 Good morning everyone. Welcome to spring 2023. Hope you had a blessed holiday season, wishing each one of you a blessed new year as well. So this semester we'll be talking about Marketplace Ministry and the book that we'll be covering is the Timeless Principles for the Workplace which is Pastor Ashish's publication, Timeless Principles for the Workplace. So I've posted the notes on the stream so feel free to download them and even as we track along you can probably have the notes open so that you can make your personal notes as well. Right so before we begin let's just start this semester with a word of prayer. Let's just surrender this entire semester. Let's pray and ask God for wisdom even as we learn together that the Lord will truly minister to us throughout the course of this entire subject. Right so can anyone of us please pray? Jafina can you pray please? Jhe heavenly Father we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this beautiful day and for the new beginning in our lives Jesus as we are starting this new semester with you as we are starting this new subject with you. God we pray that you'll be the alpha and the omega guiding us throughout this semester being with us giving us all the knowledge and wisdom that we know so that we can understand who you are we can understand a little more about you we can get a little more closer to each and every day and we can do some great things for your kingdom down here on this earth I bless each and every one of our students I bless our faculties be with them and guide them give us all that we need good life connections our health our mental health I give everything into your hands Jesus I pray that this semester will be a blessing to us and this will help us to identify ourselves more in you equip ourselves more in you so that we can be besides him. Amen thank you Jafina so welcome once again everyone let's just begin today's course so this semester the classes are spread out in at two different hours so we have Monday first hour and Wednesday the third hour right so so we can see how it goes right so if you have downloaded your notes you can have them open as well so we look at this book the timeless principles for the workplace now this this book has a lot of material in terms of the workplace but I know that some of us are still in college or some of them are still yet to enter the professional you know the workplace area but these are principles that each one of us can apply in not only our professional life but also in our personal lives our family lives and we'll be talking about different aspects of you know the whole aspect of having principles right and when we look at the bible when we look at scriptures when we look at the men and women that God has used in the bible and even after that in the early church they were men and women who had certain principles and we as believers and God has called us for a purpose we must have certain principles and we must stand by them right so let's go to the first chapter personal vision and purpose right so here are just a few principles that we can start off with to remember first one you and I were made for a purpose and we need to discover it we need to live it right so Ephesians 2 10 says God has made us what we are and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds which he has already prepared for us to do so wonderful God has designed us created us created us for a purpose now here's something important I'm sure you each one of us would have heard this over the over the years there is a general purpose right that God has created us for right and that general purpose is to glorify God to know him personally to walk in his you know in his principles to walk in obedience to the word of God to worship God that is a general purpose that each and every human being has but there are specific purposes that God gives to each individual right some are called to be engineers some are called to be doctors some are called to be pastors some are called to be and in the government in music in all different kinds of spheres of influence but these specific purposes of God include what we become professionally which means are when we say you know many at times we say full-time ministry I'm not in full-time ministry actually there is no full-time ministry and and part-time ministry if God has called you to be a doctor it is God's calling on your life so it is a ministry because you're doing it unto the Lord right so it's no more part-time or full-time so our work life does not separate from what God wants us to do you know God's specific purpose for our lives both are together right so even when if we begin and beginning our professional careers and and it's it could be something that is not related to the Bible at all but we must understand that we must walk in the principles of what the Bible teaches us so each step we take we live out with a divine purpose right so some of us may just be teachers or some of us could be you know Monday to Friday just working in a corporate job nine to five and we may feel oh God you know I wish I was in full-time ministry but I want to bring this you know very important point God has called you to be in the corporate sector that is your call that is your ministry right and and if we know the why the what and the how then everything else will follow meaning when we know that okay I am whatever I'm doing I'm doing it unto the Lord when we know that there's a great sense of purpose right and and we know how to get there right so our foundation is really what matters right so whether in the corporate whether in ministry like what I will do throughout this course is try and bring in some examples from the corporate world and also in terms of ministry I mean interrelate them to see how God is interested in everyone not just okay oh because he's a pastor so God is more interested in him or because he's leading a ministry no God's purpose for us whatever he has for us he is interested in that purpose for our lives right let's read Matthew chapter seven was 24 through 26 yes any one of us can read that Matthew chapter seven 24 to 26 it's on your notes Matthew four seven sorry 24 to 26 let's go ahead Matthew chapter seven verse 24 to 27 therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall thank you thank you Rosalind so now Jesus is talking here and he is teaching his disciples he's he's talking to them about the importance of foundation right they say okay if anyone has to build a house the foundation needs to be right right now if you look at these huge apartment complexes or these tall buildings the higher you want the apartment or the building the deeper you need to go in right the foundation needs to be really down right so if you want to go 20 floors you got to go at least 20 to 30 feet down right if you want to go 30 40 floors you just got to go deeper so the higher the the building the deeper the foundation must be and here Jesus is bringing this very practical example but a powerful example and basically what Jesus is saying is what you build on which is our foundation matters right now just like in the natural if you're building a 20 floor building you can't have a five feet foundation if you build on that what's going to happen over time you'll find cracks on the wall over time it's just going to crumble down it's not going to last for long right right but the same way in spiritually yours you and I our spiritual foundation is very important right we must you know in terms of in terms of our spiritual life make sure our foundation is strong right now good foundations are important both for ministry and for professional life take time to lay the foundation right and I always give this example like an architect he's going to draw you know a beautiful house say okay this is where your bedrooms are this is where your hall room is the living room and the dining area this is going to be a balcony it looks beautiful right the outcome looks beautiful right the architect draws it and but then when the foundation is starting nobody is going to come and say oh such a beautiful foundation it looks so nice no there's nothing beautiful about it right it's just sand and rubble which are taking out of the ground but that is so important to make that beautiful structure you know to stand there now we as believers must take time and effort to have a good foundation both professionally and spiritually no I remember when I completed my studies I wanted to work for a while and I wanted to you know before I could finish my degree I wanted to work so I joined a company and when I joined there it was you know there was a couple of hours there would be calls and the other you know half of the next four hours would be just working on you know back-end related work now I knew that if I have to you know if it was calling customers talking to customers and these are high-end customers customers who are you know very well off right so I knew that if I had to get to speak to these high-end corporate companies you know leaders I cannot do with average English I need to be with you know my rapport the way I speak the way I communicate with them should be spot on so I used to you know practice my calls right so I would close the room and I would practice the call right good evening we're calling from here and practice the whole call flow do that every single day for at least two hours right now there's nothing spiritual about it but I would do that what happened was when I went on to you know take calls I began to notice that hey you know I'm able to communicate I'm able to talk to I'm able to understand their accent these were American clients I was able to understand their accent I was able to understand their jargons I also began to read a lot of American language books started to listen to a lot of you know English what do you call those teaching sessions in American English so I did all of that and I remember over time six months into the you know after I joined the job six months I got a promotion they said you become a senior you know the executive now was this important yes because I knew that this is what I'm going to be doing I'm going to be talking to people now the same thing in ministry right it could be you know preaching and teaching or reading the word of God preparing sermons this is what we have to do right take time and effort to lay a good foundation the problem is sometimes right now when we look around people immediately want the stage or they immediately want to be in the front line and that's usually not how God works right he helps us to transition in life and as we move from face to face from season to season remember each season requires a foundation right now these foundations can also mean setting up good standards for yourself right so the moment I you know I got into the ministry I knew that I knew some things I said certain standards okay this is what I will do this is what I will do these things I will not do I'm not going to talk about other ministries I'm not going to gossip I'm not going to just because others may say things I mean I will not do it I set certain standards what am I doing I'm building a good foundation so over time maybe five years into ministry people may say things or people may ridicule but it's not going to affect you because your foundations are strong right do the important work first and then plan for comforts right basically meaning don't be too hungry for success or money success and money comes from the Lord and it will come in the right way at the right time success or that is hard work earn success is so tasteful to the mouth than success earned by wrong methods or wrong motives right so each one of us let us lay a good foundation maybe some of us may feel hey my foundation is not too strong it's all right go back go back build on that foundation right and regardless of which area of work you may be teachers working professional engineers doctors set good foundations set good principles in the beginning of your career right now it's never too late to go back and you know restart it's never too late and when we do these things you know have time management problem solving decision making financial understanding finances like planning organizing organization and reading all these are very important right gain knowledge and develop skills right so if it is something to do with if you want to be a for example a teacher you've got to do your course you've got to do you know extra research extra studies you know reading more books and a lot of research or if you want to be somebody who joins the government sector so you've got to do what is involved there right uh understanding what is the government what what what is happening there and and we must develop habits right to you know that can align us into what God wants us to do and some of the important things is time management of course we'll even as we go over the course we'll learn this a little more detail as well time management I don't have time I'm working I have a family I'm not able to manage I can we talk about that as well feel free to stop me if you have any questions or anywhere in between that otherwise I just keep going on right your personal priorities are foundational let's read mark chapter 12 and verse 30 which is on your notes mark 12 and verse 30 yes any one of us can read mark chapter 12 and verse 30 mark chapter 12 was 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength this is the first commandment thank you bill now this is a commandment which the Lord Jesus is giving love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your mind with all your soul with all your strength right now in addition to laying a good foundation what is very very very important is personal character our values and attitudes that we carry very important right because we may have a lot of skill a lot of talents and God may have given us these wonderful opportunities right and in God because of our skills and talents we're growing up we're going up the ladder but remember we can go up the ladder and if our character is bad we're just going to fall down right and you look at many organizations many leaders who have gone really high up maybe the highest rank in their respective fields but because of personal character because of no values or attitudes they have just fallen down knowing and establishing your personal priorities are very important right loving God worshipping him serving him must be priority in our lives and out of that comes an outflow of everything that we do right if family is important then you have to give opportunity you have to give importance to your family as well right so as as believers we must understand that God has given us both work and family and these there's there should be a balance between both of them right build your character have certain values have certain attitudes that you know when you grow in your ministry or grow in your work that you will stand on those principles right so be clear of non-negotiables right and we'll talk about that Luke 9.62 says but Jesus said to them no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God so what are these non-negotiables they're in the corporate sector there is plenty of non-negotiables right we can sell out for the sake of money professional benefits you know there can be integrity problems honesty problems there could be people who are money laundering bribing all these things are there now you and I can be clear of certain things certain non-negotiables this is no matter so for example if somebody says hey can we bribe this person so that they can you know give us the papers and just sign off for us and then we can continue to do our work you know it's a non-negotiable I remember this one person or maybe almost a year back he was he's in he works in this real estate you know in our nation of India now now to get certain documents signed off by ministers and all of that there has to be a bribe paid but this man was a good man he's a good man he didn't want to pay a bribe and he wanted to do it clearly so he said to me see if I wait for the signatures it's going to take me one year or two years but if I bribe it'll take me a month and within a month I can start the construction work so he asked me what should I do so I said yeah this is what I said to him I said if you start off by paying bribe what is the foundation you're building your you know the structure on the foundation is that you've got all this paperwork through bribery right now is it going to be a blessing or is it going to be a curse he said yeah of course it's not going to be a blessing because I've done it the wrong way so I said you pray ask God to you know open the right doors and you ask God to give you tell God that you will not do this these are some non-negotiables and hold fast to that now I remember this person he it took him about three months but without paying a bribe he got his so if we stand on certain be clear on certain non-negotiables whether the situation is a small situation or a big situation this is where you have to draw your strength from the foundations that you have set up in your life right there's no pressure right look at look at the example of Daniel what a powerful example he was about 17 years old he comes into a Jew came into Babylon looking after things in the temple king's temple he served three kings and during the third empire the Persian king Darius was falsely accused and they were going to throw him into the lion's den the bible says that he went he opened the windows towards Jerusalem and he prayed as usual why because his foundations were strong he was probably about 17 years old when he came into Babylon from that time onwards every day three times in a day he would open the windows look towards Jerusalem and pray there was no negotiables on that so even when he knew that he was going to be thrown into the lion's den it didn't change why because he drew his strength from the foundations that he set probably Daniel thought to himself all right now I'm going to Babylon there's going to be all kinds of things happening there there's all kinds of adultery idolatry happening there but I will set my life right in the eyes of God there are certain things I will not do I will not bow down before any other God principles foundations that were set many many years back and so when the big situation came when the problem came all Daniel had to do was look back okay this is the foundation these are the principles I stand by so there's no negotiate negotiations on this and you and I will come will face challenges those challenges can be big they can be small but remember to draw from your foundation draw from your foundation draw from what you have set up in your early days right develop a life plan review it continuously now Proverbs 21 verse 5 carefully planning careful planning puts you ahead in the long run hurry and scurry puts you further behind right now if God has you know once we become believers we understand that God has a call or a purpose for our lives right now the moment we know that you and I can begin to develop a life plan now this life plan can be a high level plan it can be a short term plan it can be one year it can be five years it can be a 10 year plan and you can plan you can prayerfully plan as to what you want to do right and how you want to get there right now over that 10 years right continue to review your plan look at it right so I remember I wrote a you know a life plan when I was 25 years old I said 25 years old I wrote a 10 year life plan so I wrote I'm just going I'm just giving you this example so maybe you can you know translate it to anything that you would like to right so I was already working in the corporate sector but I wanted to do something in ministry I knew that God had called me so I began to write down right write down meaning I put it on a word document I said okay 10 years 25 to 35 what do I want to do so I said okay before you know just just practical thing prayerfully I wrote down I said okay maybe in two years I want to join a Bible college I want to study the word of God then after Bible college I want to get married after getting married I want to serve the Lord I want to join in any ministry and work right so I want to or I want to work and you know do the ministry together right and by 30 I should be married with at least one kid by 35 I must establish myself in ministry I should be preaching and teaching God's word so I wrote that when I was 25 right and of course I it was more elaborate it was not just pointers and then how am I going to do that right if I have to quit my job and join a Bible college I should have enough savings I must have enough money to for for two years for the fees for my expenses for the two years if I'm staying in a hostel or if I if I you know I need money to travel up and down and then so everything had to be planned right I couldn't just leave and after the Bible college how do I start off where do I go and so I began to write down everything right and wonderfully God began to it's not like I wrote it down for God about it but I kept opening it up thinking about it praying about it and you know probably every day I would think about that plan pray about it ask God to open those give me the wisdom to choose the right step on how to do this and over time God just began to you know guide me to the right paths many a times I went the wrong way and I could just sense God saying no don't go this way come back come back take this other term take this way it doesn't look right but this is the way you must go right and and that's beautiful Jeremiah 33 3 is a wonderful verse it says call to me and I will answer you I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things and you could never figure out on your own the message translation again beautiful right you will not have all the details but you will have a sense of direction and this will help you in your life for us right so I want to encourage each one of us right you may be even 40 it's all right or you may be in your 20s right maybe you're just just married you don't know what to do ahead write down right you you don't have to do it for 10 years you can even do it for two years or for five years or for one year right but write down these purposes develop a plan and review it continuously right now while you're doing that three important facets that we must remember right what kind of person God wants you to be that means the person you want to be right obviously if it's if you start now so 10 years from now from 25 to 35 I didn't want to be the same person right because I wanted to grow on the word I wanted to grow in maturity and the way I talk in the way in my skills and grow in my knowledge my understanding of who God is grow and develop as a person right second is the place meaning these could be geographical place or a professional place or where God wants to place you right now I had written I want to work and do the ministry and so I had written that I very clearly remember work in the corporate sector and then Saturday Sunday just serve maybe you know start a light group or or be there at church serve in any area possible so that was that was something I had decided right so position yourself right where where do you want to see yourself so I always looked at myself saying okay one day I will be a leader if not a pastor or a preacher but I will be somebody who can minister the word to others because that's what I wanted to do right and the third one is the purpose right why so the first one is the person second is the position or the place that God wants you to be third one is the purpose what do you want God to release in and through your life so if you want to be a doctor why do you want to be a doctor or even if you want to be a doctor how do you want God to use you through that if you want to be an engineer if you want to be somebody in working in the church in them in the ministry right now God will release people to into our lives as well to further his kingdom on earth right so you need to you and I need to have that passion that zeal right to you know really release the things of God to whichever area of influence God has called us for your life plan is connected to the person that God wants you to be the place he wants you to be positioned and the purpose he wants to release through you right three things no person the place and the purpose so even as you write down maybe your plan to a person okay God I want to be somebody who can grow more intimate and be more close to you hear you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit that's the person I want to be the place God I want to be in a place where I can minister to people every week but I'm just giving an example third the reason is I want to I want to see people being healed of sicknesses and I want to see people giving their lives to Christ that they may be you know they may see that God is real that you are real but yes and God did this so beautifully in the life of Abraham look at Genesis 12 1 2 3 I'll quickly read this now the Lord had said to Abraham get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you I will make you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed let's look at these three the person his name was Abraham which means father but now God is saying hey I'm going to make you a greater person you will be Abraham and you will be the father many nations too I will go to a place right now this place you will inherit I will show you the land this land is going to be a land flowing with milking honey and you your descendants everyone will live in that now here it's a physical place right so not always God wants us to move to a physical place right but for Abraham it was a move three a purpose so Abraham going to say God why can't I be here now focus you will be a blessing and through you all families of the earth will be blessed God called Abraham but he didn't know all the details yet he had to journey and faith right so similarly when you and I make plans make strategies for our life we may not know all the details but we journey along with God like and I can share of plenty of examples where I never thought that this could happen but no along the journey it was God who did it for me right he did the life of apostle Paul he had the great encounter on Damascus he went back blind and when Ananias came and prayed for him his eyes were open and Ananias said God has called you to be a light to the Gentiles and you will stand before kings and leaders giving testimony of the name of the Lord Jesus wonderful to hear the next thing you know they're all trying to catch Paul and because he was a murderer hey you are the one who killed many people right you're the one who killed the Christians and so finally they had to let him go in a basket and he ran for his life but that was important because when he went the foundation of his time in the in the desert happened and that 14 odd years of silence which nobody knew of was a preparation for him right and God brought him did he fulfill everything that God had told him to do yes did he stand before kings and leaders and was he a light to the Gentile yes he was but he had to put the pieces together right so each one of us even as we draw out our plans and purposes remember that sometimes it may not go always the way that we wanted to go but we journey along with God right so just a few things points and we'll close you were made for a purpose discovered it and live it right as you discovered it you live it foundation is what matters what you build on right even if you if you have already started make changes to that foundation set certain principles right free your personal priorities again are foundational right your character values what you stand for your attitudes right all this is very very important be clear of non-negotiables there will be times when when you know you will be put between the fire and the deep sea there will be a time when you may have to make a decision well the wrong decision can make things smooth but the right decision can make things get really bad what are we going to do draw from your foundation that's what Daniel did and finally develop a life plan review it continuously right so even as we close today I just want to encourage each one of us right if you already have a life plan and you're working on it that's wonderful right continue to review it continue to make changes and see how God is working but if you haven't done it I want to encourage you do it do it write it write it down open and like a word though take some time pray ask God God how should I do what should I do right the person the place and the purpose that God wants us to right right any questions any thoughts all right all right so before we close this Wednesday Thursday and Friday is a Christian leaders conference in Bangalore and so we will be there at the conference so we will not have class on Wednesday so of course even the other lecturers will not be available because we all will be at the conference so we will meet next week on Monday and then we continue from chapter two onwards right hope that's okay all right so let's close with the word of prayer or maybe any one of us can please close in prayer the beggar Isaac will be good to hear any of you pray please let's pray Father in heaven we we come before you we thank you for this wonderful new year Lord I also thank Lord for the gift of life you've given us our colleagues our pastor and everybody in our families Father also pray for the little ones or our colleagues who have not been able to join the group let us hope that they are fine and they will join next time I also pray and believe that everything that you you have taught us through the pastor let it be adding and multiplying to your kingdom I do pray in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen amen amen amen thank you so much big thank you everyone so as I mentioned we won't have class on Wednesday I'll meet you next Monday have a great week ahead God bless thank you pastor thank you