 So how was the day? How's your day been? It's been good ma'am. Good, good. How about you? It's good, it's good, it's here. Yeah, thank you. Okay, so as others join, can one of us lead us in prayer? Zelle, would you be able to lead us in prayer? Yes, Pastor. Thank you. Father, we come before your presence in the name of Jesus. Thank you so much for this beautiful morning that you have blessed us so that we can come together, come together and learn from your word. Thank you Lord for our ma'am as she teaches the word of God. I pray for your wisdom, your revelation, be upon her so that she will be a mouthpiece for you and she can teach according to your will. And also thank you for each one of our classmates. Give us a receptive heart, a digital heart and Holy Spirit empower us so that we can learn new things. This class Lord, we commit our life, our time, everything we can to Lordship in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Amen. Okay, so let's turn to our notes to chapter 9. Meanwhile, I will also project the notes to us. The presentation. Okay. So today we will be covering on four chapters. One is on Angels, Godly Council. And in the next session, we will be covering on the renewed mind, times and seasons. So even before we could start on this chapter, Angels, this may be something new to some of us. Isn't it? So anyone in our class has this angelic visitation any time? Have any of us experienced any angelic visitation? It can be in any era. It can be ministered to us or it can be through protection. Or have you heard any stories? Are those shared as a testimony that they had angelic visitation? Ma'am, can I share? Yes, Elie. Like a few years ago, one of our church elder, you know, like I was leading the prayer intercession session in the church, you know, and after the service was over, she came to me and she said, Sister, you know, like as you were leading the prayer intercession, you know, the Lord just opened up my eyes. And I just saw, you know, the presence of angels, you know, like just, it was like huge, around seven to eight foot, like, and he was protecting you. And the moment I saw that I was just so overwhelmed and I was just, you know, thanking the Lord. And I believe that is, you know, the angels protecting you and empowering you to do the ministry, God has called you to do. And that was such a word of encouragement and I press God for that. Thank you so much for sharing that, Elie. Yes, that's so true. Angels are around us. They are sent to minister to us, protect us, you know, be with us. Yes. Anyone else in the class? It'll, this by sharing, you know, it encourages our faith. We will tend to believe in what God is doing in the spiritual realm. So I would request our class to be much interactive. Anyone else in the class had experienced any such thing with related to the angels? Okay, so we will start with the class. If anyone have any experience, please do let me know. You can always interrupt and, you know, you can share your experience of how Lord is ministered to you. Okay, so let's turn to Hebrews chapter one verse 14. Hebrews chapter one verse 14. Can one of us please read? Hebrews chapter one verse 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? So we see both in the Old Testament and in the New that God uses angels to send messages to minister to people. And angels have been sent in the visions or dream to convey a message to people. We see, you know, in the New Testament, we see how angel of God was sent to Mary to announce the birth of that she's been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. And, you know, and we also see again, angel appear to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take Mary as a survivor. He actually thought that he'll put away Mary silently. But then again, we also see another instance where after the birth of Jesus, angel appearing to Joseph in a dream. And here is instructing him to take the child and Mary and go to Egypt for safety. So there's a protection. There's an angel actually appearing for Mary. It was the angel appeared real and she could hear the audible voice. And later part, we see the same angel appear to Joseph in a dream. And again, we see again, the angel appear to Joseph in a dream. So such activities were common those days. Do you think those activities are changed now? No, we do hear from people that angels have ministered to them. And in a lot of, you know, in the early church after the resurrection of Jesus, we see, you know, in the book of Acts, we see a lot of angelic encounters that our disciples had. An angel delivered Peter from prison and instructed him to go and preach in the temple. Later, we also see angel instructing Philip to go to Gaza and, you know, to catch up with the eunuch and share the gospel to him. And through that one act of obedience, we see the gospel was taken to Ethiopia. Again, later we see the angel appeared to Cornelius a Gentile and asked him to send for Peter so that they can hear the gospel. And through this very act of obedience, we see the Cornelius and his family was saved. Again, we see the angel released Peter from the chains and took him out of the prison. There was a high end gate, but, you know, there was a miraculous encounter and there was a supernatural encounter where the iron door broke at the presence of, you know, God sent Angel. And later we also see an angel struck Herod and he died and the book of Acts. There were many angelic encounters we see. So angel can appear even to us and they can speak to us audibly. And, you know, angels can be visible and also audible. And at the same time, they can also appear in the dream and they can talk to us or they can also be invisible and just the voice can be heard. So often during this time of worship, we sense, you know, in our Bible college, when we had in-person sessions every day in the noon, 12 to 1, we had supernatural session. Where every day, okay. So what happens here is now only on Fridays we have morning 8 to 9. But then before in-person session, we used to have every day 12 to 1. So all we did is all the students all put together first year, second year, third year. We used to sit in a circle and just worship the Lord. We may sing few worship songs and start praying in tongues. When we did that many times, many times we have seen angelic encounters. Students would have said that, ma'am, I saw there was ascending and descending of angels. Or just like how Zellie shared the angel was next to some of the student. And when we asked them, did you experience anything, they would have said that, you know, in their own way, either the Lord touched them and they were ministered in different ways. But we see when we worship the Lord, the presence of angelic being is around us, is around us. Some of us would have experienced any such thing. For example, I have this in practice, okay, from my class 5 onwards, from school I got this habit of by hearting Psalm 91. Every time I step out of the house, you know, I start with Psalms 91. So one such instance, instant happened in 2009, yes. My dad got me a new bike, Activa, which was much heavier than what I am. Not now, then. I was actually very lean, so I couldn't balance that bike, but then I could ride because I have rode other bikes. And I was very new in riding and once, you know, as I was riding on a heavy traffic road on a highway, there were huge lorries used to pass by. So one day as I was riding, suddenly the noise of a huge truck passed through me, brought fear into me and I was so scared. I was so scared and you know, I just closed my eyes and said, Lord, I cannot do this. I cannot ride anymore. And I was so fearful. I just closed my eyes, but I continued to ride. And you know, I said, Lord, I need your help and need your protection. And for that fraction of a second when I closed my eyes, I saw God has set his angels in charge of me as we declare it through Psalms 91. You know, one of the angels was holding my bike on the right side and another angel on my left side. So both the sides, there were two angels holding my bike and coming. So this, the fear within me left instantly. And you know, I sense God's boldness in me. And that's when I saw myself improving in my riding. Till then I was, I used to ride alone, not take anyone along with me, but very fearful. But then something happened that day onward that I could take another person. Another person along with me. And there was boldness in my riding. There was no more fear within me. I also had another encounter sometime after many months. Okay. Again, maybe this was in 2010, 2009. Yeah, it was in 2009. Yes, I remember the month. It was July. I was coming along with my brother. He was sitting behind me and I was riding the same bike. All of a sudden there was a car in front of me. When the car passed by, I saw there was a huge ditch in front of me and I could not balance. I could not take right or left. And I know that I'm going to get into the ditch. And in the mirror, I'm seeing there's a car, a black Maruti Swift coming behind me. And I knew I'm gone. I just closed my eyes and I don't know. It just came out of me. I said, Jesus. And immediately I went into the ditch and we fell. We fell. You know, the bike fell on me and my brother, a laptop. We just fell on the road. And you know, people, yes, they came to assist and we caught up and I was sitting on the on the on the on the platform. You know, they just helped me to sit on the platform. And when I looked back, I wanted to see where's the car because that car was very close to me and between me and the car. There was nothing. Okay. But then I saw the car was stopped much before. And there was another person between us. And she was just standing. She was just standing and I looked at her because she was looking very different from others. Everyone was checking on me. Am I okay? Did I get any hurt? My knee was hurted and I was declaring over my knee saying that I'm not hurt. My bones are not broken because my senses are saying that my leg was fractured. My senses are saying my skin is cut and you know, the blood is bleeding on my left knee. But then I'm declaring saying that my bones are not broken. My skin is not cut and my leg is not bleeding and I'm perfectly fine. I'm strong as I kept declaring everyone around me are checking. Am I fine? But there was one person just standing and looking at me. She was dressed in white and she was normal to look just like us. Okay. Just like the Indian attire she was wearing and within me I sensed she's the angel. Okay. She's the angel who saved you and I could not respond to anyone around me. But you know, all my attention was looking at her like, is she an angel? Is she an angel? And I looked at her and I asked her, what's your name? She looked at me and she said, I'm angel and this is the only message that she told me. She said, God saved you. Your God saved you. That's it. I don't, you know, I don't know how she came but she was just standing there. She didn't even inquire how are you because she knew that I was perfectly fine. And this is the only message she said. She said, my name is angel and God saved you. And she was no special. There was no halo on her head or she was looking something very differently dressed. No. In fact, she was wearing salwar, white salwar, just like Indian dress. And she said, until day I have this confirmation within me like she was the angel. You know, God sent to protect me that day. It was not only that day, something invisible, but there's always God's protection over us because we claim for God's protection. So as been said with all this, one thing we need to know is we do not worship angels. But we worship only the Lord most high. We do not seek for any angelic visitation. Our focus should remain only on Jesus, not on any ministering angels. We must discern every angelic visitation. We should know what is the message that carried because we all because the scripture says that Satan and his demons can also imitate angel of light. We ask God for the assistant of his angels because that's what his word says. And we speak God's promise declaring what does angel do for us and they respond to the voice of his word. We can definitely ask God, send your angels to protect us in a way in the path that we are going. Or if somebody is traveling, we can always say, Lord send your angels with them, God them, guide them, protect them. So we can, but we should be very careful from worshipping any angelic pain except the Lord Jesus. So with this, we will move on to the next lesson. Yeah, we do not worship any angels. We ask God for the assistance of his angels. We speak God's promise declaring what does angels do for us. With this, we will move on to the next lesson. Godly Council. I'm just sharing the notes. Okay, so we went through the angel next, we will go through the Godly Council. Can one of us turn to Psalms? Chapter 73 verse 24. Psalms 73 verses 24. You will guide me with your council and afterward receive me to glory. Yes. So one important way that God communicates to us is through his guidance. We all know the three ways how God guides us through his word, through his inner witness and through his Holy Spirit. And God also uses people to speak into our lives so that, you know, they can help and guide us into the right path in our life. So Psalms 73 verse 24 says that you will guide me with your council and afterward receive me to his glory. And Proverbs 11 verse 14 says there are many plans in a man's heart. Sorry, there are, where there is no council, the people fall but in the multitude of counsellors, there is safety. It is very important for us to take council from everyone or from, from, you know, not from one person but from many so that we are safe. We are safe. So this is what we do is, you know, as a team at APC, if there's any major discussion or decision to be made, we always, you know, take council from each other, we come for a meeting, we discuss our take ideas from many and choose the right one. And in that council, we see there's, you know, great plan of God been fulfilled. So we are safe when there is no council, the people fall but in multitude of counsellors, there is safety. Proverbs 15-22 says without council, plans go awry but in multitude of counsellors, there are established. Very important to take council from many so that our plans can be established. Proverbs 19-20, listen to council and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days. Very important so that we develop this ability within us to listen and to receive because most of us, you know, it takes humility for us to listen to another person to take their guidance or to listen to their instruction. It does not come very easy. It is a natural sense of a human not to listen to others and think that we know and we should lead ourselves. And we also have this preconceived notion that we know and let, you know, I can lead my life. And we get into many trouble. So to avoid those pitfalls, it would be good for us to take council, a godly council from the other people, from other counsellors who has lived their life with the fear of God so that when we take their council, we can see ourselves been, you know, guided in the right path so that we can avoid much pitfalls in our life. The mistakes that they have made, the lessons that they have learned that, you know, they can share those guidance, those warnings to us so that we may not fall into the same mistake what they have committed long ago. Proverbs 20, 18 says, Plans are established by council. My wise council wage war. Sometimes the council that we receive wages war. But then when we have received this council, even during a difficult situation, even when we face challenges in our life. The council that was given to us, the idea, the plan that they had shared from the council would have shared from their life will come to our mind. The Lord will remind us in our difficult situation so that we may not give up. Holy Spirit is our counsellor. During a difficult situation, when we go through the word of God, when the word speaks to us, when the word shares the people of God in the Bible, when they went through the difficult time, how they seek God, how they prayed, how they never gave up. When those words speak to us, it encourages us in our difficult situation. One way is through the word which we already saw. And when we go through a godly council, the man of God, a woman of God who shares their experience or speak into our situation and give us the word, the encouraging word. Those things around us, the circumstance, the situation may not be in favour of us. But then when we trust them, when we trust them, we are sick. The word encourages us to hold on to that promise, hold on to that council and go through the situation, hoping that God will help us to cross through the path. And when we press on, we will see the victory. Many of us in our class, I'm sure each of us will have a testimony to share on this. When you were going through a difficult time, you were encouraged by the word of God to hold on to his promise. Some of us would have already crossed that circumstance or situation and have won the victory over that. Or some of us may be in the middle of the circumstances. A trust God, trust on his promise which says that I will never leave you nor forsake you. And every godly council that has been given to us timely will help us to overcome our situation. Receiving right counsel is very important. Receiving right counsel. We must receive this counsel from people, you know, who are deep in the word. And they have walked with the Lord for a very long time and they have faced many circumstances in their life. And they share the counsel based on the word and they submit to the Holy Spirit. We must take counsel from such people so that we can receive the right counsel from them at the right season. And when we receive counsel from them, we need to be humble enough to receive it and, you know, apply it in our life, take action on what they have guided us. Sometimes it may not be very pleasant from what we expected. It may be totally opposite to what we expect. This is what in Psalms chapter 1 verse 1 says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful. When we go to this expert, when we go to this council and they give us, when we listen to their advice, we see God's blessing over our life. And also there are different counselors according to our need. If in case you want to take up a medical advice, we have a medical counselor. Something to do with finance, education, professional matters. So based on each criteria, we have a counselor, but it would be good for us to seek a godly counsel. A man and woman who walk in the counsel of God so that we can get the right counsel at the right time. But what more important is, are we willing to be corrected? Sometimes we would like to receive the plan of a counselor when that is aligned to our plan. We will say, this counselor is very good and I would like to go to that person. And you see that person, even though it is wrong, that person repeatedly gives exactly what you want. I don't think that's the right thing. A counselor who advises you, who corrects you when you're wrong. Even you may be hurt or you may have to undo your plans. It is good to take their advice. Initially, you may feel bad. You may get upset or mad at that counselor for giving you a counsel that is not aligned with your plan. He's not giving you any affirmation of what you have planned and you put it across to him. But in fact, he's trying to correct you. He's asking you to wait. He's asking you to wait on the Lord or this plan is not aligned with your studies, with your career or what God has promised you. So he is actually, maybe he's asking you to undo certain things or bring a correction in you. But what is much required is we need to humble ourselves and receive that guidance. Some years back, I remember I went to a counselor to make some life decision. I went to this counselor checking if this is right. He examined. He asked me many questions. And then at the end of, you know, at the end of that session, he said, this is not right. This is not from God. This is just the timely desire that you have got to overcome your situation. But this is not what God wanted you to do at this time. It was very difficult for me to accept that counsel from the man of God. I felt that he's against my decision. He is not in favor of me. But I never thought that he is in favor of what God has in store for me. He simply bluntly declared, this is what God wants you to do and what you have planned or what you wanted to do. What you have decided to make a decision is not from God. He was very blunt. He never thought to please me, but it was very, very hard for me to accept that counsel. It took at least a week or two for me to accept it. I was very sad when the man of God told that I came. Yes, I was sad, but asking God to strengthen me to accept that counsel. Today, when I look back, I'm very thankful to God and to the counselor. In fact, some years back I called him. I said, thank you for correcting me at that season. I needed that word. If not, my life would have been deviated from what God wanted me to do in my life. When we trust God, God leads us to the right counsel. Even if that counselor gives us an advice that is not aligned with what we think or what we want to do. But then if it is aligned by the word of God, I think we need to be humble enough to receive it. Because we may not have the complete understanding then, but then later trust God that God will give us the understanding. Yes, we all have wisdom. We all have the understanding. Our brain is just this much. But God has much bigger plan for us. Our mind cannot understand, cannot grasp the God's wisdom, his understanding, his plan, his will. But one thing we need to rely on Jeremiah 29, 11 saying that God has a plan for me, plan to prosper me. What you and I can think for ourselves is much little than what God has in store. So these incidents in my life has made me today to trust God much more than what I could think on us. What I believed would be the best when people spoke into my life with the right counsel saying this is not God as much more bigger, brighter, better. Though it was hard for me to receive that counsel, but then I simply waited on God, letting go of what was in my hand. Yes, those days it was very hard to do that, but then God has trained me in my life today when I let go of many, many opportunities in my life that was not aligned with God. Today for me to let go of certain things is much easier because I trust God and I've seen his hand over my life carrying me through days and weeks and months and years. And I trust God today that God has much better plan than what I can think of for myself. And God has brought me to a place where I can just receive God's guidance, the correction from people of God and trust God to develop me to the better person what I could be. And these days I seek for those corrections and feedback because I know it is in them that I can build myself. It is in those correction and in those feedback that make me a better person. So these days for me to receive the feedback or correction, it's become a blessing for me than receiving a good feedback. Good feedback is good. Yes, it encourages us, it appreciates us, you know, makes us go, yes. But at the same time, you know, correction is much more better because it prunes us. It makes us grow to the next level. Here we need to have a attitude of humility to receive that correction, to apply it in our life and willingness to change ourselves to the way of God and trust God completely. Because these plans are much better than what you and I can have. Proverbs 12 says whoever loves instruction, loves knowledge, but he who aids correction is stupid. So we need to, you know, we need to receive probably instruction with all our heart and apply it in our life. It is for our good. Proverbs 13, 18 says poverty and shame will come to him this day in correction, but he who disregards a rebuke will be honored. Proverbs 29, one says he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. We don't have to go through this because when we go to the council, they will all they will advise us with the right path. But we should be willing to listen to them so that we can avoid such pitfalls in our life. Next one is very important. The Council of Godly Parents. Always remember it is very difficult. You know, for a child to receive an instruction from parents, I will not say everyone, some of us. If the same instruction is been given by their own friend, you know, it's very easy to receive it than receiving it from our parents. But one thing I must say is parents have always thought good for us. They love us. They desire good things to happen for us. Proverbs 13, one says a wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a software, a mock does not listen to the rebuke. A wise son heeds his father. We need to be that wise son who can listen to the father's instruction. Proverbs 1, 8 to 9 says my son. You're the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother. For they will be graceful, ornament on your head and chains about your neck. So one of the, you know, one of the honorable thing that we could do is to receive the Council from our parents. They have brought us up. They always, you know, they see good things to happen to their children. So when we hear they counsel their instruction, it is just that we're obeying God. Again, Godly Council, they counsel will help us to walk in honor, in honor among the other children. Again, there are parents who there are sometimes, you know, we get wrong counsel from parents, but we need to be wise enough. Also take the council from others. So there was an example here of Jesus himself, how Jesus waited 30 years to get into the ministry. In the same way, if you and I have got a call, there is a preparation process that we need to go through. At the same time, we all need to be educated as well. We need to go through our studies and then get into the ministry. So when we hear the Council of our parents and obey them, we are honoring God by obeying our parents, by honoring them, by keeping up their counsel. And we will be the delight to God and to our parents. So any of us have an example or a testimony to share based on today's class. Godly Council has helped you, or was there any angelic visitation or angelic encounter that you had in your ministry in your life that you would like to share for the benefit of the class. Please feel free to share with all of us. Anyone, John, you would like to share your experience with regard to Godly Council or any angelic visitation. Godly Council, yes. Angelic visitation, no, I have not experienced any angelic visitation physically. But quite a lot of times while worshipping, we have felt the presence of God. Some of us, sometimes people have testified they saw something they saw angel, but I haven't seen. I didn't have that experience. Godly Council, yes, while taking serious decisions in life. Like one example, what I want to share is when, when I finished my bachelor's degree and then wanted to do masters. I was part of a church which is just very active in Kerala. And we also, I was also part of youth ministry back then. I wanted to study for master's degree and I want to study in Manipal, which is an overnight journey from Kerala, the place where I was staying. So I discussed with the pastor there and he said he could have helped me back. But he said it is good for your future you need to go. And if he would have asked me to stay back, I wouldn't have gone, that's for sure. But he guided me in that direction so that I could study more and God used there also. So I think that's one of the Godly Council which I received. Thanks God. Anyone else would like to share? Divya, Niki, it can be anyone, it can be anyone. Brother Abu Bakr, Brother Subashish, anyone from a class. Any Godly Council that has helped you to grow in the ministry, to grow in your life. Ma'am, can I share? Yes, Zellie. Regarding Godly Council, you know, like I really used to have a heart for missions and to God for missionary team. So at the time I was working with one of the pastor in Dimapur. And, you know, like I've been, I was working as a full-time staff for three years back then. And, you know, I just feel that it's time for me to step out in faith and venture in the missions. So I was just praying and I talked with my senior pastor there and I just shared my heart's desire to pastor. And, you know, he understood my heart and I really don't, I want to go for a mission, but I really don't know where or to wish nation. And through his Godly Council and through his encouragement, you know, like he connected me to one missionary couple in Cambodia. And he's the one arranging everything for me. And he talked with them and through my senior pastor's connection, I was able to serve there in the nation of Cambodia for two years. And I'm so blessed and I'm glad that, you know, I also my pastor and he said, you know, as a church, we need you. But if that's what you have in your heart, I freely release you. And with his prayers and with the blessing of our church there, they release me to go to the mission field. So, Prescott for that. Yes. That's nice. That's nice. Sid, you would like to share something? Yes, ma'am. Ma'am, it was something happened about Godly Counciling. After completing my 12th standard, I was looking for which course to choose and which college to go. So, what happened? I was looking from college to college from course to course. But suddenly my grandmother came in between and she said, what do you want to do? I said, I want to serve Lord and I want to do something for the people who are underprivileged. So, she prayed over me and she said, you don't worry, God will come, God will open away for you. Suddenly, I was just scrolling my Google, then there was a post by the name called, Battle of Social Work. So, I went inside, I scrolled it out and it was exactly the same which I was looking for. Then after that, my father told me that, are you interested in ministry? I said yes. Then he said, there's a Bible school by the name of my past opponent, he was having a Bible school. So, I just went through and I scrolled the APC website and I saw it's kind of for me only and all the courses that were your lifestyle, the evangelism and all the courses and prayer and intercession, I went through and I saw this is for me. Then I prayed, then by the time I was applying, by the grace of God, I got a tuition waiver also. So, like that, I was just applying and I thought that this is from the God and I thank God and now all the things are incorrect by the grace of God. Now I'm doing bachelors of social work also and I'm a student of BTH also. Praise God. I thank God for the counseling. Praise God. That's wonderful, Sid. Thank you for sharing. That's nice, yes. Godly counsel and at the right time when we receive it with all humility and when we apply it in our life, we see God's plan been unfolded in our life and God's blessing also there and he supports us and he guards us and guides us, nurture us to grow in that area. So, let's take a quick break of 10 minutes and be back by 10 o'clock, okay? Thank you. After 10 minutes, we shall be back because we are in different time zone. Just take a 10 minutes break and we can be back after that. Thank you. Good bless.