 Good morning, everyone. I hope that I'm audible and clear Yeah, so welcome to today's mentoring hour and Oh, yeah, there's a confirmation that the odd audio is clear. Thank you. Yeah So today we will actually be having a pastor Paul Emmanuel sharing with us on the topic of free will It's a most interesting topic and I'm sure you know, we'll all learn much So if we could have anyone Open with the word of prayer, please We can then get started. So if anyone student could just unmute and Begin with the word of prayer, please Sri Radha if you have logged in could you please open with the word of prayer for us Yes Leaders in this topic you guide him you lead him and Give us the clear picture of the free will God and we surrender every student every faculty It's in your hand. We send it this day into your hand and Jesus Amen, thank you so much Sri Radha. Yeah, pastor Paul if you could lead us in this topic Yeah Yes, thank you so much sister Divika. All right. So this week we we be talking about free will and Let me just present what I've prepared here. And so when we when we talk about free will The first thing that comes to us is choices, right the choices that we make And no matter which phase of life we are in we will make choices, right? So When we look at the book of Genesis when God created us One of the marks of a human being when God created us was he gave us the ability to choose Right. So when God created us, he didn't you know, he didn't create us create us to just obey Everything that he says right in Genesis 2 17. He says but you must not eat of the tree of Of knowledge because the day you do it the day you eat you will die So God we see that God Put Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them the choice Right and we know the story they disobeyed and there were consequences for that, right? So what is evil? You know each one of us have used this right in our life knowingly or even unknowingly Free will is the power to decide what you will do in a certain situation Right. It's there the right and the ability to choose which direction We will go and what we will do Right. So each one of us You know, whether we are believers whether we are unbelievers whether we are working professionals No matter where we are and what phase of life we are in free will is an innate quality which God has already put in us and When God created mankind, he gave us this unique You know, we can call it as a gift the gift of free will And and and so we must also understand that free will is limited by nature So, how do we say that right now for example, you know, if I want to You know go to a certain place. I can't say hey, let me fly there It's it's not possible because it is we are limited by nature, right? So free free will is limited by nature as well man received a free will so that you and I make our own choices and The choices that we make are many times Influenced by the environment that we live in it's influenced by worldview it's influenced by our peers our upbringing our surroundings our friends our families and and and Why we have this ability to make decisions and walk in free will We must also understand that with the power of choice Comes the consequences of our choices right So let's just look at a few scriptures here First Corinthians 10 23 Paul is writing to the Corinthian church now this church as we know is a church that is You know flowing in the gifts But there was one of the problems was there were there were different groups in the in the church and here Paul is saying You say I am Loved to do anything, but not everything is good for you I'm allowed to do anything, but not everything is beneficial Right Galatians 5 13 for you brethren have been called to liberty Only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another Right and mark 8 34 That he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said whoever wants to be my Disciple must deny themselves take up their cross and follow me now all these verses and there are plenty of verses of the scriptures which Directly and indirectly show us that you and I as as believers as As people we walk with this gift of free will right And and so let's look at a few more four examples on free will there are plenty of examples I've just picked up for and and let's just talk about this and learn from this right so what We have free will to decide who we will serve. This is very interesting Joshua 24 very common verse We have it always, you know on our doorposts of the houses of our houses 24 14 and 15 the context to this verse is beautiful Just read this verse now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness throw away the gods of your ancestors Worship beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord But a serve if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve Whether the gods of your ancestors serve beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord Now this is an example of free will you know God has brought the people out of Egypt And he has thrown the Egyptian the Israelites have seen his mighty works They've seen miracles in their own eyes yet In the desert they decide to turn back against God Right and and there came a point when they said You know when when they send the 12 spies To go scout the land of Pena the promised land and they came back When the ten of them gave The feedback that okay this day that are giants there. We cannot go and destroy them the response to that was some of them said They were willing to stone Moses and also go and said we let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt Right it came to that point and now Joshua They've entered session which is in the promised land and Josh was giving them a command and they saying okay You have a choice You have the God whom your ancestors serve you have the God of the Amorites Now you have the choice when you get into when we enter this promised land Who whom are you gonna serve and Joshua sums it all by saying but as for me and my house We will serve the Lord so even you and I you know God gives us the free will on who we will serve no matter You know Where we are in our life or what phase of life we are and we have the free will to decide who we will serve But we also have the free will to decide if we obey or disobey Deuteronomy 28 One through eight says if you fully obey the Lord your God and Carefully follow all his commands. I give you today the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth And all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you a few obey the Lord No, I'm sure most of us have read Deuteronomy 28 and in 28 the first thing it's about 1213 verses are if you obey the Lord these are the blessings that will follow you You'll be blessed when you go out you'll be blessed when you come and bless shall be the fruit of your womb bless shall be your bonds and You know, there's a whole list of blessings and Then when you continue to read Deuteronomy 28, it says but if you disobey there's a whole list of Consequences that is mentioned in that same chapter Right and so as believers, you know, it is our responsibility. It's our free will Whether we decide to obey or disobey God Whether we decide to obey our Leaders or we disobey disobey, right now Remember we talked about every decision we make has consequences when we obey The blessings of God will follow us But when we disobey we open our lives to the works of the enemy and the enemy is able to Bring in confusion and disorder in our life and thirdly We have free will to decide between life or death Deuteronomy 30 19 and 20 This day I call the heavens and the earth as Witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death blessings and curses not choose life So that you and your children may live that you may love the Lord your God Listen to his voice and hold fast to him The Lord is your life and he will give you many years in the land He's what to give you give to your father's Abraham Isaac and Jacob again very similar, right when you when we The decisions that we make when we talk about free will we can choose between living in an abundant life or choosing to you know to disobey which will lead us to The things of the enemy And and and fourthly is we have the free will to decide what we speak a very common worst that we all use is Proverbs 18 21 that and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit So these are just four points and if you look at our lives in every area of our life We have the gift of free will we have the ability to make our own choices, right and and so And so as believers, how can you and I make the right choices? and How can you and I know that you know, I'm using the free will that God has given me I'm using it the right way And we we thank God for the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit we learn is our helper. He's our guide He's our mentor. He makes us he leads us into all truth And we he the gift one of the gifts of the spirit is the spirit of wisdom and revelation So one way that you and I as believers can know that the decisions that I'm making or the The gift of free will that I'm using it in the right manner is to see if what I'm the decisions that I make is it in line with God's Word or is it in In is it are the principles that I'm whatever I'm doing is it in line with the principles of God, right? Then we just want to talk about a little bit about free destination versus free will now the moment we talk about free destination, you know, it just unpacks a whole lot of Questions a whole lot of Theologies and different dogmas that may come up But we're not going to dive too deep into predestination. I just want to give you a summary on what predestination is and You know just compare that to free will predestination is Is the paradox of free will So Free will is God created us where we With free will we make our own decisions Predestination is the belief that all our events have been planned and decided by God in advance Right. There are two scriptures which talk about Predestination, let's look at these two scriptures, right? Romans 8 29 and 30 For those God phoned you He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters and Those he predestined he also called those he called he also justified and those he justified he also glorified right Efficiency 111 in him We were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in the Conformity in conformity with the purpose of his will Now when we look at predestination and we look at free will it's it's almost the opposite Because predestination is something that God has already decided in advance and we look at free will where we see that God gives us free will and says, okay, you make your own decisions but chill predestination From these two verses we can infer that When you and I as believers we You know make a decision to accept the Lord right we we say okay God these are the things in my life and We pray we ask God for forgiveness. We receive salvation. That is our prayer. That is how our decision But what are we predestined to when Paul is referring to in these two verses is that As believers when we accept the Lord We are predestined to be sons and daughters. We are predestined to to be to be To be a dog predestined to adoption We are predestined according to his purpose. We're predestined to be conformed to the image of his son So the question that some of us may ask is So has God already decided who is saved and who is who will be saved and who will not be saved now We do know that God is a sovereign God right he can overrule our decisions, but But he also is a God who respects and our free will right so so it's it's a There's a thin line to understand predestination and free will But I want to close with this to to understand that the free will that God is giving us Impacts our life and the decisions that we make And so as believers you and I must be responsible for the decisions that we make and be wise in the decisions that we make and I love God to be God to lead us in The things that we do so I'll close now and Can open it up for questions over to pastor Deepika? Yeah, thank you so much pastor for that So if anyone has any questions that they would like to ask on this specific topic of free will You can unmute yourselves and go ahead if you would prefer to type in the chat that also should be fine So any questions at all any doubts any clarifications on this particular topic of free will Please go ahead. This is your time Anyone who has any questions Go ahead and post your questions Can I just add something to the last point of free destination yet? Yes, yes, pastor, please just to clarify so that students are not left confused. There is a big difference between Pre-destination and our free will meaning And Paulie said there's a thin line. I don't think you should say there's a thin line. There's a big difference We should understand predestination in Romans 8 29 and 30 very clearly Paul says then whom he foreknew he predestined so predestination is not predetermination it is for knowledge of God So predestination is God foreknew of a choice Our choice is still our choice. So it's a very clear difference. Our choice is still our choice But the predestination is the foreknowledge of God. It's a pre It's not predetermination But it's the foreknowledge of God God knew in advance Whom who will make the choice to say yes to his salvation and no to a salvation? For them he had a plan which is Okay, for all those who say yes my plan for all of you is that you will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and that you will go about fulfilling my purpose. So I think a Clear way of way to make it very clear in our minds. He is Romans 8 29 and 13 That predestination is the foreknowledge of God It is still our free will through which we make the decision to follow Jesus or not And to all who say yes, God has preplanned A set of land which is all of us would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ So if you put it that way, I think it makes it very clear and it keeps both of these things in place Which is our free will as well as God's plan You know a plan that he had before in mind As sovereign God and what he would do to all who believe in Jesus So the unsanitary destination is a foreknowledge of God. I think it makes it very clear in our minds To differentiate. I hope they have sorry to interrupt. Thank you Thank you bastard. Thank you. Yeah, please go ahead with your questions Yeah, we have a question from Nedel on how We can receive the anointing and grow in it Past a fall if you could take the question, please Yes, thank you for the question so the the word anointing is is The the presence of God the glory of God to be filled with God's Presence and and so when you Look at scriptures I'm just going to give you a few practical ways on how we can You know the bible says that this the holy spirit is the spirit of anointing. He anoints us by the holy spirit Right. So when you and I Can spend time and prayer Reading God's word And when we do these When we pray read God's word when we spend time You know in God's presence The anointing that is the presence of glory of God Falls upon us. Now all of us are already anointed right And there are different levels of anointing And we grow from level to level and so prayer Spending time in God's presence reading of God's word Uh Can really help us to grow in the anointing of God Leave it open to others to so give their thoughts, please Thank you Paul. I'll just add a few of my thoughts regarding how how to get the anointing And then grow in it. So, uh, when we look at one john 227 It talks about the anointing which we have received From God which abides in us. So as pastor Paul said the anointing is the power and the presence of the holy spirit So from this scripture, we see that When we become believers, God gives us his presence in us by the holy spirit It dwells in every believer. So everyone who believes the presence of God dwells In us and you know The presence of the holy spirit is with us to lead us guide us. So, uh, this is The anointing within us But then there is something known as the anointing upon us Or the empowering of God that comes upon us to do the work that God has called us to do Um as in acts one eight, we know that you know when we are baptized in the holy spirit Then the anointing comes upon us and then we are able to um, you know Go ahead and do the works of power Uh, you know empowered by the holy spirit. So just these two scriptures that I wanted to bring to our knowledge The bell so one is when we become believers all of us receive the presence indwelling presence of the holy spirit But we receive the empowering presence of the holy spirit when we are baptized in the holy spirit. So This is uh, how we receive it. Uh, but then of course we have to grow in it and develop it. Thank you If anyone else would like to add Further to this question and in the meantime if others can you know post their question? Yes, we do have a question here um From sanjay if we as believers are predestined to be confirmed to the image of christ Would that mean that there are those who are predestined to be confirmed to an image that is not of christ If so, what hope do these people have? Pastor paul if you could address this question Okay, uh, so this is uh pastor ashish shared with us, uh, you know the moment We say yes to the paul or we say yes to jesus. We accept him as believers We are conformed. We are conforming to the image of christ Right, uh, so for those who are you know god's will is that all of us be saved, right? So It's not god's will that this person should not be saved. So for So to look at it to say that okay those who are uh, uh Not predestined. So when god looks at it, he wants to see all of us saved so, uh, so the question of uh, if we are not if we don't believe in No, we don't receive salvation We know that we're you know, there's this will open to the works of the enemy but That's where you know the grace of god comes that no matter You know how bad we sin or what we're doing When we believe he he accepts us and And so no one is too far away From receiving forgiveness and coming into You know believing in the lord jesus, so But if we don't if we say no, we don't want to believe in it then You know the consequences are Also there for you know, we we may not live in line with god's word. We're not obeying god We are not honoring god in our life Faster would you like to add a few thoughts on this faster, please? Sure So sanjay So there is predestination And there is also predisposition that means A default state in which every human being is born That means and and the references would be roman scepter five romans five romans five twelve And i'm just typing it effusions for 17 to 19 so sorry So this is the predisposition the predisposed state in which every human person is born, which is Every man born of anthem every person born of anthem is born in sin Right for by one man sin into the world that passed through all men all men have sinned Ephusions 4 17 says by default we are all alienated from the life of god So that's our default state which we will say it's a predisposition We are born into that because that and sin So that's what is working in every person who doesn't know jesus Right now that is not god's will That was not predetermined by god But that came as the choice of man the free will of man Right, so god didn't predetermine that every person should be Living in darkness and living in sin that was not god's predetermination It was a choice made by god which resulted in this predisposition The son has said you know in i was born in sin in sin did my mother concede me So that's the default state for every person And for all of us we were born that way and the hope is given to us in christ meaning I can we can move out of this predisposition This predisposed state of darkness of living without the life of god Of living in subjection to sin satan and death and transition into The plan of god which is for us to be conformed to the image of jesus christ So that's helps us clearly understand that but keep in mind the predisposed state is not the will of god That's not god's original plan it came in because of The fall of man And so there's a great hope for every person to transition into Being conformed to the image of jesus christ Yes, thank you pastor Is there any follow-up question that you would like to ask Sanjay or otherwise we can move on to the next question Yeah, nedel has a question here According to first corinthians chapter 12 Regarding the spiritual gifts. Is it in our part to choose the gifts we want or is it god's prerogative? Pastor paul if you could take up the question, please Yes, thank you nedel once again for that question, right. So first corinthians 12 Paul paul is writing to the believers who are already flowing in all the gifts of the spirit. Now We know that god gives The gifts are all given by god And we as you know, if you go towards the end of that was he he says earnestly desire the best gift And so what is that best gift? So when the holy spirit comes into us, he comes with all nine gifts and you and I Must uh, you know use The gift that is needed at the right time. So, uh, I think a perfect example would be if if if if somebody is You know in the hospital unwell You know the there's no use of You know the the first gift that I would want is to Ask the holy spirit for either the gift of healing or the working of miracles Right, uh, or or the gift of faith to uh for the person to receive healing. So So when after paul lists the whole he puts on the whole list He says earnestly desire the best gift it is to use the appropriate gift at the right time So the gifts are all with us and pastor's written it in his book Also, the books are like a toolbox, right and uh, just like how an electrician uses the right tool for the right Work that he's doing He may use different tools for doing the same kind of work So the same way the holy spirit comes with nine gifts We use the right gift at the right situation or the right time And god is willing to give it to us It is god who's given us all nine and then We pray and ask the holy spirit to uh, you know Manifest that gift at the right You know situation of the season that we are in so Well, I hope that answers your question and uh, feel free to for the other pastors to please share as well. Thank you Yeah, uh, it doesn't even want to share their thoughts on this Any of the faculty want to add to what has already been said any other questions that You'd either like to unmute and ask or you can post in the chat If you have any questions on any other topic as well, uh, please feel free to ask Yeah, we have a question here from jack in um A person accepts jesus and is saved but chooses to live an unsurrendered life Then will their consequences still be in god's control? Meaning god will pursue them and bring them back on track According to live their lives according to his purposes. So jack in question is will the lord um pursue that unsurrendered person and Bring them back Or are they left to their free will I suppose is the you know implication there? Pastor paul if you could answer this question Yes, uh, thank you jack and for that question now Now since the example says that person accepts jesus and is saved So we know that the holy spirit is there in that person right and The holy spirit is dwelling inside but uh, he or she may not have been obedient to the to the call of the holy spirit and Or the obedient to god's word and gone away from the things of god But even in that case the holy spirit is not going to go off Right, he's not going to leave The holy spirit is there the minding Uh, so no matter how far away No matter how evil a person may turn Uh, but the holy spirit is still there bringing conviction uh, uh, and so if the person is Still hard harder than saying no, I don't want to believe in it. Um, you know, there's nothing the holy spirit is like a dove Right, so again, he's not going to pounce on somebody and forcefully ask them to believe in jesus and uh But he brings conviction and and so if we are not obedient to it We open our lives to the work of the enemy But up to the end of his his or her life the holy spirit will keep Reminding will keep pursuing will keep trying to bring them back keep reminding them, you know That, you know, uh, you that there's a god and you are god's child and uh, and so To answer your question jack in uh, yes The holy spirit is in that person and he will continue to try and bring this person back to christ But again, uh, if we Chew not to do it then all we're doing is we're opening our lives to the work of the enemy. So, uh I hope that answered your question jack in and leave it open to the other faculty as well. Thank you So yes jack, and if you have a follow-up question you can post it here Uh And in the meantime if we could take up gertrude's question, uh, gertrude wants to know, uh, when we pray Some people are healed and some are not Is it gods will or is it because we were not well equipped? You know that the person did not get saved and uh, she also, um, yeah Past if you could take up that question first, uh, yeah there are, you know Let me see There are obviously the spiritual You know if you want to put it in different categories You can think about the spiritual side the the ability Okay, maybe I should okay. Let's look at the biblical reference first timothy chapter three Uh versus one through eight where the apostle paul Uh, he gives out all this Kill set some if you want to use the word that word uh practical skill sets for those who Um are leading gods people And so in that you will find, uh, the spiritual side which is the ability to minister gods word And then there's a lot of practical side Which is Ability to lead at the house of god lead people Work with people and then there is a personal side which is Self governing or you're managing yourself your own family your own household and so on so If you look at that In first time in three months or eight You can categorize put it broadly in these three categories. There are your things that our spiritual leader the pastor must have to Govern himself or herself as a spiritual leader take care of your own self Your own self discipline Your own house your own family Then there is the people skills. That is basically your ability to work with people You are caring for the people leading guiding nurturing people Um, you know, you you're patient with people all of those things and then there is the The spiritual the gift set which is the ability to minister the word of god and so on Um, so that's it. I mean that's of course a high level overview personal people and The spiritual which is ministering god's word in part of the Holy spirit um Now you can drill down into each of these and you can itemize it, you know, you can put it down further which Maybe we shouldn't do it now, but we can think through on that Thank you pastor Nedel has a question. Uh, she asks what are some of the practical skills? Uh, a practical skill set that a pastor must possess to be effective in ministry Um, this is not a question related to free will so if any of the faculty could answer um What should be the practical skill set that a pastor must possess to be effective in ministry? Um pastor Deepika I answered that question Oh, okay, I'm so sorry. Uh All right, we shall move on to the next question then Pastor Deepika, I think we missed Gertrude's question where I think you had Called that out. You said when we pray some people are healed and some are not Is it god's will Or we are not well equipped So I think that question we haven't addressed yet. Sorry if I'm trying made a mistake and Answering the wrong question Uh My view like in a just a very short way. So sister Gertrude When we look at the work of jesus on the cross We know that you know, he has carried our sicknesses Um, and it has brought healing to uh, our whole person And so when you ask the question is it god's will for us to be healed? As far as the work of the cross is concerned, we concerned We know that healing is part of it. And so yes, it is god's will for us to be healed Uh, now why don't we see it? Manifest at all times. There are many factors that we can talk about um, so You know, maybe because of one certain reason Uh, somebody did not actually see the fulfillment of that healing But is it in the uh, is it provided by god for us? Yes at all times it is god's will for us to be healed I think we can learn more about this From our apc publication A ministering healing and deliverance and I would refer you to that book It'll be able to I mean we'll be able to gain a more detailed knowledge About the question that you have asked. Thank you Thank you pastor Nancy Uh, we have a question from sheukumar Uh, who would like to know whether a person with an unsaved family can be a pastor and lead a church? Uh Again, this is open to all the faculty. Uh, if anyone would like to answer This particular question Yes, I'll just add a thought Uh, thank you sheukumar for the question. Uh now um now I believe that if somebody if god is called somebody to be a pastor Uh He or she must Pursue that call and fulfill that call Because it's that person's personal calling or that's what god wants him or her to do But when it comes to a place where this person is in an unsafe family, he really he or she must really walk in wisdom um Like, uh, you know, just practically know how to go about uh, you know starting You know Set certain guidelines or you can probably share with the family so there's a lot of practical aspects that are involved because uh, the unsafe family may not be uh, we may not agree with what you want to do and uh And so it's always good to share your thoughts share the your thoughts of you know starting the church and You know, they may be for it. They may be against it Uh But I believe that if god is called a person from an unsafe family and and this person is saved and Uh, he won't and god is calling him to be a pastor and lead a church. He must pursue that call Yeah, so leave it open to the others. Please pastors Thank you pastor anyone else wants to add their thoughts anyone from the faculty would like to add to this please Okay, any other questions? uh on any topic any questions that Any of the students would like to ask the faculty. Please go ahead We have a few minutes left Or else we can close so if anyone has any question um Please go ahead right now All right, then in that case, maybe we can close uh If anyone student could you know, um Close and then uh with with a word of prayer and then you know, we can End the session. So if anyone could just Close with a word of prayer, please We can end the session after that. Um on my screen. I have an stief and alexander stief and alexander if you could You know unmute and uh close with a word of prayer, please Okay, he is not in the he's not logged in at the moment. I'll just pray pastor Heavenly father, we just thank you for this uh out of mentoring and We pray father that Whatever we have learned father, we will be able to Retain and apply it in our lives father. We pray to the lord that Thy word will continue to guide us and lead us father and We pray that we'll also be sensitive to thy holy spirit father to be more effective as uh The ambassadors of thy word father We we pray for a blessing upon our entire faculty and all the students father In Jesus's precious name we pray amen Amen. Thank you so much. Uh, so yes, we can now go to our classes. Uh, have a good day. Thank you