 Okay. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a new week. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer. Maybe one of us can lead us. Abidans, would it be okay for you to lead us in prayer? Yes, Master Seor. Master, am I audible? Yes, yes, you are. Thank you. So let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful time. We thank you for this beautiful morning, Lord Jesus. We come into your throne, Father God, and we praise you. We honor you. We lift our hands, our heart, and to give you praise and glory. This time, Father God, we submit all the students and the pastors to your mighty hand, Jesus. As we are going through this session, Father God, we ask you, the more of your revelation, more of your understanding, Father God, more of your wisdom to dig in your word, Father God, and help us to learn the word, Lord Jesus, from your life, Lord Jesus, from you, Lord Jesus. We give you all the glory and honor to you, Father God. We submit this time to your mighty hand, and we ask this prayer in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you, Master. Amen. Thank you, Abidans. Alright, so this morning we come to our last section in this study. I know that we've been covering a lot of content from the beginning of this course. But we come to section 3, which is the workplace and you. So we are in chapter 18. You're tracking along on your notes. In chapter 18, we have a couple of more chapters and we should be able to complete it in another two or three more sessions. So let's get into chapter 18, career growth. Right now, professionally, we all will want to grow in life, right? Even if you look at ministry, none of us want to keep doing the same thing. Like, you know, say for example, you just joined the ministry as a small group leader or, you know, you're in a position that is just a beginner's role. Even ministry, it is very important that we desire to grow professionally, right? And of course, in the workplace, we all desire, right? Career growth is something that we all need. And so career growth is also dependent on career development, meaning our gifts, our grace, our calling, our abilities needs to also develop, right? Now, for example, if I say I want to grow in my career, but I don't do anything about it, right? And I'm just, you know, doing the normal regular things that I'm doing, then what happens is it just becomes visual thinking, meaning, okay, hey, I want to be this, but I'm not doing anything about it, right? So for example, let's look at it in a ministry way, right? So, for example, some, you know, God has called one of us to be a pastor. Right now, you're just volunteering in the sound and setup team, right? God has called you to be a pastor. And we know that one day you're going to plant a church and you're going to leave people in the ministry. Now, what must we do? We know that it's, you know, okay, monitoring an audio team, and we know that the responsibilities are higher as a pastor. So what must we do? Of course, it's, we know that we have to spend time in God's word. We have to pray, really dig into God's word because we have to prepare servants. We have to be able to minister to people. We have to begin to flow the gifts of the spirit. There's so much that we need to do. We need to study and that goes on happening. So, so the same way in career growth, whatever it is, ministry workplace, if we want to grow, we must also develop ourselves and our gifts in our abilities and in whatever resources we have. We must develop ourselves. So in this chapter, we look at insights relating to career growth and what does the Bible teach us on principles of career growth, right? So let's look at that chapter 80 in the first point. You can enjoy the rewards of your work. That's what we need Psalms 128, 1 to 4. Psalms 128 versus 1 to 4. Yes, good. Psalms 128, 1 to 4. Psalm 128 versus 1 to 4. Happy are those who obey the Lord, who live by His commandment. Your work will be provided for your needs. You will be happy and prosperous. Your wife will be like a fruit called vine in your home. Your children will be like young olive trees around your table. A man who obeys the Lord will surely be blessed like this. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So the Bible teaches us that and promises us in the scriptures that whenever we work hard, whenever we put our hearts to the responsibilities of the work that God has given us, we can enjoy the fruit of the rewards of our work. Now some of us maybe just housewives at home. It's all right because when we are putting our efforts in raising up our children, we will enjoy the rewards of our work. Now in the mind of this family who come to our church, they have two young boys. They should be about 10 and 12 years old. Those two boys are so mature in Christ. They're so mature in the way they talk. They're so well mannered in the day and age that they see their children are so rough and they talk back to their parents. But these two boys are so mature in Christ. They're so well mannered. They say their thank yous, welcome. I remember whenever we preach on Sunday, they make notes. They have their own Bible. They make notes. They have their own Bible study time. So I went up to their parents and I said, how did you raise up your children? What did you do to them? They're so well mannered. They're so not for good for the Lord and such a young age. What did you do? And the mother said this, oh, pastor, I spent hours and hours and hours sitting with them and teaching them. We would wake up in the morning. The first thing I would do is I would tell them, this is what you must do. You should sit. You should pray. And she would teach them how to pray. And then she would also play these before getting them ready to school. She would play these five minute cartoon devotionals. This was from the time they were five years old. Cartoon devotionals where they would watch it. And then the first thing that goes into their mind is the scriptures. So the whole day they'd school, they'd finish school, they'd come back. Again, the mother sits with them and asks them what are the things that happened in school? And after that, they have a small Bible study time. They spend time in singing songs. And she's just a housewife. That's her life. That's what she's going to do. But one of the things that I realized is, she is enjoying the fruit of her hard work. And her children are so wonderful. I keep telling them, what you have done from the time you were six years old, from the child who was six years old to now, we can see it in their life. And so Bible promises us, the scriptures promise us that when we work hard, when we give food, and we work on an honorable way, we can enjoy the fruit, the rewards of our work. Especially when it comes to the workplace, professionally it means developing our skills, developing our knowledge, our expertise. And that's how we can have career growth in our life. And when we do grow in our careers, God expects us to enjoy the rewards of our work. So we could even be parents who are looking after children. The more effort we put on our children, the more we will see they are working, walking in the ways of the Lord. Second point, promotion comes from the Lord. We didn't touch upon this topic, but let's read Psalms 75, 6 to 7. Psalms 75, 6 to 7. I just read that. For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. Again, first Peter chapter 5 verse 6. Humble yourselves then under God's mighty hand so that he will lift you up in his good time. Now, this is very important to understand that promotion comes from the Lord. It is the Lord who will open the right doors. It is the Lord who will recognize our hard work and our faithfulness both in the workplace and ministry. It is the Lord who opens up the doors for us. Now, what we must do? We must be yielded to what God is doing in our lives. Now, just because we say, the wrong thing to do is to say, God is the one who brings promotion to my life. Promotion comes from the Lord. So I will sit and I will pray and worship God and go through this fasting prayer and everything and wait on the Lord for a promotion. Now, that's not how it works. We know that faith and works go together. You have faith that, God is going to give me the promotion but I also need to work hard for it. But now the wrong understanding will be and I've given you plenty of examples as well where we can say, God is going to give me promotion but then we don't work hard for it. And we just sit and wait. So waiting time is not idle time. It's preparing. And we'll see that later on as well. So let me be assured of this. Maybe people in your office or people in the ministry have not recognized your hard work or if you've worked really hard on a certain project or even in ministry work really hard and you believe that you're going to get a promotion but for some reason it does not come your way. You do not lose hope. You don't lose faith in God. Continue to trust God. It's very hard but we do understand but when you continue to trust God and say, God, I know the promotion comes from and you will open the right door. And as His children we can always trust Him. I'm sure we've heard of this. Many of them have said this to me. Thank God Pastor, I didn't take this project because I was really waiting for this but I didn't take this project because I got something better few months later or a year later. I got something much better than this. And so remember that when promotion comes it comes from the Lord and He knows how to give it, when to give it and through what opportunity to give it. So we continue to trust God. The next point is excellence will be rewarded. Now the Bible teaches a lot about excellence. Daniel had the spirit of excellence and everything that Daniel did was excellent. Remember that verse, the king's helpers they were looking for a way to find some fault in Daniel but they could not find a fault because he had an excellent spirit. Everything that Daniel did he did with excellence. There was no holes in any work that he had done. So but they only knew that they will get this van Daniel out of this position or in a way to condemn him is only through his God. There's no other way because in his work he's perfect. Everything he's done well. Now picture this. They haven't done the wrong. They haven't captivated him but God used Daniel in such a way that he saw about three kings. Three kings. And the first king what Daniel we know that Daniel 1 and 2 he interprets the prince and the second king comes he interprets the writing on the wall and then the third king the rise the Persian king comes and he says I want Daniel to continue to do the administration at Babylon. So we see that Daniel was a man of excellence. Let's see what Proverbs chapter 23 and was sorry Proverbs 22 and 29 says. Yes, could one of us please read this Proverbs 22 and verse 29. All right. Yes. Do you see a man who exerted his work he will stand before kings he will not stand before a normal man. Thank you. Thank you. Excellence is doing an exceptional job in everything that is going to sign to you. Now as believers you and I must always try for excellence. We must never come to a place of saying of average work. Right. It should never be like okay I'm happy that I that this is okay. This is an average is all right. No. We must strive for excellence because God has put in us the spirit of excellence. We must strive for it. We must say God help me to be the best in what I'm doing. Even in ministry if we are studying preaching there handling a church strive for excellence. We may be just 20, 30 people in the church strive for excellence. Even though we are just 20, 30 people we want to strive for excellence. You know the way we lead our people we do worship team we may not have very good musicians but we strive to get better as a worship team. We strive to get better as a preacher as a pastor. We continue to develop your skills. Right. Now one of the things that as pastors we forget is we focus on the world which is number one priority and we also forget that we must also learn like for example if it's English you have to develop your English vocabulary you know the sentence construction your words we teach the way we minister to people there are so many things that we can learn. Right. So as pastors it doesn't come to an end or ministry leaders you may be leading a small group in a house say okay this is what God is calling for us but strive for excellence in a way that you say okay I want to develop myself in such a way that whoever comes here with whatever problem they have they're all giving a wisdom to handle those situations handle these people what will happen? What will people come up to you and say I want to divorce what are you going to say? How what scriptures are going to use? How are you going to minister to them or what if a family comes and says my son who is 17 years old wants to commit suicide how do I minister to them? You know these are all things that we must learn and we can develop ourselves it's not only you know it's not only about preaching on Sundays or preaching on Bible studies it's still out of excellence that we can have we can develop and grow ourselves right there's also this you know many many times people who lost their loved ones they're going through bereavement and especially at times when it is a Christian family we had a family here in bank law who are believers wonderful believers right they've been serving in the church continually but all of a sudden this elderly couple they had two sons and the younger son who was about maybe 15 years old all of a sudden committed suicide and they had so many questions in their mind why did this happen? why did he take such a drastic step? why didn't we go wrong? and they will come up to us and ask us what did we do? why did we go wrong? why did the Lord allow this to happen? you know the spirit of excellence is being able to also we have the spirit of wisdom also to give the right answers to you to know how to minister to these people the spirit of excellence also is something that we must have and we say God we thank you for all that you've done and I know that you're going to you know bless the ministry sometimes you know when the church is small or the ministry is small it's all like let it happen let's see when it grows big we can do this and I myself have sometimes felt that way but I can't go on not to my attention even though we're small we need to be good in what we do we need to be excellent in what we do so as believers strive for excellence in your studies in your workplace in worship strive for excellence if you're you know housewife strive for excellence in raising up your children each one of us can strive for that let's go to the next point wisdom opens doors and I love this word wisdom is something we can have a lot of knowledge about many things that are happening around us but wisdom is the right use of knowledge applying the knowledge in the right way let's read Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 8 Proverbs chapter 12 verse 8 yes any one of us can read that Proverbs 12 and verse 8 amen we'll be commented according to this wisdom but people above us have to read this mic yes thank you Henry so we all know what wisdom is wisdom is the ability not only about gaining knowledge it's not only about understanding but putting that skill into use where we solve problems we create opportunities we envision, we innovate we come up with ideas and that is what wisdom is when you look at so many of them we studied about Nehemiah God gave him the vision and then he was able to use the wisdom that God gave him to come up with strategies to fulfill the purpose that he had in his life in Daniel you can look at David you can look at Joseph all of these men walk in such wonderful wisdom right and wisdom is not just gaining knowledge it's the ability to make the right decisions to solve problems in the right way to envision things in the future now another important aspect of the wisdom is the point of looking after children we need wisdom to come to a time when children ask us such wonderful questions and nobody don't know what to say times I have a 6 year old boy and he was asking me why is there the father, son and the holy spirit why can't they just be one Trinity the father loves this son and he said but how did the son and the father be together and then how did they come into this world so they have some deep questions and you and I need the wisdom of God not only in the workplace but even at home I love what in the book of Proverbs it says wisdom is like pearls around your neck a lot of tyrants leaders they have wonderful great knowledge great understanding they were so learned but they fall because they didn't walk into wisdom right even in ministry when you look at people they may have gone up the ladder become very famous in the industry many people calling them doing very well but they have fallen in small things why because they didn't act in wisdom so we must remember that in our gifts and talents all that is good but when we use it the right way wisdom will open the mind to us God's people will recognize wisdom always remember this gifts and callings are very easily easily recognized you are a worship leader they will know he is gifted as a worship leader or he is gifted as a preacher or he is gifted as a teacher so you can recognize it but wisdom is something that is it is God who will open the right doors at the right time in the right way God will open those now the mistake we do is sometimes we are going to pray for something and then if somebody else gets an opportunity and you believe that that's your opportunity we get angry that is mine I should have got that how can he get it how can she get this and we react in a negative way wisdom God is in control of everything and understanding that this is not how I must react I need to know how to walk I need to know that I am God's child I should walk honourable and integral and God will open the right doors will open the right doors this one reminding of this there is this young boy from church right and he always keeps serving in the church very faithful in church right but he hardly speaks even to me he hardly speaks he is very soft he doesn't talk much hardly speaks and that's his nature right but he is there for anything in the church to serve he is there he doesn't really talk much and a couple of meetings the first few times I met him immediately I knew that this boy is a boy probably about 21-22 years old but I realised that this boy at such a young age has so much of wisdom I just knew it and I told him that God has given me this wonderful wisdom use it to grow up in your world he is studying as an aeronautical engineer and he just graduated right now he is in Dubai and he got a good job in Dubai and good airline aeronautical engineering and he just messaged me and he said I got a job and my children are 7-8 years experience only they would get but I got that job the responsibilities are high now he was so glad I told him this is because the wisdom of God was upon me and God has opened that door to me we know that aeronautical engineering is a niche market it's not many openings it's not very easy to get it remember the wisdom of God will open many doors sometimes our foolishness can close those doors so we must work with wisdom let's go to the next point a sincere heart and gracious lips will get you noticed Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 11 let's read that Proverbs 22 and 11 Proverbs 22 verse 11 he who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips the king will be his friend Amen he who loves purity of heart a sincere heart will have and has grace on his lips the king will be his friend a sincere heart and gracious lips will get you noticed we may have a lot of you know professionally we may have a lot of knowledge but what if we are a lot of people who are professionally very knowledgeable but when they speak they are so rude and arrogant they act like they know everything and they demean and put down other people do you think you want to work with a boss like that or suppose always rude and shouting and etiquette oh you will want to you will be trending to go to office but the bible says that a sincere heart and gracious lips will not go unnoticed God will make sure that those of us who work with a sincere heart God will notice he will put it into people's heart people will notice and see that hey this man this person will do a good job in this position right he is a sincere worker one thing we know that whatever he does he works sincerely now false allegations may be put upon us but when we are people who with sincere heart and gracious lips the law will stand for us remember that the enemy may bring accusations against us but when we walk in these two attributes these are godly attributes sincere heart being true to God being true to the people that you work and gracious lips knowing what to speak how to speak in love and kindness and humility with integrity all of these things will not go unnoticed people will watch it is better to have sincere heart and gracious lips than to have a law of knowledge and understanding and be a good person next point the more you are given the more you have to deliver let us read Luke chapter 12 verse 48 Luke 12 and verse 48 let us read any one of us Luke chapter 12 Luke 12 was at age 48 but the servant he does not know what is an act of knowledge yet that is something which he deserves a whipping will be punished with a light whipping much is required for the person to whom much is given much more is required for the person to whom much more is given thank you now we know this the more you are given the more we have to deliver now as we go up the ladder the more responsibilities the more we have to deliver now if we want to grow in our work or in our ministry and if we are not doing we look at it at the first point if we are not doing anything about it then it is just wishful thinking we are just thinking I wish I could be a pastor I wish I could be a preacher I wish I could be a worship leader and if we are not doing anything about it then it is just wishful thinking right so the same way the more that is given to you the more opportunities that come your way the more you have to deliver right now for example you may be a small group leader so you know okay there are 10 people in your small group you need to nurture them empower them be there for them counsel them you are like a pastor to them those 10 people now all of a sudden there is an opportunity and they say you are a small group leader you have been here for 5 years now there is a church you are like a pastor to the church you know okay the position is a little bit higher we have to deliver the more that is given we have to deliver we know okay I cannot do the same things what I was doing I am a small group leader I need to spend more time reading the word I need to spend more time praying I need to spend more time understanding the scriptures asking God for revelations I need to be able to minister to the right people how to go about outreaches and talk about so many things that work in the church how do I evangelize what are the sectors different places that I can evangelize the youth the college students the families there are so many things now I cannot say I am used to only these 10 people for 5 years I lead a small group so I am more comfortable with that now and more is given to you we have to deliver we have to see that God you are giving me more how much more I should deliver it is not only about wanting it bigger positions higher roles but also being able to learn to prepare develop skills abilities I remember this in 2012 I auditioned for the worship team in church and so I used to go to the locations which are smaller churches we have different locations so I prepare myself and I go and all of a sudden an opportunity started coming to lead the worship at the main church this is the main church the big big church they have got the recording happening the live streams to all across the world so I knew that I need to develop myself it is no more leading in front of 20, 20 people but a lot of people now it is not like I am not giving my best for the 20, 30 people but I realised that when bigger opportunities come away the more we must be prepared the more we must develop and we must be able to deliver more than what we expected of us and the same thing goes with the workplace and the ministry whatever it is we have to when more is given to us we need to deliver it on time, deliver in the right way right now just because it is ministry one of the things that is what we see around us we take it from granted ministry knows grace and favour and God's blessing is that we must not think of it that way actually it should be the other way around when we have a volunteer meetings I keep telling our volunteers but we keep retraining us even though we are at a church you know the more we give we give in the sense the more we volunteer the more responsibilities that come we must deliver in excellence more than what we do in our regular workplace because you are doing it for God it should be much more and so it is very important to teach our children teach our people our church our team members the workplace teach them the responsibilities are higher the stakes get higher sometimes we go higher the decisions that we make can impact many people the decisions we make the stakes get higher and we go up higher more is expected of you sometimes we look at a position and we say wow I wish I can get this position I wish I could be an assistant manager I wish I could be a CEO it is wonderful but the CEO will have sleepless nights many times because the stakes are so high any decision he makes he will need to think 10 times should I make this or no should I do this or no because it is going to affect the entire company but the same way in ministry as a leader maybe if you are in a post order role any decision you make you will need to remember that it is going to affect the entire church and secondly also our lifestyle the way we live is not to affect the entire church remember this reading we produce our own kinds as a leader if we are leaders who are gossiping always murmuring always saying what will happen the people in that church will have the same kind of attitude suddenly you will see a lot of gossip and anger we could fight amongst each other division, hatred all that will be there because we produce our own kind what are the people who are loving we know how to care for people we are teachable we recognize our mistakes and we open to connection we will see a church that way and so remember mistakes get higher the higher up you go be patient as you transition through employment now we will not read that verse but what I want to say is at season sometimes people may lose their jobs or sometimes people may quit because they just want to take a break for some time so that is all right but for people who have lost their jobs and looking out for a new job and this whole transition period can be very stressful or it could be very eager to know what is happening sometimes we may not get an answer God we don't speak directly to us but remember one thing be patient and trust in the Lord because the Lord is the one who opens the doors the Lord is the one who will break the right door in place now the mistake we make is during these times of unemployment and waiting it does not mean we just sit around and do nothing we can always develop our skills we can always develop in the talents and gifts that God has given us and we wait around and we wait in expectancy knowing that God at the right time you will open the right door so waiting is not an idle time always remember sometimes they say right now Paul waited for 17 years David waited for 17 years but he was not idle they were not sitting and doing nothing preparing themselves Joseph he was preparing himself David was preparing himself even though he was running away from Saul but he was preparing himself God was preparing him so the waiting time or the transition time could be a time of difficulty or you may say God help me through the season but trust in the Lord know that God is working on your behalf and during that waiting time just continue to develop yourself continue to know and whatever God has called you for look ahead as you step into a new job so if there are new opportunities that come your way look ahead with expectancy be joyful I remember I was in Bangor this opportunity came and I was so excited thank you for the opportunity I really want to do well I want to build a strong church here in Bangor give me strategies give me plans for any ideas give me wisdom to handle this I have never been in a past already home I need your wisdom now all of a sudden I remember we came to the church with no past experience of course I was a member here so the work times we were helping and mentoring people teaching them as well but I don't know all of a sudden we had these elderly couples who are well advanced in their age they would come and pour out their hearts to us to see the problems they are going through the challenges we went through we would sit and listen to them think oh God give me the wisdom what do I say to them how do I encourage them when you have a youth who come up with all kinds of things one youth came up to me and said pastor I remember speaking to this youth and I said I will see you next Sunday he said no past I doubt you will see he said what happened he said I think this week I am going to come directly open he just told me that two weeks in the past I don't know I said to myself oh God help me what do I say to this boy I mean he looked serious about it he was there with no smile on his face and he looked serious how do I deal with this problem so you know even through all of that when we look at new opportunities we can always look with expectancy future be teachable but be excited about what God is giving you God is giving you in the workplace God is giving you a promotion don't say oh God promotion now the work is going to be more the money is good but the work I have to work double the hours I have to stay back now we wanted the promotion after getting the promotion that's not right same thing in ministry if you say God one day I want to be a pastor one day I want to travel in the world preach in the gospel God gives us the opportunity we say oh traveling in our flight 20 hours in the train is it okay I can just do the ministry here oh master in care so many people have to sit everyone's troubles and challenges and then I get stressed or there's no blessings and look ahead what God has to do with expectancy joy even though it may be a huge task ahead of you like what Joshua said I'm going to go and take my mountain doctor Caleb were very keen they were old well and advanced in their years now doctor and Caleb didn't say oh how are we going to go just please how are we going to defeat them I wish thought can send us angels and doing Caleb said I feel like I am as young as when I was 40 years old so I am ready to go he was so expected Joshua and Caleb said let's go that is our land that is what God has promised I am ready I may be 18 but I am not old I feel young God has given me the strength and you see that expectancy it is so beautiful to read that passage and they went in and occupied the territory right and so look ahead for the new task God has put ahead this is the last point even as we courageous as we move from employment to entrepreneur there will be times when you've been working with the company and you've been working for probably 10-12 years then all of a sudden you feel led in your heart to start your own business or to start your own company be encouraged tell me stay strong during the time yes we need to plan we need to prepare I need to say okay I need to see financially am I able to start off the business am I able to look up to my family am I saved enough for education for children's education so you look at all those practical aspects but even as we transition be ready to take it out be ready to trust in the Lord sometimes it's not easy when you think of it you say okay but now I may not get my monthly income so how am I going to deal with this be courageous at those times say God I know that if you have called me you will make a way for me so from employment to entrepreneurship if you look at it you know ministry related way the people who have been serving in the ministry for many years and suddenly God tells you go and start this church go and start your own ministry so prepare and be courageous and trust God to go and start he will make ways he will provide and remember that in career growth ministry growth both of it both of them trust and grow and it's wonderful God wants us to grow never be satisfied in the place that we are in develop ourselves and this is close in prayer one of us please close in prayer maybe say any one of us please close in prayer no spray our Father in heaven we bless you we glorify you we thank you Lord for your son who you have used to instruct us in your word in building capacity Lord in being the best that God has called us to be Lord in leaving out excellence in all that we do we pray oh Lord that this words that we've heard oh Lord this words that we mean church we pray that Lord you will give us the grace Lord to become them and to do them all to your glory Lord we call you the rest of the classes we'll be having we pray for wisdom we pray for understanding for all that will be taught thanks be to your holy name Lord I pray Lord that your son Lord who you've used to order us strengthen him and continue to use him for great great great works ahead thank you everlasting Father for in Jesus name we have prayed amen amen thank you so much sorry we don't have time for questions maybe we can look at it tomorrow have a great day ahead we catch it tomorrow God bless thank you pastor