 Yeah, so before the break we were looking at this prayer, the second prayer that Paul prayed for the efficient believers and we kind of looked at four prayer points that he has prayed for them and they mentioned in your notes so you can always go back and look at that. And so he says I've been praying all this, I mean I'm praying these prayer points for you so that he comes to us 19 he says so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God so that you know in every way you will become just like Christ. You will be filled in the same way Christ is full of who he is, you too should become full with him to that extent where you literally think the way he thinks, you respond to situations in the way he does, you show love to people and compassion in the way that he does. So you know I'm praying these prayers so that you will actually genuinely become Christ like where everything that God is all of his nature will be manifested in your lifestyle. So this is my prayer for you is what he says. Now a big part of the fullness of God is his love, the way he treats us and the way he looks upon everyone you know I mean not believers even unbelievers this love that he has and that's a very very important aspect of who he is. So anyone at all who says that they want to become Christ like they would have to tackle with this aspect of love. And that is why Jesus emphasizes that you know when he's talking about abiding in him he says one absolutely basic thing that you would have to do if you want to abide in me. You know he says in John chapter 15 verse 12 he says this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. That's one basic commandment that has to be kept if you're serious about abiding in Christ. And when we looked at Galatians also we saw that same idea you know kind of being reflected where it says in Galatians 5 verse 14. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You know and then even in Galatians chapter 6 when we were looking at Galatians chapter 6 verse 2 where it says bear one another's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. So again and again emphasis is placed on this aspect that if you want to be to reflect the fullness of God then you would have to be living in love you know that's just kind of understood. So it is possible to love in that way only when we realize how loved we are because then we are filled with gratitude. I know because we are aware of our defects we are aware of our weaknesses we are in fact aware of the different ways in which we have betrayed the Lord's trust you know we have sinned. So we are aware of these things and when we look at the love that he has you know and we realize how much grace has been extended to us in spite of who we are in spite of the things that we have done. You know that will make us really grateful and then when we look at another believer who is not very nice you know we feel that empathy rising up in our hearts. We look at that person and we think yeah I was exactly like you I was in the same pathetic condition and the way the Lord loved me and showed mercy towards me. So yes even though you're being very troublesome right now and it's quite irritating the things that you're saying and doing. I too was exactly like that and the love that I received I think I need to show that same kind of love to you and we give them a second chance. We are not we're not we don't just write them off or we don't just take out our anger upon them we choose to show them compassion. So this is not a learning which I have really been able to learn much hopefully next year when I teach this course I would have you know maybe advanced a little more in this. But I'm just kind of beginning to catch a glimpse that compassion you know is something that you are able to express because you have learned it. You know you have experienced it. I mean when I look at the ways in which I have failed again and again and the compassion with which Jesus dealt with me. You know being so patient he must have been quite disgusted and irritated with my attitude sometimes I mean you know because sin doesn't appeal to God in any way it disgusts him. So me indulging in such things would have been a most repulsive thing for him to look at you know my attitudes and the things that I do and all of that. But whenever I you know I needed a second chance there he was immediately right by my side extending compassion to me. And so after having experienced it again and again now I'm a little more sympathetic towards other people when I see them you know. And when I look and when I'm really angry or irritated with someone the thought enters my head yeah this is what you know you did to Christ. But look at the way he treated you and it kind of you know because now you have experienced his love and you know what that compassion feels like. You know you're like yeah I know I think I should extend the same compassion now towards this person. So you choose to be gentler in your attitude towards that person. You're also more careful in your thoughts regarding that person earlier you might have been you know just filled with all kinds of angry hateful you know grudging thoughts towards that person. But now you know whenever those thoughts come into your mind you tell yourself no. Is this how Jesus Christ thinks about you in spite of all that you've done. Look at the way he thinks about you. I mean look at the thoughts that he thinks towards you. You know just open to efficiency and look at those two prayers and realize how what he thinks you know for you. That is the kind of thoughts that he thinks. So what right do you have to be thinking all these evil thoughts you know towards that person to the person other person who's kind of you know wronging you right now. So this is something that you kind of learn through experience even as you become the recipient of this compassion and this love again and again. And you begin to appreciate what is being done for you. You kind of kind of become little ready to extend the same thing to other people because you have been literally following in that beautiful love. And you know you just feel like showing that to the other people as well. So like I said I've not quite arrived in this area of my life but I'm really serious we know I mean asking the Lord to help me in this. So God will build us up you know in these things for him loving other people the way we are with them is absolutely vital. It's like very very basic very very foundational. So you know if you're thinking in terms of being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God this is one aspect that you would have to seriously consider. How are you in your attitude and in your relationships towards other believers. So that is very very important. So after having prayed this prayer Paul goes on to speak words versus 20 and 21. So if someone could read out versus 20 and 21 please. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. So he has you know finished praying the prayer the second prayer and he says you know now you know this prayer I'm committing it into the hands of who. Into the person who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. So it is that kind of resurrection power that is working in you efficient believers. So I know for a fact that what I have prayed for you will be accomplished. You know so in fact he's going to do things for you that are beyond your imagination. So it's kind of a little sad when we take the scripture and we just kind of you know added to material needs. Over here there's so much more being talked about. Yes he will take care of our needs. You know in fact we have scriptures which specifically talk about the material aspect of what God has to offer. So he says out of his riches he will provide us with every need that we have. Yes but over here it's not just talking about some material needs that are getting met. It's talking about how he's going to make you Christ like. About how an ordinary person like you is going to become into someone who is reflecting him in all of his fullness in different areas of your life and people look at you and they can literally see Christ in you. When you go and you interact with them and you try to help them out they literally feel God's presence through you. I mean that's so amazing right because at the end of the day we're all just people. It is so ordinary but because God has been changing us so much and working on us so much on the inside and people interact with us they actually feel him rather than just you know feeling us. They literally feel his presence and so there are amazing things which are being talked about over here in these verses. So I feel that verse 20 should not just be taken to talk about how he is going to provide us with material things and he's going to look after our needs. Yes there is that beautiful aspect of it where God will be meeting our needs but there's so much more that being discussed over here. So let's look at these verses in the broader perspective. Let's take them in the way they were meant to be taken when Paul actually wrote them down. So yeah that's basically Ephesians chapter 3. So very quickly moving on into chapter 4. It's a kind of re-affirmation repetition of another of the things that he has already been saying. So maybe we can just read one entire chunk. Yeah okay fine before we get into the chapter 4 then maybe Viro we can first go ahead. No it's not at all clear. You have raised your hand. Do you have a question? Go ahead. Yes thank you Apostle. I was just sorry to draw you back again. I don't know if you could just throw more light on verse 9 to 10. Okay Ephesians chapter 3 just before we move to chapter 4. I don't know if you can just throw more light on verse 9 to 10. Yeah so 9 to 10 would be and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Yeah right here it's talking about I mean we saw right that the mystery is basically that the grace of God has been extended not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles and now that mystery is beginning to be revealed and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places even these you know the angels in heaven and the evil principalities and powers even they were not fully aware of what God had planned and so you know especially the evil principalities and powers they had kind of held the heathen world under their sway they never thought that these people would ever escape from their hold they could not do much about the nation of Israel yes they were you know attempts made by them to kind of completely dissolve the nation of Israel and turn them into pagans just like everyone else but again and again you had prophets coming through and you know they were revivals which took place so the nation just somehow managed to hold on to Yahweh so yeah the principalities and powers did have their difficulties with the nation of Israel but they thought at least the rest of the world is under their control but now God finally reveals you know he reveals it stage by stage this mystery finally once Christ has accomplished his work this the the curtains are just literally opened up fully and it must have been a horrible terrible shock to the heavenly rulers and authorities you know the angels of course when they would see this would have rejoiced they would have praised and worshipped God but the evil rulers the evil powers they would have been shattered horrified that now they don't only have to worry about the nation of Israel now they got to start worrying about the entire world because they're going to lose their hold over every nation people from all nations are going to start coming to Christ they're going to be filled with his resurrection power because when Christ exhibited his resurrection power on the cross all these demons which were rejoicing and thinking okay now you know he's finished they could they could do nothing resurrection power is resurrection power I mean there's a great gap between divinity and created beings and when God revealed his divine resurrection power there was nothing that these you know these evil powers could do they were helpless and now that resurrection power is getting released into not just Jewish believers it's going to be released into a gentle believers everywhere throughout the world and they're all going to become part of this body of Christ this powerful new person that God is creating you know this church with one body the new man that term is somewhere there I think we'll be kind of coming to that in our you know in our passage later on so God is creating something extremely powerful for himself this church this body of Christ and so now the mystery is fully revealed that this was God's plan all along that is not just going to you know reserve one tiny little portion of humanity for himself and just show them mercy but his mercy is going to be extending to the entire world and Satan is really not going to have a say in any of it so he now displays his finished plan and it must have just caused the evil powers to tremble and so up to today they are kind of engaged in battles struggling trying to make sure that we believers never catch sight of these beautiful truths because if we Gentile believers all over the world start catching this and start you know becoming Christ like then where will they be they'll be nowhere so so it's like a declaration of victory God you know revealing throwing open his plans and saying see this is what I've planned all along not just salvation for a small bunch of people but for all humankind you know so it's like God's royal declaration of look this is what I had you know up my sleeve all along and here it is revealed it's something glorious it's something that God is you know declaring and proclaiming and saying this is what I actually accomplished on the cross so it's more a declaration of and proclamation of victory yeah yeah that would be verses 9 and 10 thank you very much yes alright so yeah let's come into Ephesians chapter 4 if someone could read out verses 1 up to verse 6 all the way from 1 up to verse 6 please I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in an honor worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humanity and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the dawn of peace there's one body and one spirit just as you recall to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all but grace was given to each one yeah yeah yeah okay so verses 1 to 6 you have a whole bunch of ones being mentioned Paul is trying to you know bring out the fact that we are all under you know that we are all that we all have been made into one body and we all you know are being indwelt by one spirit and we all have one Lord and master over us so it is one faith that we have placed in you know in one God and one Lord and so he's bringing out the fact that we all are partakers of the same thing the same God and what he is offering and we are equal partakers you see it's not like as if some people are being preferential being given preferential treatment all of us are equal partakers in it so where's the need for competition where's the need for division and strife you know I mean such things arise only if there's you know in equal treatment being you know you know meet it out like it happened in the case of you know Joseph and his brothers yeah I mean those Old Testament people really were very bad when it came to family relationships seriously I mean if you look through the entire Old Testament they were really bad husbands and really bad fathers you know they just never caught many of the spiritual principles you know which we are so aware of now so anyway the thing is I mean see at that time he was so busy giving preferential treatment to Joseph and Benjamin that they all the other brothers they felt bad it must have hurt because after all I mean they're also his sons and you know just because this man happened to love his you know second wife more it's not their fault so all that created strife it created division created discord but here you know Paul is saying all of you Jewish believers and Gentile believers you're equal partakers of this of what God is offering you know you both have the same father same heavenly father you both have the same one Lord who is you know who has sealed you with the same Holy Spirit and he's making it to one powerful strong resurrection power filled body he's doing all that so you guys are one unit so there's no need for you to have some kind of sense of you know competition between each other or to have any discord or strife between each other realize your oneness and you know enjoy that flourishing that rather than no picking on each other there is no need for any strife or competition because in God's eyes you're all equal you're all equally loved and in fact then he goes on to you know talk about how the grace which has been given the giftings which have been given so all of you have your own beautiful giftings which have been handed to you whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile so you guys are all rich equally rich equally privileged so there's no need to have any kind of division or strife you know it's the point that he's trying to make over here so then he starts talking about how there have been special graces you know given to each person and that is what he says in verse 7 so if we can read verse 7 once again but grace was given to each one of us according to the measures of Christ given yeah okay so we talked about how there were four kinds of grace right I mean whenever the New Testament writers would use this term they would use it in four different senses so one of them we saw was divine giftings divine giftings are also called grace because I mean we receive those gifts by grace right we don't earn it we they just given it given to us by grace as a free gift so that is why even the giftings are also called grace and he talks about how each one of us so every single Jewish believer has been given giftings but every Gentile believer has also been given giftings no one has been you know given a been given a raw deal everyone is being showered with love to the same extent so he says each one of us has been given you know these different grace graces maybe we can say you know these different giftings have been given to us according to the measure you know that Christ decided to give it and we will look at that part of the whole measure thing as well but the main point over here being made is that all of us have giftings that have been given and then if we were to look at you know maybe Romans chapter 12 verses 4 to 6 you know just to kind of get a correct perspective regarding these gifts Romans 12 4 to 6 if someone could read out for us in one body that we have many members and the members are not all have the same functions so we the one body Christ and individually members one of another having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them a prophecy and proportion to our faith yeah so here you know in Romans as well Paul emphasizes he says we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us so we all have different giftings being given and why have they been given so that we can help the rest of the body and we can you know bring more people into the body of Christ so that's the whole point in why the gifts have been given so different people have been given different giftings is the is what he says over here and so in our Ephesians chapter 4 verse 7 it says these these you know these graces you know just me using the terminology over there it just talks about grace so this grace has been given to us in different measures how does NKJ we put it it says but each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift so some people receive a larger measure some receive a lesser measure of a certain gift not because there's any discrimination going on but just based on the responsibility that has been given to you so if you have been given a larger greater responsibility to shoulder then obviously he needs to give you more grace he needs to give you a greater measure of that particular gifting to be able to fulfill your responsibility okay on the other hand someone who has a smaller role to play would only be needing a lesser measure of that of that particular gifting let's take an example let's just look at Colossians chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 which talk about a person named Epaphras Colossians 4 12 to 13 Colossians 4 12 to 14 Epaphras Epaphras who is one of you a born servant of Christ greets you always laboring marvelously for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and completing all the will of God for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in love this year and those in here for you are police yeah yeah no that should be enough yeah thank you so we kind of get the idea that this Epaphras is some kind of an opposed still you know that's the kind of calling that he has received and why because you know he's been establishing these churches so it's not Paul who founded the church in Colossia it was Epaphras who founded that church and we kind of get the impression that he's also been establishing churches in Laodicia and here or police okay so even in these places so he had an apostolic role which he was fulfilling so which means you know he would have received the grace of the gifting of Apostleship but this is just me you know making my assumption you see the measure in which he would have been given this gift of Apostleship would definitely be lesser than the gift of Apostleship that was given to Paul because Epaphras responsibility seems to have extended to this particular region you know where God had placed him to raise up churches in these areas so in Colossia in Laodicia in here or police in the surrounding areas is basically where he is supposed to raise up churches so God would have given him a measure of the gift of you know Apostleship you know required to fulfill his role but Paul on the other hand he was sent out on these missionary journeys which kind of event all over the place extended over or throughout Asia Minor so obviously Paul would have needed a higher measure of that gifting right so in that sense different people depending on the responsibility that they have been entrusted with they are given different measures of the gifting if you see over here it's got nothing to do with status and it comes to status we are all equal in Christ we are all equally loved in Christ there's no that doesn't that doesn't even get touched all that God is doing is based on the responsibilities that he's put on our shoulders he would give us his giftings his grace in different measures because some would be requiring more grace I mean a person you know who's doing ministry among a very very difficult people group you know where there's a lot of opposition where there's a lot of you know demonic control obviously that person would require a greater measure of grace and you know to do his ministry right then someone was working in an area which is less challenging so it would be the same with all giftings if it's a gift of prophecy some will have a greater measure of it depending on the ministry that they have been given another person may have a lesser measure of the gift of prophecy you know because they their responsibility is slightly lighter easier to be able to accomplish so yes yeah if yeah brother Shay can go ahead and ask his doubt but yes I'm actually getting insight into your explanation here so it means therefore that depending on the task or assignment God gives a person in person like a path for us right now it's a possibility that God to give you an apostolic grace in other words a pioneering grace to do something new or set up something new for not necessarily being called into the office if I can get you right yeah I mean I was a path for us given that apostolic office of being an apostle as in God said this is what I want you to be on a kind of full-time basis or is it just something that he was doing on the side even as you know he had a secular job and he was working at other things yeah it's true we did not know it's not clearly explained to us here in what role he was you know doing his ministry maybe he was just one of those people who had other responsibilities you know placed on his shoulder by the Lord but apart from those he also had to do this kind of apostolic thing so he was just doing it as one of his responsibilities or who knows maybe he was one of those full-time persons where God said and I'm setting you apart for this task so yes you can earn your livelihood by you know doing other things but this will be your main focus this is going to take up most of your 24 hours because this is the official calling to which I have called you so yes we will very briefly maybe touch you know as time permits if time permits on the you know the broader aspect of the gifts so yes we will try to look at that but yes yeah there is a differentiation there is an there is an official there are some gifts which are officially appointed as full-time gifts and then there are gifts which all of us operate in a at a membership level where we are all just members in Christ Christ's body and we all perform our own individual functions yeah we will get to that but I thought maybe you know we would need to look at verses 8 10 11 yeah before we kind of get into that whole thing so we will get back to that and you know we are kind of out of time as usual but let me know let's let's go through all of this quickly so if someone can read out for us verses 8 8 9 and 10 go ahead paper it says when he ascended on high he led a host of captives he gave gifts to man in saying he ascended what does it mean but that he had also been sent into the lower region so here I mean it talks about how Jesus Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth and then he ascended taking many captives along with him and then in that process he gave gifts to people you know he gave this grace he gave different people different giftings so this is wrong doctrine that has come out of that there are some people who say that when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins he was you know cast into hell and then he had to literally fight his way out of hell and so in that process he took many captives but why on earth he would take the demonic captives to heaven that doesn't make any sense he would not do that so you know there's a lot of wrong teaching going on around this particular passage so how do we understand this what does it mean when it says that Jesus Christ you know descended into the lower parts of the earth so that's just something that maybe we should quickly touch upon so because we do know that he did you know go down to the lower parts so what do we mean by that first Peter chapter 3 verses 19 and 20 if someone could read out first Peter 3 19 and 20 first Peter 3 19 and 20 and he reads by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah while the earth was being prepared in which a few that is its souls were saved through water yeah now I don't really know much about these things I have not done extensive reading so but so I'm not really sure why Jesus Christ wanted to specifically you know go down into hell and declare his victory specifically to this bunch of people who had you know died and perished during the flood during the Noah flood so but I don't know I mean it must be serving some spiritual purpose so he goes down into the depths of you know of hell and announces his victory to these imprisoned spirits you know which are you know lying in so that we know okay so we know that he did go into hell but over here when it's talking about how he has descended into the lower parts of the earth and he has taken captives from there you know and taken them to heaven it's not talking about hell okay so here it is talking about something else so we need to look into that so what is the lower parts of the earth that is being discussed over here it is you know suggested by many scholars that probably because you see these captives are going to be taken to heaven with him so which means they are not sinful you know people on upon whom judgment has been brought rather they seem to be good people and he has set free these captives and is taking them to heaven so what on earth is this all about so they say that maybe it's talking about him going to this place called Hades you know which is actually referred to in our Luke chapter 16 verses 19 to 31 where you have the story of the rich man and Lazarus and there you kind of get a glimpse behind the scenes of what actually existed in the unseen world because that's literally what that word Hades means the word Hades means unseen world so in the unseen world we kind of get to know from the Lazarus story that there are two compartments in one compartment you have the people who have you know you know been judged by God and so they are being held over there for the lake of fire so one day they'll all end up in the lake of fire that we know but this is other compartment where you seem to have Abraham and all of the ungodly people you know the ones who trusted in God and because they trusted in God and followed him it was credited to him as righteousness okay so they had not yet received the Holy Spirit and all of that in Old Testament times but they decided that he has a heavenly home for them so they held on to that hope and they followed the Lord with that trust that one day he would you know even though they are unworthy he would you know save them so these are the kind of people who seem to be in the other compartment and so what is suggested is that Jesus goes down to these this compartment in the lower parts of the earth he goes to this compartment he collects all the people who I know have been stuck over there for centuries why because you see they are still captive under the law because the law the mosaic law what did it declare even if you break one of the laws you know even once then you are you know captive you know you can be judged for it it's like as if you know you have sinned against God so the mosaic law applied to most of the people living in this compartment it obviously would not have applied to Abraham because Abraham was born before the mosaic law was even established but you know they all were staying over there as captive in the sense Jesus finished work has not yet been done on the cross so it cannot yet be applied to them so they are kind of holding on we have scriptures which are backing up what I am saying so we have Hebrews 1110 where it talks about Abraham who is looking forward to the city with foundations was architect and builder is God so you know Abraham was looking forward to this to this reward which is going to be given him where he is going to be part of a heavenly kingdom but he could not enter that kingdom immediately after his death he had to sit over here in this compartment for the righteous you know in this unseen world Hades he had to sit in this compartment which was reserved for the righteous people and so we see the same thing being talked about in Hebrews 11 38 to 40 where it talks about all of these you know Old Testament people who remained faithful to God it says these were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect so only when Jesus Christ comes along and he performs his finished work on the cross then along with us they too would be perfected they would be set free from their captivity in that sense and they would be Jesus would collect them from paradise you know that this compartment is called paradise the other part is called hell I suppose I mean I don't know the names the technical names but the thing is Jesus would come into this you know this compartment for the righteous which he calls paradise and he would collect all these people and he would take them to heaven and as he's doing that he would release gifts to his people who are still alive on the earth you know the church he would impart gifts to them so that's basically what comes out in verses 8, 9 and 10 which is why on the cross when you have the thief you know he says you know remember me Lord when you come into your kingdom Jesus says to me the kingdom will come and you know the kingdom will come in the end times you know when the Lord will just establish it but tomorrow itself you know or does he say today today right oh sorry not tomorrow day today itself he says you know you will be with me in paradise because Jesus is going to go over there to collect all his people and take them to heaven so at that point of time even this this thief also would be there because of the faith that he has placed in Jesus so he too would get collected along with all the other believers the Old Testament believers and they would all go to heaven with him so that's basically what happened in verses 8, 9 and 10 so in the process of him doing that the other thing so part one he collects his people and takes them to heaven because now they have finally been perfected like it says in Hebrews 11 verse 40 so he's going to collect them that's part one part two he also releases gifts to the church so he kind of interrupts himself and kind of brings in this additional bit of information about when exactly the gifts were released and then he continues talking about the gifts okay so here in Ephesians he continues talking about the gifts and my goodness we are like seriously out of time so very you know so in verse 11 he talks about Christ himself gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and teachers so just to you know get back to what the issue that brother Shai had raised in the New Testament you know we have we see three kinds of spiritual gifts being discussed so we have different passages which discuss different types of spiritual gifts because we do not have time to cover all of that you know if you can just go to the apc w o website and if you could download the book which is called gifts of the Holy Spirit you would get a very detailed explanation about this okay so we cannot get into details now as we have five minutes left but the book of the Holy Spirit will give us a very clear detail about what exactly the New Testament has to say about the different types of gifts and this is basically what we discover there are gifts which have been given to all believers okay so that would be first Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 to 11 those nine gifts of the spirit they are meant for all believers we are urged to to desire them we are urged to function in them you know so it's like open to all the believers they are just the basic gifts of the spirit which are you know offered to everyone and then we discover in Romans chapter 12 verses 6 to 8 that some gifts are given specifically for believers to do their role in the body of Christ so we are all meant to be together building up the church of Christ and we are meant to be bringing in new believers into this body of Christ for us to be able to perform our basic tasks for instance Epiphras his duty was to use his apostolic gifting for for Stephen the gifting that was one of the giftings given to him was that you know he would function in this gift of hospitality where he would be kind of helping out in that whole distribution of food so there are different giftings given to different people and what are those giftings being given for that you can perform your role in the body of Christ if it is evangelism that's what you would do so this is given again to all believers the basic nine gifts are given to all believers the membership gifts are also given to all believers but each person may have different ones so not everyone will be having an apostolic gifting not everyone will be having a prophetic gifting there will be different giftings you will have the gift of compassion there are some who can express compassion almost like Jesus Christ himself so that's a divine gifting we all have kindness in our heart but for them it's like a gifting that they actually flourish in and my goodness I really wonder what the church would be if we didn't have people like that you know they have an amazing special divine gifting of compassion mercy we have people who have the gifting of administration you know helps it's just called helps it's different kinds of helps including administration and all of these other technical you know logistic related things those are special giftings that God is given so different members will have different giftings which they will use to build up the body and to bring in new believers into the body of Christ and then you have these official what they call the official gifts that would be your apostle prophet pastor teacher evangelist now these are people who are expected by God to use most of their 24 hours for his for the work which he is giving them now of course they can run a business to support themselves they can go and find employment in a secular place you know with the Lord's guidance with the Lord helps them in doing that then yes they will support themselves by you know doing some job for the other but they are expected to to officially take this upon their shoulders they are meant so most of them opt to be full time because that makes it easier you know they can give all of their time but there are people who continue to you know earn the way Paul did he was doing tent making to earn his livelihood but at the same time he took his apostles apostleship responsibility very seriously because that was an official role given to him so these 5 ministry gifts are given to certain people and they are expected to use almost their entire 24 hours just for that that's a task that has been given to them officially placed on their shoulders okay so this will not be given to the entire church because the entire church has you know other roles to play this will be given only to a you know a handful so that they can equip all of these other people who are actively involved in work okay so their main task like it says in where would that be verse 12 so Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12 so these 5 fold you know ministry people their responsibility is for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry so all of these believers who are you know busily going around using their membership gifts to you know to do their own little bit for the kingdom of God someone needs to be there to kind of equip them and help them to do their particular task better and so these people the apostle prophet pastor teacher evangelist who are doing this particular gifting in an official role they will dedicate almost their entire 24 hours in helping these other prophets and you know apostles and all of them and developing their giftings further so that they can do the work of ministry so the main job of these people who have these official gifting of a postal prophet teacher they should be busy equipping other people to do their work you know for the kingdom of God so the most of the 19 I suppose like you know 90% of the work will actually be done by the rest of the body of Christ they are the ones with the giftings they have all been given grace in different measures according to what Christ you know had decided and they are the ones who will be engaged in a lot of ministry work the 90% of believers will be doing that 10% are the ones who are meant to be equipers so they are meant to equip the others to do the work so they themselves don't really get much done in the sense you know they are too busy equipping the people but because of their the work that they are doing and equipping others the others are able to go out and accomplish the purposes of the kingdom of God so this is just a very hurried way of going through this but maybe we can just touch a little bit more on the rest of Ephesians chapter 4 no next class before we get into chapters 5 and 6 so there is really no time at all so we will just have to conclude so let's just pray Lord we just thank you so much for all the things that we could learn in our class today we pray your father that we will never think of ourselves as inferior but begin to recognize that what you have written here in the scripture about us is true it's the truth that we are indeed filled with the resurrection power of Christ himself to become Christ like to be able to manifest your fullness in all areas of our lives to actually do ministry work so we pray that you would help us to understand this and help us a lot to actually operate in these things thank you Lord in Jesus name thank you so much and very sorry that we just had to rush through this thank you master