 I think I was muted. Yeah, I just wanted someone to open with the word of prayer. Martin, if you're present, if you could pray for us, we can get started. Praise Lord Pastor. Praise the Lord. Father, we thank you for this wonderful morning and for the wonderful week that you have blessed us with. Lord Jesus, thank you for the final semester. The papers that you have presented us with Lord Jesus help us to learn and understand the scriptures even more deeply as we prepare our hearts to follow your precepts. Lord Jesus, Lord help us to know your hearts as we know and understand and try to meditate upon your Apostles Lord Jesus, the way that your spirit led them and to do the discipleship works and to bear the burden of the people and to have a spirit of understanding discipleship and to preach the gospel. Lord Jesus help us to know you more and more as we meditate on your words. Lord Jesus help us to grant us the wisdom and the knowledge Lord Jesus help Pastor Deepika. She would present us Lord Jesus and open our hearts so we could receive all those words and to meditate on your word day in and day out Lord Jesus. We thank you for all the students that you have presented in the class. Lord Jesus be with us. Lord Jesus enable us to understand and to know you more and more Lord Jesus. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Yes. So we will begin with our class. Last week we started the letter to the Ephesians. We looked at the background of that particular church. We saw that they are established in a large metropolitan city. We saw that the congregation would probably be made up of people from different communities. Most of them Gentiles. Of course there would be a small minority of Jews as well in the congregation. And we also saw that it is during his second visit to Ephesus that Paul stays for an entire three years and builds up that church into a solid missions church where many leaders are built up and then sent out to minister all over Asia Minor. That is the Anatolian Peninsula. So we saw all of those details. So today we would be getting into chapters three and four and even as we look at chapter three it begins with these opening words where Paul refers to himself as a prisoner for Christ. If we could have someone read out for us the first six verses please. Ephesians chapter three verses one to six if someone could read out we will reflect on these verses. Anyone who is logged in and in the class if you could please just open your Bible to Ephesians chapter three and if you could read out verses one up to six, one to six. For this reason I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the spirit to his holy apostles and prophets that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel. Yes, thank you. So we see that Paul says that he has become a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles he says. So it is for your sake that I have become a prisoner and so he reminds them of his status and his commitment towards them. For us to understand why he is saying that he is a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles. We would have to go to Acts chapter 21 where we get a little idea about the background. Now last time in the introductory session when I was talking about Paul's missionary journeys, I was not very clear on the timeline. So just so that everyone is clear on that I put it in the stream page so that you know those details are available. And later even in the e-platform I would be putting in that information so that you know there is no there's no doubt about the order of events. So we see that in during Paul's second missionary journey he very briefly visits Ephesus. He leaves Akhila and Priscilla over there to do the ministry work and he moves on to other places. But then during his third missionary journey he stays at Ephesus for an entire three years. So while he is staying at Ephesus for three years during that time he writes his letter to the Corinthian church and he also writes to the Galatians. So the letter to the Galatians and the first letter to the Corinthians is written during this three years stay in Ephesus. So after he finishes his third missionary journey that is when he goes to Jerusalem and he gets arrested over there. And when he gets arrested over there it is for the sake of the Gentiles that you know this happens. And then he is taken off to Rome. So while he is imprisoned over there in Rome he writes to the Ephesians. So the Ephesian church is already aware of the circumstances that he is in. They are aware that he was that he is right now in imprisonment in Rome. So he starts off by reminding them that for their sake he has become a prisoner. What are the you know events which lead up to that arrest. When we kind of dwell on that we realize how much tension actually existed in the early church. I mean we don't quite catch the impact of what was happening in those days because you know we are so far removed from those events. And now in fact the number of believers in the Gentile you know community is much larger. The number of Jewish believers is catching up. There's a lot of ministry going on among the Jews so that many of them would come to the Lord Jesus. But right now it's the Gentiles who are you know outnumbering the number of Jewish believers. We are a large number so we don't even understand the tensions which existed in the early church. So when we look when we go to Acts chapter 21 we kind of begin to understand what was going on in the churches of that early time when the church has just started to form. So in Acts chapter 21 Paul you know after having finished his third missionary journey he goes to Jerusalem. And when he goes to Jerusalem this is what happens in Acts chapter 21 verses 17 onwards. So the leaders over there in the Jerusalem church they are glad to see him. They welcome him warmly but this is what they say in verse 20 it says in verse 20. Then they said to Paul you see brother how many thousands of Jews have believed and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. And then in verse 22 they say what shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come. So there are a lot of Jews, thousands in fact it says over here who have turned to the Lord Jesus but in their hearts because they're used to their traditions, their unrenewed mind is causing them to still associate godliness with keeping the law rather than just simply following the leading of the Holy Spirit. So they are upset when they hear stories about this minister Paul who is encouraging the Jewish believers to no longer follow the mosaic law. You know when they have newborn babies and they want to get those babies circumcised, Paul is encouraging them and telling them no you don't need to go into all of that anymore. Give up all of the entire mosaic law because your salvation in no way depends on that. So he is discouraging them from following their ancient traditions and this has upset many of the Jews. They regard him with suspicion even though Paul himself is a Jew, they regard him with suspicion because he is discouraging them from following the mosaic law. So now when he comes over here to Jerusalem and obviously he goes to the churches in Jerusalem to visit them, spend time with them. The leaders are worried and they say what shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you, they make a request of him. They say there are four men who have taken a vow, you know one of those mosaic law vows where you go to the Lord and you make a commitment to him and during that entire time period of maybe one month, two months, I mean whatever their vow is, you know they would fulfill whatever they have said to the Lord. Maybe it would be a time of fasting and prayer, maybe they have made some financial commitments that they would contribute so much to the temple. It would involve different kinds of rituals. So there are four men who have made a vow and who are getting ready to go and make this commitment in the temple before God. So the leaders request Paul and they say why don't you go along with these four men and they say join in their purification rights, pay their expenses. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. So they are saying, you know you are from a Jewish background, we have reached out to so many Jews, they have become believers but they are still very, very young in the faith. So it is not good to put them into confusion. So don't let them get the impression that you are against Moses or that you have no respect for our traditions. As long as Jesus was on the earth, he was respectful towards the Mosaic law. In fact he was so respectful towards the Mosaic law that he fulfilled all of it and Jesus made it very clear. He said it's not come just to disrupt what Moses has had given them but rather he says I have come to fulfill all of it. So in the same way Jesus conducted himself respectfully with regard to the law. Though he made it clear that people who come into the kingdom will be coming in through him by placing them because he says he is the only way to the Father. So he does make that clear but in no way does he show disrespect to the traditions of the Jews. In fact he says I have come to fulfill the Mosaic law. So now that is why these people, they request Paul and they say it would help the church over here a lot. If you can show them that you are for the Jews, you are not against the Jews because now over here it's all a matter of the cultural sensitivities of the people. So it is something maybe that we should think about in our own church setups. When people come in from other backgrounds into the church, they may have their own particular way of dressing. They may have their own way of showing respect to the elders. In our Indian community it would mean that they would bow down and touch the feet of their elders. So if you were to just suddenly tell them stop showing respect to your elders by touching their feet. It would create disruption in their homes because then their families would say it's bad enough that you have now become a follower of Jesus. Now you have even lost respect for your elders. So there are cultural sensitivities to keep in mind. The transition would need to be slow. Of course it's a complete no when it comes to idol worship. It's a complete no when it comes to anything that will go against honoring Christ. But when it comes to the cultural traditions and the way they dress. For Indians, for many of them in the beginning, at least for one year, they would prefer to continue wearing the red bindi. Simply because if the transition is slow, it's easier for the families, for their non-Christian families to grasp what is going on. It gives them a little time to adjust. So based on the cultural sensitivities of these thousands of Jews who have recently come to the Lord Jesus, the leaders request this of Paul and Paul does not argue. He in fact concedes and says, fine, I will do it. And so in verse 26, we see that Paul goes along with the men. He pays for their rituals, for them to shave their heads and all those things which they need to do. He in fact pays for them. So everything seems to be going smoothly. But then Satan still tries to take advantage of the situation and he stirs up some of the Jews who have come over there to Jerusalem. And they with half knowledge, not even knowing what he has done and what he has not done. They make the false accusation that when Paul went to the temple, he took a Greek believer along with him inside. And so they say a Gentile was allowed to go into the inner courts and so they stir up all the people. And so this is clearly a false accusation. Paul respectfully goes and said along with four Jewish brothers, he does not go with any Gentile. He does not take any Gentile inside the temple. So this is a false accusation. So in verse 28, they say this man is teaching everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. And he says that he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place. So these are all the false assumptions that they make. And then Paul who knows that he's innocent of all the charges which they are charging against him. He says, you know, I'm ready to appeal to Rome because I know I'm innocent. I know I have not done any wrong. And so it is because of his stand in ministering to the Gentiles that this whole opposition arises. So the reason that he became a prisoner is because of this calling which had been placed on his life to go and minister to the Gentiles. If his ministry had just been to the Jewish community, there would have been no opposition. There would have been no need for any imprisonment or arrest or any of that. And so he says, it is for your sakes that I have become a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Therefore, the things which I am telling you, take them seriously because I was willing to even be imprisoned for your sakes so that you can receive the truth of what I am conveying and enjoy all that God has for you. That is the heart from which he is speaking these things. And that is why he says that, you know, he, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles, he has been sent by God to administer God's grace to all of these Gentiles and of course, even the other believers who are there in the church. What does he mean when he says that God has called him to administer God's grace to them? In the NKJV, I think it says a steward of God's grace. So what does that mean? If we were to look in the New Testament, we see the word grace being used in four different senses. We are very familiar with one form of grace, which is basically the grace that was given to us so that we can become believers so that our sins can be forgiven. So that would basically be divine favor. God gave his divine favor to us. He helped us to know the truth. He helped us to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus. And so now because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, all our sins stand forgiven. And so now we live under the favor of this divine favor of God. This is the grace of God that we are living under. So until that day when we are completely perfected in heaven, we will continue to live under this grace of God, this divine favor of God, where even though we are still in the process of sanctification, even though we still fall into sin now and then, it does not lead to punishment because we are living under the divine favor of God. That's the first kind of grace that Paul is administering to them by telling them about that. Another form of grace that we see in the New Testament, that term refers to the very character of God because if you were to look in John 1.14, it says Jesus is described as being full of grace and truth. So Jesus, his character, is described as being full of grace and truth. And then in 2 Peter 3.18 it says, grow in the grace of Lord Jesus. So in the same way that he is full of the divine character of God and full of truth, you also, you believers are being called to grow into that grace. So over there the grace it refers to his character and we are supposed to become like him. We are supposed to imitate him. So the second kind of grace that is referred to in the New Testament, refers to the grace of character, the divine character of God. It refers to that. The third kind of grace that we see and we will be in fact looking at it here in this letter, refers to the giftings. They are called in Romans 12.6 it says, we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. So here the term grace is being used for divine giftings. And then of course there's this very popular verse that we are all familiar with. 2 Corinthians 12.9 where God says to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. So there it's talking about the divine empowering, the divine enabling that God gives us to be able to do all the things that he has called us to do. So grace refers to the divine favor which rests upon us because of Christ. Grace refers to the divine character of God that we are supposed to grow into. Grace refers to the giftings that have been given to us by grace. And grace also refers to the enabling, the empowering that God gives us to be able to live in the way he has called us to live. So when Paul says I have come to administer grace to you, he is talking about all these four aspects. He is going to now work with them, encourage them to attain all these four forms of grace. Because many believers are just satisfied having the divine favor of God upon them. They are glad that God's wrath is no longer upon them. But they are neglect to make use of these other three forms of grace which are available. You see, they need to start growing into this grace of the Lord Jesus. They need to start becoming like him. They also need to depend on his divine enabling, his divine empowering. Because his grace is sufficient for all that we would require to walk in Godliness. So they need to start grasping that divine empowering. And of course we are called to use this grace of the grace giftings which have been entrusted to us. So why have we spent so much time on this one single verse? It is because a lot of us who have enrolled for this course, we are in some form of ministry. It may be full time or part time. But we all are in ministry. So this is what we should be aiming for. That the people that we are working among should start moving more and more and attaining more and more of all these four forms of grace. Because one day when we stand before the judgment throne of God, the Lord will say, did you administer God's grace to these people who were entrusted to you? Did they walk into and attain and enjoy all the four forms of grace that was made available to them? So the shepherds, the ones who are ministering to the people must make them aware that all four forms of grace are available and they must show the people how to attain that grace and use it for their own lives. So that would become our responsibility and we see that Paul is fulfilling that responsibility over here. So moving on to verses 3 to 6, he again refers to the mystery that has now been revealed. We already talked about it in our last class. The mystery is just that now the Gentiles have equal status, equal privileges, equal inheritance with the Jewish believers. So that is the mystery. So he goes on to say because this grace is now available to even the Gentiles and because this mystery has now opened up the salvation experience and the treasures which are in heaven to everyone because of all of this, because what is now available to everyone, therefore I kneel before the Father and this is the prayer that I am praying. So Paul goes into his second prayer. We saw in chapter 1 that Paul made a prayer for these efficient believers and we talked about how we also can pray that prayer over our own lives. Now here there is a second prayer that he is praying for the believers and again this prayer also is very important. We can apply it to ourselves. If we pray this over our lives, it would help us to attain all these riches and walk in those riches which are available to us. So let's look at the four or five main points which are in this prayer. So he says if we could have someone read out for us verses 14 to 19 please. I know even as we are reading, if you could just pick out the main prayer points which are mentioned over here. So if one person could read out for us Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 19 please. This reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Yes, thank you. So we see here the first prayer point that he's making in verse 16 he says I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power. So there are glorious riches being made available to the believers and there is power of the Holy Spirit being made available to the believers. So he says I pray out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. So prayer number one is that the believers will be greatly strengthened in their inner being in their spirit. They would be greatly strengthened the new spirit that God imparted to us at the moment of salvation where the old person was crucified and then we were made into a new creation. So that's the new spirit that is within us. We are that new person. That is our new identity. So this new spirit needs to grow. So we can't just stay in babyhood. We need to grow in God and we need to grow stronger. We need to develop a more intimate relationship with him. All of that. So this is something that God makes available for each believer because all of the spiritual blessings of Christ are now made available to every single believer. You know in Ephesians 1 3 is where we saw Paul says that Lord Jesus Christ the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. So we all can have access to this power of the Holy Spirit because of the glorious riches which have been made available to us. So when we believers get these negative thoughts about how poor we are in the spirit it is those are wrong thoughts. They are not biblical thoughts. We may feel okay I've been struggling with these particular temptations for so many years. What are the chances that I'll ever overcome it? Or we may say to ourselves other believers they seem to hear God so clearly but I find it so difficult to get any direction from God. Maybe I'm very deaf. Maybe I'll never be able to hear God the way they hear God. Or we may say to ourselves I am not very specially gifted or talented. So who knows what contribution I will be able to make to the kingdom. Now these are all thoughts of poverty, spiritual poverty. But what does Paul say? He says every heavenly, what every spiritual blessing in Christ that is available in the heavenly realms has been given to us. So out of these glorious riches which have been granted to us out of those riches the Holy Spirit can strengthen us in our inner being. So we should take a stand and say yes the Holy Spirit is working for me. So if I continue to have a fellowship with Him I walk in a way that brings honour and respect to the name of Jesus. If I pray in the spirit both in tongues and through the leading of the spirit even as he brings different things to my mind and I pray on those particular aspects of my spiritual walk even as I feed on his word and the spirit opens up those scriptures to me even as we are daily going through this process of learning in submission to the Holy Spirit being led by Him walking in line with Him even as we do that because of the glorious riches which are available he starts making those riches a reality in our lives. So no believer ever has to think that they will continue being a slave to those temptations. It's wrong for them to think that they will not be able to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will open their deaf ears even as they spend time in God's presence studying His word and allowing the Holy Spirit to open their eyes and catch the truths which are there. This is all something which the Holy Spirit will do but then we need to create time for Him and even as we spend time in His presence He will impart these things to us. So the first prayer request that Paul has is that out of his glorious riches these efficient believers would be strengthened in their inner being through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not something that's going to happen on their own they can't achieve it on their own but the Holy Spirit can do this for them. He's eager to do this for them. I'm not sure whether this illustration would help or not but this is something which spoke to me. There was this point in my life when I was feeling very discouraged about who I am as a believer. I was ashamed of how little growth there had been spiritually. So I would picture myself as being in this sinful pit. I'm trying to be in ministry and I'm spending time in prayer and reading my Bible. I'm not giving up all of those disciplines but on the inside when I look at myself there is still so much dirt. Pride, whether we realize it or not there's a lot of pride, a lot of self-centeredness irritation, no patience with people because responsibilities are a lot and the schedule is busy so people get on your nerves you're supposed to be ministering to the people not getting irritated with them I started to feel that I'm in this pit and the Lord is very patiently standing over there in the rim of the pit on top and looking down looking at me and thinking when is this girl going to get her act together? Isn't the feeling that I had the mental picture in my mind was of me in the pit and God standing over there on top looking down and thinking when is she going to come out and when can I start working with her and using her in ministry and all of that and as I was spending time with the Lord one night this is what came to me so clearly the Lord said I'm not standing on the rim of the pit and looking down at you I'm in the pit with you can't you realize that? It was like such a revelation for me that the Lord is not standing over there and waiting for me to get my act together He's in the pit with me loving me, caring for me very very involved in every little aspect of my life and He's saying I'm right here in the pit with you I do love you unconditionally with all of your dirt you are deeply loved but I'm not going to love you and just leave you here I'm going to get you out of this pit because I love you enough not just to have you here but to actually get you out and it's going to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit when the Lord said that to me I think I just hadn't cried and cried and cried because it was like such a relief to me to know that He's not just standing over there and looking down at me and watching me in my mess He's with me in the mess and He's saying I love you here in this mess but I also love you enough to get you out of here and it's going to happen through the work of the Holy Spirit How are you willing to spend time in my presence and allow the Holy Spirit to do these things in you so that you will be strengthened in your inner being so for me that became a very deep revelation I began to spend much time in the Lord's presence and as I was doing that He began to open my eyes to see things in the scriptures which I had not realised were there you know I had read those verses again and again but those verses never became important applicable to me personally for my personal situations so the Holy Spirit will scan then us in the inner being because all the glorious riches which have been made available they have been made available for us now why is God making all of these riches available please it's not just so that we can have a bungalow or we can get a good job because we sometimes tend to reduce all the riches of Christ just for material things like I said in the last class those things will follow all the material things that you need for your life will follow if you can just place His kingdom first His righteousness first in your life so here it is explained to us in verse 17 why are these glorious riches being made available to us why is the Holy Spirit ready to you know come walk beside us and strengthen us in our inner being so that verse 17 says so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith so the reason that all this is being made available to us is so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith but isn't Christ already dwelling in our hearts I mean at the moment of salvation didn't Christ you know come and inhabit us on the inside so if Christ is already dwelling in us why is Paul praying this prayer over the efficient believers so over here when he's using the term dwell he's talking about it you know as a kind of permanent residence where Christ is being more and more fully formed in you so over here when we look at this word dwell because of the context we should not be thinking of this as just you know I have Christ in me every believer from the moment of salvation already has Christ in them here it's more talking about how Christ is getting formed in you more and more you are starting to become more and more like Christ you're resembling Him more and more okay so it's actually touching upon that aspect so the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our inner person so that we start becoming more and more like Christ so that Christ is formed in us to an extent where you know it's like he has taken over our entire being we have become literally his dwelling place so there are many verses which talk about this Galatians 419 where you know Paul when he was writing to the Galatian believers he says you know you people are now running after the law and this makes me feel so bad so now I'm again in the pains of you know childbirth because I'm going to again work with you till I see to it that Christ gets formed in you so that you know you'll stop going after the law and rather enjoy these riches which are made available to you and Galatians 128 he says so that we may present everyone you know before the Lord fully mature in Christ so Christ is supposed to dwell in us in a way where he's becoming more and more formed in us we start becoming more and more like him to an extent where we become mature the way he is mature in our reactions, in our responses in the way we do ministry in the way we relate to people who irritate us in everything we are supposed to become fully mature the way Christ is mature so that is the prayer that Paul is praying for these efficient believers it's not just enough that they have riches waiting them in heaven those riches need to start working in their life so that they start getting formed into the image of Christ and why is it so important for Christ to be fully formed in you because you see that takes us to the next step which is also in verse 17 where it says and I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ when Christ starts getting formed in you you start becoming more like him then you start actually understanding his love because you see God is love so the more you are allowing him to be formed in you your awareness of his love deepens becomes clearer and clearer so then because now you are getting rooted and literally established in his love it's like the center of your being you know someone I travel in this crowded buses where we are literally getting crushed against each other like cattle and so you know we have tempers running high and then when someone snaps at me and says something rude I feel like snapping right back at them because I too know exactly how to be rooted but if I'm getting rooted and established in love and that's what is holding me in place it will not be that easy for me to lash out because immediately I can feel that hold, that grip and God saying no, no, control yourself because that is what is rooting you and you know holding you in place that really makes a difference so I have gradually noticed my temper level coming down simply because I am beginning to understand how deeply I am loved and if that is the way he loves me that is the way he loves the other person also the one who snapped at me in the bus the Lord loves that lady also just as much so when you start becoming aware of that you can't quite respond in the way you used to respond earlier you know it changes you your outlook changes this is the divine work which he does and so it's a lovely prayer for us to pray over ourselves for the prayer in chapter 1 and this prayer over here in chapter 3 it can change us, it can really change us God will start bringing us out of the pit by the power of the Holy Spirit and we will have the joy of seeing that we are changing we don't have to feel disgusted about ourselves anymore it's just nice to know that you are improving we feel very encouraged so as you are getting rooted and established in love you will have power the Holy Spirit who has given you the power through his power you start grasping how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and then verse 19 says and to know this love that surpasses knowledge why do you need to know this love like this so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God so once you really understand this love and how it applies to you and how it applies to all the other people who are getting on your nerves it changes you are so you are so grateful and so enjoying his love and you realize that the other person is also that deeply loved and it changes the way you interact with them and even as you are changing in your interactions this is what happens you get filled to the measure of all the fullness of God you start becoming like him where he is it's not so much more of selfish Deepika that's filled up on the inside rather it's more of God that is filled up on the inside so that starts happening so why do we need to get rooted and established in love and begin to understand how great and why this love is when we start grasping those truths it causes us to start becoming full of him to the entire fullness of the measure of him this is what these glorious riches have been given for because when Jesus on that day when he first came to us and we were stirred in our heart and we felt that we must repent and we must turn our back on our past and start following this Jesus he didn't just come over there to say from now on I am going to be your Santa Claus you want to follow me no, when he came the salvation invitation was that come to me all who are no weary and burdened I will give you rest now step 2 take my yoke upon you and learn from me don't worry I am a gentle and humbling spirit so I am not one of those rough and tough teachers who will threaten you and whip you into submission I am gentle and humbling spirit he says in Matthew 11 so take my yoke upon you and start learning from me so with that attitude with a humble attitude knowing that he is gentle and humbling spirit when we start learning from him we start being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God and all these riches which are available to us they are imparted into our lives so that we can become the person that we are meant to be and then once you have a right attitude towards God and towards the people around you what is the problem? now God can release any amount of wealth into your life because it is not going to make you proud you are not going to become greedy your priorities are right your heart is set on the kingdom of God and upon righteousness so all these other things will be added to you because they are not going to get in the way they are not going to be obstacles which will cause you to fall so now the Lord can release whatever is required into your life for you, for your ministry, for your family because in fact you will take that and start investing into people's lives you will use whatever has been given to further the interests of the kingdom so the first thing is to get our heart right towards God and towards people and this prayer can be a starting point to help us get onto that pathway so let's come to the next portion we are almost out of time but we do have 3 minutes so if we could have somebody read out for us Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 to 5 Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 to 5 if someone could please read out I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called with all lowliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all amen so here we see Paul saying he started off in the previous chapter by saying I am a prisoner for your sake for you gentiles and now he says as a prisoner I am urging you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called I also was called to this calling and for the sake of this calling I was even willing to become a prisoner I was willing to even get arrested so in the same way I am living a life that is worthy of the calling you too all of you who have been called to these glorious riches you also must live a life that is worthy of the calling and what is the one point that he makes how do you live a life that is worthy of calling he talks about love you know I mean the more I am trying to grow in the Lord I am beginning to realise that love is at the centre of it all it is so easy to do ministry it is so interesting and enjoyable to teach it is so interesting to do all these tasks and chores and all of that but when it comes to love I know that is an entirely different story because somehow from the moment that we are born we are born with ourselves established on the throne of our hearts to get ourselves off that throne and you know start thinking of other people's interests and the way we respond to them I am realising how it is just something that can happen only through the Holy Spirit and the more you grow in the Lord you become aware of this every little thing that goes against the love of God immediately you feel that correction in the Lord saying is this the way I would react if I were in your place if you are my follower you should be reacting the way I am reacting dwell on these verses when we come back because that is the first condition that he places before these efficient believers he says please you need to live bearing with one another in love he says so we will get back to that when we come back from our break thank you