 Okay, good morning, everyone. Welcome to a new day. So let's begin this time with the word of prayer. Yes, Abinas, is it okay if you can lead us, please? Yes, you're faster. Yeah, thank you. So let's pray Our Grace is Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful time and the moment that you have provided us, Lord Jesus This morning, Father God, we look up to you, Father God, we look up into your throne, Father God, and we praise you, Master We worship you, Lord Jesus. In this moment, Father God, we ask you to intervene in our lives, Father God, so that whatever we will learn, Father God, we will catch up, Father God. This is not for ourselves, Father God, but it's for your glory, Lord Jesus. We submit, Master, into your mighty hand and all the students to your mighty hand, Jesus, Father God, give us more grace, more understanding and more revelation to understand and dig into your word, Father God. We praise you, we worship you, Jesus. We glorify your name and we ask you to pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much. Right. So yesterday, we looked at chapter 15, which is customer relations. It was a small chapter, but some important lessons that we learned from customer relations. And we also translated that in ministry and how it's very important to, you know, especially in ministry to care for the people that is in your ministry, right? And there will be times when you have to, we have to put aside, you know, our work responsibilities and really be there for people because remember that ministry is about people. And so, you know, that's why in APC Bangalow, as a church, we have an entire team called member care. So we do a lot of things, right? We go to house visits, hospital visits. Then there's something called as one phone call where every month, every member of the church gets a call, you know, and just talk to them, right? If there's any prayer requests, they can also pray and they can write in their prayer requests or they can even, you know, on the call, they can share the prayer requests and the prayers are being made for them. And also birthday cards, wedding anniversary cards, these are all small things. But what happens is it, you're caring for your people and they feel valued, you know, especially when, you know, when you look at a church which has about 50 to 100 people, everyone know each other, everyone probably know each other by name as well. And the pastor also is able to minister one-on-one to a smaller congregation. But what happens when you go bigger? You become 300, 400, 500 people, it's very important to have a team in place, you know, who can look after the needs of people and because the pastor can't go every time everywhere. But you can have a team to look after the congregation, look after the people and the needs of the people, being there, being available for them, you know, especially during times of, you know, when their loved ones are in the hospital or they're going through, you know, some kind of sickness for a long time. It's very, very good to have a member care team. Now, if you are in a place of leadership in your church and you feel that, you know, you don't have this in place, I would encourage you, probably you can choose somebody who in your team, maybe choose a leader, get them, you know, train them, involve them, start small, right? Start with maybe two, three people and then as the team grows, as the ministry grows, you'll be, you know, when you look, look ahead, okay, you have about 15, 20 people in the member care team and you know that, okay, our members, the people in our congregation are being looked after. So, relationship with the, you know, when you look at the corporate sector, relationship with your customers and here when you look at ministry, relationship with your congregation and those who are part of your ministry, right? Now, let's go to chapter 16 and look at challenges and tough times. Now, these two words, challenges and tough times is something that is common in everyone's life, right? None of us here can say, I've never had challenges, I've never had tough times. We all have faced our shares of challenges and tough times. It could be in terms of, you know, corporate, it could be in terms of family, it could be in terms of ministry or even in our personal lives. Challenges and tough times will be there. But here's a, you know, encouraging part. When we look at scripture, scriptures in many places teach us that when we face challenges, we can use the word of God to overcome these challenges, right? So, we look at a few points, we'll see what we can learn from challenges and tough times. And maybe some of us are currently going through a tough season or a certain challenge that is ahead. I want to encourage you to, you know, take in these verses, trust in them, stand on faith and trust God to move on our behalf, right? So, let's look at a few points, chapter 16, challenges and tough times. First one, mountains can be conquered, right? Now, let's read Matthew, chapter 17, verse 20. Matthew 17, verse 20. Yes, any one of us. I'll read. Thank you. Am I audible? Am I audible? Yes, yes, you are, Kennedy. Go ahead. So, Jesus, I say to them, because of your unbelief, for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a master's seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Amen. Thank you, Kennedy. Now, Jesus is talking to his disciples, right? And it's interesting to see, you know, he's telling the disciples, the disciples don't know what is ahead of them, right? Jesus knows what is ahead of him and he knows that the cross is a place where he has to go to and he's teaching his disciples. Things may be looking fine now, but there will come a time when you, as my disciples, will face challenges. And here he's saying, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you, right? Like we were saying, there will be mountains along the way. Everybody will face those mountains, will face it in our lives, personal lives, workplace, family, you know, if you look at all of us, all of us have different challenges, right? Some of us may be going through financial difficulties, some of us may be going through health issues, some of us may be going through problems at the workplace, tough times at the workplace, right? So all our challenges are different, but here's the wonderful part. Mountains are not insurmountable, which means mountains can be conquered, right? But how do we conquer those mountains? We need to have faith in God, right? Stay anchored in the goodness of God towards you in every season and every situation of your life. I like that word, stay anchored, right? I mean, stay anchored in the goodness of God, you know, when the ship comes, you know, it's docked in a place, they put the anchor down. So no matter where, you know, what kind of storms come, no matter if the seas are rough, the ship is not just going to go away, right? Because it's anchored, right? The anchor is lowered and that anchor is so heavy that it's able to, you know, root that ship in that spot. Now, when we are, you know, if you look at ourselves as a ship, if the storms come, all we need to do is anchor ourselves. Say, okay, challenges, tough times are coming, anchor yourself. Say, God, I anchor myself in your goodness, in your promises. That's when we'll be able to overcome tough times and challenges. Second point that we can learn is maintain a positive attitude, which is be thankful at all times. Let's read 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 16 to 18. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 16 to 18. Yes, go ahead. Okay. Be careful, no matter what. Say all the time. Thank God, no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you, who belongs to Christ, Jesus has to live. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Kennedy. Thank you, Kennedy. Now, this message translation is very interesting, right? It brings out the whole scriptures in a very beautiful way. Be careful, no matter what. Read all times. Thank God, no matter what happens. Now, when things are going well, we can thank God. Oh, God, we want to thank you. You know, you've been good to me. You've provided for me or you were there for me. But what happens when things are not going right? That is where a heart of thankfulness will, you know, will change situations, maintaining a positive attitude, right? Now, you know, in life, you'll find people who are positive. You'll find people who are negative. You'll find people who are extremely positive. You'll find people who are extremely negative. I'm sure you've come across people who, you know, extremely positive. And not, they may not be believers, but they're extremely positive. And I know of people who are friends, extremely positive. You know, I remember I was talking to a friend and you were saying, I was talking to him about the lockdown and he, you know, normally, what do people say? Oh, man, you know, business is gone or this is, you know, everything's so terrible around us, sickness, death. This guy, he looked at the positive. You know, he's extremely positive. And he said, but look at the flip side, you know, things are, you know, we can have search services online and people are, many people, you know, are accepting the Lord Jesus in different parts of the nation because they're at home and the Gospel is going to their home. And it's so wonderful to see that positive. Now, doesn't mean he was not going through a difficult situation. I know that he was, but he was maintaining a positive attitude, being thankful. You know, Proverbs 15.13 says, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. So in every situation, let us make an effort to stay cheerful. Right. Let us make an effort to be thankful. Thankful for life itself. Right. You know, when we look at what's happening around us, there are people who can't see the people who are deaf, people who are in the hospital for all kinds of sicknesses. And when you look at our life, you say, God, I want to thank you. You know, I want to thank you that even though everything is not going right, you are there with me. Right. The mistake that we make sometimes is we compare ourselves to people who are doing better than us. Right. And then we feel, okay, we are nothing, we are a failure in life. No, look at things around us and maintain that positive attitude. I love what Paul and Silas did in Acts chapter 16. What a wonderful example that was. Paul and Silas were beaten. The scriptures say they were beaten thoroughly. They were flocked, you know, and their feet were fastened. They were chained and they were put into prison. Right. They were beaten. They were flogged very badly. So they are in pain, firstly. Right. Physical pain. And two, their feet are all chained up. Probably didn't have anything to eat. Right. And now they're in a dark dungeon for what? For doing something good. Now, Paul and Silas had many reasons to complain. Oh God, what is this? We are doing your ministry. What does the scripture say? At about Acts 16, I think it was verse 25, at about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God with thanksgiving and the other prisoners were listening to them. Can you believe this? Paul and Silas beaten and scourged, probably without food, put in this dungeon, chained up. Everything is going wrong. And they are thanking God. They're saying they're singing praises to God. They're counting it a joy to be in that situation. Was it painful physically? Definitely yes. Could they have complained? Definitely yes. But they were singing hymns to God. What is the outcome? Their chains fell off. The whole prison was wrecked. The jailer and his family became believers, baptized in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we maintain a positive attitude, being thankful in every season, let us be assured that we will be able to impact other people's lives. Now, I want to be careful. There are these new teachings that are happening of positive thinking, all these kinds of things. All that is good. But being thankful is something which only God can put in our hearts. When we have that relationship with God, yes, there's this worldly thankfulness. But when we have this thankfulness of this love of God inside us, even in the worst situations, they can be thankful. Third point, don't lose your confidence in times of challenges, in times of difficult seasons. Don't lose confidence. Let's read this verse. Psalms 41 to 3. Psalms 40 verse 1 to 3. Yes, any one of us can please read. Psalm 41 to 3. I waited patiently for the Lord's help. Then he listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of the dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure. He taught me to sing a new song, a song of praise to our Lord. Many who see this will take warning and will put their trust in the Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Abidans. Right. So, when we find ourselves in an unexpected place, look to the Lord and wait on Him. Now, look at this verse in Psalms 40 verse 1 to 3. This is when David was running away and he was already anointed as King many years back. And now he's running away from King Saul. And what does he say? He made me, he's probably in one of those caves and he's saying, I waited patiently for the Lord's help and he listened to me. Nowhere in the scriptures do we see David losing confidence in God. Remember what he says in Psalms 42? There was this feeling of, you know, David was very discouraged probably. He was saying, oh, why is this happening to me? Right? I'm just a shepherd boy. I did good. I killed Goliath and people, you know, they lifted my name up and they honored me. But what did I do that the King of Israelists and his army are chasing me and they're behind me? What did I do? What wrong did I do? He probably had many questions. And Psalms 42 verse 11, he says, why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God. Once again, I will praise him, my savior and my God, right? So, like David is asking himself, you know, some of the translation says, why are you so downcast or my soul? So he's talking to himself, right? As a person, as a human being, he's feeling low. He's hiding in the caves. He's running away for his life. He's feeling low. But in that time, he says, I will put my hope in God and once again, I will praise him. David does not lose confidence. Remember that no matter what we're going through, God will come through for us. You know, the psalmist and the book of Isaiah says, when we fall down, he will lift us up, right? So don't lose your confidence. Stay anchored in God. You know, in times, one of the things that I personally like to do is, you know, there are times when I may have maybe losing confidence or I feel weak in my spirit. I just probably take the guitar and just sing songs, right? Because maybe, you know, there are times I don't feel like opening a book and reading it or opening the Word of God and reading it because my mind is so, you know, filled with so many thoughts. Okay, what is going to happen? Is this going to happen? Is that anxiety or maybe doubt or all these things? One of the ways that I personally try and overcome that is, I just said, sing songs and nine out of 10 times or 10 out of 10 times, I would have felt better. You know, singing in tongues or just singing a song, singing a couple of songs, just worshiping him. There's a sense of peace and you feel confident saying, okay, God, it's a season you're taking me through and I'm sure you're there with me. You will help me to overcome. So don't lose confidence in God. Put your trust in Him through these difficult seasons, whether it is family, whether it is workplace, whether it is your personal lives, you know, especially in the corporate sector, you're not seeing yourself growing and, you know, other people around are getting all the opportunities, but you have been faithfully working no opportunities for you. Don't worry. God is our reward. He will honor and reward us. So don't lose confidence in God. The next point, tap into empowered efficiency. Now this is very interesting. Let's read Joshua chapter 23 and verse 10. Joshua 23 verse 10. Yes, one of us, go ahead. Joshua 23 verse 10, one man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is here who fights for you as He promised you. Okay, man. Thank you, Christopher. So God is speaking to Joshua and probably Joshua is thinking, you know, he's got this huge task ahead of him, take the people of Israel into the promised land and probably Joshua is thinking, oh man, this is a huge task ahead of me. There are so many mountains to climb. There are so many battles to fight. There is, you know, the battles also with people who are against us. They may be thousands and we are may not be able to, you know, fight them. And God is encouraging Joshua and he's saying, one man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is he who fights you with you, fights for you as He promised you. Now, when you look at it humanly or naturally, one against thousand is not a fight. Naturally, when you look at it, it's impossible. But what is it that we can learn from the scripture, right, that God can empower one man to overpower a thousand people, right? Now, remember that, you know, in times where maybe if you're working in an organization or a ministry, there will be times when there'll be excessive work, right? And you just feel bogged down or you feel tired, feel that, hey, I'm not getting paid enough to do so much. And then why am I doing everyone else's work? Or sometimes, you know, the company will have to downsize and, you know, there are additional tasks that have been put on you. And you feel that, oh, it's overwhelming. Now, these circumstances are going to be challenging. It's going to be stressful times. But we can tap into empowered efficiency. Right? Let me let me give you this example, right? This is just a simple example. We know that, you know, during the time of, especially for us as Christians, during the time of Christmas, that entire week, yes, there's a time of celebration, all of that. But there's also this whole responsibility of, you know, reaching out to people around us, doing events and also doing events in the church. So usually that entire month, we would say is a lot of events. So we're always busy, especially if you look at ministries, it's always something that we must do. Now, there will be times you just feel so tired. Right? So I remember in Mangalore, what we were doing is we, all of a sudden this year, sorry, last year, 2021, December, we got a lot of opportunities. So those opened up in malls. So there were about three, four malls that called us. And then there were colleges and other people started calling us. Why don't you do? Can you come and do a few cattle here? Can you preach here? Okay. All of a sudden, I was like, okay, so much. Who do I say yes to? Who do I say no to? How am I going to do this alone? Now, we must understand that, you know, in our church, a lot of our students, since it's holidays, they go back home. So our volunteers also are less during that time. So most, we have very few volunteers during Christmas time. And so there's no youth. And I remember this 2021, I said, God, there's so much ahead. And I'm alone. And how am I going to do this? And every place I have to lead the carols. I'm talking about carols for one hour, 15 minutes or, and it's, it's not easy, right? You got to stand, you got to stand the whole one and a half hours odd. Then also share a simple message on Christmas and what Christmas is all about. And all the other logistics, right? Getting the sound system, getting the equipment, getting the team together. I thought, let me just cancel a few places because I'm not able to do it. But there was this feeling inside me. I said, okay, it's once a year. Why should I cancel it? I'm sure it's going to be a blessing to many people and we may not get these off. If I cancel, what about next year? I may not get the opportunity. They may just close the door saying that, hey, you canceled last time. So I said, okay. And I remember just tapping into God and I said, God, you need to give me the strength and what, and something even, you know, I won't say worse, but something added to all of this was all of a sudden, you know, I got high temperature, right? And I was running temperature the second week of December high temperature. I couldn't move. And I was worried I was only drinking warm water so that I can at least sing. But I was also worried because I didn't want to go outside and, you know, with the team close to the team, I didn't want to, you know, put others in danger. So it was all coming together. But I remember tapping into that empowered, that extra power, you know, empowered efficiency from God. And I said, God, if you want me to do this, you have to come, you have to heal me first, strengthen me. And I remember suffering about two days of fever and I just slept and the next day I felt so refreshed. It was as if, you know, I was, I felt like I was about 25 years old or so. I just felt so strong, woke up refreshed. I remember, you know, okay, just doing everything in the morning, getting the drum kit, getting the equipment, putting it into the car, you know, getting everything done. And then after the whole, all the events, here's the best part. When we think back and when we look back, we can celebrate and what the Lord did in and through us. You know, just because of these carols, that we did in Mangalore, the administration, the team there of the malls, they liked it so much. They said, next year, 2022, can you come to other cities also and do the carols? They said, you all did it very well. Everyone liked it. And people in the mall were, everyone were happy with what happened and the whole mall. So, you know, we have many malls across the nation. So can you go to these malls also? And so they've already given us dates for 2022. See, when we tap into empowered efficiency, God enables us and there's a supernatural power that God gives us, right? So we can do that as well. Times when we are weak, stressed out, tap into the supernatural power of God. Next point, God is your boss. Don't worry about bad bosses and unfair employees. Let's read Ephesians chapter six. Oh, no, sorry. Let's, let's read Genesis chapter 31, four to seven, this mix can relate it to the point. Genesis chapter 31, verses four to seven, please. Go ahead. Yes. Anyone? Genesis 31, four to seven. So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flocks were. He said to them, I've noticed that your father is not as friendly toward me as he used to be, but my father's God has been with me. You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength, yet he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times, but God did not let him harm me. Amen. Thank you, Samuel. Right. So we see here of the story. It's very interesting. So as I'm sure most of us know this, Jacob, Rachel and Leah and their parent, their father. And we see that Rachel and Leah's father cheated Jacob, right? Jacob was cheated and he had to work seven years and seven years and his wages were changed. And we look at that, we, when we look at it, when we read it, it's, it's quite a sad story, right? It feels so bad for this man, Jacob. But the Bible says that God was with him. God began to bless Jacob. And the reason, actually, if you see the reason why Rachel and Leah's father wanted Jacob around, because he was a blessing. When Jacob was there, everything is going well. The livestock is good. The crops are doing well. And so he didn't want to let Jacob go. But he cheated. But God was with Jacob. Remember this, when we work sincerely, when we work with all our heart, sometimes people will not reward us. Right? Our bosses may overlook us and our seniors may just neglect us. Remember, God is with you. God is with us. Even though people may cheat, people may deceive us, but God did not let him harm me. Right? So when, when we are overlooked, when we are, you know, when our work is not appreciated, it's all right. First thing, avoid complaining. Avoid saying, you know, this boss is, I've done all I could and this boss did not appreciate what I did. So from now, I'm not going to give my 100%. No, we continue to give our 100% and trust in the Lord to honor us. Expect God for his divine intervention, because God is our boss. Right? Yes, God has placed, you know, bosses in the natural who are above us who will speak into our lives, give us direction and all of those things. But when it comes to bad bosses, unfair bosses, unfair leaders, remember, God is your boss. Right? So when God is your boss, he is there, he will intervene and he will make things, he will make you a blessing. Right? And, you know, when you look later on, the father apologizes and the father says, you have been a great blessing to me, to Jacob. And so people will realize, because God will come through for us. Right? Next point, bouncing back when you are put down, Proverbs 29, verse 26. Let's read that. Proverbs 29 and verse 26. Yes, anyone? Proverbs 29, 26. Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord. Amen. Thank you, Abinas. Right? So there will be times when we put down, now there are plenty of scriptures which talk about God's redeeming power. Our God is a redeemer. He can redeem us. He can restore us. There will be times bosses, our leaders will put us down in the ministry to people who are in the ministry. They may ridicule us. They may disrespect us. They may, you know, put us down saying, you know, especially now at a day and age when people are judged by the number of gifts that they have. Meaning, if you can prophesy, you're my, okay, I can, if you can't, there's no use of you. Or do you have a word of knowledge? Do you have a gift of healing? If you have these things, then we will partner with you in ministry. If not, you can go your own way. That is so wrong. And people in even in ministry, people can put us down. Right? And you feel rejected. You feel humiliated. But here's the thing. Here's a very important lesson that I personally learned. I learned it the hard way and I, and I thank God for teaching me this. Don't fight back. Don't retaliate. The mistake will be, the mistake is, you know, what we may end up doing is, you know, you're teaching the word wrong. You don't know anything about, you know, the subject. You don't know anything about, you know, about the Old Testament. You don't know anything about the covenants. You don't know anything about revelations. You are teaching the wrong things. And we begin to retaliate. We're going to fight back. See, because of me, your ministry is there. Remember the times when you just started ministry, I was there with you and now you have rejected me. And I don't think your ministry is going to, all these things, right? Fighting back, retaliating, speaking negative words, speaking wrong words to the people who have put you down. All of this will only bring failure into our lives. Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord. The Lord will help you, right? You may feel that, you know, there are times you may feel that, you know, you've done everything right, but the blame has come upon you, right? Sometimes you say, why, I did everything right. Everything right. I only went to help this person. And now I'm blamed for it. But it's all right. Don't fight back. Don't retaliate. There are times you have to, you know, put forth your point of view and tell them, okay, this is what, but don't fight back. With God's help, we can come back strong with faith, with diligence, and God can give us good results. The mistake personally that I made many years ago was, I began to retaliate. I said, hey, I did everything right. I'm right in the eyes of God. God knows my heart. I don't have to explain to you. I've said all these things. And I realize that even me saying that God knows my heart, God, you don't know about me. You don't know how long I prayed or you don't know what gifts I have. I'll come back strong. Saying all these things is just basically talking back or fighting back or retaliating. And the book of Proverbs has wonderful verses where he teaches us that wisdom speaks less. Psalms 103 verse 6 says, the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. The Lord will execute righteousness and justice. If you've been put down by people in the ministry, God will lift you up. If you feel that you cannot do anything, if you feel that people have not appreciated your efforts, God will lift you up. If you feel that you've been serving in the church for many years and nobody has appreciated you, you're just coming, you're cleaning the chairs or cleaning the church, nobody has even appreciated you. God will lift you up. And I can speak that out of my own experience. God will lift you up. Just keep your eyes focused on the Lord. That's it. And know that whatever you're doing, you're doing it for God and your whole perspective changes. When you fall down, you'll say, God fell in this area, help me to rise back again. And he will execute righteousness and justice for us. Next point. Don't stoop down to the level of gossip and organizational politics. Let's read Romans chapter 12, 17 to 18 and verse 21. Romans 12, 17 to 18 and verse 21. Yes, any one of us, please read Romans. Thank you Prabhakar. I like that last part. Conquer evil with good. And evil will be there in every place, every organization, every work environment will have hostility, will have, you know, probably gossip, politics, organizational politics, that we say, and working there can be very difficult. When you find yourself in that position or that situation, stay away from gossip, stay away from politics. Even if others gossip about you and say wrong things about you, stay out of it. Don't go to defend yourself. There are times you have to defend yourself. There are times you don't have to defend yourself. You can just say, God, I'm doing things right. You are my defender. In ministry, you know, especially in pastoral ministry, and if you're leading a church or even if you're leading a team in the church, people will talk. People may have all kinds of, you know, ideas. They may have all kinds of reasons to come up with, you know, saying, okay, this is not right. That is not right. You may do nine things right and one thing wrong. They will catch that one thing and gossip or politics within the church or within the organization. Stay away from it. Now the best thing to, you know, there's a book which our pastor has written. It's a wonderful book. It's called No Gossip. When we gossip, it goes down into our spirit and into our soul. I forget the words, but it's there in Proverbs. Gossip will go down into our spirit and it hurts us. It will break us ourselves. Now there will be times when people will gossip about us. Many times I've heard, you know, people gossiping about me. People saying, you know, this pastor, he does this or he does that. I've heard it. And some of our church members would come and tell me. I say, I would tell them, don't react to it. If they feel it's, as long as you know that you're standing right in God's eyes, God is your defense. It's all right. And many a times it's all just gone to nothing. Why? Because God is our defense. All those gossips, all those politics just goes away. It won't affect you. It won't affect your congregation because, you know, you've covered your congregation. You've covered your people and you're walking right in the eyes of God. So it's very important to stay away from it. In the corporate sector, it's going to be very difficult. You know, by mistake also, you've got friends, they begin to talk about this, just stay away from it. Say, hey, let's have our lunch. You don't have to talk about all this. Let's talk about something else. You know, you can stay away or you can just, you know, excuse yourself and walk away. They may feel bad, but they know that you have certain principles in your life. And I can personally say that here in Mangalore, APC Mangalore, a lot of folks who come to church, one of the things they always say is they've come up to me directly and they said, I want to appreciate you because I've been coming to this church for more than a year or so. And I see that that is everyone are treated equally. There is no gossip. Even the students don't gossip with each other. They are very good to each other. There's no hatred among anyone. There's no loose talks happening. And this elderly gentleman came up to me and said, I've been to many churches across our nation and across the world as well. But this church is something different. And I said, thank God. Thank God for that. It's not because of our ability, not because I'm the leader. It's because it's because God is standing in our defense. Were there problems? Yes, there were situations that we had to deal with, but God is our defense. And also during the course, I learned from my mistakes and all of that, God is my defense. Just the last point and we'll close. God is our defense against false allegations. Isaiah 54 and verse 17. Let's read that. Isaiah 54 verse 17. I'll read that. Go ahead. But now if one will be able to hurt you, you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them the truth that God has spoken. Amen. Such a wonderful promise this is, but no weapon will be able to hurt you. You will have an answer for all who accuse you. So, God is clearly saying, you know, people will accuse you. What is Satan? The word Satan means accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren. He will use people to accuse us, but no weapon will be able to hurt us. Psalms 3-3 says, But you, O Lord, are always my shield from danger. You give me victory and restore my courage. The Lord will give us victory. Right? Second Chronicles 16-19. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. That's so wonderful. To show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. If our hearts are true and loyal to God and we know that we have done nothing wrong in the eyes of God and if there are accusations coming, remember this verse, the Lord himself will show himself strong on our behalf. So, if the Lord is with us, you know, these accusations, false accusations, false allegations, false allegations, it will all come to nothing. It will not hurt you. Right? Now, I had closer this, I had this whole understanding as a young boy before starting into ministry and all of that. I always thought that, oh, ministry is going to be such a wonderful place. Everyone say praise the Lord and God bless you and all of that. But I was in for a rude awakening and I learned that, oh man, these, it's not always as it looks like. There's no praise the Lord every time. There will be people who can really turn things around. There can be some really difficult seasons, difficult people to handle, but through it all I learned that and we all learned that, you know, when God is our defense, he will stand for us. He himself will show himself strong, God himself will show himself strong against all these false allegations. All we have to do is don't retaliate, don't fight back, but just fix our eyes on God. God will fight for us. Amen. So, we'll stop here. We'll pick up from next week. We look at completing this chapter and we'll go on to the next chapter as well. Right. Any questions, any thoughts or shall we close? Okay, there's no questions. Let's close in prayer. Yes, maybe any one of us can close in prayer. Prabhakar, is it okay if you can please close in prayer? Father, we thank you, Lord. We thank you for your also teaching, Father. We thank you for the insight of Lord Jesus, Father. We are so grateful. Thank you that you are with us through it all, Father. We thank you, Father. Lord, you taught us to praise you, Father. We thank you that your word says you never leave us nor forsake us, Father. We thank you, Father. We apply all this, Father. Jesus, help us, we must have got to conquer all the fear and anxiety of Father. All the things that we've got in our ways, Father. Help us to walk in the right way, Father. Jesus, to glorify in everything that we do, Father. Thank you. We love you, Father. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Prabhakar. Thank you, everyone. Have a great day ahead. I'll see you next week. God bless.