 Hey Welcome back everyone. Hope you're here. I just thought we'll begin a little bit early and we'll You know try to complete the next chapter So let's go get into chapter chapter 17 We will just present the notes All right, is everyone here or I'm sure if they're still on a break So make sure all right. Let's get into this chapter chapter 17 talking about stewardship Stewardship is basically Looking after the resources a proper use of resources and the wealth that God has created for you There's a responsibility towards God Towards a community Towards others in need and When we look after the resources that God has given us We are being good stewards Now remember when it comes to stewardship, we can be a good steward. We can be a bad steward when it is to You know, if fix efficiently manage What God has given us and to effectively Pass it on to the next generation The Lord Jesus in his ministry talked a lot about stewardship Right. He gave parables Highlighting the principles of stewardship in many places Jesus spoke about stewardship. He said this is what stewardship is right where we where we be effective where we use what God has given us in the right way and Multiply it and bless the nations and bless the succeeding generations as well So let's look at a few Scriptural principles Look at a few scriptural insights that you and I can apply when it comes to stewardship So the principles that you and I can apply when it comes to stewardship number one Honor God with your personal finances Proverbs chapter three was nine and ten Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first rules of all your increase so that your bounds will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with why? one of the most important principles And that each one of us live in is to Understand the fact that Everything is owned by God God is As the creator of the heavens and the earth God is the one who owns everything He you know the scripture say that he owns the cattle on the hills the gold is mine the silver is mine That's what God says The wealth we have and the positions we all have Why you know, we use them we use the possessions that God has given us but It's very important to give back to him This is our way of recognizing that God is the owner of all things When we give back what God has given us We're just giving one 10th, which is Our type it's just one tenth of our personal income We're giving it back to God and we sing God What you have blessed me with as a good steward, I want to give it back to you. I Want to honor you And we give it back to the church the Bible is very clear The Bible is very clear But being good stewards when it comes to giving unto the Lord Because when we understand that everything that we have comes from God You know giving back to God is not very difficult Let me give you this example, right? For example, if we have a small salary we start off small Right So for example, the type that we'll have to give is maybe three thousand rupees one tenth Right a small amount. Okay. Okay. It's okay. But as we keep growing God begins to bless us and we get more income and we get more and God blesses us He opens up the heavens. He just chooses to bless us He blesses the work of our hands and we have plenty Now for example, we're earning quite a lot. Now you have to give one tenth of it You know when the amount is small, it's okay But as the amount becomes bigger Sometimes they may think, oh, how can I give so much? Remember that what you're giving is you're giving it to God It's going to go It's God's what is what is God's is God's and You are just giving a portion back to it. It's not like God wants it It's not like I God is saying, okay, you know, you I need it No He's saying when you do this you're being good stewards. You're recognizing that everything comes from God Always tight from your individual income Alakai very common words three ten and twelve Bring the full amount of your pipes to the temple so that there will be plenty of food there Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things I put me to the test is what God is saying you give to God And I will open up the heavens Verse 11 says I will not let insects destroy your crops or your grapevines will be loaded with grapes now We may not have crops and grapevines, but what he's saying is I will not let the enemy What does the enemy do? He comes but to kill steal and destroy he comes to steal But when you give to God When you give what belongs to God that is 10 one tenth of your income to God If you receive a salary each month give it to God one tenth of that if you receive it every two weeks One tenth of it goes to God Right and and why is this important because when we do this We are blessing. We are saying God Everything that I have is for you and I let me know That I have to give offerings to God Right offerings are very important right we we offer what we have to God additional being generous giving Giving to help others in need We work we earn but money is not everything and money does not control us remember this Money does not control us. We control it and we put it to use We do not put our trust in money, but we put our trust in God who empowers us to make money Money is not evil But money is the root of all evil Money is not evil. We need money for ministry for for our family For our children or looking after the needs that we have we need money But money doesn't control us We put the money to use And we say God you provide for us And so we be generous we learn to share with you now many of us are students we may feel hey How do I I only have so much with me? How can I be generous? So one of the things that you can do is be generous in small things So when it comes to big things Right You'll be able to freely give right Get into this habit or this attitude or this character of being generous It could be very very small But it could be a blessing to people Right give to the poor the widows the orphans Right again just being generous with the funds with what God has blessed you with now even as you do it do it quietly Give towards people You know do it with a sincere heart And you know we don't want to give and then take photos and put it on All our streaming platform. See this is where I gave Jesus said right if you give Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing Just just do it quietly and what God sees you do in private with us And the father who sees you in private will reward you Right, so even as you give do it quietly you don't have to make a big show of it But do it with a sincere heart of just caring and loving and supporting others Sometimes Corporate tithing and giving Again, this is where if you're owning an organization You know you get a net earnings of the net income that you make In an organization now, especially if it's business sometimes those net incomes come Quarterly or they may come half yearly. They may come monthly. They may come yearly Right, it all depends on the kind of business the person is doing Again, you're tight over that and you also try to bless people with what God has given you, right? Standing up against injustice and other causes. Now, in an organization, I'm sure many of us have heard NGOs, right? Where NGOs, they work with social leaders like child labor, slave, slavery, child trafficking, prostitution, homeless, helping during times of epidemics, natural disasters, maybe helping the poor with education. All of these things are organizations that we can stand with. As a church, we've also been able to help certain organizations when epidemics, especially when COVID hit, we were able to help. And so what we're doing is we are trying to help other causes. It's not only about ABC or it's not only about our church or our ministry and my business and my work. But you look at the bigger picture, how can I be a blessing to others? How can I be a good steward of what God is doing in my life, right? Then we're all responsible for creation. So Psalm 115 verse 16, the heavens are the Lord's but the earth is given to the children of men. So the scriptures teach us that all grew from the time of Adam and Eve. God told Adam, you attend the garden, you cultivate the garden. God gave Adam the responsibility. So he had to look after it. He had to guard it. And so we also have the same responsibility. God has put us in a world and in this world, there's so much of eagles that may be happening, but God has given us a responsibility to care for creation around us. Now, you may say, how can I, in a country like India, we have 1.4 billion people. How can I change things that are happening in our nation? You can, right? A journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step, right? So it could just be small, right? Just keeping your surroundings clean. People notice it. You're doing your part. You're being a good steward, right? Just knowing that, okay, this place that I'm living in, what God has given me, I have to be responsible, I have to be a good steward and I need to know how to, you know, keep this care for this place that God has placed me in. And so these, you know, it may not be a big reward. The girls say, hey, you know, did this, you know, but in God's eyes, it is something that will bring honor to him, right? If you're somebody who, you know, eats probably a chocolate and you take that wrapper, search for a dustbin and throw it in there. Say, God, you have created, and this world is yours. I don't want to, you know, make it destroyed by these simple things. I mean, nobody's going to come and give you an award for it, but what is going to happen is God will be pleased why you're being a good steward. Nobody has clapped for you and said, good job, but God is pleased with the attitude of stewardship. And so we must also be able to do this in our lives, being good stewards. Right. Let's get into our next portion. That is the workplace and you. Is there anybody has any questions? You have any questions? Any thoughts and questions? Okay. We'll just do chapter 18 and then we can close right there. It's a talk about carrier growth. Now, when we talk about carrier growth, all of us, no matter where we are, we have gifts. We talked about it. We have gifts. We have grace. We have skills. We have knowledge. We have experience, expertise. None of us want to stay in the same place. None of us want to be in the same place for the next five years. We want to grow. We want to see people grow from strength to strength. That's God's design. He wants us to grow. And so as believers, how can you and I reach, or let's look at these three. How can you and I become the person that God wants us to be? Reach the place and the purpose. Remember, we talked about this in the initial chapter 2. Talk about the person, the place and the purpose. Abraham, God changed the person. No longer Abraham, Abraham, but your Abraham. Two, I'm going to take you to a place, right? To a place. And why am I taking you to the place? I will bless you. The sevenfold purpose of blessings that God gave Abraham. I will bless you. I will make your father of many nations. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you. I will be with you. Sevenfold blessings. So how can you and I relate these scriptural insights to carrier growth? Now, carrier growth can involve moving from one organization to another. There will be times we'll have to do it. There's nothing wrong about it. So let's look at a few points on carrier growth. You can enjoy the rewards of your work. We talked about this, right? We work hard. We will enjoy the rewards. When you're working in a field, you know, when a farmer is working in the field and he's the scorching heat, he's sowing those seeds and then the next day, the next entire week he's there. He's watering the entire space, right? The entire land. And then he goes about cutting off the weeds that are there, that are growing in between. But at the end of the day, when the harvest comes, he pulls out all those harvest and he looks at them. It is such a great reward for the workers, for the laborers. This would be the greatest reward. Now, it's like, you know, for me, it was, you try to cook something, you cook. You do go through all the things. You do put in all these effort. And then at the end of the day, you sit on the table and you eat what you have cooked. That's a joy, that's a reward that you will enjoy. I made this now. How it comes out, we don't know. But you enjoy the rewards of your work. The same thing. You work hard. God will open doors and God will raise you up. You don't work hard. Those will not open. There will be no growth. We see that it's directly relatable. You work hard. God is faithful to open the doors. If you're not working hard, we bring God open doors. Very unlikely that God is going to open doors. God is going to first make sure that you are able to work hard, discipline yourself. And then he opens the doors. Remember, promotion comes from the Lord. Psalm 75, 6, and 7. For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west, or from the south. But God is judge. He puts down and exalts another. First Peter 5, 6. Humble yourself under God's mighty hand so that he will lift you up in his own good time. Promotion comes from the Lord. You look to God. You walk yielded. You walk humbly, yielded to the purposes of God, continue to learn, continue to grow professionally, continue to develop your skills. He will make sure that he will open doors for you to get your promotion. But the fact is, the point is, you've got to stay yielded. You've got to stay humble. You've got to work hard. You've got to learn and develop your skills. At the right time, when God opens a door for promotion, oh, you will feel the taste of that promotion is going to be so, so fulfilling in your life. Right? Excellence also will be rewarded. Doing an excellent job will cause you to be promoted. Scribe for excellence. So excellence is not a one-off thing. It's not like being excellent in one and being not being excellent in another. Excellence is to show, to show, to do an excellent job consistently, continually. Don't settle for average. Always say this, right? Aim for the moon. You'll reach the stars. Always try to do your best. Excellence will be rewarded. Right? So what about us in ministry? Continue to learn. Continue to grow. If you feel God is calling for worship as a worship leader or you're in the worship ministry, continue to learn and grow. Try to become excellent in that. It's preaching. If it's teaching, learn. There's a lot of things that we have to learn. Try to continue to grow. Be excellent. And God will reward you. All of a sudden people will say, hey, why didn't you come here and preach or teach? Those are opening. Why? Not because we were just sitting and doing nothing. No, because we worked hard. We were trusting God. God's grace is upon us. Those who will open. Right? Wisdom opens doors. Proverbs 12, 8. A man will be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart will be despised. And wisdom opens doors. The ability to use the knowledge, use your competencies to solve problems, to determine solutions, to envision the future will open doors. The greatest example for this is Joseph. He interpreted the dream. God gave him the wisdom to come up with a solution for that dream. He envisioned the future. He knew what action to be taken. And the Pharaoh at that time said, who better than you to handle the whole situation? All of a sudden from the prison to the palace, second in command over entire Egypt, which is the strongest nation at that time. Why? Because of wisdom. Joseph was not like a strong man who was a warrior who could fight everyone now. He just used wisdom. Second in command. Put a ring on him. Your second in command. So develop the ability of not only gaining knowledge and understanding, but to bring it to a place to resolve matters, to create, to innovate. How can you do that? In ministry, ask God for wisdom. God, I'm ministering in this area. This is a town or this is a village. These are the needs of the people. I see that the youth are struggling with this. The families are struggling with this. There's suicidal rates. So this is what is happening. This is the enemies working in this way. Give me the wisdom to come up with the right strategy to minister to people. God will give you the wisdom. If it's college students, God, give me the wisdom. You know, college students are not going to sit and listen to an entire 15-minute sermon when you're preaching to them for the first time. Give me the wisdom to speak what is right, what is needed, that can enter their hearts and minister to them. Give me the wisdom. As you know, in ministry, you may have to deal with problems. Give me the wisdom, God, to deal with this problem. You come up with the right solution. Husband and wife may have problems. They come up to you as a leader or a pastor. They say, this is what is happening. What do I do? I'm ready to leave my wife. I'm ready to leave my husband because he did this to me. So that's when wisdom comes up. In the workplace, your colleagues may say something to you. God, give me the wisdom. Wisdom is not always speaking, but also learning to stay silent at times. Wisdom opens the right doors. But since your heart and gracious lips will get you noticed, don't neglect walking in the gifts of the spirit or in the fruit of the spirit. You will get noticed. People will notice you and people will give you access to other people. People will give you access to places of authority. All of a sudden, you may feel, hey, there are so many people better than me. I always feel that. And once I do feel it now, I always feel there are so many of them, you know, much better. But sometimes, you know, God looks at the humble, he says, you know, the quieter, the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, these are attributes that can win, that can win you over, that people will give you opportunities because of the fruit of the spirit. Right? Now, here's the interesting part. The more you are given, the more you have to deliver. With great powers comes great responsibility. You want a bigger role, you want promotion, greater the role, greater the responsibility. And sometimes you feel, okay, we go up the ladder, the work is much lesser. You just tell people to get it done. Now, there are benefits of a higher role, but there are also responsibilities. Are you able to fulfill the responsibility? A higher role and a higher position will require skills and competencies. I'm working on developing those skills and competencies. So now you're a, for example, you're a team leader. All of a sudden you get into, you become a manager. You cannot do what the team leader does. You have to prepare, you learn, grow and become, and understand that you are now a manager and you need to work as a manager. And from a manager, you may become a senior manager, and you can't think like a manager. From a senior manager, you get into being the operational manager and you get into operations, you're heading an entire team, multiple teams. So you've got to be quick thinking. You've got to make decisions. You can't say, I will let you know after two days. Why? Because the entire four or five teams are waiting for your approval. It takes me to have the capacity to build those personal competencies, prepare, learn, grow and deliver and get ready to the role that God has given you. Many times people pray for promotions, but after they get it, they say, God, this is too much. I'm not able to take it. Now that's a wrong attitude. You ask for it, higher the role, higher the position, higher the deliverables required. Same thing here, right? The stakes get higher as you go up. The pressure will be more. You've got to face, now each one of you are students, right? And you may be doing something in ministry or in the workplace, but five years or 10 years down the line, if you're in the workplace or in ministry, you go higher and higher, there's a price you have to pay. There will be more and more pressure. Right now, as students, you may not have find any pressure. There's no pressure, right? If you'd like, you can attend the class. If you'd like, you can, you know, not attend. There's no pressure as such, right? But when they'll come in time, as you go higher, as God opens doors, you move from one level to another. What will happen is the stakes get higher. The pressure gets more intense. And then you've got to check if you're ready for this. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually, there are competencies that you will have to build to stand strong. Right? And then they'll come a time when you say, God, I really need you. I can't do this on my own. You're in the right place. You're in the right place when you say that. Right? Never forfeit something that God has opened for you. Never give it away just because the pressure is too much. Right? If you feel that, you know, ministry is going to be easy. Not so, right? You will find all kinds of pressures. You've got to be strong mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Go back to the, you know, to that silent prayer room of yours. That quiet time with the Lord, gain, draw strength from him so that you'll be able to stand. Now, there'll be times you'll have to be patient to an employment. There'll be seasons when, of unemployment. But this is a very difficult time. Right? So for example, somebody is working for 15 years and all of a sudden you're either been asked to leave or you have left the job looking for another job. Now the season of employment can be very difficult. And then many of them will say, hey, you wait. God will give you the right opportunity. That's right. That's true. To wait on the Lord is very important. But waiting does not mean sitting idly. Right? It doesn't mean you don't prepare. Right? Waiting does not mean inactivity. It means that you wait patiently expecting God to work. Right? And I think in this time and season that we are living in, waiting is not something that we want to do. Right? We just want things to be in place immediately. This fast-growing generation that we are in, everything happens in a click of a button. Right? Things, life is so comfortable. Right? Everything can get done. We don't have to go out. And sometimes we don't want to wait. But waiting time is important. It helps you to become patient. It helps you to trust in God. It helps us to, you know, prepare ourselves for the next stage of our life. And I've said this many a times when you look at the Bible, God is a God who made people wait. That's how he works. Right? Whether it's business, whether it's your work, whether it's your family, whether it's marriage, whether it's children, God can make you wait. There was Joseph who waited 17 years. David waited 17 years. Moses waited 40 years. All of them waited. Abraham waited 25 years for the promise. So waiting is the time that is required. It just builds us up. It makes us trust God. We get closer to God. But in this waiting time, don't lose hope. Remember, God is a God of restoration. We may sometimes be, hey, I've lost one year. I've lost two years, or I may have lost, you know, five years. Now, what am I doing? Why is nothing happening? And it may get us weary and worried. But remember, God is a God of restoration. He can restore those five years in one year. He can restore your gifts and skills and talents. He's able to restore them. He's able to restore that season of employment, whatever you've lost. He's able to restore it. And you expect him to do that. So it's not a time of discouragement. Many of us may continue to do your third year here. But then after that, you may be looking out for a job or a ministry opportunity. It could be a time of no waiting. Don't be discouraged. Wait on God. Keep working. Keep waiting. And then there'll be times when you get a new job, right? You get a new opportunity, a new job, right? You look ahead as you step into your new job. Look ahead and see what God has for you. Be excited for the past behind. Don't carry. Now, this is very important. Don't carry what happened in your previous organization, the previous bosses, your previous understandings, all of that into your new company. Remember, this is a new place. What has happened has happened. It's gone. You move on from there. And Paul says, I press on for what is ahead. I hold on with confidence in God because he who started a good work will continue it until it brings perfection. Never take baggage from your previous company. This is what my manager told me in my previous company. Maybe my manager in the new company will be the same. So we've already judged the person. And then when we begin to work on him, we already hate him. We already don't like the way he talk. He may say, hey, can I get the report by 5 p.m.? You may feel offended. There's nothing wrong in that. So we've got to let go of everything of the past and look at what is ahead. Look at the new openings and the new doors that God has opened for you. Don't hold on to baggage. Baggage can really bring you about. Let go of it. Curbs and baggages that we try to carry. Just move ahead from that. Be courageous when you move from employment to entrepreneurship. Now let me just share a few thoughts here and we close. Employment to employment to entrepreneurship. So how does this work? Maybe some of us will are employed in an organization. There come a time when you feel that, hey, God is calling me to do something on my own. I want to start my own business. I want to be an entrepreneur on my own. Now that's a transition. You're moving from one place to another. You're taking a step of faith. It's like Abraham. I will take you to a place. Which place? I'm not going to tell you yet, but I'll take you there. So when it comes to moving from employment to entrepreneurship or starting, for example, you're working in a church or you're working in a ministry and there come a time when God will place in your heart to start your own ministry. That's exciting. It's an exciting step. But even as you plan, as you do that, be wise. Plan it in the right way. Share it at the right time. Share it with people that you trust. Don't share it to the whole world. Share it to people who you trust, who you know can give you godly counsel and godly output. And as you make that transition, now, for example, if you're alone, you live alone or you have parents that you look after, make sure that you have some kind of financial stability at least six months ahead. If you have a wife and children, you've got to be well prepared financially. Okay, six months. Even if I transition from here to here from an employee to starting my own ministry or my own business, for the next six months, I have the funds required. I have the resources required. So I will continue to provide for my family and for my children. That will not be hindered. The mistake that people make is, hey, God spoke to me, so I got to do it. And I do it right now without planning, without preparing. No, that's not how God works. By God, you know, when he gives you an idea and strategy, most likely he gives you the strategy, gives you the idea, but he expects us to plan and do it well. It's also think and do it. So it's very important. It's a very exciting journey, going from being an employee to being an entrepreneur or working in an organization to starting your own. Very, very exciting journey. Even as you do that, make sure that you do it the right way, be wise, step in at the right time. And, you know, this, even as you do that, you step out in faith, right? It's a journey of ideas. So all of a sudden, you feel, hey, I'm walking on the water right now. So it's exciting. But even as we do all of this, we trust God that God will work in our lives. Right? So any questions, any thoughts before we close? We've almost completed our portions, but few more very interesting chapters. What I'd like to encourage you to do is to feel free and maybe go through these points. And even as you go through it, right? If there are certain points you feel that can really help you, just make a note of it in your book or in your personal study. Make a note of it. Say, God, okay, this is one point that I'll work on maybe during this week or during this month. Make a note of it. Keep reading it. Keep reviewing it. And no matter what, whether ministry, whether in the marketplace, you can apply this Godly principles, right? All right. So thank you so much for joining today. Next week, we'll meet again and we'll continue for where we stop. Have a great week ahead. I'll see you next Monday. God bless you all. God bless.