 Good morning everyone. Good to see Siddiquen Juanita, John, Jafina and Aradna. Thank you for joining class. Hope all of you are doing well. Yes, no. Jafina, you don't have your video on today? I'm just sitting. Okay. Good to see you. Okay. So can we begin with the word of prayer? Can I ask Aradna to lead us in prayer, please? Good morning Aradna. Can you lead us in prayer, please? Thank you for your grace and mercy and our light. Your help us to remember your words. Please help us guide us. Amen. Thank you Aradna. Okay. So last week we were looking at, we were studying Chapter 4, Kingdom Thinking. And, you know, we saw that a lot of what Jesus taught us was about Kingdom Thinking and we looked at a few highlights of Kingdom Thinking and what it is like in Chapter 4. And from Jesus' teachings we saw, you know, how he wanted us to think as people who are the heirs of his kingdom, who belong to his kingdom, who are here to extend his kingdom here on earth. Okay. So we saw that we need to develop a kingdom mindset, a kingdom framework from which we look at things, from which we need to perceive things, from which we need to make decisions. And we saw that if we are able to think with the kingdom perspective and kingdom mindset, the kingdom, you know, and we develop a kingdom mindset, we think from a kingdom perspective, then we will truly be a kingdom community where we will have a kingdom culture amongst us. Okay. So we'll move on from Kingdom Thinking now, you know, our thoughts become, what we see become our thoughts, our thoughts become our actions, our actions become our character, it becomes who we are. So we'll move on from Kingdom Thinking to Kingdom Living, Kingdom Lifestyle and then we will see how, you know, what we learned about Kingdom Thinking and about Kingdom Living, how it translates into a kingdom culture and what is the importance of having a kingdom culture which is having a kingdom thinking and a kingdom living. Okay. Kingdom mindset and a kingdom lifestyle. We began looking at chapter five last week, we just touched on a few points, we just did the introduction, but I will just, you know, go through what I have said in the last class. We read in John chapter 18 verse 36, Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. So when we are born again, we are born again into the kingdom of God, we are part of the kingdom of heaven. So we belong to a culture, a lifestyle, a thought process and values of the kingdom of God. So as people who belong to the kingdom of God, our lifestyle is very different. Okay, it's Kingdom Lifestyle and it's called Kingdom Living. So we belong to the kingdom of God and hence we adopt that kingdom culture, that kingdom lifestyle and this kingdom lifestyle is called Kingdom Living. So as citizens of the kingdom of God, our kingdom lifestyle is very different from that of the world because we don't belong to the world. Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world and hence when we are born again, we are born again to kingdom of God and hence we do not belong to the kingdom of this world but we belong to the kingdom of God and hence our lifestyle is different from the kingdom of this world because our lifestyle is the kingdom lifestyle. Now in Luke chapter 17 verses 20 to 21, I'm just reiterating all what I said last week. In Luke chapter 17 verses 20 and 21, Jesus says, the kingdom of God does not come with observation. Okay, he said that the kingdom of God does not come with observation. Why does Jesus make this statement? He makes this statement in the context when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come and then he makes this statement. So we know the Pharisees, the Jews were basically looking for a kingdom to come, a king to come who would establish a physical kingdom, a physical government and will overthrow all the enemies of the Jews, especially the Romans because they were greatly persecuted and troubled by the Romans. So they were asking for a sign. Okay, and Jesus said that the kingdom of God does not come by observations, which means Jesus says it's not the externals that you should be looking for because the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is within us. So Jesus is making a statement here. He's saying that the kingdom of God is not of the external. It's something that works within us. So as believers, we need to understand that the kingdom of God is within each one of us. So everywhere we go, we carry the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God is within us. And we're carrying, so because the kingdom of God is within us and we're carrying this kingdom everywhere, which means we're carrying the authority, we're carrying the dominion, we're carrying all of the life, the fullness of the king who is within us. Now the kingdom of God we learned in chapter one is a spiritual kingdom and it's a kingdom that comes from within us. So the kingdom lifestyle or our kingdom living is the outworking of the kingdom of God that is within us because we have the kingdom of God within us. So it's the outworking, our kingdom lifestyle or our kingdom living is an outworking of the kingdom of God that is inside us. And the kingdom of God inside us, it affects our lifestyle, it affects the way we live and we also saw it affects our thinking, our mindsets, our perspective. We will also see how it affects our culture in the next lesson. Okay, so what are the characteristics of kingdom lifestyle. Now, you know, just a few things is holiness and reverence, righteousness, peace and joy, power, authority and dominion, endurance and suffering, forgiveness. No partiality, no partiality, readiness for the king and celibate being celibate for the kingdom's sake. Okay, so these are a few of the characteristics that are part of kingdom lifestyle. Now we've just put, you know, a few things we can add on to the list that can describe kingdom lifestyle, but we will just highlight a few in this lesson and then we move on. Okay. And last week we also saw, we read a second Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 to 18 and I explained that, but just to recap what we look at in what we read in 2 Corinthians 6, 14 to 18, Paul is here contrasting the kingdom of God, the people of the kingdom of God with the people of the kingdom of the world. So the kingdom of light, which is a kingdom of God, and the kingdom of darkness, which is a kingdom of this world. Okay, so as believers Paul is saying that we have no communion of fellowship with darkness. And I also mentioned about John chapter 3 verses 19 to 21, where John says, you know, men like darkness rather than light, which means that men prefer to stay in the darkness so that their wrong deeds are not exposed, which means that the world around us is in perfect darkness. They prefer doing things in darkness. But you and I as people of the kingdom of God, as people of the kingdom of light, even as we are among these people who are dwelling in darkness, you know, we need to make an impact. Okay, so we belong to the kingdom of light, but we are this light in the midst of this darkness, which is all around us where there's evil. And the people of this world, you know, they don't see the light that is in us. Then, you know, we are absolutely making no difference. Then we need to ask ourselves this question, are we really living the way God wants us to live? Are we really thinking the kingdom thoughts? Are we having a kingdom mindset, a kingdom perspective? You know, is our kingdom, is our lifestyle, kingdom lifestyle or is the way of the world? Because if you're not going to make a difference because we are light, and light has to make a difference because if there's darkness in the room, and if the light steps in or comes in, you know, it makes a huge difference. So if you're not making a difference, then we need to ask a question, you know, are we living our lives the way God wants us to live? Okay. And God said that we are light and, you know, we cannot fellowship or commune, have communion with darkness. That means we cannot mean we are in the, you know, we belong to this world, but we are off this world. We don't mingle with the people of this world or we don't indulge in the lifestyle and the thinking process, the thought process of this world. Okay. So it's a good intention to be with people of darkness, people around us. But the good intention is to influence them, to reach out to them, so that they also, you know, become part of the kingdom of light, they also become part of the kingdom of God. But, you know, if we end up compromising the way we live, the way we think, the way we behave and act, then we end up losing the light, and then we are not pleasing our heavenly Father. Okay. And this is where we stopped last week. We'll continue now. And we see that Paul, you know, addresses this about this to the believers in his letters to the churches at Corinth, Galatia, and the churches at Ephesus. Now, we will read 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 10, Galatians 5, 19 to 21, in Ephesians 5, verses 3 to 5. So in all of these letters, we see, you know, Paul, who's writing the churches at Corinth, Galatia, and Ephesus, you know, we see Paul was so strong in his understanding of the kingdom of God. And we also see that he was so strong in his understanding of who could inherit the kingdom of God. So in these three passages, which I just mentioned, you know, Paul is very clearly indicating in these passages that a sinful lifestyle is unacceptable before God. Okay. And this sinful lifestyle will prevent our entrance or our experience of the kingdom of God. Now, in these services, in these three references which I mentioned, Paul lists several things which he calls the work of the flesh. And Paul says, don't fool yourself. You know, if you continue to live in unrighteous deeds, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay. So if you look at your notes, the PDF 1 Corinthians 6 was 9 and 10, Galatians 5, 19 to 21, in Ephesians 5, 3 to 5. It's talking about, you know, the works of the flesh. And Paul starts off in 1 Corinthians 6 was 9 and 10. He says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? So don't deceive yourselves. Don't be fooled. You know, if you continue living in unrighteous deeds, in unrighteous ways, in unrighteous living and lifestyle, will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he lists out what are the unrighteous deeds in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 10. He talks about idolatry, fornication, adultery, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, coverages, people, those who are drunkards, extortioners, and he says that they will not inherit the kingdom of God. And then he also writes the churches at Galatia, in Galatians 5 verses 19 to 21. Again, he talks about the works of the flesh. And there he talks about, again, the same things. And he mentions uncleanness, lewdness, sorcery, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, envy, drunkenness. And he says that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we need to watch our own lives. Are we indulging in idolatry? Are we keeping anything else in the place of God, which is idolatry? Or are we into adultery or drunkenness, covetousness, even outbursts of anger and wrath or selfish ambitions, jealousy, hatred, we might think all these like hatred and outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions. It's okay since compared to adultery, compared to fornication or compared to sorcery and things like that, or even drunkenness. But Paul mentions these in the list of the things of the flesh in Galatians 5 verses 19 to 21 and he says, those who practice such things or those who are continuously indulging in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he also talks about the same works of the flesh to the churches at Ephesus in Ephesians 5 verses 3 to 5. And he mentions the same things that I mentioned in Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6. But I like to bring to your notice, he talks about foolish talking and coarse jesting or coarse joking, which are not fitting. So sometimes we can talk foolishly or constantly make some, keep making some unclean foolish jokes, which everyone might enjoy and love, but it says that such who indulge in such things, who practice such things have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So we need to, it's good to look at this list mentioned in these three passages to see if we are practicing any such things. And if we are, we can ask God for forgiveness, repent and so that we will be people who inherit the kingdom of God. So Paul is telling the believers in these verses that I know you are saved by grace. We are saved by grace and not by works, but Paul is saying I know that. But what I'm telling you is you cannot practice these things because these things are not part of the kingdom lifestyle. It's not part of the kingdom living. And he says if you practice these things, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now when we read all of these things, we can say, hey, we are saved by grace and not by good works or holy life. Yes, that's true. We are saved by grace and not by our works, but we manifest good works, we manifest the holy life because we are saved. So the outcome of our receiving salvation, which happens inside, is something that translates outside. And it's seen outside by our good works that we do and our holy living. So yes, holy works and good living is important because it manifests the work of salvation in our lives. It shows that we are saved. So salvation and sanctification go together. Salvation is when we are born again, sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit that begins the moment, the minute that we've accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, cleanses us, purifies us, makes us more like Jesus. So we see that salvation and sanctification go together and salvation affects sanctification in the life of the individual. So the outcome of our salvation is good works, is living our holy life. So we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. But yet the Bible states that if we practice unrighteous deeds, if we practice or indulge in the carnal nature, the fleshly nature, we will have no part in the kingdom of God. And then we can ask this question, okay, then what role does grace of God have in our life? We are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Then what role does the grace of God have in our life? So let's look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28. I hope all of you are with me. Can somebody read Hebrews 12 verse 28? Too fast? Are all of you following me? Okay, thank you, Anita. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God, exceptively with reverence and God. Thank you, Jeffina. So here it says, let us have grace, which means let us receive and appropriate the grace by which we can serve God. It says, let us have grace by which we may serve God, which means let us have grace, means let us receive. Yes, God has given us grace. Let us receive that grace, let us appropriate that grace by which we can serve God. And then it says here that the grace of God leads to reverence and godly fear. Okay, that's so beautiful. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the grace of God that we have received, which is a gift from God, you know, what does it lead to? It leads to reverence to God. It leads to reverence in the way we live, the way we think, the way we behave, our attitudes, and it also leads to godly fear. So godly fear would only lead us to greater levels of reverence and the fear of God in our life. So if we say that we have the grace of God in our lives, and if we are living according to flesh and indulging in the passions and the desires of this world, then it's not the grace of God. Surely it's not the grace of God. Okay, because the grace of God helps us, or the grace of God enables us to live kingdom lifestyle. It enables us, as this word says, to live with reverence and godly fear. So the grace of God helps us to move further and deeper into how God wants us to live our lives. So that is the first characteristic that we look at holiness and reverence. So one of the characteristics of kingdom lifestyle is holiness and reverence. And if we say that we belong to the kingdom of light, we belong to the kingdom of God, then we need to live, you know, in holiness and reverence towards God. And it shows in the life that we live. We look at another characteristic of kingdom living, which is righteousness, peace and joy. You know, as Sunday School children we all learned the song, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, that's the kingdom of God. Okay, so something that we learned as children. But here, you know, Paul is using righteousness, peace and joy in a different context. In Romans chapter 14, verses 16 to 19, here Paul is addressing the subject of food and meat. He's actually saying what we should eat and what we shouldn't eat. He sums up his instruction by teaching us that as part of kingdom living, we do not do these things. You know, we do not eat meat or we do not, you know, eat some food that becomes an offense or a stumbling block, or a hindrance to the faith of another believer or a new believer who comes into the church. So let's look at Romans chapter 14, verses 16 to 19. Can somebody read that, please? Romans 14, 16 to 19. Romans chapter 14, verses 16 to 19. Therefore, do not that your good be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things, is acceptable to God and a good man. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may identify another. Thank you, thank you, Jeffina. The kingdom of God, Paul says, is not about what we eat and drink, but it's righteousness. It's right standing before God and man. It's peace and joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. And in Paul is saying that if you pursue righteousness, peace and joy, if you pursue these things, you will be accepted by God. And you will also get the approval of man. So as people belong into the kingdom, we are called to pursue the higher things of the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy. And if need be, you know, to pursue these higher things, if need be, we need to sacrifice some of our legitimate rights, some of our lawful rights, some of the rights that is okay for us. We need to sometimes even sacrifice that to what we eat and drink in order to pursue what promotes righteousness, peace and joy. So Paul is in this context saying that if he eats something that causes his brother to stumble, then he might as well not eat it. He will just give it up because even though it's a legitimate right for him to eat it, and it's being a hindrance, it's being a stumbling block to his brother in his faith, in his believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul is saying, I will just give it up. Why? Because he's saying for him, righteousness, peace and joy is more important than what he can eat or drink. And that is the kingdom of God. So what is Paul saying here? You know, we may have some legitimate rights of what we can eat. And if we extend that also to what we can do and what we cannot do and how we can live. But if you're pursuing the kingdom of God and you're pursuing righteousness, peace and joy, you will be willing to give up all of these things because you're pursuing righteousness, peace and joy that will edify those around you and will extend the kingdom of God. And that is how we need to live as kingdom people, as kingdom persons. Because as kingdom people, you need to pursue something that is higher, which is righteousness, peace and joy. So we can say that we can do certain things because everybody else is doing, maybe you're working in a corporate where you go for parties and everybody drinks and you also do it. You said everybody is doing it, so it's okay. Or everybody is lying to get their work done. Everybody is pulling down others so that they can climb up the ladder of success. And you can say it's okay for us to do it, but we need to remember that the kingdom of God is in us. And that says the kingdom is not about what you can do and not do, but it is about pursuing righteousness, peace and joy. And if you do that, you will get God's approval and the approval of man. And that is what is the kingdom of God. So for example, just to give you a couple of examples, I say a brother or sister at church is constantly slandering or gossiping about you and you know, and it's causing a lot of problem in your sensing that. But you can react in talking about that person as well to others, confronting that person, getting back at that person, teaching that person a lesson. But just to maintain the peace, maintain the unity in the kingdom of God, you just say God, this is something that I can't fight because if this is something that I fight against, it's going to basically divide the team. It's going to bring in this unity. It's going to make a mess of things. And God, I just want you to handle this your way because this is your church. This is your field. This is your vineyard. And I'm just being a good steward of what you entrusted to me. And you're saying God, you just work. And you know, when God works, he does it in such a neat way that it will not kind of bring about any kind of disunity, division, mess, confusion, hatred and anger. He would just remove things, remove people very neatly. So we don't fight our battles in those areas. We use wisdom. We just let God judge. We just let God fight our battles. But at the same time that we don't let people walk all over us, we need to be smart. We need to be diligent and God will fight our battles for us. So just for the sake of unity, sometimes just even forgiving a brother or sister in Christ in our family, our spouse, our children or our relatives, our parents or people at church in our teams that we work along with. Just forgiving them, just letting go of what they have done. They might have done things really to hurt us, to put us down. But God is the one who gives honor and lifts us up, gives us promotion. And so we just let it go to God. But what we do is we just forgive them. And why? Because we're looking at pursuing peace. That's the kingdom of God, peace in the kingdom of God, unity. So that there is joy, there is oneness. And we don't lose our right standing with God when we are fighting back and doing things what the world does, getting back and talking back, pulling them down and things like that. I'll just give you another example. When we go to North India, to minister in North India, in our churches here in Bangalore, it's okay when we go up to preach, we can wear formal pants and trousers or a formal shirt and we can wear our shoes on and we can preach. But when we go to North India, we basically have to wear our salwar kamis and we have to put the dupatta and sometimes we need to cover our head. And when we go up on stage, we don't wear footwear. Now, when we go to minister in our outreach churches in North India, we can say, man, they have to learn our culture, our lifestyle and all of the outward expressions is not something that is going to bring us salvation. But if I do that, then I'm kind of being a hindrance to believers to receive what I'm going there to minister because they're not going to receive from me. They're going to say, okay, this one is, as it is, she's a lady and we don't listen to lady preachers or pastors and she looks so young and look at her where she's dressed so worldly. And it will be a hindrance for them to receive the gospel. So what do we do? Just to maintain that unity, just to maintain the peace and to have the joy and for us to be able to impart the word and minister to them. For them to receive the word from us, we become like them. So we wear salva kamis, we take a dupatta, we cover our head and we don't wear footwear when we go up on the podium to preach the gospel. And we minister to them in a way, in a culture that they feel best to receive the word of God. So we give up certain things which are our legitimate rights just because we want to pursue the higher things of God, that is righteousness, peace and joy. Now we'll move on to the next characteristic of kingdom living which is authority, power and dominion. We look at this in a chapter which we will be looking at in the future. But for now, the kingdom of God in us supersedes everything around us. Because the king of the kingdom is in us and he has given us the authority in our lives as believers. He has given us the power and the authority and the power and the authority that he has vested upon us is in us. So wherever we go, the kingdom of God shows out through us. So we have, because we have the power of God, the authority of God in us, we have the potential to dominate situations around us. Because we carry the kingdom of God. So we don't let the challenges, we don't let the situations and the difficulties around us to overwhelm us, to drown us, to depress us. But we are given the power to dominate over those situations that are around us. So if you allow the kingdom of God that is within you to come out and to administer the authority of the kingdom, then you will see you will be able to dominate the kingdom situations. You will be able to dominate the situations around you. For example, if there is a lot of hatred, disunity in your home or in your work culture or in your team, then you don't let that drown you. But as a kingdom of God, person who is carrying the kingdom of God within you, you have the authority and the power to break down whatever it is. Whether it is jealousy, hatred, whether it is disunity in your situation, in your home, in your workplace, you don't let that overwhelm you and drown you. But you dominate the situation. If there is uncleanness, if there is bright sets going on, if there is the work culture, the work ethics is so evil and God has placed you dead, then you carry the kingdom of God in you and you have the authority to dominate the situation that is around you. So also in church, we carry the kingdom of God within us so every time we meet, the authority and power of God that we carry needs to be manifested in terms of science, miracles and wonders. So this kingdom that we carry in us is a kingdom of power, authority and dominion and we need to exercise that. We need to speak that, whether it's about health or finances and behavior of our children, our relationships, whether there is disunity, whether there is slack, whatever it is, we need to dominate the situations in the sense we speak the word of God, we declare the authority and the power of God over the situations and not let the situations of hatred and whatever it is to overwhelm our lives and our situations that we are living in. Now Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 19 and 20, but we will look just as it was 20, it says, for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. So the kingdom of God, what Paul is saying is not just about nice words. We can preach great good sermons. We can sway the people that anyone can do, whether it's a politician, whether it is a person who is very good at talking, who influenced the crowd, the change that thinking mind says that people of the world can even do that with their nice words, with their eloquence, with their logical reasoning and thinking. They can present things even so-called self-made gurus and so-called demigods that are there, cult groups. They also can speak nice words, philosophies that can sway people that can win the crowds. But for Paul is saying that the kingdom of God is not in word but in power, which means that when the word of God goes, it goes with such power and authority that it destroys the work of the devil. It dominates the works of darkness. It puts down or brings down to its knees sickness and disease. So the kingdom of God is a kingdom that totally removes the power of darkness. So if we are carrying the kingdom of God within us, we need to be mindful of what we are carrying. We're not just carrying a kingdom that we belong to but we carry a kingdom that we are vested with authority and power. And this authority and power we need to use to change our situations and our circumstances around us and also to undo or to destroy the work of the devil. Because the kingdom of light dominates the kingdom of darkness. It undoes the powers of darkness. It undoes sickness and disease and any kind of uncleanness, unclean spirits that we read in Ephesians and Galatians and Corinthians, was Corinthians chapter six and Galatians chapter five. Now it can undo all of those unclean things, the works of the flesh. So it totally can remove the powers of darkness. Because when Jesus, you know, when he was talking about the kingdom, he said in Matthew chapter 12 verse 28, Jesus said, if I by the power of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So Jesus told his disciples that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven in Matthew chapter 10 verse 7 and 8, I just read Matthew chapter 12 verse 28 where Jesus says, you know, if I by the power of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Okay. And in Matthew chapter 10 verse 7 and 8, Jesus tells his disciples, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received freely gifts. So this is the kingdom that we are talking about. What is the kingdom that we are talking about? It's not just the kingdom that, you know, we'll be happy that we're going to heaven. We are living eternity. But it's a kingdom where we are no longer slaves of sin and Satan and death, but we are sons and daughters of God, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ Jesus. But actually we are talking about a kingdom of power. Okay. That's why Jesus, that's why God told Adam and Eve, you know, subdue when he created them, put them in the garden, subdue and dominate, have dominion, rule. Okay. So, and Jesus tells his disciples again in Matthew chapter 10 verse 7 and 8, he says, you know, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means the kingdom of God is here. It's within reach. It's something that you can see. And when is it at hand? When is it within reach? When is it that you can see it physically in our natural world, even though it's a spiritual kingdom? It's when you heal the sick, when you cleanse the lepers, you raise the dead, cast out demons, and just freely you have received freely gifts. You receive it by grace and give it out freely. So, you know, this should be our kingdom thinking, our kingdom mindset and perspective, saying God, you know, the kingdom of God is within me and it's a kingdom of power. It's a kingdom of authority. And I want it to be translated out into my life in the way that I live, in my actions, in my thoughts, in my reactions. And God, all these years of my life, I've been living in certain, you know, facets or areas of my life where I've let the things of this world or the things of the devil dominate me. Have a control over my life, whether it's fear, whether it's hatred, bitterness, you know, outburst of anger, jealousy, whatever. And you're saying God, you know, today, even as I learned that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy. It's a kingdom which dominates everything around me because it's a kingdom of power that you have vested in and authority that you've vested in me. But I want to use this power that you've vested in me to dominate over the things of this world. So take, you know, a couple of minutes after we finish this, do you finish the class? So think about what are the situations that dominate you as dominated you all these years, whether it's mindsets, you know, lies of the enemy that you've believed. Depression or, you know, suicidal tendencies or, you know, whatever it is, you know, you've been living in constant fear or constant failure or you believe that things are not going to change in your life for the good. You know, you're saying God, I'm going to take authority now and I'm going to speak to my situations. I'm going to speak to my, to my situations and the God, the power and authority that you've given to me is going to break the works of the enemy. And you're saying God, even as you've said that the kingdom of God is at hand, it's within me and, you know, the kingdom of God has come upon me when you cast out demons. And you said that, you know, I can do greater things than what you have done. God, I just want to step out by faith. I want to do what you have said. I want this to become, I want my life to have a kingdom lifestyle where I am just dominating situations around, not in the wrong way, dominating in terms of, you know, exercising, you know, authority and power, not in the right way, but in humility. But, you know, dominating the wrong, the situation that are overwhelming us and also, you know, moving in mighty science, miracles and wonders. So even as we're looking at these things, you know, it's not something that we're just going to be reading, but we're talking about kingdom lifestyle and we belong to a kingdom. And so we need to start imbibing or start making these things our way of thinking, our lifestyle will be looking at culture. So we will be also looking at how we can invite the kingdom culture in our lives. Okay. So another important aspect of kingdom lifestyle is endurance and suffering. Okay. Now we need to come to this understanding that as kingdom of God's citizens or kingdom of heaven citizens, we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, which means we are, you know, we are totally of a different environment. We belong to a different culture, a different world. We don't belong to this world. You know, we are here in foreign territory. That's why we call ambassadors of Jesus Christ, because we're here in a foreign territory, which means we are, you know, we are in this world, representing the kingdom of heaven. We don't belong to this world. We belong to another world. We belong to the kingdom of heaven, but we are ambassadors here in this world of the kingdom that we belong. The kingdom culture and the kingdom lifestyle, kingdom thinking that we belong to another world that is of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. And hence we are ambassadors here in this world for Jesus Christ. And, you know, the word of God says that, you know, we will, because we don't belong to this world. We belong to another world. We belong to another foreign territory. We're just ambassadors here. We will face persecution. We will face pressure. You know, but we will have to endure some of these things here on earth. It's part of kingdom lifestyle. It's part of kingdom living. Now, sometimes we think that, you know, belonging to the kingdom of God, we are children of God, and hence everything is going to be easy. You know, if things are not going to be difficult, life is going to be like, you know, real beautiful cruise for us, which is cruise through life easily. Yes, you know, in certain ways it is going to be easy. But God said, and yes, God said we are his children, but he did not say that we will not suffer. He did not say that we won't need endurance. He did not say that we won't be persecuted. You know, we will go through difficult situations. We will go through challenging circumstances that will overwhelm us, which, you know, at times we did not create for ourselves. You know, which other people created for us. And you may say, God, why is this happening to me? You know, but, you know, all this is part of being part of the kingdom of God. It's part of being ambassadors of Jesus Christ in this foreign territory that they're living, which is the world. So part of kingdom lifestyle is, you know, is having endurance, is having the willingness to go through suffering, willingness to go through some hard times, hardships and enduring and persevering. And all this is part of kingdom living. One verse that I would like to bring to your attention is in 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verses four and five. 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verses four and five, where Paul says, So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. You know, Paul is telling the church at Thessalonica, he's saying, you know, we've actually heard about your persecutions, tribulations, the sufferings that you're going through, but in spite of all that persecution, tribulations and hardships that you're going through, we've heard also of your great patience and faith and your endurance and we're boasting about you to the other churches. And so Paul is telling the believers that, you know, we've heard that you're going through a really tough time, but we heard that you have great patience and faith and endurance and going through this hard time. But he's also saying that, but, you know, he's telling the church of Thessalonica, this is how I look at things, you know, going through troubles, hardships and endurance is an evidence that you belong to the kingdom of God. Okay, so one way you know whether you are really belonging to the kingdom of God is when you go through persecutions, troubles, afflictions and difficulties in life. Okay. Okay, we'll stop here. We'll take a break now and we'll be back after the break. So if you have any questions, we will answer those questions after the break. Okay. Thank you.