can you use that person? And then we get offended with God. We, of course, we get offended with people because of what they say, what they do. Right. So, so the thing is to exercise oneself or to put an effort, okay, to train oneself, you know, that's the thing, to train oneself, to, to, you know, it says to strive, to train, to labor. Now it doesn't come easy. So, which means we need to, you know, we need to take effort in order to do that. Right. To train oneself, exercise oneself, to have a conscience without offense. Okay. So, which means that, okay, you feel that you're getting offended, immediately go to God, release it to God, release it to the Lord and, and receive forgiveness. Okay. So there are, you know, four words which would help us. Right. Forgive, forget, release and receive. Okay. Forgive, forget, release, receive. So forgive that person. Forgive what they've said. Forgive what they've done. And forget it. Right. Intentionally put it away. Okay. Just push it away from your lives saying, okay, I'm not going to carry it anymore. Right. And then to release that, give it up. Okay. Don't, don't, sometimes we, you know, we say, I have a right to feel this way. I have a right to feel angry. I have a right to be hurt. Okay. And as long as we say I have a right, then we have not really released that. I have a right to be angry with this person. As long as we say that we, which means that we have not released or we have not released from that hurt. Okay. Now the thing is we have a privilege to be released. Okay. So let me just type that in. Right. Forgive and forget and release and receive. Okay. So what, how does that help? So we, we forgive and then we push away, we forget and then we release without holding the hurt, we're not holding the holding them, you know, the emotion of it, it will take some time. Right. But, but that is what this exercise it, you know, so acts 24 16 talks about exercising oneself striving by doing some labor to be without offense to have a conscience without offense towards God and towards man. So you exercise that over and over again, you do that release it and receive healing, receive healing for our emotions. Only when we release, are we going to be in a position to receive healing. We have that very honest conversation with God and say, Lord, I, I don't want to hold on to this hurt. I don't want to hold on to this offense. I don't want to hold on to this anger. So I, I just release it. I release it, Lord, and I want to receive healing. I want to receive healing and for all the hurts for all the wounds that are there emotionally. I want to receive healing. Right. So, so that's that. So we become healthy in that manner that way. Right. And continue on. Okay. No and maintain priorities. Now that's, that's again very important because, you know, as a cell group leader, many, many in our churches will be volunteers or most will be volunteers. Right. Which means they have a work. They have family. Right. They, you know, they have a job. They have maybe they have a ministry, even right. So all this in all these areas, you know, they have responsibilities or in all these areas we have responsibilities. Right. So we need to know what is our priority. Okay. So first and foremost, our personal walk with God. That's the number one priority. Out of that flows everything else. Right. So a personal walk with God. Secondly, whom God has put in or what God has given us a family. If he has placed us in a family, he has given us responsibilities as members of the family, as leaders of the family, family, then, you know, what is the work ministry, what is the job, what is the work, what is the ministry. So all these would come after that. So we need to know priorities. Okay. So knowing priorities helps us to allocate time. Okay. So when you know this is a priority for me, then I would allocate or I would give time for each of this adequate time for four hours. So in the 24 hours, how much can I allocate? How much time can I do I need to spend? Right. These are priorities. Right. So here are some things to consider. Okay. So we need to know that activity does not mean accomplishments. We're not, you know, activity means, okay, you're busy doing something. Right. We're too busy doing something, we're busy working, but that does not mean we are accomplishing something, like, you know, leading something, finishing it, reaching some goal. Activity does not mean accomplishment. We need to understand that. Okay. So, which means that we need to work smarter. Okay. It does not just mean, okay, a lot of effort and a lot of, you know, sweat and grunting and, you know, it does not mean just that. It means that we work smarter. Right. Maybe see how we can, you know, if something that we are doing something, some activity, you know, how will that impact, you know, what will be the greatness of the impact of this one act? So, if that is our mindset, you know, like, okay, we are here, here I'm doing this one thing. So if I put in this kind of effort, how will it benefit most people? Right. In terms of ministry, how will it reach more people? You know, to think in that manner? Or how can I save time? How can I save resources? And how can I conserve energy? And at the same time, how can I have maximum impact with this? Right. Okay. Thirdly, organize or agonize. I think we looked at that in, you know, in our practical skills course. We looked at that as well, you know, to get ourselves organized, you know, organizing our time, organizing people, organizing our schedules, organizing our resources and so on. Right. So, organize just means to put together, to arrange together. If you don't do that, then we will agonize. Meaning, it will always be, you know, something that's creating problems for us. Right. Then evaluate, assess. It will help us to grow. Evaluate means to find out is something working well. Right. Evaluating ministry, evaluating our personal life. To evaluate, to assess, to see, to ask questions, to see, you know, so those are some ways to, there are some ways to evaluate it, like ask questions, you know, just like how we saw the cell group, you know, inward, outward, to evaluate our own lives. Okay. Is something happening? Is something, is it good or not? Right. So, if we don't evaluate, then we will stagnate. We will be right where we are thinking that all is good, thinking that all is well. Right. We will be in the same place. But if we evaluate, then we have the opportunity to find out what is missing. Right. We have the, so we should not be, we should not be afraid to evaluate. We can find out what is missing. We can find out where the gap is that we need to, you know, bridge, we need to fix. Where is the, you know, what is the area that we need to grow into? All those things happen when we evaluate. Okay. Reschedule our priorities. Okay. So we see that reacting is not leading. Okay. So what does that mean? That means when, when do we react when we are not prepared? Right. Reacting means okay. Oh, this problem is there. Okay. Then we, then we do something about it. Or, you know, this is not done. Then we do something about it, which means that there is lack of planning and lack of foresight. Okay. So only when we come to that particular point, then we realize that, oh, this is not done, or this should be done. And then we are constantly reacting to situations, reacting to circumstances. Okay. Whereas leading is to look ahead, to plan ahead, to think of these kind of circumstances and eventualities. Right. And prepare ahead so that we can carry them out. Okay. Okay. Say no to little things in the sense, you know, when it comes to priorities, when it comes to scheduling things, we cannot do everything. Now, when we say priority, let's say you're prioritizing time with family, you're prioritizing time with God, which means that we have to say no to some things. Because we are saying yes to certain things. We, which means immediately we need to say no to certain things. Maybe we, maybe we won't be able to attend all the social functions. All the marriages, all the family, we may not be able to attend that. So it means we have to say no, because there are far greater things in importance that we have to do. So we won't be able to do everything. So we have to say no to a few things. Right. Okay. So how to say no gracefully, we are saying no to the idea, not to the person. Okay. That's very important. We're saying no to certain things because we're not rejecting the person, you know, though a person might come and ask, okay, can you do this? Can you be here? Or can you attend this? Can you come home? Okay. So when we, when we respond by saying, no, I cannot. That means that you're not rejecting that person, but you're just very truthfully saying that you, that very idea that the person suggested or that opportunity that that person is opening up or inviting us to, you will not do it, or you cannot do it simply because it's not in your priority. Right. So, so we need to learn to speak the truth in love, right, say no gracefully, and also sometimes respond in terms of the best interest of that person, you know, the best interest of the person was asking, person might be asking, you know, n number of things, but, you know, does it really help that person? Sometimes we say no, because it does not, it's not helpful for that person. And we can always, you know, come up with an alternative and creatively think of solving, you know, how, how do we do this? How do we meet halfway? And how do we, you know, solve that whole thing? Maybe we are saying no to somebody's idea, somebody's suggestion, because simply because, okay, we don't have the time, or it's not priority, but then we can say, okay, maybe someone else can take it up. Maybe someone else can. I won't be able to do it personally. But let me suggest this, because you want this particular thing to be done. It's not like I should do it, but you want this particular task to be done, or this you want to receive this particular help. So let me see who can help you. Let me see how we can meet the same thing, but I personally cannot. Let me check if that need can be met. Okay, so come up with an alternative, think creatively. Okay, so all this is part of preparing to be a leader. Then a very important thing is that we lead by example. Think first Timothy 4. Timothy is encouraged by Paul to lead the believers by example, to lead the church by example, by example, meaning let your life speak. Whatever you're leading the people to do, let it be seen in your life. Whatever you're asking, instructing the people to do, let it be seen in your life. If you're asking them to be on time, you be on time. If you're asking them to speak edifying words, you speak edifying words. If you're asking them to treat the family members in the right manner, you treat them in the right way. If you're asking them to spend time with God, more time with God, you spend more time with God. So you lead by example. So that's what Paul tells Timothy. So the thing is that when we lead by example, there is no disconnect. Disconnect between the instruction, disconnect between what we are, our expectation of what people should do. There's no disconnect between that and our lives and our behavior. There should not be a disconnect because if there is a disconnect, then people will say, it is hypocritical. Who's a hypocrite who says one thing and does something else? Who has something else in his heart and who says something? He says all the right words, but then inside he's a different person. He's acting. Who says something, we need to do this, but then he does something else. He's not being truthful, she's not being truthful, but once he says that we need to be truthful, we need to be people of integrity, but the person is not being a person of integrity himself or herself. So that means that they are not living a life of being an example to others. So as leaders, we need to set an example, be an example to others. And Paul talks about how we can be an example in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in purity, in faith and so on. All these areas. So if we are being examples, then we will have people who will be like us and even better than us. Because we always reproduce after our own kind. So if we are leading people and we reproduce after our own kind, people who are passionate, people who are connected and so on. Now we're going to look at the heart of the leader. Maybe just take a couple of minutes and then we'll stop here. The heart of the leader. Being a leader in God's kingdom definitely is not impossible, but it is difficult. It is challenging. So that's something that we need to know because it is responsibility. Being a spiritual leader is, being a leader, it means responsibility, being responsible. So we need to avoid a couple of things. One is inferiority. So you're comparing yourself or you're looking at yourself and you're saying, I'm not worth it. Or I cannot. I'm not able to. And I think when we look at scripture, we see many examples like we see Moses, we see Gideon giving their reasons why they cannot lead. Why they cannot lead. Certain things which they felt was inferior, which they did not measure up. So we need to avoid that. We also need to avoid something like a superiority thing where that leads to pride. We're saying, oh, I'm capable, I'm gifted, I'm so and so, I can do it. It's good to be confident, it's good to be courageous, but it needs to come from a place of humility. Like when we say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul is talking about a lot of difficulties, a lot of tough situations where in which he's an overcomer. But he says through Christ, who's my strength? I can do all these things, but being connected to Christ, who strengthens me? Because of that, I draw my strength and I'm able to do it. So now that's a good place to be humble, to be in a place of humility. But if you're saying, okay, I can do it, then in my own strength I can achieve this and that's a place of selfish ambition. That's a place of pride and can lead to arrogance and boastfulness. So we'll stop here and then continue in our next class more about leaders, more about leadership and then developing the leader in you. There's some very, very useful information here, useful training which we can use for our own selves and also for leading others. We'll come to that in the next class. So next class we will start with a new life of servanthood. We'll just review what we shared just now and then we'll go on to a little more. Okay, thank you. God bless you guys. We'll catch up in the next class.