 Right. Good morning everyone. Welcome to New Week. Let's just begin this time with the word of prayer before we get into our study. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to just come together and study and read your word and Lord, just learn from your word of God. Let me pray though that even as we just spend this next hour just being in your presence, Holy Spirit, you will minister to us, you will speak to us. We open our hearts to God. I pray though that everything that we learn and study together Lord, we will use it in our lives for your glory. Give me all the praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright. Okay. So last week we completed the chapter on challenges and tough times, chapter 16. So let's get into the next chapter and chapter 17 is stewardship. What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we say stewardship? The Lord Jesus even in his ministry, earthly ministry, he talked about being good stewards. Stewardship is basically proper use of resources that God has given in our hands. It could be, you know, material things. It could be our time, our money, it could be our work, it could be a family, children. So effective, essential using of the things that God has entrusted to us. And when we talk about stewardship, there are two aspects. Like how there's, for everything that's good and bad, we can either be a good steward or we can be a bad steward. And so today we're going to look at scriptural insights on how God is calling us to be good stewards. Now stewardship can, it doesn't mean we have to become, you know, a leader in ministry or we need to be, you know, somebody who's high up in the corporate sector. Only then this whole aspect of stewardship comes. You can also be a housewife or you can be somebody who's just, you know, working a small job. But stewardship is involved. For example, if God has blessed you with a way to be good stewards of it, we need to look after it. Don't look after it carelessly. Or for example, God has given you, you know, a home, a house. You've got to look after the house. You can't leave it all messy and, you know, if you don't look after it, the house is going to look bad. It's going to start smelling. So we need to look after it. So stewardship starts even from the smallest of things. I know today we'll talk about how these, these points, right? We'll talk about is how you and I can improve being good stewards of God. Maybe it's all of us, you know, been good stewards. These are pointers that we can continue to work on. First one, chapter 17, stewardship, first point, honor God with your personal finances, right? So Proverbs 3, 9 and 10, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. So your bonds will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Look at this verse. He's saying that honor the Lord with your God, with your possessions and with the first fruits of your increase. What will happen if we do that? The outcome of honoring the Lord with our first fruits is your bonds will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Again, if you look at the psalmist, he says your cup will overflow. Overflow is always talking about a blessing. So very important, right? When we honor the Lord with what God has given us, right? It could be our tithes. It could be our offerings. It could be whatever God has entrusted in our hands. Remember that everything belongs to Him and He has given us the opportunity to use it and He wants us to use it in the right way. Giving back to Him the first fruits or the prophets, at least our tithe and our offerings to Him, is a way of saying God, it's a way of honoring God. It's a way of saying God, what you have given me, out of the abundance, out of the overflow that you've given me, this is just giving me, I'm just giving a portion of what you have blessed me with. And as we bless others, we can bless people who are poor, people who are sick, those who are in need. When we bless them, really, it's such a fulfilling thing. And be assured that God will, when we honor God with all of these finances, God will multiply, God will provide for arguments, right? Second one, always tithe from your individual income. Now, Malachi 3, 10 and 12, 10 through 12, bring the full amount of your tithes to the temple so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things. I will not let insects destroy your crops and your grape vines will be loaded with grapes. Then the people of all nations will call you happy because your land will be a good place to live, right? So here again, God is saying, you test me and see. You give from what God has given you and I will open up the heavens and pour out on you the abundance of good things, right? Now, there are two things that we must consider, right? So for example, there is a businessman. We know that he's not going to get a monthly income, right? It all depends on profits, margins, maybe once in three months, quarterly, half-yearly, or it even could be yearly, right? Or it could just be irregular incomes that they keep coming in. So in that case, the person who's maybe in business can whenever he gets their profits or whenever he gets income from the business, it's very good to give one tenth to the loan out of that, right? What happens? We are expressing dependence on God and when we give, again, on the other side, we are building God's kingdom as well, right? And then the second aspect is that of a salaried person. Now, if a person has salaried and every month he's going to get a certain salary, first thing, keep aside what you want to give to God and then you can make your budget for the entire month, right? Now, the wrong thing to do is making the budget and then deciding, okay, no, I will giving to the Lord, I'll reduce it to this much or I will not give this month anyway, God is gracious, he will not get angry. Now, yes, God is gracious, God is love, all of that, but it's important to honor God with our first fruits, right? Now, many of them have asked me, what about times when we do these small part-time jobs or somebody is teaching music and you get a certain amount of money from this, maybe a student is teaching music and he gets a certain amount of money, should I take out of that? What I would say is it will be good to do it, right? Why? It becomes a habit, right? So when you give to God, even if you're making, for example, you're getting a small amount of money, maybe this 5000 rupees, giving one-tenth of it, even when you're a student, it's very good because you're inculcating a habit or some of you may be getting pocket money from your parents, right? You get a certain amount each month. You can put away, put aside. Now, it's not that it's the fruit of your labor and you're giving one-tenth, but you're just honoring God for what God has given you. Now, that is not a compulsion, right? Especially when you know that you're just a student, your parents are sending money to you, but if you'd like, you can do it. It's just a way to honor God and when we do it, it's not like we're doing God of labor, but what you're doing is you're opening up your life for heaven to just pour out blessings upon you. So these are things that you can consider. Now, on the flip side, never feel that, okay, if I don't give, then God is going to be upset with me. God will bring a curse upon me and I will never be blessed. Now, there will be times, for example, we just cannot give this huge financial burden. That's all right. But see other ways how you can cover up for that, right? Maybe the following month or the next month. But it should come from the heart, even as we give. Be generous, give to help others in need. He has said it, give unto others. And Proverbs 11, 24, 25, the world of the generous gets larger and larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed. Those who help others are helped, right? So, what we'd like to say is whenever you get an opportunity, be generous to others, right? We work, we earn, but not everything is money. Money does not control us. We control it and put it to use. We do not put our trust in money, but God empowers us to make money. And God has taught us that even when we make money, we are to be generous to others. So, it could be somebody in your workplace who may be going through a difficult time. Now, don't look at that person and say, hey, but we both are earning the same salary. We both are in the same company. So, he has commitments, even I have commitments. Yes, but we never know what he's going through. Maybe he has a child who is in the hospital and has continual bills to pay, right? So, whenever possible, be generous, be kind, share without really expecting that, right? So, giving others will really, it's a very fulfilling thing. Now, once you start giving, once we start giving, nothing will stop us, right? So, it could be ministries and villages, maybe small pastors that you know who are in villages or who are just doing some small meager ministry, even a small amount. I was the other day, I was just thinking about this. In the cities that we live in, when we go out as a family or just going out to have a lunch, we spend about 1000 rupees just for a lunch, right? And, you know, when we give a pastor or you give a village pastor, when you give them 1000 rupees, 1000 rupees is too much of value for them because for them, they can last 10, 12 days, 2 weeks. Just 1000 rupees, it helps them in their food for the house, maybe for the vegetables, just groceries, small things. It's also going to be a big deal. But for us in the city, 1000 rupees is nothing, it's just maybe, you know, a lunch. So, things have changed, right? And it gives us an opportunity to really step out to bless others. Now, I understand all of us are students, some of you may be working, but if you're students, don't worry about it, right? It's your season, you know, don't panic and say, hey, I'm not able to bless anyone. That's alright, but there will come a time when you can bless others and help others do it, right? Give to the poor widows and orphans. Proverbs 22, 9, he who has a generous eye will be blessed for he who gives of his bread to the poor. Proverbs 28, 27, he who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses. Now, God has instructed us to give to the poor, right? The widows, the orphans. Now, when we say give to the poor, it's not only money, it could be anything else. It could be, especially we do this during Christmas clothes. We have these sales that happen where we can, you know, just buy these used clothes that, you know, give to the poor, give to orphans, bed sheets and blankets and socks. And it's usually, you know, December is a cold season, got many homeless people on the streets, children without slippers or all these things. So these are small things that we can do, right? Look for opportunities and do it. And when we do it, you know, it really will fulfill us and God will really bless us. It's not like we do it and then we say, okay, God, where's my blessing? I'm waiting for it. No. We do it with the heart of saying, God, I want to bless others. And God knows how to bless us through what we do, right? Support others, orphans, widows. And it's wonderful to see that the Lord has raised up many ministries that focus on supporting, you know, maybe children, supporting orphans and widows. But we can also do our part wherever possible. Addressing poverty, standing up against injustice and other causes. Proverbs 19-17, he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given. Proverbs 13-23, much food is in the fallow ground of the poor. And for lack of justice, there is waste. So in addition to helping the poor, remember that the poor are many times exploited as industrious. There is social evils, child labour, prostitution, bonded labour, slavery, child trafficking, all these kinds of things that are happening around us. Now, some of the things that I've read a couple of months ago, it's really disturbing. And this happened in our nation. I'm not sure about the other nations. But in India, we've heard of a lot of cases where small babies are being sold. They are probably, you know, they're being stolen from places, in public places, they've been stolen. They just, you know, there are people who come, they just pluck the baby from the mother's child and run away in the pipe and they sell these babies. We look at all these things and we say, God, how can this happen? And these are things that are happening in broad daylight. Well, thankfully, you know, we do have a good, you know, system where many of them have been caught by the police. But what we're trying to say is there's a lot of injustice happening. There's a lot of other causes that we can stand for, right? There are natural disasters, epidemics. You know, when the pandemic came, it gave us an opportunity to bless people. Many of them lost their jobs. Many of them, you know, were going through a very difficult time. And if it was in our, if it's our ability, in our hands, we must bless, right? It's very important to be there and stand up for these times. You know, even now what we're seeing is recession. People are losing their jobs. Many of them have lost their jobs. And we're going to help them, you know, every month with a certain finance. But whenever we can, we help them financially. But we can also do other things, you know, just connect them to maybe a company that is, you know, or people that you know who are working in companies, hey, this is a person that, you know, doesn't have a job. Can we help them? These are small things. And again, these, when we do these things, it's just helping them. God blesses us. Finally, we all, we are all responsible for creation here, right? Psalms 115 and verse 16, the heaven, the heavens are the laws, but the earth, he has given to the children of men, right? Adam's responsibility was what he was both to cultivate the garden and to guard it, right? So he had to look after it. But he, God also said that with the primary focus of obeying God, of looking at God, loving God, and the same way, God has also called us to cultivate, to grow, you know, after the fall, there was a curse on the ground. But, you know, in the divine exchange, now God has blessed us, right? Yes, there's hard work. There's, there's, we have to toil, we have to work hard. We have to use the wisdom of God. But even as we do all of this, right, we put our hands to the plow. Our focus must be the Lord Jesus. Our focus must be loving people. Our focus must be, hey, how can I, you know, build God's kingdom? You know, how can I, you know, reach out to people and engage in meaningful, engage meaningfully in protecting, conserving and preserving our earth's resources? It is our responsibility. It's our responsibility. We must protect our, you know, our city, our nation. We must, now, many times, you know, we eat something and we just, maybe throw the wrapper away, just anywhere we'd like. Now, we may think, hey, it's not going to make a big difference. But we can start small, right? If you do, maybe 10 others will see it and they will learn. And then you'll be teaching the next generation how to, you know, preserve the place that we are living in. Because it is God who has placed us here and it is God who has given us the responsibility to look after what is in our hands. And so that's a little bit about stewardship. Let's get into career growth, right? Now, this is a very interesting talk, right? Career growth. I'm sure that, you know, as youth, you may have thought of your careers or you're still thinking about it. And it's very important to think about your career because you must have a vision. You must have something that you can hold on to and look to and to, you know, to accomplish. Now, in today's world, professional growth takes place not only laterally, meaning not only up to the ladder, but it's also, you know, vertically. So growth happens in different ways. New startups, new teams, right? New, maybe, you know, ventures in the same company, right? Now, career growth is dependent on career development. If you're continually growing in your grace, your gifts, your skills, increasing your experience, your knowledge, your expertise, you're going on increasing, going on learning, career growth will happen. But if we keep saying, no, this is who I am, this is what I can do, this is what I will end up doing, then we may not see a growth in our career, right? Now, we'll talk about the person, the place and the purpose that God has for our lives. Remember, we talked about it in, I think it was chapter one or chapter two about Abraham and how Abraham called him as the person, took him to a place and he showed him the purpose that he had for his life. So in career growth, there are various stages we have to move into, right? He may take you from one stage to another and each stage maybe two, three years, maybe five years, maybe many more years, right? Maybe 10 years as well, or certain stages, maybe one year, right? So we must be willing to go through those various stages of transitions and at the right time make the right transitions and make wise transitions even when we do that, right? So let's look at career and career growth. Now, when I say career, you can also translate it to ministry, right? So for example, you're right now in the church, but you want to grow, right? You want to see yourself growing, right? It's just that you're not looking at it as a career or a way of getting more income, but you're looking at it as a way of saying, God, I want to do more. I want to reach out more. I want to improve in my skills, my knowledge, my expertise, my grace, my gifts. I want to grow in it, right? And there's nothing wrong with that. It's nothing wrong to desire to be, to do big things in the kingdom of God, right? So let's look at these few points. First one, even as I go on, feel free to stop me. You can type in your questions. You can also unmute, ask your questions, right? Right. You can enjoy the rewards of your work. Oh, Psalms 128, 1-4. Happy are those who obey the Lord, who live in by His commands. Your work will provide for your needs. You will be happy and prosperous. Your wife will be like a fruitful wine 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 these. Now this is a wonderful scripture. It is a promising verse of enjoying the rewards of your labor, right? Labor is very difficult, right? When we look at labor, it's so much to get done. So much to do. It's hard work. You need to stretch yourself. If it's a desk job, you need to stretch your mind. You've got to come up with strategies, new ideas. But it's always so fruitful to see the fruit of your hard work. It is such a happy... There is no other joy than to enjoy the rewards of your work. There's no other joy. Every time we meet with some of our old Bible college students, we try to figure out which batch you were. I was in this batch, and then we asked them, hey, what are you doing now? Say, I'm doing ministry in this place. Oh, I feel so happy. There's such a joy in your heart. That joy of the person that we taught here in ministry, they're doing something in the Lord. They're building God's kingdom. There is no other joy than that, right? Now, believe God's word and look to Him to bring this in your life. Meaning, in order to see the rewards of your work, it requires us to work hard. Work hard. You see the rewards. You may need to develop your skills, develop your knowledge, your expertise, and carry your growth is exciting. It is really exciting. And then we... Look at Joseph. Wonderful example. Joseph is there in the prison. Now, his growth was from prison directly. He became a deputy CEO, if it was a corporate sector. You got a CEO, you got a board of directors from nowhere he came in. But he had to go through seasons. And he had to go through a period of hard working. Not only physically, but also in the spiritual here, he had to stay away from evil. He had to stay away from what the things that Egypt was offering for him. But he also grew. He prayed to God. He said, God, now we don't have an account when he was a young boy that he could interpret dreams. There was no account of that. But I'm sure he knew that, hey, I keep getting these dreams. So God helped me teach me how to understand. Maybe he prayed that way. Maybe he kept praying, saying, God, help me to grow. Help me to learn to speak well. And when he went to the king and he spoke, the king was pleased. He was not stammering and stuttering. He was not fearful, but he was very bold and he very clearly interpreted the dream. God revealed it to him, but there was wisdom. There was a way that he got revealed the dream. God gave him the wisdom to come up with a solution to the dream. Promotion comes from the Lord. That comes to our next point. Sounds 75, 6 through 7. 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. Promotion comes from the Lord. When you and I are good stewards, when we work, when we do what God has called us to do, in an honorable way, we do it sincerely, diligently. Promotion comes to the Lord. And I can give hundreds of examples of how, you know, there were times I just wanted to say, hey, what is this? Only I'm doing it. Nobody else is doing anything. But I just did it because I knew I said, God, I'm doing it for you. It's okay. Doesn't matter what others think of it, but I will do it because you have called me to do this. It is God who makes a way for promotion and growth. So continue to walk humbly before God, yield to his purposes, continue to grow professionally, continue to develop your skills, and he will make sure your promotion happens. Now, it could take time. Now, we must remember the corporate ladder is a lot of competition. It's a lot of competition. Maybe people are very skilled, but you have an edge. You and I have an edge. What is that edge? You and I have the living God, the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us, to instruct us on how to get things done. We have the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of God to come up with the right solutions. So, you know, depend on that. Depend on the Holy Spirit. You will see promotion coming. Excellence will be rewarded. Do you see Proverbs 22, 29? Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men. Excellence simply means doing a job in an exceptional way. Perfect. So, it's like there's nothing wrong. Everything has been done right. So, for example, you're sending an email to your boss. The email should portray excellence. One, sentence construction. Two, the words that are being used. Three, grammatical errors should not be there. I'm trying to communicate what you want to communicate in that email in a clear and a concise manner. Because sometimes we can keep writing emails which are what you can communicate in three lines. We end up using eight lines and the reader is like, oh, what is he trying to say in this email? So, it's very important that we be excellent in what we do. What about ministry? What about our worship? What about times of preaching the word of God? Let it be excellent. What about times of the corporate sector, you're in a team meeting and you have to facilitate this team meeting. Do it in excellence. Don't say, okay, yes, God is with me and I'll go and God will lead me. No, you need to prepare. You need to prepare. It's like saying, hey, on a Sunday I'll go and I'll stand there on the pulpit and I'll ask the Lord to minister to me and then I'll give my sermon. It doesn't work. Prepare the sermon. We rely on the Holy Spirit and so excellence will be rewarded. It may not be immediately. If it's immediate, it's wonderful. But if you have to wait for it, there is sweetness. When you wait for something and over time, people appreciate you for the work that is done. There is sweetness. It just encourages you. It just helps us to say, hey, God, I thank you that my work was recognized. I'm going to press on to do better in what I'm doing. Next one. Wisdom opens doors. Problems dwell in it. A man will be commended according to his wisdom but he who is of a perverse heart will be despised. Now we know the difference. There's knowledge, there's wisdom. We're requiring information and growing ourselves. Wisdom is basically the appropriate use of that knowledge. While the ability to use our competencies to solve problems, determine solutions, envision, to look ahead, determine the course of action to take, all of this requires wisdom. Now, wisdom is attained. It is something that we can grow in. Just like faith. Faith, we grow in our faith. Wisdom, again, we grow in wisdom. Remember the Lord Jesus? I think in the book of Matthew it says, he grew in wisdom. It's not like he was born and then when he was three years old, he had all the wisdom. No. The Lord Jesus grew in wisdom. How did he grow in wisdom? He spent time in God's Word. He spent time with the Holy Spirit. He was always in communication with God and this kind of wisdom will bring honor and open doors to you. Why was Jesus, you know, in some places, why was he so honored? Why did thousands follow him? Yes, it was miracles, but also the wisdom that he spoke with. The Pharisees only are saying, hey, who's this guy? Isn't he the carpenter's son? From where did he get such a kind of wisdom to speak this way? And then, you know, the Roman centurion would come, Gentiles would come to him. Why? It opened doors for him. The wisdom of God. Should we give to God or should we give to Caesar? Whose face do you see? Caesar's. Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Give to God what belongs to God. Give to God's wisdom. So he's not saying don't give tax and he's not saying give tax. He's saying give what belongs to Caesar or the taxes will be given. But give what also belongs to God. So there was such a wisdom in that. Now, these doors, these opportunities, because of the wisdom that the Lord Jesus walked him, the door of the ministry opened to Gentiles as well. You see it, right? The Romans, there was Cornelius, of course, later on Cornelius and all that, right? You and I, when we walk in wisdom, it opens doors for us. Now, before you make a decision, right, before you make, and if it's a very important decision, take time and make a decision, right? Because you need to be wise in the decisions that we make. Develop the ability of, you know, working on something. If you're working on something, develop the ability to, you know, wisely make the decision in whatever we are doing. Develop the ability not only of gaining knowledge and understanding and skill, but also being able to bring it together, solve, create, envision and innovate. Now, let's look at it in the ministry side. Think about this. We read the Bible, we meditate on it, and we keep praying every day. That's wonderful, God is teaching us. But what about when, what if a time comes, you know, somebody comes to you and says, you know, brother, master, this is what's happening in my home, you know, me and my wife are always fighting, there's always tensions, and now we want a divorce. So what do you think we must do? Now imagine, we know everything about the word, and we don't give the right solution. We say something which doesn't make sense, or it doesn't, you know, solve the problem. There's no use, there's no word of wisdom there. The person hearing will say, okay, and probably look for somebody else to help them. We need the word of wisdom. We need the wisdom of God to, especially when it comes to counseling when people, there will be, you know, families or parents will come up to me, come up and say, you know, this is what is happening. You know, yesterday at church, this couple came up to me and said, they were crying. They said, I lost my son. He committed suicide. He's 20 years old. There was absolutely no sign of any, you know, depression, any sadness. I don't know why this happened. We are a loving family. We have four of us. He has no bad habits, no bad friends. Very good guy. Didn't go out partying. Didn't do anything wrong. Average student as well. I don't know what it is. What do I do? My wife is hurt and broken. There's no words that could console her. I don't know. I feel that I'm not a good parent. What can we tell them during these times? We can't say, oh, I understand. We don't understand. Because the pain is too much to bear. We cannot understand it unless we have gone through it. But we need a word of wisdom. Of course, we empathize with them, but we need that word of wisdom. What can I say in this situation that can bring comfort to this couple? Wisdom opens doors. Proverbs 4-8, I love this verse. Love wisdom and she will make you great. Embrace her and she will bring you honor. Love wisdom. Wisdom will make you great. Being wise on what to do. Next one. A sincere heart and gracious lips. We'll get you noticed. Even in the previous chapters. Being sincere, being gracious in our words. Definitely the right attitude, gentleness, sincerity, kindness will get us noticed. It will give us access to people. People of authority. Don't neglect walking in the fruit of the spirit. Many times we may have these highly anointed people, but they are just not sincere probably, or they're not gracious. Their words is ridicule, mock people, talk bad of others. What happens? We're good in one area, but then the other side we're saying, we're not walking in the fruit of the spirit. So remember, it gets you noticed. Sincere heart and gracious lips. The more you are given, the more you have to deliver. So true. The more the responsibilities, the more we have to deliver. The more God gives us opportunities, the more we have to deliver. The greater powers comes, greater responsibilities. Greater the role, greater the position, greater the responsibility. The higher you go, the easier things are going to be. You can just delegate, but no, the higher you go, the greater the responsibility, the higher the role, the skills are required, the competencies are required, and we need to develop ourselves. Imagine you're a team leader, we get a promotion to being an assistant manager. Things will change. All of a sudden you're going and sitting with corporate heads, head of departments in the company. You can't go there as an assistant manager or a manager, you can't go there in these corporate meetings and we can't act silly, we can't just say things arbitrarily, we need to behave wisely. So the higher you go, higher the position, higher the responsibility. The workload may become more, but take it up. It's wonderful. If you want to grow, but you don't want to do anything about it, and you just want to grow in the ladder, but you don't want to work for it, then that's just wishful thinking. Yeah, I want to become a CEO. It's wonderful. You've got to work for it. No, I just want to become a CEO. That's wishful thinking. If we're not willing to do what it takes to build ourselves, build our capacities, build our competencies, then we're not going to get to the next level. So we need to do our part. Prepare, learn, grow, get ready to go. So the higher you go, there's more visibility and there is more opportunities and there's more responsibilities. Remember, the higher you go, you'll also be impacting many more people under you. The stakes get higher, the higher up you go. The responsibilities are greater. The price you pay is greater. So the higher up you go, the stakes are higher. The decisions you make is going to impact many more people. Yes, Divya, you've put a worse term. Mark 4, Mark 4, Mark 4, 25. Okay, consider. Yeah, I just wanted to have a clarity on this verse. I know it's a different context altogether. I think it's talking, Jesus is trying to tell the disciples why parables, like the purpose of parables. So it comes after the parable of the sower in Mark 4. So in this, when Jesus says, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you and even more. Then he goes on, whoever has will be given more. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them. I tried to think about this, but I didn't understand actually. Yeah. Yeah, so again, as you mentioned, this is from the parable of the sower. And here, what Jesus is trying to bring that is, see, whoever has been given more, whoever does, sorry, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Basically talking about stewardship. So the more I have, the more the responsibility. So the parable of the sower was that. The more I have, the more I have to do well. Now, what if I have more and I don't do anything about it? The verse here says, whatever they have also will be taken away. Now the word taken away from him, it's not like God is saying, okay, I gave you, I've made you a manager. And now you haven't done well as a manager. It's been two years. So now I'll put you back to a lower position. No. So we must understand. And, you know, this is where hermeneutics comes into place, right? Interpreting scriptures in light of the context of the scripture, right? Now, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that, you know, God wants to bless us, right? God wants to, you know, make us grow. His plans are to prosper, right? And so that is, that is already something that God has decided, right? But because of our own way of working, right? Now, if I have, if I'm made a manager and I say, okay, I will come at 11 o'clock. I'll just, you know, just look at some, you know, documents to see what I can do. Just while away time and then finish and go back home. Okay, I've done my work. If I keep doing this, now what God has, you were faithful before and God has lifted you up. But now, you know, because of your work before God has lifted you up, now you're in this position. You have to work as much as you have because of the position. You have to do all the responsibilities of that position. When we don't do it, we are opening ourselves up for failure. It is not God who's saying, no, I will not give you. I'm going to take it away and give this manager a job to somebody else because you're not doing it. No, it is our responsibility. It's our fault. Right? So if I, if I decide, okay, I'll just take 10 days leave, not do any work, don't work hard for the role that God has given me. Of I say, oh, I only wanted to be a manager. So now God, you've made me a manager. Thank you. But then as a manager, if I'm not doing what is right, if I'm not doing my work, I'm not doing my responsibilities, I am opening up the door because I've been foolish, I'm opening up the door for the enemy to come in and I'm opening up the door for people to question my work and eventually, it's not God who's taking it away from me, but, you know, maybe somebody else who's more worthy or somebody else who's more hardworking will get that opportunity. Now, I can't blame God for that. It is my fault. So, we shouldn't be surprised if our, you know, the, maybe the head of department comes and says, hey, you know, you've been a manager for a year, but we've decided that we're going to request you to step down and we request you to, you know, go back to what you were doing before and they are hiring a new manager and this is what he or she will do. Now, I should not be surprised and I should not blame God. God, you made me manager and now you took it away from me. God is saying, no, I made you a manager because you were faithful before that. Now, when you were the manager, you were not faithful, you were, you know, doing whatever you were doing. Now, because of that, you have opened the door. I'm ready to bless, but I didn't see any hard work. What can I bless? If I don't see any work, if I don't see any sincerity, any diligence, any competency and anything that you're doing, if I don't see, how will I bless it? So you open the door to the enemy, curses, not curse, but you've allowed the enemy to, you know, get into your head. If not work, now this is what is happening. So, to get to, to bring a context, yes, what will be taken, whatever they have will also be taken only in context to this, right? I hope this example helps you. It is not that God is taking away, but we have a loved God, we have a loved the enemy, our own mistakes, our own things. Open the door and obviously somebody better is going to get in. Now that person can be, if you look at a corporate sector, that person can be a person from another faith also. But he's working hard. So he'll come. Then we sometimes question, hey, God, I'm a believer, I believe in you. And then this unbeliever you've put as a manager and you've put me down. How can the name of Christians be, you know, the name of Christianity has been affected here. How can an unbeliever come and take my place as a manager? Now it's not the name of Christianity, it is our name. Because I haven't done what I was supposed to do. Now, on the flip side, what if I had done what I was supposed to do, like work hard. God, thank you for the manager's role. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to look up for the next role, next position that you have for me. So help me to work with diligently, be a good steward. Help me to improve. Even as I grow, my grace, my gifts, help me to do well. And then I keep working hard. God will bless that, and the next thing you know, you'll be a head of department. So it's not like God is taking away. When we open our lives to the enemy, how we open, we don't do what is right in the sight of God. The enemy comes in and snatches away what is already there. Divya, I hope that... Yes, yes. Just like it's a natural consequence. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Most welcome. We'll stop here. We have a little more on this chapter, but we'll stop here. We'll continue on Wednesday. Thank you so much, everyone. Have a great week ahead. I'll see you on Wednesday. God bless.