 Okay, good morning everyone. Welcome to another week in another session on lifestyle evangelism Let's just begin this time with a word of prayer So could one of us please lead us in prayer? Jafina, it's okay. If we can lead us, please Divya, can you please? Okay. Jafina, go ahead. I'll lead us in prayer Do you have only father? We come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this beautiful day Beautiful Baba study that we are about to have God I pray for everyone who is attending right here I pray that you fill us with the Holy Spirit and with the knowledge So that we can understand everything that the pastor says and I pray that you fill him with guidance Understanding and everything that we learn here. Let us apply that in our life And help us to enjoy this life with you and help us to spread the gospel bully and make heaven crowded in Jesus Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jafina. All right. So Let's just do a quick recap of what we did last week Last week we started on uh chapter 10 and then we looked at The real battle Of winning souls is a spiritual battle Right, uh, we looked at, you know, the whole aspect of evangelism where, you know, we've learned all the practical Uh daily routines that we have to do that is, you know, the two-minute testimony four-minute testimony The word of God and all of these things that we've learned The real battle is a spiritual battle because we looked at what the enemy does The enemy blinds the minds of people the enemy holds people in bondage And and the enemy wants to hinder people From receiving the gospel because he knows if these people Hear the gospel and if it's something that is Uh meaningful and it's sown in good soil He knows that the word of God is able to change lives right so Last week we established the fact that the whole aspect of evangelism Is a spiritual battle Right. So even we as leaders we may be in the church leading or in the pastoral team Uh very important Our personal life Will reflect how we would be able to minister to others Right if we want to, you know Sometimes you may feel oh, I won't do this. I want to, you know, have this ministry and we have this big vision That's wonderful But we have to back that vision up Through prayer and intercession, right? and so every every aspect of evangelism the real battle Is a spiritual battle and the church has responsibilities also Uh you when I say the church it is you and me which is We pray that God opens doors right and God will do it, you know as we pray and see God God will do it Secondly, God has given us the authority like God is not saying You know, are you sure you want to go against these people and he's not sending us Into the battlefield with you know with no weapons He's saying I have given you the weapons of our warfare. We looked at that also Uh last week that God has given us weapons That we can use a fission six talks about the armor of God You know the helmet of salvation the breastplate of righteousness this whole armor that we can put on So God is not sending us into the battlefield saying, okay go and if there's if if you can't manage then just let me know No God has given us the authority. He has given us the weapons And so we as a church have to use that weapon and then the church as a whole that is you and me are to bring Change in in in the society That we are in so we stopped there. Yes Last week, let's just pick up a little more on this chapter and then we'll go into chapter 11 Which is sowing watering reaping and consolidating Right. So before that, let's let's look at this. How do we? Exercise spiritual authorities now we learned that you know, we have spiritual authorities We know that God has given us prayer intercessory prayer worship the word of God Uh, you know so many weapons Faith is a weapon Uh, and so God has given us these weapons. So what is our responsibility as a church, right? How do we exercise exercise it? right now for example, if we You know, so for example physically if we want to become fit In our body and strong and we say, okay, I'm going to buy all these equipment and I am going to exercise Right. So just an example, right? We buy all the equipment. We have it at home But we don't really use the equipment Just picture this, right? So you we've got all the equipment. It's it's like a gym at home But we don't use it It is there It is available It's at our disposal. We can use it anytime we'd like Uh, but we don't use it. Well whose fault is it? It is our fault because it's already there We're not using it. So God has given us spiritual weapons. God has given us spiritual authority But we are to use them for God's glory. So let's look at that first one when you Probably go into a place or or your you know ministering to people We can establish God's presence through praise and worship Now praise and worship is a very powerful uh, you know Powerful stance that we can take Right now praise and worship has very little to do about the music. It's not only about the music It's part of it. It's part of the, you know, uh, you know, David did that right? He said He formed good teams who could you know, uh Uh play musical instruments and worship the Lord in harmony and unity and all of that But the real Authority is when we worship the Lord In spirit and in truth remember what happened in the encounter with the Samaritan woman Jesus said, yeah, I know that you guys all are worshiping But the time will come when you will worship the father in spirit and truth so when we Are probably maybe if we are entering a new city a new town a new village Or you're praying for a certain kind of community. Maybe the youth We can make The work of the Holy Spirit the presence of the Holy Spirit You know, uh, uh be tangible in these places through praise and worship Right. So one of the things that we do in Mangalore is We have every month we have times of praise and worship Right. So every month every second Saturdays Discover what we do is we have about uh about 5 p.m We just have two hours of praise and worship no preaching no teaching nothing Just praise and worship what is happening as we're doing that we are establishing God's presence in our midst in our city And we're also praying for God to open doors for us right So it's it's a praise and worship Brings down the strongholds of the enemy Picture what happened in the book of Joshua Right, they've come to this place They've entered Jericho And the walls are so great Now God could have sent an angel to strike down that wall Or he could have just snapped his fingers and the walls would have come crumbling down now. He did that in the past. Remember with Moses God just parted the season to two. So the walls was not a big deal But God told the Israelites spoke through Joshua and he said here's what you do You walk around those that temple that that wall And every time you walk around it, you praise God Right, and then the last time you walk around you shout you scream and you Lift up a voice of praise And the walls came crumbling down And I'm sure you've we've heard it in a lot of uh, uh, you know, you know, maybe sermons and CDs We use it synonymous to the works of the enemy Now the enemy builds a wall around us Around the people who have been blinded Sin is like building a wall Right, and so when we Praise God when we worship God We're bringing down those walls And God is able his presence is able to manifest into people's lives Right, there are plenty of testimonies where people have come to the Lord just through praise and worship Just through singing of a song So God is able to do that Second thing that we can do is Declare Christ's finished work on the cross For the salvation of those in the city Right now not only for the city, but even for your friends. So for example, you're ministering to somebody Or you have a couple of friends who you want to minister to This is powerful. You can declare the finished work of the cross over that person Right. Why? Because on the basis of the cross The power of the blood of Jesus and the authority at the name of Jesus The powers of darkness will be nullified The work of the enemy will be destroyed Right. I love first In the book the verse in Colossians which says He made a public spectacle of the enemy whom he destroyed Right. He destroyed the enemy So even as we are ministering to people You can say God let the finished work of the cross Let the power of the cross Be relieved be released in this person's life I'm going to go and you know minister to this person now I'm going to go speak to this person, but Lord let the power of the cross The authority the dominion and the power of your kingdom rule and reign in this person's life and in this person's family God will begin to do that work Yes, what's over here on page 35 we're looking at exercising spiritual authority to open prison doors Third point Identify and pull down strongholds Whether it's in people's lives or whether it's in a community or whether it's in a city Right. Now the enemy has strongholds on people The enemy has demonic domination over people and over communities Right. And so what we can do is tear down That veil of blindness over people So we can pray and say God let your light shine Let your light shine in these places Right. Lord this person is in bondage Let your light shine even as I go and share the word even as I You know, just go and maybe just Share a bible verse or maybe just a song let your light shine In this person's heart Declare that the light of God Is more powerful than the works of the devil Right. Uh So this is very important that we do this right and for Destroy the works of the evil spirits that are at work in the people's lives Right. So for example, you know corruption murder pornography suicidal tendencies hatred jealousy pride You know, all these things are from the enemy. All these are demonic spirits that are working in people's lives Right. Anger You know, they have you I don't know if you've met people where The moment you you know, tell them, hey, can I share about Jesus? They get really angry They get upset Just walk out or they hurl abusers And you know, they just move about Why it's not them. It is the spirit the evil spirit that is causing them to feel uneasy And so you and I have the authority to destroy the works the works of the evil spirit in the person's life We speak against it Right. There will be times when people will just hate you because you know Hate us because we are Christians But for no reason we may be doing all the good things to them, but they just hate us Now remember it's not the person, but it's the spirit that is working in that person The mistake that we make is we say, okay, just you know, this person is you know, I'm doing all the good things for this person And all I'm getting is hatred anger And you know, why should I go about doing it? Remember that it's not the person It is the spirit that's working in that person. So you and I Are called to destroy the works of the evil spirit That's working in them Right They share this once what happened we were in Punjab in Ajmer and We were doing a conference I forget which I think it was 2012 We were doing a conference and Uh, we were going about the conference and after a time we began to just you know spend time in prayer spend time in you know Just ministering to people and all of a sudden, you know, a lot of people began to manifest there At evil spirits began to manifest just the move of god in that place. They were about 150 of them pastors and youth. It was a combined thing and What we noticed was the enemy had such a grip on people right and they would they were not willing to you know come to a place of You know, shredding their lives to god It was a bondage that was there in them for many many many years So remember, you know, we as a team few of us were there We just stopped everything I mean we began to pray against us working against the evil spirits that were causing them You know to not understand or blinding their eyes blinding their minds So we began to pray Against it. There was no a lot of chaos because they were all screaming and shouting and Uh But we were established The whole team we were established that god is able to destroy the works of the spirit. A lot of them were delivered that same day And then as the conference went on for a couple of days, a lot of them during the process were being delivered Right and I realized that hey You know, we are called to speak against the works of the evil spirit into people's lives Right. We are not to be afraid. Oh, what if that and devil comes into me? No, no, right We are covered by the blood of the Jesus. We are his children Right. So we don't have to fear about that Right. Oh, here's another important thing is We understand our identity. We understand our authority in christ So the enemy cannot do anything to us Right. So this these four points one established You know, uh, the presence of god through praise and worship To declare the finished work of the cross Over people over the lives over the souls of the people that you are going to minister to And if you're a pastor you got to you know declare the work of the cross over the whole community over the society Over the church members there's a lot of responsibilities as a pastor and three identify strong holds Right. For example, if you're planning to be an evangelist or or you're planning to plant a church in a certain place Identify strong holds, but there may be some places where prostitution is something that is Very eminent. There may be some other places where there is, you know drugs and alcohol or You know, so different ways the enemy binds people in different Strong ways and different strongholds. So identify them and pray against them Right suicide natural deaths are very common right There was this one place that we went to at this woman She was uh, I think this was in orisa. I'm not wrong And we were in orisa and this young woman she was probably in there in her late 20s She came up to us and she she had a prayer. She said that you know, uh um I had a child the baby and within a few As as soon as the baby was conceived a few months Uh, the baby died in the womb And so they had the second child a year later and the second one also, you know very Everything was fine the first scan the second scan was fine and all of a sudden the baby developed some kind of a illness and Some infection and the the baby died To miscarriages And so she was so heartbroken. She came up to me and she said can you please pray The moment we prayed we just felt that this is not a natural thing right, this is Uh a stronghold And so I began to ask her You know, what what what is it? What do you do and where do you come from? So she told her whole story. She was The granddaughter of a you know, a priest a hindu priest who would involve in you know occult and all of this but very Powerfully her father was saved and But then this is happening here. So we realized that hey, it's a stronghold. It's a generational curse that needs needs to be broken off and so We prayed prayed praying we broke off that stronghold the holy spirit was able to minister to her And it was a blessing to see her Also have a child later on a healthy child. So so at times We need to target or we need to hit the nail on the head We need to find out You know, that's why in evangelism, it's very important to ask questions Right ask questions find out. What is the reason? What is the what is the source? What what could have happened that has caused this? You know, sometimes we may not understand what the reason is Uh, but if we dig deep we may you know get some kind of an idea and then our prayers can be directed towards that Right. So, uh, let's get into chapter 11 this is a very important aspect but It is it applies to each of our lives Right. I'm sure all of us have heard of this sewing watering Reaping and consolidating All right. So let's just briefly look at each point All right before that, let's read John chapter 4 versus 35 to 38 John chapter 4 versus 35 to 38. Yes. Could one of us please read that? John chapter 4 35 to 38 Yes, jeffina if you're able to can you please read? Can I read? Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead John chapter 4, right pastor? John chapter Yeah, John 35 to 38 Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest Behold I say to you lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they're already white for harvest And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both Who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together For in this the saying is true one sows and another reaps I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored others have labored and you have entered into their labors Amen. Thank you Divya. So here the Lord Jesus is You know in a nutshell he's giving the whole a sense of sowing watering and reaping All right, let's also read first Corinthians chapter 3 versus 4 to 10 First Corinthians chapter 3 versus 4 to 10 First Corinthians chapter 4 versus 4 to 10 for when one snows Sorry Rosalind. It's uh first Corinthians 3 4 to 10 Yeah, sorry 3 4 to 10. Let's go ahead For when one says I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos. Are you not colon? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one I planted Apollos watered, but God gave the increase So that neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters But God who gives the increase now he who plants and he who waters are one And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a vice master builder I have laid the foundation and another builds on it But let but let each one take heed how he builds on it Amen. Thank you Rosalind. So here we see Paul is writing to the Corinthians and we know the reason there is division within the church I just to put a context on this Paul started the church Then he sent Apollos who was a great teacher to go and minister to the people there And so when Apollos went many people came into the church right and then after that Some of the Jews Came into the church, right? So meaning they they also accepted the work of Jesus Christ. And so now we've got three kinds of people here first the We could say the core team who's who was there from the time the church was established to when Apollos came Through Apollos another group of people entered the church and then there were the Jews Who you know accepted the gospel and entered into the church now one is saying I believe in Paul So he was he came here first he ministered and we accepted his gospel To another group of people are saying hey, we believe in Apollos. We don't we haven't seen Paul yet We've heard of him But we believe Apollos because Apollos came and ministered to us He shared the gospel and we came To know Christ and then three There was a Jews who said hey actually the main leader of the church is Peter who's sitting in Jerusalem So you got three people with three different ideas Right, one says I follow Paul one says I follow Paul's one says I follow Cephas, which is Peter And so Paul writes and he says listen it's not about that God uses one person to sow One person to reap another person to receive the harvest Right, and so let's look at the first one sowing. What is what is the meaning of sowing? sowing Simply means you take a seed natural terms you take a seed you put it into the ground And you wait and then the seed germinates And it bears fruit Sowing basically means the lifetime of a seed I'm sure most of us have heard this right what you sow is what you reap Right, if we if we sow apples or oranges, we we're going to get apples or oranges Right, so what you sow is what you reap Galatians six seven Right, so sowing implies the whole aspect of waiting Right, remember nothing happens overnight Right, you take a seed Right, you put it into the ground The germination of that seed is not going to happen overnight Some seeds take Probably two months some take six months some takes a year And so sowing Implies a waiting period right Now what is what is important in the sowing process is also Look for good ground Now you don't look at a farmer and you say okay, he has some seeds And he goes into his ground and he doesn't You know, he looks for the best patches of land where he can sow these seeds Right now if he's not a good farmer, maybe he's just in a hurry or he just wants to do something Okay, I've got this thing. I have to do it He's just going to take those seeds and just throw it anywhere he likes And then it is going to be there on the ground some will harvest some may not harvest So here's the thing a good farmer Sows and looks for good ground to sow his seed Right and once he does that he waits eagerly For the seed to germinate To come forth Right now in the sowing process There's there's something called as a waiting time Right. I'm sure we've all heard this right preparation time is never wasted time Right. God makes us people wait Moses waited Joseph waited Apostle Paul waited and so that waiting period is a powerful time Right and and so as we sow be patient Right be patient continue to You know look at that seed Continue to have faith in that seed Right. It's not like, you know the farmers of you know, they put seeds everywhere It's not like they've lost faith in their They've seeds that they've sown they they trust that hey One day this is going to germinate it's going to become big and it's going to I'm going to reap a good harvest out of these Out of this whole Labor that I'm doing so Faith is implied when we sow Right. Each one of us when we are sowing into people's lives When we are sowing in the ministry when we are sowing into God's kingdom Right. Have faith that God is able to bless it Right. Now when I say, you know nowadays the term sowing has only been You know targeted towards money and it's not so It's not at all only about money Right. Uh Sowing involves many things for example, if I am Working I'm a working professional and every Saturday's I want to go and serve in the church I want to do something. What am I doing? I'm sowing seeds In my own life Saying God I'm doing this for you Sowing seeds in my life. I believe that one day it will bear fruit in my life So it's not only to do with money So for another example would be if we are reading the word of God Right. Uh in our free time we are reading, you know, maybe for half an hour and then we move it to one hour What are we doing? We are sowing the seed of God into our heart Right and we believe that it will bear fruit because what we sow Is what we reap If we sow anger we sow jealousy hatred All these aspects We will reap that But if we sow love faithfulness gentleness the fruit of the spirit We sow this in our lives and even in people's lives. We will reap that Right. So very important Look for good ground To sow your seed right remember the parable of the sower in matthew 13 the man went about He put a seed some fell on thorny ground some fell on stone some fell on uh good ground Right and and and what happened he gives an explanation the ones that fell on good ground Was able to bear fruit the ones on thorny grounds was just crumpled away It didn't it was there was no solid foundation there The ones that fell on stone been really last long as well So as we sow into God's kingdom Right remember the moment you you know you're you're speaking to somebody about Jesus Picture this in your mind. You're taking a seed. You're sowing it in their hearts Right. You're sowing it in their hearts You will reap the benefits Right. You will reap what what what whatever's whatever you're doing You're you're sowing into God's kingdom. God will help you to reap out of it right another important point here is The more you sow The more you will reap Right. The more you will sow the more you will reap Right. Uh, yes. So as I just wanted to mention this at Kino's mentioned in chapter 11. Yes. So what we are doing is Uh, we just have You know, uh, this is a draft. We are still building on the notes So maybe next semester the notes will be completed and so we what we can do is we can you know, uh Send you the copy of that as well. So for now, uh, we're just building on the notes So maybe if you'd like you can probably take notes as well Uh, but maybe by next semester the notes should be, uh, completely updated. Right. So just follow along First one was sowing second one is watering Now watering is what? Uh Is something to do with follow up with caring for people Right. Now picture this right if you And I have shared the gospel with somebody We need to follow up with them Right. A farmer puts the seed into the ground. He doesn't, uh, you know Go to his house and look at that ground and say, okay, when are you going to come when are you going to? No I think the first thing he's going to do he's going to wake up in the morning. He's going to water that whole place He's going to make sure that there's no, you know, pesticides or, uh, there's no, uh, you know Thorns or thistles growing around that side. He's going to water that place Now why is he watering it? Because he knows if he puts the water to that he needs to care for that plant and when you put water to that only then The seed is going to germinate If you don't do it The whole aspect of sowing the seed will go to waste Right and so watering is basically Caring for the plant and so even in ministry And even as we as pastors and leaders Uh, we get opportunities to minister to people remember to Care for your people They are not projects Right people are not projects people Are god's children and we need to care for them Right. Uh, what does he what does he do? He also not only waters, but he goes about after maybe a couple of weeks He would go and he will check whether there are weeds growing in White thorns or thistles and he will the farmer will cut it off Remember the whole example where jesus says i'm the vine and you are the branches right, uh If you see in the vine, uh, the the the You know the weeds grow in between The plants right in between the vine press and it is You know very subtle the way it grows, but if it's not looked at Those weeds get the strength to pull down the whole wine press Right, so it's very important for a wine dresser to go And to make sure those weeds are cut off when they are small itself Right, otherwise it's going to be a problem right, so Basically watering is to look after right To look after what you have sown It is your seed You have sown it look after it right, uh The word water is synonymous to even the word of god Hebrews 412 talks about the power of god's word. He says what of god is powerful sharper than a double-edged sword Penetrates every bone marrow It touches our heart Acts chapter 20 and verse 32 talks about You know how the word of god is able to build us up. It gives us an inheritance So when we are watering the seeds that are sown, we are looking after it right now Imagine a farmer He sown the seed But he's too lazy to go and water the plant. What are those seeds? He says, okay, I'll do it tomorrow or I'll do it after two days I'll do it after a week And then maybe after a week he goes and waters it. What's going to happen? Said hey, no, no, no, you should put water the next day uh, because of his laziness or because of his You know, the maybe his busyness whatever it is He missed out on the seed that could have been sown and a harvest that could have been reaped And so watering is very important Now let's put it into context. Now for example, we've Shared the gospel with somebody right What we can do Is send them a bible verse And send them a message saying hey, uh, I spoke to you about this. What do you feel? How did you were you able to understand it? Is there some questions that you have you're just following up And then the water of the word of god What does it do it purifies it nourishes it strengthens Right, so remember Oh, you know, even as you are in the church Or you know, maybe ministering to somebody a friend of yours remember to water the seed that you have sown Right third one is reaping The word reaping simply means to cut and to gather the harvest Right, so the farmer has sown the seed He's done his part of watering it looking after it cutting away the weeds Now comes the time of reaping the harvest Right, it basically means to gather the harvest together To get returns or to get profits Right, and so here it goes. What you sow Is what you reap Let's look at this example of Joseph in the bible Joseph was a good young boy This his brothers were so jealous of him and we know the story they threw Joseph into a sold him on to slavery and Everything went wrong in Joseph's life, but here's what he did He said I will never dishonor the name of god Right, and even when You know That woman made advances on him Pharaoh's wife It didn't really, you know, he decided, you know, how can I go against my god? Right The seeds in his life that was sown were Good seeds on good ground Now picture this. What if Joseph had Bitterness in his heart imagine he's in prison there He says I didn't do anything wrong. God. Why is this happening to me? Why firstly you said I'm going to be a great person and now I'm sold as a slave. I'm in Egypt They put me in prison and now I've been Accused of some wrong thing that I haven't even done Why is all these things happening to me? There's no account of that Joseph was only only had good seed in his heart for God. He said no I know that God is in control. I know that God will take me out of this trouble trouble time. Was it difficult for him? Yes But he knew That the seed of God or you know that what he knows about God the father He knew that God will never leave him. He knew that God will always be there for him Right, and that's why he says to the woman. He says he runs off. He said, how can I go against my God? Right, even in the way works that he did once he became second in command He did it out of great reverence for God And so God blessed him and so later on in his life. We see that what was sown in his life He reaped the harvest of that What the brothers sowed in their lives Thankfully, you know Thankfully, you know, even though they went through a difficult time, but because of Joseph Those people were saved I love what he says what you meant for evil God turned it for good So even as we sow even as we water the reaping is for you and me Now we may say, okay, I've shared the gospel with many people many of them have accepted the Lord many haven't Where is my reaping? I don't see any reaping. I'm just You know, just things are going just the same as it is Now listen the reaping Is not something always that is natural Right. Now remember what Paul writes to the Corinthians and to the Colossians. He says you are my crown in heaven The people you are my crown Right. So yes, we will reap also in the natural but our true reward will be in heaven Where we will see these people and meaning God will acknowledge us and honor us For the works that we have done and that is the greatest joy right receiving honor from our Lord Jesus Christ himself And then the fourth one very important consolidation What is consolidation? Consolidation is basically process of making something stronger and more solid Right. Uh, so if we worked in it companies or in your workplaces, you have teams Right. And you consolidate your team. You make your strong team Right. Uh, you you tell your team. Hey, you know what this this uh, financial year We need to work hard. We need to come up with new ideas. We need to hit our targets And you work towards getting a stronger team And then you can look even for your personal life, you know You make we can make resolutions in january. Usually all of us do that. You know, we make resolutions. Okay, god I'm going to finish the old testament. I'm going to study the new testament I'm going to study eschatology and this and that Right. So that's good. But Consolidating what we have done is very important Ministry as well. We need to make our teams make teams make strong teams Only then we will be able to continue the work which god has given us Right. I want to put for two examples before we close on consolidating the first example Is An example which went wrong a bad example of consolidating The second example is a it's a wonderful a powerful example of good consolidating Right. Okay, the first one the early 1900s The azusa street revival Happened in england Right. It was a young man named william j seymour a young man He had about 15 people in his church And then revival broke out In england, right So what was started with about 15 20 people suddenly in a few months became 500 thousand 3000 5000 10 000 and at one point of time This small church, uh, this this church was led by william j seymour It was in the corner of a street. The name of the street was uh, azusa street Right. And it was the the church was in a burnt out building Which had a ground floor and on top there was a church office at the early 1900s It could house only about maybe about 300 to 400 people but now revival has broken out and Every day they had about 15 000 people coming in and going out into that place a small street corner in england so He did a wonderful thing william j seymour many lives were touched many people were healed Deliverance and all wonderful things Right. He also formed a team of leaders Right. But here's what happened Even though he formed the team he did not make that team strong He did not consolidate. He didn't uh, you know lead the team members in the right way Right. And what happened? It was a big ministry now all of a sudden 15 000 odd people So he was not able to raise up good leaders who could continue the work So the the leadership team there was divisions among them Misunderstandings among them financial misunderstandings position misunderstandings Some wanted to be a leader here. Some wanted to be a leader there And so what happened was what started off so powerfully In this side the work the ministry is so powerful many lives being touched transformed on this side The administration side He could not Really build a good team The sad thing is After a couple of I think it was a year or so the whole thing died off Picture this the the ministry teams they had Disagreements arguments and everyone went their own ways People saw that said oh, there's division in the pastoral team or the ministry teams So people slowly started stopped coming And by the end of this whole thing in four years what had 15 000 people William J. Seymour continued to pastor that same church Before he died the church had 12 people sitting inside What a sad story that was Right, but were lives touched? Yes Entire England people came from different cities and states Came there to be part of this revival But the consolidation The process of making the team stronger did not happen And so it just went down But he is still known as one of the greatest revivalists to have ever lived Because he did a wonderful work Only if he had consolidated Had maybe Greater teams bigger teams taught them, you know on leadership and all of this Maybe the the revival could have stayed for a longer time and touched many many more lives right that was A bad example of how we of consolidation. Let's look at a good example The early 1990s The Toronto revival happened Right in Canada in Toronto And this young couple John and Kallar bought In Canada they started a small church again just maybe about 20 30 people And then all of a sudden a move of God Hundreds of people started coming thousands of people many being touched many being healed many being delivered But here's what he did Right this couple they're a pastor couple What they did was they said okay now it looks like the church is growing exponentially We need to form good strong teams And so they chose good leaders They equip those leaders They had certain roles and responsibilities given to each of them and he had people come in on staff Paid staff in the church And many many volunteers many good leaders and what he did was When he saw that they were about 500 to 1000 people he knew that there's going to be an exponential growth. So he Consolidated what he had Right, so he formed many many ministry teams and he would meet with these leaders He would direct them encourage them strengthen them And what this revival did it went on for more than 10 years Right and in this revival new ministries were birth Heidi Baker's ministry was blessed by the Toronto revival And then Nikki Gumbel's alpha course Was founded through the Toronto revival And so the Toronto revival went on to bless many ministries It came a time that you know in Toronto all the churches Every denomination the churches were packed In the early 1900s Even though there was a lot of you know Work of the enemy happening, but the revival touched many many many lives Churches were blessed new ministries were formed And it went on for many years What what do we learn from that? These two John and Carol Abbott They were able to consolidate form teams And and you know continue the work of God In the right way So even you and I we may be in ministry or we just may be ministering to Few of them few of us friends or workplace colleagues Consolidate what you have Strengthen what you have It may be something that you yourself and your personal life Reading of the word ministering Prayer worship whatever it is Consolidate don't be satisfied strengthen What God has blessed you with And use it for God's kingdom Amen Amen Right, uh, so we've come to the end any questions any thoughts That any of you have Any questions any thoughts Right I know that the notes as of now, uh, you will see in the couple of chapters as well that notes, uh, you know, they're just pointers So we're going to build on that right so So don't be alarmed with no notes in that so Right any questions any thoughts or we can close in prayer Yes, Nicholson go ahead Hi pastor Paul. So I just wanted to know now practical aspects when in When the watering you're talking about the watering of people's seed is I think watering is where Personally, I feel that's a lot of people struggle as well to follow up on things But now you know the current situation in karnataka where it is getting harder to even preach the gospel or even have a church open so I like I mean the good things I like about I would say apc is your new media and other things but how practically In the rural situation where we are we can't really do much So how do we apply this here and this current situation? How do you water the people? Yeah? Yeah, that's a wonderful question. Good question. Nicholson. Yes. So firstly In the administration side, I think what is very important is especially, you know, what's happening in india where persecution and all of that is have your You know your documents, right? That's the like the basic thing right first thing Have your documents your church documents have it ready have it With with you and have it ready now the reason i'm saying this is because um Somewhere in the outskirts of mangalore here one of the churches or a prayer center was attacked and you know, they said, you know You're like converting the first thing they asked is where is your license? This pastor didn't have a license He just thought okay. We're just doing a church and you know, it's okay. We will do it later on It was a prayer center and so he didn't have a license So what happened? He got into trouble and then the believers Didn't know what to do And they were like, okay, what do we do now? And so it was a small mistake So i'm going to get to the your answer. Nicholson, but the reason i'm saying this is because You have even as you're pastoring in rural settings Uh, there will be no you said that, you know, there's there's no media not much of media Follow-up is going to be a challenge, right? But here's one thing you can you and i can do ministry in freedom All right, there's freedom to minister to people right now Say, you know, you you shared the gospel with somebody Now one thing that we must realize is that persecution will always happen to us as christians Uh, but one of the best ways Is to have yourself right before man and before god And then you you know, we we reach out we minister Uh, the watering the best way to do is you know, even now especially during the season COVID and you know persecution times One of the ways we can really minister to people which helped me during the whole time of uh you know Now this whole season of COVID was uh, I personally called up families Right, uh, because we can't really you know a lot of our church folks don't know how to log into zoom and they're not They're all older couples and and some of them come from rural settings. So they don't know about zoom So personally calling here's the thing. That's that's where it's going to be difficult, right? There's a lot of time. There's a lot of effort Uh, we need a lot of patience To go about doing this, right? So I would say personally calling them talking to them encouraging them Hey, we you know, there is persecution happening. You know, uh, this is what I did, you know, when the whole Thing came on the news and a lot of our church folks didn't come on sunday So I called them and I told them I asked them what happened. Why didn't you come on sunday? They said no, there's you know churches are being attacked. I said that's all right We have all our documents. We have everything right with us And so there was a sense of freedom in their hearts as well And then I was able to you know, just a practical ministering of you know, uh, giving them the word Or just praying for them over the phone Uh, that that was that is the most that we can do so Nicholson the In rural settings. I think this would be the best thing, you know, just calling them talking to them Uh as you know But what I would say is don't be afraid also of uh, you know Persecutions and all of it. You just continue if you have planned any events and programs within the church go ahead Maybe, you know, you expect 50 people to come and only 10 people come. It's all right But what will happen is slowly the church members will notice. Hey, 10 of them are coming So when we should go we shouldn't be afraid and and so that way you're you know, you're building up the church The moment we say, okay Persecution so even we will stop for some time Then, you know, it may have a bad effect on the church or not a bad effect the church may think, okay Hey, even the pastors feel that we should not have church now. So you know that kind of feeling so I feel that go ahead with every event that you have planned, you know worship evening or bible studies, whatever Uh, even if it's few people go ahead with it And continue that watering and I'm sure that whole thing will touch other people. They will come And I hope it's answered your question Nicholson. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes Yes, Divya, I think you've raised your hand too Yes I think Divya this sound that's happening behind you want to Share something. Oh, yeah Yeah, it's not from my side. Yeah, I'm just asking the question. Go ahead. Go ahead So, um My question is like in terms of consolidation So, what does it mean for you know, personal life? like, you know personally as we're telling to Consolidate the things that you're In a practical way Yes, yeah, that's a good question I'll just share what What I I I meant by consolidating like for example, see I finished my bible college in 2013 right 13 I finished about so I have done all these courses that we are teaching now, but consolidation is basically Strengthening what you have already have right? So so what I do is I go back to my notes I still use the notes that I studied back in 2012 Right. I still use those notes. I still make notes. I I build on what I've learned Right. So for example, you know, I used to when I was in bible college. I started I I did eschatology I didn't understand anything Right, and I realized oh man. I need to do so much more. I need to strengthen my My whole thing, you know, I need to learn so much. There's so much more So I went back and I would read and you know, look at Commentaries look at this look at that. So basically what I was doing what I'm doing is I'm strengthening My own spiritual walk with God Right. So anything we do, uh, so it could be Maybe you're reading the word of God Right. Uh Here's what one of the things I do I I take an episode and I spend at least a month on one episode Right. So right now I was doing romans Spending a month only in romans Have I read romans? Yes Do I know verses? Yes Can I can we preach about uh, can we preach sermons? Yes, but what I'm doing is I'm strengthening my understanding My strengthening my, you know belief system. I'm strengthening the whole Uh, it's not so that I can preach more sermons, but it's just that I'm building myself up I'm strengthening myself in the Lord So personally I believe that, you know, just spending that extra time with God Is consolidating what you have, right? It'll give you the strength to be a good minister In the kingdom of God, right? Remember we spoke about this Divya that, you know, uh, our Uh public life our public ministry is an outflow of our personal life So our personal life our personal walk with God will reflect our public ministry So strengthen what we have never come to a place where we feel that okay. This is it Uh, you know strengthen in whichever way we can if we are in the pastoral section If we are in the ministry, there's a lot of things that we have to strengthen But if you're somebody who, uh, you know working professional and you know, just serving in the church Many things in our personal life. We can definitely, uh, you know Strengthen each one of us, you know, we as pastors also we don't say, okay We know everything we go back to the word we learn we read it every day We strengthen what we have so So yes, Divya, I hope that answers your question too Thank you. Thank you All right. Thank you so much. Uh, I know it's past that time. Have a great week ahead We will catch up next week. God bless you all. Good. Bless Bye