 Welcome back after the break. Just before we went for our break, we were looking at Paul writing to the churches at Galatia Ephesus and Corinth and he's talking about how the works, what are the works that will disqualify them from inheriting or experiencing the kingdom of God. So, you know, we can say, some of them have written here, Prabhu says, faith without beads is dead. Yes. And Nina John says, works follow salvation. Works follow salvation. I would say salvation follows works. When you're saved, it shows in our works. Okay. So, Nina John, can you please close that door? Okay. Thank you. Oh, sorry, Nina. Nina John was wondering. Okay. So what is he saying? He's saying, telling believers, I know, you know, you're saved by grace. We can ask the question. Hey, Paul, when you're saved by grace to faith, and where does this works come? You know, how can you say we cannot inherit the kingdom of God? We can't even experience because as believers, we both saved by grace and we are all inherited the kingdom of God. So Paul will say, I know you saved by grace, but I'm telling you, you cannot practice these things. Okay. Because it's not part of kingdom living. And if you practice these things, you know, he's saying, you know, let me tell you that you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay. So Paul is saying, you know, yes, you're not saved by works. So I'm not saying you must do works to be saved or you need to keep the law to be saved. You know, but what I'm saying is, you know, you need to have good works of holy life to show that you are saved. So Paul is saying, you don't need good works to be saved. And I know that you're saved by grace through faith. But what he's saying is you must have good works or you need to live a holy life, a righteous life to show that you are saved, which means salvation and sanctification will go together. That is why immediately after you are saved, you've accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. You know, the Holy Spirit works in you to sanctify you. What does it mean your sanctification to set you apart to cleanse you to wash you to make you like Jesus Christ. So salvation affects sanctification in the life of the individual. So Paul is very clear. He says those who practice these things and he's writing to the church, he said they will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we can say what about the grace of God? Look at what Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 says. What does Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 say? Hebrews chapter 1 verse 28. Okay, he says therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. So Jesus saying this is the kingdom, which means this is the best kingdom is the eternal kingdom. And it's a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And so he's saying let us have grace. Okay, so the literal meaning is let us appropriate or let us receive the grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. So he says because you've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, which is an eternal kingdom, a kingdom that lasts forever. He says, you know, let us have grace, which means let us appropriate the grace that has been given to us. Let us receive the grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Okay, so we've been called here in this kingdom. So let us appropriate that grace. And what will this grace do? Help us to live that godly life, which will lead you into reverence and godly fear, not in the other way. Okay, so what will the grace of God do? Grace of God does not just overlook your sin or cover your sin. The grace of God will lead you into reverence and godly fear and not in the other way. If you're talking about receiving a grace that, you know, liberates us into sinful indulgence or gratifying or gratification of our sinful desires and being casual about sin, then it's not the kind of grace that we are talking about. It's not a grace that comes from God. It's a grace that comes from Satan to be gracious enough to live a sinful life and to sinful indulgences and sinful gratification. It's not the kind of grace that is given to those who are in the kingdom of God. Okay, rather, if you're using the grace of God to indulge into sin and say, hey, we have greater grace. You know, people say that, right? You know, why are you so judgmental about little things I'm doing? You know, God is so gracious, he's merciful and loving. He's forgiving, he forgives me. I say, why are you judging? Say, look at your own life. People have told us that, right? When we point out their sin, he's saying, hey, God is gracious. Why are you being like a judge? He is a loving God. He's a forgiving God. But you know, when you're misusing that grace, you know, that grace is not given to us from the kingdom of God. It does not come from God. It is misunderstanding and it's misrepresentation of the true grace of God. So we are misunderstanding, misusing and misrepresenting the true grace of God. Because the grace of God will move us into a greater level of reverence to God and Godly fear. If you're not moving to a greater level of reverence and Godly fear, then you're not talking about, you know, the grace of God. So what about the grace? It's the grace that helps you to develop kingdom, lifestyle. It's a grace of God that will move you further and deeper into walking the way God wants you and me to walk. It's a grace that leads you to walk worthy of God who has called you into his own kingdom and his glory. 1 Thessalonians 2-12. Can you read that please somebody? 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 12. The grace of God leads us to walk worthy of God who calls us into his own kingdom and glory. Another characteristic of kingdom living is righteousness, peace and joy. Righteousness, peace and joy. Look at Romans chapter 14 verses 16 to 19. Can somebody read that please? So the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Who he who self-cries in these things is acceptable to God and is acceptable to man. Therefore, pursue the things which makes people peace and the same by which one may identify another. Amen. So the kingdom of God is not about biryani and chicken kabab and pasta and pizza and burger and all of those lovely things that we like to eat. But it's about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So he says those who serve Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by man. So he says therefore, let us pursue what makes peace and the things which edify one another. So basically righteousness, peace and joy are things that make for peace and that edify one another. So in Romans chapter 14 Paul is basically addressing the subject of what you should eat and what you should not eat. And in that context Paul makes several things or several statements and then finally he sums it up this way. He says, you know, listen at the end of the day, the kingdom of God is not about what you eat and drink. It's about righteousness, which means right standing with God. It's right living before man. It's peace and joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. And he says, if you pursue these things are accepted by God and you will get the approval of man. So what's the point here? The point is this as a kingdom person, you and I must understand that we are called to pursue the higher things of righteousness, peace and joy. And if need be, we sometimes even sacrifice our own legitimate rights to what we should eat, what we should drink in order to pursue what promotes righteousness, peace and joy. So in this context Paul is basically saying, if I eat something that causes my brother to stumble, I won't eat it. Why? Because for me, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit is more important than what I eat and drink. And he says, that is the kingdom of God. So what is he saying? You know, we may have some legitimate rights, what we can eat, the way we can live, what we can do, what we cannot do. You know, you have some legitimate rights, some things that you have the rights to. But if you're pursuing the kingdom of God, you will pursue what promotes righteousness, peace and joy, so that that will identify people around you and will extend the kingdom of God. So this is how we need to look at and live as kingdom people or kingdom citizens. Now this, just think about this issue, you know, we have a problem mostly with young people. Nowadays we see young people, you know, they just put their arms, you know, boys or even nowadays girls put their arms around guys. You just meet anyone in college or you meet anyone in church or you meet anyone on the street and boys and girls are just hugging each other, you know. So if we tell them, you know, don't do that. That's not like our culture. That's not what when people look at us, especially in the church context, if we do it, you know, what would other believers think? They all always think that we Christians are very free in the way that we live and eat in our lifestyle. You know, so when we tell young people, there's some of them, you know, sorry for being very crude, but they say, hey, I'm not making a pregnant. You know, that's their response. You know, what they're basically saying is, hey, it's harmless, you know. But as a kingdom person, you're going to pursue something that is higher, something that is greater. You're pursuing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, so that you can identify people so that you can promote the kingdom of God. And you're willing to sacrifice these legitimate things of what you can eat, drink, what you think you should be able to do, what you think the world is doing. And young people say, my college is the culture, you know, in my college, everyone does this, you know. But I don't see the point why we need to keep hugging everybody that we go meeting around, you know. Okay, just put your arm around, but why? Sometimes it's not even the way that is done is not right. So, you know, you say, hey, everyone does it, you know, but we are different. We're pursuing the kingdom of God and because you're a kingdom person, you know, you'll do what you have to do to get God's approval and the blessed approval of man because that is the kingdom of God. So kingdom of God is not just getting approval of God, but also of man. So when people look at us, you know, they should not think otherwise, hey, this person is going around hugging everybody. You can see everybody just putting their arms doesn't give a right, you know, thought about you when people look at you because it's not our culture. Okay, so we need to pursue what, you know, gets God's approval and also the approval of man. Okay, that's the kingdom of God. Another characteristic of the kingdom of God is power, authority and dominion. Now we'll talk about this in detail in another chapter, but just like you mentioned here that the kingdom that is in us is a kingdom that is of power and authority and it's a kingdom that supersedes everything that is around us. A kingdom that overpowers everything around us. So the king of the kingdom, he is in us and he has given us the keys of authority and as believers, he has the vested power in each one of us. So wherever we go, the kingdom of God goes with us and wherever we go, we carry his kingdom power and we carry his kingdom authority and we carry his kingdom dominion. Which means the kingdom of God is there. So for example, when you step into an unpleasant, bad or a difficult situation, what do you need to know? The king is there with you in that, in your midst. Okay, the king is there inside you, you know, the kingdom of God is there with you. And you also have the potential and the power to dominate that situation. Okay, you have the potential and the power and the authority to speak against that situation, to speak against those circumstances, you know, and you will not allow the circumstances to rule you and to dictate you. But you will live and allow the kingdom of God that is inside you to come out and administer the authority of the kingdom. And you know, you will, when you do that, you will experience your situation change, you will experience power. You will experience, you know, the authority to dominate the situation, to speak into the situation and you will see your situation change. Okay, so this is, this kingdom is a kingdom of power and authority and dominion. Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 19 and 20. When somebody read that, please, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 19 and 20. I would want to be sure if you know this and I would know. Not the words of those who have perfect power. But you know God is not only the word of the kingdom of God. Yes, so here he says the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Okay, so Paul says when I come among you, I don't want to, I don't want to know about words for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. So what is he saying? He's saying that this kingdom that I'm talking about is not a kingdom of nice words that I can talk about. It's a kingdom that comes with power to destroy the works of the devil, to dominate the works of darkness, to undo sickness and disease. And he says that is the kind of kingdom that I'm talking about. Okay, it's a kingdom that comes with power and just totally removes what darkness is doing. And he says this is the kind of kingdom that I'm talking about. Okay, even when Jesus was among his people, he said, you know, what does he say? You know, if I do things by the spirit of God, you know, if I'm casting out devils, how do I know? How do you know that I'm doing things by the spirit of God? Because when I cast out demons, when I cast out devils, and you know, when I do it by the power of the spirit of God, the kingdom of God has come amongst you or the kingdom of God has come to you. So this kingdom, when it comes, it drives out devils. Okay, when Jesus sent his disciples and he asked them to go and preach saying the kingdom of God is at hand. And what should you do? The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons. Okay, so he says, when you go preaching about the kingdom of God and saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it should show by your power and it should show by your authority. How? It should show by demonstrations of healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead and casting out demons. Okay, so that is the kind of kingdom that we are talking about. And this should be part of our lifestyle that when we go out, we are carrying the kingdom of God with us. Okay, I'll just remind it of a little incident which I, you know, listen to. There's one of the churches that I really admire. It's a very powerful church. And, you know, in this church, the pastor was saying that, you know, another sermons, he was saying that, you know, there was a believer who just came visiting the church. And after church service, he met this pastor of this church. And he said, you know, I want to be part of the team that goes for mall outreach. Okay, so the pastor looked at him very puzzled. He said, I'm sorry, we don't have a mall outreach. So this person said, you know, the people who go to the malls, and I've heard that, you know, they heal the sick. They have, you know, they've spoken words of comfort and encouragement. They spoke in destiny to people's life. And, you know, they have even healed people on wheelchairs and all those things. So I want to be part of that, that ministry. So, you know, the pastor looked at him and smiled. And he said, you know, you know, we don't have a ministry that, you know, isn't shopping malls. But he says that whenever our members go shopping, they just sense the need, they just step in and they just minister, you know. So this discharge is really so powerful that even when they're having conferences, even people at the registration desk, you know, even before people come in and experience the power of God and worship and ministry time, leave alone all of that, they just come to the registration desk and they are ministered to. You know, they receive word of healing or, sorry, word of deliverance or healing or, you know, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, prophecy, just at the registration desk. So he says, when our members go shopping, they just see the need, they step in, they heal, they get people saved, they get people delivered. And, you know, so that is the kind of church that this church is, you know, and they want to see heaven year on earth. That is their whole agenda, that is their whole purpose. Okay. So, you know, likewise, we too, you know, wherever we go, we carry the kingdom of God in us and we need to be aware that the kingdom of God is in us. And wherever we go, the God wants to release his kingdom, power, authority and dominion in and through us. Okay. Amen. Okay. Okay. Another aspect of kingdom lifestyle is endurance and suffering. Okay. So please follow in your books. I think some of you are already going off to sleep. It's Monday morning. I think it's a Sunday blues. Okay. Endurance and suffering. Chai, you didn't get another cup of tea for yourself. Don't worry. Don't be disappointed. It fell down. It's okay. You can go and get another cup of chai later on. Okay. Another aspect of kingdom lifestyle is endurance and suffering. Okay. Now, you know, we've just come to this understanding that, you know, we are all ambassadors of Christ, Jesus Christ, meaning what? Who's an ambassador? Representative. Yeah. A representative. Somebody who represents their country in another country. Okay. So meaning we are told, we are totally from a different country, a totally different culture, a different environment, a different kingdom. We belong to the kingdom. That's not of this world. And we are here in foreign territory, so to speak. Okay. And therefore we will feel pressure. Right. We will be accused. We will face persecution, but we need to endure those things here on. It's part of kingdom living. Okay. Now, sometimes we get this wrong idea that we belong to the kingdom of God and we are the king's kid. Okay. Or the king's son and daughter. K. King's kid. Okay. It's true that we are the king's kid, but we tend to, you know, imply that everything is going to be easy for us. Just like the king, you know, King's kid is, you know, the prince or the princess, everything is very easy. Everything is made available for us. So we think everything is going to be very easy. They've got promise. Everything is going to be easy for his kids. No. Okay. Did he say, you know, everything is going to be easy. No, he said, Hey, you are my kids. Yes. But he didn't say that you're not going to suffer. He didn't say you're not going to go through persecutions. He didn't say you're not going to face any problems or difficulties. And he didn't say that you don't need endurance. Okay. He didn't say that you won't be persecuted. Yes. As a king's kid, you know, we are in foreign territory right now. And we are here on this earth and we need endurance. We need perseverance. We need grace. We need strength to go through some adverse difficult situations. Some circumstances. Sometimes, you know, we create it for ourselves. Sometimes we don't create other people create around us create it for us. And they're like, God, you know, why is this happening? Why am I in this? I didn't do anything. But part of kingdom lifestyle is endurance is willingness to go through suffering is willingness to go through some hard times. That is kingdom lifestyle. Amen. Okay. Okay. Look at one verse in 2nd Thessalonians chapter one versus four and five. Can somebody read that please? Okay. So that we have those of you among the sources of for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manicness, evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are or which you also suffer. Amen. So Paul is saying, you know, he's telling the church at the Thessalonica that, you know, here I've called. Now you're going through some real difficult situations. You're going through some hard times. But he's saying here, I want to let you know this, you know, look at it this way. You know, he's saying, this is an evidence that you've actually been called into the kingdom of God. You know, they might be looking for some kind of help from Paul. But what is Paul saying? Yeah, I want to let you know that this is just an evidence. And even as you're going through all this problem is something that you are called to be part of the kingdom of God. That is what it is. Okay. It's an evidence that you are now part of the kingdom of God. And therefore you are facing all of these problems. So go through it. You know, so that even your faith that is tested like fire is going to come out like gold. Okay. So what happens? Why when God takes us through all these persecutions, difficulties, what happens to our faith? Our faith is not going to become wayward. It's not going to become weary. It's not going to be done, but it's going to become stronger because it's tested by fire. It's going to come out as gold. Okay. So part of kingdom lifestyle is endurance and suffering. Another characteristic of kingdom lifestyle, Sean is forgiveness. Forgiveness is another important aspect of kingdom living. Okay. Now Jesus told many stories and every time he began some stories, how did he begin? A parable and how did he begin the parable? The kingdom of God is like this. Or the kingdom of God is like this. Or the kingdom of heaven is like this. Okay. So he's basically saying that the story reveals something about the kingdom of God. Okay. So let us look at one of the kingdom parables about extending forgiveness in Matthew chapter 18 versus 23 to 35. So can somebody read that piece? Give it to Sean. Let him read. It's almost falling asleep. Okay. Thank you, Sean. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wants to set an account to the servants. And we had bigger to set an account. One was brought to him over 10,000 talents. Then he was not even to fail. There's nothing on my head that he was full with his wife and children and all that he had. And in the payment debate, the servant therefore fell down before and saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave the dead. That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred and a hundred and nine. And he laid hands on him and took him back to the same, pay me what you owe me. So the servant fell down at his feet and paid them the same. Have patience with me and I will pay you all. And he would not. But when he went to prison, he should pay the next one. So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, he was very pleased. And came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master after he had called and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgive you all the debt because you are to give you all that debt because you beg me. Should you not also have had compassion with fellow servants? There is a line of pity on you. And it's the master of all. He delivered him to the torturer until he should pay all that he would have to do to him. So my Heavenly Father also will do to you. Each of you, from his heart, will not forgive this problem which has passed on. Amen. So here we see in this parable, you know, a servant of a master owes him to say 1000 rupees. Okay. So he finds out that he's not paid him back. And he says, get him, sell everything that he has, including his vibrant children, and let him pay back the debt. And what does this servant say? He begged him for mercy and, you know, for grace. And what does this master do? He just forgives him, writes off his debt. So he's very excited, he's very happy, you know, 1000 rupees. Just imagine he's running home to tell his wife. And on the way, he sees somebody running away from him and hiding. And he notices that it's one of the servants who owed him just say 100 or 20 rupees. What does he do? He runs behind him, catches him by the collar, maybe gives him a nice shake and tells him, where is mine? But he haven't paid it back. He says, you know, I'm very poor and you don't have to give me some more. Time he begs and he pleads. But does he forgive him? No, what does he do? Yeah, he puts him into prison. Now the master's servants standing on the road and watching all this tamacha that is happening, all this drama that is happening and they go tell the master, you know. And what does the master do? He's very, very angry and what does he do? He delivers him to be tortured until he should pay all that he had to pay. So what is Jesus basically saying to this parable? Sorry? God has shown you forgiveness, so you forgive others. God has shown you mercy. You show mercy to others. What else? Do to others as you would like them to do to you. Jesus is basically saying that, you know, you're going to be condemned. You're going to be judged. This is how the kingdom of God is. This is the principle of the kingdom. What is the principle of the kingdom? As much as you have been forgiven by God, God expects you to forgive those who offend you. God expects us to extend his mercy and forgiveness to those who have wronged us in the same manner in which he has extended his mercy and grace into our lives. So extended forgiveness should be unconditional and should be freely given and that is kingdom lifestyle. Yes. What standards we use to judge others and forgive others, the same standards will be used against us. Now forgiveness does not alter. Sorry. Can you take the mic? Forgiveness does not alter the thing that has happened. It does not change the thing that has happened, but forgiveness releases us from having any kind of bitterness, anything kind of hatred and anger that we can hold against that person. What has happened has happened. We can't reverse those things that have been said that has been done. There's nothing that you can do to reverse it, but you can do things that there's something that you can do not to hold the bitterness and hatred in your heart against that person and that is forgiveness. Forgiveness, Jesus said, is part of kingdom, living kingdom, culture. Yes, Prince. God forgives us, but we should not continue to do something wrong. So my question is, what if the other people continue to make things wrong again and again? So what are our responses like? What does Jesus say? Forgive 70 times. What does it mean? You can't count the number of times. And what does the word of God say? He says, as far whatever you can do, pursue peace. And it says be patient. Be long suffering. What is long suffering? Long suffering is a person is doing it again and again and again to you, but you are just patient, you are long suffering. It does not mean that you just take every thing that the person is doing. Like suppose somebody is abusing you physically or sexually, you can't just keep on saying, I'll keep forgiving and let the person do it. Or somebody is cheating you. You can't say, hey, process forgive you, continue cheating me. It's not that you do. You take that step. Wherever you need to take action, you take the necessary action. You step out. You protect yourself. You do something. You get help. You go away from that person. Make sure that the person is not continuing to cheat you. Stop all of those things. But what is saying? It's saying forgiveness in your heart. Don't hold anything bitter or anything against that person. And don't repay that person evil thought. As we have told, if they were doing something wrong, there is something we have to forgive, but something we have to take a step and draw those lines and keep them alive. Yes, you have to take the steps and... Even God does the same. Even if we are continuing to not doing something that breaks his heart, even God says, okay, God is enough. I'm going to forgive you, I forgive you, but stay a distance from me. Or as I keep my self away from you, because you all can't stand being continued. Is that the same place to... What is the Bible saying? One minute. What is the Bible saying? Does God keep us away? No. No. Does God keep us away? It grieves his heart. It punches his heart. The Holy Spirit... He stays away from us. He stays away in the sense. He's there in us. He keeps prompting us, but when we don't listen, what does the Word of God say? God gives us into our sin. He allows us to do what we... Because He's given us a free will to choose. But our conscience and the Holy Spirit, the conscience that Paul says in Romans chapter 3, he says chapter 2 is a written law that is in our hearts. For those who want to have the law, Jews have the law, the Gentiles don't have. He says there's a conscience, a written conscience of the law, a written conscience in your heart. He says the written law in your heart and he says that is conscience. So your conscience picks you, but God is not going to keep you away from him. He loves you, but his sin hurts him. It hurts him, yes. So it's like God won't keep us away, but we will be going back to where we are. Yes, the more we go away, the more we are indulging in sin. We open the door to the devil and the devil is all out to steal, kill and destroy us. Yes, he leaves us to our free will each time. But then when we go back, he accepts us and he receives us as a father. The best example of this is the prodigal son. The prodigal son went away, but what did the father do? What did he do? What did the father do? Every time the son went away, what did the father do? He sat, he waited for his son to return. He went only once, but then it doesn't mention, but it implies that he was living a wayward life from a long time. He made a decision where to step out of home. Yes, that was his last resort where he stepped out. But in spite of him being lazy and not going and doing his work and not honoring the father, the father still kept him at home, didn't throw him, still loved him. Even when he said, give me my inheritance, the father tried to stop him and he did not. So the prodigal son is a very, very good parable to understand God's love and the way he works with us. The original sin of God is not that God was in from the Christian, at least it's ego away from God. Because sin is everything that's in God. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it takes a huge gap in our sense of God. Yes, sin takes us away from God. But even you see in the Old Testament, there is a light sin against God, but what was God doing? He was like a mad lover just moving them back. You say, come back to me, come back to me, come back. I will restore you, I will repay back, I will do everything, I will bless you. So it just showed like a lover just going behind his son, like a husband going behind an adulteress wife because they were committing spiritual adultery. So we see how he keeps going behind them, moving them back to himself. Just look at the Old Testament. The Old Testament is just about how God is like a mad, passionate lover just moving back his people to himself. Even when he says, I will punish you, send him to exile, he says, you know, return back to me and I will love you. You know, I will flourish you. You will be like a great nation. I will bless you. That is the God that we have. Does that help, Prince? Another important characteristic is stewardship. Okay. So this gives us another story in Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 to verse 30. Can somebody read that please? So Jude 7 is like a man coming from far and green who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each one according to his own ability and may be they went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents, went and traded with them and made another five talents. Likewise, he who had received two, gave two or four also. He who had received one went and done another one and gave his Lord one. After a long time, a lot of those servants came and sent in a thousand talents. So he who had received five talents gave his Lord five other talents saying, Lord, he delivered me to five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents this time than him. His Lord sent in him. Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over few things. I will make sure you know about many things. And then to the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, deliver me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents this time than him. His Lord sent in him. Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make sure you know about many things. And then to the joy of your Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you could be a hard man reading various books on and gathering various books at a scene. And I will pray and share your talents in the drama. Look, there you have gotten yours. His Lord answered and said to him, you became a lazy servant. You knew I would read where I had not shown. And the other where I have not scattered speech. You ought to have been called in by the bankers that have received back their own interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents for everyone who has more, whoever has more will be given. And he will have abundance. But for him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unpopular servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of weeping. Amen. Thank you. So Jesus is saying, the kingdom of heaven is, you know, like this, you know, the kingdom in the kingdom of heaven, I expect people to be good towards of what I have given. Okay. So it's not important how much he's given us, how many things he's given us. What is important is what you do with what he has given you. It's not important how much you receive five, two or one, but it's important about what you do with what he has given you. Some of you may have little, some of you may have little more, some of you may have a lot, a whole lot more, but he's not going to ask you how much I gave you. He's going to ask you, what did you do with what I have given you? Did you double it? Did you multiply it? Were you a good steward of what I have given you? That means, are you a good steward of the time? You know, I've given you. Are you a good steward of the opportunities that I've given you? Are you a good steward of the contacts, the talents, the abilities, the revelation from his word that he's given you, the opportunities that you are here to learn. There's a whole lot of things that he has given us, but he's expecting us to be a good steward. So God is asking you today, as students in the Bible college, are you a good student of the time and the opportunity that you're using the time and opportunity to study his word? So you're here not to do anything else, but you're here to study his word, study the truths in his word, the revelation, and you've been taught so much. God is saying, are you using your time profitably to study this time to study, to prepare yourself so that I can take you into and launch you into ministry? So how are we using the money that he's given us, the opportunities that he's given us all? For those of you who are online e-learning students, you're a businessman, businesswoman, you're working in a secular field, you know, whoever you are, how are you using the opportunity, style, money, the talents, the contacts, the abilities, and the revelation from God's word that he's given us. And he's saying, now we need to be good stewards, that is part of kingdom, lifestyle. So if you're not using it, then we are accountable to God. Another characteristic of kingdom lifestyle is no partiality. We read in James chapter two, in somebody read that, please, James chapter two verses one to five. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our God deep inside the law of glory with partiality. But if they should come with the idea of assembly like that of whole race in finer times, and there should also come in of whole man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing high clothes, and say to them, you sit here in a good place, and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourself and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren, have God not chosen the four of this world to be rich in faith, and tell to the kingdom which he promised to those who love it? Okay, amen. So here Jesus is saying, in the kingdom of God, we need to treat everybody equally or the same. So whether they are rich, poor, whether they are educated, uneducated, whether they have a high standing in society, or they're just some person, just some ordinary person, regardless of their caste, regardless of their culture, their language, we need to treat everyone equally. Why? We are all children of God. We are all the heirs of His kingdom. Okay. And we do nothing out of partiality, and that is kingdom lifestyle. So let us live like that. You know, let us reach out to the poor, to the rich, those who are educated, uneducated, people of all ages. We need to reach them out for the kingdom of God. Okay. And the word of God says, you know, that we need to give honor to whom honor is due. Okay. The word of God says, we hold in high regard those who, you know, who, sorry, we hold in high regard those who serve the Lord and those who labor in the word. Okay. And those who give spiritual oversight, like we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter five versus 12 and 13. But yet in the way we do things, we should not show partiality or we should not provide potential treatment based on earthly criteria like wealth, like social standing, like even gender differences, you know, giving this in 1 Peter chapter three verse seven, but treat everyone equally and give everyone the honor that is due to them. Okay. We'll stop here. We just have two more points in this chapter and we'll look at it next week. Anyone has any questions? When so fast. Yes. Time flies. Okay. Anyone has any questions? Online students? Anyone has any questions? Anyone has any questions? Okay. There are no questions. Okay. Thank you, Anthony. Thank you. Any questions? Okay. If there are no questions, we'll end class. Thank you everyone for joining class and have a blessed week ahead. God bless you all. Thank you.