 Okay, good morning. Welcome. Happy New Year. So hope it's, you know, a wonderful year for each one of you. And thank you for enrolling into the spring semester courses. We wish you all the best. This particular course, BC 112 is about a believer's authority. We will also study regarding demonology and parents. So I hope you have accessed your study material for the online students. We have it available in the classwork section. Kindly download it and follow along. On campus, you have your copies and eLearn can also please look in the textbook section and you can access your notes. We will pray and get started. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you that your word is inspired, O God, by you, Father. And thank you, Lord, that your word directs us in our lives. Father, we pray even as a class that you will help us, Lord, to put your word above everything else and, Father, God, to make it, Lord, our focus and Lord, even as we spend time in your word, thank you, God, for the strength, the grace, the direction and Father, for the anointing, Lord, that you are imparting into each one of our lives. We bless you, we honor you, we glorify your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So the Believer's Authority is a subject which is so very crucial for all of us believers in our day-to-day lives. As believers, we encounter challenges and many of the challenges could, you know, just be the, by way of the fact that we are living here on the earth. And we already saw, when we studied about prayer and intercession, that sin has corrupted the world. And even though God wanted man to rule and reign, because of sin and its consequences, there are many things that go on in the world which are evil. But at the same time, we also recognize that we have a real enemy in Satan and the powers of darkness that led by him and controlled by him. So our intention of studying the Believer's Authority is to know how a believer can walk in that original design of authority that God gave man when he created man and woman. So as a believer, one of the things that we must be very clear about is that when Jesus died on the cross and you know, he was buried, he rose again, he did a work of redemption for us. And as part of that redemption, he has restored that identity that God gave us when he first created us. Okay. And so because we have now been redeemed, we can walk victorious. Yes, there will be battles, there will be challenges. But if we are strong in the word and we understand the word of God, we also recognize that even in the midst of the challenges, we are supposed to be victorious. Okay. So that is what Believer's Authority is all about. So first, we can begin by understanding what the meaning of this term authority is. Authority is quite familiar in our everyday lives. We see maybe government positions that reflect what authority means to us or even let's say church, we understand what authority stands for in the family. There is an authority that God has placed. So we see this in our daily lives, but we just need to gain an understanding of what exactly authority means and how one receives that authority. So we're just going to look at the meaning of authority for the next couple of minutes. So you can look at your notes. I'm starting out from chapter one here. Now, we understand that generally, you know, authority is vested or placed on someone giving them rights and privileges. For example, if we consider a traffic police, so on the street, I know sometimes people just start guiding traffic because you know, they think that they have to sort out the traffic problem and people still listen. But usually it's a traffic police whose guidance we will take, right? Like if it's a traffic police in the middle of heavy traffic and he's saying, okay, move aside or stop, people will listen because we look at the uniform. Okay. And that is a sign of authority being given to that person. So that's how he has received the right or the privilege to do what he is doing or she is doing traffic police. So often authority is vested or given to an individual and it allows certain rights and privileges. Okay. Now, authority is also, it gives us the right to influence actions and decisions. So when we consider, let's say our government, they make the decision about how certain things have to be run in the country. They made the rule about which days would be holidays for the people. So they have the capacity to influence. So those who come under their authority, they are able to regulate or direct people. So this is also something that authority means. Authority means influence. We're able to make decisions and it affects the lives of the people who come under that authority. Similarly, you can sort of see that in every sphere in a company, if you have a good manager or a good leader, if they make good choices, it affects the people who come under that authority. Isn't in a family setting, if the leader of the house, they make the right choices, it affects the family positively. So authority is also influence. Firstly, authority is vested or given to us and it offers us certain rights and privileges. Secondly, authority is influence. Now, authority also does not depend on a person's ability. So I'll explain myself. Now, if we consider somebody who is guiding traffic, imagine, this person who's guiding traffic doesn't look very strong or big or tall. Maybe they look exactly the opposite of that. Maybe they're not that well-built or they're quite old. Let's just assume. Now, if a person like that, where to raise their hands and say, okay, stop traffic, do you think people will listen? There's a traffic police. They don't look very big and all, but they're saying stop. Will the people stop? Will they listen? Yeah, why? Because of the uniform, right? So the point that we're making is that when we have been given authority, what we can do does not depend only on our ability. Okay, so similar to what we said. Now, as believers, we may think, oh, you know, I'm not able to do that or this and I'm not so great, but always look at the work of the cross. Now, always look at the redemption that Christ has given to us, the victory that Christ has given to us. Now, because we have that authority, I can still be victorious, right? No matter which phase of my life I'm in, or even if I'm struggling, my authority remains the same because Christ has given it to me. Okay, so that's how we apply believers authority. So it does not, even in our natural spheres, we recognize that it does not always depend on the ability of the person. It can be beyond that. Now, in some cases, of course, authority is earned. Like if you take, for example, an organization, you know, and somebody joins the organization, you may have heard stories like this, you know, that they joined that they joined as some small responsibility, some admin staff or something, but slowly they rose up in their role and they probably got a really high position in the same organization. How did that happen? Maybe they had the skills, they worked hard, they had the experience, they found favor with people around people in the management, right? So based on their performance, the company may have decided, okay, come on, let's pick this guy up, put him in the next role. And then that person just keeps going up the ladder. So in certain cases, authority is also earned. It just doesn't come by that. We have to really work and based on the capabilities, the qualifications, the performance, one can gain more influence for whatever work God has called us for. Now, authority works within the realms. We need to understand this. Now, just imagine there is a manager of a particular company and, you know, he is able to handle lots of people and make all the decisions. Now, if he goes to another company, okay, and over there, he tries to make the rules. And he says, oh, everybody's coming at 9am. It's not good from tomorrow. We'll come at 8am. Do you think people will listen? He's a really good manager. But it's not his company. Okay, so you see, there's also a sphere of influence. For the exercise of our authority, we need to be in the right sphere. Now, I can't go to somebody else's house and say, oh, the furniture is not arranged nicely. Are you arranged it like this? They'll ask me, who are you? You know, this is my house. You're not part of this house. So, the sphere that we want to influence, that's also something we have to think about. Do we have the authority to function in that sphere? If we have, then yes, use your influence, use your authority, things get done. But if I'm trying to function outside of my sphere, then obviously, I'm making a mistake. It won't work out. Okay, so this is also something that we must recognize regarding authority. And yeah, sometimes authority, as we said, you know, we look at people's uniform and we recognize that, okay, this symbolizes that such a person has been vested with authority by the government or maybe they carry a badge of some sort or some symbol that says this person is part of this particular team and you better listen to the individual. So, sometimes you have something that symbolizes authority over a person. And the last point that I'm going to share and stop is authority, unfortunately, can go unused. Okay. Now, let's just assume that there is some sort of a war situation. And the leaders of the nation have to make decisions, quick decisions. Okay, come on, let's protect our borders. Let's do this. Let's do that. Now, what if they don't make those decisions and they just delay? What might happen? It's quite dangerous, right? You're not taking action. You're not planning to protect your borders. Then the enemy can infiltrate, the enemy can quickly act, cause destruction. Why? The people who had the authority need to act fast. Now, if they don't act fast, they're not using that full capacity, the influence, which they have, which again affects the people. So, you see, not using that authority and not using it in a timely way can also, you know, sort of, it can be detrimental. It can cause destruction and loss and failure. Okay, and sometimes imagine a traffic police, you know, in the, in the traffic, traffic is chaotic. He's doing nothing to control the traffic, just standing there. He can easily show his hand and direct the traffic, but he's not doing it. Though he has the authority, authority is unused. So we'll discuss more. I've just given you a gist of things. But even as believers, we've been saying we have the authority, but what if we don't use it? How can, how can it benefit the believer? We have it, but we are not using it, right? So these are all things to think about. So let's go ahead for a break. We'll come back and continue with the same subject. Thank you everyone.