 Good morning everyone and welcome to class. Before we begin, can I ask one of you to please lead us in prayer please? Ibrahim, Tete, can you lead us in prayer please? Yes, Adam, please lead us in prayer. First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the opportunity to listen to the word of God. I would pray that our hearts and minds are open to the Word. I would also ask the grace to the viewers of your word and not to the rest of you. I would pray that your words will be heard and will be transformed through our hearts and minds. I would like to thank you for opportunity to listen to the word of God. Amen. Thank you Ibrahim. Okay, today we will continue looking at chapter 12. Okay, so we looked at chapter 12 just verses 1 and 2 on Venice Day. We'll continue with chapter 12 just as a quick recap. So Paul is telling and writing these chapters from 12 onwards, talking again about Christian living, which is where he stopped in chapter 8 and then chapters 9, 10, 11. He takes a small kind of a detour. He goes on a small vacation and then he comes back to talking about Christian living in chapter 12 and then he says, you know, in keeping in mind, you know, all that he has written so far to them, he's told them keeping in mind the goodness of God and all that Paul has explained as far talking about justification from the guilt and penalty of sin, you know, the adoption in Jesus Christ, our identification in Christ, that we are no longer under law but under grace, then just reassuring us that the Holy Spirit is with us in us and living within us the promise of help in all afflictions and all troubles and difficulties, the assurance of our standing in God's election, the confidence of our coming glory, the hope that we have, confidence that nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, confidence about, you know, God's continued faithfulness. So he says, in the light of all of these mercies that is in the past, present and future, so Paul is, you know, requesting them, begging them, pleading with them, you know, to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which he says is their reasonable service or which is their, you know, logical or, you know, intelligent worship to God. And then he also says, you know, this is something else that he wants them to do. First thing is to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God. And he also says in verse two, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. So we were basically talking about what is, what is the meaning of, you know, the renewing of our mind. And we say, we said that the best way to explain, you know, the renewing of mind is, you know, by looking at Isaiah chapter 55 verses seven to nine, that's the best way to explain renewing of the mind. Renewing of the mind is when we, you know, lay down our ways of thinking, our way of doing things, our thoughts and taking on the ways and the thoughts of God, which is much higher than our ways and our thoughts. And he says that by renewing of our minds, you know, it leads basically to the transformation of our lives. And he talks, the word transformation is the Greek word metamorphor, which is, which we get the English word metamorphosis, which we saw is a complete transformation from a worm that is just wriggling on the ground, a caterpillar that is transformed into a beautiful, colorful butterfly. So he says, you know, by the renewing of our mind, this transformation of our lives, and we are able to live, think and behave differently. That means we are able to live, think, you know, the ways and the thoughts of God. Okay. And we ended by saying, we look at practically how we can, you know, live our, you know, live our lives as, as to say we have renewed minds, or how do we know that we have renewed minds, or how does a renewed mind actually operate? So just to choose an example, Paul mentions in the last verse in this chapter in chapter 12, Paul says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Okay. So the way of the world is when you do something bad to me, then I will do, you know, I will return that bad to you. Okay, maybe not in the same way, maybe twice as bad as what you have done to me, so that you will learn a lesson. Okay. Or, you know, if you do something evil to me, I will do twice as much as evil than what you have done to me. So just imagine if everybody in this world is operating on this level, you know, you do evil to me, I do twice as much. Okay. So you do twice as much and the person returns back four times. Okay. And then it keeps multiplying. So you just see how it keeps evil keeps growing in the world. And that's why if you look at the world, you know, why is there so much of evil? You know, it's because all of us are, you know, trying to give back to that person or do back to that person twice as much as they have done to us. So because everyone is repaying others for twice as much as evil they have received, that's why we see that so much of evil in this world. But God says, don't be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. So renewed mind is saying, and that's what Jesus says, you know, if you're hungry, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. If he has no clothes, you clothe him. So that is how a renewed mind operates. Okay. A wicked man who lives in this wicked world, how does he operate in his mind? You did something evil to me. I do twice as back to you. But, you know, a person who has a renewed mind, how does he live in this falling world, in this wicked world, instead of repaying twice as much as the person has said evil to them. You know, if they love their enemy, they do good to them, they help them out, they care for them. Okay. But we know that, you know, this does not come as a natural response, you know, feeding our enemy, you know, giving them something to drink when they're thirsty, clothing them. But, you know, when we have a renewed mind that is a mind that is constantly chewing on God's word. Remember, we said the caterpillar keeps eating and eating and eating, because it knows it's going into that mold where it's going to be metamorphized into a butterfly. The same way, we need to keep chewing God's word. So the word chewing in the Bible is we need to be meditating on God's word. The more we meditate on God's word, God's word fills our hearts, our minds, our wills, our emotions, and we see ourselves automatically, you know, living as God has asked us to in his word, and we look at ourselves being transformed in the way of living and thinking, and we don't overcome evil with evil, but we overcome evil with good. Okay. So Paul mentions that the renewing of our mind not only brings about transformation, but we will also be able to prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. So he says, when we renew our mind, we can prove, we can test, we can determine to our testing what is God's good, pleasing, and perfect will. Like in the laboratory, you know, when they do tests for the samples they receive, they come up with certain conclusions, right? Okay, this blood sample, this urine sample, this is what is wrong, this is what is not right in the body. So they come up with the conclusions, okay? So when our mind is renewed the same way, we can come to conclusions, we can prove, we can test, we will know what is the good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God. So he says that renewing of our mind not only brings transformation, but also determines the will of God. So how can we know the will of God? We can know the will of God through a renewed mind and he uses three adjectives here, good, acceptable, and perfect will. Now some people say that these are three categories of God's will. Well, that's not right. You already learned this in your first year when you studied fulfilling God's purpose for your life and also in that book Receiving God's Guidance, we mentioned there that there are no three categories of God's will. God's will is just good, pleasing, and perfect. These are just three adjectives that are used here, okay? So a renewed mind through the very thoughts are able to say which is the good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Just as a cross reference, let's read Ephesians chapter 5 verse 17, please. Can somebody read Ephesians chapter 5 verse 17? Ephesians 5, 17. Anyone can read that, please. It says in Ephesians chapter 5, okay, read Siddhant. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of God is. Thank you. So it says don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. So can you understand what the will of the Lord is? Can you understand what the will of the Lord is? Yes or no? Come on, can you understand what the will of the Lord is? Yes, you can understand the will of the Lord. Yes, you can understand what the will of the Lord is because it says here, okay? You can understand what the will of the Lord is. So connecting into Romans chapter 12, we can prove the good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God, okay? Now the struggle with some believers is, you know, they asked and they asked this question, should I use my mind, okay? Or should I just totally, you know, depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit? So there are two sides of the coin, okay? Two kinds of believers. One set of believers say, you know, we shouldn't use our minds, you know, our logical reasoning, our thinking, our understanding is all sinful because our soul is not yet, you know, transformed. It's only our spirit that is born again. Our soul is not born again. So we shouldn't use our mind, we should just only be led by the Holy Spirit. And such people, you know, kind of end up messed up because, you know, they sometimes are listening to their own emotions, their own, their mind sometimes, and they think it's the Holy Spirit that is actually leading them. On the other hand, there are people who purely go by reasoning and by logic. So even if some God tells them something that they have to totally depend on faith, they don't receive it, they don't accept it. Because why? Their logical reasoning, their minds are not testing to that, okay? How can it happen? I don't think it can happen this way. What if it does not happen? So, you know, it doesn't fit my logical reasoning, my thinking. So I don't think it's going to happen like this. So that's the other extreme, okay? They don't depend on the inner leading of the Holy Spirit. They purely go by their logical reasoning and understanding. But as believers, we need to learn to blend both, okay? Yes, God uses our mind. He's given us our mental faculties. I already explained this to us, you know, when God said he created us in his image and likeness, it's basically that he gave us a mind. Why did he give us a mind so that we can understand the mind of God? He gave us a will so that we can do, you know, what he wills and also, you know, make our own choose according to our will. So, you know, God created us in his image. He gave us our mental faculties. We need to be intelligent people. We need to use our mind. We need to use our renewed mind, which is a mind thinking according to the ways and thoughts of God. And at the same time, we need to also depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit, which means we need to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit, the inner voice and the audible voice of the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes, you know, the renewed mind and what the Holy Spirit are saying will go in agreement. They will be in total agreement. So, you know, what the Holy Spirit is saying and what your renewed mind is saying will be in agreement because why our renewed mind has been trained to be aligned to think in the ways and thoughts of God. So, when the Holy Spirit is revealing to us the ways and thoughts of God, we automatically are able to discern, agree, go along with it because our renewed mind is also affirming to us. It is also in agreement with it. The Holy Spirit, you know, gives us affirms to us, to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, through this, you know, audible voice or through the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, you know, he attests to us. He tells us what is a good, pleasing and acceptable will of God. So, we need to walk with the two, okay, and this is a great confirmation. You know, when your mind, your renewed mind and, you know, what the Holy Spirit is saying, the leading of this Holy Spirit, when they're walking together, you know, there's a great confirmation because, you know, you're using your renewed mind which is able to understand the will of God or the will of the Lord is and also you have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is attesting, saying, yes, this is the right thing, go for it, do it, say it, okay. So, it's not drawn to use our mind because God has given us our mind and he wants us to use our mind but we need to come to a place where we are having a renewed mind and not a carnal mind, okay. We need to come to that place where we are thinking with the renewed mind and, you know, listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying in our hearts and these two will go in perfect agreement. So, thinking and listening, thinking with the renewed mind and listening in our hearts what the Holy Spirit is depositing in our spirit, okay. We need to do these two things, thinking and listening, thinking with our renewed minds, listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying in our heart and these two are in agreement with each other, there is perfect unity and harmony. It will be like, you know, those two railway tracks, you know, when there's two railway tracks, the train goes very, very smoothly, right. If one track is going straight and one track goes left or right, then you know what happens, right. The train can get derailed to be an accident and many lives will be destroyed. So, our mind, our renewed mind, thinking and listening should be those two tracks that going simultaneously together then there's perfect unity and harmony and then, you know, we can journey smoothly on the road or the plans and the purposes that God has planned for us, okay. Verse 3, Romans chapter 12 verse 3 says, For I say to the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, okay. So Paul is saying, through the grace given me. So Paul knew the grace God has given to him, he knew that he had the grace to be a leader, he knew he got it given him the grace to be an apostle, and hence he could tell the church that through this grace is given to me, I'm telling you or I'm beseeching you, you know, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice or to be transformed, the renewing of the mind and in other letters or other episodes that he writes, he beseeches them, he tells them what to do and what not to do. So also you and I must know the grace that God has given each one of us, okay. Why is it important for us to know the grace that God has given to us so that we can operate in that grace and when we operate in that grace we can operate with confidence, okay. And he says not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. So Paul is saying, you know, you know, all of you be levelheaded in what you think about yourself, okay. How can we apply this for those of us who are in ministry, just like you like to give us an example, you know, when our ministry grows and people are either joining a Bible study group or they're joining the church that we have planted, we tend to think that all of this is happening because of me, you know, or you started a ministry among youth or children or, you know, among, you know, whatever group of people, everything seems to be going well, God is moving mightily, suddenly we begin to think, you know, all this is happening because of me, you know, we think, hey, I'm a gifted person I'm gifted by God, I'm greatly anointed by God. And when we think like this, you know, our whole view of ourselves gets inflated, okay. And when we do that, we are not thinking of ourselves soberly, okay. But we need to start thinking based on an unreal estimation of ourselves. So this is the first step, you know, towards fall, what is the first step towards our downfall is when we think about ourselves more highly than we ought to think, okay, and not when we don't think of ourselves more soberly. So Paul is telling us all the time things soberly, be levelheaded, keep your feet on the ground. Yes, Elisha. Yes, madam, thank you. Thank you. Is it right for a believer to pray that in light of what Paul is teaching, that we should think soberly of ourselves and even think well of others even more than ourselves? Is it right for a believer to pray that God blesses him more than his brothers, his siblings, his family members, his friends, his colleagues? Is it right for a Christian to pray such a prayer? Thank you for your question, Elisha. Yes, it's important for us to pray that, you know, we can God give the humble spirit, a humble heart attitude. Also, we can pray God help me not to think more highly of myself than I ought to think, help me to think of myself more soberly, like, you know, it's given in various places in the Bible, put others first, Paul himself writes, you know, put others first before you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to put others before you, you know, to live peaceably with all people. So, you can pray that, yes, that's an important prayer to make. Can we pray God bless me more than my family or my siblings or people in my church? Well, that is a more selfish prayer to pray, but we can pray God, you know, fill me with more of your anointing, which is not a selfish prayer. God, just fill me with more of your anointing. Every day we can say, God, more of your anointing. Today I need a fresh anointing from you. God, I want to move mightily in the gifts of the spirit. I want to exhibit all the nine gifts of the spirit. I want to manifest the fruits of the spirit, which a prayer that we can make. But all of this we need to know does not come automatically. See, Jesus says, if you abide in the wine, you will bear fruit. Okay, so the gifts of the spirit and the fruit of the spirit is an automatic thing that happens, an overflow of our intimacy with God as a relationship with God. We really don't need to ask, because the more intimate we are with God, the more time we're spending with God, this is an outflow, because what we do in secret, you know, God rewards us openly. Okay, that's what the word of God says. What we do in secret, God rewards us openly. So how does God reward us openly is we manifest ourselves as being more blessed people. How do we manifest ourselves as being more blessed people is, you know, when we're flowing in the gifts of the spirit, there's great anointing and power that is released to us. We see people's lives touch, people's lives transform, people's lives being healed, and also people will see the blessing of God on us. So yes, you know, when we are born again, we identify with Christ. We are already in a right standing with God, right standing in His grace. We are already received every spiritual blessing and physical blessing, but for that spiritual blessing and for that physical blessing to be manifested in our lives, you know, we need to walk in obedience to God's Word, in alignment to His Word, in alignment to what the Holy Spirit is telling us. That is when, you know, blessings just automatically flow into our lives. And there's no need for us to ask God to really bless us because He's already blessed us. You know, every spiritual blessing is efficiency after one, every time time two talks about, you know, we are already blessed in the spiritual realms. We've received every spiritual blessing. We need to appropriate that in our lives. And how does that become a reality in our lives is the more we walk with God in our intimacy, in our walk with God, the more we are obeying God, living our lives in alignment to His will, plan and purposes, the blessings just automatically flows. See, we really don't need to ask that. Does that help, Elisha? Yes ma'am, yes ma'am. Thank you very much. God bless you. Thank you. Praying a prayer saying, you know, bless me more than my people around us is a selfish prayer. I think we should all ask God to bless all of us, you know, that all of us are being blessed by the by the Lord equally. And of course, He's not a God who's partially blesses everyone equally. Okay. So we'll continue with verse three. And Paul says, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. So God has given all of us already a measure of faith. We've all started out with that measure of faith that God has given to us, which means, you know, we needed that measure of faith even to trust God with our salvation. Okay. But we need to keep growing in that level of faith. We can't stay with yesterday's faith level, or the previous season's faith level, or, you know, the, the few months back, the faith level that we have been in, we keep growing in the faith that God has given to us. And we need to, you know, and this faith keeps growing when our ways are according to God's ways, our thinking is aligned to God's thinking to God's thoughts. And we also need to think aligned to, you know, the measure of faith or the faith that God is giving to us or putting our faith and trust in God. And so Paul says, stay levelheaded. Don't get inflated how you think about yourself. Okay. We'll move on to verses four to eight. Yes, Christopher. Oh, yes, Pastor. Thank you. I can't remember the verse, but there was a verse, the Bible, says that God gives us more or he makes us do more and do, do much more when our faith is, you know, depending on our faith, something, something to that effect. I don't think it's this verse, but there's another verse. I just wanted to ask you whether, you know, you number the cross reference to that and how the, how does it that, how does this relate to what you just mentioned? I'm not able to think about that verse now, but I can, only thing that comes to my mind is, you know, exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask, think or imagine according to power that is at work in us. So yes, you know, the power that is in work is in us, power is linked to the anointing, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The measure that we are in fellowship and with the Holy Spirit connected to the Holy Spirit with this word, God can do, you know, exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask, think or imagine according to power that is at work in us. I think that is that verse that is coming to my mind. I'm not sure about this faith. So yes, but you know, if you have, the more you grow in your anointing that anointing comes through your relationship with the Holy Spirit with God, your intimacy with God, reading God's word, you know, that's when you can do exceedingly abundantly more. And also when you are intimate with God, your faith also grows. And when your faith also grows, you can see this greater release of anointing and power and greater manifestation of the work of God through your life. Does that help, Christopher? Maybe we can look at that verse, then we can get back on that. Is that okay? Sure, sure. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to verses four and two eight. Verse four to eight, Paul is talking about the functioning of the body. You know, these verses are very familiar. So we'll just look at it. You know, it says we have different body parts. In verses four to eight, he says, for as we are many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having them gifts deferring according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. Its prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith ministry, let us use it in ministering, he who teaches in teaching, he who exalts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. So basically Paul is saying that, you know, just like the different parts of our body have different functions, but each one of them, you know, in their different functions work in their own functions for the total functioning and the whole well-being of the body, the same way, you know, all of us, even though we are individual people, individual members, we are all part of the body of Christ. Okay, there's one body of Christ where all individual members, you all have different functions. Okay, that means God has given us each of our specific functions in the body of Christ, and each of us have different gifts according to the grace that has been given to us. And the grace and the gifts and the grace that God is given to us is to fulfill the function that he has given to us in the body of Christ. So I want to just highlight on these three words, functions, gifts and grace. So in the body of Christ, each and every member have functions, have gifts and grace. So what is function? Function is what we do or we serve in the body of Christ. So you can be an apostle, prophet, teacher, somebody who's an encourager, somebody who's an administrator, somebody who's helping, somebody who's serving, whatever. So that is your worship leader, children's minister, youth minister, that is your function. Now gifts, the capabilities that talents God has given to us. So what our gifts is, our talents, our capabilities that God has given to us. And the grace, grace is the empowering, God's empowering his power upon our lives to exercise the gifts and fulfill the functions. Okay, so what is a grace? Grace is the empowering upon our lives to exercise the gifts and fulfill the functions. So God has given us a function or, you know, it can be one function or many functions and the gifts and the grace to fulfill that particular function. Okay, so we can develop the gifts and grow in the grace. We need to develop our gifts. We need to grow in the grace of God, which means how we function can get better and better as we continue to develop our gifts, our talents and grow in the grace that God has given to us. Okay, James chapter 4 verse 6 says there's more grace that is available to us. So the gifts can develop. We need to develop on our gifts. It can get better. It can get much more sharper. We can, you know, get more skilled in the gifts that God has given to us. Now, in these verses, he mentioned seven functions. These are not, you know, only the seven functions that happens the church. It's not the exhaustive list. It's just a few of them. And the seven functions he mentions is prophecy, you know, serve, which just means ministry, teaching, encouraging, which is exhortation, giving, leading and showing mercy. And these are all the lists of the membership gifts. Okay, these are different from the spiritual gifts. Okay, and these are different from the gifts of the spirit. Now gifts of the spirit are given to everyone. Okay, membership gifts are given for each one for the function of the body of Christ. The spiritual gifts is the Holy Spirit giving specific gifts to specific people, apostles, prophets, teachers, and ministers. Okay, so we see that these are membership gifts. And yet these are different from the spiritual gifts or the gifts of the spirit. And this membership gifts is just, you know, a man made title. It's not a God given title. Okay, so Bob says, whatever is your function in the body of Christ, you know, fulfill your function, do your function, use them. This means that these are the capabilities God has put in your lives. The gifts he's given you fulfill a specific function. So if your gift is singing and playing a musical instrument, then what is your function? In the body of Christ. Come on, what is your function in the body of Christ? If your gift is singing and your gift is playing an instrument, what is your function in the body of Christ? Yeah, worship ministry, right? Sorry, yes, somebody was saying something. It's worship ministry. If you're very good with young people, so what do you think is your function? You relate very well to young people, you can speak to them, you can motivate them, encourage them, youth ministry, right? So if you are a very gifted teacher, what do you think can be your function in the church, in the body of Christ? Teaching ministry, you can take on leadership of doing a Bible study, having a life group, also preaching and teaching in church, or you are a powerful prep, intercessor, prayer warrior, you can, you know, your function in the church is being spread. If somebody who is very active, running around, you know, serving people, helping people, what is your role in the function in the body of Christ? Administrator, greeting team, meeting team, serving team, you know, all of those things, okay? So Paul is saying, whatever is your function in the body of Christ, use them. That means gives the capabilities that God has given to us is to fulfill your function. And each one of us have been given different membership gifts, which means different functions in the body of Christ. These membership gifts are related to the function we have in the body. And there is the grace of God that empowers us to exercise a gift to fulfill the function, okay? So, you know, we must encourage believers, you know, to discover their gifts, so that they know their function in the body of Christ and they can carry out their function in the body of Christ. Why should we encourage people to know and discover their gifts? Because if we have more people ministering, functioning in the church, there are more laborers who are actively engaged in fulfilling the function of the body in the body of Christ, you know, in the body of Christ, to the body of Christ, for the body of Christ, we see that the, you know, the church becomes more healthy, more strong, and, you know, everybody is going to be edified and built up. So, hence in our local church, we need to let every believer, you know, know what is their gifting, know what is their calling, so that they can flow into the functions, they can function in one or more gifts that God has given to them, and they can, you know, they can edify and build up the body of Christ, and the body of Christ can be strengthened and be built up. So, every believer has been given the grace from God to serve in a particular function, okay? So, in chapter 12, Paul begins by telling us, you know, present your bodies, and then he goes on to say renew your mind, and then he goes on to say serve in the body of Christ, okay? Basically, he starts by saying, you know, I want to make you the solemn request, okay? Remember that in verse one, he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, it's making the solemn request. So, what is the solemn request? The first thing is to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. The second one he says is to be renewed by the transforming of their minds, and the third thing he's saying, the solemn request is he's saying, you know, serve in the body of Christ, okay? Verse nine, he says, let love be without, okay, anyone has any questions before we move on? Verses one to eight, anyone has any questions? Questions, okay? Now, verses nine, following, you know, Paul focuses more on our relationship with others in the body of Christ, what we need to do in our relationship with others, especially in the body of Christ and also with those who are outside the body of Christ. So, he's talking more about practical Christian living that's focusing on our relationship with people in the church and people outside the body of Christ, okay? So, verse nine, can somebody read verse nine? Verse nine, verse nine says, let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. So, Paul is basically saying, don't pretend to love, you know, be genuine in your love to others, you know, your heart, your love must be heartfelt, you know, when you care for others, help others be genuine in what you are doing, okay? Verse 10, can somebody read verse 10 please? Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other, okay? Verse 10 says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in order giving preference to one another. So, here he says, you know, give preference to other people, you know, don't always think about yourself, I, me, myself, I must be given this position, I must be given the seat of honor when I go for this meeting, I must be called, I must be referred to so and so with, you know, with honor and respect, you know, sometimes when we are in ministry and when God uses us greatly, you know, we feel a sense of entitlement, we feel we're entitled to some things, we feel that we need to be given preference over others. For example, you know, if there are three preachers in your city, you know, or in your church and there is, you know, somebody calls you to preach, you know, you feel that you should be given the first preference, you know, you should be called to preach, it's not that the other subordinate or the other associate ministers should be called, you are the senior pastor, you should be called or you are the senior most pastor in the city or you are somebody who is a great man of God, a woman of God, mightily flowing, anointing of God, hence you must be given the preference first, only if you say no they should ask others. You know, there are some people when you don't give them that preference, you don't give them that some they get very, very angry and they get very, very upset, you know, so here what Paul is saying, you know, in honor, give preference means give chance to others, allow others, you know, allow your associate ministers to preach, to teach, give them the prime time, you know, sometimes the senior pastor takes the 930 service, 1030 service, he gives the evening service to the associate ministers because many of them don't come to the evening service church or he gives them early morning, 7 o'clock because very few people come but here this says, in honor give preference to others, you choose others above yourself. Verse 11, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He says, fervent means be on fire, full of fire, serve God at all times with zeal and passion, not lacking your zeal. You know, sometimes we run out of steam, we run out of zeal and passion, you know, but Paul tells Timothy, you know, fan into flames the fire that once burned in you, passion that once burned in you. So we always need to keep that flame burning and how do we keep that flame burning, always, you know, an intimacy with God, reading God's word, you know, spending time praying and also, you know, computing the Holy Spirit. Verse 12 says, rejoice, be patient in tribulation, continue steadfastly in prayer. Okay, this is something that needs no explanation, you know, we all go through difficulties and hardships, but we need to endure. Okay, that's what Paul says, continue running your race with perseverance, fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter, because if you fix our eyes on things of the world, people of the world, the mountains, our hindrances, our storms, you know, we will not endure, but, you know, we need to endure even though we're going through hardships and we need to be consistent in our prayer life. Verse 13 says, distributing to the needs of the saints given to hospitality. So, you know, we need to bless others, we need to give to the needs of others, we need to be generous and kind at the same time, you know, sometimes people in ministry, pastors in ministry think, you know, they become God, you know, we don't become God, we cannot deal with every people's, every person's problems, we cannot meet every person's need. There are some people's need we can meet, there are some people's need we cannot, when we cannot, we just, you know, you know, show them other people, other ministries who can help them, other counselors, other things, other places that they can reach out for help. So, don't think that you're God, you have to take care of every need of people in your life group, in your Bible study group, in your team, in your church, no, don't become God, cannot be God, we cannot meet everybody's needs, we cannot please everybody, we cannot bless everybody, what we can do, we can do, you know, be generous and kind at the same time, things that we cannot do, you know, we lead people to put them on to other people who can help them, who can minister to. Okay, verse 14 says, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not, curse, basically means don't retaliate, you know, don't repay evil for evil, even when people persecute you, talk back behind you, gossip, you know, you just bless them, leave them to God to judge, to take care of them, you just continue doing the work of the Lord, don't divert your attention, your time and energy, because it's not going to help you, it's not going to help anyone, it's, it can also cause a division, just focus on your calling and what God has called you to do, leave these people to God, God will take care of them. Verse 15 says, rejoice with those who rejoice and reap with those who reap, which means, you know, basically get into the lives of people, be part of the lives of people, and they're rejoicing, rejoice with them, whether morning, you know, reap with them, be with them. Verse 16, it says, be of the same mind towards one another, do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble, do not be wise in your own opinion, okay, we need to be willing to associate with people at different levels, intellectual people, you know, associate with them, be with them, speak in their level, speak, that makes, things that make sense to them, when you are, don't feel shy to relate with people who are humble, the simple folks, you know, the poor, those who are financially sound, you know, be willing to relate them, speak into their lives, minister to them. As God's people, we need to learn to relate people at all levels, engage with people at all levels, minister to people at all levels, and speak into people's lives at all levels. Verse 17 says, we pay no one evil for evil, have regard for good things in the sight of all men. So, you know, he says, have regard for good things in the sight of all men, he says, you know, we must be careful to do things that are good in the sight of all people, you know, whether they're believers, non-believers, you know, relate to all of them in the same level, be the same person you are, whether you're with believers or non-believers, because when people look at us, they must see what we are doing is good, and no one should point an accusing finger at us, we must be blameless in the sight of those in the church and those outside the church in whatever we do, and the way we do things, we should be beyond reproach. Okay, just a few more verses before the end of this chapter, he says, if it's possible as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Now, try your best to live peaceably, why he says, if it is possible, and why is he saying as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Maybe sometimes we want to live peaceably, but there are people who want to fight with us, quarrel with us, you know, they just want to extend the stripe, they don't want to give up, they just want to keep on arguing. Now, we cannot control another person's behavior, but we can choose to be peaceful with people. Okay, verse 19 and 20 says, don't avenge yourself, but rather give place to the wrath of God, because written vengeance is mine, I will replace Esther, Lord, and then he quotes verse 20, he's quoting Proverbs chapter 25 verses 21 and 22, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he's thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing, you will heap colds of fire on his head. So when people do harm to us or evil to us, don't judge them, that's not our work, it's God's work, vengeance is his, God is going to decide on the judgment, God is going to decide what is going to happen to that person. Instead, we need to focus on what God has called us to do, what has God called us to do, bless them, be nice to them, don't repay them evil, and also live peacefully with all men. And then the last verse was 21, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. We already mentioned about this verse. So verse 9 onwards, what he's mentioning is all practical. Why is he mentioning all this? Because he's saying that a renewed mind, when we renew our mind, when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, so even as we serve the body of Christ using our gifts and grace for the function God has given to us, we can do all of these things in the way we're supposed to be doing. We can walk in this attitude, we can walk in this mindset because our minds are basically renewed, minds are renewed, we're walking, we're living in the ways of God, we're thinking in the thoughts of God, and also because we're presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, we can be able to do all of this, we can walk in this attitude in this mindset because we're living with a renewed mind and because we are presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. So the two main important thing is presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, laying, crucifying the desires of our flesh, sacrificing the sexual appetites, our own selfish desires, everything, crucifying it daily, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, also renewing our minds. When we do that, we can automatically lift the ways God wants us to live and we can take on the thoughts of God. We can lift the higher ways and the thoughts of God. So, Kennedy says, what is the meaning of heaping burning coal? What is the implication? It's because when your enemy is doing evil towards you and you return them back with doing good, being nice to them, it's like basically it's like heaping burning coal on them. It's like inside them they're burning, burning in a sense of, hey, I did so much of evil for this person and this person is being so good to me. Or how can this person be so good to me? Why can't I be like this person? So there's basically a burning inside of, it can be a burning of jealousy, hatred, anger. It can also be a burning of, oh my gosh, I did so much of evil to this person and I'm feeling so guilty. You know, the burning sensation that happens basically when you get angry, when you are jealous, when there's pride, you know, and that is why there's an increase of acidity and gastric and all of those because of stress and all of that. And also because, you know, hey, I did so much of evil and look at this person. How can I be like that person? Why can't I be like that person? Why am I not like that person? So that deep down that burning inside you. So it's basically heaping burning coals of fire on his head. Get hot in your head. You know, we get red hot with anger or we get red hot with frustration. It's like that. You know, so when you get red hot with anger, your face gets red hot or when you get red hot with frustration, your face just shows it, your mind gets heated up. It's burning coals of fire on his head. Good question, Kennedy. Yeah. Anyone has any questions? Sorry, we're already five minutes past our time. Okay. There's no questions then. We'll end class. Okay. Thank you all so much for patiently waiting five minutes ahead of time. Have a blessed weekend and God bless all of you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you.