 And we will be ready to start. Okay, recording is started. Good morning, welcome back everybody to the second lecture. We're just going to start with the comments that are in the chat and then we will proceed and go forward. So Anita says when babies are born, deformed and we are preaching to them or their parents, preaching to their parents, I guess, still can we say that they are wonderfully beautifully made in God's image? How can we explain that? The answer is yes, we still declare that they are wonderfully and fearfully made. The Bible tells us Psalm 139. Now we know that maybe there is a physical, there's a problem, you know, in something. So the example, you take the man who was born blind, he's born that way. He was born deformed. His eyesight didn't come clear but we definitely say, you know, he's created in the image of God. He's fearfully, wonderfully made and we know that part of what's happened is his eyes have not been formed well or formed right. He's blind. We are aware of that but that's when we can pray for things to come into alignment to God's original design. So a miracle or the supernatural power of God in this case is simply bringing things to their original design by the power of God and so that's what we are to do. Jesus said, you know, we are here to work the works of God but can we call them original, fearfully, wonderfully made? Yeah, we can. We still, and we must, you know, recognize each person, fearfully and wonderfully made. Hope, we've got a big challenge joining online classes. Is there a possibility to move into the e-learning portal? There seems to be technical issues. So let's see now, we are 21st October so hope the way we set up the e-learning portal is people can register at any time so there should not be a problem to register but there will be a problem in trying to finish the course unless you can sit on it and do it because the way the e-learning portal is set up is you will have to listen to each lecture, you'll have to go through each video lecture before you progress to the next one. So example in this course there would be, I don't know how many videos but I think let's say 24 videos or something that you have to go through and you cannot move to the next one until you finish the previous one so it's going to be a lot to finish and the last date is November 26th so it's going to be difficult to do that. So registering is not an issue but going through the course would be an issue unless you have several weeks that you're just going to sit and keep listening to the lectures and try to cover it, catch up with it, and if you have the time and you want to do that I'm sure you can do it but you know the time window is very short till November 26th, the last day of classes. Yeah try registering, you should be able to log in, you should be able to register if you haven't put a deadline on that part so if you still have a problem just an email I can tell IT guys to look into it but I think you should be able to register not a problem okay um okay any other questions all right Samuel okay Samuel please go ahead um thank you thank you pastor uh this might be slightly off probably but I think somehow related especially Sae's comment triggers in me. I read an essay about the scientific community investing like a certain division investing into immortality whole thing on cell regeneration and elongating the duration of the cell in human body and even looking at other forms of brain transplant into a machine so I know it sounds all science fiction type but so I think it's it's man's endeavour towards increasing lifespan which is in a little in some sense trying to escape the bondage of corruption at least that's how I'm looking at it and so your comments on my pastor what if it like you know I don't know if you see any substantial progress in it but but if a time emerges where this whole concept of some fusion some cloning and things like that start up so what's the what's a believer's perspective approach to that um so and this is just my personal my personal view or my personal understanding I'm not saying this is chapter and verse um what I would say the way I would look at it is that there's nothing wrong for man to try and improve the quality of life or in some instances the the quantity the length of life there's nothing wrong in that and you know and in some ways you know we're already doing that you know by through medicine to medical help you know somebody would have died maybe you know because of medical intervention they get you know another 20 years added they live 20 years more and so on so in some way we are doing that and then so there's nothing wrong if we are using our knowledge or skill and ability to try to see how we can improve like the length of life or the quality of life so on so to that extent yeah it's it's fine will man be it will man be able to create something that's eternal or immortal that that's a big question I think uh the answer is no because we are finite and you know and eventually God and God is going to step in God is going to intervene to wrap things up but is it wrong to engage in that kind of research and right kind of effort I don't think it's wrong I think it's a good thing that if you can improve life on earth to what extent we can we should try and I don't think it's wrong that's just my personal perspective thank you thank you okay let's go back now to uh notes so what we did was we looked at reason number one on why there is suffering right there's a bondage of corruption now I haven't read uh we haven't read this passage but you can read it again Paul talks about the fact that we grown in this earthly body and we know that you know God will give us uh this earthly body's like a tabernacle or a tent which we will put off and then we will have glorified bodies right but I think this passage in Romans 8 kind of bears all of that out uh and so on so we know this there is the bondage of corruption we must be aware now um there is nothing wrong for us to use our faith to undo this you know to work against this bondage of corruption there's nothing wrong in that by faith we you know whether it's healing whether it's miracle whether it's you know by faith we are working against this because this came in through because of sin right and so through faith and through our place in God we work against it and there's nothing wrong in that um then the second one is suffering due to one's own's one's own action right and this is something we will understand easily which means that um you know sometimes we suffer because look our own negligence you know maybe we made a mistake we did something we're not supposed to do or we failed to do what we're supposed to do then we face the consequences of that right uh then we can't blame God or we can't blame other people we have to take responsibility for our actions and we can think of so many different cases and you know in times like this uh we should not blame God you know it's kind of funny you know somebody does something uh you know and then they say God God made made this to happen to me to for me to suffer no take responsibility for your action you know for example we can think of so many scenarios but you know if uh let's take a one one example where if a person you know uh takes some of his money and he invests it and puts it somewhere but he's you know he's it's an unwise investment and then he suffers losses uh he shouldn't blame God you know I said look uh you made an investment you you were responsible you made the choice to put money into it and that things went wrong and uh and now take responsibility and you know find out why uh you know what did you miss in looking at before you made the investment and so on okay so like this you could think of so many examples and the bible is clear in Galatians 6 7 and 8 it says you know God is not mocked whatever a man sows that he will also reap if you sow to the flesh you'll reap corruption if you sow the spirit you'll reap what is eternal life so you know this is again a law that God put in place you know whatever you sow you'll reap so we need to be mindful of that and then we need to make our sowing right that means whatever we're investing at time effort energy in what the actions are the things we do you choose to do things that are going to be that are going to have good results so positive so suffering can happen simply because of our own actions but then what what we do must keep in mind is that in the in this context that there is the mercy of God you know that uh and uh Psalm 25 verse 15 you know he's the psalmist prays he says Lord I find my feet in the net but you know you will bring me out of the net so he's the one who walked into it but now he's looking to God to bring him out of it right so uh sometimes we make mistakes and we get ourselves trapped we get ourselves into trouble but that's when the mercy of God is there we look to God and say God please get me out of this and and the mercy of God God in his mercy will um you know bring us out of trouble God in his mercy will lessen the degree of the consequences you know that's the mercy of God so we're not ruling out the mercy of God but what we are saying is there will be consequences for the choices we make you know so for example in first Peter 2 verse 11 it says that fleshly lusts trouble the soul you know so if a person is indulging in fleshly lusts even if it's a believer well uh he's going to find that his soul his mind will and emotions are weakened and are being troubled now we can't blame God for that the thing is these fleshly lusts have to be dealt with and the believer has to deal with that I address that in order to bring wholeness to mind will and emotions sometimes we get distracted and we end up wasting time and energy we can't blame God for it we've got to refocus and get ourselves back you know and we can think of many examples think of Abraham you know he's a father of faith but he birthed Ishmael and then he faced trouble in his own house David committed sin David neglected taking care of Absalom and there were consequences so this applies this rule so to speak applies to everybody but that's Abraham or David or anybody else you know um uh they when we do wrong we will face the consequences but we look to God for his mercy and um uh in the middle of our mistakes you know we we should say okay Lord help me to learn from my mistake so even mistakes that we make uh can serve good I'm not saying go and make mistakes but I'm saying when we do make mistakes it can serve us good in the sense that we can learn from the mistakes and uh and you know uh so in that sense there's a learning that happens which is definitely can benefit us and God is greater than our mistakes that's when we look to God and he can not only resolve the things but he can then turn it around in his mercy for our good right and uh also remember this that you know sometimes we try to help others you know we try to help them counsel them but they go and still do their own thing then then we are not responsible if they end up in things that cause them pain because we did counsel them we did tell them I don't do it but they still went ahead and then they faced the consequences so that's the second part you know which is our own actions we may do wrong things we face the consequences uh but then God began for his mercy he brings us out we can learn from our mistakes God can help resolve our mistakes a third reason of suffering that we see in the Bible is because directly because of Satan's works right um that means the devil does things that cause pain they cause the suffering right uh some of the clearest example or perhaps one of the most clearest examples that in the book of Job in the book of Job chapters one and two it says Satan went from the presence of the Lord and he did these things in other words you know it wasn't God who did it God said oh yeah you know God gave Satan permission in the sense that okay you know you're on the earth and you have access to the earth through man's fall uh Satan could boast you know all the kingdoms of the earth are given to me God did it even Jesus didn't uh this what is saying dispute that claim right so yeah Satan has control of this earth he is the God of the earth and so even in Job's case you know it was basically God saying yeah you know that's your playground you know you you can do what you want with it in your playground um and so Satan went forth small job but he did all these calamities all kinds of things you would read in Job chapter one and two which all of us have read we see better conditions coming in and causing things happen Job's children being losing their lives cattle family workers so many things happening and let me see it was the direct result of Satan and work right so there's a setting oppression happening and there are many places in scripture that we read I've read off Satan doing things you know we can think of the ministry of Jesus where it says you know he went about healing all were oppressed to the devil so they clearly see in Acts 10 38 people were oppressed of the devil they were not oppressed by God they were oppressed by the devil and Jesus brought healing to them the woman was bent over Jesus said Satan has bound her so her physical condition was caused because of Satan a spirit of infirmity causing that there are times when Jesus ministered to those who you know had different different physical conditions they were deaf or dumb and he cast out the spirit and they could speak or they could see so you find that spirits are affecting certain parts of the body causing those conditions in the case of the apostle Paul Paul talks about the thorn in the flesh so he says a messenger of Satan so this thorn in the flesh was not a physical sickness or disease but but it was a messenger of Satan meaning a demon demonic power demonic spirit that was causing all the problems that Paul was facing in his ministry and in chapter 11 he describes all of his problems you know that he suffered persecutions and shipwreck and all of those things but they were coming there was a messenger of Satan demonic spirit of Satan coming against him over and over again and causing all of these things and in the middle of all that God says Paul my grace is sufficient for you so like this we see many examples in scripture that Satan comes against us to hinder us in the purposes of God and I mentioned these two acts then and look 13 so Satan is doing his work but while Satan is doing all of this God has given us what we need to stand victorious he's given us a weapons of warfare he's given us the word and he's given us all of that now you know some people who say oh but look at Job he suffered well you and I don't have to be Job why because Job did not have the cross Job did not have the word of God Job did not have the name of Jesus Job did not have the armor of God Job didn't have any of that he didn't have the anointing of the Holy Spirit he didn't have all of that he didn't know about it so you and I don't have to be Job Job is an example in the Bible of what happened to a man but you and I are in a situation much better than Job we've got the weapons of warfare we've got everything we need to stand successfully and victoriously against Satan so we are in a totally different position than Job so you know it's wrong for a believer to say I'm Job or I'm like Job no you're not you know you shouldn't say that because you're on the side of the cross and look at all that God's given you you're Job didn't have so Satan is still doing stuff but we have been given things to live victorious and while he comes against us you know to attempt us or attack us the things that are designed to harm us can only serve to perfect us into the image of Jesus so if you if you look at things that way hey whatever Satan is trying to do against me that he's going to attempt me he's going to attack me I've got everything I need to stand victorious and his coming against me is only serving to perfect me into the image of Jesus Christ that's the that's all you know that's why God's permitted us to be here that you know it's as we go about the purpose of God preaching the gospel and serving God and serving his people there's this enemy who's trying to interfere and everything he does can be turned around into perfecting us into the image of Jesus Christ as we use what God has given to us now other things we see are Satan tries to obstruct and delay the miracles delay the the plans of God we see that in Daniel he tried to do that so I missed the thing we can know that he'll try to do similar things these days but what must we do we just stand we continue believing and say no Satan you are not going to have the final say I will have the final say based on the word of God what God has said for me I will possess I will walk in my inheritance and so we deal with those things using what God has given to us now we know that Satan will try to interfere in life situations he'll try to cause failure try to cause pregnant marriage he'll try to hinder progress cause sickness disturb emotionally all the lot of these things can be demonic in origin that means there are spirits at work spirits of darkness at work and so we need to take authority over those things right so there is suffering that is caused directly due to satanic oppression so we recognize that the devil is a thief coming to steal kill and destroy but as far as a believer is concerned we have to use what God has given to us against this you know we discern okay this is the enemy at work we exercise our God given authority we stand firm we don't quit just because the battle may be longer than expected we keep standing and we must not blame God for what the devil is doing you know this is sad and sometimes people think we are being arrogant when we say this but look don't blame God for what the devil's doing if the devil is causing sickness don't go and say God has given me the sickness to teach me a lesson now God is so good he's going to put up with it he's not going to you know slap you in the face but that doesn't mean what you're saying is right you know so we have to be careful discern that hey it's the devil who causes these things and it's not right for me to blame God but instead I need to take what God has given to me to stand up against what the enemy is doing right and another thing is this God wants us to take action against the devil you know he told us resist the devil he didn't say he would resist the devil for us you know James 4 7 1st Peter 5 8 and 9 tells us resist the devil so who's got to resist the devil I you we as believers we must resist the devil so sometimes we are waiting for God to do what he told us to do now I'm waiting for God to deliver me I'm waiting for God to listen God told you to resist the devil so if you don't resist the devil God's not going to do it for you right so we must understand that because that's all in the word and we have to follow the instruction from the word right so we we we must understand what God has given to us okay so let me pause and you know if there are any comments here on these second and third points want to suffering you to our personal actions suffering you to demonic oppression let me just see if there are any questions or comments before we go forward okay did satan take the lives of Job's sons can satan kill take lives yeah the answer is yes right through direct and indirect means so the indirect means would be you know whether it's a physical calamity or whether it is causing spirits of suicide depression fear torment you know so he brings all of these things and then then people end up committing suicide or taking their lives so yeah so he's he just said he comes to steal kill and destroy and so the enemy instigates it is instrumental in that towards that and then people you know end up with destroying their lives and so on and or it's calamities that happen that are destructive in nature Kennedy go ahead please thank you thank you can you can you please shed some light on the issue of the blood gases the ancestral gases or the deadline gases okay so we find this in the Old Testament Exodus I think it's in excess 20 so Kennedy's question is about bloodline curses or things that come through the bloodline so so what happened what we see is in the Old Testament God said he would visit the inequity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and the fourth generation that means the effect of sin continues in what we said the bloodline in the succeeding generations up to the third and fourth generation so it's from that where you know people aren't recognized that hey there is this possibility but I say why do I say there is this possibility because this can always be stopped that means let's say one generation did some sin whatever sin they did sin sin always opens the door but let's say the very next generation turns to God and lives righteous they have the right not to be under the consequences of the sins of the forefathers why because they're now turned to God so but if they don't turn to God then the door that has been opened continues to remain open and so they will continue to face the consequences of that sin or sins in their lives okay so that whole concept of or not concept that the whole truth of the judgment of sin being passed on to the third and fourth generation must be understood in the light of the rest of scripture what is the rest of scripture say the rest of scripture says the soul that sins it shall die that means each one is responsible for their own sin but we do understand when doors are opened it continues if the sin continues but if somebody depends in turns to God they don't have to be in subjection to that bondage but what we do know is that the enemy will try to use that to continue to oppress people so that's why they call it a curse because a door has been opened sin opens the door the previous generation has opened the door the enemy has gained some foretold and he will try to trouble the next generation if you know even they turn and repent to the Lord he will try to use it but they don't have to be subject to it especially when you come into the New Testament we know in the New Testament we know a lot more than the people in the Old Testament in the New Testament we know that the blood of Jesus Christ redeems us that there is this complete transfer from darkness into light that means Satan has no more claim no more access no more right over us so even if let's say the preceding generation committed sin let's just say an example that they committed murder so obviously it's a sin it opened the door to the enemy to come in and work in the family but the next generation turned to the Lord so they have every right to walk free from any influence of whatever spirit of murder or thing spirit of destruction that may have come into the previous generation they don't have to be in subjection to it why because you're you're now in the kingdom of light so what do you do just renounce it say Satan you have no access over me whatever may have you know my forefathers may have opened the door you have no right to me no claim over me I'm not giving you any access I am free I've been delivered and redeemed by the blood of Jesus I am not expecting to be in subjection to any of these things and that's it is as simple as that we don't have to make it any more complicated we understand the spiritual reality of that sin opens the door and it can be passed on but we also understand the greater reality of the redemption that we have in Christ and that's what we walk in does that answer your question Kennedy oh yeah thank you thank you thank you okay Avani you need to want to say something ask something yes pastor I want to understand this thing Jesus after he was baptized in Jordan he cast out demons and he raised the dead and everything he did and then he goes on the cross and then he defeats the devil on the cross so and before that he even gives his disciples the power and authority over demons and everything happens now in in Colossians to 1415 we say that is the time he disarmed the rulers and he did everything on the cross to defeat the devil and he was already doing that even before the cross and then we read about him doing that on the cross and then the disciples are given the fullness of holy spirit on the day of 21st so I want to understand Jesus was already doing the miracles and all the things he was disarming the Satan even before the cross so what difference uh how to understand the difference between the two pre crucifixion and post crucifixion what difference did it make basically uh and and and even though Jesus defeated the devil on the cross he is still working the same way as he did it before the cross so I just wanted to understand the devil to give bigger picture I hope my question is in the past yeah um I'll just reference one scripture here and I'll just right Matthew 8 16 17 so here's the thing before the cross Jesus healed people Jesus forgave sin Jesus worked miracles and he commissioned his disciples to go do the same thing before the cross and Matthew 8 16 17 says you know whatever he did he did it that it might be fulfilled what was spoken right and he and he quotes Isaiah and he says this happened the cross so two things you must understand the cross was something that took place in time about 2000 years ago but the cross took place in the mind of God before the creation of the world that's why Revelation 13 I think verse 8 it says and other places also in 1 Peter 118 it says he was a lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world so two things in time Christ stood on the cross but before he died in time he already died so to speak in the mind of God that means the cross was a finished work even before Adam was created so Hebrews 4 3 the works were finished before the foundation of the world so the cross was a finished work before Adam was created in the spiritual realm in the mind of God it was done so everything Jesus was doing before the cross in time was like I'm doing this because this is spiritual truth and I'm doing this because as a down payment I'm doing it because the work is going to be done so I have the authority to do this that means he was forgiving sin on the basis of what was going to take place in time to come that's why he could forgive sin before the cross it's like I can forgive your sin because I'm going to pay not only for your sin we're going to pay for the sins of the world so I have a right to forgive your sin because I am going to go and make the payment so you can understand it in that sense and you can also understand it in the sense that look in the mind of God I have already made the payment so I have the authority to forgive you your sin so whether it is in time he's authorized to do it before the cross because he was going to go and do it on the cross or whether it is before God because in the mind of God it was already a finished work so now the cross happens and as Jesus dies physically and everything takes place it's a fulfillment of what already took place in the mind of God and we are living on the other side of the cross where it is Satan so on the cross Jesus did everything he defeated Satan he disarmed his bodies so we are on the other side of the cross where the payment has been made and we're living out of that so before the cross the payment was going to be made so he could borrow from it the payment is made now we're living out of that so both are very valid the payment has been made in full so whether you borrow ahead of time or you do it after time both are valid payment has been made in full in time but the payment was already made in full in the mind of God before time began so Jesus was ministering out of both these contexts I'm going to pay for it it's already been done in the mind of God we're on this side of the cross payment has been made but it's also true it was already done in the mind of God before time began so today we can say Satan you have been defeated Satan you are underneath my feet but the key is before the cross after the cross the key is revelation for those who understood it they could walk in it so revelation is important the knowledge of the truth is important so in both the old the New Testament God says you know and the old he says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge and they knew he says if you know the truth the truth will set you free so knowing the truth is important in both before and after the cross does that help or did I confuse you okay okay good so so everyone is with that so far we've looked at suffering because of bondage of corruption suffering because of one's own actions suffering because of satanic oppression okay let me just see we have another questionnaire from rose for a new believer how do you explain the Christian walk is with trials and bells from the enemy so we can tell you know the way we understand it is that when we are born again so we can explain this to them like when we are born again we are spiritually we are transferred from darkness to light we are transferred from the powers of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son that's in our Colossians 1 13 14 so especially God does that but he leaves us but we are living on this earth where satan and his demons have been are continuing to operate they are still continuing to do their evil work but for the believer are before the believer they are powerless because the believer is walking and what christ finished but they will come against the believer trying their gorilla tactics you know they'll try to they will pretend to harass or they will try to harass they'll try to tempt they try to work on the weaknesses of the believer and so they try to do that so as long as on this earth we are like on we are like on enemy territory for the time being and we're going to face things from the enemy but God has given us what we need to live victorious to overcome so spiritually we have been transferred in our physical life or not we are walking on enemy territory so to speak so we're going to face these things and we have to overcome it's okay all right so I think we'll pause here take some time to think about these things the reason we are trying to understand for suffering and then we will cover the rest next week hopefully we'll be able to finish this chapter on suffering next week okay let's take a moment to pray and then we will dismiss and we will see see you again after the break in the other class could somebody just pray with us and dismiss us please Pastor can I pray please go ahead come on our precious Emily Father we thank you praise you honor you for this wonderful morning Father we ask you with more grace in our life Lord Master when we go through the challenges in our life for God when we face the tribulations when we face the persecutions of God Lord we pray that Father let me not stagger in faith but Lord Master let me be Lord Master let me know the truth and face Lord Master and let me able to overcome those challenges to Father let the sufferings should never be an obstacle for our growth and walk with God Father but Lord Master let me able to overcome it and move further and Father believing on your faithfulness believing on your love and grace that we able to Lord Master shine for your kingdom and for your glory we thank you for Lord Master every single word what we learned to your God let it deeply rooted in us and let it be blessing for us thank you for your servant of God Lord strengthen him bless him and Father God use him mightly thank you once again for giving us this opportunity to hear from you all the glory honor and praises belongs to you in Jesus name we pray Amen thank you everyone God bless you all we will see you soon in the next class take a good break see you now God bless