 Welcome back after break. Before we went for our break we were looking at, you know, building people who are, you know, part of the kingdom of God. So kingdom building is not about just building an organization, a big church, but kingdom building is all about building people and we also saw this in the life of Paul. Let me just present the, okay, it's not coming on just a minute. Are you able to see? Yes ma'am. Okay, does this help by putting up the notes? Does it help? So he's, we're looking at Paul's life and, you know, how he values people, treasures people, keeps them in their heart and he's willing to even live or die together for them. You know, if Paul was standing before God on the final day, you know, he will not post about all the great things that he has done, the journeys, the missionary journeys has made, the books that he's written, you know, the people that he had trained, the churches he had established, but he would rather boast about the people whom he served. So look at what he says, it's on your screen, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 19 to 20, he says, what is our hope, joy, or crown of rejoicing? It's not even you in the presence, is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for you are our glory and joy. So the people whom he served, the people whom he ministered to, the people whom he brought into, you know, the grace of God, the salvation of Jesus Christ, you know, that is what he's going to celebrate and post. That is going to be his joy, his glory, and his crown. So, you know, look at Paul, you know, even though he's accomplished so many things, we see that, you know, the core of what he was doing were the people that he ministered to. And I think that is a heart of a leader, you know, if we see even in the life of Jesus, you know, just for one instance, we read, you know, when Jesus and his disciples were very tired, he said, okay, come, let's go away to a quiet place and rest and they take a boat and they go to the other side. And even before they reach that place, they see a multitude of people, you know, come from all over by foot. They know where Jesus was going towards, you know, the word is fast and they come. And what does Jesus say? He doesn't say, oh, no, you know, we're already tired and exhausted. We've come here to for a vacation. We've come here to rest for some time. And, you know, these people don't seem to leave us. But it says that, you know, he was moved with compassion. And he was moved with compassion. And what does he do? He has people, you know, seated and he teaches them. And then it's almost going to get evening. And the disciples come and say, send them away, you know, where can we, and Jesus says, you know, you provide food for them. Where can we provide? So for so much food for so many people, take us 200 dinaris, you know, to buy bread. And then we know that Jesus multiplies the five loaves and two fishes. Okay. So we see the heart of Jesus for the people, you know, we also see the heart of leaders like Moses, you know, Moses was very hesitant to take on that role of leadership. But, you know, he goes when Jesus said, when God says, okay, I will send you a brother Aaron. But we see when, you know, they're journeying in the wilderness. And, and, you know, God tells him at one point he's so fed up with these people's grumbling and constant grumbling and murmuring. And God says, my presence will not go with you. Because if my presence goes with you, then, you know, these people will not last. They will not live because I'll wipe them away. And we see that, you know, Moses could have thrown the towel and said, you know, okay, God, if you're so frustrated with these people, then I'm just human. How can I put up with their constant bickering and their murmuring and their complaining and their grumbling, and then wanting to kill me as well. Give me a break. Why don't you choose some other leader? You know, but we see that, you know, Moses doesn't, you know, stand out. He steps in again. And he intercedes as he has done many times. He intercedes for the people he asked for forgiveness. And, you know, on behalf of the people, he stands in the gap. And even now he says your presence does not go with us. Don't send us from this place. And we see that, you know, he buys God back. So to say, and God says, okay, Moses, I'll come along with you. But we see that Moses could have given up. But, you know, he's, why does he not give up even though these people were so stubborn and stiff-necked and hard and rebellious. And so many of them, the whole day, they would be standing in queues just for, you know, for their petty things to be sorted out by Moses. And Moses patiently doing it day in and day out. It's because, you know, he had people written in his hearts. Now, when people are written in our hearts, no amount of jealousy and hatred and, you know, what they throw at us, how they treat us, will not stop us from, you know, pursuing what's called in the midst of them and doing what God wants us to do. So we see that, you know, as a similar example in the case of the Apostle Paul as well. He writes very beautifully here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to 3. Can somebody read that please? 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to 3. Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or do we need as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are a repressor written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is of the heart. Thank you, John. So here we see that, you know, where are people written? They're written in the heart of Paul. So he says the people he ministered to were written in his heart. He carried them in his heart, you know, and what was the result of him carrying them in his heart is, you know, when he carries them in his heart, you know, he has the approval of God, you know, and we see that, you know, the Holy Spirit works in and through his life to minister to the people that he's ministering to. So he's saying that, you know, these people are written in our hearts, not with ink. That means it's not in the natural, it's not by natural means. That means anything done out of, you know, selfish motives, you know, pride, you know, anything that has to do with the carnal nature is by natural means, and that is not going to actually build people. It's not going to edify them. It's not going to have a lasting impact on their lives. It's not going to transform them. But if we are ministering to people with the power of the Spirit by the Word of God and to the power and the enabling of the Holy Spirit, the anointing, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, then we see, you know, is what we see, the result is great. It's a lasting, it's powerful, because, you know, people will be empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will work in their lives, will establish God's purposes, God's call, will activate their gifts, will activate their seeds of faith in the lives of the people that we are ministering to. So the work of the Holy Spirit produces, you know, change, transformation, the lives of people, and hence we need to depend on the work of the Holy Spirit and not on, you know, our carnal nature, the things that we do out of our own will, you know, because when we allow God to write people on our hearts, then He gives us the ability to write into their hearts. Very important, it's on your screen, page number 64, the last paragraph, it says, it's only when we allow God to write people on our hearts, that means when people become valuable to us, important to us, irrespective of who they are, whether they are constantly commenting, constantly giving us feedback, constantly, you know, saying negative things, being a hindrance to us, we know they don't like us, whatever it is, you know, we are ministering to a group of people who, you know, have all kinds of people with all kinds of attitudes, but if we still are willing to write them in our hearts, if we value them, we treasure them, then, you know, we are giving God the permission to giving us the ability to, you know, to write into their hearts. That's when we can speak into people's lives, we can decree into people's lives and we can see the Holy Spirit ministering and working in and through their lives. Just as we are, you know, called to build people, we are also people, and even as we give out, you know, even as we feed people, even as we minister to them, we also need to be ministered to. So, you know, if people are pointing at us and telling us things we need to change and how we need to do things differently, then we need to, you know, be willing to take feedback, change, you know, if our senior pastors, if our senior leaders, if, you know, women and men of God, you know, if they point out something and teach us something, we must be humble enough to receive correction because it says in Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Okay, so we look at a few practical keys to building people by the Spirit. Okay, so when we are building people, you know, we need to be mindful that every person has a specific calling of function that God has given to them in the body of Christ, and according to the function, God has entrusted them the gifts and the grace to fulfill that specific function. So we need to see where or discern and this discerning comes from discerning of the Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to help us to discern even as people come forward to minister in church, in different leadership positions, or in different, as volunteers in different groups, we need to discern that God appointed place and then God appointed functions because we know that every member has a function in the body of Christ. And, you know, even as we are individual members, we have individual functions and the gifts and the grace of God to enable us to use that function for the edification of the church, you know, we need to build up people and we need to be able to see that and we can see that only through the power of the Holy Spirit that is working in and through our lives. For example, you know, Jesus, when Simon Peter was brought to him, he looked at Simon and he said, you know, you shall be called Cephas, which is translated stone and later on he says you are the rock on which, you know, I will build my church, okay. So, you know, he's a spoke into his destiny, his calling. In the case of Nathaniel, we see that, you know, when Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him, he said, behold, there is the light in whom there is no deceit, okay. So, even as we are overseers of the sheep that God has entrusted to us, we're shepherds of the flock that God has given to us, you know, we need the spirits enabling and that is, that comes when we are in communion with the Holy Spirit, we are tuned to the Holy Spirit to understand, you know, what is that person's calling and train them and equip them in that, in their calling and release them at the right time, okay. We also need to position people to release their divine God given potential or we learned, you learned in the first year, you know, in fulfilling God's purpose for your life that, you know, that God takes us through times and seasons and, you know, to different times and seasons, we need to position ourselves right to receive God's favor, to receive God's provision, to receive God's providence and also to prepare ourselves for the next season in life. So, you know, even as we minister to people, whether it's a youth group or a children's church or, you know, whether it's your team, you know, the leader of a volunteer team in your church or you are a pastor, you're a leader, you have your own Bible study or you have your own youth group that you're ministering to, you know, you need to discern through the Spirit's leading the times and seasons that people are in and, you know, minister to them likewise, because different people are in different times and seasons, so we need to prepare them, show them how to understand the times and seasons, so you can take them through the book fulfilling God's purpose for your life, receiving God's guidance, you know, and prepare them for the next season of their life so that they can launch out for the next season and God can use them mightily. So, let's look at an example here, you know, Joshua was always before, you know, always with Moses, we see here in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 38, you know, God telling Moses, Joshua, who stands before you, you know, that means he's always there with you, he's always there besides you, says encourage him for he will, you know, lead Israel into the promised land, so we see that, you know, Moses encourages, strengthens Joshua's that he can lead people and we also saw that a good steward is someone who is able to identify leaders and equip them and build them to take the work forward. So, you know, Moses knew he is not going to enter the promised land, which already got told him because, you know, instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes the rock and God says you will not enter the promised land and when God tells him, you know, train up Joshua, he begins to train him up. In the case of Barnabas and Saul, we see that, you know, Saul the first, when he becomes, you know, he has this encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, you know, and he starts slowly, you know, preaching and teaching but many of them are still afraid of him. The church has not accepted him fully because they think that, you know, he's just playing up with them and, you know, he also there's a lot of persecution that he's facing in the places that he is in, in Damascus and the other places. So, we see that, you know, he goes up to Arabia where he, you know, he receives, he learns from God himself, receives much revelations and so the first 17 years of Paul's life are silent years, but we see that, you know, Barnabas, you know, he goes to Taas, he looks for Saul and and we see that, you know, he brings him to Antioch and for a whole year, you know, they preach and teach the people and then we also see that, you know, Barnabas goes along with Saul or Paul, Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey. So, we see that God using Barnabas to affirm to the people that, yes, Saul is transformed, he has accepted Christ, he's now part of the church and also how he works alongside Paul in the ministry, okay. Sometimes, we can make a mistake of, you know, wrongly judging people, not discerning the call, the potential that God has given to them. A case here in Paul's life is with John Mark, John Mark is Barnabas' cousin and during the first missionary journey, when Paul and Barnabas go on their first missionary journey, they take along with them John Mark, but when they come to, you know, Perga in Pamphylia, you know, for some reasons John says he's not going to continue the missionary journey along with Paul and Barnabas, so they leave him there and they continue, but this was in the mind of Paul, I think he was very angry and disappointed and thought, you know, Paul, John Mark is not fit for the ministry and then we see when they launch out into the second missionary journey, you know, Barnabas says, okay, let's take my cousin John Mark along and Paul, you know, does not agree and there's a sharp contention between both of them. We read this in Acts chapter 15 verses 36 to 41 and sadly resulted in a division where Barnabas takes John Mark and goes on his missionary journey and Paul takes Silas and goes on his second missionary journey, but later on I think Paul has heard the great work that John Mark is doing and he realizes the mistake he makes in judging him wrongly and then, you know, he takes him on in his team and John Mark becomes one of the team members of Paul. How do we know this? We read this in Colossians chapter 4 verse 10 when he's writing to the Church at Colossae, you know, Paul says Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, also greets you. That means he's there with Paul when he's writing this episode, so he sends his greetings to the Church at Colossae and first Timothy when Paul is writing to young Timothy who he's left at the churches at Ephesus, to oversee the churches at Ephesus, he says, you know, only Luke is with me, get Mark and bring him with you because he's useful for me in the ministry. So we see that even though Paul made a mistake in judging John Paul, I was going to say, in judging John Mark, you know, we see that, you know, he still, he still rectifies his mistake and, you know, he sees himself, sees John Mark as someone who's useful in the ministry, takes him on in his team and, you know, ministers along with him. So sometimes we can make a mistake in, you know, judging people wrongly. At those times we need to correct our mistakes and also, you know, work alongside them. Okay. We also need to discover and develop the people's gifting, you know, all of us are gifted in different areas, so we need to help people know what is their gifting, what is their, how do they know what is their gifting, first find out their function or find out the talents their gifts that will help them know what is their purpose, their calling, their function in the body of Christ and they can use their gifts and the grace of God that comes along with it to fulfill that specific function. Okay. The important thing is, even as we are kingdom builders, even as we are building a people world, you know, spiritual stones and living stones, it's important to know that, you know, we don't just build people through the prophecies and revelations and how we train them. We might be excellent life skill trainers, leaders. We can have good leadership qualities, traits, you can have the charisma. We can have the gift of speaking and wooing people and all of those things, but the greatest message we will ever preach is our own life and that is what Paul says, you know, even though he accomplished great things in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 and 1 Corinthians chapter 11 was one, he says, imitate me even as I imitate Christ. Now that's a bold statement to write, to say, to the churches at Corinth, to say, imitate me. That means your life should be such an exemplary life, you know, that Paul is saying, imitate me even as I imitate Christ. Okay. So it's important that we live a life example so that, you know, the people that we are ministering to can imitate from our lives, can see Christ's likeness in us. And so before we even preach or teach, we need to be people who are doing it ourselves. As we read in Matthew chapter 5 verse 19, can somebody read that please, it's on your screen. Matthew 5 19. Matthew chapter 5 verse 19, whoever therefore takes one of these, one of the most of these commandments and teaches men, so shall be called lead in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Thank you, Jeffy Nessa, who is great in the kingdom of heaven, we've already looked at this verse, one who not only teaches, but also does, whoever does and teaches first does and then teaches shall be called great in the kingdom of God. Okay. You know, Matthew chapter 15 verse 14, he says, they are blind leaders of the blind, and if blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch. Okay. So in this context, what does it mean? It's basically, you know, when, you know, when we teach people a revelation that we have not received ourselves, which we have not understood ourselves, which we have, it's not become a reality in our lives, it's not become a truth in our own lives by which we live. And when we teach it to others, it's like a blind leading the blind. And we know what happens when a blind person leads another blind person, they will eventually fall into some pit or ditch or, you know, some place where they can hurt themselves. So there are a few important statements that are made here. And I'd like to read it out. Okay. It's very, very important. You cannot give something you do not have. Okay. So if you do not have, you know, if you do not know the truths in God's word, you cannot preach it and teach it because you cannot give something that you do not have. And you will be preaching something that is stale. And you know, stale things people don't really like, it's not going to give life. Also, we cannot give something you do not have is when you do not are not meditating on God's word, you're not in love with God's word, you know, you cannot impart fresh new revelations from God's word from what you have received. And also our ministry is our overflow with our intimacy with God. So if you have not experienced God's love, his peace, his joy, you cannot give that out to people. Okay. If you have not experienced God's power in your life to 90 in your life, you cannot give that out yourself, you cannot take others to a place where you have not gone yourself. Okay. So if you're not growing from, you know, into more of Christ likeness, from one level of glory to another level of glory from, you know, to being spiritually matured, you cannot take these people that you are leading also to that place, you cannot enable people to mature in Christ likeness, if you are not maturing into Christ likeness yourself. Okay. And you cannot release people of, you know, you can pray for them, but there will not be any bondages that are broken, yolks that are broken. If you are in that in bondage in that area yourself. So if you're speaking, if you're praying for somebody who's in bondage to anger and you yourself are, you know, a person who gets angry and or, you know, somebody who's filled with dry jealousy, hatred, or, you know, strongholds in your mind or some temptation, you're praying for somebody else, then, you know, you can't help them to overcome their bondage or administer liberty or freedom or the breakthrough, because you yourself are not set free in that specific area. So even before we minister and preach and teach, it's important that, you know, we come back to these sentences and, you know, assess ourselves where we are. These are like really powerful sentences, these four sentences, you know, it's important for us to come back to read this, to review it in our own lives, take stock of our own lives to, you know, by looking at these sentences and judging where we are ourselves. Okay. The other thing we need to do when we are ministering to people is avoid insecurities. You know, sometimes we're very insecure as people, you know, and when we become very insecure, we can be over controlling, we can be judgmental, sometimes authoritative, dictatorial. And this is something we need to, you know, take stock of, avoid and be aware of. Just like, for example, King Saul, you know, when they killed the Philistines and David came, you know, all the people were dancing and rejoicing and they started singing a song and said, you know, Saul has slain his thousands, but David is 10 thousands. And Saul was very angry. And we see that, you know, it displeased him. And from that time on, he had his eye on David, and he tried every means to kill David. Even when David was playing the harp, you know, the evil spirit would come on Saul and he would play the harp. And, you know, times we read in the scripture that, you know, Saul would cast a spear, and he would say, you know, I will pin David to the wall. And we see that David was constantly running for the fear of fall. Saul, he was running away from Saul, okay? So it's important for us to take note of our heart attitudes, whether there's pride, jealousy, hatred, bitterness, anger, you know, that can lead to us being authoritative, you know, bossy leaders, over controlling people, which is not being a kingdom leader. And that's not what God wants us to do, because God is not a king, or he's not a leader in that sense. Okay. It's important for us to maintain a pure heart and right motives, not only towards people, but also because before God. Okay, first John four says, if we say that we love God and hate our brother, then we are a liar, because we cannot, when we cannot love our brother, who we can see, then how can we love God whom we cannot see. Okay. Another thing that we can avoid when building people, ministering to people is being overprotective, being over controlling, you know, sometimes leaders, pastors control every area of people's life, you know, everything from the things that they have to buy to the vacation, what they want to do with their children with school, they want to put their children in. I recently heard one of our, you know, one person who's joined ABC recently, they were part of another church, and it was so sad to hear how controlling the pastor was and know the pastor had control over every area of their life, you know, with school to put their children in, what to buy, you know, which, whether they have to go for vacation or not, or which place to go for a vacation, how they're spending their money, you know, every area and, you know, they come out from this whole thing, so traumatized, so disappointed, so be controlled by this one pastor, this leader, and it was very, very sad to hear. And it's something that is overwhelming, something that is so difficult to even to understand that there can be somebody like this, okay. And also we need to be avoid jealousy, godly jealousy is fine, you know, Paul talks about, he says, for I am jealous in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 was two, but he says that I'm godly jealousy, you know, not that I'm jealous that people are coming and teaching you, of course, he's worried about them hearing the false doctrines of false teachers, but he's saying I'm writing this and I'm saying this because of, I'm not jealous of others, but there's a godly jealousy, you know, that I want to protect you as people who, you know, should not go away from the truth, okay. So even as we guide people, even as we lead people, we need to be careful that we are not controlling that every aspect of their lives, who to marry, who not to marry, what to buy, what not to buy, where to study, where to go, who to speak to, you know, being manipulative, how to spend their money, everything in their homes has to be told to the pastor, that is not the right kind of being shepherds of the flock that God has entrusted to us. Avoid over-involvement, you know, it's important that we teach people what is right and wrong, we let them make their decisions, if, you know, people should be left their own to make their decisions, even if you're counseling them, show them, you know, what are the options available or let them think, you know, basically counseling, why does somebody come, why does somebody come for counseling, is because they feel that they have lost their own willpower to fight the problem, the issue, or they have lost all their, you know, hope in life, or they can't see a way out, but there is a way out, and we need to empower them to find a way out, empower them that they can do, there is a way out, there is a solutions, and so, you know, slowly get them to think, you know, build that confidence back, so you can ask them, what do you think can be done in this, in this situation, and I'm sure, you know, they have not lost their mental faculties of thinking, of judging, of knowing what is right and wrong, they can say just that they need help, just that they need their confidence, and once they start thinking for themselves, then, you know, they come to a place where they're growing up, they're learning, that they can cope with their own problems, that they don't have to, you know, depend on you as a crutch, if it happens, then, you know, you are the person who's going to feel overwhelmed, overburdened, because there's so many people calling you in and out, calling people wanting to meet you, endless times of just hearing people's woes and troubles, when you can just empower them, and, you know, equip them to, you know, build their own lives, to find their own solutions, and manage their own things and their own lives, okay? The next thing is avoid being overly authoritative, I've already given you some examples, avoid emotional attachments, can be very dangerous, you know, especially, you know, when you're very attached to people, you don't want to let them go, if God has something for them in another country, in another place, you know, a calling where they can go, and they can establish their own ministry, organization, and church, we don't want to let them go, because we see that if they leave, then, you know, we are going to lose a worship leader, or a worship pastor, or, you know, a youth leader, or a youth pastor, or a children's pastor, somebody is good in this area, a mission leader, you know, we won't get anybody like that, but, you know, it's our responsibility to train people, equip them, but when we sense that, you know, they have a calling, and God is calling them to go somewhere else, then, you know, we release them, we bless them, we let them go, we don't build up soulless attachments, that's a dangerous thing to do, okay, an example given here is for Samuel chapter 18, we know that Jonathan and David were very good friends, but when Jonathan learned that his father was allowed to kill David, then he comes to a place where he wants David, and also lets David go, even though they were good friends, okay, any questions so far, anything anyone has to say about building people, what we have been speaking so far, building people in the spirit, how to have people in our hearts, some practical keys, so building people by the spirit, we looked at, and also we looked at things that we need to avoid, any questions on these, anyone has any questions, okay, not we'll move on, okay, the next thing we need to do is bring correction when required, you know, sometimes as leaders, we avoid correcting people because we think it will unnecessarily cause up confrontation, it will, you know, just bring about a very uncomfortable situation, it will spoil the relationship, it will hurt the relationships, but you know, it's very important that when we see things that are not right, that we confront them, but we do it in love, you know, because we love the person, but we don't agree to what they're doing is, that they're doing is wrong, so you know, we do it in a loving way, we correct them in a loving way, we don't delay in bringing the correction, and you know, and we need to also pray about it and ask the Holy Spirit to enable us speak to us, you know, and we know that every correction brings a certain amount of discomfort, pain, restlessness in the other person, you know, and also will change things a little bit, the person might not take it very positively, the person may get angry, the person may, you know, the relationship can change, the equation of the relationship can change, but you know, at those times, what do we do, okay, you know, at those times don't take it too personal, we'll just look at that in a bit, okay, we'll come to that, you know, how we can, what do we need to do before, you know, when a person doesn't take correction, before that we will just look at, you know, correcting people in love, in gentleness, in patience, like it says here in this, all of these verses on your screen, Galatians chapter five, you know, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, you know, first the Salonians, Paul says we were gentle among you as a mother, you know, nursing her own child, and then Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, choose a leader, and the leader must not quarrel but must be gentle to all able to teach and patient, and then, you know, he's writing to Titus and he's saying speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men, okay, so we're called to do things gently, peacefully and in love, and we see that, you know, even when as Paul who's an apostle and the leader of many churches, you know, he, most often he beseeches people, okay, rather than commanding them, so he uses this word beseeching or beseech you brethren, or beseech you beloved in Christ Jesus, he uses this beseech 24 times, and this word beseech basically in the Greek means to call near, okay, to, that is to invite, exhort, pray with, so beseeching is basically, you know, you're requesting that person, you're trying to find out, you're calling them close, you're not doing it in public, you're not connecting them in public, you're personally one-on-one meeting or one-on-one interaction with them, you're trying to find out things, integrate, find out what has happened, what is going on, and then you're making a request, you're asking, you know, it's a desire to just correct the person to make the person, and also the person to know that it's a desire to, you know, just help the person in what they're going through, and also, you know, it's basically exotic them, encouraging them to do the right thing and praying with them, okay, so we see some examples given here, but the word command, you know, Paul uses it very sparingly about four times only, where he uses beseeching about 20 times, but command he just uses it only four times, and command is basically, you know, sending out a message, it is the command, it's a charge that they have to keep, so very rarely does Paul command people, but you know, when it's a very important thing, that's when he commands, but most of the time he's beseeching them, which means he's calling them close, you know, he's just finding out more details, he's just pleading with them, requesting them, asking them, and also praying with them, okay, so what we need to do as leaders is like Paul did, you know, beseech more than command, okay, because command can always, you know, cause a person who's trying to even do the right thing to go, to step on the wrong foot, to go the wrong way, but if you're beseeching them, you know, exerting them, encouraging them, then they're most likely will change and do things differently, okay, now, we need to know that when we correct people, not everyone will, you know, be on a positive note, everyone will not agree, everyone will not take your correction very, very easily, there can be some negative responses, and it can be very painful and very disturbing and hurtful, especially when it comes from people who are very close to us, people who we love a lot, but you know, what are some of the negative responses we receive, people who complain, you know, they're constantly, you know, once you correct them for something, then you see that, you know, suddenly they change their behavior towards you, they start complaining about every little thing, they pull up things of the past, you know, they make it a big issue, and everything is, you know, they do everything to put you down, and they feel that you're districting them, controlling them or hurting them, some of them can even withdraw, you know, they totally disconnected you, they don't want to look at you, they don't interact or communicate with you, so, you know, when you are, you know, handling such a person or moving around with such a person, or in the midst of such a person, then you need to be, you know, you're very conscious because you need to be very careful because anything you say can trigger off something, can hurt them even more, can bring up the past, they can, you know, the volcano can so erupt and things like that, so, you know, you have to be on a tiptoe very careful, sometimes there can be a retaliation, people can blame us for the problem, they can be disappointed and, you know, frustrated and dissatisfied, and they can throw back at you and, you know, and all can end up with a lot of disrespect and dishonour that, you know, at one point of time they had so much of honour and respect and love for you and all of that can just, you know, can go down and drain, okay, and then eventually some people can even leave, they can walk out to ministries, church, a library study group, they don't want to come back, so what do we do in these are the responses of various people and I'm sure we've all faced one or more of such reactions, but what do we do in such situations, we don't take it personally because our motive, what was our motive, our motive was right, our motive was to correct the person so that the person does not end up in a mistake, in a fault, you know, our motive was to reach out to them to ensure that they don't go in the wrong path, then, you know, if they retaliate in the wrong way, then, you know, it's not your fault, don't take it too personally, look at what Paul writes to the church at Galatia, the Galatian church, you know, Paul had laboured among them and he felt that his laboured, that he had laboured among them was in vain, was going in vain because, you know, after he has preached the gospel to them, he has left that place and, you know, people who were there, who come in, you know, were trying to tell them, you know, they had to keep the law, the Old Testament law and all of those things and so we see what, you know, Paul writes, he says, you know, in Galatians 4 verse 12, the last phrase, he says, you know, you have not injured me at all, I mean, just so powerful, you know, these people, you know, people have heard all the things they must be saying about him, questioning his authority, what he thought, now, you know, the people were turning him, turning these, the churches in Galatia away from the truth, to keeping the Old Testament laws, following these Jewish fables, myths and mythologies and all of those things, keeping the circumcision ritual, Paul was saying, well, this is not needed, but just see what he says, you have not injured me at all, which means he's heard some negative reports, some things that people have said, but, you know, Paul is not hurt, because he knows that, you know, these people were actually, you know, these people were actually, it's not their mistake, it's because of these false teachers and them misleading them, and so Paul is taking that measure, the corrective measure, to step in and to minister to them, and he's saying, you've not hurt me at all. Now, that is, you know, from Barnes' commentary, there's a note here, you can read what Paul is basically, you know, what commentators are saying, what Paul would have actually meant, so you can read that later on, okay, we'll move on. So what do we do when, you know, people, when we correct people, give time for people to change, okay, all of them need time to assimilate things, to understand things, to process things, and to move on, you know, if they want to leave and move out, you know, let them go, just keep praying for them that God would, you know, reveal the truth for them, reveal your heart for them, bring them to an understanding, and also, you know, bring them to a maturity in all areas, because we know that they have been immature, even as they leave the space, go to another place, you know, they will be welcome there, they will be treated nicely, but again, you know, the old habits will come out, there'll be somebody who will point out, you know, so pray that, you know, the spirit of God would correct them, would lead them, would teach them, and, you know, that God's word will minister to them, okay. We'll just stop here, because it's time, anyone has any questions? Any questions? Can you hear me? Yes, Pastor, we can hear you. Okay, any questions? Okay, if there are no questions, then we'll end class. Is Georgia Hamilton in class? Hello, Georgia, are you in class? Okay, nice to see Zealotoli. Zealotoli, I know there are heavy rains in Nagaland, right, but I was wondering whether you'll have the connectivity, but thank you for joining class. Okay, everyone, have a wonderful week ahead. I will see you next week, and we just finish up with this lesson six next week. Okay, thank you all for joining class. God bless you.