 Okay, so the recording of this class has started and those of you on the online class, you know, feel free to type your questions or interactions on the chat and I'll be looking at it from time to time so that I can respond to you. Okay, so this is the course on page BC 111, do you have your course notes with you? You've got it. So I want you to follow along with me on the course notes. Those of you online, the PDFs have been put up in the work, the PDFs are in the Classwork section so you can download it and you can follow along with me. So what I'm going to do actually is I'm also going to be projecting these notes on the screen so you can follow with me and you'll know where, what we're doing and so on, okay? So we just, let's make it a little easier. Okay, so we have the course overview, so if you just follow with me in the course introduction, what are we going to do in this course? What are we going to cover? What is our objective, right? So just if you look at the course overview PDF, what we are going to learn in this course is about how to walk by faith in God and how to exercise our faith, right? So if you want to imagine it, you know, faith is like a muscle, right? So our body has muscles, right? But we have to use our muscle, we've got to do something, right? But as you exercise your muscle, your muscles become stronger, that means you can do more, right? Initially, your muscle may be small, you can lift a little bit of weights, but as you strengthen your muscle, you can do a lot more, right? So that's what we are also going to learn. How to strengthen our faith, how to walk by faith in God, right? So this course is on that subject of faith and there are a lot of things that we will be covering as we go along. So this course overview gives you, you know, some of the main topics that we will cover and we've broken it down so that, you know, we could look at various aspects of faith in God, right? And then in terms of assessment, we'll have the midterm, so we'll have a short assessment somewhere in the middle of the course, it will be around September or around that time, then you'll have another assessment October and then end of the semester. So three short assessments, 30% each. Now everyone, that is all of you who are in-person as well as those on Google Classroom, you will all do the assessments online, okay? So we will show you how to do it and it's actually very easy because you just have to click, right? Multiple choice of those kinds of things. So we will give, for all of you here, as well as for those online, it will be the same assessment, right? You just go on Google Classroom, we'll show you how to do it and of course computers will be provided so you can do your assessments online, okay? So I've been not going to ask you to write on paper, right, to just do it on the computer and we'll help you to do that, right? So there's also a free book, Speak Your Faith and most of you will get your copies, printed copies and those of you online, I've already given you the PDF so you can use that copy, right? So let's see if there's any questions here for those of you online, okay? All right. So I hope, students who are online, I hope you've downloaded the PDFs so that you could follow along with us here in the class, all right? So let's get started if you'd go with me into your course notes. This is actually a book, hopefully that'll come out soon. So we just, you know, I'm just sharing the draft of that document with you and you can follow along in your course notes, all right? So take time every day, please take time to read the notes that we have covered, all right? So I'm going to explain it in class. You're free to ask any questions on the subject, right? On the subject any time, right? So we have a doubt, just ask, all right, so don't hesitate, okay? This is time for learning, all right? So just ask, the same thing goes for you, those of you who are online. If you have any doubts online, just type it in the chat and I will keep looking at the chat from time to time so I'll be able to respond to your questions as well, okay? So feel free to ask it, just lift your hand up and ask any questions, any doubt, don't hold it back and I will pause from time to time and ask you if you have questions. So don't hesitate. There's nothing wrong in asking questions, okay? If you ask questions, it just means you are learning, okay? And when you ask a question, you will actually be helping somebody else, you know? Somebody else may have the same question, they're thinking about the same thing and so when you ask a question, you're actually helping them, okay? So don't think it's wrong, it's bad to ask questions, same thing for those of you online, it's absolutely fine to ask questions, I encourage you to ask questions. So why is faith an important subject? Why are we doing a whole semester course on faith, right? So what we see and we will be seeing as we go along is that faith is a very important topic throughout the Bible, right? Right from the book of Genesis, all the way through Revelation, you'll find this matter of faith, faith in God, faith or we could use the word believe or trust, means the same thing, right? Faith, have faith in God, believe in God, trust in God, all means the same thing, right? And in the Old Testament, maybe they use the word trust more often. In the New Testament, you won't find the word trust but you'll find the word faith or belief, right? But they all mean the same thing. They mean that you are putting faith in God, you're believing in God, right? So throughout the Bible, this whole element of faith that we have in God is very important. And what I want us to understand is what we can learn from the Bible and what we will learn in this course is that God does not want us to be passive, right? God does not want us to be passive. That means he doesn't want you to, you and me to sit down and say, okay, God, if you want to do it, you do it. If you want to give it to me, give it to me. If you want to help me, help me. God does not want us to take that posture. The posture that God wants us to take or the way God wants us to live life is God. I know who you are. I know what you can do. I know what you have promised and I want to see it happen. I want to receive what you have promised or what you have provided. So it's not like, God, if you want to do it to it, but it is God, I want to. I desire to and I'm willing to have faith in God to see it happen. You understand me? There's a big difference. Some Christians live a very passive life. Oh God, thank you for this day. Whatever you want to do, you do. God is not like that. He says, I want you to trust. I want you to have faith in me to see what I have promised fulfilled in your life. So it's a very aggressive, it's a very active spiritual life that God wants us to live. And we will see all this in the Bible as we go along. I'm just introducing the whole subject here. We will see these scriptures. So God wants us to be very active in our engagement with him. So for example, and I'm just highlighting some verses here. This is in the introduction in Luke 12, 32. Let me see if I can share my screen also with those of you who are online. And if that can be of use too. Yeah, so we're talking about Luke 12, 32, right? So in Luke 12, 32, Jesus makes a very interesting statement. I'm not sure maybe something's wrong here, but anyway. So Luke 12, 32, Jesus says, you know, fear not little flaw. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So what does he say? It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That means your heavenly father is happy to give you whatever is in the kingdom. It's a common thing. The only father's happy to give you what is in the kingdom. But then you look at another verse, Matthew chapter 11 verse 12. So I'm still in the introduction and I'm kind of referencing here. So Matthew 11 verse 12, Jesus said, so Jesus is speaking Matthew 11 verse 12. He says, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. So what he's saying from the days of John the Baptist, that means ever since John the Baptist came, right? So John the Baptist came and he announced the kingdom of heaven is here. God's kingdom is coming to the earth. John the Baptist announced that. So this is from the time John the Baptist came, what has happened? Something has changed. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. So think about this. Luke 12 32, Jesus said, it's your father's good. It's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Y'all following me? Any doubts? You're with me. So Luke 12 32, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He wants to give it to you. But on the other hand, Jesus is saying there is violence. There is the sense of being aggressive and it's the aggressive would take what's in the kingdom. You have to press in to take what's in the kingdom. Why is that? It's not because God is preventing or keeping it away from us. It's because the world, the flesh and the devil try to prevent us from taking what God wants to give to us. So God is ready to give. God is saying, I'm your father. You're my child. I want you to have whatever is in my kingdom. But we face hindrances. We face the devil, the world around us and sometimes our own flesh trying to keep us, prevent us from receiving what the father is giving to us freely. So that's why we have to be violent, violent take it by force. Do you understand that? So from God's side, He's giving it freely. He's our Father. We are His children. He says, whatever is in my kingdom, it's for you. But from our side, we are the children of God, but we are facing things around us that would try to prevent us from receiving what God freely gives to us. So that's why Jesus said, Matthew 11 verse 12, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. So we have to take it by force. Do you understand that? It's not like I'm passive. Oh God, you're my father. Put it on my life. Now there are times when God in His goodness will sovereignly move and bless and give. But the norm is we have to be violent and take it by force. And part of being violent and taking it by force is learning how to exercise our faith in God. Do you understand that so far? Now suppose, let's think about this. Let me look at the chat if there are any questions there on the chat. Does it be on the chat? Everything okay? Deepika, you said, yeah. So Deepika, in the Google Classroom, if you go to the Classwork tab, if you go to the Classwork tab, all the PDFs are already uploaded there, so you can download the PDFs. Sure, Pastor. Thank you. All right, welcome. Please feel free to ask any questions. I'm talking to both of you here and online. Yeah. Okay, so, yeah. Now, I want to think about this. If somebody says, God promised me something, but I didn't receive it. God promised, but I didn't receive. Question, whose fault is it? God's fault or maybe something on my side? Whose fault? Not God's fault. Because from God's side, as our Heavenly Father, He said it is the Father's good pleasure to give you whatever is in the kingdom. It's a good pleasure. Good pleasure means He's happy. He's very happy to give you whatever is in the kingdom. He's not like, oh, don't take, only take one. He's not like that. So whatever you want to take, because God has unlimited. God has unlimited for everybody. God's supply is not limited. He doesn't have only 10. He's unlimited. So Jesus said it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Whatever is in His kingdom, He's happy to give you. So if we fail to receive, it's not God's fault. Something went wrong on our side. Something went wrong on our side. And most likely the problem is, we did not receive by faith what God was pleased to give to us. That's why faith is so important. How do I receive from God? What He is pleased to give to me, to give to you. So we're going to spend time learning about that. Now, there's a man of God, there was a man of God who lived on this earth in the early 1900s. His name was Smith Wigglesworth. You will be hearing about him in one of the afternoon sessions. We need to talk about God's generals. So Smith's Wigglesworth, as part of church history, he's considered an apostle of faith. He was a very ordinary man. Actually, he was a plumber. So he was not very educated. He was a plumber, ordinary simple man. That was his job. He became a believer in Jesus Christ. And then he started reading the Bible in New Testament. And he just believed every word that Jesus wrote. Now, he was not very educated. So he didn't read anything else. He just learned how to read the Bible and he didn't want to waste his time reading anything else. So he didn't bother reading newspaper. This is that nothing. He only read the Bible. That was his life. But and he started ministry when he was about 50 years old. You know, that means little later in life. So he got saved later. And then he started his ministry only when he was about 50. He lived till about 80. So about 30 years he did ministry. But looking back, his ministry, even though he started late, had a very powerful impact on many continents in Europe, North America and even in Australia. Very powerful impact. So many healings, many people heal. Even the dead race documented him, dead race. So many, one powerful ministry. So it's good to read about him. We have some of his books in the church library. You can take it and read it. You can watch the video they will show you during this week. They will share about his life. So Smith Wigglesworth said this. And you can read it in one of his books. And I forget exactly which one I think in every increasing faith. God would pass over a million people in order to touch one person who has faith in him. God will pass over a million people just to get to one person who has faith. If he sees you having faith, he'll get to you. He'll come to you because faith pleases God. We will learn. Faith pleases God. God is pleased when he sees you having faith in him. So he will pass over a million people just to get to that person who has faith in him. So we understand that. Through faith, we receive healing. We can see situations changed. We can see death cancels. We can see the works of God take place in our lives. So faith is like you and me opening the door and saying, God, please come in. Come and work in me. So faith is giving God that permission. We're letting God come in and work in your life, in my life. And so faith in God is very important. So we're going to study this subject. And what I want to encourage you to do as we go through this course this semester is try to start practicing everything we learn. Okay, so this is not a theoretical course. It's a practical course because we have to learn to walk by faith. It's not just getting knowledge about faith. It is walking, right? And the best way is for you to practice it. So whatever you learn, every class, whatever you learn, you start practicing in your life. Small things. Small things. I remember when I was in college. So this was a long time ago when I was in engineering college and this was in my third year, third year in college. God led me and I'll share some stories with you as we go along. God prompted me to start a small Bible study with my friends, like college friends, to get them together and do a fellowship evening. So every Saturday evening. This was actually, if I remember the year, January 1989. Some of you were not born, but I was third year college January 1989. So when I went back to my campus, I went to a hotel. Now this was in Manipal. It's about 350 kilometers from here. And I was studying there at the engineering college. So I went to the hotel and I said, I want to rent the seminar hall. Every Saturday. Or we want church meetings. We want to have, from this time to this, I think it was like 530 to 730 or something. Every Saturday, I want to rent this hall 530 to 730 for meetings. Is it okay? Now how much you'll charge? So this gave some amount. I forget now. It was a long time ago. But I'm a student. I'm not earning. So I need to pay the bill. Month end. I have to pay the total amount. You know, 4 Saturdays or 5 Saturdays in the month. I have to pay. I don't have the money. But I felt God had put in my heart, go and start the meetings. It's okay God. I'll do it. But you provide the money to pay the bill. See now what is that? That is a step of faith. Trusting God. I don't have the money. But I want to serve God. I'm a student. I want to serve other students. And this is an idea God gave me. So it's okay. Fine. I will pay at the end of the month. You tell me what the amount is. I will pay. And in my mind, I had one simple thing. I said God, at the back of the hall, I will keep one box. All who come, I'll just tell them. You know, if you want to give, you give. I'm not forcing anybody. I just, there's a box at the back. If you want to give, you give. Because those who are coming are also students. They also are not, you know, they're not having a lot of money. They're all students. Whatever you want to give, you give. But I'm trusting you that every month there will be enough money to pay the bill. Every month. And that's exactly what happened. I remember one month, one particular month. It was the last Saturday. That means this is the last meeting. I needed three, a little over 300 rupees. Now 300 rupees for a student in those days was a big money. Today we laugh at it. But those days it was big money. I was under a lot of pressure. God, this is the last meeting. I'm doing the same thing. I'm keeping the box at the back. But I need 300 some amount. You know, only with that full amount, with that money, will I have enough to pay this month's bill for the water. But God, I know you will provide. Now what did I base my faith on? Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8 was a favorite verse, and still a favorite verse. You know Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8 he says, God will make all grace abound toward you. That you always having all sufficiency in all things will abound to every good work. Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8, what does it say? God will make all grace come to you. That means whatever you need, God will make it come to you so that you will have everything, all sufficiency in all things including money. All things means it also includes money, right? In all things so that you can abound to every good work. And so whatever work God has called you to do, you will be able to do. I believe this. See, this verse is like a blank check. It covers everything. God will make all grace abound toward you. That you always having all sufficiency in all things will abound to every good work. Whatever work God has called you, he will make sure that you have whatever you need for that. I believe, see this is faith, right? Faith is just believing in God and His words. So I believe, so that I was not afraid. I know there's a need, 300 some rupees is a big amount or was a big amount that time. I know there's a need but God has promised. Now, I remember that evening I had the Bible study in that room, students came, maybe 30, 40 people came. I would teach from the Bible, we would have a time of worship, we would have a time of teaching, pray together and so on. In that meeting, I don't know who came. I mean, I don't know everybody who would come because sometimes some visitors will come. Somebody came. Somebody put more than 300 rupees in the box. I don't know who. After meeting, I packed up everything, went to the box, opened it, more than enough money, more than enough. God has never, never failed, never failed. So we just have to believe God, believe God. So we must learn to walk by faith. Small things, big things. Walk by faith in God and in His words. So I shared that example because that time I was a college student. I was doing something small. I was trying to serve and God was faithful. So now you are a college student, those of you sitting here and those of you online, you may be doing different things in life but whatever we learn, try to practice it in small ways. You start practicing small things, you know. In your life, whatever situation you are going through, you start practicing. We will learn how to do it. And the more you do it, the more you will grow in your faith. You should be more comfortable exercising faith in God. See, the best way to grow your muscle is to use it. The best way to grow your muscle is to keep using it. So faith is like a muscle. The best way for us to grow in faith is to keep using your faith. If you keep faith on the bookshelf somewhere, it will not grow. You have to keep using it. So the best way to grow your faith is to keep using your faith. It will be like a muscle. Okay, any questions so far? This is only the introduction. You are following me so far? Clear? Clear? Okay. All right, let me check. Students on the online class. Okay. I guess everyone is clear so far. All right. Let's go back to the notes. So now let's go to chapter one. What is faith? Right? So let's go to that one verse in the Bible that gives us the definition of faith. That's Hebrews chapter 11 verse one. Okay. Very interesting. Hebrews chapter 11 verse one. So Hebrews chapter 11 is this great chapter about faith. The whole chapter is about faith. So before the writer of Hebrews can talk to us about all the great men and women of faith, he defines what faith is. What is faith? And this is how God through the Holy Spirit defines faith. He says Hebrews 11 verse one. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. All right. So there are things that we hope for. There are things that are not seen. It's not in the visible. It's not in the natural yet. So faith has to do with things you hope for. Or things that you desire for. And faith has to do with things that are not seen yet. It's not there yet. It's not visible. So let's think about that first. We will spend quite a bit of time on this one verse. Okay. I really want us to understand it. It's very powerful. But think about this. It has to do with things hoped for. So we are talking about this. Things hoped for. So let me ask you the question. Is it wrong to hope for things? It's not wrong. In fact, if you don't hope for things, you cannot have faith. If you don't hope for things, you cannot have faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for. So you must have hope for something. And then you can have faith to bring it out of hope into the present. But it starts with hoping for something. So you hope. Hope is in the future. Hope is in the future I will have a church. In the future I will do this ministry. In the future I will hope. I desire for it. So you must have hope. So hope is the initiator for faith. If you don't have hope, you can't have faith. I understand. So hope is very important. You must hope for something in your life. You must have hope. That one day you will accomplish something or whatever. Hope. A sick person, before the sick person can have faith for healing the sick person needs to hope for healing. That means they must desire to be well. If they don't want to be well, you can't have faith. You see, if a person is sick, if the person says, it's okay, leave me alone. I just want to die. Then it's difficult for that person to have faith to be healed. Because you first have to hope to be healed or desire to be healed. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. And it is not wrong to hope for it, to have hope for something that God has promised, whatever God has promised in your life, hope for it, desire for it. Now, what is the connection between faith and hope? Faith is the substance of things hoped for. That word substance is a very interesting word, that word substance in the Greek. Now, in your second year, we will teach you how to study the Bible. Is it second year or second semester? There's a course on hermeneutics where we'll tell you how to look up the Hebrew and the Greek words and look at the meaning and understand all that. So, you learn how to do it. But for now I'm just explaining. The word substance has two meanings. The first meaning of that word substance means it's like the foundation, the groundwork. So, if we built this building, it had a groundwork, it had a foundation. The word substance also means title deed. Title deed means proof of ownership. So, if you buy, for example, you buy a car, you buy a bike, or if somebody bought this building, they have a document that says this building or this bike or this car belongs to somebody. That's a title deed. It's a certificate of ownership, a proof of ownership. So, think about this. Faith is the substance. It is the foundation or the reality. It gives you, gives substance to something you hope for. So, faith is the groundwork on which what you hope for comes into your possession. Faith is the proof of ownership that what you hope for is yours. So, somebody asks, you're healed. So, yes, I'm healed. How? By faith. Faith is my title deed. It's my proof of ownership that what I hope for is mine. So, I'm hoping for healing. I'm desiring for healing. Faith says that healing is mine. So, faith is the title deed, the proof of ownership. And faith is what gives the groundwork, the foundation on which what you hope for will actually come into your life. It gives substance to what you hope for. So, what does faith do? Let me explain it one more time. What does faith do? A desire for something. Faith gives substance to it. It brings it out of the realm of desire into your life, but it can be established. That's foundation. We can come there. What do you do on a foundation? You build on it. That's where it settles. So, it's in the realm of desire, but faith takes it from the realm of desire into your life. Second, faith is the title deed. It says what I desire, what I hope for is actually mine. How you know faith? Faith in God says it is mine. Okay. So, faith is the title deed. It's the proof of ownership of what you desire. So, this faith in your heart, this conviction, this assurance in your heart is your proof of ownership. It's mine. I know it's mine. I desire it and I know it will be in my life. Okay. So, if you look at the Amplified Bible right below that, Hebrews 11-1, I'll take a few more minutes and then we'll go for a break. Hebrews 11-1, look at the first part of that verse. It says, faith is the assurance. It's the confirmation, the title deed of things we hope for. And we'll look at the second part of that verse. But it's the confirmation, it's the title deed of things we hope for. So, in your heart, you have this confident assurance of what you're hoping for. It's your proof of ownership. I know it's mine. Okay. So, example, suppose I don't have a form. Suppose, just imagine, I don't have a form. Okay. I suppose I don't have a form. Somebody goes and buys a phone and they give me the bill. This phone has been bought for you. I don't have the phone but they give me the bill. I went to the shop. I bought the phone. It's in the shop. I'm giving you the bill. You go and pick it up. You go and pick it up. So, they already paid for it. It's sitting in the shop. I don't have it. But they give me the... Well, I feel happy or not. If I have the bill, it's bought for me. Will I feel happy or feel sad? Will I feel like I have a new form? Of course. The bill is enough. All I have to do is go to that shop and say, for this bill, give me the phone. Correct. That's all I have to do. For this bill, the phone is mine. I have the bill. So, faith is like that bill. Right? It says it's yours. Now, you just have to go and take it after the realm of the unseen and bring it into the scene. The healing is there. God's Word. And faith in God's Word is like that bill, that title deed. It's mine. And I will pull it out of the realm of the spiritual into the natural, into my body. Understand? Okay. So, let's pause here. We'll take a 10-minute break. Let me see if they have any questions online and before we... All right. Any questions? Those of you who have joined us online are following? How good? Okay. So, we'll take a quick break. We'll come back in 10 minutes and then we will continue into our next stop. Okay? Thank you. Thank you, Rowan.