 Good morning everyone. Welcome to the class today. Thank you for connecting to the class this morning and we're continuing our learning on urban church planting. I've started the recording. Let's pray and we will proceed with the class. Okay, so Good and sister, can you please pray? Yes, sir. Father God, we just come before you, turn once again. Father God, thank you for the day. Father God, thanking you for the subject, Father God, thanking you once again. We just, we're just going to learn, Father God, your God, Father God, help us to understand all things, Father God, and apply to your kingdom for thanking you, Father God, and those who stood in willing to join, Father God, to help them to join the class, Father God. Thank you, Father God. Almighty Jesus, may we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right, so yesterday, as we started talking about this whole section on personal preparation, we were, we went through a few points on that are very important for us to prepare ourselves to go and plant a church or start a ministry. All right, so these are things that you and I can do to prepare ourselves to start a church or plant a ministry. But what we did emphasize yesterday was these things are not only needed in the initial phase when we start, but we need to practice them throughout. We need to keep them throughout our journey, throughout our life in ministry. It's just something we live by constantly. So I'm just going to go ahead and share the PDF so we can look at it and we will just quickly review these points. So we said we need to be spiritually strong, maintain a consistent personal spiritual life. Let me just turn this down here. Second, we need to be equipped and we need to continue, continually be equipped. So it's not just a one-time thing that we do and then we say, okay, it's over. No, we continue. Keep on learning. Keep on equipping yourself throughout your life's journey. The third thing we talked about was be clear of your calling and vision, especially if somebody is going to pioneer, you are the person who's going to have the vision. You're the vision bearer. So if you're going to go start a church or start a ministry, it's very important that you maintain that vision. You stay true to that calling and vision. We did mention yesterday that the vision may be enlarged. God may expand the vision. The vision in some ways may be redefined or modified in certain ways, but stay true to that vision that God puts in front of you. Don't get Don't let the vision dim where you lose sight of why you're doing what you're doing and don't divert. Don't, you know, avoid diversion or destruction. Okay, so those are three things. A number four, another important part of our preparation. And again, this is something, you know, that we have to be ready for throughout our our work is that we must be willing to work twice as hard as others. I mean, be willing to work more than other people. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10. Can somebody turn there? 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10. Can somebody read that? Anyone? 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 10. I That was what the apostle Paul is saying. He says, you know, I am what I am by the grace of God, but I labored more abundantly than all the other apostles than they all, meaning the other apostles. So, you know, Paul is acknowledging something here. He's recognizing the grace of God on his life that God had a call and God extended grace on his life. But he's also acknowledging the fact that he worked twice as hard. I mean, maybe not. He just uses the phrase more abundantly. It's he worked, he worked much more than all the other apostles. So, you know, I'm not saying that this is the only reason why Paul, you know, wrote so many epistles and went and started so many churches, but this is one of the reasons that is he he worked more abundantly than the other apostles. And even his ability to work much more, he says, it was not me, but the grace of God. That means God empowered him to labor, sorry, to labor more abundantly than the others. So, especially when you are pioneering, you have to be willing to work twice as hard as others. Now, why do I say twice as hard? It means, you know, you have to be different as a pioneer, as a leader. You know, it's not, it's very rare that you and I can say, well, we just do them to the bare minimum and things will happen. No, especially in times when I, you know, you are getting started or in times, you're moving ahead into something new, you will have to, you know, work extra, putting in longer hours than the others, putting in more effort than the others, because you're the leader, and you can't look at them and say, well, they're just, you know, doing so much. So I'll also do that much. No, you've got to do much more. Not because others, you know, are not hard workers, but you have the responsibility and you have the vision. And so, you know, you have to put that much more effort to keep things going. And if you slack, if your effort becomes weak, then others will also, you know, tend to just become less intense in their work. So, Suleiman, you are pushing and you are demonstrating that intensity and that commitment, then that inspires similar intensity and commitment from other people. So, as an important part of church planting or starting a ministry, you've got to be willing to work. If, you know, if you want something easy, if you want to do, you know, just, you know, okay, I'll do just eight hours of work and that's it. Well, then pioneering will take a lot more than just that. It really requires a lot more effort. If you're going to be starting something, if you're going to be pioneering something, and not only when you're pioneering or starting, but every time you hit this stage, when you have to push to a new level, when you have to, you know, maybe start a new area of ministry or you've got to be willing to work. You've got to be willing to push as hard as the others, you know, and throughout our journey here over the last 20 years, and I can look back and see, you know, time and time again, time and time again. Every time we wanted to step into something new, expand, you know, there was just this intense work, intense effort and that as a team we had to put in and then, you know, something new came out of it. We were able to push into something new. So both you as a leader and the team, the people that you need to be working on that, I will have to, you know, put in that much more effort. So remember what Paul said. He said, I am what I am by the grace of God, yet I labored more abundantly than the other apostles. So he worked much more than them and even that ability to work much more was given to him by the grace of God. Okay. Another one, number five is we must learn to pray, plan, prepare, but don't be hasty in in stepping out in getting started or in growing. Okay. So could somebody read Proverbs 21 and verse five, please. Proverbs 21 and verse five for us, please. Proverbs 21, please. The plans of the diligent lead to profit and surely as a stick leads to poverty. Hmm. So notice what it says in the latter part, second half of this verse. Those were hasty. That means they're in a hurry to, you know, succeed. They're in a hurry to make it big. They're in a hurry to, you know, do things. It leads to poverty. Like in English B there's this old phrase, haste makes waste. So sometimes when you're in a hurry you do things that actually end up becoming waste. So so also in in the work that we're doing we pray, we plan, we prepare, then we start the work. You must be willing to be patient in the work you're doing. Right. Don't be hasty and don't get discouraged just because you don't see things growing at the speed at which you would like it to. Right. So, you know, we may have a plan. Okay. Maybe in two years I will read so many people or in two years I'll become so big or whatever the plan is, the growth of plan. But sometimes it may not all, it may, you know, may not happen that way. It's good to pray. It's good to plan. It's good to prepare and we need to do that. But then it may not always turn out that in two years you will reach that number or may not always happen that way. But then you don't get discouraged. You stay the course. You keep working. It says here the plans of the diligent. That means you are diligent. You continue to stay the course. You continue to work. You continue to do what you have to do. And you know that you will reach that goal. You will get there. Right. So that's another thing in that we need as part of our preparation. Mentally it must be ready for, you know, what I usually say, the long haul. That means you're here for the long run or many times I tell myself, you know, we are here for the marathon. We're not here for a sprint. You know, it's not like, you know, this is 100 meters and you will get the work done. No, this is a marathon. This is something you're going to be doing for the long term to pioneer the church or to start a ministry. And you know, while it's good to expect growth and so on, it may not always happen quickly or as quickly as we wish. Right. So that's when we need to be patient. Stay the course. Now, if you turn to Psalm 127, turn with me please to Psalm 127 and could somebody read for us verse one. Psalm 127 verse one. Unless the Lord builds the horse, the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman says a walk in vain. Awake in vain. Okay. Thank you. So unless God builds, we labor in vain who build it. So many times I tell myself as well, you know, well, definitely we have to do our part in the ministry, in the work we're doing. But ultimately it's the Lord who's going to build the house. So unless the Lord builds, our efforts are useless. So if God is building it, we just go with the way and in step and in time with God. You know, we may be very eager to get some results, but no. Just go in step and in time with God. Let God build. In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul said, you know, it is God who gives the increase. It is God who gives the increase. So let the increase come from God. Now, we will be tempted as human beings to try to force growth or try to force the increase or try to force the building of, you know, the ministry or the organization, whatever we are doing. Sometimes we may use our own abilities. There's nothing wrong. So we have to do our work. We have to do our part. But let God do the building. Let God bring the increase. You work and you say, Lord, I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to keep doing what you've called me to do. I'll do it well. I'll do it diligently to the best that I can. But I'm trusting you to build the house. I'm trusting you to give the increase. So let God give the increase. Let God build the house rather than trying, rather than us forcing that increase by our own efforts. So by our own efforts, we can, you know, maybe gather lots of people or make everything look big. But then that won't stand. That won't stay through time. It'll all come collapsing down. Right. So be faithful, pray, plan, prepare, and do your work patiently. And let God build the house. Let God bring the increase. Don't be hasty to try and do it yourself. Okay. The next point, point number six is we must be emotionally strong. But what do we mean by that? It means that, you know, part of our battles when we are pioneering a book or when you're starting something are the emotional struggles that we face. And these emotional struggles, that means mental, right? Mental, these emotional struggles can come because of various reasons. Sometimes they can come because, you know, Satan tries to discourage us. There could be these discouraging thoughts coming into your mind. And those could be directly from the enemy. Sometimes the discouragement can come just by our own weakness. That means we feel like giving up. We get faint, we get faint hearted. And, you know, we tend to give up easily. And sometimes this discouragement can come from other people. So people don't understand us. So they may speak very hard things that discourage us. And so discouragement comes, but we must learn to be strong to overcome discouragement. And of course our strength comes from God. Emotionally also, other strength comes from God. But you and I need to have the ability to rise above discouragement. So let's just look at some scriptures. We go with me to Joshua chapter 1. And let's read verse 9. Joshua 1 verse 9. Somebody could read that for us please. Joshua 1 verse 9. Joshua 1 verse 9. Somebody can read it. This is my commandment. Be strong and courageous. Courageous. Do not be afraid of discourage. For the Lord your God is with you. Wherever you go. So, you know, actually in this Psalm, three times, three times. Verse 6 verse 7 and again in verse 9. We're seeing God telling Joshua, be strong and of good courage. Or be strong and courageous. So Joshua was just taking charge, you know, taking responsibility of leading these people. And Joshua chapter 1 is his commissioning by God as he gets ready to start this new assignment for his life. And God is telling Joshua over and over again. He repeats it. Joshua, I want you to be strong. I want you to be courageous. I want you to be courageous. Meaning emotionally you got to be strong. Got to be courageous as you go on this journey. As you take on this responsibility. So emotionally we have to be strong. Discouragements will come. There will be discouragements because even of the circumstances, situations, there will be oppositions, hindrances, all kinds of things happening. But we have to be strong and we have to remind ourselves, you know, why are we here? Why are you, you know, why are you going to, why are you doing what you're doing? And we need to be emotionally encouraged. We need to know how to encourage ourselves and keep going. And so be emotionally strong. Don't let people discourage you. Don't let situations discourage you. Don't let Satan discourage you. Be strong. Okay, so we need to develop that ability. Now how do you do that? You know, so look at how you handle challenges today. When you face a difficulty, when you face a challenge, how do you handle it? Do you get all overwhelmed and like that's the end of everything. You just become unproductive. You give up or do you have the ability to say, look, I know I'm facing a challenge but I know how to rise up above it and, and then, you know, overcome it. And so you look at yourself, how are you doing it? How are you handling difficult situations today? Are you able to overcome? Because definitely when you start out to pioneer a church or you start out to start out a Christian ministry, you are going to face challenges. And sometimes these challenges can be pretty big. They can be, you know, sometimes intimidating, overwhelming at times. And that's when you need to have the ability to just be strong in God and overcome those challenges. So to prepare for that, see how you're handling challenges today. How are you overcoming difficulties today in life? And do you have the, I'm using the word mechanism or the ability, emotional ability, you know, mental ability to think through and overcome challenges so that you're emotionally strong. Okay. Number seven, another important part of our personal preparation is to get things order in order in your personal life. Okay. Don't let personal weaknesses become an entry point for Satan's disruptive attempts. So, you know, if there are personal weaknesses, then at some point in the journey, the enemy is going to come knocking on those areas of weaknesses. He's trying to gain, trying to get a foothold. He's trying to come in and of course, where's he going to attack or where's he going to try to gain entrance? It's through those areas of personal weaknesses. So, you know, although you may be strong in certain areas, if there are personal weaknesses, personal weaknesses, the enemy is going to come with his attacks in those areas of weakness. Now, only you, maybe a few people close to you may know what your personal weaknesses are. And so, you need to be on guard and you need to strengthen those areas of personal weaknesses. And especially in your family. Now, at some point, those of you who, you know, as right now your students, at some point you will get married, you'll have your family, most of you. And you need to guard your family because when you're doing a church plant, when you're doing ministry, it's not just you who's going to feel the pressure, but it's your family that's going to feel the pressure, your spouse, your children. They will all feel the pressure of being in ministry. You know, people have expectations. People expect, you know, the pastor's wife, for the, whoever, you know, the spouse of the person doing ministry to be a certain way, the family to be certain. Of course, God has given us instructions and people expect certain things. And so, they will feel the pressure of the work. So, you need to be strong there. You need to be strong in your personal life. And later on, once you have your own family, make sure your family is also strong so that you can stand up through the pressures of planting a church or planting a ministry. Okay, let me pause here. I heard somebody having a question. Thomas, you have a question? Please go ahead. Go ahead, you can ask a question. Actually, yeah, the time this comes for, when emotion is strong, when, when we face the challenges and the things in the ministry in the startup stage, you know, it's quite difficult to overcome it. As you said, that will affect the people, those in the family as well. I don't know how to, as I'm trying to overcome it. Any suggestions I'm expecting? Okay. So, so one is of course, you know, to some extent, to some extent, we are able to handle situations, right? Emotionally ourselves that, you know, you can sit down, talk, plan, discuss, resolve. But what I would strongly recommend is to get help when you need it, right? That's why we are part of a, we are part of a body, we're part of a, of the church. And none of us have everything. None of us have everything that is required and all that it takes, but we are part of the body of Christ. And so one of the things we must learn to do is when we need to be encouraged, we need to be able to reach out for help and say, hey, I need help. You know, I need somebody to speak encouragement into my life. I need to be able to receive that encouragement or the guidance or the help, the help that I need, whatever I need. So I would say that it's a good thing to reach out for help when you feel that, look, whatever I, whatever I, I'm doing, whatever I know to do, but I feel that I need something more. Then what do you do? Reach out for help. Talk to people who you trust. Talk to people whom you know are mature, who have had experience in the areas where you feel you need help and reach out to them and say, Hey, I just, can you, I just want to talk to you and then you share and they'll be able to speak. They'll be able to impart help and strength. Then you are in, you're encouraged and then you go on, right? So that's something I would recommend for all of us, you know, that when we need emotional strength, emotional encouragement, when we need to be able to handle some of our own challenges, our situations, we may not be able to see things very clearly. But if we have, you know, one or two people whom we can speak to and share our struggles with and they're able to speak into our lives, be an encouragement, that's a good way. That's a great way to keep going because that's why God has put us, you know, in the body. Is that okay, Thomas? I don't know about them. Yeah, so that's something that can be shared. Sorry, Thomas, I can hear you. Acceptable things, some thoughts going on in our mind where it's very difficult to contain. When we speak to somebody, at least we'll get some encouragement, you share the valuable points and then we'll trust you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Okay, thank you. So let's, so be emotionally strong, number six, number seven, get things in order in your personal life, okay? So be very careful there, you know? Now the, let me just say a few more things on number seven and then you will go to number eight. Now in number seven, you see the temptation for many of us is we only look at our strengths, which is good and then we say, okay, you know, I'm strong in this, this is enough example. Maybe a person is a good preacher, a good, you know, a good preacher in the Bible, of the Bible. So it's a look, you know, I know I can start a church and I can serve people because I love the Word of God, I know the Word of God and I can preach well. But let's say the same person, you know, and it could be a man or a woman, doesn't matter, has a personal weakness. Maybe, you know, in the area of money or in the area of their sexuality, you know, in the area of their, you know, their attraction to the opposite sex, that that's an area of weakness. Now nobody else may know it, but they know it. And they may be, okay, they have the strength, which is maybe they're very good in preaching and teaching the Bible. Wonderful. But they have a weakness. Now if they neglect addressing that weakness in their personal life, because nobody else knows it. And okay, they just, you know, they just get the ministry started and, you know, wonderful, they are going to plant a church or they're going to start some Christian organization, they're going forward and they're going ahead. But, you know, where do you think the enemy will attack them if he wants to disrupt the work? He's obviously going to come in their area of weakness, right? Now if they neglect addressing it or lap and, you know, at some point there will be a failure and it'll be a personal failure, right? Because this was something in their personal life which they didn't address. They just, you know, they just covered it or they pretended it's not but that's exactly where the enemy will attack and they will have a personal failure and it will disrupt the work. So what must we do? We must be aware of a weakness and then we must strengthen those areas, okay? I know this media. I need to be careful. I need to protect myself. I need to build myself up in the Word of God. I need to put some fences just to keep myself safe in this area and so on, okay? So get those things ordered in your personal life. I'm not saying, you know, we can foresee every temptation that comes but along the journey keep your eyes open. Like the Bible says, be sober, be vigilant, always be on guard to protect your personal life, protect your family and because, you know, you're going to be joining together. Number eight is this. Develop the ability to draw strength, motivation and discipline from God. Often along the journey you have to, you know, we just use this phrase, you have to stock your own fire. That must be motivated from within. So this number eight is you have to be able to motivate yourself, to keep yourself strong through, you know, your dependence on God. Now I know I just shared a little word of advice with Thomas about, you know, how we can get help from people and that's very important. That's why we must be in fellowship with, you know, other ministers and so on. So that's important. But this being motivated or stoking your own fire, keeping your fire burning, you know, that's something we must learn how to do ourselves. You know, that means you must be on fire. For example, when you're going to minister to people, you know, you're expecting God to use you or we are expecting God to use us to ignite a passion or ignite a fire in other people. So through our preaching, through our ministry, we're able to motivate them and ignite their flame. But sometimes you may not have somebody doing it for you, but you need to be able to kindle that fire inside you and to know how to draw strength from God, to stay motivated, to stay disciplined, and to keep your own fire burning. Right. And it's kind of connected to what I had mentioned earlier, which is basically if you and I maintain a strong personal spiritual life, at this point, number one, right, we can learn to keep our own fire burning. Otherwise, what will happen? Things will tend to fizzle out. You know, we may start neglecting things in our own lives. And that's what happened to, you know, even Timothy. We know in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, Paul, he wrote to Timothy, he said, Timothy, stir up the gift of God that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy and through the laying on a fence. Stir up the gift of God, which is in you. That means you fan into flame, you make the flame brighter, make the flame stronger. You fan into flame, the gift of God that is in you. So, you know, people had prayed over Timothy. They had prophesied over Timothy. He had received impartation. There were spiritual gifts that were activated in his life. But for some reason, he had neglected it. And Paul is telling Timothy, stir up the gift. That means you stir up the gift in your own life. You stir up the gift of God in you, right? So that's something we must learn to do, that is you go back to God in Word, in the Word and in Prince and God, I want to stir up the gift. And I want the gift of God to flow through me to, I want the fire to burn bright. I want, you know, whatever strength and motivation we learn to drive it from God. So, learn to go back to God to kindle a flame on that fire. So, we must learn to do it now. That means today, are you able to do that? Do you have the ability to go to God and keep yourself motivated? Keep yourself, keep your own fire burning? Are you able to do that? If not, okay, develop the ability to do it. Why? Because along the journey, people need to do that many times. As you are pastoring or you're pioneering a church or leading a ministry, time and time again, you need to go back to God and just say, God, I need you to kindle that fire in me one more time. God, I want to be strong, I keep the fire burning strong. I can't let the flame weaken. And Paul writes in Galatians 1, 15 and 16, you know, when he received the call of God, let's read that Galatians 1, 15 and 16. Somebody could read that for us. Galatians 1, 15 and 16. Somebody could read it please. But when it plays God, who separate me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his sin in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately conform with flesh and blood. So Paul is talking about his own life and he says, you know, when God called me, so obviously he's referring to his encounter with Jesus and he called him to preach, he says, you know, I didn't immediately confer with flesh and blood. That means, you know, he didn't go and immediately talk to others about his call. So in some sense, and I want to say this in a, you know, put it in a proper way that is in a healthy manner, he had independence. So there is this balance we must maintain. That is, we are all dependent on each other. That's why we need each other, which I had just mentioned a little bit earlier. We need to derive strength from each other. We're all dependent. But also we need to maintain healthy independence. That means the ability to understand the call of God on our lives and to be able to pursue it without conferring with flesh and blood, without, you know, getting the approval or the support of man. Paul said, I didn't have that, you know. So he says, I didn't confer with flesh and blood. That means when he started out, he just, you know, God had spoken to him. So he started out. Now, of course, later on, he does go to Jerusalem. He does meet the, you know, he meets James, and I think it was John, he meets some of the leaders there. And then later on, he gets to know other leaders as well. So eventually he does, and he does work with lots of other leaders. But in the early part of his ministry, he had to stand alone. You know, he didn't have anybody coming and patting him on his back and saying, you know, you've been called to be an apostle or anything like that. He says, I didn't confer with flesh and blood. I couldn't go and discuss my call and the purpose of God with anybody. I had to stand on my own. So I'm just pointing to that to show that, you know, we need that ability. It's important to be able to stand and sometimes stand alone. But thank God, there are people around us that we can reach out for help when we need it and receive input from other people. And Paul did that later on. You know, he had people around him as a minister. So he didn't do it all alone. But there was a time, especially in the starting days, early days, where he had to, you know, journey alone. So we will stop here. And, you know, I'm just covering certain thoughts or points that are very important for us to prepare ourselves personally for the journey ahead. Right? We talked about being spiritually strong, getting equipped, being clear if you're calling and vision, being willing to work twice as hard as others. You know, being patient, don't be hasty. Things may not happen as quickly as you want, but you've got to stay the course. Being emotionally strong when, you know, you're facing discouragement and all kinds of things. Be strong. Keep your personal life in order and guard your areas of weakness. And number eight, develop the ability to, you know, to keep your fire burning all the time. That you have to go to God and you have to keep your fire burning to pursue a vision God has given you. Now, we do receive through other people. God has placed us in a body. And so that is also important. Okay. Let's pause here. Are there any questions before we pray and dismiss? Are these things clear so far? Clear first. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. So let's take a moment just to pray and then we will ramp up. All right. We'll continue this next week. We'll talk about the other points and try to put these, you know, put these things into your life now so that in the days to come, you know, you'll be strong and you'll be ready to do the things God's called you to do. Okay. Let's pray. Anyone could pray with us as a class and dismiss us, please. Thomas, why don't you pray with us, please? I am about to ask. So if you pray for us, for to put the emotional strength, if you pray today, it will be nice. I will do that. I will do that. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that we could gather together and just spend some time learning. And thank you for the opportunity to share some of these learnings with others in the class. And Father, I pray for those in the class and those who would join us on the e-learning. For all the students, God that each one Lord will be encouraged. Like you told Joshua, be strong and very courageous. I pray that each one would be strengthened emotionally as well. That no matter what things come that discourage us, that sometimes seem to upset us, disrupt the calm, the confidence inside of us. God, I pray that you will strengthen, you will encourage, you will keep us strong to continue journeying forward. So I pray your grace, I pray your encouragement, I pray your strength into each one's life. That every person be strong, be courageous to keep moving forward in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Rose. Okay, thank you. Thank you Thomas, Kiran, Dave. And I'll just be assured that if you guys, any of you need to speak, you can email or message me or any of our pastors, you know, just anytime you need encouragement in your ministries. We are there, so feel free to just connect with us, you know, outside class. We can talk on the phone or do a Google Meet call or a Zoom call or whatever, you know, so just reach out. We are there to be able to help and encourage, okay? God bless you all. Have a good rest of the day. Talk to you soon. See you tomorrow. Thanks. Sure, Pastor. Thank you. Thank you.