 Any? Yeah. Okay. That's on. Right. So, so we looked at all these, you know, gifts of the spirit, these nine gifts of the spirit. So, so the thing is, just wanted to remind us from one Corinthians 14 and verse one, first love and desire, spiritual gifts. Right. That's all the instruction. Okay. First of all, in one Corinthians 12 and verse one says, one Corinthians 12 and verse one, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. Okay. In one Corinthians 12, the same chapter, last verse 31, but earnestly desire, earnestly, which means sincerely, right, with our whole heartedly, desire. Desire what? The best gifts again relating to spiritual gifts. One contains 14, verse one, first you love and desire, spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Okay. So this whole thing of desiring is so that we might walk in the reality of it. Right. To desire. Why should we desire if the Lord does not want to give? Right. And if the Lord gives, why should we withhold from walking in it and exercising these gifts? Okay. So the reason we have studied and spent so much time on the gifts of the spirit is that this is the scriptural instruction that we should not be ignorant. At the same time, we should desire, desire to walk in it and so that we might actually have the gifts of the spirit being manifest in and through our lives. Okay. So you might say, okay, I'm a very shy person. I'm a very different kind of person. Our personality type doesn't matter at all for God. He works in and through different kinds of people like we see in the book of Acts, different kinds of people. Right. People who are impulsive, people who are denying, people who are faithful, he works through them all. Right. So for us to really take this instruction to heart and really follow through with it. It's very important that we do it. Right. Okay. So next we're going to look at how do I develop in these gifts? Okay. It's one thing to know. It's one thing to desire. Right. But how do I develop in it? Right. Our supernatural hour is really, you know, why do we have it every day? Because we want to, of course, grow in the knowledge of God. We want to grow intimacy with God. We want to grow in worshiping him and all that, but also that our gifts will be developed meaning that it will be sharpened and we will, you know, it'll be brought to maturity. Right. So there is scope for making mistakes, testing, all that. And we do that. Right. But all that happens at the process of developing. Right. Okay. So sometimes to keep in mind, I'm on chapter 16 in the gifts of the Spirit, some things to keep in mind is going to look at a few things here, maybe not all. So always be motivated by love. Okay. See, these are expressions of the Holy Spirit and these are given so that the church might be edified. Meaning the people of God need to be built up. So when you are, when we are ministering, it has to be a motive should be love, not anything else. The love of God. Right. The God loves them and here I am to serve. So that is our motive. Our motive is not anything else. It is not fame. It is not, you know, so that we might be popular. It's never that. Right. So it is motivated out of love. Okay. Because we see, you know, 1 Corinthians 12 31, he says, earnestly desire the best gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Paul writes and he says, you know, pursue love, desire, spiritual gifts, pursue love, character of God, the nature of God, the love of God, pursue that, go after that, let it be developed in you. Okay. So in between these two chapters, what is chapter 13 about that whole chapter 13 1 Corinthians 13? It's about the agape of God, love of God agape. So he says, okay, this is what love is. Right. And he talks about the, you know, the value of love in this, you know, he says, even if you have these things, but if you don't have love, love for God or love for people, then it's nothing. It becomes a waste. It's just noise. Right. That's what that's how the whole thing starts. Right. The, you know, it says, though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding grass or a clanging symbol. And though I have a gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries or knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains. Right. And have not love and nothing. Verse three. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, you know, saying, okay, it's a very noble act and sacrificially giving all my stuff. I want to feed the poor. And though I give my body to be burned, oh, it gets better and better. Though I martyr myself, I sacrifice myself for a cause, for the cause of gospel. So though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. So which means it is possible to all, to do all these things, but really not be motivated by love. That's all it means. Right. It means that you can go to the extent of giving your goods, your earthly goods yourself, but it can be for a wrong motive. Like I said, if this, it's not that which is motivating. If that is not found in you, if I don't, if you don't have it, then it is. Okay. So it's very important that we are motivated by love. Then Paul goes on to talk what is not love. It's not proud. It's not jealous. It's not boastful. This is not love. This is not the expression of love. Right. So he talks about this is not it. And then he goes on to say, you know, there will come a time when all these gifts that we're talking about will come to an end. There won't be any need for tongues. There won't be any need for prophecy. Why? Because we are in the presence of God. We are seeing him face to face. There's no need to, you know, pray in tongues in order to be edified because you're already edified. You know, we're seeing him face to face. So all that will come to an end. But what will never come to an end? What will never fail? Yeah, because that's something that will continue to be there. So that's the importance of love in that's the place of love when we, even when we study these gifts. So between 12 and chapter 14 and chapter 12, there is chapter 13 where he's saying, Hey, this is the central place of love. It's very important. You need to be motivated. You need to serve. You need to do all these things motivated out of love for God, out of love for God's people, okay, not for anything else. So we need, it's important that we keep that in mind. Okay, so honestly, desire and then the other thing that we see is now we need to intentionally walk in these gifts. So Paul writes to Timothy. So he says, at least in a couple of plays that he says, Timothy, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which means that Timothy, he all saw that, okay, Timothy was maybe neglecting. What does neglect mean? I'm sorry, ignore, right? Don't take care of, forget about it. Okay, when was the last time you prayed in tongues? I don't know, maybe, when was the last time you asked God to speak through you and you gave a word of knowledge. So Paul is saying, don't neglect the gift because these are expressions of the Holy Spirit, right? It's God, Spirit of God, wanting to speak through you, wanting to work through you. So don't neglect it. Don't just, you know, put it aside. Okay, I got it. I, you know, this happened and it's something in the past, it's history. I know the date and time when it happened, but now I'm just living my life. Okay, don't neglect the gift, Paul writes Timothy. Okay, a couple of verses. First Timothy chapter 4 verse 14, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the elderships. So even Timothy was commissioned, this happened. And second Timothy chapter 1 verse 6, verse 6 and 7, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God. Okay, stir up. It's like, you know, coaxing that coal, you know, to catch fire, stir up the gift of God, which is given to you, serve the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. You know, I laid hands, prayed and we know that this gift of God is working in you. Stir it up, right? And then verse 7, it says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear. Okay, so which means that I could either neglect the gift and or just give up on, just put it aside, put it on the shelf, but it could be because of various reasons. Maybe I'm disappointed, maybe I'm discouraged, you know, maybe I'm fearful. So in Timothy this case, that seems to be the thing, like God has not given us a spirit of fear. So if God has not given us a spirit of fear, and if you're fearful of using the gifts, then, you know, that you need to put that fear aside, not the gift aside. Right? There's something that you need to put aside, it's not the gift, because fear is keeping you from walking in the game. So put fear aside. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Okay, then stay aligned, stay tuned in, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We see in Galatians, Galatians 5 verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? Living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit. Right? So that doesn't mean that we any, this, you know, it's like this, you know, sometimes we think, okay, when I'm in this setting, I must behave like this. Like out of this setting, you know, with the maybe a different set of friends, I must behave in a different way. I speak in a different way. Sometimes we go through that phase, putting a different mask, different according to the environment. No, we remain the same. So Paul is saying, if you walk in the Spirit, you live in the Spirit, you walk in the Spirit, live by the Spirit, meaning that switch is always on. It's never off till the time you die, till the day you die. That switch is always on. Right? We are already tuned in. That channel that we are tuned to, how many of you have, you know, old transistor, radio, you have at home? Yeah, we have, you know, the dial, and you go, you know, and just, I really miss that, that noise, you know, that you come to that antenna, exactly antenna, and you come to that station and it's all clear. And then you move a little bit to the right, and then it becomes again, all the static, you know, it's coming on. So you're tuned in to a particular channel, to a particular station, and in this case, it's the heavenly station, right? Don't tune out, stay tuned in, stay sensitive, and don't switch off, right? No matter what happens, whatever we go through life, stay tuned in, stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit. So which means that God can actually trust you and take you places. Because the thing is, if I'm going to be behaving like this in church, if I'm going to be behaving differently, my choices are going to be different, my lifestyle is going to be different, if I move outside of church environment, God doesn't want me to destroy my life, right? God doesn't, you know, in front of people, if I'm behaving differently, my choices are different, people are not there if your choices are going to be different, then God doesn't want to, you know, interest anything more, you know, because I might just, I will destroy my life ultimately, right? So God wants me to stay tuned, no matter where I am, be faithful, right? In front of people, if people are not there, be the same, let the Holy Spirit guide. Okay, some personal things, stay calm, don't be anxious, be rested, well rested, don't be anxious, especially when it comes to ministering and maybe you are supposed to be sharing the word, you're supposed to be leading worship, you're supposed to be leading in prayer, just stay calm, well rested, don't be agitated in the Spirit, you know, sometimes we think, you know, what do people say, what do people think, you know, how will I speak or, you know, what would my language sound like? Don't worry about all that, God understands all languages, right? So forget that, so you stay calm, when it comes to ministering the gifts, you stay calm, you be rested, you be at peace, and put away all distractions, all disturbances, you know, the thing is, many times, especially when you want to step out and minister or when you make that choice to minister, all kinds of disturbances happen, all kinds of anxieties, you know, all kinds of distractions, right? I remember the early days of, you know, leading worship and just about, I just would have gone and, you know, switched on the mic and about to start, and suddenly this thought, hey, did you switch off the geyser at home when you left, right? Where did that thought come from? All this while I'm fine, and suddenly I'm just about to start and did you switch off the geyser, did you switch off the stove after heating the milk, did you switch off the stove? The thought, then I decided, okay, if these thoughts come, it's okay. If I didn't switch off the geyser, it's okay, fine. If the milk is, you know, if the stove is on, it's fine. I'll go back home and I'll take care of it, right? Milk could have boiled out of whatever, it's okay, whatever burned down, fine. I'll go home and I'll see. Now I'm just going to focus on this. Then I go home, it's all fine. The geyser is off, I've switched off the thing, this thought, right? So it could be anxiety, it could be some distraction, just to distract us, just to trouble us, just to make us agitated, so we don't hear the voice of the Spirit clearly. Satan does that, and it could be our own fears sometimes, right? So be aware of that, and just tell yourself, I'm going to focus now. I'm not going to be distracted by anything else. I'm going to stay tuned to God. Step out boldly, take risks. When it comes to gifts, it's always an element of risk. You need to tell yourself, yes, it's going to be risky, especially when it comes to word of knowledge and word of wisdom, word of knowledge, prophecy, word of knowledge and healing and going together, it is going to be risky, right? So we need to take that risk, especially if it's going to be in front of people, we need to be able to take that risk. But step out boldly as you begin to be sensitive to God's voice, and when we are assured that it's God speaking, don't worry. Step out minister in faith, take those risks. Then praying with fasting, continue to grow in faith as we meditate on the word of God. There is also the place of impartation in the environment or when we are among people who have already gone on further than us in the spiritual walk with God. Maybe God has placed them as spiritual leaders and so on, praying for impartation and so on, receiving prayer and impartation and ministry, that also helps. So let's continue to grow in our function. So what has God called us to do? Maybe you finished all this and you could be in whatever, it could be in so-called quote-unquote full-time leadership, full-time ministry or you're doing other things and you're involved in ministry, grow in your ministry function. Okay, what has God called you to do? Grow in that. As you grow in the ministry function, faithful to do, it could be the leadership, it could be an administration, it could be several things. As we grow in the function, you will also grow in the anointing. Anointing is the empowering, the presence and empowering of the Holy Spirit, presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We will grow in the anointing, no doubt about it. As we are faithful to walk in the function that God has played us in. Okay, lastly, a few things about when it comes to releasing the gifts. Operate out of relationship with the Lord. The Lord Jesus said that He is the wine, we are the branches. Without me, you can do nothing. So which means that the intimacy with the Lord is first and foremost, is the foundation. The relationship with the Lord is foundation. Now we could have studied all the methods. Methods meaning, okay, this is how you receive it. This is how you perceive, you check spiritual senses. Is there something visual? Is there something? Is there a prompting? Look at all the methods. But the foundation is relationship. Never forget that. We could learn about methods, okay, like for example, we saw maybe a word of knowledge and how does it work? Sometimes you're reminded of some person in your life, maybe your brother, cousin, friend. You're reminded in the sense you even see that person's face and the Lord wants to call out there's somebody like that name in the crowd. God wants you to speak out to that person. Call out that person's name and you have the picture. Yeah, all these methods we have learned. But the foundation is relationship. It's not that you know, I know so many methods. I know if this happens, is this happens? Yes, this is what God is. We learn the methods but we stay connected to the wine. It's out of that place of relationship with the Lord. Second thing, very important thing, be secure in your identity as a son and daughter of God, okay, which means if you call out word of knowledge or if you go and minister personally to another person in the word of knowledge and if that person is saying, wow, wonderful, you know, you just minister to my heart, okay, let your identity or self-worth not depend on that. Okay, so it means that, okay, if I'm used by God, you know, in one day, five words of knowledge I gave and people confirmed it, it is accurate and all that, then you're feeling happy. In another day, if there's no word of knowledge, okay, you went and maybe you gave a word of knowledge and people didn't confirm it and you're feeling very sad, right? Your self-worth as a person is not dependent on the gifts, right? Oh, that person is not even calling me pastor. He's not calling me prophet here. How many times, what wonderful prophecies I gave that person is not calling me pastor or prophet? You know, that's the wrong reasoning because our self-worth, our position, our security is who we are in Christ, that we are a child of God, right? So if you're performing, maybe it could be in other areas of ministry, you know, if you're leading worship and then you're preaching and you know, that is not our identity. You know, if you're saying that I need to preach at least one message a day, only then I am feeling or, you know, I need to do this, right? It's all this is good, you know, sharing the word of God, evangelizing, all this is good, important, but that, you know, should not be our identity. Our identity should not be rooted in that. It should be rooted in who we are in Christ. You know, you see the difference. It's important that we know, you know, I'm not saying that we should not share the word, we should not evangelize, you're not witness. No, I'm not saying that at all. We need to do it and we need to do it more. But the reason why you do it is not because only if I do it, I feel important, right? Only if I do this, I feel special. Only if I do this, I feel loved. I feel loved by God. You know, that's another twist. I feel loved by God only if I receive a word of knowledge. I feel loved by God only if I, you know, ministering in the gifts. Now that's, that's terrible. That is very shaky ground because one day if you're not ministering, does that mean that God doesn't love? What do you think? Right? Does that mean that God has, you know, put you aside and you're saying, I'm not going to use you anymore? No. Right? The reason he went to the cross is for you, it's for myself, right? People like you and I. So that does not, that should not change. Our security, our identity is in who we are in Christ. Very, very important. Okay. We need to come back to it over and over and over again. Always demonstrate, third thing, always demonstrate Christ-like character. That's why Paul says, plus you love and desire spiritual gifts. It's the same coin, Christ-like character, the agape of God. Okay. Don't say, you know, it's okay to lie. It's okay to cheat. It's okay to do some things. I'm anyway anointed man of God. I'm out of the anointing. I will do anything. No. God is very clear. We might get away with some things for some time, but ultimately, you know, he'll come back to us. Right? Plus you love, desire, spiritual gifts. That means pursue Christ-like character. Right? That's our testimony is like that wine skin which holds the character, sorry, is like the wine skin which holds the anointing. Right? And it's like the container. If the container is cracked or cracking is weak, then whatever God puts in will be wasted. Yes, you'll be destroyed. Right? So pursue character, pursue character of God and desire, spiritual gifts. Both are important. Sometimes we do one or the other. Very gifted, anointing, forget character. Just live whatever I want. You know, treat people, you know, some people do that, right? At home, you know, it's a different person on stage. Wow, hero. It can't be like that. Right? It's the same and people are watching or people are clapping or, you know, you're at home and, you know, you go do the things that you need to clean the place, maybe sweep and swab and, you know, change baby's diapers and all that, it needs to be done. Right? So character of God, character, Christ-like character, very important. Right? Demonstrate that. Maintain accurate teaching, be open to correction, stay teachable. Okay, because maybe when we are not teachable, we lift a lid. Okay, so God speaks to us. Of course, he speaks to us through his word, through the work of his body, also speaks to us through people. Right? And it could be people whom maybe we don't even look up to. You know, somebody will come and give something. You know, I remember when I was living like a double life, right? A weekend, a different person was saying, when I was working for this company and I was traveling on work and all that, God spoke to me through a little child at, you know, we used to have this VBS, you guys know VBS Vacation Bible School, you know? So VBS and then the last day, normally last few days or something, they have a, you know, display of things. All these kids do some charts and paint pictures and, you know, all these clay models and then they put it on display and you go and watch. So I had lived a terrible week, right? And weekend I was there in church and I was just, you know, looking and looking at these things. And this child, you know, I'm asking, okay, what is this? So she looks at me, looks at my eyes and she says, you know, uncle, God loves you no matter what you've done. Small child, no matter what you've done, actually, God, Jesus loves you. You know, he cares for you. If you've gone far away, he wants you to come back. That is what it means, you know, Jesus. And I wanted to break down and cry. So I immediately just rushed out of that hall. I didn't want to cry in front of her, I just rushed out, I said, oh, wow, God, you know, you have a way of reaching out, right? Through the, so we need to stay teachable, right? If you're not teachable, then God cannot reach in. We limit our progress. We stay, we say, okay, I'll learn only from this, this, this. Oh, God, we use many other methods to speak to us, right? Okay, so stay teachable, then we will be accurate in our doctrine. Paul writes and he says, you know, rightly divide the word, stay accurate. Okay, if something is, you know, not, you're not sure, you know, don't just say, thus says the Lord or, you know, stay with the word of God, stay with the word of God, right? Then develop self-restraint, which means if God does not speak, don't make up anything, right? God does not speak. You know, sometimes the pressure is there, no? Man of God has come, woman of God has come. After the meeting, long line, people are standing, pray. And sometimes, you know, they come with the phone, put it on record, as they're praying, you know, just put it in front of you. Yes, Pastor, pray. They're recording, you know, the expectation is some prophecy, something, you know, if there's nothing, just leave it, right? Don't be under pressure to say, I believe God is, you know, saying this, I think so, you know, it's fine, right? You know, sometimes when we have a sense of what God is saying and we're not sure it's okay to use that language, but if God is not speaking, just generally pray, leave it. Okay, don't be under pressure to construct something just for the sake of expectation of people, just to be, people please us. Okay, so then what happens is, we develop, as we develop self-restraint, there's accuracy, accuracy in hearing the voice of God. God is able to trust us with more. Say, oh, this fellow, if I say one thing he's saying, adding one zero and putting 10, so let me just, God might say, okay, let me just hold back a little so that he'll develop self-restraint, right? Otherwise, he's going to go off like one, you know, wild cannon and create all kinds of problem for people. So, let me just hold back, hold him back a little bit till he learns or till she learns self-restraint. Okay, so when we learn that lesson, God is able to trust us with more. He's able to, he says, okay, this is a faithful person and he's not adding to what I'm saying, he's not deleting what I'm saying, I can trust, I can actually give more, right? So develop self-restraint. Okay, so we looked at all these things and it is just to help us grow in this. One very important thing is be part of a local church community. Okay, local church community, don't be one solo star, I'll be like Rajnekanth, right? I'll be like Rambo, I'll just go shoot in, shoot out and I'll just go, I'm on my own. That's a very dangerous thing. God developed, oh God, you know, has called us to be in community. Even when Jesus sends people out, how did He send them out? How did He send the 70 out? How did He send them out? He said, yeah, at least one more person. So you stay accountable, right? So yes, there will be times when you need to maybe go, minister alone, you can't always go when you're in full gang, possible. But you stay part of a local church community. You say, oh, they don't believe the way I do. There's no perfect church. There's no perfect church. We're all works in progress, right? There's some plastering to be done, there's some painting to be done, there's some renovation work here and there, right? We're all works of progress as a building, spiritual house being fitted in for God's glory. So be part of a local church, right? Yes, maybe God might want you to be, you know, He might approve you from one place and plant you in another place, but be faithful there, right? Especially when it comes to, let's say, the ministry gift of evangelists, right? Evangelists, typically it would require moving to different places geographically. Of course, now we do things online also, but it would require, you know, maybe you're traveling, you're ministering in some villages and maybe some cities. So it's important that you are part of a local church when you come back home. Like this is the local church community. I'm accountable. There are people who are praying. There are people to whom I can share my testimonies, my struggles and everything. It's very important, right? Paul and, you know, Paul and Barnabas initially and also Paul and Silas, when they went out from Antioch, they came back. These are the people who prayed fasted, they heard from God and commissioned them. They went on the missionary journey, they came back and then they shared, hey, this is what God is doing. We all praise God, now they all rejoice and, you know, so we see that being grounded, being rooted in a local church community is very, very important. Okay, so we come to the end of that. I just want to share a little bit about anointing and then, you know, we'll close. Okay, so when we look at anointing, okay, what does that word mean anointing? Anointing means anointed by oil. Yeah, when you look at the root of the word, it means to smear. It means to apply, you know, and that's how it came into being, right, to cover, to smear with oil. And the Old Testament, they did that. They made the anointing oil. There's a recipe and then a lot of ingredients. And this anointing oil was supposed to be on the vessels or the anything, the objects that were used in the tabernacle, right? So the anointing oil was actually a type of the Holy Spirit, a symbol of the work of the Holy Spirit. So anoint means to smear, to apply. So when we're looking at the word anointing, you know, that means when you say I need to be anointed by God, what we're saying, what does it mean? It means that to be anointed means the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit at work. Okay, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. So empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the things. Like we read in Acts chapter 10. What does it say about the work of the Lord Jesus? Let's go to Acts chapter 10, verse 38. Okay, how God anointed, right? You see that? Acts chapter 10, verse 38. Just open your Bibles, please. Just check. Acts chapter 10, verse 38. It says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Okay, so that's anointing, which means that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit and with power. So the presence, the power of the Holy Spirit working in us is the anointing that we receive from God. Another place also, if you want to look at, I think it's Mark chapter 4 or Luke chapter 4, I think it's Luke chapter 4. We read about the Lord confirming the prophecy. He's reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Luke chapter 4 verse 17 and 18. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. And then it writes about all the things that he is, what he is anointed for. So we see that's the anointing, the empowering of the Holy Spirit. So we see that in the Old Testament, we see people anointed by the Holy Spirit for a task, for something to be done by the Lord, what wanted them to fulfill and they were anointed by the Holy Spirit. So also today, in our day and time, us as believers, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit. Okay, when we're talking about these gifts and the work of the Holy Spirit, as we're talking about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit upon us. So what does it result in? The anointing of the Holy Spirit gives birth to the supernatural, the works of God. So we should desire the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, desire the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is the anointing that births the supernatural. We see all those supernatural works that the Lord did, it was by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He went about doing good. So when we need to do those good things, God has called us to do, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now there's only so much we can do in the natural. We all have abilities. We all have natural abilities, we all have natural skills, but that has to be overshadowed by the power of God. It has to be covered, overshadowed by the power of God. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So the important thing is that anointing causes lasting works, lasting works, meaning works that remain transformative works in the lives of people. Now sometimes we wonder, somebody speaks, somebody's ministering and they just spoke something which you've heard before many times, but it made such an impact. They did not speak maybe great words, no eloquence. They didn't share any funny stories or interesting anecdotes. They just spoke and you were blessed beyond measure. Once that happened like that, I went to this particular church and I had to go because there was one thing on baby dedication or something, so I just went there. So this person came and so he was about to speak. They introduced the speaker and he looked very serious. He was wearing glasses, looked very serious, senior person, and then he was wearing on tie, like fully the thing that I was looking, oh, he's looking serious. Today's message is gone. I don't know what, it's going to be a waste of time now, I think. I'm thinking all that. I don't know what he's going to say. Then he started speaking. No interesting stories, no jokes, just the word of God. But when I heard it, it was like a very refreshing rain. All the things that I'd gone with, everything was just washed away, everything was just melting away, it was like refreshing rain, just the word of God. It wasn't like he was very dramatic, nothing. He just spoke. And I realized, first of all, with the very first sentence, I started repenting. I said, God, I'm so sorry that I thought like this about this man. I said all these things in my heart. I'm really sorry. I started repenting. And it was like a refreshing rain. It was such a blessing. So what is that? That's the empowering of the Holy Spirit that results in lasting work, transformation on the inner man. People who can argue in, can argue out. Somebody can argue out of certain things. They can reason you in, reason you out. But here, the annoying thing causes lasting internal change. I was so blessed. So never again, from that moment on, would I judge someone by their appearance. I'm talking about ministry wise. What are they going to say? Or even by the language. Or they are able to speak, able to speak. Never mind. God can speak. One words, two words, that's enough. Because when they speak under the anointing, he doesn't know about change. So lasting works happen because of the anointing. It is the anointing that makes demonic works. What is the devil scared of? What is the devil afraid of? He sees the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Why do demons flee? Of course, the authority in the name of Jesus. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. So it can be a believer who's just got saved and going there and praying over a person. The demon leaves, has to leave because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Because of that command which is coming out of great authority. So the demonic strongholds, the demonic chains, everything breaks because of the anointing. The anointing that breaks the yoke. The anointing that breaks the yoke. So the anointing we need to pursue. The anointing can increase. There are varying levels of anointing. We need to be anointed fresh from God. So this is something that we need to pursue. We need to go after the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Powerful things happen. Sometimes the anointing happens in a corporate setting. The Lord releases that anointing when people are gathering together. We read about this in the case of Saul, I think. There's a corporate anointing to prophesy. King Saul prophesied when all the other prophets were also prophesying. There was an anointing and he prophesied. We also read about how when there was corporately, when there was worship happening in this temple that Solomon built. They were all in one accord. They were worshiping and the anointing was so strong and the glory of the Lord so tangible that they could not continue in worship. All the priests and the singers and they could not continue in worship because of the tangibility of the glory of God filled that place. So there is that corporate thing. Anointing can be personal. Anointing can be corporate as well as a team or as a church. We pursue the presence and the power of God. So that's something for us to know when we talk about gifts, when we learn about the gifts of the Spirit and the ministry gift and so on. So we'll stop here. Any questions so far about the Holy Spirit, about online students also based on what we've seen so far? If you have any questions, you can ask. No questions sir. Can there be a diminishing of the anointing? So see now the thing is the gifts of God, we read in Romans we see that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. I was not going to take it back, the gift of God. Maybe he's called you for a particular thing, a ministry gift maybe. He's not going to revoke it because of maybe a certain disobedience or because I walked and sin for a period of time, whatever. God was not going to take that back. But the way in which he worked through us or through me, now that will, the effectiveness of it could diminish because that's the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit that comes out of my relationship with him. Yeah, the fruit of it. Because what is the fruit of the anointing? We're talking about all this. So that there is the possibility of that diminishing. And so we can conclude, how do we infer that? In the chapter in verse, when we see that, yes, the gift of God does not revoke. But then he has told us very specifically that without him we can do nothing, which means that without that relationship with God and when I'm going out and I'm continuing to live a life that is not pleasing, then the fruit that is produced is amounting to nothing because God says without me, there will be some kind of a blessing. People, God will continue to work and bless people here and there. But he's also interested in me. He wants to deal with me. So he's not going to continue doing that. And he's going to intervene in my life. So he'll do that. Okay, will the diminishing anointing get restored? Okay, that's a Shogma's question. Yes, obviously, our life gets restored. God is the redeemer. He's the one who restores us. Definitely, God will bring us back to that place of walking in power and walking, being fruitful, impacting lives. Definitely, he'll do that. He'll restore us back. Well, there will be certain things that God needs to work in us so that we don't slip back. There are certain things that God wants to set right in us, establish in us, uproot certain things. And if we walk with him through that process, definitely there will be that restoration. Okay, we'll stop here for this semester for a little get back in the New Year online students. Yeah, please do finish your question paper, the quiz before tonight. And I think it's about 11.59, 10.59, I guess, for 11 o'clock India time. And then, yeah, we'll meet again semester. Yeah, all the very best. God bless. God bless in person class. Thank you.