 Good morning everyone and welcome to the class on Minister's Foundation. Can you all hear me well? Good morning ma'am. Yes, okay. Let's begin with the word of prayer. So can one of you please lead us in prayer please? Anyone would like to lead us in prayer? Yes ma'am. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this time Lord. Thank you for this beautiful morning. You have given us the Father Lord. Thank you for this time of Father where we can sit in a presence and read and learn the Father Lord. As we come in the presence of Father, commit Salina Ma'am in your hands of Father Lord, give your wisdom and knowledge of Father Lord Jesus. Help us also to learn a Father. Holy Spirit teaches a new thing of Father Lord Jesus. Father, let your will, let your plans and purpose be fulfilled in each one of our lives of Father. Holy Spirit, rest of the class we commit in your hands. In Jesus mighty name we ask. Amen. Amen. Okay, so welcome everyone. All the in-person students, online students and also a warm welcome to our e-learning students who will be listening to this lecture later on. We just pray that today's class will be edifying and riching, will strengthen us even as we are in our journey of life trying to discern here from God, receive his guidance to know how we, he's guiding us and leading us and also to apply what we are learning in our everyday lives. Sorry, I'm having a throat infection, actually a viral fever, a throat infection so the voice will not be too good today. So we looked at two primary ways that God leads us and guides us. One is the word, the word of God, scripture, bible and the second one is through the Holy Spirit, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, also through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. So those are the two primary ways that God will lead us and guide us and the secondary ways that God leads us and guides us is we looked at in chapter seven, dreams and visions and we began looking at chapter eight, even through prophecies. We looked at chapter nine where he will lead us through angels and also through you know, godly counsel, renewed mind, times and seasons, circumstances and divine orchestration. So these are all secondary ways that God leads us but when he leads us through these secondary ways, we always need to go back to his word and confirm if it is what he is leading and guiding us is according to his word, if you've heard correctly from God and also the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will also attest and confirm if what we have received through these secondary means, secondary ways is what God is speaking to us because Satan is also known as the angel of light. He can disguise himself as angel of light and he can, you know, deceive us. He can speak things into our ears, in our minds and we can think that it is from God so we need to be very, very careful. Okay, so last week we began looking at prophecy chapter eight, a secondary way through which God leads us and guides us. So prophecy is basically God speaking to man through man. So prophecy is God speaking to man through man and you know, we looked at this verse that says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse three that prophecy brings about edification, exhortation and comfort to God's people. So it edifies, exhorts and it comforts us. So prophecy can also be used to bring correction, direction and revelation. Okay, so through these, you know, prophecies that we receive, God can bring a correction in our lives. He can bring direction and also reveal things that we, you know, we don't know, we are unaware of and things that are lying dormant in our lives. We looked at 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verses 20 and 21. It's in your in your publication. So can we all read that together please? 1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse 20 and 21. It says, do not despise prophecies, test all things all fast to what is good. Okay, so here it says that we need to test all prophecies. We shouldn't reject prophecies. We must be open to prophecies. But the word of God says that we also need to test prophecies and we need to hold on to what is good, which implies that we need to reject what is bad. Now you can ask this question, why should I test the prophecy when it is coming through the Holy Spirit? It is God speaking to man through man. So why should I test prophecies? Because the Holy Spirit, yes, is perfect. The gift is perfect. But the vessel that, you know, the Holy Spirit is revealing through is imperfect. That means the prophet, the person himself is imperfect. So there is a possibility of contamination, meaning that they will mix, the prophet can mix up their own words with God's word or they can mix up their own words with God's message. Okay, so for example, God is giving us meat, just say lamb or mutton, okay, or chicken. And you know, the prophet puts his own spices, adds more spices and adds more masala to make it more tasty. Okay, so the God is giving them a message, but they can add two or three more, you know, pieces to that three or two or three more sentences, what they think and what they feel and what they perceive and they can give it to you. So we need to, you know, discern, we need to test, hold on to what is good and we need to reject what is bad. And we also need to test the source of the inspiration, whether the person is speaking, the so-called prophet is speaking from top of his mind. Sometimes it can be even a demonic source. So we need to test the validity of the message, you know, what they have conveyed, how do we test the validity of the message? First, if it is in line with God's word, so you take the prophecy, you write it down, or you record it when they are speaking to you, you know, on your mobile, then you go back and test it in line, if it's in line with God's word. Secondly, we need to test if it is glorifying Jesus, if the prophecy that is being given is glorifying Jesus. And also you need to ask the Holy Spirit to bear in a witness in your spirit regarding that message. And also another way that we can conform with the prophecy is right or it's good, is if God has been speaking to you already about this over time, okay? So we can receive prophecy, but we need to test the validity of what the prophet is saying or what they're prophesying over our lives. Now it's important to know that, you know, we shouldn't go prophecy shopping, you know, some of us, when we are in a problem or a difficulty, we need a solution, you know, we run from person to person, you know, from one prophet to another prophet, you know, asking them to pray for us, to reveal what God is telling us to do, when we don't have to go prophecy shopping, because God knows where you are, okay? And he knows what you need to hear from him through prophecy. So let it come to you, because God knows, hey, this is the situation that you're going through, you know, it's difficult, you need to hear from him, and you're not able to, you're not in a position to hear from him. So he will send the person to prophesy over your life, to speak into your life. So you wait, but you don't run prophecy shopping, you know, most of us, some of us do that. So, you know, wait for God, he will, you know, speak to you, he will send you the message that you need to hear through prophecy, okay? But in the meantime, what do you do? Your primarily go back to the ways that God leads us and guides us through his word, and through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, okay? Now, there are several ways in which God can use prophecy to bring his guidance to us, okay? The first one is to prophetic confirmation, you know, when prophetic confirmation is, you know, when we want God to speak to us, or it is to bring confirmation to what God has already been speaking to us, to confirm it to us. So if you're praying about something, and you're praying to make a decision about something, or, you know, you're thinking about a certain direction or a course in your life, and, you know, you're waiting on God for a confirmation, maybe you've already heard through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, but you want to make sure, because it's a very important decision in your life, it's like one of the most strategic decisions that you're making in your life, and, you know, you can just wait on God. So, you know, a prophet or somebody can come to you who really doesn't know what you're going through, what you're thinking, what God has placed in your heart, and they can bring, you know, a word of prophecy, confirming the direction in which God has been leading you and guiding you. So it can be through prophetic confirmation. Also, another way that God brings guidance to prophecy is prophetic direction. Okay, he directs us in the way that we need to go. That means that God can direct you in a certain way through a prophetic word that you're beginning to move in a certain way, you know, go in a certain way, in a certain direction, make a specific choice, and somebody comes and, you know, prays over you and says, hey, the way that you're going is right, what you're doing is right, the course that you are doing is right, or the person you've chosen for your life is right, or even as you're going to take up this new job in this certain field is what God has for you. So it just basically brings you confirmation, it brings you encouragement, and then you begin to move in that direction. So the prophetic word can come, you know, just to guide you, to direct you in the path that God wants you to go. Okay, and another way that God guides us through prophecy is through prophetic revelation. Okay, so prophetic revelation is, you know, sometimes we are not aware of the potential that God has placed in our lives, you know, or we may not be aware of the call, the plan and the purpose that God has for our lives, and sometimes, you know, things are lying dormant, or they are, you know, just sleeping inside us, we're not doing anything about the skills, the talents, the calling, the abilities that God has placed in our lives, because we don't know that, or we have not, it goes unrecognized, we're not aware of it. So God can, you know, through prophetic word, or through prophecy, he can unveil his plan and purposes for our lives. He can tell you that, hey, I place these things in your life, these are my gifts, these are the calling, your purpose for your life, and he can also reveal some things about the future. So God can use prophecy to reveal things about the future, so that you can prepare for yourself. Okay, so these are three ways that God guides us through prophecy. The first one is the prophetic confirmation, he confirms already what he's been speaking to us, direction, he's basically directing you a specific way, but through prophecy, there comes assurance as encouragement, hey, yes, this is the way that I need to go, this is the right direction. So it is, you know, something that encourages us and strengthens us, and we continue to pursue in that direction, and also prophetic revelation. Okay, so don't go around seeking prophecies, let God speak to you through his word and through the inner witness of Holy Spirit, and if he knows, or he wants to reveal things through people through you into your life, speak over your life, he will do that. Okay, so that is briefly about prophecies, any questions? There is a pastor has shared one of his life examples, you can read that after class is over. Sister, I have a question. Yes, get through it. You know, some of the prophets when they prophesy, and the prophecy doesn't come true, that means it was not a true prophecy. It doesn't happen that prophecy. Sometimes prophecies can take months and years even for the prophetic word to be fulfilled. So, for example, you know, many years back, somebody prophesied over my life that I would be healed of my back problem. And I did have a back problem at that point of time, but I just wrote down that prophecy. And many years later, I had a severe back issue. And, you know, the doctor asked me to rest for almost two weeks, and I had, I couldn't do that, I had to go to school, I was ministering in schools, that was my passion. So somebody could lie down for two weeks, that was impossible. So I just prayed, and then I remember this prophetic word that I had received that, you know, God will heal you of your back issue. So I just prayed that, and I said, God, you have already revealed to me that you are going to heal me. So I'm just receiving that healing. And of course, I went back and I did my normal routines. I, of course, I took care of my back, I took the needed rest also that was required. But yes, God did heal me of my back issue. So it took years after I received that prophetic word. Okay, thank you sister. So if a prophecy does not come true, how should we take it? We should just take it as the person who prophesied, just spoke on from top of his head, or it was not from God, it was just something that maybe the person knows you and just spoke something for the sake of speaking, but we don't judge the person. We just, you know, leave it, but maybe it will take years for the prophecy to come true. So you can just hold on to that as well. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay, there are no questions. We'll move on to angels chapter nine. Now, you might be good morning. Yes, Miriam. I also have a question, something to know about prophecy. Yes, please go ahead. How will you know a true prophecy? And you know, there are people who can see maybe what you do from out or what happens from out. And then sometimes they come and speak that, how will you know that that is a true prophecy and that is really coming from God? So I've already mentioned that. Thank you for your question, Miriam. I already mentioned that in my lecture so far. Prophecy is basically what brings edification, what brings exhortation and comfort. So if it's bringing edification, exhortation and comfort, it's building you up. It's encouraging you. It's something prophecy can also bring about correction, direction and revelation. Means God has revealed something to you. He's directing you a specific way. This person who doesn't know anything about you is confirming that direction, that leading or is revealing things in your life that you're not aware of. We know it's from God. And I also said that when we receive prophecies, we need to go back and, you know, check the validity of it. If it's in line with God's Word, if it's glorifying Jesus, and also the Holy Spirit will conform it to you, the inner witness. You can pray about it. The Holy Spirit can conform it to you, can speak in those same lines. You can feel sense, the peace, the joy, which is, you know, to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, which we learned. And also, you know, that you can just wait on God and, you know, you can hear him speak and he will conform it and he will attest it. But if you know that the person knows you and is speaking from the top of his mind, or if it's something that is, you know, from a demonic source, it will not bring edification, comfort. It will not bring, you know, exhortation. It will be something that will really disappoint you, upset you, you know, and you don't feel the peace and the joy, you know, because the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy. And if you don't sense that, if it's not right, then, you know, it is just from the person, what he's speaking from the top of his mind. But you can always take it, go back, you know, and test whether it is right, take whatever is right, take whatever's wrong, you can just leave it. Did that help Miriam? Hello Miriam, did it help? Okay, okay, thank you, I've heard. Sorry, we can't hear you. I'm like, okay, thank you, I've heard that. Okay, thank you. So we'll move on to chapter nine. Anyone else has any questions? Okay, there are no questions and we'll move on to chapter nine, where we will look at how God directs us, guides us through angels. Just give me a minute please, yeah. So we see that, you know, angels minister to people both in the old and the New Testament, we see God using angels to send messages to people, to guide them, to direct them, to reveal what God was planning to do in their lives and also explain the visions or the meaning of the visions they received from God. So we see both in the old and New Testament, God using angels to guide, lead, to reveal, to direct, to reveal what he has planned to do in their lives and also explain the meaning of visions that they have received from God. Okay, we see this even in the early church that, you know, God ministered to them through angels. Angels were very active during the early church and they're still very active in the church age as well today. Okay, so we can receive the ministry, the guidance, the leading, the directing and also the revelation of what God is planning to do in our lives through angels. Okay, so if you look at the New Testament, we see that, you know, angels announced to Mary that she would have a child. We also see an angel, an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take Mary as his wife, also instructing him to go to Egypt. We looked at these passages in scripture earlier in our previous lessons as well. So even as angels ministered in old and New Testament, even in the early church, we can also, you know, be open to the ministry of angels. Okay, let's look at Hebrews chapter one verse 14. Can somebody read that please? Hebrews chapter one verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits, send forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Amen, thank you. So here it says that angels have been sent to serve minister to those who are heirs of salvation or to those who are saved. So angels, you know, serve and minister to those who are heirs of salvation. That means all of us who are children of God, to those who are born again, who are saved. So angels have been dispatched to serve you. So angels do many things, they protect us from harm and danger, you know, and many of us can recount times when we should have been dead, but something just protected us, and that must have been your angel. So a couple of angels are doing their job protecting our lives. We also see in scripture that angels are used by God to send messages to us, like we saw in the case of Mary and Joseph. Okay, so in the case of Joseph, we see that, you know, God spoke to him in the night, which means that the angels came to him in a dream, and they basically intercepted his thinking with a message from God. So just like the Holy Spirit can speak to us, angels also speak to us. They can also intercept our thinking or our visualization into imagination with messages from God. So they can speak to us, okay. We can hear that, you know, they can sometimes they can appear to us, they can speak audibly, they can speak to us without being visible, they can speak to us in dreams, they can also influence our thoughts, which means they can put, they can intercept our thinking, our thoughts, they can intercept our visualization into imagination with messages from God, okay. So angels can speak and we can hear them through the year of our spirit man, you know, just like our bodies have five senses, our soul have five senses, our bodies have five senses, in the same way spirit also can, you know, has these five senses. Our spirit man can also see, hear, touch, feel, and taste, okay. That's why it says taste and see that the Lord is good, okay. So our spirit man can also have these five senses through which God, you know, ministers to us or speaks to us or we can receive the message from the spirit of God in our spirit man, okay. So we need to be open to angels ministering to us, you know, oftentimes during worship we can sense the, you know, the presence of angels ministering among us. Sometimes, you know, when you're preaching or teaching, you can see people have seen angels around the ministers of God just, you know, they're, you know, just ministering to them and through them to the congregation. So we must be open and aware of angelic activity around us. But even as we do, there are some things that we need to keep in mind. We don't worship angels, we just worship only God because he alone deserves our worship. He alone is to be worshiped and placed. And we don't seek after angelic visitations. Our focus should remain on Jesus. It is he who will, you know, send his angels to guard us, to do everything that concerns us. We, our focus should not be on angels, but our focus should be on Jesus. And we must discern angelic visitations because sometimes Satan and his demons can imitate themselves as angels of light. So sometimes angels and demons, you know, can, can imitate themselves as angels of light and then it can come. So we need to be very, very careful. And we need to discern if it is a demonic visitation or an angelic visitation. So how do you discern that? If it's an angelic visitation that is peace, this joy, you can just sense the presence of God. If it is a demonic visitation, even if it comes as light, but there can be something very eerie, something uncomfortable, something that's not just right, you feel that you can sense that in your spirit. Okay. We ask God for assistance of his angels according to his word. So, you know, God sends his angels to assist us. So we need to ask God to, you know, send his angels to assist us. And, you know, and we also need to speak, you know, the promises declaring what his angels can do for us. And even as it is given in his word. So, you know, it's nothing wrong in asking God for assistance of angels. But, you know, even as we're asking God, we can, we can declare what he has written in his word. We can say, God, let your angels watch over us, let your angels watch over, you know, people who are, who you are praying for, or your family members, you know, you can, even as you're praying for them, you can just say, God, send your angels to God, them watch over them. You can release and speak the word of God concerning angels saying, God, your word says, you know, that you will give your angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways. You can speak this over your family, your loved ones, your friends, you can speak and declare this word of God. You can also say, God, your word says that the angels of the Lord encamp around those who fear you and you deliver them. So, you can say, God, send your angels to encamp around me and deliver me. You know, you can also speak that and invite angelic activity into your life and ask God to and be open, you know, to minister to you through angels. In some situations, you know, when you're praying for people who are oppressing you, who are troubling you, you can, you can also pray and say, God, send your angels to take care of them. So, it's nothing wrong in praying and asking God to send his angels to minister through you or to people you're praying for or through your loved ones. We also see that, you know, there was a lot of angelic activity in the early church. For example, there are quite a few examples given here, you know, how the angel delivered Peter from prison and instructed him to go and preach in the temple. We read this in Acts chapter 5 verses 19 to 20. We also see an angel directing Philip to go down to Gaza, where he goes and preaches the gospel to the Ethiopian man in the chariot and how this man takes the gospel to Ethiopia after he's baptized. He's convinced about the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is God. We also see an angel appearing to Cornelius, who was a Gentile, who loved God, you know, and God, the angel directed him to send men to Jopah to where Peter was living, so that he can come and preach the gospel to them and we see how, you know, an angel was also released to Peter, you know, and how when he was in the prison and how his chains were broken and how the angel directed him out of the prison. Again, we also see angels struck Herod and he died and an angel appeared to Paul while he was sailing to Rome and assured him that, you know, no life would be lost even as, you know, they were facing a very severe and a very terrible storm that he said that even if the ship was going to be damaged at Paul, his life would be saved and, you know, the people on the ship, their lives would be saved as well and that he will surely appear to Caesar at Rome. Okay, so we see that, you know, how angels guided, led, delivered, spoke and ministered to the people in the early church, so we can also be open to angelic activity in our lives for them to direct us, lead us, guide us, to bring God's message to us and also reveal things that God has planned to do for our lives. They can also give us a meeting of visions that we have received from God. Okay, so even as we've learned about angels, you can pray and ask God and be open to the guidance and to the work of the angels that God has directed to send to each one of us. Any questions on chapter 9? Can you share a personal encounter with an angel or an angelic encounter of someone you may know? Well, there are so many examples. I remember once I was preaching, I think it was my first time I was preaching in a church on Good Friday and, you know, and after the message, I heard one of, I know one auntie was very prayerful. She said, you know, when you were preaching, I just saw angels around you. So I think they were just there to minister to me. I was extremely nervous. It was a mainline church. It was the first time I was preaching. So I just needed that encouragement. So I think they were just there to encourage support. I don't know what they were doing, but I just felt the powerful presence of God. So she said she saw angels. We can read various people who've had angelic encounters. I can't think of anything as of now. But maybe if I can think of something, I can share Sanjay. But there are times when I know that, you know, I would have had an accident. God has saved me, protected me. I think it's just the angels that are guarding and protecting us. I can share one example. I don't know. I didn't see any angels though. But well, I had gone for a mission strip from APC. We had gone to Gujarat. And when I was going on, you know, we were going in the in the vehicle in the car to the place that we were going to minister. It was very early in the morning. And I was just singing the song, the God of angel armies is always by my side. I kept repeating those two, three lines of that same song. And I'm singing it so loudly. And I realized, I don't know why I was just singing those two, three lines over and over and repeating it. And I was singing loudly in the car. Everybody was there along with me who were going. And when we went to the place where we were ministering, you know, we just entered the place and I was going to sit on the chair, but accidentally someone didn't realize that I'm going to sit down on the chair. They just pulled the chair off. So I sat, you know, sat down on my butts, just hit the rock bottom, the ground. It was not a cemented or a, you know, a granite flooring. It was a very hard, you know, it was just mud and, you know, it was a village. So just cow dung and mud mixed was very hard flooring. But when I sat down, I just felt a cushion under me. I didn't sense the ground. I didn't sense my back hitting the ground. I just felt a cushion, you know, under me. So when I, I was in a state of shock when I woke up, you know, there were two doctors along with us in the team who had gone from Bangalore. They took me in. You know, they looked at me. I said, I'm not feeling pain. He said, maybe in a state of shock, but, you know, I didn't sense any pain. I didn't have any pain. I felt so hard on my butts. But then I was thinking later on when, when the shock, everything, you know, kind of left and I was in my normal senses, I realized that I actually sat on a cushion and there was no cushion down. And then I realized that, hey, the song I was singing, you know, God of Angel Armies is always by my side. And I don't know why I signed that, but, you know, I just singing that and that's made so much sense. It was just my angels that are there to God and protect me. I said, I've really badly hurt my back. So that's two of my personal examples. Sanjay, I hope that helps. Pastor Ken, angels take human appearance. No, I, angels can't take human appearance. No, I don't think so. Pastors can, can angels also come in this time like early church, earlier church, visibly? Yes, why not? They can come visibly because as I, I think like I gave my example when I was preaching, this auntie actually saw angels around me and people have seen angels. So yes, they can be visible. They can come visibly. They can be invisible as well. According to 1 Corinthians 6-3, why judgment over angel authority is given to human? Because, you know, we are created in God's image. We are created, you know, above the angels as well. Okay. Did that help for Nelson? What does 1 Corinthians 6 verse 3 read? Can you please read that? It says, do you not know that we will judge angels how much more the things of this life? So here in this verse, basically, you know, Paul is addressing the disputes that the believers were having at Corinth. And, you know, he was talking about the importance of resolving the conflicts within the church. So Paul is emphasizing the idea that believers will have a role in judgment, not only the matters within the church committee, but also the future judgment involving angels. Now, the exact reason why believers will judge angels are not explicitly like given in detail in this verse. And, you know, interpretations can vary. Some scholars suggest that believers will participate in the judgment of fallen angels or angels who have not fulfilled their roles properly. So it emphasizes the authority and responsibility that believers will have in the age to come. But looking at this verse, it is important for us to interpret this verse in the light of the rest of scripture or in the broader biblical context and not just draw conclusions from just this one passage or this one statement in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. So the exact nature and the extent of believers' role in judging angels, you know, actually is, you know, something that's a topic of theological discussion and interpretation. So we really don't know. So did that help, Nelson? Okay. Any other questions? Okay. There are no other questions. We'll move on to chapter 10. Now, chapter 10, Godly Council, chapter 11, Renewed Mind, chapter 12, which is Times and Seasons and chapter 13, which is Circumstances and Divine Orchestrations are all which I explained in detail when we were looking at the Nine Guidepost in Fulfilling God's Purpose for Your Life. So I'm not going to be looking at all the scripture passages and, you know, be explaining it because I've explained all of this in detail when we were studying Fulfilling God's Purpose for Your Life because all of these were the Nine, one of the Nine Guideposts. Also, the Renewed Mind, we looked at it quite a lot in detail, the verses in Ephesians, the verses in Romans, we studied quite in detail in chapter 1. So I'll just kind of highlight a few things and we will just move on. Okay. So chapter 10, Godly Council. Now, another way that God guides us, the secondary way God guides us and leads us is through people. So God uses his people to speak, help, guide us along the paths for our lives. Okay. So, yes, God guides us through his Council and it is often brought through people who know the ways of God, understand the heart of God and have the wisdom of God. So it's good that, you know, we need to humble ourselves, we need to also receive counsel from Godly people. So how do we know which person we need to go for a particular problem, difficulty that we're having? It can be anything, you know, which career to choose, whether this is the right career, this is the right course, which job to choose, you're starting a business, you want to do business and ministry, you want to get into full-time ministry, you want to move to a certain place, you want to marry someone, you know, you're having marital problems or relationship problems. It's good to take Godly counsel. So how do you choose the people? Basically, you know, people who know the ways of God, they understand the heart of God, they have the wisdom of God. And also, yes, they need to have the skill in that particular area. So remember when I was in school, you know, or in college, I want to become a cardiologist and, you know, so I went and spoke to a cardiologist who was, who has come to our church and they told me everything about cardiology and, you know, all the details. And I realized that, hey, the way God has fashioned me, the way God has made me, you know, I'm not designed for this because I know that I'm not very good at my hands. I'm not very creative, I can't even draw a straight line, I can't even cut straight. And I realized that when I was in 12th grade, when I was doing, I took science, so you know, there's a lot of practicals that we have, we have to dissect a fish and a cockroach and a rat and all of those things. I used to, you know, and remove the digestive system and the respiratory system and displayed, I just couldn't do it right. I would squash up my entire specimen that was given to me. And I realized that if I'm going to become a cardiologist, I would just cut people's veins and arteries and they're going to surely die. So that is not the area that God has called me to or he's designed me for. And, you know, he showed me the right time where I need to be. Okay. So it's good to receive a council from the right people, because when we do that, it puts us in a place of safety. We can draw strength, look at what a proverb chapter 11 was 14 says, can somebody read that please? Proverbs 714. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 14, where there is no council, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. Amen. So saying receive, when we receive counsel, it puts us in a place of safety, where in a safe place, we know what we are doing, whether it's the right thing or the wrong thing, you know, put us in a place of strength, we can draw from wisdom, experience and learning of Godly people. Okay. So sometimes we might have an idea, you want to do this, you can, you want to do that, but it's important to get the right input. So suppose you want to start a business, so suppose you want to do something in ministry, it's good to go and speak to a person who is, you know, has experience in that area, you go meet them, you can ask them. And when you do that, you know, you get ideas, you get, you know, they teach you what they had done, what went wrong, what you should be doing, what is right, what is the, you know, the way to go about this. So it saves you so much of time, it saves you so much of mental distress, it saves so much of your, you know, energy, because now you've, hey, I shouldn't be doing this, I should be doing this, I shouldn't do this this way, because, you know, I can land up in this problem. So if you don't ask counsel, then you start all from scratch, then imagine the years of toil and stress and difficulty and, you know, if you can just ask somebody who's gone through all of those things, they share from their experience, they share how they went through things, what they did, what they did not do right, what they did right, we can just learn from their experience, it makes it more easier, it makes it more simpler for us, so we can move fast in our journey in life, okay. So, you know, we receive the right input from the right kind of people, they help us see that how we can make our ideas into a reality, or sometimes we have an idea, we have interest, but you know, when we hear from them, then we say, hey, I'm not cut out for this, I don't think I'm good in these these areas, so maybe you want to start a business, you can say, hey, I'm not good in finance, I'm not good at, you know, relating with people, I'm not, I can get easily fooled with people, because I'm very naive and simple people can fool me, so now we can get all of those ideas, and then if we think that's not going to work, we can just drop the idea, okay. So, also good to not just take information from one person, you know, get information for more than one person, okay. So, you know, when look at what Proverbs chapter 20 verse 18 says, can somebody read that please, Proverbs chapter 20 verse 18. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 18, plans are established by council, by wise council, wake war. Yeah, amen, so it says the council you receive is like weapons that cure you up for battle, so go into the fight armed with council from wise people, so sometimes you're entering into things, you want to do things, sometimes, you know, you want to get into a job, or you want to get into a business, you know, and they're giving you council, it is, it's like a weapon that is gearing you up for the challenges, the difficulties, you know, that you are going to meet on your road towards your, you know, plan and your purpose, or what God has envisioned for your life, and you can use them at the right time to, you know, you can use the right kind of weapons that you have received from Godly council, the right time to handle difficult situations, or when you face challenges, you can use these weapons that you have received through Godly council that will bring you through victory, otherwise imagine if you have not received this council, you don't know how to wage war, how to fight against this, how to overcome this difficulty, then you know, you are feeling tired, you feel that you've, you know, you can't just have the energy in the strength to get up and run and to finish your race, but if you have received Godly council, you know how to handle things ahead of time, it will lead you into victory. Okay, but the important thing is that we need to receive council from people who, you know, who have a deep in time have been tested and proven to walk with God, those who will speak based on authority of God's word, and in submission to the Holy Spirit, it's very, very important. Sometimes we can take council from ungodly people and ungodly the sense in the world we're doing very well in that area of business or that area of skill that you are involved in, you can learn from their experience, their skillsets, their wisdom, their knowledge, but you can take what is right and leave out what is wrong. So if they're telling you to do some wrong things, hey, you can bribe this person, bribe that person, give them so much of money, give them, give this person so much of money, do this, this way, don't have to present the right figures in your business deal and all of those things, you know those are wrong, leave out those bad things, take what is right, take what is good, you can also learn from them. Okay, but be careful what kind of council you're taking from ungodly people. Okay, even as we take council from people regarding various areas of our life, it's also important that, you know, we must also receive correction from them, you know, sometimes when they correct us, when they are, you know, trying to warn us, trying to tell us, hey, what you're doing is wrong, we need to be humble enough to receive correction from them. Okay, and lastly also that, you know, we can receive council from our parents who are godly, our own parents, especially those who are godly because, you know, they will cause us to walk in honour and esteem among people. Okay, we'll come back and look at how we can receive council of godly parents. Okay, we'll go for a break now and then we'll come back after the break.