 Okay. Good morning. Welcome, everyone. I know this is our third hour, third lecture together. Hope you're not getting bored hearing the same voice for three hours. I don't know. People are still connecting to the class. Okay. Right. So, welcome to BC 205 Keys to Supernatural Ministry class. And good morning, everyone. Let's just begin with Brad. Now, I have started the recording of this class. So, everything here is going to be recorded and the students can listen to it, both in the Google classroom and also in our e-learning portal. Right. So, let's pray. Let's get started. Somebody could lead us in prayer and we'll get started. Anybody, please? Thank you and we'll bless your name. We give you all the praise and we give you all the glory because you're a great God. We thank you for another time. We thank you for another moment to study your word. And we pray, Holy Spirit, that you open our minds and you open our ears to understand and to hear what you want to say to us this morning, this afternoon, this evening. We ask the God that the servant that you have prepared to teach us this day that you are filling God with words from the Toronto Grace. As we hear your word, we hear to life and we hear our God to win souls and we hear our God to supernatural greatness. We thank you that at the end of this class, all glory and honor, we are subscribed onto you alone. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you, Harrison. Thank you. Welcome again everyone to this course on Keys to Supernatural Ministry. I have made the course overview, the course, overview of the course available to us in the class work section. I'm just going to review that. So let me just take a moment to share my screen and we will look at that. Just quickly we'll look at the course overview. So what are we trying to do in this course? What is the journey we're going to make? So this Keys to Supernatural Ministry be, you know, one of the things we do in the Bible college regularly is to take a look at our curriculum and see what needs to be changed, what needs to be upgraded, other areas that we want to, you know, we feel that we're not addressing. The whole goal is to equip people for ministry and other areas that we need to address. And so I think maybe two, maybe three years ago, just recently we introduced this course Keys to Supernatural Ministry. The idea was one is we wanted to place the emphasis on the supernatural as we journey through the three years of learning. But we also wanted something that will bring together different things that we are learning and show us how to put them together in order to manifest supernatural ministry. So, you know, in the first year you would have learned about bread intercession, you would have learned about believers authority, about our identity in Christ, and then you learn about, in second year, as you continue on, you're learning about healing and deliverance, you're learning on the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, you're learning what inner wholeness. And so we are learning on all of these different themes or topics, but then how do we bring them all together in order to see the supernatural being released through us? So we felt that was lacking, you know, as we saw students going through the college, we felt that, yeah, we're giving them all this, but we're not showing them here, how do you bring all this together in your life, in your ministry, in a practical way, as you're ministering to people, whether you're doing it one-on-one or whether you're doing it in a congregational setting or in a small group setting, in how do you bring all this together? So that's why we felt the need to introduce this course, it's only once a week, but the goal is to show us how to bring all these things that we are learning and how to practically use them or apply them in order to see the manifestations of healings and miracles and so on. So it's more of a very practical course, now bringing fruits together and how do you use it in order to minister to people. So we want to emphasize on that aspect as we journey through this course. And just to give you a heads up, you know, next semester, as part of this academic year, next semester, I'll give you changing a curriculum. We're introducing two new courses. One is on an entire course on holiness. That'll happen next, you know, you will be the first batch that will go through that course on holiness. And there's also a new course we're introducing next semester on developing the human spirit. Again, it's a new course and you will be the first batch going through that course next semester. And so, you know, we are constantly introducing something new, but we don't want to lose the content. So the courses that these are replacing, that content is already, you know, is being moved into other courses. So we're not losing overall content. We're just enriching what we're doing. And, you know, we're addressing areas where we feel like, you know, we really need to develop people in these areas. So that's happening this academic year. And, you know, you're going to be the batch, the second year, current second year batch will be the first to experience those courses. Anyway, just to know what we're going to cover in the course, the way we've structured this course is we look at four sections. The first has to do with the possibility. Again, just to awaken our understanding that the supernatural is something that is to be natural in our lives. The possibility now for us to walk in that, expect that, desire that, you know, and that it should just be normal for every believer to manifest science, wondrous miracles, to manifest supernatural. In section two, we're going to talk about the keys. That means there are keys. God has shown us in his word that, look, this is how, you know, you can make the spiritual impact the natural. So where the spiritual impacts the natural, we call it supernatural. But it's just normal of the spiritual impacting the natural. So what are the keys that I can use or I can, you know, exercise to cause the spiritual to affect the natural. And when that happens, supernatural takes place. So we're going to go through those keys. And these would be things that you already are aware of, because, you know, these are truths you have studied or you will be studying in the second year. So these are truths that you are aware of. But then what we need to do is we need to bring it into, okay, how do I use it? How do I make it happen in my life? Right? So that's section two. And then in section three, we want to talk about personal preparation. You know, what can I do personally to be a vessel that God works through supernaturally? Because there are, we see in scripture, there are certain things God tells us to do to position ourselves as vessels. Or if you want to use the word channels, you know, that we can be instruments through which the supernatural manifests. So there are things that we can do. And we should believe God to do that. And lastly, there is the pursuit. That means we are on a journey. The church hasn't reached its full state. So we are all part of the church and we are moving from glory to glory. There are greater levels of glory. There are greater works that we must move into. So how do we keep on in this journey? You know, the journey is not going to be easy. We will face some setbacks. We will experience some hardships or delays and things like that. But we must continue on the journey. And so that section four is just to give us a little you know, a little encouragement to keep on this journey and don't quit just because we don't see things happen immediately. The assessments will be simple. We'll just have three simple assessments as we go along based on things we are learning. You're all aware of the grading scheme. We will give you the notes as we go along. We will write it out and post it on the course classwork section. And we will reference some of our other books that you're familiar with The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Minister of Healing and Deliverance. You know, we will reference some of the content from those books as we go along. All right. So today I want to what I thought was instead of diving straight into the content I want to just ask some basic questions. Two questions I want us to ask. I want us to discuss. The first question is why supernatural ministry? And second is, you know, how do we respond to common objections to supernatural ministry? So let me stop sharing. Let me look at all of you. Okay. All right. So question. So before we kind of dive into this whole content and just start talking about practical things on some, you know, on keys to the supernatural. First question, and this is just open. This is for all of us to discuss, right? You know, why should you and I today, you know, living in 21st century, when people are planning to, you know, go and live on the moon or live on Mars. And, you know, we are doing space excursions, you know, get on the spaceship for 10, 15 minutes and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and whatever, you know. So we are living in this time and age when things are so advanced in technology and science and so many fields. We have all these resources available. We have all this knowledge available to us. And here we are talking about supernatural. I mean, some people think they're crazy. I mean, don't you aren't you aware of the times in which you're living in? Why should we even discuss this? Why should we even, you know, especially the church? You know, I'm not talking just about us as individuals as a church, as a body of believers. Why should we, you know, be equipped in the supernatural? Why the supernatural? I want to just hear, you know, just feel free to share your thoughts. Today is just going to be some discussion. So we orient our minds towards what we are going to be studying. So why the supernatural? What are your thoughts? Samuel, you put your hand up. Hi, Master. So I think the immediate answer that I can think of is from our previous class that we were doing, which is apologia or our defense of our fate and our explanation of our fate, backed up with works. So not just words, not just empty reasoning, but the science wonders and miracles. Because where reasoning stops working is where our science wonders and miracles will do our apology. So that's one thing that I think of. Yeah. So to present the defense of the gospel, not just in word, but also in works, in the power of God, I see other things in the chat. Subhijit says, to my office, God's glory. So people know him for who he is. I see Rose's comment to demonstrate the kingdom of God so that a button to do what human technology cannot do. Only the supernatural intervention of God can do it. Siddhant has shared the power of God is about everything and we need the power to make a change so that, you know, I guess you're saying that God's power is much greater than everything and that will bring about a change. Okay. Felix is sharing the gospel, not only word, but demonstrate the power of God. Yeah. So we not only bring the word, but we also demonstrate. Good. Dinesh, you want to say something? Yes, but old and nice. People believed, not all listen to God preaching, but when God did a miraculous wonders, people believed. In this 21st century also, likewise, we are head of technologies, robots, many medicines. Okay. Likewise, myself, I would consider post operation, post successful. I started ministering, testing, sharing my testimony. And all of a sudden, my second operation during September, God allowed me just for a reason. Later, I know. So God, all the people walked mocked against God. This God, you said God record. You are saying God record cancer. Why did God did it again? Where is God? God. I told God is dust. Everything was good. Likewise, God gave me a chance in the operation to pray while I requested doctors to pray while before performing operation in the operation later. While I was praying, finished praying, Anishinaa doctor came to me, your prayer just comforted me. Likewise, you can pray for my family undergoing stress. I prayed in the family for children, friends, family members, elders. Likewise, I prayed. My Holy Spirit told me to pray for the peace and the financial crisis they were facing. I prayed. Likewise, Jesus does good for everything. Because the second operation would have done for me, God even soul would have given a chance to pray for doctors. They imagine their very well into scientific medical but peace, the urge, thirst for God. So after some time I met the doctor. The doctor said, I can't believe now there is peace and God also financially blessed. Could you help me to tell me more about your God? That way I got a chance to pray on the medical staffs. God was re-utilizing me. So God may, people may walk around but God, our living God, testifies even though it's a second time. But God does for good. Thank you, Dinesh, for sharing that. Even during your second surgery, God used you to influence, to impact the anesthesiologist. The doctor was part of the team and that you were able to minister to them. Thank you for sharing and just speak continued healing, complete recovery for you and the fulfilling of God's plans for your life. And thanks for being part of this Bible College, attending the classes with us and preparing for the future with expectation. Thank you for doing that. So I'm just looking at the comments that have come in here on the chat. So we read Roses, we read Sudans, Felix. Salomi says, do you know God's plan? Do you know what God's plan is? And for him to do his work through us. I wish that the church needs a supernatural. And he says, we call it a multi-plan, be fruitful. So there must be the supernatural because the same spirit that raised Jesus is in us. Agni says, the preaching is not with man's wisdom. That's what's going through two, four demonstrations of spirit and power. Rupa says, bring heaven down to earth. Christ operating in authority through his church. Abraham, the gospel is good news. Healing the sick. Quite the supernatural. Radima shares supernatural display. God's manifestation of power Jesus. God's word coming to life. Agni, Matthew 10, 7, 8. Analysts exercise authority. Well, lots of comments here. One of her says, look, signs, wonders. Yes. Thank you. And, and, and, okay. So, all right. So that's question was. Pastor, can I just add a little bit? Sure, go ahead. Um, first, I just feel like the supernatural, the miracles that happen also reveal the nature of God as much as the power of God is in demonstration. The power of God is in demonstration. Uh, uh, like, you know, because of the nature of God, that he is almighty in his power, but also it reveals his love for the people and his nature of compassion. Because we see the miracles what Jesus was doing. The Bible also says that, um, he was moved with compassion when he saw those people. Like when, when the widow woman's son was dead. And when the, when many of the people, they were sick and they had come to him for, uh, the healing, the demonstration of God's powers there, but it also the supernatural, uh, miracles that took place was revealing his love for them that he was moved with compassion and that he was like, you know, his love was being revealed there. And, and that he, he's also trying to, he's also connecting with the people saying that I'm a God, not just I'm almighty and powerful, but I'm also a God of love. I'm a God of compassion. I am healer. I'm also provided when we see the miracles where he's looking at the people who are hungry, like, you know, and he does the miracle of multiplying the, uh, the bread and the fish. He's, he doesn't send them off hungry, but then he feeds them. And in these miracles, as much as we see the power of God in demonstration, we also see the nature of God, that how he is a God of love and a God of compassion and he really cares for us and he wants to relate with us. So I feel in the supernatural, this, uh, aspect of his nature is also being revealed faster. Right. Thank you. Thank you. So really the, the miracles, the science, the wonders, the works that God does reveals the nature of God, his compassion, his love, and just various aspects of his nature as provider, healer, deliverer, and so on. So the miracles reveal. So we are answering, are we discussing, you know, just as an introduction to this course right now, this first hour, we are discussing two questions. One is the first question, which we are discussing right now is why the supernatural, given the time and the day in which we live, why the supernatural, right? So I'm just looking at all your responses to that. I see, you know, Beth's question there. Why is there this big gap between the theology, what we are, you know, theologically and practically. And I take the answer to that is, you know, Beth is because the Lord is taking the church from where it is to where it should be. Right. So we know, if you look at the history of the church, we know that, you know, the church actually went into a dark time period called the Dark Ages for a thousand years. Basically, there was nothing there. So spiritually, the church was dead, not even the basic truth of salvation by grace. And this was just 500 years ago. So in 500 years, the church has come a long way. It's come from being completely spiritually dead to where it is today. So I think amazing things have happened to 500, the last 500 years. But then we are not where we should be. We are still on that journey. And God is taking us to that place, you know, where the church will manifest even greater measures of power. But we are on that journey. We're in that trajectory, you know, sort of speak. So we are on the right trajectory. We are making the journey, but it is us, this generation, just like Martin Luther did his day, just to bring a simple basic truth. Salvation by grace. Or the next journey through the history of the church and different ones stood up in their day and time to take the church a few levels higher in glory, where it should be, you know, whether it's just the restoration of the truth of sanctification or the restoration of the truth of divine healing. You know, church didn't even know that divine healing was there, but to bring that truth back to the body of Christ, it was there in the Bible. So each generation did their part to take the church to the next level of glory. And today you and I here, 500 years from the time of the Reformation, and God is calling you and me to take the church to several levels higher in glory, which he wants the church to be, you know. So Jesus is coming back for a church that is glory. Yes, meaning full of glory. That's the church is coming back. And you and I have the opportunity to make that journey a little bit more. You know, so, yes, we are here, but we need to go up here. And the way God works is before it happens, always there is truth proclaimed. The truth is proclaimed that this can happen. You know, just like how John the Baptist came saying, the kingdom of heaven is here. So he proclaimed the truth first, then Jesus came and said, come into the kingdom, right? So that's the journey. First truth has to be proclaimed so that people believe it and then people make the journey into it, right? So that's the journey we are making. That's why we do see the truth being proclaimed always higher than the level of the practical experience. It is always that way so that the level of practical experience comes up to the level of truth that's being proclaimed. But God is taking us to become a glorious church. And that's exciting to know and to know that we are here to make that part of our journey happen. Christopher, your question, or you want to comment on that? Yes. This is actually in answer to that question of why supernatural ministry. So I think this is probably a little more of a personal kind of answer. So the short answer really for me is that, you know, there is a supernatural ministry or rather, sorry, there is a supernatural. And, you know, there is good happening there. There's also evil that's happening over there. And it's something that, you know, one has to, you know, be aware of and also, you know, work within the good side of the supernatural. Why I say personal? Because I mean, I'm just looking back at, you know, prior to coming back to, prior to coming to APC church, I was, you know, I was, you know, a Catholic and with my limited knowledge of the Bible, I think my view of the supernatural was really more about, you know, what the evil one was doing in the supernatural and not really sort of focusing on, you know, what I, as a Christian could do in the supernatural or could, you know, be able to, you know, achieve there. And because it was a little more focused on, you know, the evil side of things, I was not really recognizing the fact that, you know, I didn't want to really spend too much time, you know, thinking about supernatural. And so obviously, you know, since coming to the APC church, I have changed my, you know, my total view of, you know, of the supernatural. And because it is there and because there is, you know, there are things that, you know, that are possible to be done in the supernatural, I think it's a great opportunity for, you know, all believers to operate in that realm of, you know, of ministry. All right. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. All right. So, you know, we are discussing. Thank you. So what we're trying to answer is, you know, why should we, as believers, be interested in seeing the manifestation of the supernatural? And we've had a lot of people share their responses on the chat and in the call, you know, that really this is a way for us to reveal God, to manifest God, to manifest his glory, to impact the world. Of course, it also, in the process, our own needs get met, you know, when we're science and technology cannot help us. God steps in, works the supernatural in our lives, in the lives of people we know, and real needs of real people are met. And lives are changed. People are healed. People are delivered. Situations are transformed. And so all those things which cannot be done naturally begins to happen, right? So all of these reasons are out there. Very quickly, I'm not going to explain this, but you have studied, I think you are going through, or you would have gone through this book on ministering, healing and deliverance. And there we kind of, you know, list out several reasons on why, you know, we must minister in the supernatural and just look at that very quickly. You know, they reveal the nature, the reality, nature of God, they reveal God's greatness, they demonstrate God's compassion. They have a powerful effect on people, especially the unbelievers. Then Jesus himself gave importance to miracles because the kingdom comes with power. The gospel has to be preached with accompanying signs and it encourages us to believe for more of the supernatural. I think all these reasons were mentioned there on the chat. I want to, you know, just go into, and the next question that was just for us to discuss, which is, how do we respond to objections to the supernatural, especially from within the church? This is sad, but true, that not everybody in the church community, and I say church community means church at large, are excited about the supernatural. In fact, when they, you know, they hear us talking about things like keys to the supernatural and, you know, that we believe in signs and bundles and so on, they will raise a lot of objections, you know, and a lot of accusations and so on. So how do we respond to, I mean, what could be some of these objections and how do we respond to some of these objections, you know, that come to us from within the church community? Right? So we're not talking about people from outside the church. You know, we're talking about from within the church community, because one of the things that, you know, we are going to learn in this course on the keys to supernatural, I'm going to share with you practical things. Now we are going to learn these practical things, and then as we start doing it, you've got to be prepared that not everybody in the church is going to, you know, come along and pat you in the back and say, hey, that's wonderful. There are going to be some objections you and I are going to face. And so it's better to, you know, just be ready and also be able to give some response in a loving way to these objections. You know, for example, I just throw out some questions or maybe, you know, rather than me doing it. You know, what are some of the objections we may face from the church community towards the supernatural? So you and I are going to learn keys to the supernatural, but we're going to face objections. What can we anticipate? What are some of the objections you may have already faced? And how do we respond to it? Let's just discuss that before we go. Okay, go ahead, Samuel. So from the church community itself, and not even from outside, so I have, so one strong argument that I've encountered is the supernatural, especially supernatural, was during the apostolic times before we didn't have the Bible in place. So there was no Bible, no scriptures. So Peter, all the apostles, when they were establishing the church, they needed divine backup. So as to say, because they didn't have the word of God, otherwise people would not listen to them. They would not have gathered them so that strong movement would not have happened. But now with the coming of the word of God, everything that we do would be from the word of God. And that's all that we need to proclaim or to carry on with the Great Commission. So it's seized in a way, signs, wonders and miracles have seized. And that's why we don't see so many of signs, wonders and miracles. These days as opposed to what has been recorded during the apostate time. So that's a strong argument that I've faced. True, true. This is a very common objection to the supernatural. And we're talking about this coming from within the church itself. So we're not saying, you know, it's not the non-Christian raising this. It's from within the church. And so how do we respond to this when people say, well, we don't need it today, only the apostles needed it. We have the Bible, it's enough. What kind of response do we give? Okay, so Rose says, God is spirit. He's supernatural and he hasn't changed through time. Right. He's the same. He hasn't changed. And that's a valid response. God hasn't changed. I've changed. But the God of the Bible is to the God of today. So there's no indication he lost his power. No indication he lost his nature. He's still the healer. He's still the deliverer. That's very good. What else can we say? How does that hand up? Is it a question or would you want to respond to Samuel? Yeah, I want to respond to the discussion. It is very important for us to know who we are in Christ and know what we're carrying. Because when this objection comes, it is one thing that can throw us off balance. And I can tell that in those moments, it can be very difficult. But when you know the God yourself, it will be very difficult to do from you to drift away even from the calling or from your assignment with God. And this thing is a practical example that I've experienced and it is tough. Because it is very easy for us to discuss about this, but looking at the reality, how do we really deal with it? And one thing I can tell myself right now that I know that I've done is to stay focused, you know, with, by belief, you know, as in the belief that God has called me into this ministry, God has called me into what I am doing. Because the devil, you know, would throw so many things at you, you know, just to like, you know, knock you off balance or maybe just to distract you, just to confuse you, just to take you off track, you know, from where God is taking you to. But it is very important to know the God we serve, you know, we know what we carry in the inside of us and keep the focus and belief that no matter what, you know, we are going through, God is in it. And the only thing I do say is that give everything time, you know, with time, the truth, you know, will prevail. So as we keep the focus, we give it time and everything will come to pass. Thank you, Harrison, for sharing. Thank you. So Abraham, you want to respond to the question? No, I have an objection that came to me personally. So can I share or I should wait after the response before I come in? Okay, maybe you share your question and people can respond to both these objections. Go ahead, share what you have experienced, the objection that you faced. So I think that people believe in technology than the power of God. And I had this experience one day that somebody that I was looking up to and he told me that if somebody is in the city and a person is sick, you take a person to go to the hospital. But those in the villages, because there's no hospitals and other things, we teach them to practice their faith. So I was like, oh, does it mean that when it comes to maybe like teaching people like, oh, maybe when you are sick, exercise your faith, if there's no work, then you go to the hospital. Or maybe miracles is for those in the villages and miracles are not for those in the city. So this is a personal life that I had, a personal encounter that I had with my leader. I couldn't respond, I just kept quiet. So I don't know the answer up to now. So it's like people believe in technology than the power of God. So that is my own experience I had first. So the second objection I think, and I'm trying to rephrase what Abrams said is, especially given the times in which we live, of course we do have medicine. We have hospitals, doctors, technology, et cetera. We're not against using our minds, using the knowledge and the resources God has given to us. But then how do we also expect the supernatural, right? How do we balance the two? Or is it just that, is it like you know, we said, well, you don't need the supernatural because we have the scientific. And I think that we were addressed earlier that there are things that the scientific cannot do and we need the supernatural. But how do we balance it? How do we have this whole these two together, the science and the faith, right? We will, that's perhaps out of that the objection comes and we need to know how to respond to that. So we will talk about that and I think it's in chapter three or four, I forget, science and faith. We will address that in a little greater depth. Yeah, so if you want to share responses to this, how do we respond to the first objection which is, you know, God suddenly stopped doing the supernatural because the Bible came on the scene and the church moved past the apostolic age or the initial years. What can we say? So one is we can say God hasn't changed, times have changed. Second, we can point to the promises in scripture about believers. Jesus said, those who believe will do the works he did. In John 14-12, we know that scripture, those believe he did, you know, we'll do it. So we, yeah, that's good. So from the scriptures we point to this, there is in the scripture that today the Holy Spirit is at work in the church. You know, he's still the same and the Holy Spirit hasn't left the church. The same Holy Spirit was working in the, through the, you know, in Jerusalem, through the church in Jerusalem, still working today through his church. Times have changed, same Holy Spirit is working. The gifts of the Spirit are for today. Nowhere in scripture does it say the gifts of the Spirit have been taken out, you know. So we point to scriptures to indicate that God is still at work today, right? And that he's coming for a glorious church. If God always, you know, if you look at the way God works, he always finishes better than he begins. The beginning is only a start. The ending is much greater. The glory of the latter is always greater than that of the former. So if the church that he's coming back for is a glorious church, it's got to be much more glorious than what we started with in Jerusalem, right? So we're coming for a church that is going to be even more powerful, manifesting even greater miracles. And so we're journeying into that, right? And so the Bible is important. We're not disregarding the Bible, but we're saying the Bible is telling us Holy Spirit is still at work, right? And in response to what Abraham said, you know, we are not against science. We're not against hospitals. We make use of those resources. We thank God for it. But it's not an option that I disregard my faith. Now, you know, when I'm using medicine, I still have faith in God because ultimately healing, my healing will come from God or healing comes from God, right? So whether you're in the city or in the village, we pray, pray the same way. We use the same word. Our faith is in the same God. Now, if you have access to medical care, make use of it. There's nothing wrong with that. But our dependence is on God and on his word. That's the way we approach it. So we don't, you know, we don't say, well, you know, you don't need faith if you're in the city. No, in the city, all the more you need greater faith if you're in the city, because while there is the availability of medicine and all of that, and we can use it, we need to keep our eyes intentionally on God and say, God, ultimately you are my healer, not these things. So it takes, maybe I would say it takes greater faith in the city than in the village, because you really have to take your eyes off of the things and look to God in the city, right? Okay. So today was just, you know, just a little discussion to get us going. But when we come back next week in this course, we're going to get into, like I give the outline, we're going to start off first of all by saying the possibility of the supernatural, why every believer can expect the supernatural in and through their life. So we cover some things on that. Then we get into talking about the keys to the supernatural. What are the things God has given to us that will cause the spiritual to impact the natural in our world and also when we minister to people. So we look at things from both perspectives, how to have the supernatural work in our lives and also when we minister to people. What are those keys? So use it for yourself and then use it for others. Thirdly, we'll talk about personal preparation. What can I do to prepare myself to be a channel or an instrument for the supernatural? And lastly, we'll talk about pursuing God for the supernatural. And I just want to close with this little testimony. I think we have two minutes here. And forgive me if some of you have already heard this testimony, some of you recent weeks. But towards the end of last year, not last year, last semester in April, we had the second wave hit many parts of the world and hit very hard in India. Very abruptly we had to, we wrapped up the college and we had to shift focus to take care of people. There were people within our church community and just all around India. People are affected tremendously, especially the month of May because of the second wave of COVID. And so around that time, actually it was end of April, May, the big question was what should we do as a church in response to this? And the early part of May, on the fifth of May, I felt I should just call for a meeting of pastors in our city, that's Bangalore, and just have an open discussion and know what should pastors, what should the churches do, what should we do to help people in the middle of this second COVID wave. So on May 5th, which was on Wednesday, we called for a pastors meeting. Of course it was online and about 70 people attended that call, pastors and Christian leaders or even leaders of Christian organizations. We attended the call. There was a lot of discussion. People were talking about buying oxygen cylinders or providing oxygen supply for people. A lot of ideas were being thrown around, saying these are things we can do to help people, primarily church people, so on during this time. Now, so the meeting was over. We did not come to any conclusion. We didn't arrive at a decision. So that day, especially that night I was praying, I said, God, we need to do something. So there were two questions. What should we do and how should we do it? So it really kind of kept me awake through the better part of that night, that day, that night, just asking God, what to do, how to do it? What to do, how to do it? I know something has to be done, but what to do, how to do it? And a lot of things are going through my mind because one is, we are working with pastors across many churches. So whatever we do has to be done in a very honorable way. We shouldn't offend any pastor or any church. So that was one big concern in my mind. Secondly, I also knew the challenge. If we are trying to form something in the city, that will take time because I have worked in the city with pastors over the years. And we know that if you're trying to put together a forum or an organization, that will take months to happen. But we need to act really quickly. People are suffering through that moment. So that was another thing going through my mind. And just praying and saying, God, I know if we, that is APC as a church can do it, we can start work right away because we have everything in place. So that would be the best way to go about it. But how do we do it in an honorable way? We don't offend anybody, but that night is praying. And when I woke up that morning, that's the morning of the 6th of May, everything was very clear. It was almost like I had a very clear plan and how to go about doing it. The first thing was to email about eight of the leaders, the main leaders, explain to them, these are the six things we are going to do. And we're going to be asked them for permission for us as a church to execute it on behalf of the body of Christ. That means it's not something we will do in isolation. We will execute the entire thing on behalf of the body of Christ. So I just sent an email to these people and they were very supportive. Everyone came back to us, these are the six things I explained we're going to do. So then I called the church staff. I said, church, we're going to do this, but everybody has to, we have to go into action quickly now. We have to work on these things. So the IT team got together, everybody got together. I also got approved from the trustees and we set aside to start with an Indian currency. It's 50 lakhs, which is five million rupees. We set it aside. We said, we're going to start off with this. And so we got our, you know, web page up everything and we sent out an email. So we got everything ready, the backend system to handle the request or a thing. And we launched within, you know, we got approval on sixth by 12th of maybe a launch within six days over the weekend, people worked. The IT team was working throughout and we launched and we just sent out an invitation saying, you know, if you have a need reach out to us, you will do our best to help you in these six areas. And we had only five million rupees set aside. You know, but I remember sharing with our team. I said, look, this is, we're believing God, that if God multiplied five loaves and two fish, if Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish to take out the people in the Bible, he will multiply this money to meet the needs of his people. You know, now in two weeks, we got over 8,000 requests coming from all over India. You know, people reached out. And then we did the initial calculation. Like, you know, we really needed like about, you know, we call it four crores in India, which is about 40 million rupees almost. You know, it's like eight times what we had. But I remember sharing with the team. I said, you know, God will multiply five loaves to a fish and we're going to reach out. We're going to reach out. We want to send money, but of course we're going to verify the request. You know, we don't want to waste money. You're going to verify everything. And so, you know, so that's how the journey started. And to, you know, we just closed the project on the 28th of July. We processed the request, verified it, and to just show you, you know, we started the five million. We gave away 37.7 million or 3.77 crores in Indian rupees, 37.7 million rupees. We gave away in the last two and a half months to all these people. And it was just amazing. Some money, but this money just kept coming. And we were just a conduit to give to people, right? But what I want to highlight is, for us personally, this is a miracle. Because at one point it was very scary. It was scary because we had 8,000 requests. How are we going to process it? And if you do the calculation, you know, I just did a, like a 30%, even if 30% of these are genuine requests and we send money, it's going to mean 40 million rupees. We only have 5 million. How are we going to do this? But when you look back at the end of the two and a half months, you know, 37.7 million or 3.77 crores just flowed through us. And it reached to the people. So for me personally, and I'm sure for the team that worked on this, it's a modern day multiplication of five loaves into a fish. It just happened in a different way. It wasn't literal loaves into a fish. It was Indian currency. But this was God at work, you know. So it may not seem very spectacular. Everybody was working hard, you know, processing those requests, making the calls, speaking to people all across the country. But for us, it's a miracle. You know, I just looked at God and I say, God, I'm just thankful you gave us this opportunity to be a part of this, you know, that we could help more than 1,500 pastors. And, you know, we have the data outside. I can't remember the numbers. But, you know, God, you helped us do this and we're grateful. We started with something small. We started out in faith, but God did the miracle. So does God work financial miracles? Answers, yes. He does it today. He just does it differently. It just looks different, but it's still the God, same God working miracles. Amen. So let's close in prayer and we will meet again next week. Continue on this. Sorry for taking a little extra time. Could somebody please close in prayer and we'll dismiss. Okay. Glasses very quiet. I will pray. Go ahead. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, for this morning. And we thank You for the opportunity, Lord, to come together and to learn about Your supernatural way, Lord. The supernatural way You do things, Jesus. Miracle that You're still doing the promise that You promised us and You continue doing the same thing that You did when You were on Earth, Lord. Thank You, Jesus, as we learned this course in power, Pastor Cish Lord, and open our heart, open our mind, and make ready our spirit, Lord, to receive what we learned so that we may go into the world, Lord, and be ambassadors, Lord, be people who not just say Your words, Lord, but also manifest Your glory in power so that the whole world might know that You are God and You're still waking, You're still the same. You never change. Do with us, Lord, as we until we meet again. Amen. Amen, amen. Amen. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Amen. Being part of the course and being part of the class today.