 did it in the New Testament Church and the lives of the believers. Father God, we pray and we ask, oh God, that you would do it in our lives as well, God. We pray that, Lord, as we follow you, God, let there be wholehearted obedience, wholehearted trust, God, and as we follow you, God, even as you promise that you promise that you will make us fishers of men. Yes, Lord, each one of us, Lord, we want to be proclaimers of truth, God. We want to be fishers of men, God, in your hands or master. We want to be vessels of honor, God. And to that end, Lord, we ask, oh God, that you would perfect that which concerns us, Father God, making us effective, oh God, in that area, God. And I just pray, God, even as the word says that your strength, oh God, overshadows and our weakness are swallowed up in your strength, God. And, Father, we ask, oh God, that you would just overshadow all areas of weakness in our lives and that we might be vessels of honor in your hands, that we might be vessels of righteousness, God. And yes, Father God, we might receive and that we might overflow and that people be directed to you, Father God, that they will see the good works and be drawn to you, Master. Yes, Father God, I pray that even as we follow you, God, that we will be equipped, oh God, to be men and women of God, who minister with your power, minister with your wisdom, God. Yes, Lord, change us, transform us, God, into who you want us to be and where you want us to be, Lord, and to reach out to the people whom you want us to reach out to. So we submit ourselves into your mighty hands in Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen. Okay, so let's, yeah, let's continue from where we stopped last, last class. So we looked at, we're looking at the, you know, different keys for effective preaching. And we, and we also looked at, you know, if it is a situation where we need to, let's say a workshop or a seminar or where it has a time for interaction, right, interaction with the audience, then here are some things to keep in mind, right. First of all, to be alert so that we receive the question, right, to understand the question. So we don't go off on a tangent and answer something else which was not asked, but answer to the point so that the people are helped, right, so to understand the question. And, and also sometimes what happens is people are very quiet, you know, until that first question comes, and then, you know, others would follow through if there are no questions, or if, if maybe there's one or two questions, you know, maybe you, you know, maybe we can prompt and saying, have you considered this, you know, what do you think about this, right. And, and since it's a, you know, it's a forum where people can ask, and maybe people can even engage in a discussion. So you could ask, you know, as a speaker, you could facilitate that and, you know, ask a question or prompt some kind of a facilitated discussion, right. So, so to be prepared for that, okay, what, what kind of questions could possibly, people could possibly ask if I'm talking about this topic, right. So we could be ready with one or two, which would help. And, and yeah, so the thing is to be attentive to listen to the question, because thing is, when we hear the first few words, our mind is already formulating answers. You know, what do you think of this thing? And then you hear the topic and you're already, you know, you're not listening to the rest of the question, but you're already thinking of, okay, maybe where is that in the Bible? Maybe it's in, you know, in the scripture, maybe I could share that, and you're already there. But the thing is to take time and be attentive to listen to what is the body of the question or what is the nature of the question so that we can answer appropriately, okay. So this also gives rise to, maybe there are people who want to talk about that topic, maybe they have additional questions, maybe they have some personal questions of a personal nature on the topic, right. And then, so be open to them meeting after the meeting, and then asking those questions. So these are, you know, great opportunities to minister, great opportunities to, like even in the pastoral setting that happens, to be open to discussing it further, and not, you know, shutting down. Immediately, you know, my work is done, and I'm just going, you know, so, yeah. So some things that we can do, we can actually, if we want to improve our speaking style, we can always record. Nowadays, we have so much of, you know, so many gadgets are on simple mobile phone itself, so we can record and listen to it, and see where we can improve, where we can change. I was telling John Paul the other day, I was listening to one of the, you know, some of the morning devotions that I was doing, and then one particular thing, I was making a lot of, well, all these noises like, and, you know, then I made a mental note, I should avoid doing that. I should be clear about what, because it doesn't sound good, it can be distracting. So I just said, okay, I should make a mental note of that, I should avoid it the next time, right, do whatever it takes to avoid that. So hearing yourself speak, hearing your audio or video, listening to it always helps. So it can give you a very realistic thing, you know, it's, you know, you can assess it for yourself and make changes, right. Okay. So that's about staying alert for questions and also improving oneself. If there is an opportunity to get feedback, we can do that also. I remember certain workshops, they have feedback about, you know, each speaker actually had a feedback form, which we could actually write, and we can nowadays, we can do it online, just send a link, and maybe you can WhatsApp it, text it, and you can get a feedback about how the session was. So that'll give us, you know, oneness about language, the way we presented things, we learn about that. This thing is also, what was their takeaway? How did people respond to what was shared, and what was their learning? Okay, so then that also gives some insight as to how did we communicate what we did. You know, that if there's something that they understood, which is, which is not what you've shared, right. So there's been a gap, there's been a, you know, you meant this, but the takeaway was something else. Then you realize that, oh, hey, I better, you know, communicate it. Well, I better explain it well. I made a joke of it, but they seem to have taken it pretty seriously. And maybe they got upset or, you know, whatever. So we can change our style of communication, even from that, you know, from the content of their learnings. So that, so taking a feedback is good. Again, when it comes to taking feedback, well, certain comments could be very personal. Certain things can be nasty and don't worry. Okay. The practical thing is, don't look at the feedback immediately after, you know, after your session, after you've spoken. Don't look at those things, feedback forms or those comments. Don't do it immediately because you're at the most vulnerable point in life, you know, that you've made yourself vulnerable, you've shared your heart, maybe. So it's best that you don't do it now. You know, emotionally, you're not in the place to look at things objectively. Maybe you're saying, well, man, I spend so much time, I did, again, I was just saying, and this is what I, people are saying, right. So, so don't do it immediately. Do it probably the next day, I would say, even give one day to just come back to normal and, and then look at it. Right. So that would help. Okay. So in the notes, there are a few other things that way, some practical things, if you're ministering in a small group, and if you're helping others to teach and preach and so on. So some practical information there. So you can go through that. Okay. So now, if you're sharing the word, if you're ministering the word as a pastor, okay, which means that you are going to be with that audience for, for a specific amount of time. Okay. You want to see them, if it's going to be a year, if they are regular, you have 52 Sundays in a year, if not more, or 52 opportunities to talk to them, to minister to them, and then you're going to be meeting them. So the dynamics of what you preach and, you know, how you minister changes a bit. Okay. When you consider visiting a pastor or guest minister, and we say, you know, you yourself was going to be there through the year. Now that some things need to be kept in mind. Okay. So what are some of those things? Okay. So when we minister, you have this perspective that, okay, this is the long term vision. Okay. This is what we want. I want the church to be. Okay. Every person, every believer who's, who's attending, who's, who's in this place of maybe maturity, this is what we want towards the end of, okay, let's say this calendar year, okay, we're going to be talking about these several topics. By January, we're talking about this, February, we are dressing this, March, and through April, we are talking about this. So at the end of this year, we ideally like the, the believers in the church to reach a place of maturity in these areas. Okay. I'm sure you're talking about local church, learning about local church. So in while learning about local church, I'm sure you looked at those 10, you know, those pictures, those blueprints that are there. So those are very helpful to see that, okay, what are those different facets that we can actually develop that we can minister intentionally, minister in those areas, like drawing people to be the bride of Christ, the church to be the house of prayer. So, you know, you're focusing on all these different areas and intentionally ministering in those areas. Some messages could be about equipping the believer, some messages could be inspiring, inspirational, some could be motivational, some could be about struggles, challenges of a believer, all those things, you know, so we're talking about, it's so at the end of that period, we can even have a long term vision, like if the next five years, this is what we'd like to do. So, so have, we could have that in mind. So this is the perspective of someone who is going to be with that congregation with that same audience. And when I say same audience, of course, there will be others joining, there'll be people leaving, but then by and large, it's going to be the same, same crowd, right? So, so we can have that long perspective. Second thing is that understand that it's a journey. Okay, so it's not one time thing. You know, it's, it's not like, okay. Hey, I've shared about faith and you're still not getting it. I don't know why you spent 45 minutes to an hour talking about it. And then you still have some doubts on it, you're still not putting it to practice. Well, well, that's a reality, right? It is line upon line, preset upon preset, it's going to be layer upon layer. Okay, so there will be some who get it fully, there will be some who will get 50% of it, there'll be some who will just, it'll just go beyond their minds, right? They have not got it at all. They're not trusted at all. So, yeah, John Paul, I see a comment. Yeah. So, so some there'll be people varying, you know, degrees of maturity, understanding, receiving truth. So, so, so have this in mind. Hey, we are on a journey. You know, we're on a spiritual journey. We're joining together as a church. So we are going to be building strength. You know, it's, it's, it's like, you know, it's, it's going to be slow. It's going to be slow. There are, there are some who will, will receive it and, you know, we're going to see some growth and change and transformation in that area, but it's going to be slow. Now, the other thing is also that, you know, when it's a spiritual journey, you will, we will have time to address a deeper level of the same topic a little later. Okay, I remember the first time we, we studied, it was at a church camp, we were looking at the prophetic, the gifts of the spirit and the prophetic especially. And we also kind of looked at, we had these sessions, breakout sessions for the first time. Okay, for me, it was the first time. And for the church also, I believe it was the first time. I'm talking about maybe 2004, 2005. Right. So, so it was like that. It was, so the, when I compare that with some of the things that we are learning in the weekend schools, right, or even some of the content, what we see in the Bible college, I see that we have journeyed as ministers, as leaders, which are leaders, there's been a journey. As a congregation, there's been a journey. Right. So these things were introduced for the first time. So it was at a very basic, simple level. And I see that that for the congregation, the understanding has increased. So for now, when it comes to praying for each other, I see that, okay, when it comes to life to leaders, ministering leaders were ministering to others, well, prophesying flows naturally. Okay, so you don't have to really, okay, it helps if you prompt others, but then praying for others, receiving what the Holy Spirit has to, you know, impress in our hearts, being mindful of being sensitive to that and also sharing that with others is far easier now. And also people are more open to it and they're doing it, okay, rather than how it was, let's say 17 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever. So there's been a journey. People have matured, there have been enough and more opportunities to try out, to live the truth. So have that in mind. It is a long term perspective. It is a spiritual journey. And we are building, you know, the body of Christ. And it's, yes, it is taking time, it's a process. Right. So just remember that. Okay, so otherwise, we'll get frustrated. Right, we'll be like, okay, I talked about renewing the mind, nobody's doing it. As a pastor, and I seem to be the only guy who's doing it. I talked about declaration, declaring the Word of God, everybody's talking negative things, you know, over and over again. And I seem to be the only guy who's doing it. Right. So, well, it is a process. It's going to take time. In fact, you know, very interesting organization with someone, you know, those days. And I remember being very, very frustrated because every time I said something, something that was faith filled, a statement that the person could actually receive and declare and live out, it would counter with two negative things. It was full of everything. This is what is happening wrong in my life. You know, this is what it is. And these people are like that, that people, a lot of complaints, a lot of grumbling, a lot of murmur. And I got to spend some time much later. It was actually this year. And we were traveling together. And since catching up, I could see so much of a difference, so much of a difference. And faithful statements coming out, the Word of God coming out from the same person. And so I thought that, hey, this person has changed. This person has received the Word. This person has put to practice the Word and he has changed. So don't give up. Don't be discouraged. It is a journey. We are taking people along with us. Now, that's something that we need to be aware of. As shepherds, we need to take the sheep along with us. And some will be slow, but we need to take them along with us. Then in the process of doing that, as we minister the Word, we will be addressing certain things. We will be addressing certain faults, certain weaknesses, certain problems, which others may not necessarily, if they're a visiting person, they may not necessarily preach that. But then, since you are journeying together and you know that, and then you will address those things. So the thing is, we have to address those things as we are journeying together. We have to do it with the grace of God and with the wisdom of God, but we have to address it. And also, as we are addressing it, we have to be sensitive to what the Lord is doing and what the Lord is actually changing, uprooting, establishing. In other words, how is God dealing with us as a collective body? In that season, what is he doing? What is he releasing in us as a church? What is he taking out as a church? What is he establishing us? So be sensitive to that. What does the Lord want to release in us as a body? Be sensitive to that. Again, we have the opportunity to repeat things and repetition is good. Sometimes we we think, okay, we think I've repeated this too many times, and maybe we should just not do it. Don't worry about it. Just think about it. Certain foundational things like in Christ, or gifts of the Spirit, or authority of the believer, and things like that. Faith, hearing God's voice. So these are topics that every believer needs. And these are topics that every believer can be, well, it can be reiterated that these truths can be established strong in their lives. So just go ahead and do it. And each time when it's reiterated, then the Lord will also would have dealt with us about that same topic. And if we have been studying, the Lord would have revealed certain things, certain aspects that we did not know earlier, or we did not have it in our lives earlier. The Lord is releasing that and he's also teaching us. So we have also changed that process. So we can teach from that experience. We can teach from having received that those and walked in that truth. So the underlying thing, don't be afraid of repetition. But be mindful of, okay, when, how soon, what is the frequency? And so just schedule things out and plan things out. So don't be afraid of repeating things that we have taught previously. Yeah, so there's, it's always like, like we saw, you know, it's, it's, it's always, it comes out stronger. It comes out. Well, people are able to go to deeper depths with that same content, right? And with all the additions of new revelations. And so it is helpful. I remember, you know, personally, I remember, like, we were actually having a teaching about life groups. This was before we started the life group ministry, and then we introduced the life group ministry, the small group ministry in the church. So we had, we took about, I think, three Sundays, actually to study that, and about the vision of life groups and how then life group ministry. And then we introduced that, raised up leaders in the church. Then I realized after a year, that I still hadn't grasped the vision of the life group ministry, making some very, very fundamental mistakes, right, about life group ministry, about the, about the purpose of life groups itself, and about, you know, appointing leaders. So these were two things that, that completely slipped my mind for whatever reason. I hadn't, I hadn't grasped it, right? So, so the thing is, there's the importance of repeating these topics. So after a year, when we were revisiting that, then I realized, I'm doing something wrong. You know, my objective for, you know, this particular ministry or vision was completely off. And thank God that we were able to detect it after a year. So, so things like that. So you know that, yes, in the long term, it helps. Okay, so that is why we revisit certain things, reestablish certain truths, the enemy also comes to steal, kill and destroy. Okay, so whatever was ministered earlier, like people go through ups and downs, people go through challenges and where the enemy takes out certain things out of their lives and maybe because of poor choices, decisions that they've made, lives that they lead, whatever. So this will help, right? Okay. And, and it's a, it's an advantage, you know, for someone who's traveling with, journeying with the congregation, it's an advantage where we can repeat it, where we can establish. Okay. The other thing is to share the whole council of very important, don't be a specialist. Okay. Where we just every message, you know, we just go into one particular thing and then we're just talking about that. And we're saying, okay, that's the solution for everything. Okay, it can be something like brain tanks, that's it, brain tanks over. So Paul says, this is how he says in accepted 20 and verse 27, right? Maybe we can look at two verses, accepted 20 and verse 20. Paul is talking to the elders of the church and if it says, he's just meeting them for last time. Okay. It's kind of this fair speech or, you know, is encouraging them, exhortation. For verse 20 says, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed to you and taught you publicly from house to house. Okay. So he's saying that I kept back nothing. I withheld nothing that was helpful. Okay. If you go down to verse 27, says for I have shunned, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. Okay. So everything that was helpful, he shared verse 27. I did not hold back. I did not, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. So when you say the whole council of God, it's a, it's a well-rounded thing. It's addressing various aspects or various characteristics, I would say aspects of a person's life. Maybe, you know, it's about the person's marriage, about the person's character, about parenting, maybe about the person's profession, about their ministry, right, about their life as a people talk, facets to their life, right. So for saying, I did not hold back, you know, that time that I spent with you, and we read about that, you know, well, Ephesians in accept in 19, it says that when he goes to Ephesians and he prays for them, he lays hands on them, they fill to the spirit. And it says that, well, he, he started, he reasoned daily in the school of Taranas, and he continued for two years. Okay. So two years he spent there. And then he talks about different things that happened there, the testimony, etc. So he spent the time there, he ministered, he shared the whole Council of God. Okay. Lubega, you have a question? I see your right hand. Do you have a question? No, Pastor. It is just a mistake. Okay. No problem at all. Okay. Okay. So share the whole Council of God. Okay. So make a plan to do that in the sense. Yeah. So like we said earlier, don't be specialists and saying, okay, this is this is the only thing, you know, this is of lesser importance. Well, no, you know, when you when you look at the whole Council of God, when you look at the different topics that are being that are being handled and that are being highlighted, you see that God's word is so wholesome, it covers the spirit, soul and body, you know, of a person. Right. So and all that is helpful. So need to be shared and maybe things that not going right, you know, in people, people will find things challenging and it could be in a different area that we have not even considered. Right. So we can address that. So in order to address that, we need to grow in that. Right. So we need to grow. And again, coming back to, you know, as we follow Jesus, as we journey with him, and he knows his sheep, he knows that we are overseers of his sheep. Right. So it's his concern. So he knows what the needs are. He knows that, okay, this is what my sheep wants. So even as he placed us as his overseers for his sheep, he will make it known. Like they will be that as we follow him, they will be that making and it will be helpful for the congregation. Right. And we will be changing as well. Right. We will be following and we'll be learning and then we'll be ministering those areas. Okay. The lastly, be practical. Right. So whenever we are sharing these deep spiritual truths, be practical in the, in the sense, how do I, you know, how do I live that out? How does one person live it out? How do they apply it in their lives? Right. Make it relevant and make it, you know, have an understanding of how the person lives and how's a normal believer lives every day. So it should not be so detached from reality. Right. What are the normal challenges, daily challenges? So be practical in, you know, in sharing also instruct so that I can receive it and put to practice. Right. Okay. So things like, you know, let, for example, if you're saying, okay, you need to spend extended hours of time in prayer, that's a good thing. You know, that's, that's always good intimacy with God, you know, everything, but be practical in, you know, how does that, how does, let's say a software engineer who's spending about maybe 14 hours to 16 hours or sometimes, you know, 14 to 16 hours in a day in office and maybe five days like that, you know, how does he or she do it? Right. How can we facilitate that? So don't put unreasonable demands on them because God doesn't, God, he doesn't do that. So, so be practical, be relevant, you know, and facilitate spiritual growth and progress of the person. Okay. By all means, you know, inspire, by all means challenge people to live, take that extra or even stretch by all means, but it should be within the realm of, you know, being practical and relevant. Okay. Any questions? Any questions? Okay. So ministering the word, we can also look at, I was just looking at Jeff, you know, I was thinking, you know, maybe you have a YouTube channel, maybe you have something, you know, posting on Instagram or so, so the, you know, well, the dynamics would be different here, but you can have that in mind. If you have people who are very regularly following and receiving what you've been putting out. So, you know, this, these would apply as well. Right. But, you know, well, it may not be as I would say, okay, you know, it would be different because in person, there is a the interaction is slightly more, slightly better. I hear, you know, you can't, to some extent, you can't really, well, you can read the comments you can if people, you know, do that. Right. So, so that's, there's a difference there. But some of these things can be adopted and used for that as well. Okay. If there are no questions, you know, we'll, let's look at the other thing. Okay. If you're ministering as a visiting, as a guest in, maybe you're going to someone's church, maybe somebody's invited for a meeting. So, it is just, maybe, you know, one, one off, right, one off thing. We might get invited again. Right. But it depends. Right. So, it's a one-off thing. So, it's good to share a word in season, meaning what does this congregation really want in that season of life there and then it's really exciting. You know, it can, it can really be, if you're sharing the heart of God, it can really boost or build up that congregation because they have no clue who you are. Here you are, you're calm, you're visiting and, and what you're sharing really helps them the season of, season they are in as a church, the season they are in as a, as a body and, you know, you, you sharing the heart of God, it can be very, very exciting. It can be, you know, it can, a prophetic word, a word in season is building people up, knowing that they know that, okay, God knows the journey that we are on. Okay. It can be very, very revelatory. Okay. There could be more that we can talk about, about this, but some do's and don'ts, but don't step outside the bounds of what you're supposed to do when you're ministering. Okay. Here again is a fine line. Okay. So when you say don't step outside your bounds, or outside your boundary, it means that, okay, if just honor their, their instruct, honor the leadership. Okay. In the sense, if they say, as speaker, you have maybe half an hour, 30 minutes or maybe 20 minutes, honor that. Okay. Don't say the Lord actually wanted me to share some more, you know, the Lord asked me to go on. The Holy Spirit led me to share another 10 minutes. Right. Well, if you feel that kind of a prompting, check with the leadership. Okay. Check with them and say, okay, can we go on? Is it okay? And it's best to do that before we start, before we start the meeting, you know, is it okay if we, you know, if, if I get a sense that we need to go for another five minutes, is it okay? Or is it a hard stop at, you know, 30 minutes? Right. So it's always good to have that. Or if, you know, when we check at the end of 30 minutes and in front of everyone, it's, it's going to be a little, you know, difficult for the person to say, you know, you're putting that, you know, whoever has invited you in a spot. So it's best to do that before, you know, check and, you know, all these possibilities. Is it okay? You know, can I finish this way? Etc. Right. And also, okay. This is the dress code and just respect that. Okay. It's good to do that. Well, they may not have the, you know, for example, you know, the, they could be sensitive to certain things, the way they do things. Maybe that's the culture of that place. And, and it's, it's fine. You know, it does, it's, it's okay to just honor that. Maybe that's not how you are from where you come from. But it's okay, you know, to, as long as it doesn't contradict the truth, right? As long as it doesn't do that, you know, it's okay to just go with it. And, you know, it could be the, it could be a dress code. It could be, you know, things like that of that nature, you know, footwear, especially in, you know, in a country like India, you know, well, it's about where, you know, some of the churches leave your footwear outside. You can't step into the church without, I mean, even your shoes or, you know, some things like that. So just go with it, you know, that's not the time to say, well, the spirit of God does in me, wherever I step on the holy ground. So, you know, so how can I not wear shoes? It's fine, you know, that's what the thing, just go with it. And sometimes, like covering of the head, head covering, if you're ministering as a, as if you're a woman and you're ministering in a place, maybe it's a rural setting and people expect women to cover their heads. No problem, just do that, right? Maybe you are liberated and you know that there is freedom, but that head, maybe the proper understanding of head covering, you know, the others do not have, but that's not the time to really argue and, you know, present, but just go with it. Yeah, that's fine. Okay, any other thoughts? What do you think? Maybe you had some experience as a visiting minister or even as a, you know, as a minister of a particular church? What do you think or maybe something that you've observed? Okay, before you respond, I just, well, from experience, in the sense from what I observed, this is what I heard pastor Ashish mention, right? I mentioned, when you are a guest in someone's house, don't rearrange their furniture. Okay, very simple. You've been invited as a guest. Okay, and you're there. Let's say you just went into the house, you know, don't start rearranging the table. I think the chair needs to go there. I think that we need to move the bed out. You know, I think this table, this lamp will look better there. Let's remove all these door mats. So don't do that, right? While it could be glaring, it could be certain things that, that really, you know, may need change, but you know, you can always do it at a, you know, as at a time and in a, in a way that's gracious, as maybe suggestion, as maybe ideas in a way that would be acceptable. So you can always talk, discuss and share those suggestions. But don't do this, right? Don't start. So it's not just about the placement of things, but also about how things are done. Right? So sometimes we can say, okay, stop, stop, stop. Because just because given a freedom, right? We just kind of disrupt the whole thing, how it's done. And well, let me not go down well. Okay. So we'll stop here and we'll continue on next class. Thank you. God bless. Thank you, pastor. Thank you.