 Okay, good morning. Welcome everyone to BC 309, our course on Urban Church Planting. We have a so far journeyed through the initial section where we've been talking about, we talked about the practical aspects, how to get started, just covered a wide range of things. Then yesterday we were just looking at different models of how people have started or pioneered churches over the last several decades, different ways that people have gone about it and how God has used it in the church to bless the church. We can look at those models and we can definitely learn, understand the pros and the cons, what went well, what didn't succeed and so on. So it's a good learning. So we're going to continue from there today. May I just request somebody to pray with a glass and then we will move forward. Can somebody just pray together please and people pick up. Sir, can you breathe? Go ahead. Okay, good morning. Father, we thank you God for today. Breathe upon us the bread of life. That the Word and the work you've committed to our hands of love is your God. We thank you for Pastor Ashi, we thank you for the counsel in his heart that he will communicate it effectively and the light and the life of God will be better than us to do the prayers of God this time so God. Thank you for everyone Lord and Jesus name we pray. Amen. Okay, thank you. Thank you everyone. So let's just pick up. I was just kind of giving us a little overview of various church models, church growth models, where people are pined. I will just go through that and if there's anything that interests you, you can definitely explore that a little bit more. So we talked about the Euro-Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea which even to today is just a powerful testimony of what God has done. The International Charismatic Mission, Bogota, Colombia, East Uderbar in Labar, Calvary Temple that used media in a very big way. Crystal Cathedral, how Robert Shuller, you know, parked completely out of the box here and he had a theater and he had to drive in, people could drive into church and sit in the car and listen. This was back in the 1960s, 70s and then how we used television. Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith, you know, we talked about how he reached out to the hippies and the kind of music accommodating just totally brand new style of music. He was open to it and it made a huge difference and then it still continues today. Today, you know, we sing contemporary songs but the person whom God used really in those days to make that, to welcome that kind of music into the church was Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel. Willow Creek came up with, you know, the Seeker-sensitive model. We looked at the good and the bad, what worked, what didn't work and I would say that at one point and I would think like about 10 years ago there was a big creative church. So they kind of went, took the Seeker-sensitive model into like a one step forward of more creative church where they tried to keep every message, you know, really creative and so on, bring in those aspects. It was okay but then I think the same problems where the focus became more on, you know, what creative thing would the pastor be doing today to get the message across rather than the message itself. So that kind of came out of this anyway. So then we have the Purpose Driven Church model. That's something many churches have adapted and followed. Worship music coming out of Hillsong, which was a big thing, was a big blessing to the body of Christ. We talked a little bit about how the first major use of the internet was driven from Mars Hill Church and how they kind of showed, you know, how a sermon preached on a Sunday could then be made live on the internet and accessible by hundreds of thousands of people and so on. So they kind of drove that whole thing and then lots of other churches started doing that. And then we spoke a little bit about Elevation Church and of course Mars Hill also started doing it where they were having satellite churches on live stream and so on. But remember, that was actually implemented in the early days by the full gospel church. They actually set up satellite centers and were connected through satellite. So back in the 70s, 80s, you know, they already had done it but the use of the internet and live stream and satellite campus kind of caught on here in the latter part or in the early part of the 2000s. And what we have seen a tremendous explosive growth in Africa and if you see what God has done in Africa, of course you can trace it back to, you know, it goes all the way back to David Livingston. He came in as a missionary and so on. But I think some of the major people got used, one was T.L. Osborn as an evangelist. In those days, the 60s, 70s, 80s, they would have these big open air gospel meetings all across Africa. T.L. Osborn spent quite a lot of his time in ministry across Africa and so that kind of brought in, you know, the gospel in these big crusades and preaching and healing and so on. And subsequent thereafter came Reynard Bonke. T.L. Osborn of course was from Tulsa, Oklahoma then Reynard Bonke was a German evangelist and later moved to the U.S. But Reynard Bonke took it up like, you know, many levels further through all of his gospel crusades all across Africa. So when you look at, you know, what has happened, these two people with names would stand out kind of laying the foundation for what was to come. The evangelist T.L. Osborn and his wife Daisy Osborn and then Reynard Bonke through the gospel crusades all across Africa. It kind of really brought in the gospel preaching with healing and deliverance all across Africa. Then came out, then began, we began to see the emergence of strong word-based churches happening across Africa and the Spiritfield churches exploding, growing and then subsequent to that we saw, we observed the prophetic move all across Africa, God raising up men and the emphasis on the prophetic and so on happening all across Africa. But then with that also came a lot of problems which I think the church is dealing with today. The abuse of power and, you know, the extreme extent of those in authority, leadership, misuse of power and money and influence and so on. But overall, if you see it, look at it, if you look at the big picture, it's been amazing. You know, it's been amazing how the gospel has spread through so many parts of Africa. Now there are still pockets, countries, you know, on the continent there are still a lot of work to be done, the closed countries, Islamic countries that seem to be pretty closed. But for the most part, the gospel has saturated or has been spread throughout Africa. It's amazing. And the major emphasis has been the more of the spirit, science wonders, miracles and healings and so on. So it's been, it's amazing. So while technology has driven here, you know, in the West, in Africa, it's been really the God moving through science wonders, miracles and so on. So we see, you know, all of these things there. And the final thing I just want to say is that at APC, what we are trying to do is, you know, so, you know, we see all of these models and all of them are, you know, they're good things and what we can see across the different continents, what's happening, how God is moving and we can learn from all of that. What we've tried to do at APC is, so, you know, several years ago, actually from the time we started, you know, there was always this question, okay, how do we structure the work? How do we, how should we build the work here? What kind of model, what should we follow? What would work in this context? You know, where we are and given the kind of people we're ministering to, what should we do and so on. And several years ago, what came into my heart was that just follow the blueprint that you see in scripture, which was very interesting. And so you would have learned it in the course on the local church. We have a book called House of God that deals with the blueprint. Basically, in the New Testament, you find 10 pictures of the church. That means God is using these different pictures, like example, house of prayer, army, family, lampstand, wine in the branches, dried, and using these different pictures to talk about the church. The church is this, the church is this. The church is a house of prayer and worship. The church is an army of God, is the army of God. The church is the family of God, the household of God. The church is in a branches on the wine. The church is the lampstand. The church is all of these things. It's the pillar of the round of truth and so on. So what we said is, hey, we will just follow this blueprint that we are seeing in scripture, a biblical blueprint and basically work on developing God's people in all these 10 aspects. So create ministries or you can use the word programs or activities, whatever. Do things that are going to develop people in these aspects, in these areas. So that's kind of what we are doing here. And overall, equip the saints, send them out to do the work of the ministry. And in the process, of course, we can learn from all these churches, all these people who have done pioneering work in their countries and in their areas and their regions. We can learn the good things from them and then we can try to adapt them to wherever, whichever region of the world we are working and then, of course, improve on it. Take those ideas and if they make sense for where you are, improve on those ideas, adapt those ideas to whichever region, part of the world you're working in and see how you can pioneer the work and build the work that God has given. So that was the intent here of just running through. And this, of course, is not a complete list of models to observe that there are other models. For example, we could add to this list the Alpha Church, the Alpha program which came out of... I'm going to look at the name of the church in the UK. I'm not getting his name. Anyway, sorry. Anyway, the Alpha Church, Alpha program which, again, was such a blessing. It went all over the world. Oh, yeah, his name is Nicky Gumbel. So Nicky Gumbel and how God inspired him to say, okay, let me create a simple way to introduce Jesus to people. So he created it in his context in the UK Alpha program that is, okay, how do I introduce Jesus to somebody? So he created these simple lessons. But, you know, that just took off. It just went to many parts of the world. So the Alpha course, as it was known, became a blessing. And in the UK, it's something very well known or very widespread. So that's, again, a model to look at. So how he was doing a work there in the church in Brompton, UK, and he was doing a work there. And then, you know, how God gave the idea and just was a blessing. So we could look at that model, learn something from it. We can look at other things that have taken place. You know, for example, the Bible study fellowship, which again has spread all over the world. You can look at that and say, you know, what are good things that I can learn from it and adapt it, take it and, you know, and improve on it for your context. Let me pause at this moment to see if there are any questions before we get into the next section. All of you are with me. Any questions? Can I ask a question? Please go ahead, please. Please go ahead, please. Okay. I hope this doesn't sidetrack us, but I just something study I've been doing and I kind of feel it falls in line when it comes to mantles and colons. I did a study, different narratives, different, some call it anointing, some call it different things. But in the line of our study, I just want to seek your counsel about mantles and colons as it fit into our study. Okay. Just give me a moment. I will, I will, I'm just going to get the link for, just very quickly. And then I will also answer your question. I want to just give a link to some sermons we have. Oops. Here it is. This might seem very complicated link, but anyway, if you just go to our website, apcwrg, and on the homepage, if you go scroll down, look at the sermon series, there'll be a series of messages where I talk about mentoring, anointing, impartation, and then we, as part of the sermon series, we also address about mantles and so on. So let me, let me just quickly summarize, you know, in a very concise way, what the Bible says. So in the Bible, in Scripture, we see that anointing, which is basically the presence of the Holy Spirit, can, is transferable. Anointing is transferable, you know. So we have some examples in the sense, Moses laid hands on Joshua. We have Moses and the 70 elders. We have Elijah and Elisha. And then we have John the Baptist. So we have Paul and Timothy, so on. Examples where the anointing is transferable. Now, when we talk about the mantle, we're talking about God's empowering, resting on a person to fulfill an office. The anointing is the, oh, Louie has dropped out. Okay, maybe he will join us back. Let's just wait for Louie to join us back so that he can get what I'm saying. Get what I'm saying. I'm back, sir. I'm sorry. Okay. All right. So, yeah, Louie, what am I saying? So the anointing is empowering the Holy Spirit on a person to carry out a work. Whereas the mantle is more associated with the office, with the place in the body. So that's a mantle. Whereas the anointing is for the work, the expression of the work of the Holy Spirit. Anointing can be transferred. But here's the thing. Everything happens aligned to the call of God on a person's life. That's the first thing. And I'm trying to just summarize it. You can listen to this message series. I'll tell you more. But first thing, we must remember, any impartation we are going to receive will only be aligned to the purpose of God, the call of God on our lives. For example. And I can use this as more in a very funny way. Suppose I go to Dalin Jack and say, please lay hands on me. I want to receive an anointing as a worship leader. Dalin Jack can lay her hands on me. She can pour buckets of oil on me. I'm not going to become a worship leader. Why? That's not the call of God in my life. So the point is this. Anointing, impartation always happens, aligned to the call of God on our lives. Now, if Dalin Jack lays hands on me, maybe to some extent, maybe I can experience a little bit more grace in personal worship or something. But it's not going to greatly affect anything I'm doing. Because it's not aligned to the call of God in my life. So impartation there is meaningless. So that's one very important thing. So people randomly go to, you know, okay, I'll have so-and-so lay hands on me and ask them to impart here. Look, the impartation is always aligned to the call of God on your life. What's God called you to do? Because the empowering of the spirit, the impartation of grace, and the operation of gifts is aligned to the call of God. Must have understand that. So it's not random. It's not arbitrary. It's not like I can go and just get somebody to lay hands. No. So secondly, we must understand that the impartation of mental, ultimately everything we receive from God. John chapter 3, I think it's verse 34 or 27. John says, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. So this is John 3, 27. A man, John 3, 27. A man can receive nothing unless it's given to him from heaven. So no impartation. Nothing happens by the will of man. It has to happen from heaven. Man, God uses human agency to carry out what he has determined or he desires for that person. So I can't just go and tell somebody, I want your mental. Give me your mental. Give me your anointing. Hey, a man can receive nothing unless it's given to him from heaven. Now, God will use human agency to carry out what he has determined. But ultimately everything we receive comes from God. So even in the transfer of anointing or something that empowers the ministry. It's the Father. It's God who brings it into our lives. He may use human vessels, but he's not restricted to human vessels. You can ultimately, you can receive it from God without human agency. You're not dependent on it. Third thing I would say is this, everything that is imparted has to be developed. Otherwise it will be dying. So anyone can lay hands and say, okay, God told me to impart certain gifts or anointing or a mantle, whatever, but it's still of no use. In the sense it has to be developed. A person who's receiving it has to develop it through their own personal journey with God. And that's what Paul writes to Timothy. So Timothy stir up the gift of God. That's when he mentions it twice for Timothy 4.14. And second Timothy 1.6. Twice he writes to Timothy. It's Timothy and reminding you stir up the gift of God. What was given to you by the laying on the hands of the eldership, stir up the gift of God that's in you. So in other words, something was given to Timothy, but it will be useless if he does not work with it. Feed us and develop. So whatever is imparted, whether it's the mantle gift or an anointing or gifts has to be personally developed. Some other things we can also say is association is very important. Now God can work even without association. That means, you know, and there are amazing testimonies where suddenly somebody comes, God sends somebody to lay hands on somebody and okay, you know, there's a powerful impartation. Now the same man may have laid hands on maybe a hundred people or a thousand people, but the impartation took place for one person very powerfully. So we have those testimonies, but generally what we see in scripture is impartation takes place through association. That's why, you know, Joshua walked with Moses, Elisha walked with Elisha, you know, and so on. It's primarily through association. But we understand that it can also take place over generations or over time. So, you know, John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but there was no association, but it was the will of God. The last one I want to say is in most cases, impartation is always in part, not in full. So when Moses laid hands on Joshua, Joshua did not do all the miracles Moses did, but what characterized Joshua was wisdom. We read this in Deuteronomy chapter 30, the last chapter 34, I think. Moses laid hands on Joshua and Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom. So one aspect of what was in Moses was imparted to Joshua. Elijah and John the Baptist. John the Baptist never worked a single miracle, at least recorded for us, but he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. What was it about Elijah? He turned the heart to the fathers, turned the hearts to people and prepared the people ready for the Lord. So that aspect of Elijah was on John the Baptist. And, you know, the only example that we have of a double portion coming on Elisha was because Elijah desired it, right? And it was not something Elijah could give it, but it was John 3.27. That is, Elisha receiving from God twice as much as what Elijah carried. Right? So these are things we must keep in mind when we talk about mantles anointing and gifts, impartation. I try to address that in this message series, so you're welcome to check on it. I hope I answered your question, Louis. Thank you so much. Sorry for distracting the distractor, but thank you. I'll listen to you, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions? I know it is a little different, but I'm happy to answer. Any other questions on church growth models and how we can learn from others who have pioneered different works? Okay. Just to mention in passing that one model I think that we can also add to the list is the house church movement, which is work that took place and now this was, you know, I think this was more came out of necessity in the underground church in China. And then others also it worked in other places as well, where obviously because the underground church in China had to be you know, meet very quietly in very small gatherings and so on. So the they met in small, small, small groups, you know, so there was no big, like what we are talking about, big churches, big gatherings, but the gospel spread through the underground church, the which then gave the whole idea of a house church. That means you don't have to have big gatherings. Now there are advantages of big gatherings, you know, hundreds of thousands of people gathering together. There are advances, okay, but that's not the only way God can work. So, and you look at China, you look at what happened there, you know, there's a beautiful example out of necessity, but there's a learning there that we can use house churches as a way to pioneer work. So of course some, you know, some advantages are you're not burdened with you know, big buildings and facilities and all those things that come with having big congregations. And so it's very easy, you know, you can meet in homes and just multiply like that. But there's also the other side of it, which is a lot of coordination, a lot of how do you provide spiritual oversight when people are, you know, in many, many small groups across the city. So that's the other side of a house church. Now, some other ways that you can address it, and I'm just giving you parts to think about. I'm not saying you have to do this. Some of the ways you can do it is of course, and especially today because we have technology, you know, whatever content message is developed, you know, you can share it with the house church leaders. So the same message is delivered in every house church so that everybody is kept together. There's a much more closer form of accountability because the house church leader knows that, you know, the 10, 15, 20, 25 people who are coming to the house church, he knows everybody by name, he cares for everyone. So that, you know, that's much more closer. And so the coordination can happen and people can be cared for in that manner. So that's another model to keep in mind in situation. Now, you know, at certain points in time we were forced to, for example, I'm just thinking about one of our churches in Odisha state in India. So I think it was I think it was 2010, 11, I forget the exact year, but there was a time of intense persecution in that particular state against Christians. I forget which year but I think it was somewhere around 10 and so on. And people were being killed and it was just very bad and so we had if we were renting a hall where the church was and a lot of students in the city were coming and so on but when that persecution broke out, we had to close everything. We gave up that place and so for a period of, I think for two or two and a half years the pastor there was only doing house church meaning gatherings in people's homes, you'd go pray with them very quietly, meet, come back. So we didn't start the larger gathering until we were sure that things were safe. So in that situation we were kind of forced to do this and so he was taking care of about 60, 70 people through these small groups meeting in different homes for that period of time. Then slowly when things seemed to have settled down we got back and now it's a good thriving church I think more than 200 people coming there's a nice hall and prayer hall and all of that. So we're back to the large gathering but in between when there was a lot of persecution this really worked for that period of time. Okay. So let's move now to the spiritual side of things. We have covered all the practical things so these are things you do practice and getting ready to pioneer a church or pioneer a work in an urban setting. Now we're going to talk about the spiritual side and then in closing later on we'll talk about the personal preparation and as a person who's going to start a work how do you prepare yourself personally? So that will be the last section. We're changing gear now we are moving to talk about the spiritual dynamics. So in any work whether you're pioneering a church a local church or you are thinking of studying some other kind of ministry maybe for children maybe for youth maybe for families any kind of ministry we must understand there is a spiritual battle involved right? In the natural we can plan we can prepare we can organize all those things are there we have to take care of it because it's the practical side we have to do it well but there is a big spiritual side we are not just doing an event we are not just doing some kind of program we are actually in a spiritual battle now we have to bring this into the context of the city urban church planting now this applies whether a city or village or town doesn't matter we are going to spend a little focus on urban centers in the beginning we said God is at work in our cities but we must also understand that cities, urban centers towns, villages there are also all kinds of demonic activity now we don't tend to think about it in the cities because life is so sophisticated we we are so involved with our logic our reason our understanding to think in terms of demonic work, demonic activity many times we can forget that because we are so caught up with natural things but I just want to remind you guys about what is the devil doing in our city and we are not here to magnify the devil but we need to understand it because ultimately there is going to be a confrontation you are pioneering a church for what? to win souls, to make disciples the devil is not going to sit down there and the demons are not going to sit down just watch you or maybe you are starting some other ministry in the city it may be to help some kind of people it may be to serve some kind of people ok wonderful but at some point you are going to clash with the powers of darkness because ultimately lives are being affected souls are being affected so we need to understand this and we need to also engage in the spiritual dynamics that is what we want to talk about so in scripture we see spiritual beings who influence leaders over cities so that is something to keep in mind that the people over cities the leaders, the influencers we can look at it as politicians people in authority are being influenced we are not saying they are possessed that is not what we are saying we are saying that demonic powers can actually influence them in their minds in their thoughts and so on so once we keep in mind that is where prayer comes in, we will talk about it later but the fact is leaders over cities or over nations can be influenced we see in Isaiah and Jeremiah also in Ezekiel these things, I am not going to the scriptures you would have covered it in your course on prayer so what is Satan doing in hindering the salvation of the lost he is blinding the minds of people so through the philosophies through the ideas ideologies through we use the word group thinking through these common ideas that are commonly embraced by a big group of people whether it could be a community it could be big communities in the city or multiple communities who embrace certain ideas or ideologies the minds of the people are blinded so when we look at scripture 2 Corinthians 4 verses 3 and 4 and Paul writes could somebody read that please I could quote all these verses and go fast but I think it's nice to just turn into the Bible and look at it 2 Corinthians 4 3 and 4 somebody could read that 2 Corinthians 4 3 and 4 says and even if a gospel is veiled it is veiled only to those who are perishing in their case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God these people are perishing they have not received the gospel they are perishing but there is something in between their minds have been veiled but what is that the God of this world has put a like a curtain of blindness has put something that is trying to intercept that's trying to interfere with the light of the glorious gospel of Christ penetrating into their minds so we are pioneering a church we are pioneering some work we want to of course we want to touch lives we want to see people saved we want to see them come into the kingdom of God okay it's good but the God of this world is interfering trying to prevent the light of the gospel entering into their minds so we have to deal with that he is not more powerful than the church he is not the God of this world is not more powerful than the believers but the believers have to address what he is trying to do in order in preventing the light of the gospel from getting the minds of the Christian Matthew 416 very interesting scripture talking about Jesus Jesus begins his ministry and Matthew is quoting from the Old Testament please read go ahead thank you people with certain darkness saw great light and them picked sat in the region and shadow of death light is strung up thank you so Matthew is quoting from the prophet Isaiah it's very interesting how what Isaiah prophesied is now being related to Jesus Christ so the word of God Matthew is saying people sitting in darkness have seen a great light now obviously this is talking about spiritual things it's not talking about physical spiritually these people were in darkness Jesus has come the light is shining so spiritual they are in the region of death spiritual death and to them light is down so this was in Jesus's time and it's also relevant to our day and time that means there are people in our cities who are sitting in darkness now we are talking about spiritual things they are sitting in darkness they are in the region and shadow of death that's what they are spiritually and to them the glorious light of the gospel has to shine but there are demonic powers the God of this world okay I don't want that to happen I don't want the light of the gospel there I want to keep them in darkness I want to keep them in the shadow of death and so there is going to be clash, conflict you and I are pioneering a work starting a ministry I want to reach people but there is the God of this world who wants to keep them in darkness Acts 26 Acts 26 14 18 is a beautiful picture of a call of God on the Apostle Paul and what God commissioned him to do we are reading it in his context this is what God wanted Paul to do but keep in mind this is applicable to all of us because all of us have been sent like the Apostle Paul to bring the gospel to people and see what is involved in bringing the gospel let's read that Acts 26 14 to 18 somebody go ahead come below Acts 26 14 to 18 go ahead and when we had all fallen to the ground I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me it is hard for you to kick against the goat and I said who are you Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom you're persecuting I rise and stand up your feet upon your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to appoint you as servant and witness to the things in which you have saved me and to those in which I will appear to you delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith and name so this is a beautiful description of God's call and commission the Apostle Paul I want to focus there on verse 18 and this is applicable for all of us so the Lord Jesus has sent us to proclaim the gospel to pioneer a work whatever he's called each one of us to do but what is happening verse 18 as we go to people we have to open their eyes so that they can go from darkness to light the eyes have to be open because the God of this world is blinded the minds the eyes have to be opened and notice it says from the power of Satan to God that means Satan's got them in their power right now he's got influence on them over their minds but we are here to bring them out of that into the power of God so that they can receive forgiveness of sins so their eyes have to be open they have to come out of darkness into light they come out of the power of Satan to God so there's going to be this conflict and Revelation 12 9 talks about how Satan goes around deceiving the nations so Revelation 12 verse 9 he is he deceives the whole I'll just mention it here he deceives the whole world Revelation 12 9 the devil deceives so what's he doing is deceiving the minds putting in those wrong ideas thoughts they just embrace it, they are holding on to it so the first challenge is this whatever work we are doing in the city we are going to have to confront the blindness or the deceptions the lies of the enemy that's holding people in darkness so that's part of what we have to do how are we going to deal with it is what we want to learn in this section and I remember long long long time ago I'll just close with this and I was in college for my bachelor's degree so this was engineering so this was it was in 1986 1990 it's a long time ago that was the time I began to learn these things about the things we are looking at in scripture so there is a spiritual battle involved for us to win souls the devil is blinding the minds of people we are dealing with these things so for me that quest was how do I share the gospel out of influence fellow students with the gospel and that was a time that I began to learn these things and then I also started sharing this in a little bible study there was a bible study that was already happening in a particular church there so I got permission I thought I can get more of these friends or believers involved in this and if I can help them understand what this is all about maybe we can do this together so I started talking to them I remember the sermon series that I was on the bible study series I was doing with them I think it was called the battle for the lost or something like that and I started doing it through like maybe two or three bible studies what was on Saturday then after that everybody got scared and they said no no stop please don't talk to us anymore about this because now we were challenging believers saying look if we want to impact our student community we have to deal with what the devil is doing and they said no no you don't want to get involved so I stopped we never continued on that in that group but then about a year and a half later I found there were some believers when we started another fellowship I found some believers were willing to understand this that we had to deal with what the devil is doing in the minds of people and we took time to pray every week we would go out to a place where we would pray for about three hours as a group, as a small group less than 10 people or so we had to pray for the student community and then we saw we saw the result of that we prayed for almost a year or so like this and we began to see and a great work was established in that place more than potentially we saw more than 200 students come be a part of the fellowship be filled with the spirit mighty work happening but it began with let us pray to deal with the blindness that's being put upon the minds of people so this is the truth we need to be aware of and we need to begin to address it and we'll talk about it a little later what we can do to pray and address it let me pause here and see if there are any questions I know it's already over time but are there any questions on this Sri Kumar go ahead Thank you sir I just have one question from 2nd Corinthians 434 so my question is the Paul is saying here the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so I just want to know that the unbelievers are only Gentiles or is it also applicable for the believers who does not want to believe on certain like for example some people does not want to believe on finances like they wanted to leave in a different way where they think that poverty is from God so is that also possible some people say that the Christians they believe on sickness is something which God permits because that is not the will of God I have to suffer because Paul have that thorn so my question is is that also possible because Paul is not defining this unbelievers so even a believer who is not ready to believe on certain deliverance can only be blind them and that also can be possible thank you sir that's my question yeah the answer is yes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 and 4 Paul is talking about the unbelievers the unsaved but in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 to 5 Paul is talking to believers and he is saying believers you have to cast down imaginations arguments or that's reasoning and every high thing that opposes the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every part to the obedience of Christ so 2nd Corinthians 10 3 to 5 is talking about arguments and reasonings that are contrary to the Word of God so the Word of God is teaching something but there is an argument there is a reasoning in the mind of believers it's opposing it and so many times when believers embrace an untruth something that is opposing the knowledge of God opposing the Word of God that has to be dealt with and that's also from the enemy who puts in those deceptions, those ideas those wrong thoughts those reasoning, those arguments and sometimes it becomes a stronghold meaning it just sits like a fortress in their minds and those things have to be pulled down so the answer to your question is yes these things affect believers and unbelievers but 2nd Corinthians 4 he is talking specifically about unbelievers 2nd Corinthians 10 you can see similar things in the case of believers thank you sir you're welcome any other questions okay we will pick this up next week so we are now moving into the section on the spiritual dynamics to the work we are called to do we need to understand it and then see how God is going to lead you to engage with it there are different ways that we can engage and we will talk about it let's pray and we will dismiss pray with a class and dismiss us please yes it's heavenly Father we thank you for this beautiful time Father God thank you Lord Father God that you are unveiling things Father God which we don't know Father God as we go through this system Father God Lord thank you Lord Jesus you help us too Father God all the things that you have Father God so that we will learn Father God all the hidden things Father God we can learn Father God and we will use in our life Father God Father God we pray for the past classes thank you for his life Father God and then you using him as instrument Father God thank you for all the students Lord Jesus thank you for everything Lord Jesus rest of the time we submit ourselves to your mighty hand in Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you everyone enjoy the rest of your day so Thursday I'm going to be in a place near Mumbai doing a conference so I found out that the conference starts at 10 so I may not be able to do my class on Thursday morning so please excuse me this week I'm only traveling two times this two or three times this Mumbai then we have a big conference in Delhi on the third week but I won't miss class I'll go after my class I'll go for the conference and so I won't miss class that week but this week I have to miss yeah but excuse me this week okay God bless I'll see you all soon thanks bye pastor thank you chance