 be somebody who has not prayed in this class, please go ahead and pray. Who hasn't prayed recently maybe anyone? Louis, are you comfortable to pray? Is it a comfortable time there? Good morning ma'am. Yes, good morning. Please lead us in prayer. Yes please. Good morning everyone. Thank you. Father, we thank you for such a good time and decision of history. Thank you because we've come to your presence to dine at your table on your word. We pray that we have fed, O God, so that out of us might flow rivers of living waters to nations and to peoples and to all tongues of men in the name of the Lord Jesus. We thank for the intelligence of your spirit upon our pastor that actually dishevels the word of God, O God. There is witness in our heart that she speaks the truth of the spirit of God. Thank you for everyone here, Lord, in the name of Jesus we have prayed. Thank you so much. What time is it then, Louis? It's about 5.30 a.m. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, so welcome once again. I know some of us are joining at the Indian time but then there are others who are joining really early or some other part of the day. I would just like to appreciate you for making this effort and continuing in learning God's word at this Bible college. So let's get into our talk. We have been talking about partnership and co-working in the kingdom of God so far. We learned about working with people because kingdom building is ultimately about working with people and if we don't know what God's word says about it, what attitude we must have to work together with people then it's likely that we have a vision but we find it difficult to fulfill what God wants us to do. So that's the reason working with people, doing it based on the principles of God's word and equipping ourselves and also growing in some of the practical natural skills that we require interacting with people. These things are very important and in the last class we touched on dealing with difficult situations when we are working with people and as leaders we have to point out whenever there's a need we have to point out issues that people may be going through and how do we bring correction in a loving manner. So theoretically yes we have learned it but in practice we pray that we have God's grace to implement it and really be able to serve in a good way. So then we started discussing from the next chapter here in page 79 partnership co-workers in the kingdom and we saw how in God's kingdom we are all fellow workers. God works through everyone. So I don't know if that statement is here in this chapter but you know God works to perfect imperfect people through imperfect people and that's something only God can do and puts people together to serve one another. So being fellow workers, being partners in the kingdom of God is how we are able to take God's kingdom forward. So we saw how so much more can be accomplished when more than one person is engaged in serving God. We saw how God gives dreams and visions in the body of Christ that are interconnected and that is how you know we can also get interlinked. We may not all do the same thing because our grace is different, our callings are different but we have one purpose which is to extend and expand the kingdom of God in large where we have a call where we gather together and we pray together as a team we pray for those pastors we pray for those you know leaders and even believers there are some believers as well in that list so we pray for them. So one prayer request that came in the last I think it was was it the last session now I don't remember but one pastor and he's not I don't think he's even from a city but he shared that God has given him a vision for one million souls. Okay so one million souls so that was his prayer request so he had shared it with our team member and I think she has included that in the prayer list. So we were praying for it and I saw that one prayer point and coming from a pastor who's you know living I don't even know what place that is but I was amazed wow what a vision he's carrying and he had given you know details please pray for my vision to reach one million souls and you know for businesses like little more broken down you know the resources for this and all so I was really like wow you know what a huge vision God has given such a big vision to this pastor and you know God is carrying forward and how God is going to fulfill it that through that pastor's life we don't know but you know in that way I was so touched I was like wow you know even in the the other session on the local church we talked about a big vision you know pastor David Yonge Joe he talks about a big vision that comes from God and then you go after that vision so God gives all of us a vision we carry that vision in our hearts and needless to say that you know we are sold out for it you know we we are moving in that direction we are focusing all our energies in that direction when it comes to kingdom work though what happens is you know there there can be times when we have to put the put the requirements of the kingdom ahead of even our vision okay so there can be open doors that we may want to like quickly rush into but then it may not be the best decision for the the community of leaders or just going to call it the kingdom of God you know it's it's not the best thing to do as a as part of the kingdom of God so each one is is burning with that vision burning with that passion we have to be willing to set aside you know our agenda and promoting our own ministry pursuing our own personal goal pursuing our own personal agenda okay or it could even be denominational so we may be a group of people and as a denomination maybe there is a goal that we are working towards but when we are partnering together with other denominations so there there can be instances where we may have to put others first or give them a chance or you know they take the line like for for whatever reasons but these things should not stop us now the end of the day when we are a family how do we think whether one sibling is doing really well or the other sibling is doing well at the end of the day it's the household right that is blessed one spouse is doing very well maybe it's a season where another spouse is not able to you know engage in work or whatever but it's a season but there can be times when you know the other spouse is earning a lot better than this spouse but at the end of the day it's the house it's the family that we are concerned about so we want to see the family progress and it's not really about you me and you know my ministry your ministry my denomination your denomination so we have to learn to um put the kingdom first but even when we're trying to do this right it can be hard if people don't have that same mindset now if ministers have got come together and some ministers don't understand that hey we are here for a larger purpose which is the kingdom of god things can be rough things can be tense because some may want to take it the way they want to know not realizing that it's not benefiting the kingdom as a whole so if there's something we can keep in our hearts and even as you know God opens up opportunities for each of us to serve together with people from other churches people from other denominations maybe people from other cultural contexts as well we must remember that we're all part of the same kingdom and when we make decisions when we plan efforts it should be for the enlargement of the kingdom so simply put practice kingdom mindedness practice kingdom mindedness so that will will result in unity that will result in progress okay we have talked enough about that now we must learn to connect and work with each other so we'll talk about a couple of practical things which I'm sure you know each one of us are familiar with and many of these things are practiced you know in team settings where it might be just taught as principles of teamwork or leadership but you know from scripture we see all these things so the first thing for us to understand to connect and work with each other is that we are designed for partnership okay so just like the human body we've seen that there are different members each one with their own function so just because one body part is doing its function it doesn't mean that another body part is is going to lose its opportunity okay so in the same way in the body of Christ and first Corinthians 12 members 18 we see that God has set the members each one of them in the body just has as he pleased so he has set people in the body of Christ the way he is happy and he knows what function each one will be good at so that is how God has assigned each person and the reason why God has given us different functions is so that we are able to fit in together as one body so various parts of the body together right they they help the individual the person function the way he or she must so each one of us is designed for partnership so you know the flip side is if we don't understand this and we want to remain as an individual minister for God we will serve okay for a while but you know it's not going to last very long because we do need others right in the service of God and you know I'm just trying to think of examples and usually like when you study about revivals and things like that there are many revivals in which we had individuals gaining that that limelight you know God will God uses men and women so he walks through people and people sort of came to the fore and they got recognized because there was a nothing on their lives and God was working through them and they were kind of stirring the movements okay but you may also read that you know these revivals did not sustain or they kind of abruptly came to end because of these interpersonal issues among people okay people not recognizing that there are others in the body and we have to work together we have to work together each one God has chosen as he has pleased so let them do what they need to do we will do what we God has called us to do but there is a space there is an opportunity for all of us to kind of you know in harmony and synchrony and rhythm to work together so that is something that you know we must recognize we have been designed for partnership so when we understand that it's it's it's very very important and it's also kind of it'll make it easier for us to sustain what God begins to release through our lives because we are comfortable to let people in as and when the Lord leads us and as we work together we also see scripture tell us that every joint supplies okay so there is a function that each person has that is one thing but to the body to the kingdom each person is supplying so you know your contribution is helpful for me I'm edified by your contribution you are edified by my contribution so it's not just that independently we're all working and the kingdom is expanding and lodging and that that's what it is but you know we need each other your supply is strengthening me and my supply is strengthening you so we are you know we are here to like we can't exist independently that's my point and we need each other I need your ministry for for me to be the person that God is calling me to be so that's how we see this whole body designed by God where we are interconnected each one is assigned a particular role and as we serve right we will strengthen one another but in the absence of that role something we're missing out on something that God intended for us to be edified so partnership is important we have to recognize that partnership compliments us compliment people are people compliment each other when they partner but on the other hand when people begin to compete with each other that is what brings a downfall that is what brings destruction and let's settle this in our hearts that when we all grow in our calling in our anointing collectively for the body of Christ that is the best thing that can happen because we know that God is a God who brings in times of refreshing you've seen in church history there have been you know revivals after revivals that have been you know certain moves of God that he's brought about and in those moves there were some people who were able to carry that anointing right so God is preparing individuals God is preparing communities God is preparing local churches he is preparing all of us so that he can release new moves of God so if we are all strengthened that's a positive thing because you know if God has a space in his kingdom and it's not like he's lacking in giving into the lives of individuals so if you are growing so can I we can all come together we can all come to our position where you know we we are at the best place functioning for the kingdom of God and that is beneficial for God it is beneficial for the kingdom it's beneficial for each other us as well so this is about partnering and we will be able to function effectively in a more perfect manner when we learn to work together and just talking about competition you know you see in John chapter four where we have this passage that talks about you know sowing and weeping verse 37 it says once sows and another leaves so when you recognize our function there'll be you know we we will try to compete less because we know that we have to fit into our role and function and there's no we're not threatened by anybody maybe God has called me to sow he's called somebody else to reap so that's fine I'll do my part so when someone else is coming in and usually you know this happens even in the Corinthian church it happened we saw that Paul for a period when he was not physically present he allowed Apollos one of the teachers to come and minister to the Corinthian church so what is happening and Paul adds that he says that you know now he oh sorry verse 7 again first Corinthians 3 he says verse 6 he says I planted and then Apollos watered so two different functions in two different seasons and Paul recognized that so one sows one reaps and God might sometimes take the journey of a ministry through seasons and even though we may have labored okay there might come a point where in God's calendar our time is up with regard to that particular work and God might take us to you know he might give us new frontiers but at the same time the doors might open up for somebody else to come and fill the position that we are engaged in right now but that should not threaten us so Paul did that he said look I planted when my season was over Apollos came in he watered so this is like letting people enter into our labor okay we must be willing to do that sometimes what happens we get very stuck we get very you know we we are passionate about the assignment that God has given us so we are so stuck to it that even when the time is up in God's calendar and God is saying okay I want you to hand it over to somebody else because now I want them to lead in a particular way and kind of a different grace is required to take it to the next level but you know we start fighting with God and you say no no no how can I quit like when I haven't seen this result or you know how can I let somebody else come in so these are all challenges that we go through individually okay so I'm just you know pointing it out with us I'm sure some of us are able to relate some of us are still you might wonder that you haven't seen any such situation but these things happen we struggle to let others into our labor but the preparation of the heart is required to let God do his thing so one source and one reaps and at the same time you know as God is causing this to happen and moving us out of our place and showing us something new to do it's likely that we are moving into somebody else's labor right so he's moving us into another place we may be pioneers in that work like for the first time we're breaking ground or the ministry has already been there and God is saying okay now I want you to take over so we are entering another man's labor right but this is the kingdom of God where God is orchestrating things and we are you know kind of engaging with one another and we will have to interact we will have to you know go through these things but when all of this happens we have to really guard our hearts and know what is the right what the right attitude is right when when God is moving moving us and changing seasons and not have selfish interests when we have selfish interests it becomes difficult and also you know we talked about us entering into the labors of someone else so then when we do that we're entering into somebody else's labor we should honor the work that someone else has done isn't it because we want people to honor the work which we have done till now and if someone else is taking over it's like you know you're handing over your baby and you want that baby to be taken care of really really well the same thing is happening to us we're stepping into somebody else's labor they're handing over their baby to us so we have to honor respect and serve whole heartedly even if God is calling us to step into other people's work okay so we will do everything that we would do if it was something that we have started so you know we will protect that ministry we will nurture that ministry we will cause an increase in that ministry right so we will do all of that and when we are faithful God is the one who will bring the increase okay so that's quite a bit about partnership and co-laboring yeah so I think we have touched on all the key points here we understand that you know Paul had many co-workers he calls a lot of people as co-workers so there are lists of people here are notes there are quite a few scriptures where he's naming people andronicus jr my fellow prisoners timothy my fellow worker lucius jason saucy patter titus my fellow worker partner then clement so I mean you see the names right so there are many people involved in kingdom work and for us as God's people the earlier we recognize that it's not just about our individual ministries but it is about the kingdom at large and there are many people we will learn to recognize our position we will learn to understand how God has positioned other people we will also understand how are these functions that somebody else has or somebody else's ministry has and my ministry has now how can both these functions happen simultaneously and you know how can we kind of partner together how can we impact the kingdom of God how can we preserve endeavoring to keep the unity how can we preserve the unity within God's body how can we prevent divisions we will begin to think in all these ways and we won't be shocked when we see other people who are part of God's work at God's labor so you know this is the example of paul the apostle who had several others and you know one beautiful thing that I see in paul's life is he knows how to recognize people's giftings and then you know you also notice how like he kind of understood what is the season and how to appoint for example people like timothy I think he found him in mistra and kind of took him along as a as a young believer but then after a while timothy was was grouped into one of the pastors so he became the pastor of the efficient church and then he writes you know first and second timothy instructing him how to take care of the church so this whole this whole wisdom about recognizing people's giftings allowing them to grow appointing them to the right ministries and then you know it's not like things were over but there was a an oversight you know which he maintained of course not in a in a sort of a interfering way but just you know that that we talked about it right when we are mentoring people and when we see that people are matured there is a certain kind of an oversight but it's not like too much of inputs but you're there you're kind of there to help and just support the work that the person is doing so in paul's life we see that he was he was a kingdom worker in that true sense and there is much to learn and everywhere he went because of his apostolic calling he started to work but but then he didn't neglect that work there were like he nurtured the people we find that in some places he stayed back you know I will stay back for some time for several months for a year for a couple of years to help the believers grow and eventually you would either see him appointing leaders right away or he leaves them and he just sort of you know appoints a couple of elders and he goes away but then he comes back to appoint you know more leaders elders faster why because the the work should not die down and the and the work should continue and can one individual start the work keep it progressing cause it to increase and cause it to measure it's not possible even paul knew that it's not possible for him to make sure that the work continues so he just I'm sure it's God's wisdom and God's leading God's grace where he understood okay my time is over this role is over I'll move on have somebody else coming so no wonder there are so many names you just read about different brethren fellow workers fellow prisoner co-workers all these people who needed to come alongside to carry on the work and of course you know at some point after his roman imprisonment and he was no longer here things were put in order things were put in place such that the work could carry on unhindered but it takes several kingdom workers to keep the work going and that's another reason why we must accept you know partners in the ministry co-workers in the ministry and also learn from the example or call the apostle okay and how do we make these connections I remember during mentoring some of us asked this question how do we choose the the person that you want to mentor we can depend on God even when it comes to the connections that he makes in the kingdom of God now we are focusing more on the partnership aspect so to partner with people we can trust God that he will bring about those divine connections there is an example in our notes from 1st chronicles chapter 12 where we read about David David himself he was going through a rough situation but at that time there were men who had also been through difficult times who came and joined hands with David so they became David's troop they became the army who were loyal to David so God brought these people who could understand David who could relate with David right and who were willing to follow the instructions of David so God caused the divine connection to happen and similarly you know even in our lives as we see God we say okay I am a kingdom minded person now who do I partner with who do I work together with just begin to pray and the way God made the connection for David and many other people even again going back to Paul how did he end up meeting all these people along this journey divine connections so God will do this and you know we can recognize that in the spirit that God is the one who is causing this partnership to happen and when we recognize it no we can nurture that partnership we can be wise about that partnership and take things forward now on the other hand for the right reasons for kingdom reasons okay let's say that that we decide that we want to partner with you know a certain ministry that looks really great or a certain minister of God that we feel will compliment the work that we are doing if it comes out of a fleshly intention then it would be you know giving birth to amish men okay so that is also something that we must be careful about so when it comes to partnership the best way to partner is again led by the spirit that we depend on God and just God for divine connections because only God knows you know how we fit in well with one another in the body of Christ and how that is going to bless the kingdom how that is going to edify the kingdom how that is going to build and increase the kingdom so wait on the Lord and you know God has all his unusual ways of showing us and bringing people into partnership together with us right so depend on God that's the best way to make these partnerships work and these connections but also desire these connections and you know as we wait on the Lord it will happen okay so some other practical things when it comes to partnering with the people we have this next section here that talks about not judging now of course when we begin to partner with people we will come to know you know more about them about how they lead their ministry how they make their decisions and all of that and even though you know when we talked about the family the church being the family of God we said that we are the spiritual family of God even naturally we have a strong bond and a connection with other believers in the church but at the same time you know we will not dishonor the boundaries that God has given to a normal family of parents and children so there is a boundary right so just because we are the spiritual family we cannot override the natural boundaries and in the same way when we begin to interact with ministries and we partner with them and we are kingdom people they're all here for the kingdom but at the same time there are boundaries that exist you know and so we must recognize that and we must respect the boundaries we will observe you know how God has raised up a certain person a certain ministry how he has anointed that person and you know the work that the person is doing and all that but you know maybe you know we might want to pass judgment on how they are caring about the ministry or how they are handling the grace of God you know things like that we must be very very cautious never to do that that person is making their own journey right so we have to respect we have to respect that journey only where there is that that need to step in as a brother or no step step in as a fellow worker to give our inputs at the right time in the right way yes we can step in but otherwise you know maintain that respect maintain those boundaries and also instead of putting down or thinking low of them we can celebrate like we can celebrate the good that God is doing in their lives it's only God who knows you know what that minister of God has been through it's only God who knows why they are doing what they are doing okay so we we we let God work in their lives even Jesus said that it is the master who needs to judge his own servant we as uh that is the parable you know where he he uh the master offers common wages and calls starts calling workers some come in early and they work through the day some come in later than the day uh for the same wages and they work for lesser hours but at the end of that uh they question the master and say how come you know I work more you're paying the other person the same amount of money uh for lesser labor so in Matthew 20 this parable is from verses 1 to 16 so the master says look I know you are the one who signed up for these wages so I'm being fair here you signed up for these wages and I'm giving you um back salary and somebody else also signed up for the same wages though their labor may be lesser uh in hours so the master is being fair and the master is the right judge of every worker and he's the only one who can judge uh each worker according to their labor so we must not judge other ministers of God because we may not know everything about their ministry or you know the the person Romans 14 for again it's another reminder for us it says who are you to judge another servant to his own master he stands of false indeed he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand so um we are all answerable to one master which is the Lord Jesus Christ and we must be careful not to judge and put down other ministers of God also just in the context of you know looking at other ministers trying to understand their work we said don't judge them but at the same time now we must also learn not to compare ourselves with other ministries uh that can be detrimental for the kingdom of God what might happen we will look at others we uh can take notes on oh they started the church three years ago even I started the church three years ago I have only 50 people look at them they are 5000 people what am I doing you know what is my service to God like we all these things can really play on our minds when we start comparing you know uh and and comparing uh to learn new things to learn uh positive principles right which they have applied uh if you want to borrow that principle and use that to to correct something that you're doing in your ministry that is profitable but comparing oneself no in a in a sort of a negative way can actually bring us down God is giving us partnership to strengthen and we must not let that partnership uh you know uh weaken us so comparing ourselves is is uh something that we can get into and we should not do that so avoid judging other ministers avoid um comparing ourselves with other ministers and their ministries and so you know uh why judging people the way we looked at the parable and we said that you know the the laborers start to question the master about the reward for the ministry so why do we think huh God is going to reward me more because I am more faithful compared to that man and you know so he thinks like this really play on our minds but we must keep all this aside because that's not um the reason why God has designed partnership we keep our focus we uh take the good right and we leave the back so we have to focus on what is good and what is beneficial for every single person and the kingdom at large okay a couple of other things uh the section here says each one is gifted differently that you know we've already uh talked about it so we must respect others and the work which others are doing um and we must not create walls or division okay uh then do not major or minus again this is a matter of um like this is again emphasizing unity because when people come together there can be disputes on doubtful things as Romans 14 says there can be disputes on doubtful things but we should not try to focus on those small little things which will bring division which will bring um strife which will bring hatred among the uh the the people who are partner instead we can focus on the things that are common knowledge which are which are uh received by the entire group uh and I think it was this Sunday in the service where pastor also mentioned he talked about different denominations and he said that um as long as we are born again we are in the kingdom of God and we are um accepting all the major uh you know doctrines and truth so we don't want to be creating these divisions and saying oh you know you are uh you are this denomination you know I'm that denomination in our format of service we don't we don't stand when worship is going on or we we only you know give communion this way so there are certain minor things which we can uh you know leave it as minor we don't have to focus on those things because if they end up focusing on those minor things they will become the cause of destruction within that community of of ministers so we have to be very very carefully there will be a lot of insignificant things but we have to choose to choose to focus on the things that bind us together the common things so when we come together okay we believe in Jesus we want to honor Jesus we we love him and uh you know we we are here for the growth of the kingdom so then we talk about those things we go with something that uh you know a format of worship that suits all of us and we just keep it at that all these minor differences we will try not to bring them up so uh that is the way in which we can keep the unity of um people in partnership okay so I realized there's just one more minute left for this session to end um so what we can do is we can take a break and let's come back if you have anything more to add to what I've said or maybe practical uh examples from your own life your own ministry you're free to share that so we can talk a little bit about uh you know these these truths and then we will move forward so uh let's go ahead for a break it's 1049 let's come back at 1059 is that okay yeah oh okay uh just a moment there's a sure sure I I'll talk about it Christopher I'll talk about it um after the break yeah I saw your comment on the main audio okay let me let me check if that video is available okay we'll come back and we'll start off with this thank you