 I'm not able to hear you. Okay, good morning, everyone. Thank you, Divya, for saying that. I have not connected my headset pendant correctly, I guess. Okay, good morning once again, and welcome to today's session on Minister's Foundation. And we are starting on the book, Code of Honor. And yeah, it is our eighth chapter. We're gonna study on fellowship. And yeah, before we could start with our session, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer? Please go. Farah, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, the eternal of freeges, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Well, thank you for bringing us to a bright new day. We thank you for everything you have done for us. Thank you, O Lord, for this miracle of sleeping and listening. Thank you for this journey. Thank you, O Lord, for this section. Be thou glorified in the mighty name of Jesus. Farah, we commit our lecture into your hands, O Lord. Please, release your wisdom onto the mighty name of Jesus. And we ask, O Lord, as Lord, as we study about you today, may you, O God, release your anointing onto every grace in the mighty name of Jesus. I will soak out the lecture with the brother Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Enoch. Yeah. So let's turn to our book, Chapter 8 on fellowship. And can I request one of us? I mean, just share what is fellowship and why is it important? Is it important for us to have fellowship with each other, with the church body, with other pastors? Why do you think it is important? Yes, Sid. Go ahead. You want to share something? Ma'am, according to me, fellowship is a kind of a way of interaction with the fellow believers, like what we think, what can we do to encourage others? What are the current scenarios going into the church? It's a way of conversing ourselves to others, like what we are thinking and what we're thinking and it's a kind of a great impact we can create them and we can connect with them, what they think about us. It's a kind of a relationship. Yeah. It is a relationship. It's very important to know each other, right? Yes. Others, anyone in the class, like they would like to say, why did you think that? Yes, Jafina, please go ahead. Yeah. So I believe fellowship is really amazing to connect with people who believe in God and, you know, the Bible says when one falls, the other picks up. So sometimes we do fall. We do get into sin and we do get away from God. But we always need someone to encourage us to stand on faith to help us to know that God is still working. So fellowship really, really encourages us to go through all the stages in this life. And God created family. God created church. And God, he is the one who gave Aaron a partner. He said being alone is not good. So God wants us to have fellowship in church, in the family, and we always should be connecting with people, encouraging each other in Christ. So fellowship is really amazing. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that point. Yes, it is very important. And can I request one of us to please turn to Psalms 133 verse 123, please. Yes, sir, please go ahead. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard. The beard of Aaron running down to the edge of his garment. It is like the dew of Herman descending upon the mountains of Zion for their Lord commanded blessings life forevermore. Amen. Thank you so much for reading. Here the scripture says it's how good and how pleasant it is for a brethren to dwell together in unity. Only when we have this unity, we can fellowship with each other. We can share a heart with each other. We can stand for each other. You know, fellowship is very important. And the scripture says it is good and it is pleasant. It is good and it is pleasant. So fellowship is very important and God intends us to have fellowship. And it is also, you know, it is very important among the ministry leaders to have fellowship because it is one body of Christ, one body of Christ. We also, so as ministry leaders, now we are not talking about the believers having fellowship among the church or among a group of community. Here we are talking about the ministry leaders having a fellowship with different ministry leaders or having fellowship with different denominations itself. Okay, because this is not very common. What we see usually generally what we see is, you know, one church putting down another church pastor or one denomination putting, you know, another denomination down. For example, when there's a sermon preached in the church, they'll make sure there's a point to put down another denomination down and speak in that sermon. However, the message can be prepared on different topics. But they add these two points. Maybe they don't like or these are the two big denominations in the church and they're having this traditional setup that is going on. So let's talk about these two denominations, no matter what sermon that we preach. So in between the sermon, it may be like this, okay, this is a deduction and they go ahead with the sermon message. In between, they'll mock these two denominations and then they will, you know, they will be the application of the message and they'll end and you see the same pattern following every week after week. So what does the Bible say? If we do not have peace with another person, another brother, we are the murderer. And also we learned in our previous chapters, let's not give a pulpit time to the devil. This pulpit time is to share the word of God and we need to share and teach the truth of the word of God. Why should we take this time to talk about another ministry leader or another denomination? One thing that we all should be mindful of is we all are of the same body, the same body of Christ. It's the same word that we all derive from. We all read the same scripture. We all have the same Holy Spirit. They all are part of the same Kingdom of God. They all believe on Jesus. They all believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and we all work toward building the same body of Christ. So in keeping this in mind, we must learn to connect with each other, fellowship with each other, relate to each other on the same level ground. Yes, there are different denominations and there are different fundamental truth what each one believes. So let's not touch upon that, but let's fellowship with each other on the common ground that we all agree on. Why should a conversation go somewhere else that brings an argument or differs or makes another person feel uncomfortable? So we should not do that. We should be mindful of having a fellowship with other believers from a different denomination. Respect them, honour them, honour the leadership what they have. A very beautiful thing that we see, yes, in North India is, yes, there's a lot of persecution, but at the same time, all the different denominations, they stand hand in hand. Am I right, Sid? Yes, ma'am. We see that different denominations. It can be the Catholic Church, it can be the CSI, it can be the other groups, you know, the Lutheran president, they all come together. But the same thing is not so in the other place, other cities or other states. They all consider each other as rivalry. That should not be the pattern in the Christian life or in our churches. We should build this as a ministry leader. We should be mindful of not putting any denomination down. Either it can be in our church or when we step out to minister to other churches or even in any kind of community gathering. God will add on people to our church. It is the Lord who builds the church, it's not we. So we need to depend on Him and do not mock any of our fellow brethren. So we should take, intentionally we should take time to build this quality relationship with our fellow believers. Yes, it's not easy, but then we need to break this barrier. We need to break this denomination wall. We need to believe that we are Christian, we are here to fellowship with each other. We need each other in time of trouble, especially when it comes to persecution. Yes, in India there's Lord happening all around the places. But then in such a time as this, we as Christians, as the body of Christ, we need to stand for each other. We need to be there for each other. One thing intentionally what we do at Bangalore and at Mangalore is we try to reach out other schools, other colleges and we, yes, we minister in many of the Catholic colleges, but we don't touch upon any kind of doctrines or we don't step into the boundary. We share the Word of God. We teach the Word in truth, that's it. We do not get into an argument, we do not get into a controversial teaching that will offend their faith. We honor them and we respect them and we teach the Word. Because the Word is a, you know, have a good relationship with fellow believers, fellow believers build a good relationship. So for many years we had our church itself in one of the very reputed Catholic school in Bangalore. And now even our church is at again with another school in a very big auditorium, but then we still have a very good relationship with them. We honor, we respect. In the same way we see them also giving us the honor and respect for the door that we have built a relationship in Bangalore as opened a door for us in Bangalore, we were able to get into some of the good reputed educational Catholic institutions. They have opened a door for us because the relationship that we have in Bangalore. So we need to be mindful of honoring people, honoring leaders, do not look down or put down anyone, okay? And especially we need to be mindful of any kind of arguments on any kind of doctrinal issues. We should not do that. Because what is the use in winning an argument and losing a person? What is important is getting that person share, talk about the things that we both agree on, what is common, talk about it, let there be a healthy relationship that is built between each other. So as we go to the next point here we need to be a kingdom builder. Yes, as a kingdom builder we need to have big visions much beyond our small denomination or whatever we believe in. No, this is not the church that God intended to have. Never. All that is important is that we need to believe on Jesus who is the Son of God and accept him as a Lord and Savior. The gospel been preached and Jesus came into this world that he died on the cross for you and me. And he is alive, he is with the right hand of God. This is a gospel that needs to be preached. This is what the apostles did and they baptized each one who believed. So yes, when we preach and share that each one have different way of belief the doctrinal issues, let's not touch on that but have a common ground. So now what I am saying is not to preach this way to the believers. I am not saying that I am talking about the ministry leaders fellowship. So we should not get into an argument when we are talking to a leader, leader to a leader conversation. Let's have an healthy conversation with them. And we need to be a kingdom builder. So in ministry we can get focused on what we are doing and we may forget ultimately what we see God's kingdom come. And we need to mindful that to bring his kingdom on this earth as it is in heaven. So the kingdom of God is much bigger than the scope of our individual ministries. So that is very important because in Mark 3, 24 we read that if a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand. You see? So it is very important as a kingdom builder we need to look beyond our individual vision for our church, for our ministry, for our community. We need to seek something much bigger. Seek to bless others vision. See how you can be part of others vision, other ministry churches. Be there to stand in time of help for them. So that God's rule and his reign is intended to bless his church as people. So as a kingdom builder we also should be willing to partner with others and step into other people's vision to serve. And when we do that we need to serve without seeking any kind of recognition or an opportunity to promote, self-promote ourselves or ministry. No. As a kingdom builder help, be there to help and just move off. We don't need any recognition or any kind of self-promotion there. Be as a normal believer. Just do what Jesus would do if he was there. As a minister of God we need to maintain this kingdom mindset which is very important. Whichever area in time of crisis we need to have this mindset where I can be of help to that person, to that church, to that ministry, to that denomination what we could do as a church. How I can be there to help them. And that's the kingdom mindset to benefit another person without even expecting what is it? What is the net for me? Or what do I benefit from this? Will I be recognized or will my church be recognized? Nothing. Just be there to help serve and move. That's it. And we need to relate to other ministers you know on the same level ground. It is very rare that we all work all by ourselves. See relate to other ministries. There's always somebody else who would have already worked or started the ministry. So it is very rare that a person alone individually will try to work at a ministry and continue in it for a long time. It's always that somebody else would have started another person builds it and other person serves there. Something like what Paul said in the scriptures that one person sows a seed, another waters and other reaps the fruit. So whenever we enter into another person's field, we need to be very careful. We need to give the honor what deserves to that person. With all honor you enter into minister, for example if we are entering into a new place into a ministry we need to honor the person who already built it, who already have laid the foundation and do not take all the credit on ourselves. Maybe whatever he did is what is fetching fruit now. And you are there to water faithfully do your work till the time that God has asked you to be there. And then God will send somebody else to build on that what you have laid. So genuinely serve the Lord wherever God places you without having any kind of recognition field or my name to be recognized. I need to do this. I need to stay here for a very long time. We should not be like the person who hold on to a position and do not let it go. We should not be like the politician sometimes. They come to the position and they say okay even though your tenor they refuse to get out of the chair. You are saying I want to be here for life long. No that is not the case. God has different plans, different seasons where he brings in people to minister to build a set of people in that area. So we are God's building, we are God's field. We need to allow God to work in and through us. Yes. One more important area we see here is building friendship and relationship with other ministers. For example if you are living in a city there are other believer church or other pastors who have a church. So it is very important for us to know which other churches who are those pastors go meet them personally talk to them, build a good friendship, relationship with them. They should not be any competition among the churches, among the ministry leaders. We are not here to compete with each other but we are here to build fellowship, build God's kingdom together. So we need to honour them. So we need to build friendship and relationship with other ministers take time, it all takes time, it all takes effort it is not very easy, it doesn't happen automatically but intentionally purposefully we need to build that, we need to do that and also we need to honour other man's field. For example yes, we go on outreaches in Mangalore, in different places, different colleges many hospitals are here so we go out to many hospitals so the minute we met another pastor in the same city and we got to know him and he and his wife serves in a hospital and we used to go for outreach to that hospital before and it was nice like we got to know that there is a man of God and his wife also is working in that hospital and they are ministering to the students and people there and now we intentionally stopped going to that hospital for any kind of outreach because we honour this man of God and his work there. They should not be any disrupt, there is no competition we need to honour, we need to honour. So intentionally there are certain steps that we need to avoid taking it and there are certain steps that we need to take to build a good friendship and a relationship with the ministers of God around us and we need to honour them, respect them and yes because each one are different differently gifted by God but we need to honour each one and we need to build bridges across denomination as I already said that we need to intentionally build bridges, we need to respect them, honour them have fellowship with them we need to dine with them, if you get an opportunity have lunch together. Can we read one Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 to 17 please. One Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 to 16 and 17. Verse 16 and 17 when we bless the cup at the Lord's table or in the sharing in the blood of Christ and when we break the bread or in the sharing the body of Christ and though we are many we all eat from one loaf of bread showing that we are one body Amen. Thank you. It's a cup of blessing that we bless it is not the communion of blood of Christ but the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ for we though many are one bread and one body for we all partake that one bread so one of the challenges that we see in the kingdom building is the denomination walls and denomination mindset I won't say it is the same in all the places but each place there are different mindsets most of the time you know we feel comfortable when we see another church believer of the same denomination it is very easy for us to relate communicate and build a fellowship with them but then if it is a different denomination the minute they get to know that you are a believer and you are from a different denomination background they will be like always on one on God saying that you will change them you will take them to a different church or you will ask them to leave the church and come I think that mindset itself we need to change there are many families that we minister here I mean when I say that it was before the lockdown where for us it was easy to you know be invited into the homes right now they are little conscious but then many Catholic homes you know we were invited to share and teach the word because they were scared to come to a church where you know they will be marked or look down or look different at their own family but then they want to learn the word of God so they requested pastor if you can come home and teach us the word or they also would like to be part of a Bible study sometime so pastor did that whenever he had an opportunity when they called he went he ministered to them as the family some of them also came to our church they visited our church and they started to come but some of them are very comfortable at their own because of many reasons but then they have this desire to study the scripture now each one have a different mindset and that will change you know as the Lord leads them but we as a ministry leader our work is only to impart and teach the word not to pressurize them not to force them not to tell them leave your denomination and come or you come to our church God will bless you know God will bless them wherever they are because God is a God of blessing they are the child of God or another extent we see some of the ministry leaders when they go on outreach you know they tell people from a different denomination that if you do not come to our church if you do not believe in what we believe you will be going to hell these are some of the words that you know the ministry leaders or the they encourage the church believers to do on their outreach so this is very you know we need to be very cautious about such statements which is not right we need to be very careful so all these kind of sentence and all these kinds of words you know brings an alarming sign in the city where it does not allow us to build friendship with each other it does not bring a build unity among the churches it brings strife it causes lot of rivalry among the church the church pastors or the fathers the priest we should be very careful how we handle God's field this is God's field it is people are God's building as ministry leaders we need to be very careful how we minister to another person we need to minister to them and love and peace mindful of another person's benefit not thinking like what is it for me and I want my church to be filled in so I will tell them whatever it is to bring them to my church we need to only share the word of God my Lord had people to our church even the door that is open to us in the colleges when we go we teach them the word there are colleges where they asked us to teach the word of God we teach them we boldly take that name of Jesus and teach them because they all are Christian students yes they may be from different denominations but beyond that we see them we represent that college we don't represent our church there we represent the college they have opened the door they have given us this opportunity let's teach the word we teach the word to them and there are other colleges they say okay you can teach your biblical principle to our college students but do not take the name of Jesus they will ask us to you can train all our college students for example there is a nursing college with some 400 to 500 students they say you can teach everyone we need our students attitude the character to be changed we need somebody to help us so can you please teach so we tell our teacher has the biblical principles then they say okay is it possible because we have people from different faith and we don't want them to be offended but you can teach what is it possible that you can you know avoid taking the name of Jesus so we take that opportunity and we do teach them but then we say this is what I believe in I believe in the God came into the world he died on the cross for you and me and we believe in the Bible in the scriptures and this and then we teach them the biblical principles yes I won't be quoting from the book of from the book of Corinthians but I would be giving them the scripture and they will be noting down taking it down we have seen the life change life transform we have seen you know a God heal many students in the classroom but then there we don't give an altar call there we don't call them invitation to our church we honor the leaders we go there we serve and we come out what we see at the end of the day is the students are been reached their lives are been changed the seed is sown and we trust God to send another person to water and nurture that seed very rare we get this opportunity it is not very easy for the door to be open like that but every opportunity that we get we need to seize that and honor the person learn from fellow ministers we need to learn from each other there is so much more to learn from others we may be a great leader in our church in our ministry but we need to honor and learn from at the person because God has placed a gift in a unique gift in each of us each one are gifted in different areas so there is so much to learn from others so when we are in a community of gathering see to that we humble ourselves by just being teachable just being there to learn from others Proverbs 27 17 says as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend so we need to be there humble enough to learn and be comfortable learning from others and also be comfortable being a follower follow instruction if the who was ministering or leading there in that community in that meeting in that pastors fellowship you know as ministry leaders have gathered together different denomination people have gathered so whatever the instruction has been said if they ask us to stand let's stand if they ask us to sit let's just feel comfortable and following the command following what the leader has been saying in that fellowship no matter how big leader you are we need to humble ourselves because this is what Jesus did and we are the follower of Jesus so we need to be his reflection and no way our title should come up we as the minister of God one thing that we share among our this is what we follow at our church and we also tell our students from our college to be mindful of is have no title attached to our self today we may be a CEO of a company but due to recession tomorrow we lose our job and so from a CEO you have become zero so what is your identity what happened the person who used to open the lift for you used to carry a bag open a car for you will you have the same benefit tomorrow when you are not a CEO of a company so what is our true identity no matter whatever title is attached to us in the ministry at the end of the day nothing is stuck to us we should be mindful that we are the child of God and that is the identity we don't have to be offended if somebody is not calling you as pastor or the reverend or the doctor be very comfortable tell them just call my name if somebody ask you how do I address you say please call my name be very comfortable just sharing your name don't get offended with any of the title because that's not where we are be comfortable of being unrecognized sometimes it's actually good when they don't recognize you they are very common you know the joy that you get to talk to each one is very different from the minute they recognize you're a leader you're a pastor you're something great no just be common just be common be one among others respect others gift an anointing in the ministry honor the other person you may be a great pastor but it is good to honor another another pastor and address him with pastor I mean yes I'm not telling you when when it comes to a personal we say hey address my name that's good but when it comes to giving honor to another person respecting another person I'm telling you it is good for us to respect the person with the gift and calling that he has if you know he's a pastor call him a pastor whatever you know we need to be that way honor another person gifts anointing and the ministry that he has because God works through each of us with each of his servants in different ways so we do all preach pray prophesies sing the same way but it is very important that we respect each other even when the way we minister may be very different in our church maybe it's a very mature church where people sit stiff and they talk they listen hardly there's any kind of noise but then there's other churches where they make lot of noise they sing you know the way they interact the way they praise God the way they worship may be different but we are we all are on the same level ground it is just a pattern of worship is very different but we worship the same God so we need to celebrate each other the different way of the way we worship and there's nothing to consider anyone much lesser than ourselves but then the scripture says we need to honor another person we need to honor another ministry leader and we need to celebrate each other the way God is working with each other and do not judge another man serving John 7 24 says do not judge according to the pyrrhins but judge with righteous judgment and also the scripture says who are we to judge we must be very careful not to judge or pass a comment on any fellow ministry leader it was the fault of failures when we recognize that what is right and wrong we should learn a lesson from their failure and apply it to us take it as a learning take it as a lesson but we are not supposed to be gossiping about that person to another ministry leader or passing a judgment over that person if at all you know that person personally and you have a good friendship with that person it is very important that you talk to the ministry leader in a very loving manner address the issue and see what you can do to be there to help him to overcome that failure overcome that mistake and be a blessing in his life and help him to come up the way God has called him God has placed a purpose in his life help be there to help each other to live them in the difficult season but then we should not be talking around and talking about him on the pulpit in the sermon to the church believers we should not be even for a teaching purpose for an example purpose we should not be taking the person's name and sharing it with others if at all you want to share as a lesson or as an illustration we need to be mindful of concealing his name not taking up his name but sharing it only with a mindful of a lesson to learn purpose when we do that it is good we are honoring the man of God but if we don't do that and if we take that person's name and take his ministry and talk ill about that person it is like we are showing this God among our own people which is not right that will cause this drive that will cause rivalry and this is not from God and God will not be pleased with such act so fellowship is for life transformation very important so many pastors fellowship or Christian ministries would gather together you know they end up growing together share that is common building each other and any kind of difficult times they all stand with each other so it is a life transformation process so it is very important to have a genuine fellowship when we come some of the fellowship what happens is not all ministry leaders come with a genuine fellowship some of the ministry leaders come to these kind of fellowship to promote their agenda to promote their church meetings or to sell the good books that they have written or you know with some agenda they come up with but then as a ministry leader we need to honor the guidelines that is set by a leader whoever started it saying that this is a fellowship it is a pastors fellowship a ministry leaders fellowship we are here only to build each other talk to each other share our own personal problems our church and how we can build our church on this bring God's kingdom on this in the city you know we are our motivation should only be that and not carry any of a personal agenda to this type of fellowship and we need to be genuine and whatever it is and we should avoid any kind of pretense there because we all are human we all are ministry leaders but at the same time we all are human we all have our own personal struggle so none of us are super heroes but then we don't have to pretend anything just be genuine share your heart out they are your brothers in Christ who can stand with you and pray for you be the support to you so genuinely we need to be that because you know this is what God has intended us to be because we see in the book of Acts when when the disciples were persecuted when especially we read in I'm not very sure Acts chapter 14 or Acts chapter 21 but this is what it says there where Paul was persecuted by the city people and they stoned him and they thought they were very good in stoning and they also know when a person is dead they almost thought that he is dead and they they take him outside the city gate and they throw him there but then the group of apostles they come and stand around him but the scripture does not say they prayed but obviously we know what will they do around him they all held hands around Paul and they would have prayed and the scripture says people thought that he is dead and they threw him out but then the disciples all they gathered around him they prayed and next day morning Paul got up and went to another place so what we see here we see a unity we see a good genuine fellowship among the disciples among all the apostles we need to be like that even in the scripture we see that it was the people who were trying to create division among Paul Paulus and others but then Paul clearly said apostle Paul clearly said that they should not be any division in the church because God has appointed each one in a unique way and one sows the seed one waters another reaps and we all are on the same level ground so there is nothing for us to consider each person as a superhero but then calm us down we all are on the same level ground maybe you are gifted in preaching or teaching well you may come with an eloquent of speech but then there is another person only with the power of the Holy Spirit or there is another person who loves to serve and all are considered in the same level there is no hierarchy in God's kingdom God considers everyone as the child of God he loves equally there is no partiality in God so it should be the same thing to be implemented when we are addressing each other when we are trying to build fellowship with each other we should be mindful of healthy relationship with this we end this chapter anyone would like to discuss please go ahead share anyone would like to add share or any of your experience you can go ahead or we can take a short break of yes please somebody raise the hand yes I did I just want to know God was speaking a lot to me through this message yesterday I was thinking about all the things about the ministry and how we are going to find people how we are going to find the fellowship how God is going to do all these things because I am just alone and I am just doing my best right now but today as you speak about the fellowship about the relationships and how we need it all God really spoke a lot to me and he was like I will help you throughout so thank you for sharing thank you for sharing that I think that is one of the most common thought or a question which most of our Bible college students have in their first year, second year but then one thing I would like to tell you Jefina that by the end of the third year I am sure God will take you to a foundation where he can build you he will open up a door of opportunity where you can serve you are not here by accident you are here because God has chosen you and God will lead you in the right path so just trust God it is a time of preparation so give in your full prepare yourself well and when you faithfully do what God has asked you to do, you see the hand of God in your life no matter what we may not see it now but God is working you can trust on that I also have one more doubt that I want to ask about the assignments in Google Classroom it seems like the date has been changed to 30th of November when is the last date okay good Jefina yesterday I guess you were in the class because we explained it yes the students were asking for the extension of date so I have extended it to 30th of November and we have also added one point if you are doing on your Old Testament survey, yes I have asked you to write a short summary on each book along with it I wanted you to write what was your learning, your personal understanding from that book and how you can apply it to your life so something personal that that particular book has ministered to you so for the mid assessment I have asked you to write from Genesis to Esther yeah okay and for the final assessment will be from the next book no problem I guess everyone are clear with your assignments okay we will take a quick break and we'll come back by 10 it's 9.47 now so we'll come back by 10 o'clock okay thank you so much see you soon for a short break