 Right. Good morning Paul, Divya. Good morning. Let's start our session this morning. Let's begin with the time of prayer. I'll just pray and then we'll begin with that class. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to just come together and learn from your word and pray God that even as we learn together that Holy Spirit you will empower us Lord. We open our hearts to you God. In Jesus name we pray. All right. I'm not sure why the others haven't joined yet but we will start. So last week we've been talking about workplace relationships. Some of the points that we covered was maintaining love. Love is the basis of our work, our ministry. Remember that we need to love people. More than looking at them as mute. More than looking at them as just people who need to get tasks fulfilled. You need to love them. When we have the opportunity to bless somebody, bless them. Be sensitive to people's needs. Don't forget to say please your sorries, your thank yous, workplace etiquettes. Be an encourager and be careful who influences you. Especially in the workplace there are different kinds of people, different attitudes, different temperaments, different faiths. Be careful what influences you. Now that was a choice that is up to us. Know your boundaries in corporate socializing. There are boundaries. We spend about 40 hours in the workplace. 40 to 50 hours in the workplace. There are boundaries that we must set. Why? Because we know that we are in the workplace and families back at home are doing other things. Very important to know that God is watching us. Just to be aware of that. Even the bosses who are rude and harsh develop workplace etiquettes. There will be times when the heat is on. There are times when we have to there is a lot of work pressure. There is pressure on every side. Or there is arguments and strife happening in the team or within the organization behave wisely during that time. Stay away from these arguments. There will be times when there are arguments. I always say this. I always think about this. Choose the battles that you fight. You don't have to fight every battle. You choose the battle you have to fight. If you feel that this is only a waste of time you don't have to try to fight that battle. Not all battles are worth fighting. Always remember that. That's where we stop. We have a few more points in this chapter. Then we will get into the next chapter which is planning and execution. Let's look at these few more points that are left. When a co-worker underperforms or violates rules handle it cautiously. Proverbs 30 and verse 10. Don't blow the whistle on your fellow workers behind their backs. They will accuse you of being underhanded. Then you will be the guilty one. There will be times, especially if you are leading a team or you are part of a team, you know that in the workplace there is an underperforming teammate or there are some others who violate company policies, company rules. Whenever possible first thing, address the matter personally directly with that person. Ask them, is this what is happening? Is this what it is? We found out that you are doing this wrong. This is something that is against the company rules, against the organization. Talk to the person one on one. Then if you see that there is no improvement or there is no change, you can take it up for the legal department. But this is a difficult thing to do in the organization. Of course we want to be gracious as leaders, especially when it comes to ministry. What if there are underperforming employees? How do we rate performance, especially in ministry? There are ways. We can't say it's God's grace, God will enable us. Yes that's true but we have to put our hand to the plow. We have to work hard. We have to, you know, whether it is ministering to people in the church, in the life group, in a small group setting, whatever it is, whatever ministry it may be, it is hard work. You have a team and if you feel that the other person is not putting in 100% effort then it's wise to just ask them to bring them up, talk to them in person, try to find out what's happening. Especially if it's ministry. We may have to handle it a little bit differently than how we handle it in the corporate sector. But if there is violation of rules, especially in terms of ministry, if you see there's money, there's a problem with handling money. If you see that people are engaging in things that are morally not good, not right in the eyes of God there and you see that there, it's open in the church immediately, immediately take action. Never look at this and especially when it comes to ministry, never look at it and say okay it will get solved on its own. No, we have to resolve those matters. We cannot take the dust and put it under the carpet. Even when we handle it, you handle it immediately, you handle it cautiously. Be wise, ask God for wisdom on how to handle that situation. Next one is feedback. Pay attention and pay close attention to it. Proverbs 27, 21. The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold and a man is valued by what others say of him. Let's read Proverbs 26, 16. A lazy person will think he is smarter than seven men who can give good reasons for their opinions. Now this is very important. I think this is something that all of us should be, no matter where we are in life, whether we are high up the ladder in the corporate sector, whether we are up the ladder in the ministry, feedback is very important. So pay attention to feedback and do not treat feedback lightly. Feedback and input that is coming from, especially people who are seasoned and people who are experienced in whatever they are doing, if they give you feedback, do not treat it with content. Be willing to listen, be willing to learn, be willing to make changes and very important, don't try to defend yourself. No, I did it because of this. Or I did it because, you know, I do it this way because of this. So what happens is the person who is giving you feedback will say, hey I gave the feedback but I see that he has always been, he or she is just ending whatever I am trying to say and what happens? We will not improve. There will be no growth, there will be no skill and we will remain stacked in the same position. Now this happens especially when people give feedback and you grown up the ladder and people give feedback. Sometimes we take it the wrong way. For example, somebody can come and say, you know what when you are preaching, you know, for example a person faster may be preaching for the last 10, 15 years but somebody from the church may come and say, hey, you know, when you are preaching this is something that I noticed. You know, an example, right? This is just an example. I feel that you are talking too fast. Or another feedback when you say, I feel that, you know, as you give these Bible verses you can give an illustration or an example so that we all can understand. Now that is good feedback. It is not feedback that is wrong. It is good feedback. It is constructive feedback. But the other person may not be a person who has gone preaching for many years or may not even have stood in front of people and spoken about anything. Now the wrong thing to do is to say, hey, I have been preaching for 10, 15 years. How can you tell me that this is what I must do? You yourself have not done it. Now that is the wrong way to look at things. Is it constructive feedback? Is it something that is going to help me? Yes, it is. If I had a few illustrations, if I talk a little slower, many more people can understand. You are talking fast in a sermon. Maybe people cannot grasp it. So take feedback. Pay attention to it. And as leaders even now we receive feedback. We are open to feedback from church, from our church folks, from our students. You are also free to give us feedback as teachers. Why? Because we want to love, we want to improve ourselves. It is not like you give us feedback and we just take it and put it away. We pay close attention to it. We try to work on it and improve ourselves. Next one. Always receive correction with a good attitude. Proverbs 12 and verse 1. Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge. Who hates correction is stupid. There are a couple of verses there. Proverbs 13 and 18. Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction. But he who regards the rebuke will be honored. You see the importance of receiving correction with a good attitude. In a day and age that we are living in now correction is something that we feel offended. People get offended. If we tell them this is how we can do it, people get offended. How can he say this? Not everyone. Because the attitude of working, either ministry or working professionals have changed. Now I will do it this way. But they are so used to doing it in a certain way. But if there is correction given, they may not receive it in the right attitude. Receiving correction is the right attitude and willing to change and making improvements is the best attitude that you can have. Don't shy away from those who administer correction in your life. Which means if you know that a person always is always trying to tell you what to do or bring you know give you inputs and ideas or bring corrections don't run away from them. The people who correct you are the ones who care enough and they want to see you grow, they want to develop, they want to see you become a better person. Build a rapport with them, be with them, build a relationship with them, continue to receive input and apply it in your life. I remember this. There was this elderly couple in church. This is ABC in Mangalore. This elderly couple in church. And you know every Sunday we were preaching on Sundays. Initially they never came up with me because we were new to Mangalore and they didn't want to offend me. But they came up to me one Sunday and they said you know pastor I want to share this with you but please don't take it in the wrong way. I said yeah sure please feel free to share. And then they said one of the things we noticed is the message is very good. Your examples are also good. But sometimes you talk so fast we can't understand. You're so fast sometimes you just tell the verse and you read the verse. So by the time we open to that portion of the Bible, the verse is already over. Of course we have a presentation but there are some of them. So in my mind the presentation is there, the Bible verses there, they can see it there. But in my mind it's there, the verses there, they can see it. But there are I didn't realize that there are others who would like to mark it on their Bibles or like to make notes while the sermon is going on. And they said to me can you be a little slow please. But after that they were feeling so bad. I hope you're not, I said not at all. I remember taking that feedback because it's important. I'm not preaching to impress everyone. The preaching is to build the church. It is for the church it's not to fill up time on Sunday morning. So I realized hey I cannot do this. I need to make sure that my preaching is moderate. I should not be too fast. So it was a decision or it was an act that I intentionally had to work on the feedback. Because by nature I may be a fast talker but I had to work on it. And over time it's become a habit. Every time I preach I try to slow down. Now was it good feedback? Very good feedback. If what if he had not told me I would have continued on and on just talking fast. So all these feedbacks and it could be simple feedbacks. It need not be something very spiritual. Sometimes it's just the way you talk to people. All these things matter. So as students of the world always be open to correction in a good attitude just so that we improve and better ourselves. Initially, I wanted to add this initially, for example, we start off in the workplace. We are a new joining or maybe we are new in the ministry. We just started ministry. Receiving correction will be very open. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me the feedback. I'll apply it. But what happens when you're tenured in the ministry? What happens when you're 15 years in the ministry or 15 years in the workplace? Things change. How can you tell me in 15 years I'm doing this? That is wrong. If you are 15 years or 30 years or 30 days, be willing to receive feedback. Be careful before you stand as a guarantor. Problems, Chapter 6 verse 1 to 4. Myself, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands and pledged for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your mouth. You are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself. You have come into the hand of your friend. Go and humble yourself. Plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes. No slumber to your eyelids. Let's look at the other one. Proverbs 11, 15. Who is a surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure. As we develop workplace relationships, there will be times when colleagues may ask you to stand as a guarantor. For example, for a purchase, for a loan, or for a business venture. Now, probably you're working with this man or woman for 10 years. So hey, we've built a good relationship. But I would always say, be careful before you stand as a guarantor. Be careful before you put your name anywhere. Remember that people can change. Things can change. Situations can change. People change according to situations. The best example is look at Julius. He was with Jesus. He was with the Son of God. Walking with Jesus, three and a half years. The situation came, he betrayed him. So you can never say that, hey, this person is my brother and he will never I'm not saying that don't trust anybody. That's not what the attitude is. But think about it. Pray about it. Be wise. Especially when it comes to money or when it comes to things like starting new businesses, new ventures, third parties, you want to stop something. Think about who you stand as a guarantor. Now that is a personal choice. I cannot say don't stand. There will be times if you have to stand. If you know it's maybe your own relatives or family members, you have complete trust and then go ahead. But just think and be wise about it. Because it should not affect your life later on. Last point. Avoid astrologers, horoscopes, fortune tellers and palm readers. Jeremiah 10 and verse 2. That says the Lord, do not learn the ways of the Gentiles, do not be dismayed at the signs of the heaven. For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. There are times that we are now astrology, horoscopes, palm reading. All these practices have been prevailing for many years. But now astrologers have some new tools and I don't know what they are but they have some new ideologies and fortune telling. There are some where they have these exotic birds that haven't really gone deep into learning that. But there are some exotic birds. These exotic birds will put those carbs down. Depending on the value of the bird and what they pick up is what the card will show and these cards have different pictures. Each picture means something. So all kinds of new things. Avoid all of that. Whether it is business, ministry or ministry, we wouldn't do that. But there will be times when your colleagues may say, hey why don't we just check. It's okay go to a palm reader, let him read your palm. Let him say something. Maybe he may talk about what your next business ventures or what you're going to do or how your family is going to be blessed and all those things. Excuse yourself out of that. Let's say, hey I'm sorry I'm a Christian and these are things that I don't believe and I don't want to engage in this. You are my friend. I respect you as a person but I don't respect or I don't want to involve myself in this. We still be friends. Now sometimes people may avoid wanting to be with you after this encounter. That's okay. Know that you've done right in the eyes of God. Do it. There's nothing wrong in making your stand clear. Do it lovingly. Do it humbly and not adequately. Do not do it in a self-righteous manner. Example your friends say, hey you know what? Everything's going wrong in my life. I'm just going to go to this astrologer or this fortune teller, palm reader and see what they have to say. Why am I going through all of this? The wrong way to deal with that is to say hey, God knows everything. I'm the one. I can pray. God will tell me everything. Those people, what do they do? They don't know anything. How can they read your palm? There are lines in your palm. What can they say from the lines? There are all the wrong ways to deal with them. One is you can humbly say hey, this is something that I don't believe in and secondly I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. I normally do when I go through situations. It also gives you an opportunity to share the gospel. When I go through challenges, some of the things that I do is I just pray to the Lord. I pray to God and ask Him to give me guidance because this is what the Bible says and it gives you an opportunity to minister. The moment we are rude and arrogant, we cannot speak into their lives. We cannot expect them to sit and listen to us and listen to the gospel with them. In fact, it gives us a wonderful opportunity to minister the gospel. Never say don't go. They are all wrong. Whatever they say, let them go but do a follow-up and you can always say hey, you went. Was there any response from that? I was thinking about what you were saying that you are going through these problems. I just wanted to share this word Bible verse. This is what it says. Maybe you can think about it. It gives us a wonderful opportunity. We end with this chapter 9 Workplace Relationships. Each one of us whether in ministry, whether in the workplace, let us learn to build healthy relationships and let us learn to truly be salt in life wherever we are with our relationships. They shall know you by your fruit and by this they will know what is talking about the love of God. By this love they will know that you are my children. Such an amazing opportunity for each one of us to really be a blessing to people. Let's go into the next chapter. It's a very small chapter. We will try and finish it. Planning and Execution. Any questions before we go ahead? Shall we go ahead? Chapter 10 Planning and Execution. Planning is always there. We always plan whether it is family whether it is ministry, whether it is business, whether it is vacation, whether it is a weekend whether it's a one day, just a day. Planning is involved in everything. Not even a day if you are having a three hour meeting there needs to be planning. Planning is very important but you must remember that execution also is the key. A great strategy, brilliant idea, technology and innovation and all these things are wonderful. But if there is no execution all these ideas, strategies, innovations will be of no use. Now it's important to plan. It's important to execute those plans. Let's look at a few scriptural insights on what is required of us when we talk about planning and execution. First one, determine the council of the law. Problems 1921. We humans keep great storming options and plans but God's purpose prevails. That's the message translation. They always have these wonderful words. Other versions say many other plans in a man's heart but it's the laws prevails. But I like the message translation. The humans keep brainstorming options and plans but God's purpose prevails. So as we plan, get God involved in our planning. Invite him to direct our thoughts and discussions to what he wants us to do. For example, you want to start your own business, a small business. So you sit down and you pray and you say, God, this has been in my heart for two years and I believe now is the time that you want me to step out. So here are the things I've done. I've started my, I've registered the trust I've done what I need to do. Now Lord, tell me how should I begin? Should I do online promotions for my business? Should I get a team involved and teach them first? Or should I start off small with what I have? What should I do? Determine the counsel of the Lord. Because we can plan, plan, plan. Finally, it's the laws will that prevails. Now we must not use it the other way by saying, hey, laws will prevail so I don't want to plan. That's wrong. And that's very wrong. Let me know that. Look at the Bible. We've seen that God is a God of plan when he came out, brought the people out of Egypt. Being God, he's still planned. He knew what he's going to do, but he planned it out for them. He told Moses, Moses, here's what you do. You take your people, take the people of Israel you'll go through this way. You stop in this place when you put your tents, you make it this way. Order, structure, planning everything involved. And he told Joshua, Joshua and you're going to break down the walls of Jericho. Don't do anything. Just walk around, use this strategy. Walk around that wall on the seventh day on the seventh time you blow your trumpets and horns and you praise God, the walls will come down. Determine the counsel of the Lord. God, is it the right time? Is it the right place? Now I'm not saying that the heavens are going to open and God will speak out and say, yes, this is the right time. Please start now. No, that's not going to happen. But we've got his word. Three ways God speak to us. Three primary ways. One is our conscience. Two is in our spirit. Three is the word of God. Three primary ways. Of course, there are many other ways. He can speak through a prophetic word, through somebody else's vision, through a dream. But three of the most important primary ways. If you're in a place where you have to make important decisions, determine the counsel of the Lord. And I've used this example before. When we got the opportunity to, Pastor asked us, do you want to go to Mangalore? Mangalore is about 400 kilometers away from Mangalore. But it's a whole new city with different people, different languages. Everything is different. All my life I've been in Bangalore. I've got my families here. All my extended family. I thought to myself, God, this is the right choice. This is something that I must do. So what do we do? We determine the counsel of the Lord. God, this is something that I must do. So it could be even the small decisions. Determine the counsel of the Lord. Plan and execute after that. Get the right people involved. Very important. Form your purpose by asking for counsel. Then carry it out using all the help you can get. Get the key people to be involved in the planning process. Now, remember that now, if you have a cold tea, people who can contribute with their discussions, with their ideas, with their plannings are very important. Share the plan with them. If you have team members and you feel that out of 20 of them, there are two, three of them who are can really give good input. Bring them as a team leader. Bring them forward. This is what I thought of. What do you think? Should we plan this? Should we go ahead with this? Nothing wrong in doing that. It's not like you're showing favoritism. It's just that they are skilled in it. They have better experience. They have better ideas, strategies. Use and get the right people involved in planning. People at all levels will eventually get to know. So you have a core team and then when a decision is made, everyone, you can share it with everyone. Get the right people involved in planning. When it comes to ministry, for example, you want to do a missions trip to a certain place. You need to get the right people involved in planning. Just say, okay, mission strip, we're going. No, there needs to be ticket bookings, venue booking, coordinating with the people who are involved in terms of the conference for travel and stay. So much is involved, but you need the right people. You can't have somebody in the team saying, I thought you were booking the tickets. But you didn't mention that in the email. All these things. You need to have the right people. It just avoids confusion. It avoids delaying of execution of what it was planned. Next one, look ahead, preempt the unexpected. That's where there's problems, 22, 3. And see the heights will pass on an hour. So there will be times when you may have to plan and decide things ahead of time. In the corporate sector, they normally say, trial and error. If there's something, it works. Wonderful. Go ahead. If it doesn't work, trial and error, try something else. So one of the important part of planning is be preemptive. Anticipate things. Being prepared with the course of action or in the event of certain challenges that may come up. Now, for example, there are some things we can't preempt or we can't expect. Nobody expected a COVID pandemic to hit globally. Nobody expected it. Almost two years, they were out. We were on and off. Almost two years. So there are some things that can be expected, but one good thing that happened was the moment the pandemic hit, we realized that a lot of these corporate sectors, they started thinking ahead. So what must we do? Let's begin to look at this whole thing of work from home. Let's move things from home. Everyone stays at home, work, give more efficiency, give more productivity. These are some things that can be done. So look ahead. People in the corporate sector are saying, what are they doing now? They're giving away all the rental spaces. We don't want to pay these high amounts of rent or lease that they're paying. What's the use? Because nobody's coming to this. Everyone are working. Nobody is better. So they're giving it away. So they're being preempted. They're thinking ahead. We need these big offices because everyone is being more effective and productive working from home. So there will be times. Look at this whole thing of the pandemic brought this online thing, the ministries went online, Bible colleges all kinds of ministries, cell groups are meeting online. It may not be always something that we'd like but at least there's an opportunity to get together. Now if we look ahead, sometimes now we realize that people don't want to travel. It could be just a small one hour prayer meeting. They're willing to attend online. Why should I travel one hour to get to the place for a one hour prayer? You have it online? We will be there. We will partake. We will join together. We will pray together. So things are changing and as leaders we need to be productive. Next one. Some seasons are more against others. He who gathers in summer is a wise son. He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame. This usually happens both in business and in ministry. There will be seasons when they're going fine. But then there will also be seasons when you need to really step up. In the corporate sector it's usually from Fed to April when it was intense, your endings they need to show their targets meet their targets. Those are intense times. You can't expect employees saying hey I'm traveling to another country so I need two months break. They can do it but then the team will be like hey what is this? You know that this time is the most important time and it's a season of intense work. How can you take leave? They may pin it back at you. During this time execution is important. Just remember that it's a season. What about us in ministry? Of course throughout the year we have things that we do. But if you look at Christmas time or Easter time, these are times when we have additional things. Many more services, things to do, good Friday, Easter and then you have these Easter programs you have children's shifts trying to do some programs and a lot of events related things. More work more tasks to get done, more planning, more execution with Christmas or you have a Christmas outreach, you have your programs and college campuses, you have programs at apartment complexes, residential areas, you have programs in the malls or you have carols on the street, street carols and then you have live groups and cell groups going to marriages, children's homes, being a blessing to them. So intense times. After Christmas things go back to normal or the beginning of the year. So remember those seasons are good. Get them to work hard in that season and to get things done. Execution can be messy and destructive so make sure that it's done the right way. Pursue your goals without making a mess of it plan it out, stay focused and avoid distractions right? The one who stays on the job has food on the table, a witless, chase, grims and fancies right now in the middle of an execution sometimes we may avoid those distractions of chasing other things when you know that there's a certain thing that I have to get done there's a certain task all of a sudden these other whims and fancies may come into our mind. Avoid those distractions avoid those ideas or those thoughts that may come those ideas may be good but it's just not necessarily needed to be there at that time. But if you feel that the idea is a good one which can be implemented for the task that you are working on then do it. But if it's a just a general generic idea talking about thinking about something else and not for the task that is at hand at that time avoid those distractions probably you can make the note of it and forget it fulfill the task that is ahead of you right? So for example why we call it students okay it's the semester's ending I need to just prepare myself for the semester now this suddenly we may get other ideas get other thoughts it's good but we try to keep it aside and say hey this is I just want to focus on this it's just a season right now the season will pass we will go into the next season so avoid distractions don't just talk act but act on what is really important. Proverbs 14-23 in all labour there is profit but idle chatter leads only to poverty now execution is action but action must be prioritized right? What is the most important task? There are five tasks that need to be get to get done in this three months five tasks are assigned to me or you know that you have to do these five tasks prioritize act on what is most important first right? So one is for example I need to you know have a team bordering session two I need to first build a stronger team or three I need to increase my team so you know okay first thing is let me increase the team build stronger team then we can have a team bordering session and then we can have a team building session or team outing and all of those things so you see there are five things or three things what is most important act on that first choose the right one first engage your team together everyone achieves more right? Two are better than one of course you have your core team making the plan but engage your team in the planning engage your team to pursue innovation right? and progress can be monitored and shared with everyone right? So example pending tasks challenges delays connections everything can be shared together and then you'll see that the organization is getting stronger and team power teamwork we talk about the ants right? How teamwork is important because together everyone achieve more whether business whether ministry we achieve more right? Accountability stay the course when the going gets tough problems 24 and worst 10 if you are weak in a crisis you are weak indeed right? So like we said you know there will be tough times there will be difficult times there will be times you feel like oh man I want to quit there will be times you feel like you know this person is situation is coming on and on and on but look at these challenges and let it be a motivation to us hey I know that I know that I can overcome this challenge and I know that I'll be able to get through this difficult time right? Stay motivated stay encouraged some lessons learned are more valuable than the profits gained right? the process of execution is a great teacher when we are learning something we make mistakes you know all of us know that failure is the stepping stone to success we fail or we fall the valuable lesson that we learn from that is going to be with us almost for the rest of our lives and I can share many many lessons that I learned during the time of execution of tasks and I learned those lessons and I was like oh I shouldn't have done it this way but in one way I did it that way it was wrong but I learned it the hard way and I'm glad that it's a valuable lesson it's more than you know the money or it's more than you know just profit in business but it's a valuable lesson learned that stays with us right? so some lessons learned are very very important it just stays with us and finally above all else let God be in charge Proverbs 16 3 but God in charge of your work what you've planned will take place stay calm through the ups and downs right and let God be in charge God be in charge doesn't mean we don't do anything you are in control over everything commit your ways to the Lord and he will direct our paths right? so we were able to complete this chapter we will stop and we will meet next week and we will pick up from the next chapter you know even as we're going through the entirety of this course feel free to you know you can even ask questions in between feel free to share your thoughts and I'm sure we can learn more together right? thank you so much let's just quickly close with the word of prayer right let's pray Father we want to thank you thank you for what we have learned today God and we pray Lord that you will enable us to plan to execute and be effective in everything that has been assigned to us and Lord we pray that we'll commit everything into your hands Lord you are the author the completer of our faith we thank you for this wonderful opportunity and I pray for each and every student that you will minister to them and bless their Lord give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name we pray amen amen God bless you all have a wonderful week ahead I'll see you next week God bless