 That's good morning, everyone. My video is not coming on. Is my video on? Students, is the video on? For me, it doesn't show that it's on. No posting. No. I think now it's coming. Sorry about that. Good morning, everyone. Let's spend this time with a word of prayer. So anyone of us can please lead in prayer. Anybody can lead in prayer. Shall I? Yes, please. Hallelujah. Thank you a lot. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy by which, Lord, you have brought us this far, Lord. Once again, you've given us this opportunity, Lord, to come together as a class, now to listen to this lecture. Father, Lord, we pray that whatever we hear, we listen. These are deep truths, Father, Lord. May we be able to put them into practice. We pray, Father, Lord, that not many get the opportunity to learn these, but you have given this opportunity, Father. Let us not take them for granted, Lord. Help us, Lord, have this constant pursuing, Father, of these truths that we are learning. Father, Lord, and all the purposes, Father, that you have for us, Lord, that we be able to use these strategies, use these different ways in which, Father, the people in the world of God, Father, laid out, Father, foundations of their plans, the purposes, Lord, that you had for them. Thank you. I praise you for Pastor Paul. Bless him, Lord. Anoint him, Father, with the Holy Spirit. Lord, give us a receptive heart, a sensitive spirit. Lord, give us willingness, Father, to obey you and trust you. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Divya. All right. So last week, we completed chapter five, competitive advantage and strategies. So with some of the points that we looked at, one, know what you're up against. When you compete, compete clean and fair, develop a winning strategy. So when you're strategizing, planning, develop a strategy that is winning. Sometimes we all go through fear. We all go through change, which is not always nice, but we looked at the point, Goliath is not your real enemy, fear was, and how David was able to overcome that fear because he just knew who he was up against and the strategies that he used was brilliant. Get the Lord's counsel and be open to unusual strategies and we look at many other aspects there. So let's get into chapter six, organizational structure and design. Now, organizational structure and design is important for any organization, whether it is organization with just five people, whether it's an organization with 100 people, it doesn't really matter. You need organizational structure and design. And what does it do? When we have structure and design, it enables us to adapt to the seasons and situations that are happening around us. It avoids bottlenecks. It's a process where it makes the environment that we're working in easier. Now, getting the right structure and right design is important, but you also need the right people to fill up those positions. So for example, as an organization, you need the right people, right, right people to fill up their positions. And only then, you know, you know that as an organization, you will be able to win and do well as an organization. So let's look at a few points in your notes. Structure, order and design are godly virtues. First Corinthians 14, 33 and 40. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches of the saints, let all things be done decently and in order. Now, we've heard this many times. God is a God of structure, order and design. When you look at the universe itself and how the universe functions, the creation itself has order, structure and design. Nothing came out from, everything didn't come out of nothing. It was structure, order created by God. And God instituted the church, God instituted marriage and family and both these institutions are made with certain order. They have a certain structure, right? Now, why is structure and design important? Because structure and design will portray wisdom, right? So if you look at, now if you look at creation, look at the sun, the moon, the stars and the galaxies and how everything is, you know, just so orderly set in place in the universe. Look at everything here, what wisdom, you know, God has. You look at the plants and creation, the animals, look at the wisdom in which they, you know, they created, the way they function, the way they procreate everything. There is so much of wisdom. Structure and order and design will help an organization to walk and to work in wisdom, right? And all through the scriptures, all the Old Testament, even the New Testament, we see that God works with order, structure and design. And when we as an organization or a ministry, we may set up a ministry, right? We're just starting off now. Align your organizational structure to a strategy, right? Now, let me just give you the structure that we have at ABC. So we have senior pastor, then we have associate pastors, then we have ministry leaders and then we have team leaders and then volunteers, right? This is just a basic structure, right? That's how the organization has a structure. Look at what God does in the book of Numbers when the people of Israel are coming out of Egypt. Numbers chapter one and verse 52. The rest of all the Israelites shall set up camp company by company, each man with his own group and under his own banner. Now, look at this, very interesting, right? God is telling the people of Israel. He's brought them out of Egypt. He's not saying, okay, just keep walking, take left, take right, walk however you want, do what you want. As long as we just reach the promised land. That's the promise I gave you. You'll reach the promised land. So you need to reach. I will take you there. No. What are you saying? Okay, the way you go out also, the way you enter into the promised land, there needs to be ordered, there needs to be designed. What does he say? Right. Numbers 10 was 13 and 14. They began to march at the command of the Lord through Moses. And each time they move, they move in the same order. Those under the banner of the division, led by the tribe of Judah, started out first, company by company, with Nassan son of Amil Adabad, the in command. Now, there are 600 Israelites, 600,000 people are there in the wilderness. And God has given instructions to Moses. Moses, here's what you're going to do. One first thing you're going to take these people, set them up into tribes. Now we know there are 12 tribes. So each tribe, you have a banner, you have a flag. So you will walk with your tribe. Now the tribe of Judah can't say, hey, I want my friends are in tribal Benjamin. I want to go and join them. No. Tribal Judah, you'll be there. Right. Now each tribe had a leader. So 12 tribes, they come and report to Moses directly. So Moses is there. Just an example. Moses is there. The tribe leaders. I think my tribe is what's happening in my tribe. And you see, they come and give reports to Moses. But here's the thing. The Lord God also established a way in which, they would walk and then they would camp for certain days in a certain place. So it was not like they can camp however they wanted. No. God also gave them directions on, okay, tribe of Benjamin, you're here, tribe of Judah, tribe of Manasseh. These are the places that you will settle it. Tribe by tribe, when they moved, they moved in order. And there were different kinds of trumpets. This is very interesting. Different kinds of trumpets for different kinds of situations. So one kind of trumpet was to gather the leaders. Another trumpet was to gather the entire community. Another was a trumpet that would say, okay, the camp has to begin to prepare to move. So everything was in order. Can you picture? There's 600,000 people. Imagine you say, okay, go and tell them it's time to move one person going and telling the tribe. The tribe leader will forget what to say. And then everyone are just doing the work. No. It's not that there was a trumpet to blow it. Everyone heard it. Hey, this trumpet means it's time to move. So probably they had the entire day to pack their things, everything, and begin their journey. So in a very organized way, God, all the people of Israel out of Egypt, even as they enter the promised land, they were very, very organized. Now, was it the people who were organized? Yes, but God had given the instruction to Moses. And Moses, along with this team, was able to perform the structure and the strategies. So what about us? What about us in ministry? What about us in the workplace? Align your organizational structure to strategy. And so you have a strategy in place. God, I want to reach out to this entire city. In the next five years, I want to see a ministry that is blessing lives, touching lives in the church. I want to start a Bible college, now align organizational structure. So if you have a justification, at least in the future, you should think about, okay, you need somebody who can handle the Bible college. You need a team that can call and encourage people. You need a graphics team to do the, so you're having all the picture in your mind. Now you may be 10, 20 people in the church, but if that's the vision, that's the entire vision that you have. You need a strategy. Otherwise it's going to be, remember what the book of James says, faith without deeds is our mess. So we have the faith, we have the vision, you have to put it into practice. Of course, at the right time, we'll have the right teams, right people coming into place. Now, we must be wise in this also. If you have a hundred people in the church, you don't need 25 people as staff in the church. Or you have a hundred people working in your office. You don't need, so you're starting a small scale company. You don't need at one time 100 people. So you plan out, you strategize, you see what I need, when we need, how do we get them, how do we get the right people? Things as a, as a visionary, as a pioneer, these are some things that we must think of, right? Even the way that, worship was ordained in the Old Testament and the Old Covenant was so organized, right? There was an entrance to the tabernacle. There was a back entrance. It was very meticulous because God by nature is that way. He's very organized, right? Next point. Organizational design affects strategic capability and sustainability, right? It affects strategic capability and sustainability. Whenever we start something, we want it to sustain. We want it to last long, right? We want it to make an impact for many years and for many generations. Let's look at this was from 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, was 4 and 37, right? Then David assigned some of the Levites to the chest of God to lead worship, to intercede, give thanks and praise God, the God of Israel. David left Asaph and his co-workers with the chest of the Covenant of God and in charge of the work of worship, they were responsible for the needs of worship around the clock. Now, the first thing David did when he became the king was he brought the Ark of the Covenant into which the Ark of the Covenant was basically a symbol of God's presence. If you backtrack and go to the time of Moses and Joshua, they carry the Ark of the Covenant wherever they went. It was to say that the presence of God and this Ark of the Covenant was placed in a tent covering in Jerusalem. Now, one of the things that David desired was to have non-stop worship in that place. So, he didn't say David didn't say, okay, you form the teams, you do it this way, organized for it. He himself planned because God gave him the wisdom. That's what he did. He organized 4,000 people to attend to the tabernacle. 4,000 people. And I think, David, there are people trying to attack you and there are people who are enemies always trying to track you down and maybe to destroy the Israelite army. You want to use, yes, 4,000 musicians around the clock out on the clock. But people were singing and people were singing in the night and they would take turns. Now, these were again organized into teams. Okay, everyone. I think the network was slow. I'm sorry. Let me just say about that. There's a little away from the wife. All right, so all the musicians and singers were high skilled so there was excellence in all that was done. Isn't that wonderful? David didn't say, David didn't say, okay, we're going to do round the clock worship. 4,000 people who ever can join, join and sing. No. They were all musicians and singers who were highly skilled and everything was done in excellence. The worship of the tabernacle of David went round the clock 24, 7, for 33 years, which is never done before. How did he do that? He organized the sustainability. It didn't happen for one year. It didn't happen for five years, 33 years. Why? Because the teams were set in place. Of course, David had the resources of 4,000 people as we in our organization, the work that we are doing. We may not have the resources initially, but as we get the resources, as resources have been given to us as opportunity, make sure that we have effective strategy in place so that there's sustainability and that is whatever is done is done for a long time. David did that. Next thing, have the right. Yes, go ahead, Divya. I just wanted to share something that's happening over here in the past one week. This very much was reminded of that when we were telling about David's continual worship. So there is a university called Aspery in Kentucky. So they had a chapel regular chapel service that started on Wednesday, February 10 o'clock, which has never stopped. As you were teaching this organizational strategy, I was just thinking when it is a move of God like this, wide scale, one thing is you are requesting prayers that will last because there are reports like it is happening now in another university in Ohio. So it's like slowly coming up. Of course there should be protection over it rather than a lot of skepticism on it. It's a lot of repentance and confession. There is a genuine move of God. That's what everyone is reporting and saying. It's wonderful to see that. I was just reminded of 33 years. How did that happen? That's time. That's amazing. Prayers support as well. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. Yes. There is this revival but here's the thing. David was pre-planned. He planned it and he did it. Now what happens in times like this? It was just a regular chapel service that started off just a move of God. Now a good thing to do is let that worship continue. Being there but of course we need to so in the back something that the planning, the organizing can be done. Now that's also important. So imagine the worship is going on. Now it's not like the same person who's leading the worship. There has to be that switch between Christians and singers. So what's important is in the background some kind of strategy some kind of planning I'm sure will be going on and there are people who are there for day and night and it's just going on so practical things like providing for some kind of water or something. So there are two kinds but it's wonderful when God does it. It's wonderful to do it and the reason David was able to have this for 33 years I think is because of his meticulous planning 4,000 people 288 prophetic singers and musicians 24 smaller units team leaders everything was set in place so there was never a time who's going to go lead worship next everyone knew their part everyone knew that they should be there right? Just a small follow up on what you were telling there are people who are 24 by 7 volunteering supporting this especially the faculties but they were saying these families have small kids but still they are so passionate they are staying over and they are volunteering providing the support that is required and it is wonderful to see even the professors and everyone is they have halted the classes for this Yes Yes we studied a little bit of this and there is a move of God there is a genuine genuine work of God that is people's hearts all of these titles and all these achievements will all be put down because there is a move of God there will be a sense of unity sense of oneness humility sense of holiness all of these things will begin to show where there is a move of God so it is wonderful right next point feel free to stop me in between you can ask questions at any time next point have the right teams in place now teams are important we know about this we have seen Jesus himself having the right teams but the right teams are very important right let's look at this first chronicles 12 17, 18, 21 and 22 when David went out to meet them this is what he said if you have come in peace and to help me you are most welcome to join this company but if you have come to betray me to my enemies innocent as I am the God of our ancestors will see through you and bring judgment on you God's spirit to control of one of them Amasai who later became the commander of the 30 and he called out David's son Jesse we are yours success for you and to those who help you God is on your side David welcomed them and made them officers in his army they served David as officers over his troops because they were all outstanding soldiers later they were officers in the Israelite army almost every day new men joined David's forces so that his army was soon enormous David was one of the most was the most successful king right politically, administratively militarily and spiritually he was he thrived as a king why because David was able to set in place right teams he was able to build people up right and organize strong units he was able to do that he built an army now before he became the king of Judah even before he became the king there were about thousands of thousands maybe hundreds I think it was 800 or hundreds of people were already saying ok David we will follow you why will you follow me people are behind my life no no we will follow you whatever you say we will do so even before he became the king he had an army with him and now when he became the king he had all the liberty soldiers dead and gone he would become the king he had all the liberty so he used those strengths and he established strong teams like strong teams he had a special set of 37 warriors who oversaw the entire army out of these were the famous 30 and the 3 who were the most valiant of David soldiers all of this is in 2nd Samuel 23 so he had a team he had a core team that he worked with right 30 people were his main team and out of the 30 people his 3 were his core team you see how he organized this whole thing who was David shepherd boy I am sure I am just picturing him looking after the sheep and saying ok 5 go there 5 go here 10 go here so when these 5 try to run away I will use these 5 other sheep to maybe he was thinking of all of these things but you see he was he had it in him he was always there and then the wisdom of God enabled him to have the right teams in place when you and I are working in an organization have the right teams in place now you may not be in a position to hire the right people but even with the teams that you have empower them build them up work together grow together become a strong unit right and in ministry if it is you know if it is something that you are planning to build a team think ahead you know plan ahead have a nice team a strong team now building these teams takes time right it does not happen overnight but when you have the vision when you have a strategy those teams will build very strong teams right sometimes your best team begins with the most unlikely if look at this was from per Samuel 22 1 and 2 David fled from the city of God and went into a cave near the town of Adola when his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there they joined him people who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him about 400 men in all and he became the leader their leader now this was the this is what I was talking about the lowest point of his life he was running away from his life you know hiding in caves destined to be the next king but he was a fugitive running at this time 400 men decide to join and come under David's leadership because they knew David's capabilities and here's what David did David welcome them come David's mighty army began an unlikely moment in his life in an unlikely place starting with unlikely men isn't so wonderful right look at this David is running for his life he's hiding in caves right Saul is still trying to kill him he's in the lowest point of his life right saying hey what kind of life is this I'm hiding in caves the king is after me God you said I'm going to become king of Israel what is happening God is saying God made it in such a way that David you're in the lowest point of your life I will send some people 400 people come and say okay David we know about you we've heard that you killed the good liar we know that you you know saved Saul's life we know that you are going to be you're anointed God has used you so we are coming under your leadership David says okay come and he begins his you know strengthening this army unlikely place who knew that 400 people will come to a cave searching for David in an unlikely time they didn't say oh you're running away from Saul Saul is going to catch you and kill you then there's no use of being around you so let me choose somebody else he's an unlikely man whether you're building a team or whether you're building an organization you may not always have the opportunity to start of your start being perfect it's good if it's perfect but even if it's something very small it's alright even if it's unlikely people it's alright alright I reminded of in Mangalore there was this we were about 10 12 people and this young couple came to church and they came they sat and they went away the next Sunday again they came and I began to talk to them and they were saying you know what we don't know much about the Lord all we know you know we are from a different background we don't know much about the Lord but we like the word here so we said okay if we come I said yeah sure we can come and we spent a lot of time together and eventually you know this young couple were you know always there for all our meetings all our programs and then another young couple came so they said we'd like to be part of the volunteering team and it was so wonderful to see that when people themselves come and say okay I'm willing I'm there for you two things one very important is remember that God has sent them to you God has entrusted them to you two it is your responsibility to look after them to care for them to build them up in the ways of God it's not like they've come okay they're volunteering so that's good at them volunteer we must make the effort of being there of empowering them of training them, leading them and that's what David did when these 400 people came he was able to build them into a strong unit as an army believe in your team see beyond your current struggles now we'll not read this entire verse in Mark 16 but here's what happened let me just summarize it freely the Lord Jesus is he's dead he rose again from the dead he's come back he meets his disciples now the 11 who was closest to Jesus did not believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead they saw they saw Jesus crucified they saw him buried in the tomb and now they thought it's all over I couldn't imagine they were in this place of mixed emotion because they spent the most time with Jesus they were in a place of bereavement what kind of a death has Jesus come through and that boosome death and they buried him Jesus is resurrected from the dead and he's come to meet them right they were unbelieving they didn't think that Jesus will rise again from the dead even though they were there when Jesus said Lazarus come forth and he raised from the dead what did Jesus say I am the resurrection and the life but here now they didn't believe they have looked at the natural Jesus is dead they crucified him in their minds he was dead and gone they did not believe the initial reports of what Mary Magalene had brought that the tomb the stone was rolled away and the body was not dead but these were the closest men of Jesus whom Jesus personally trained this is core team not the 72 this core team but what is quite amazing we see here is that the same who Jesus who did not believe Jesus resurrected from the dead he corrected them for their unbelief and he commissioned them go and make disciples he gave them the great commission he gave them the great vision Jesus didn't flinch he didn't say oh I train you for three and a half years after three and a half years is this how this is you still didn't believe me oh he knew that it was just for a moment all they needed was to get over this moment once they got past that moment they were equipped and powered to the point that they were willing to give their lives for this vision and the mission that he was placing before them here's the thing he could trust them Jesus could count on them you and I can learn so many things from this believe in your team in the people that you have invested in don't quit on them right I can talk of many many places where I have made mistakes but I thank God for the team that I have worked with because those mistakes there are some mistakes there are mistakes that we make and we have all our work but we are here to build each other up believe in your team see beyond their struggles right when you believe in them they are encouraged and they are willing to grow right so just because somebody makes a mistake in your team for example in the ministry somebody makes a mistake doesn't mean we can say ok you made this mistake so now you know we choose somebody else now even in team Jesus didn't choose another 12 different 12 people he chose the same 11 people the people who for example Peter denied him and he says Peter you lead the church what belief what trust he had on Peter and that is something that we must develop as leaders we must develop this ability to see beyond people's feelings right easy for those failures to come into our mind first he did this this wrong but Jesus didn't do that he didn't look at the failure of the disciples but he said as of now you're going through a season but I know what you can do I'm commissioning you I'm empowering you to go and make disciples out of nations and they did it they were willing to give their life for Christ right when we believe in our team they'd be willing to do anything beyond a 40 hour week worker they'd be able to do more than that they'll go above and beyond they'll go walk that extra mile with you because they believe in you right next point you're just the right people you can overcome the odds judges 7 and verse 7 God said to give you Gideon I'll use the 300 men who lapped at the stream to save you and give you the Midianite give Midian into your hands all the rest may go home when you have time just go ahead and read judges 7 what happens is Gideon is ready to go against God has commissioned Gideon Gideon I'm going to use you to lead the people and defeat the Midianite army now the Midianite army was a vast army a strong army right Gideon says are you sure God yes okay you call all of them who are willing to fight so 32,000 men came came up right in these 32,000 men 22,000 were fearful and afraid so God said to Gideon send those 22,000 home so you have 10,000 left in these 10,000 God picked 300 now how did he pick these 300 he said to them in these 10,000 men tell them to go to the river and drink water right so whoever drank water by taking the water in their palms and drinking it there were 300 people the others they had a posture of drinking directly from the river those who drank directly from the river were sent home those who drank from the you know with their hands making a cup shape it was a symbol of readiness for battle alertness and readiness right so Gideon took those 300 and went into battle God stepped in and with these 300 people the Mirionite army was defeated and there was peace in the land over 40 years can you picture that I can picture Gideon standing there 32,000 okay 10,000 gone sorry 22,000 gone I mean left it only 10,000 people and then God says no it's not enough you do this 300 left and I can picture Gideon saying 300 people gone this is why past Mirionite army God says I am going with you I won't go before you and with these 300 people you will defeat the Mirionite army they did it right and there was peace in the land for 40 years sometimes we don't need a large army to outdo competition or to do great things we don't need a large army you just need the right people with the right attitude to help you fulfill that vision it's not always the quantity sometimes it is the quality the right people in the right place right so in terms of your business in terms of ministry whatever you are if there are planning to do something big in ministry even if you have two or three people to begin with do not despise it the Bible says do not despise mega beginnings God can do with those two or three people what you could have more than what you can do with 100 people 90 of them can come sit in the table work be unproductive God can say use maybe 10 people these 10 are more than enough for you to fulfill the vision that I have given you that's a wonderful wonderful way and that God can work so we need the wisdom of God to understand the way he works never look at it as it can't be done each one of us are designed from maximize function and performance right now let's go to the next one break it down only to the necessary levels stay lean and stay flat now in this portion we see that Moses had a challenge he had to disseminate God's commands down to each individual so you got about 600,000 people imagine Moses saying out of the 600,000 maybe about 500,000 had problems he is saying this he is saying we will not go she is saying we will not go all kinds of problems Moses is there thinking I am hearing directly from God and now these people are all coming one by one it is too much for me he was stressed out he had to ensure disputes had to be challenged he had to ensure this peace he had to ensure that God's standards were set in place he had to ensure that there was prayer everything so what did he do Moses raised up leaders he delegated leaders on important matters so in terms of peace within the teams within the camp he delegated leaders and he said these leaders will report to me directly brilliant move he had a judiciary process in place so leaders of 1000s, 100s, 50s and 10s 1000s, 100s, 50s and 10s all leaders then he had 12 captains one over each tribe then he had governance 70 elders appointed to govern and address daily needs oh I did not get enough morning I overslept so I could not go pick up Mana no problem you go to the 70 elders I did not pick up enough Mana they will give you some go to this house take it from them so then that task is a resort it does not have to go to Moses for that Moses is busy talking to God in the mountains so he made sure that everything is delegated special task force 12 captains one from each tribe to go and spy in the land of Canaan of worship and service in the Tabernacle so if he wanted to know something he just asked the high priest he wanted to know about things that are happening within the camp he could probably go to the leaders and ask them or the 12 tribes of each tribe he could ask them what is happening in their tribes then he had Levi's who assisted the service so you see this it is a wonderful strategy in everything that God did and you and I we may be working in an organization right now or you may have a plan too or you may be already entrepreneurs started your own business already in ministry leading pioneering ministry or you plan to pioneer a ministry gather these inputs if you are leading a ministry in the church gather these inputs use them and use effective strategy because God is a God of order and design and everything that he did was done in an order done in design we saw the examples from David's life as a king he did it in order Moses did it in order so we are called to do things in order not only in our professional life or ministry but also in our personal life because that's what God expects of us right so we close here any questions any thoughts alright no worries let's quickly close in prayer Father we thank you for this time we thank you for your word and Lord we've learned so much today Lord that you are a God who's a God of order and design and structure and we pray God in every area of our lives whether it's the workplace, whether in ministry or the family in our personal lives God help us Lord to be more organized to continue to depend on you for wisdom to do the things that you have called us to do Lord Lord we pray that you will empower us not only through our skills but also empower us in our spirit anoint the things that we do the plans that we have of God and let it be pleasing in your sight we thank you Lord for teaching us thank you Lord for trusting us Lord and we pray God that we will continue to do everything that you have called us to do for the establishment and betterment of your kingdom here or not we thank you and praise you in Jesus name we pray Amen Amen thank you everyone have a wonderful week ahead see you on Monday for our next class God bless