 Good morning everyone welcome to our Thursday mentoring hour where we spend some time discussing, asking questions, sharing our thoughts and learnings. Let's just begin this time with the word of prayer. Maybe Afdi, can you please lead us in prayer? Yes, morning. Thank you pastor. God Father Almighty, we thank you for one more morning father. We thank you for the mercies are renewed every morning. We thank you father for the word that we have the presence of God Father, the love, grace and mercy that you pour out on us day after day father. We thank you for this time. We have this fellowship father. Lord Father lead us by your Holy Spirit Father fill us with your wisdom and favor father so that we learn your word, we go deeper into your word, we understand Lord Father the things that you have revealed to your children Father so that we are rooted in your word, we establish in your word, we are able to walk by your word, be doers of your word Father and as we are preparing ourselves for the day of your coming Father let each one be equipped Father, everyone who listens to the recording Father, everyone who's seeking the one and true living God may be blessed by by your presence and by this video Father and let everyone be touched by your presence Father. Father fill us with your presence this morning Father so that we can spend the day in your presence Father glorify you in whatever we may do and Father in everything in every need we may look up to you for you are a Lord a Father provides every good and perfect gifts to your children Father. We thank you once again for all the pastors all the pastoral team for all the students who are blessed by APC for everyone who is here and who is not father part of our great beautiful fellowship Father we give you glory, honor and praise and we give you all authority and power Father we take complete control Father and lead us Father so that we are blessed in you Father once again we thank you once again we glorify your holy name we give you glory, honor and praise for who you are and how you lead us Father we thank you once again and ask this bread in the precious and most matchless name of Jesus our Savior. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much Avni for leading us in prayer. Alright we leave this time open please feel free to post your questions share your thoughts from anything that you've been studying your personal study time or even during the courses leave this time open for questions our faculty is here too we'll try our best to answer the questions as well. You can also post your questions on the chat or if you'd like to you can even unmute and ask your questions or you can also feel free to share your learnings over the entire semester up to now is one month or the courses that you are taken your learnings you can feel free to share that as well. I'll ask a question first. Sure go ahead Avni. We've been learning about the end times and the dispensations that the world interprets about pre and post trip rapture. So I just want to know everyone who explains this explains with the full conviction that they what they believe is correct. Now my question is how does anything that we believe out of the three impact the life of a believer or walk with the Lord how does it actually impact whether you know either of one has to be true not all three are going to be true so what I believe I believe is true but all three believe so how does it impact the life of a believer overall that's what my question is like. Thank you so much Avni. Like maybe faster Nancy would you like to share your thoughts on this please. Yeah yeah thank you first of all and thank you Avni for this question. So yeah Avni as you pointed out this is a matter of great contention you know among many believers some believe in pre trip post trip you know different different schools of thought but I think the reason why people subscribe to a certain school of thought is because of you know their reasons their reasons for example like I would subscribe to a pre tribulation rapture to take place and for that you know I go by some of the scriptures that say that you know those who believe in the Lord they will be caught up in the cloud so based on you know 1 Thessalonians 417 and then similar that same event is talked about again in 1 Corinthians 15 so based on that I believe in a pre tribulation rapture so I think Avni basically you know the interpretation of the scriptures is what people base their belief on so like each person as we study the scriptures and then you know we are convinced that yeah this is what these verses are referring to I think you know people end up even those who believe the same things about all other matters somehow when it comes to the end times they may have slightly differing views but as you said you know what is the impact what is the implication I feel like all believers are anyway called to be prepared for the second coming of Christ and so that that sense of readiness and preparedness that doesn't change you know no matter no matter how things are going to unfold so in terms of the impact I think as believers we don't really have to worry too much about it because we know that at all times we have to be prepared and you know God's grace is there upon us so that's that's my view I would let other faculty add to what I've shared thank you thank you Pastor Nancy Jean Pastor Roshan would you like to add your thoughts I think Nancy has done yeah has done real justice to that okay all right okay thank you so much Pastor Nancy Avni I hope that answers your question yes very much thank you so much all right all right we got a list of questions from Herbert on the chat let's take one question at a time first one a sin is anything you do that is contrary to God's word is that right yes that is right first one do we have a small sin or a big sin or whether small or big it's all the same so the question Herbert has here is there's a small sin and a big sin or whether both are the same in God's eyes so Pastor Roshan do you think you can share your thoughts on this please yes yeah as in with regards to that first question do we have a small sin big or small it's all the same yeah I don't think there's a distinction you know distinguish between the sins as such but I mean I just my mind goes back to Adam and Eve and what they did was I mean just to their disobedience to for the fall to come in so Herbert I think the sin is sin and I think with what I was just explaining the class that the sin is simply just falling short of the mark all have been fallen short of the glory of God that means falling short that is a sin is just falling short of the origin from the original desire that God intended for us so yeah I mean this distinction but what you can do is probably is to a study on Matthew 1231 it says you know every sinner will be forgiven so that's I mean that that was requires I don't know how long to just you know looked into my study so at the time you can look into that but that's it for me for that question thank you that's okay thank you Pastor Roshan I thought I just add to what Pastor Roshan said I just want to bring that one verse it is in James 210 so it says it says for whoever should keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point he is guilty of all so I think that that pretty much sums that up that that sin is sin and it's not a degree of sin before God it's everything that goes against the will of God so maybe not to classify it that way but sin is sin whether it's small or big and I think that scripture really talks of even one sin being having you know even if you've sinned once or a small sin you still you are guilty of breaking the entire law yeah thank you thank you thank you so much jean yes go ahead yeah thank you Pastor Roshan, Pastor Jean and the first of all I just wanted to add a perspective to this so yes you know we are called to keep the law and not depart from it in any way so there's an expectation for perfection however we know that you know we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and you know we have God's grace and because of the cross of the Lord Jesus right our sins have already been atoned for so we're living in that period of grace however you know one scripture a first Peter 1 16 where we are told be holy because I am holy so this whole thing about you know every sin taking us away from God every sin having a consequence every sin needing you know a punishment is simply because of who God is and his holiness you know when we look at it in that sense God is so holy that the the smallest slightest deviation is falling below the standard and that's where you know we we are that that's where we infer that even if it is the smallest sin if it is sin you know you're not matching up to what God is saying be holy as I'm holy but yeah praise God that we have the cross we have the Holy Spirit to still continue to strive to to be holy with God so just wanted to add this first of all thank you thank you so much Pastor Nancy I was just reminded of this example that I read quite a few years back just a practical you know practical answer you know we if we take a clean glass of water we take a drop of maybe poison or you know contaminated water and you put it into this glass of clean water we're not gonna drink it because the entire clean glass of water has been contaminated and so so is also sin but a bigger small when we live in it it is it contaminates our body and contaminates our spirit and our soul as well yes Manu I see your hand raised and you said that your we can the voice is coming through for us maybe you can please check your your phones double check that please all right oh we have two other questions from Herbert the Bible doesn't say that alcohol is a sin but drunkenness is so if my denomination prohibits its followers to take alcohol so if I take it would be a sin in front of God the question Pastor Jakes would you like to share your thoughts on this question please hi hi Paul thanks once thanks for the question yeah you're right but in the sense scripture does say that drunkenness is sin and and so by which we kind of come to the conclusion that okay in moderation it's okay but there are in a lot of other scriptures that we see you know that that talks about the the ill effects of alcohol you know or wine you see in problems you see in so I'm not able to pull up the references but you see in a lot of other places the ill effects of that and the judge and the and the lack of judgment and perception that that comes because of you know the use of wine but we also know that Paul says okay use a little wine for your stomach's sake and you know he tells Timothy because of for medicinal use so we see that okay but the thing is this you know that alcohol in moderation or otherwise has the potential to open the door for addiction okay that is one thing that we need to keep in mind it is addictive has the potential to open the door for for addiction long-term you know every like every person who's who's been addicted it started small they never wanted to become you know an alcoholic they started small so it has that potential so we shouldn't we should be wary of that we should understand that now that is that is the first thing the second thing is what we see in you know what we see in I think it's in yeah let me just take this out what we see in first Corinthians actually where Paul talks about being careful of course it is in the context of you know food offered to idols but he is talking about you know if you look at one Corinthians eight and if you go down to verse eight verse eight and verse nine talks about how food does not commend us to God for neither if we eat are we the better and or if you do not or if we do not eat are we the worst but beware let's somehow this liberty of yours makes becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak you know that's another thing to look at one alcohol has a potential to be enslaving has a potential to you know open the door to addiction all of us know that the second one is that you know let's say you're saying okay I'm fine I'm just you know I'm just with this kind of I have I know my limits whatever but then the second thing is this that are you becoming a stumbling block to a weaker brother right we know that this scripture is in the context of food offer titles but it would apply you know anything that you do that you're becoming a stumbling block to a weaker brother and so yeah so these these things and the third thing is also cultural you know in certain cultures you know drinking is it's not a taboo it's the done thing it's like any other beverage and we know that there are you know that there may be pastors who drink there may be churches who who do not you know kind of warn people about that it could be cultural you know also so but but we need to consider these I think these two things would would be something that we need to consider there is a we can I can just probably put out that link a little later where we have actually talked about in church pastor shared about about alcohol and why as a church and why as church staff we do not you know drink alcohol I think that would be helpful for you I'll just put out that link thank you else anyone else who wants to share more thank you pastor Jakes very clear anybody else Jean pastor Nancy Roshan would like to add okay Herbert do you have any follow-up question to that for your second question not really thank you I'm satisfied I'm satisfied okay all right you have a third question here too does God love all his people the same way if yes why did he choose Israelites as his own people so Nancy would you like to go for this please okay yeah I'm not sure if I can I mean I have an answer right away for this okay maybe I'll let someone else take it sure sure first Jakes the third question I'm sorry my eyes I joined a little late yeah can you just post it again question is does God love all his people in the same way if yes why did he choose Israelites as his own people yeah I think this is something that we looked at last week we saw that yes I don't know if it was last week or the week before that but the fact is that yeah God does love everyone the same way he's you know we know that he's not partial but in his plan and purpose he chose that the Messiah would come through this group of people that was his plan that the law would come through this so it was like I don't know sample size if you want to call it that but that was his plan you know like like many other things like he said okay around this time or at this time the Messiah would come in you know why not at the beginning you know why not later but in his plan in his sovereign plan this is what he he decided now I know people have a lot of theories why the Jews and so on but but I think that's that's one thing that we can be sure of and from there the you know the whole plan of redemption unfolds and which covers the entire world you know which which is salvation you know by grace through faith it covers the entire world so it's not like he has left others behind but the fact that they are chosen is that the plan of redemption unfolded yeah so that is something that I can share Nancy yes thank you pastor I think pastor has addressed the question really well so Israel was chosen because of the plan of God but of course we know that since then and from there God has brought salvation to the ends of the earth and I was just reminded of the book of facts how the apostles they take the gospel everywhere and they preach you know they're on their mission to take this this this word this good news to every creature you know every person in the world and that's because you know God's love is for everyone and you know God really wanted salvation to touch each life no matter what tribe you know what nation what community we belong to so yeah thank you pastor I think you've addressed it really well and thank you pastor thank you thank you pastor Nancy anyone else would like to share your thoughts on this why did God choose the Israelites was it favoritism was it just God's sovereign choice anyone would like to share your thoughts on this I'm reminded of Romans yes go ahead go ahead Jean yes yes so I just wanted to add one I wasn't looking at Israel as a nation but the fact that you know when Abraham was called he responded so we see that in Hebrews 118 where it says by faith Abraham when he was called obeyed so if we look at Abraham's history he was actually you know came from or and that that was a place which was a heathen heathen place you know they were probably an unbelieving community and but when God presents himself to Abraham he responded and he left or you know went and then he left Haran and then settled in in Canaan and so so Abraham just responded in faith and and that's what God was looking for I'm definitely God had a plan way before Abraham actually responded but I think that is very significant in in God's calling when someone responds in faith and you know you see the entire nation of Israel being blessed because of the covenant that God had with Abraham so yeah I just wanted to add that as a as another perspective thank you thank you so much Jean for sharing Herbert I hope your questions have been answered do you have any thoughts any other question that you'd like to follow up question on these three first why you have given me a very good answers and references yeah now I have known why I've known why thank you so much helps and the pastor Nancy I will come back thank you so much Herbert for those questions yes we'll continue to leave this time open if you have questions thoughts your things that you've learned over the period over the course of this semester please feel free to unmute and share we can also post your questions on the chat maybe pastor Paul that is that last request which I afforded yeah I think you'll put it in post deletion I think the courses we do in e-learning the material remain the PDFs and the video recordings for future use is that your question Herbert is it what you're referring to yeah yeah yeah it was okay I think Monica has so answered your question on the chat so you can download the PDF notes from the e-learning platform and the videos are available on the APC Bible College YouTube channel as well so yes the notes can be downloaded on the e-learning platform and you can also watch the videos on the YouTube APC Bible College YouTube channel too is that okay Herbert yeah yeah yeah fine fine thank you so much all right all right thank you Herbert yes thank you pastor jakes for putting up those answers to common questions yes so Herbert feel free to you know go go to this link feel free to download it and you can you know a lot of common questions that people have youth you know you can find those answers there as well I think some of the questions were also on you know tattoos what it is it all right as believers to tattoos you know so you'll find a lot of those common questions there answered all right we do have some time let's leave this time open now feel free to share thoughts questions okay all three of them have raised their hands let's take one by one Manu feel free to unmute and ask your questions Divya and Nikki will come to you to next feel free Manu yes Manu did you raise your hand and you have a question all right let's go to Divya will come back to Manu if she has a question yes Divya you have a question please go ahead sure sure thank you thank you pastor my question is regarding the as we read Old Testament especially like books like Kings Chronicles and all these so in these books how do we like practically apply like most of it seems to be like history so as we read those scriptures how do we practically apply those in our lives that's my question is it wrong to even do that I'm not sure to interpret in it in those ways yeah but my question was like regarding the Old Testament especially the historical books okay thank you so much Divya that question yes I will leave this open Pastor Jakes, Pastor Nancy, Gene, Pastor Roshan any one of us would please like to answer this question please yeah I'll just share my thoughts briefly hi Divya for a long time I like the Old Testament books because it's like a story I think it was a while ago I found it more interesting in the New Testament but I'm not saying what we need both but regarding the two specific books that you mentioned I think those two specific books has a story about one of my favorite characters if not all of us is the story of life of David and again I keep you know when I was talking to the youth recently I told them that you know when I when I don't know what to read in the Bible I either go to the hospitals or the life of David and just see and so just one example of how we can maybe apply is as I was going through the David in the book of First Samuel which is you'll find the same story in Kings is after everything that David goes through you know it says that David found his strength in the Lord you know after being rejected by his by the king his mentor by the way people that he saved who wanted to turn him up to give him up to Saul and then his own enemies that's Philistines that he was living with they didn't want they rejected him and then his family has been taken after the Ramalakites and then the same the very group of people 400 or people that he invested in later in Second Samuel we come to know that they were the mighty men of David they were the mighty warriors that to have ever lived in the history of Israel back then and in all of this disappointments and discouragements we see this significant line that says in I think first Samuel chapter 30 verse 3 and 4 you may find that it says David found his strength in the Lord and just reading that that's just one of the examples that okay you know it encouraged me that it is important for me to find strength in the Lord I think in this day and age that we tend to find strength in so many different things which is fine I mean we reach out to our pastors our mentors our best friends we kind of pour up with them and kind of seek for help and etc. I hope you get what I say but just that lightning David found his strength in the Lord made so much of a difference to me and so maybe you know small things like that because of God's word is prophetic in nature it's also living it's it's prophetic because it's living and in Hebrews 410 it says his word is a double-edged sword from the old to the new from Genesis to the revelation and if you just pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what he wants to speak to us through that specific passage of scripture you know he will work in our hearts and I hope that answers. Thank you so much Pastor Roshan yes anyone else would like to share your thoughts Pastor Nancy Jean yeah thank you Pastor Roshan for that and Divya for the question so as you know Pastor Roshan has summed it up beautifully I was reminded of two verses I thought I just shared those verses so second Timothy 3 16 17 you know those those scriptures tell us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's it's given for reproof correction instruction in righteousness and things like that so as Pastor Roshan shared no matter where we are which part of the Bible we are studying there's something to take from it and we are being instructed in the in the path of righteousness and one more scripture is Romans 15 and verse 4 I have it open in front of me so I'll read it out I think the one version open yeah okay yeah I'll read it from NKJV version it says for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope you know once again that points to the fact that we can learn from everything that has been given in the word of God so just wanted to add those two scriptures to our discussion thank you thank you thank you personally I'll also just add this I'm looking at at these books very you know at a larger perspective so when you look at these books it actually gives you the history of of the of the kings and something that's very interesting to note and you know something that I did earlier on when I was a youth was actually look at you know the lifestyle of each king and how it you know it went down the generations and and you would see you know one set being rebellious you see another set being obedient and how God you know takes on the obedience of of of those kings you know who were true to his call and how he blesses them and and the generations to come so you know when you look at that book holistically it gives you such a lesson of being right with God of being in obedience to what he wants and and how much that's going to impact generations to come so I think that really helps you when you look at the books in a at a bigger picture too yeah thank you thank you so much Jean for sharing Divya I trust this answers your question yeah thank you thank you so much ma'am thank you first to Roshan first Nancy thank you for the references thank you thank you Divya all right I think we'll go to the next one Nikki Nicholson you know you raised your hand would you like to ask you a question yeah so this is more of a practical thing with someone asked me I wasn't entirely sure if I was right or wrong so I'd like to address it to Pastor Jake since he's doing finances so someone asked me that they were I'm giving an example I don't know the exact numbers but they had an insurance policy or something like that so you put in for X amount of time you put in about a lack and you get two lakhs back now the question he said was that I'm already tights for one lack should I again go and tight for the other one lack which I'm getting from the insurance policy and I wasn't entirely sure what to tell them in my head but I concluded saying if I if I look at the verses like you give off your first fruit I would look at it the same way where physically you're growing fruit and I mean back in time you had your crops and you gave one tenth of that so I understood in that way but I'm not entirely sure is it right to give from the amount he gets extra or is it not right so if you could give me some guidance in that and be great thanks Nikki yeah I think that was that was one of the questions you know like people were asking also you know when I type do I type on the grass or the net or you know what is it's just you know some gift of present which comes in you know do I have to type on that also but we know that you know this whole issue this whole principle of typing the Lord has laid it down and we see right from the Old Testament into the new continuing to the new so in I think it's in second Corinthians that we see no we one is I'm just digressing a little the second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7 okay so it's looking at giving itself you know giving unto the Lord says let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver for God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work you know just this this the whole spirit or the motive and attitude you know behind giving my second Corinthians 9 verses 7 and 8 9 so so I just wanted to you know share that upfront and hopefully that will guide this whole you know technicality of tithing and and giving as well okay whatever comes into my life the blessing that I receive you know I want to give a tenth of that for God's purposes for you know the purpose of God so even that guiding principle because there are no specific right of course first foods of all increases is is is that you know that term that phrase that we see there but with that guiding principle if we look at what comes into our life and what we want to give this should hopefully you know guide us to do to do it so so yeah and again you know I think what you've shared with this person is right so but you can you can share this also to say okay let this be the motive you know don't be in any way compelled say you know and I'm under pressure to do this you know sometimes we can look at tithing that way but it's it's actually you know God who is who's given us and it's it is again we are giving out of our heart cheerfully it's an act of worship if you look at it that way it'll just liberate us to look at tithing in a whole new way yeah thanks Nikki thank you for that question alright we have another question from John Paul I've heard some someone prayed like this I applied the balm of Gilead as they pray for healing is it okay to pray like that the balm of Gilead yeah referred to in I think Jeremiah chapter eight Jeremiah is talking about the people of Israel crushed oppressed he said is there no balm of Gilead to you know to recover them to restore them so anyone would like to pass on Nancy passageen as a Russian as a jakes feel free to share your thoughts on this is it okay to pray I apply the balm of Gilead for healing okay thank you pastor Paul I just want to add my thoughts so what we see happen is in the Old Testament we have we have certain we call them shadows or we call them as you study about them right you you are pointed towards Christ and his redemptive work and then when you come to the New Testament we over there you you see the Lord Jesus sort of fulfilling that word so in this context when you talk about the balm of Gilead of course we're talking about the one who will come redeem the one who will come restore so in that sense yes it is referring to the work that the Lord Jesus does which includes healing and we know that in the Old Testament God very clearly he introduced himself with this covenant name as Jehovah Rafa so if someone prays like this you know I apply the balm of Gilead for healing but I don't think it would be wrong because they're referring to the same thing though the terminology used is different we know that the balm of Gilead is definitely pointing to the fulfillment in in the New Testament which would be Jesus so those are my thoughts but I would leave it open for the other faculty to share please thank you Jean would you like to share your thoughts it's all right thank you what's the jays as Nancy was sharing I was just thinking you know if if someone really I mean I don't know without this understanding of you know the types and shadow if someone were to think that the balm of Gilead was a physical thing you know something spiritual some spiritual material or something like that then I guess it's good to correct or have a deeper conversation with that person you know but and maybe you can just ask you know why do you say that when you're praying just my thoughts maybe to kind of align you know bring alignment bring focus to why they are praying that way but otherwise yeah since it's referring to the redeeming work of Christ on the cross yeah if that is the understanding then we can just go ahead and pray okay thank you faster so so basically it's so so is it so is it alright to pray I apply the balm of Gilead so it's alright to do that just wanted to clarify yeah possible just want to add I mean answer the question that you've just asked I think having the revelation that we have right now which is about the name of Jesus the authority you know through the cross this this kind of statement is it's not necessary because we have better you know so I'm just saying that if someone as Pastor Jake said with the understanding of the balm of Gilead being the redemptive work of Christ if at all they make a statement like this with the understanding it's okay but definitely when you have better to pray you know in the name of Jesus I don't think we may need to use this statement yes thank you thank you so much Pastor Nancy John I hope that clarifies your question so even if people pray that way the point is you lead them to Christ that actually the balm of Gilead is pointing to Christ in the New Testament so John I hope that answers your question yes yes very much thank you thanks John okay Rob Sidkenu Robert has thought here I was thinking and wondering that in the Old Testament Giants used to live in the times of Noah we all know then from where the giant came giant Goliath came in David's time as they all died in the flood then how this generation of Giants came in David's time okay let me just rephrase that question so Sid's question is there were Giants in the times of Noah but after the flood the the entire mankind was destroyed and God promised never to do that again so Sid's question is during the time of David where did Goliath come from Goliath the giant Goliath come from how did this new generation of Giants come during David's time right we have three minutes more yes any one of us can please share your thoughts on this Roshan Pastor Roshan no problem thank you thank you Roshan no problem yes anyone else Pastor Nancy what's the Jakes okay first of all well what I am able to recall is see the Old Testament Giants who were destroyed in Noah's flood they were a different you know because it says like the angels they intermarried with the human beings and they produced this generation but this is in stark contrast to the kind of Giants that existed during David's time so Goliath was one among the Philistines and he was a complete human being so Sid you know I think we are talking about you know two different creatures so the Noah the Giants from the time of Noah I mean people give them some names and there's all kinds of philosophies you know Nephilim and some names like that but it's not the same as the Giants of David's time so that's that's the clarification I want to bring I hope it helps okay all right thank you Sid for that question we have two minutes left but we will wrap up we don't have time to answer those questions so thank you everyone for being part of our mentoring hour it was a good time good questions and I'm sure we'll be able to learn from all these questions as well applied in our lives let's wrap up this time with a word of prayer could one of us please lead us or close in prayer maybe Divya can you please close in prayer for us sure sure thank you thank you thank you Lord thank you father for this wonderful time father that you gave us to father whatever Lord as we do not have answers father Lord whatever we want to know Lord you've given us this opportunity father to be mentored to be father answered to father we thank you father for all the pastors the pastoral team here father Lord bless them immensely father continue to use them mightly for your glory we thank and praise you for everyone who are here Lord and all those who are part of the APC Bible College father we pray your blessing or then we bless them in the name of a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ father we pray Lord the sessions that are ahead for today Lord may your continued Lord presence and revelation or your wisdom your grace Lord be upon the pastors and the students father we thank you and praise you in Jesus precious name we amen amen amen thank you Divya thank you everyone for joining this time have a great day ahead see you in the classes bye now