 All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to this session. Let's just begin this time with a word of prayer. So just leave it open. Any one of us can start with a word of prayer, please. Divya, would you like to pray? Sure. Sure, best. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful time that you've given us. Father Lord, I pray that you open our hearts, Lord. Make our spirits receptive to your word, to your principles. Father, that we may be able to understand, we may be able to perceive them, that we may be able to apply them in our lives. We pray, Father, that you give us a humble and a willing spirit, a teachable spirit, Lord. We pray your blessing, your anointing and empowering over Pastor Paul. Father, we pray, Father, for strengthening him and blessing his family. Father, we pray a lot for each and every student gathered here, Lord. Just not by a coincidence or an accident that we are here. Father, you have uniquely, Father, designed and purpose for us to be here, Lord. All that we are hearing and learning may be, Lord, apply in our lives, Father, and bear fruit, Father, multi-fold in our lives and in the lives of others. We thank you, we pray, student Jesus, precious to you, we pray, Amen. Amen. Thank you, Divya. All right, so we've been talking about last class. We did chapter 14. We looked at marketing, brand building and selling. Today we'll move into chapter 16. So we'll just come back to customer relations if we have time towards the end of the semester. But I just thought we'll get into chapter 16, very important topic, a topic which we all, whether in ministry, whether in the workplace, we will go through these challenges and tough times. So we'll begin with chapter 16 today. Now, I don't have to explain about challenges and tough times. Each one of us have different kinds of challenges. We've had challenges in the past. We're going through a challenge right now. We're going through a tough time. So all of us have had our share of challenges and tough times. Now, when these challenges and tough times come in, how do you and I as believers, how do we reciprocate? How do we look at those challenges, look at those tough times? How do we deal with them? So let's look at scripture and how we can tap it to the things of God, especially when we face different challenges both in the workplace and in ministry. So first one, remember that mountains can be conquered. Matthew chapter 17 and verse 20. So Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief for a shortly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Now, here's the thing. We must be assured that when we are in life's journey, there will be mountains. There will be mountains, there will be challenges. There will be very tough times ahead of us. Just because we are a believer doesn't mean, I'm sure we all know this, doesn't mean that everything is going to be smooth. No, there's going to be tough times. But here's the promise that we have, God's word that mountains can be moved. Mountains can be conquered. And so let me face those challenges, let me face tough times. Yes, emotionally we may, our soul may wonder, it's nice when things are going well for a long time but then suddenly there's a shift, there's a change, there's a challenge, or there's a mountain that comes up, it can derail us. But remember, mountains can be conquered. And here, the Lord Jesus is talking about the faith that you and I as believers must have. So even during those tough times and difficult times, maintain a positive attitude and be thankful. First Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18 says, be careful no matter what, prayer all time. Thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you to belong to Christ, Jesus to live. Now, in every situation, stay cheerful. Be thankful no matter what is happening. Proverbs 15-30, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. Now, the best example would be that of Paul and Silas in prison. So Paul and Silas is in prison, they've been beaten up, they've been scourged, everything went wrong and they've been put into this jail, their hands chained up, their feet chained up, and they had every reason to complain, but what did they do? They maintained a positive attitude and they remained thankful. And what happened? As they were thankful, they began to pray and sing hymns to God, prison doors was open. Now, I like the verse in the book of Psalms, I forget what chapter, which Psalm this is but maybe anyone of you can help me with that. We bring a sacrifice of praise unto the house of the Lord. So, thankfulness and praise, something that just happens, especially thankfulness in difficult times is a sacrifice. So, it's very easy to complain and say, God, these are the 10 things that are going wrong, but only two things are going right, but we can maintain a positive attitude and say, God, I'm giving this sacrifice of praise to you. Thirdly, don't lose confidence. Look at this verse, Psalms 40 verse 1-2-3, I waited patiently for the Lord's help, and he listened to me and he heard my cry. He pulled me out of the dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure. He taught me to sing a new song, song of praise to our God. Many who will see this will take warning and will put their trust in the Lord. So, sometimes we may find ourselves in an unexpected place. We may feel that we're on a certain journey, but somewhere in the middle of the journey, we've probably, because of our own way, we've gone astray, or I won't say gone astray, but taken a deviation, or it could be that the Lord has made us take a deviation. You see that the Lord has this on it. And sometimes it's very easy to lose confidence. But remember, continue to look to the Lord. Wait on him. He will come through for you. Don't give place for any negatives for fear, anxiety, or depression. Don't lose your confidence. I love that verse again. There's plenty of scriptures in the Bible which can really build confidence in us. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. He's my refuge. He's my fortress. My God and Him I will trust. There's so many verses that we can gain confidence from the Lord. And one of the things that really empowered and helped me during, and even now, at times as leaders, as pastors, administering to people, but we ourselves sometimes lose confidence. We feel weak. We feel tired. We feel weary. It's natural, right? But one of the things that really encouraged me was to go back to the scriptures. And the words of God, the power of God's word, the living word of God begins to minister to us. Yes, thank you, Divya, for that word. So that's Psalms 54 and 6, a sacrifice offering to you. So don't lose confidence. Even when you see things are not working, you see there's no change, you see there's no progress, it's alright. Don't lose confidence. Continue to trust in God. But again, in the natural, we may need to make a certain change, a few changes when you see there's no progress. But trust in God. Have confidence that God is there by your side. Stay anchored in God. And sing to the Lord. Let praise forever be on your lips. Tap into empowered efficiency. Joshua chapter 23 and verse 10, One man of you shall chase a thousand. For the Lord your God is he who fights for you, as he promised you. Now, humanly speaking, one man cannot outdo a thousand people. But for God, the equation is different. Now, if you look at a thousand people and then one person, if you think in the natural, you don't even need a thousand, it just means maybe five people to get rid of one person. But with God, the equation is different. If you look at the Old Testament and the Old Covenant and how the people of Israel, the armies of Israel won their wars, most of the time, they were lesser in number. What did they do? They tapped into empowered efficiency. There will be times when, for example, a company will have to downsize. We don't need people and that's what's happening right now. Downsizing. And so definitely it's a challenge. It's stressful. It's going to be more work, more workload, more targets to reach, lesser people. That's when you tap into empowered efficiency. Say, God, it is your empowering over me that will enable me to fulfill the task. And what do five people to do? God can enable you and I, one person can complete the task of what five people can do. That's an anointing. Empower, tapping into the realm of the spirit and saying, God, empower me. And then this is not like a natural empowerment. Suddenly you feel that you're able to do something. You're able to complete your tasks. And this is the same with ministry as well. Especially at times when ministry is just going on. It's been two, three years. But everything is just the same. There's no change. And it's very easy to lose confidence, to lose, you know, to ask God, God, what's happening? Why is this happening? That's the, those are the times in our, in our tiredness and our wearyness to tap into the empowered efficiency that comes from God to say, God, I thank you for what you're doing in our, even though we, we don't see what, you know, maybe results, but I know that what we are doing is like a seed and a bare fruit in the coming years. And so you continue to do what God has called you to do. There's this empowerment from God. All of a sudden you feel re-energized, re-refreshed, you know, rekindled, refined. You feel so, so refreshed, you know. And that's a wonderful feeling. I'm sure, you know, if you have a, well, maybe six months of hard work, right, and you take a break and you, you go for the holiday probably alone or with your family, you come back and you're so refreshed. You just want to go, you're willing to start work and do your work again. That's what it does, right. The, the, the empowering, the tapping into the things of God will empower us more than what we can do, right. And there's, again, in, in the Bible, there's so many examples of the old covenant and the new covenant as well. There's people who tapped into the power of God and they were able to do things, right. We, we studied about Nehemiah. It's not natural for Nehemiah to get a team together to build the walls of Jerusalem. In 52 days, it's not a natural thing. It is empowered efficiency, right. And look at David. It's not a natural thing to, you know, kill the lion and the bear with his own hands. It's not natural, right. This is all tapped into empowered efficiency. Look at Apostle Paul with all the challenges that he had. He went on from places to places, planting churches, writing these epistles, tapping into empowered efficiencies. So, and that is, you know, the wonderful thing is you and I can continually go there. It's not like God has an expiration date saying three times in a year, that's it. And after that, you cannot tap into empowered efficiency. That's not what, that's not how God works. God is saying, hey, anytime, any day, any moment, any month, at any time, you can just tap into the empowered efficiency that's available through the Holy Spirit, right. Next one. God is your boss. Don't worry about bad bosses and employees, right. Now, yes, God is our boss. So we always remember that we work for the Lord. Also remember that the Lord has placed leaders under us. Right. So when we do work sincerely, when we do work with all our heart with doing right things and maybe at times, you know, your boss may treat you unfairly or he may reject you for whatever reasons that they may have. Stay focused. Right. In the natural, I don't receive my reward, but I know that you will reward me because I was sincere in what I did. Right. So it's nice to be rewarded in the natural as well. Right. It's a good feeling and God wants to do that. Right. But there will be times that will be bad bosses, unfair bosses, you know, devious tricks and things that people have used in the corporate sector. All of that will be there. But if you have worked sincerely, if you have worked with all your heart and you know that you, you know, probably deserve this raise or you deserve this promotion, but it's not coming away. Stay away from complaining. Stay away from fretting about your boss. Focus on what the Lord can do. And remember that the reward comes from God. Right. Even though, look at the story of Jacob. It's so interesting. Right. His boss cheated him. Right. He said, you work this many years. Then I'll, I'll give you one of my daughters, one of my daughters. And then he cheated him. And then he said, you work another seven years and only then I will give you. Right. Now, Jacob didn't say, okay, no, you know, you cheated. Now I'm going to go away. No, he focused on the Lord. He said, okay, God, even though this person did wrong to me, I will continue and God blessed Jacob more than he could imagine. Right. If you see the end of the story, I think we talked about it a little bit. Jacob and he saw how Jacob was blessed beyond measure. Right. He had so much at the end. Initially, what was he? He was working for somebody, looking after their sheep cattle. Now, years later, God has blessed Jacob so much that he himself has hundreds of servants and herds and cattle and livestock and he's ready to go meet Jacob. He saw. God bless Jacob. So there will be times when God tests us. He allows certain things to happen. He allows us to, you know, through these people, you know, bosses or unfaim for us, it happens. Right. But our attitude during that time really matters. You get God and say, God, my reward will come from you. Continue to be faithful. Right. Now I'm not saying, we're not saying, okay, it's going to happen every time. No. God is faithful. Right. If you have worked hard, you have, you know, sincerely worked, you've done your best. You can pray and say, God, this promotion should be mine because I've done my best. And Lord, I pray that, you know, you will give me the right to give me the promotion. We pray that way. Right. So we don't wait and say, no, if it promotion, no, if it doesn't come, I will do this. No. You declare what you want. Right. So we keep doing that. Next one. Bouncing back when you are put down. Problems 2926. When you seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord. Right. I love this verse. Justice for man comes from the Lord. Right. So when you think of the word justice, right, the first thing that comes here probably to my mind is a judge who's sitting in the place of authority in the place of these, especially in the workplace in the corporate sector, when you have unfair bosses that you have bad bosses and these are managers who hurt you, hurt people, they manipulate, they displace, they put, you know, especially when we do something right and they put that on someone else and, you know, just point wrong things at us that's very hurtful. It's very hurtful and we've been through those situations in the corporate sector. Right. And it's very painful. Right. It's not something that we can ignore. It's a pain that is there. Right. Imagine you work hard, but somebody else gets the, you know, benefit of the doubt. They get all the, you know, the standing ovations and all the praise and when we are like, hey, we are the ones who did everything, but they are getting the because they have been there for so many years, whatever the reason could be. When you have such kind of bosses and when such kind of situations happen, remember justice comes from the Lord. Right. This is how reward comes from the Lord. Justice also comes from the Lord. Don't fight back. Don't retaliate. Don't go around speaking ill about your boss or about your manager. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Look to him and he will help. Right. With God's help, you can come back strong with faith, diligence and great results. It's not the first thing. When something wrong happens to us is what? To talk back, to retaliate. No, he said this. He did this. You know, there's bosses like this. He's always like this. He and then we start talking about it to people. I say, you know, he always did it like this. He never listened to me. Whenever I would do well, he would suppress me. Well, whenever I'd ask for sick leave, he would say, no, no sick leave. Whenever I would ask for a vacation leave, he would say, no, we have more targets. And he always did this to me and he's like this. I wonder how he is. And then it starts getting personal. I wonder if he is like this and I'm sharing this because there are people who have talked to me in the corporate sector, right? When I was working in the corporate sector, they've talked to me like this. They've asked, they've told me, I wonder if he's like this with his wife and children. I hope his wife doesn't, some really bad, terrible things people have spoken of. I hope they don't have children. I hope their house just doesn't work anymore. It doesn't function anymore. I hope the house gets burnt down and all these terrible, terrible things. That's not from the Lord at all, right? Especially when people are talking that way, just step away. We may be in that same position of hurt. Just step away. Just say, hey, no, I don't want to involve in this. I don't want to talk about this. And in your heart, just say, God, justice comes from you. I will continue to look to you, right? Never talk back. Never retaliate. Never speak ill of your managers, of your bosses. Sometimes we may suddenly say something. As believers, go back, ask for forgiveness and make things right and continue what God wants you to do, right? Don't stoop down to the level of gossip and organizational politics of Romans chapter 12, 17, 18 and 21. If someone has done you wrong, do not repay them with wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. Do not let evil defeat you. Instead, conquer evil with good. That's such a powerful verse, right? Don't stoop down to the level of gossip and organizational or gossip and politics. Stoop down. I will always remember this example, right? And I keep telling it to myself every time, maybe I feel that something is not right or any time, right? I always tell myself, there's a difference. First thing I ask myself, Paul, are you an eagle or are you a crow? I said, hey, I'm not a crow, I'm an eagle. Okay. So what do eagles do? Eagles fly high above. They fly high above the clouds, right? They're high. You don't see crows mingling with eagles and you don't see eagles. They're not friends, right? Crows are down. They're there. You'll find them on the trees. You'll find them eating things from the ground. It's not so of eagles. Eagles are way up high. Now, a crow and an eagle are not friends. There's a different standard altogether, right? You are an eagle. Behave like an eagle. Don't behave like a crow, right? If you behave like a crow, people will see through. Treat us like a crow. Oh, he's a crow. You can, you know, it's the allowed people to gossip and talk politics. If we allow it, we'll say, okay, hey, this person is, it's okay, I can share with him. He's a crow. He's like me. So, two crows are talking about all the office politics happening there. Many times, people have said, hey, you know, what does Matthew did? You know what this post did? Immediately I say, I don't want to know. I say, why, you know, actually, they all got an appraisal. How come we didn't get it? So, I don't want to know. Why? Because I can't tell myself. I have an eagle. If I allow this to happen, not only he, his friends, everyone else, they'll start coming and they'll start opening up the entire thing up. What exactly I want people to know. Right? So, always tell yourself, you're an eagle, not a crow. You're going to work place, you're an eagle, right? And this is really hard. Now, see, the enemy is very subtle. He can bring in these ways. He wants to involve us in politics and, you know, he wants to involve us in gossip, strife, you know, just maligning people. He wants to involve us in that. He wants us to become a crow. But the Bible says he will rise us up with wings like eagles. He's calling us to be eagles, not crows. And so, in the organization, in the work environment where things are hostile, there's workplace gossip, there's organizational politics, and things will become difficult. Stay clear of it. Right? You don't have to be the famous one. You refuse to participate in such things. Even if others are gossiping about something wrong that's happened in the office, stay away from it because conquered evil by doing what is good. Conquered evil by doing what is good. Now, when we do this, people may laugh at us. People may mock us and say, hey, this guy is like this one. This girl is like this. And remember, when God is seeing you, he's seeing you as an eagle. You look at yourself as an eagle because you're not involved in what crows are doing. You're flying higher than them. And they may think you are low, but actually you are higher. Right? So always ask yourself, are you an eagle or are you a crow? And that'll help us to overcome all of these things. Right? God is your defense against false allegations. Again, Isaiah 54 was 17, but no weapon will be able to hurt you. You will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory. The Lord has spoken. Right? Another challenge that could arise in the workplace is false allegations. Right? And such things can be emotionally disturbing and trying. Have a look to God. These false allegations. Right? But pray for God's favor. What, Daniel? What happened to Daniel? They tried to put false allegations on him. I wanted to get rid of him. What did they do? Okay. Let's make an addict. Those who don't bow down before this golden statue will be thrown into the lion's den. Oh, sorry. Those who don't, those who pray to anyone else other than the God or the babble of the riots will be thrown into the lion's den. What happened? False allegations. Right? Pray that God will defend you against your allegations. God is your defense. Right? And many times, many, many times, right? People have falsely accused and falsely said things about me. And now it's very hurting. It's very painful. And you feel like defending yourself. You're saying, hey, what is this? I never said that. I never said this. In certain situations, you must bring out the truth. But otherwise, let God defend you. God is your defense. And when you let God be our defense, nobody can stand against that. Right? Pray for them that God would be merciful to them, that God would change their hearts and their minds will recap. And when we pray for them, God will be merciful. God will make it in a way that they will change their hearts. Right? I remember this one time in the corporate sector. There was this position of, so we joined an entry level. Then there was, the next position was always a quality. And then it become a quality analyst. Then you become a senior quality analyst. Or you become a team leader, manager, senior manager. So the positions go that way. So when I joined the corporate sector in six months by God's grace, they were in the quality analyst. Now these people and the team of quality, they were maybe about 50, 60 people. And they've been there for years. Right? Oh, they've been there for years, like four or five years. And the whole thing came up for the next IJP, which is internal job posting. The next one was senior quality analyst. So about five of us had applied. And five of us who applied, all of us, we were good friends. But some of them had something against me. And understandable, right? Because I was just six months in the company. These are people who are five, six years in the company. And now I've worked almost a year, six months in taking calls, six months in quality. I'm applying for a senior quality analyst. While I was too young to have it, one was not tenured enough to have it. So in their mindless, you should not even know. But I met all the criteria to apply. So I applied. But I didn't know that they didn't like me. Right? Because we were just, you know, I said, hi, we're friends with everyone. Right? But I didn't know they had, they didn't like me applying for position. So they tried all kinds of things. They went into some of my documents. They tried to make some changes. They said, no, this person has so many things wrong. You know, they tried to, they found so many things. And eventually out of the five, three of them got it and I didn't get it. I didn't become a senior. So I was okay with it. It's okay. Maybe I'll try the next time. I was too young goals. I said, okay, I have time for the problem. But I just let it go. I just wanted to know why I didn't get it. So I went to the manager. I said, can I know why I didn't get it so that I can improve and do better so that for the next IJP, which is whenever usually it's every one and a half to two years. For the next IJP, if I'm around, I can apply. I can do better. Then he said, you tell me why you didn't get it. I said, I don't know. And then he put on a list of things that I didn't do. And then I said, no, these are things that I've, I've already spoken to the manager. So I've done some of it. And since I'm new, I've asked help from my team members and they have helped me also. No, but they put it on their name. Your, your, your work, they put it on their name. And the whole thing came to life. I said it's okay. But what happened was God was my defense. And I didn't retaliate. I was just okay. I was just all right with them. I said, it's all right. I was not looking for a career or anything. I know I'm going to quit in a couple of years because I had to do my studies. But then the manager came and said, these are the things that happen. A false accusation source put on hold. So what we'll do is we will, we will get him also involved as a senior analyst. And so there will be this person also, you know, the other three people who got in were, you know, given warnings and all of it. You should not have done it this way and all of that. But through that whole thing, that whole situation, that whole season, I remember that God is my defense. But there was something that I did also in the natural. So yes, God is our defense. In the national, there are things that we have to do. We have to go and ask and ask for feedback, ask for reasons. It's not wrong to ask. You can't say God is my defense and sit and do nothing about it. You've got to move on from there. So no matter what position you and I are in, in life, whether we are reporting to a senior leader, whether we are not reporting, whether we are even, you know, the CEO or owner of a company or a pioneer of a ministry, whatever it is, God is your defense. Just because we are CEOs or leaders doesn't mean people want point fingers. People will point fingers. We understand that God is our defense. Right. Next one, resolving business conflicts among brethren. This is a hard thing to do. Right. Especially in a world that we live in, if there are people who are in the Lord, Paul writes and he says, even before you do all of this, you take them in first Corinthians, he says, right. I'm just going to summarize what he says. He says, would it not be better if you can just settle this dispute among yourselves rather than taking each other to court and then everyone sees it. And then even ridicules and everyone mocks us and the name of Jesus be, you know, as Christians, we would be mocked and ridiculed. So basically he's trying to say there will be disputes, but let's try and resolve those disputes in a peaceful manner within a Christian circle. Now, if it does not happen, even if you have to take to court, be honorable. Don't make it in a way that is, you know, don't make it like an ugly fight or an ugly war between two believers because that's really going to tarnish the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. People are going to say, hey, these people are only talking about love, but they're not walking in love. Right. Didn't your, didn't your leader say if somebody slaps you, show them the other cheek? What is happening right now? People will really ridicule it more. So Paul is trying to say, as brethren, as believers in Christ, try your best to resolve these conflicts either within the church, within the confines of ministry or so that it does not go out and become a big deal. Right. But there will be times when, you know, you have to, you may be a good believer, but the other person is just not, you know, not abiding by the rules and not abiding by, and just once it is of her way, you may have to go to court, but again, be honorable in doing that. So that the name of the Lord shall should not be a brought down through all of this. Right. Next one. Don't let male chauvinism or prejudice prejudice shake you. Just be who you are. Male chauvinism. Right. Now, let's read the verse Galatians 3 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male or female for you. All are one in Christ. This note is for is because for women right now in situations in the workplace. And I thank God now these things are changing and that's wonderful. Right. So people are more open to, you know, women leaders, both in the corporate and in the ministry, the corporate when you see now there are plenty of women leaders, pioneers. So that's wonderful. And then in the ministry also is many pioneers of the ministry women leaders, women pastors, women who are leading up ministries. So that's good. And but there will be times there will be places there will be situations when, you know, there will be this whole feeling of male chauvinism. We're saying that, okay, you know, as, as a male, I should do it. I should be the leader or as a male, I should get this, you know, this position or I should be better than all the people in the team. Stand your ground as women. Stand your ground. Continue to demonstrate the value of your organization. Wherever possible, whenever you see these kinds of male chauvinism or prejudice that's taking place because of gender, you know, go to the appropriate leader and straighten things out. We can either email them, go and talk to them. Then there is, you know, sometimes male, you know, colleagues, forces, superiors, but they make sexual advances, looking for opportunities among women. Sometimes they say, hey, you know, they give hints for sexual favors for promotions in the company. This, you know, as women, just step away. Let's say I did not wait at this. Let's say no, build a wall around yourself, protect yourself. Don't give in to the pressure. You know, it's been a long time now. It's been more than 12 years that I've left the corporate, but I really don't know what's happening around in the corporate, but I'm sure, you know, the enemy is the same. He still comes to deceive, to entice people. So as women, take necessary precautions, right? Be wise, don't draw unnecessary attention in the workplace. Meaning be wise the way we behave. But stand your ground. God has called you to be a leader. God has called you to, you know, pioneer of ministry or pioneer of business or be a leader in an organization. Stand your ground and protect yourself. God is fighting for you, right? Stay away from the woman seducer. Don't play with fire. Problems five, three and six. For the lips of an immortal woman, drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil, but in the end she's bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell, lest you ponder her path of life. Her ways are unstable, right? You do know them, right? Now on the flip side, there could be women who will try to entice men, right? There will be women who may try to bring in temptations and bring in things for men. Again, just step away, right? As men, we must draw the line, draw the boundary, know what we are doing, right? If you are ridiculed for your faith, stay strong, right? Don't be discouraged that, you know, hey, everyone will make fun of me, right? Especially Christians in the workplace now. Sometimes there can be a verbal argument, you know, things may get out of control. People, I remember there's this one time somebody came up to me and said, because of you Christians, our nation is not becoming a Hindu nation. And he was upset with me. And every time he would see me, he would be upset with me. And there are people like that. I remember very clearly, because every morning he would go to worship at his temple and he would come with those, you know, those marks. And, you know, he would be barefoot, very devout Hindu, very good person, right? Nothing wrong about him, very hardworking, very honest. But he didn't like me. But I realized over time, it was not that he didn't like me, he didn't like me, right? So there will be times when you are ridiculed for your faith, stay strong, know that you are blessed, you know. And I would say this out of experience that initially when you're ridiculed for your faith, you feel bad, you feel, oh God, you know, they're mocking me, they're ridiculing me. But I think over time, you know, you and I can just, we just get over it. There was a time initially, I would feel very bad, I would go back and do three days fasting, prayer and all those things. But after that, after that, when that whole season was over, maybe six months or maybe a year after that, it didn't really matter for me. It really didn't matter for me. So people say many things, ridicule for the faith, remember just stay strong, know that you are blessed to the Lord. Continue to walk with wisdom. Don't be ashamed of what God is doing in your life. Don't be ashamed of carrying the name of Jesus. Continue to work hard, let your light shine, be exceptional in what you do and God will honor you. God will give you opportunities in the workplace as well to really be that light. And people will notice, always remember, people notice they watch, whether corporate, whether the ministry they watch, they learn. And initially they may not say it, but remember they are watching and learning. And I have plenty of examples, but we don't have time. But even if you're ridiculed, people may say, hey, these Christians don't believe in LGBT, they don't believe in this. How can Jesus be there? How can, you know, it doesn't make sense. This Christianity is nonsense. They may say all of all these things and these Christians are fools. It may ridicule, but you know what you are. So you just stand strong in your faith. Our next one, wisdom answers to nepotism. Oh, Jeffina, can I just finish these two points and then I'll come to you. A question? Hope that's okay. It was just mistaken. Sorry. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, next one, wisdom answers to nepotism. Proverb 17 to a vice servant will rule over a son who causes shame and will share an inheritance among the brothers. Now, when times come, when, you know, we've heard this word nepotism, right? And especially in the workplace, there's plenty of that, right? Brothers, own relatives, own family members. And then they get these positions just because they are family. They may not know anything about the organization because of what they have, you know, it's like a birthright. They just born into this rich family or they're born into these families where everyone are, you know, big leaders, big bosses. And sometimes, you know, their family members are just given positions on their lap. Even if they're not able to or not capable enough to handle those roles during those times, respond with wisdom, right? Your wisdom will give you, will be noticed and it will give you access to what others don't have, right? Now, these people who've joined these companies and they get these positions, but they're not capable enough. You and I, walking in wisdom, demonstrating wisdom can overpower this thing of nepotism. Everything we see, our works will be seen, right? So wisdom answers nepotism. Now, I'm not saying that it will never happen, nepotism, it will definitely happen. It's out of our control, but something that we can do is walk in wisdom, walk in love, continue to work hard. Ask God for wisdom, ask God for ways that you can, you know, maybe enlarge your thinking, new ideas, new strategies, new innovations. These are things that God can give us and we talked about it, right? So that answers nepotism. Imagine a person, you've got the position not doing anything, but somebody else is here, doesn't have the position, but you know, just doing so well. It will be noticed by the bosses. It will be noticed by leaders and God will open the right doors, right? Finally, the last one, the pink slip and honorable exits, Romans 828. You know that all things work, all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. Now, the time at an organization, sometimes it is because the employer asks you to leave or sometimes, you know, we choose to move on to a different organization or a different company. Always leave in a friendly term, in an honorable way. Plan and prepare for your next step before you make a move. So for example, if a company says, can I just take a few minutes? I know the time is up, but let's explain this and we'll stop there. Imagine a company says, you have another three months, we'll have to let go of you because they are downsizing. It's not the manager's fault, the company is downsizing. So you have three months, you plan. Don't be bitter with the company, you know, I've worked here for so many years and now they are letting me go. Yes, it's painful, right? It is sad, but you can look at all that you have learned through it and look at a new phase and say, God, help me to plan ahead. So three months I have here, help me to plan, help me to, you know, open the right doors for me and remove every bitterness or anger that may be there against people in this company and the company as a whole. So you're leaving in an honorable way. Secondly, if you are making them, you have decided to move in, plan your exit out, plan it in the right way, right? And have an honorable exit. You know, I remember when I was leaving the corporate company, everyone was, you know, my team, especially there was things, you know, hey, you don't have to leave, you can work at this part time. But when I left, I just said to everyone, you know, I was, it's always a joy to, I enjoyed my time here. You know, I thank, and I use the name of God and I said, you know, thank God for giving me this opportunity, good friends, and I learned so much here. I will always keep it with me. And everyone, you know, everyone, I thought nobody would come for my farewell that they would say, right, because there's a Christian boy and everyone were mocking me and ridiculing me. So I thought maybe two, three of them, or maybe five or 10 of them come for my farewell. But to my surprise, there were about 170 people who had come to my farewell. And these are people from other teams as well. And the manager came up to me and said, 170 people have come for your farewell, where even when managers leave, there are only about 40, 50 people who come. What did you do? I said, I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. All I did was I worked. I was, I just, you know, probably shared some things with them. And of course, the prayer that we had started and all of it. But I'm so glad, you know, I'm thinking about it. I'm so glad. And the manager said, you have done something in this company where 170 people have come for your farewell. I said, no, it's not me. It's God. And so when we do that, when we exit out honorably, it's such a joy that God has done something in your life and you're going into the next phase. Right. So we've come to the close of this chapter. We pick up from next Monday on Monday. We'll do stewardship again, another very important chapter. We'll try to finish as soon as possible. All right. Let's close in prayer. Any questions? Any thoughts? It crossed our time. Any questions, thoughts you'd like to share? Okay. So let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to study and learn. And Lord, we just thank you for your grace, your anointing upon each of our lives. God, we pray that in everything that we do, that we will honor your name, give glory to your name. Your name will be exalted in our lives. We thank you, God. We pray for each and every student continue to empower each one of them. Use them for your glory. We thank you and praise you. We just make you pray. Amen. Thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful week ahead. I'll see you on Monday. God bless.