 Okay. Welcome back after break. Just before we went for our break, we were looking at the eight guideposts, recognize the times and seasons. And we were looking at various examples in the times and seasons. So we looked at the foundation season, the just enough season versus the abundant season. And, you know, we saw that in those in that season we need to be faithful with God. God has entrusted to us. The next season is seasons of grief and sorrow. You know, when we go through a lot of pain and suffering and challenges, maybe losing loved ones, many broken relationships, maybe, you know, breakdown in the family, sickness, whatever, death, real difficult times. And we cry out to God and say, God, what are you doing with my life? Why is this happening? You know, or sometimes it can be some sin, some problems that we have caused for our own lives, our own weakness, our own attitudes, our own sinful behavior. And so God, when we cry out to God, you know, God is saying, Hey, I am trying to help you deal with this part of your character. Okay. So it's a tough season, a difficult season. But what do we do when God speaks? He says, you know, I am trying to mold you, change you in this aspect of your character. And what do we do? We don't just sit back and say, Okay, God, where am I? You have to work with God, cooperate with him. Okay. And, and when you cooperate with God, work with him, change, take the necessary steps that you require. If you need help, take out Godly counsel, go to God's word, pray fast, wait on God, you know, deal with that sin, deal with that aspect of your character. And then when you God sees that you have passed the test, he moves you on. Okay. So you come out of that season of testing and challenging and the difficult seasons. Okay. And the last season is season of motherhood. Okay, or parenthood. You know, season of motherhood is not very easy for women, especially, you know, where they're married and they have children and suddenly they're saying, Hey, what am I doing all the time? Taking care of the baby, feeding the baby, changing the baby, cooking for my husband, taking care of my in-laws, how home chores is never ending, you know, and look at me, you know, I studied, I finished my medicine or finished my engineering or I did, you know, studied my B. Ed, I did my MA or my M fill or whatever MSC and and what am I doing here? You know, nothing, all my degrees, all my hard work is basically coming to nothing. But it's just a season in life, your children are not going to be babies forever. Amen. Okay, they're going to grow, they're going to go to school and go to college. Then you can step out and get into a job, you know, and continue to fulfill God's plan and purpose for your life. But motherhood is also God's plan and purpose and a season in your life. Okay, so these are examples of various seasons that we go through. So we need to recognize the times and seasons, know what God wants us to do, take the action, fulfill the necessary plan and purpose and be faithful and sincere. And God will move us to the next new season in our life. Okay, any questions on this guidepost before we move on to the last guidepost recognizing God's pattern of working? Any questions anyone has? Okay, there are no questions. We move on to the ninth and the last guidepost recognizing God's pattern of working. God works in patterns and models, or He sets examples. He sets examples, patterns and models for us to follow. So I'll give you some examples from the Bible. Paul is writing to young Timothy. Now Timothy is very young and Paul has left him in Ephesus to oversee number of churches. It's a huge responsibility. It's a big responsibility for a man who's only 30 years old. Okay, and Paul knows it's not an easy responsibility that Timothy has. There will be a lot of suffering, there will be a lot of pain, difficulties, but he can't just leave away, leave everything away and run. He has to persevere and endure. So Paul is giving his own life example. He's telling him, you know, first Timothy chapter one verse 16, he says, you know, however, for this reason, I obtain mercy that in me first Christ Jesus might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. Are you listening? Yes? Okay, so what is he saying? I know Timothy, you are going through a hard time. I know it's difficult. I know you want to leave your post. I know you want to come back to me, but look at my life. My life was also not been easy. Now when Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, where was he? Anyone knows where Paul was? He was in prison. Okay, and he knows he's going to die soon. Okay, but look at him still writing and encouraging doing the work of the Lord. So he's saying you have to be long suffering. Long suffering means what? Suffering will be there for throughout our entire period of our life, but we just can't quit. We can't give up. We have to be long suffering and we need to be patient. So he's giving his own life example. And so when Timothy is going to look at Paul's life, he says, yeah, Paul had so many challenges and difficulties. He went through so many hardships, but he persevered. He trusted and he is running his race. So give him the strength and the motivation. So when you read God's Word, you know, we feel motivated, right? When we look at various characters in the Bible, we get motivated, we get strength, we get hope and encouragement. Look at other motivation. Okay, Romans chapter 4 verses 11 and 12 tells us to walk in the steps of Abraham. Okay, so your Paul is telling and writing to the church at Rome. He's saying he's telling the Jewish believers that, you know, you cannot be made righteous in God's sight by keeping the law and the circumcision covenant. How can you be made righteous? He says you can be made righteous only by believing in Jesus Christ. And he gives an example of Abraham their patriarch. He says, hey, look at Abraham's life. Abraham was justified by faith or he was made righteous in God's sight. How was he made right in God's sight? Not because he kept the law, because the law had not been given to Abraham had been. He was also not made righteous by faith because of the circumcision ritual, because God had not given him the sign of the covenant that was circumcision. But how was Abraham made righteous in God's sight because of his faith? He had faith in God. Thank you, Lucy. He had faith in God and his faith made him righteous even before the law was given, even before the circumcision ritual was given. So what Paul is telling the Jews is, hey, Jews, you become Christians. Now don't come to the church and tell all the Gentiles you have to keep the law. You have to keep all these rituals. You have to follow the circumcision ritual because that is not going to make you right in God's sight. What is going to make you right in God's sight? It's your faith in Christ Jesus, what he has done on the cross, what the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And he says, we need to walk in the faith of Abraham. Don't just believe that Abraham is our father, we are Jews, we're going to receive the blessing. Now, you know, we receive salvation because we believe in Jesus. So hallelujah, praise the Lord, amen. No, he says you have to walk in the steps of faith of Abraham. That means what? He's saying that, you know, Abraham, did Abraham doubt God? Did he do things that were, apart from what God wanted him to do? No? Yes, he did, right? God told him, you're going to have a son. And when he was 75 years old, but he could not wait, you know, he, he, he had a son through Hagar. Did God tell him that he's going to have the son of promise, the covenant promise of a son through Hagar, his slave woman? No. He said he's going to have a son through whom? Abraham and Sarah, but he doubted God, he went away, but, you know, he learned through his mistake. Okay. You know, even in two occasions, we read that Abraham, you know, did not have that kind of faith because, you know, when he was faced with the situations, he said, Sarah is not my wife. She's my sister. He said a half lie, right? So that he can save his life because Sarah was very beautiful. He thought the king will kill him and take his wife and he will die. So he said a lie. He didn't have faith that God can protect him. So yes, he doubted at times, but, you know, we read in scripture that Abraham came to the fullness of his faith, a perfect faith, a maturity in his faith. How do we know that he came to perfection and maturity in his faith? Because after his son of promise was born, who is that? Isaac. When God tells him, go and sacrifice your son on the mountain, I'm going to show you Abraham had no questions asked. He just took his son, took the knife, took the fire, took the wood. He went to sacrifice his son. He came to the maturity of his faith. Of course, when he walked along, there were times when he faltered, when he wavered, but he finally came to the maturity of his faith. So Abraham is an example for us. Hey, we can also falter. We can waver in our faith, but you know, God is faithful. When we understand, when we go back, ask for forgiveness, we can come to a stage where we can become mature in our faith in Christ Jesus. Amen. Okay, so that's an example of Abraham. Another example is we read in James chapter five verse 10 and 11. It's talking about the perseverance of Job. No, what in all the Joe blues? What did Joe blues? He lost everything. What was the everything? His family, his children, property, wealth, riches, even lost his health, right? But did he curse God? Did he deserve God? No, perseverance. Okay. And he knew that God is compassionate and merciful. So when we look at all of these characters, we say we are learning and God has given, why has God put everything in scripture to show us the pattern of his working that, hey, when you walk in faith in Christ Jesus is not going to be easy. You're going to doubt, you're going to waver, you're going to have troubles, you're going to have persecutions, you're going to have difficulties. A great apostle like Paul had great problems, trials, difficulties and challenges. Okay, so what is happening in your life is nothing new. So models, patterns, Jesus God himself came, became a model and a pattern for us to follow. Okay, the last example is first Corinthians chapter 10 versus five to 11. It's talking about the Israelites here. Okay, the Israelites constantly grumbled, murmured and complained against God. And what happened every time they did that? What would God do? What did the God do when the Israelites were when the Israelites complained and grumbled and murmured against God? Punish them? Yes, they just fell down dead there or you send serpents or you open the ground or send plague. Dead. So all of these are examples for us to follow. So when you read the Bible, look at these men and women of God, learn from their life examples and correct your own life, correct my own life so that we don't do the same mistakes. Okay, and we also can identify that God works in patterns. I shared in my own life how God works in patterns. I said when I was in 12th standard, you know, I was already teaching in Sunday school. Okay, then when I went into Bible college, God opened doors for only children's ministry, even though I knew I'm not going to be in children's ministry. Okay, God opened for me those in school to go to schools in the Bible college where I studied in Pune to minister in schools. I never thought I'm going to go and, you know, have full time ministry in schools, but God opened doors. Then I told you that, you know, every time I ran away from Children's Ministry, God brought me back into Children's Ministry seven, seven months when I was doing internship in my third year, I went to counsel counseling, drug addicts and alcoholics, but God opened doors for Children's Ministry. He even opened doors for ministry in schools in Kolkata where I went. It's a new place for me, you know, after I finished Bible college, God did not take me back to counseling, drug addicts and alcoholics, but I ended up in a family ministry where I was doing arranging programs, organizing programs, but God again opened doors for Children's Ministry to write a project. And I saw that, you know, God was working in this pattern of life. Okay. And also I saw the pattern that God was working is he was getting me to start new initiatives, not work on somebody else's initiative, but start new initiatives. So when I joined his family ministry, or when I was the place I was working before, God, you know, got me into writing material. So he's writing a book on Old Testament characters which OM publishes even today, you know, so God was leading me to write so that I can write curriculum for my projects. And I saw that God was opening doors to start a new project myself. So I had to start from the beginning. And when I was sent out to that project, God opened doors for me to come to APC. Again, I had to start another project, a new project in school ministry. See, so every time I started, I was starting something new. Then when God opened doors for me to give me a response between Children's Church to Oversea Children's Church and APC, even there I started it, you know, of course, the pastor was there, there was a system, but I started everything new. I arranged, rearranged the whole thing. He started everything in a new, fresh way. So I see this pattern that wherever God is taking me, it's, he wants me to start something new. So when you recognize patterns in your life, you know what God wants you to do, where he's leading you and how he's building your life and how he is preparing you for the times and seasons in your life. Okay. So you need to recognize the pattern of God's working in your life and then you will be able to understand what is God's plan and purpose for your life. So these nine guideposts that we looked at was basically a science that will help us, enable us, guide us, lead us to know what is God's calling, what is God's plan and purpose for our lives. Okay. Any questions anyone has? Ma'am, is it Daniel's question is ma'am, is it okay to follow the testimony of our pastor or some other people who lived on earth, not mentioned in the Bible? Yes, we can. We learn through many men and women of God and we can learn from their lives. Yes, we can follow their patterns, their way of doing things, you know, and their testimony. Yes. Any other questions anyone else has? Did that help Daniel? Okay. If there's no other questions, then we'll move on to chapter three, understanding God's preparation, purpose. Okay. Now God prepares you for what he has in plan and store for your life. God prepares you to fulfill his plan and his purpose for your life. Tell your neighbor or tell yourself, all of in-person students can tell your neighbor, God is preparing you to fulfill his plan and purpose for your life. All our in-person students can say, God is preparing me to fulfill his plan and purpose for my life. Okay. And God is not going to say, Hey, here take this is my plan and purpose for your life, go and do my plan and purpose. No. Before he, before he lets us go, he prepares us to do his plan and purpose for our life. Okay. So God prepares us for what he wants us to do. So we look at second Timothy chapter two versus 19 to 21, where we see, you know, what God wants to accomplish through the preparation process. So why does God prepare us? What does he want to accomplish through the preparation process? So can one of you please read second Timothy chapter two versus 19 to 21, please. Now tell us the solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from inequality. But in the great house, there are no not only vessels of gold and silver, but also one would unclaim some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone clean as cleanses cleanses himself for the later, he will be a vessel of vessel for honor, satisfied, sanctified, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Okay. Thank you. Amen. So here why, what does God want to accomplish through the preparation process? He wants to prepare us for every good work. The last phrase, you know, he wants to prepare us for every good work that he has for us. So there are four essential things that he, you know, God wants to do in our lives. The first thing is God wants to make us a vessel. What we learn from second Timothy chapter two versus 19 to 21. God wants to make you a vessel. What, what kind of vessel he wants to make you vessel of vessel of honor. Okay. That means a vessel which is fit for the masters use, which will bring glory and honor to God. Secondly, God wants to sanctify you. What does the meaning of sanctify you, make you holy, set you apart for his only to do what he wants you to do. The third thing is God wants to make you fit for the masters use, which means God wants to make you useful, profitable, suitable for so that he can use you in a mighty way. And the fourth thing is God wants to prepare you for every good work. Okay. Now, the first two things has to do with who you are. Okay. The first two things, God wants to make your vessel. God wants you to be sanctified has to do with who you are. The second two things, what God wants you to become and God wants you to become God wants you to become fit. God wants you to become prepared is what God wants to do through you and through me. So the first two things is, you know, what God wants to do with who you are. The second two is what God wants to do through me. Okay. So even as God wants to prepare you, you know, before he sets you to do what he wants you to do, you need to learn to cooperate and work with God through the preparation process. Okay. God wants to prepare you, but if you're not going to cooperate, it's going to take your entire life. When you are going to cooperate with God sooner, the better. You're going to finish. You're going to move from one season to another season. You're going to go up and more and further. Okay. And why does God want to prepare us? Because he wants to sanctify us. He wants to make us vessels of honor vessels that will glorify him, bring him honor, not shame and disgrace and also so that we can be sanctified, useful, profitable for the master's use. So God is more interested in who you are than what you do. He's more interested in who you are as a person, more interested in your character than what he does through you. Are you listening? I wanted to look into your book, please, and I'll please follow through. Otherwise you're going to be dreaming and get lost. Okay. So why does God prepare us so that we can be fit for his use and prepared for every good work? Okay. So tell your neighbor, God is preparing you for every good work. Or the in person's online students can say God is preparing me for every good work. Okay. Okay, let's look at some examples from scripture. The first example from scripture of you'll see how God prepares us and how much time he takes to prepare us. Okay. We look at Moses' life. Now Moses, you know, we read that the first 40 years, where was Moses in the palace as a prince? Okay. And he was mighty in word and deed. We read that in Acts chapter seven. He was, you know, got super, super naturally arranged for Moses to be born in the palace and he was mighty in word and deed. But at the age of 40, he came to know God's divine plan and purpose for his life. He said, Hey, I know what is God's plan and purpose for my life. My plan and purpose for my life is not to be the next, not just to be the next Pharaoh and, you know, be the king of Egypt, but is to deliver my people out of slavery, out of Egypt, out of slavery. So he came to know his plan and purpose. And like all of us are very quick and rushed into doing God's plan and purpose. He did not wait. He messed up. He killed an Egyptian. So what did he have to do? He had to run for his life because he can't kill an Egyptian and stay there because he will be killed. Okay. And the other Pharaoh's son was looking for him and wanted to kill him. So he ran away and that delayed the process of 40 more years of God delivering his people out of Egypt. Like I said, you know, in the beginning of this class, God promised Abraham that 400 years your descendants will be as slaves in Egypt, but I will deliver them. But it how many years did it take? 440 or 50 years, 40 years because Moses did things in his own flesh. So when we do things in our own flesh, it delays God's plan and purpose from unfolding in our lives. So be very careful. Okay. Don't do things in your own flesh in your own mind, in your own will. It will delay God's plan and purpose for your life. Okay. And then 40 years, what did Moses do? He spent in the desert, taking care of his father-in-law's sheep. Why 40 years? Because the Pharaoh who was living, who was very angry with Moses, you know, was still living. He was not dead. At the end of 40 years, when he died, God appeared to Moses and God told him, go back to Egypt and set my people free. So we see that at the age of 80, Moses got into his divine plan and purpose for his life. So how many years did Moses have to wait to get into God's plan and purpose for his life? 40 years. Why? Because he went ahead and did things in his own flesh and in his own will. So God is not in a hurry. Waited 40 years for Moses. But did he use Moses after 40 years? Yes. He used Moses for 40 years. That means at the age of 80 to 120, Moses led the people of Israel. But again, because Moses disobeyed God, he could not enter the promise land. Can you imagine a man like Moses who God revealed his glory, who we glory passed by, you know, who was so close to God, when he disobeyed God, he God punished him and said, he cannot enter the promised land. And who are you and me? So we learned through all of these life examples. Okay. So the next example we look at is David. Now, David was, you know, when he was 10 to 13 years, he was taking care of his father's sheep. And at a very young age, we read that, you know, he had in 1 Samuel chapter 16 was 18. We read at a very young age, Samuel had a good reputation among the people of Israel. So people knew David as a shepherd, you know, who would play the harp. And they also knew that David was a skilled warrior who, you know, killed the lion and the bear. Okay. So even at a very young age, he had a great reputation. But at the age of 17, what happens? Samuel comes and anoints David as king. But the very next day, David does not become king. What happens? You know, David kills Goliath. And then when they're coming back into the town or the city, what happens? Women are singing. David killed 10,000 and Saul killed 1,000. And what is Saul feeling in his heart? Jealousy and hatred and anger. And he's all out to kill and destroy Saul. So what is, sorry, David. So what is David doing for the rest of his life then? He's running away from Saul living in the caves and living in the wilderness. So for five to six years from the age of 17, when he was anointed as king to the age of 23, he's running away from Saul and Saul is chasing him and he's hiding in the caves. Okay. So even though he was anointed as king, he does not become king till the age of, you know, 30 years old. Okay. So these years he was running away from God, but God was using this time to prepare David. How? No, God sent 400 men who were strong warriors and David had a strong army even though he was living in the caves, even though he was living in the wilderness, you know, 400 men joined him. Some of them became his generals in his army after he became king. So, you know, during this preparation time, God was doing things that is going to last throughout the lifetime of David. So sometimes when God takes us to preparation times, he takes us through these times and he's doing things that will have a lasting effect in our lives. So preparation time is not wasted time. Okay. Don't think, okay, you know, Moses had to wait 40 years. What a waste of time. You know, David had to wait from 17 years to 23 years, 30 years. You know, almost, what, 13 years he had to wait before he became the king. What a waste of time. No, you know, preparation time of God is not wasted time. Then we see at the age of 23 that King Saul dies and Moses, sorry, David asks God, what should I do? And God tells David, go to Hebron and he goes to Hebron and only one tribe of Israel makes him as the king. You can imagine, he's anointed as king of Israel, but only one tribe makes him as king. Okay. And then at the age of 30, he's finally made the king of the entire Israel and Judah. So it took 13 years of preparation for David from the time he was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king to 13 years for him to become king. So God is not in a hurry. So let us not be in a hurry to run before God. Okay. The next one example we look at is Paul. Okay. Now Paul was a Pharisee, was a very strict sect of the Jews. He was trained in Judaism for 30 years. When he was 30 years, he finished his schooling. He studied under the best of the teachers, Gamaliel. And we see that after this, he was persecuting the Christians. Okay. And the age of 32, he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Okay. Soon after that, we see that three years he spent in Damascus preaching, but because he was persecuted for preaching Christ, he had to run away and hide in the desert of Arabia. Okay. And you know, that's where they say he received most of his revelation. And after that, he visited Jerusalem for 15 days. Okay. Where he preached about Christ very boldly. And again, he was persecuted over there. And then we see that he, because of the persecution in Jerusalem, he goes away to Tassus. Okay. Where he spends 13 years in that region of Tassus. And you know, Barnabas comes to meet him at Tassus and also brings Saul to Antioch. So they spend a whole year at Antioch preaching and teaching. Okay. And the end of this year, Paul makes his second trip to Jerusalem, where he's carrying money and resources because there was famine in the church of Jerusalem. And he he's gone there to, you know, help them out. And after this 17 years, so 17 years is called as the silent years of Paul. We do not know what Paul did in that 17 years. We know that he preached here and there that much. And we also know he received revelation, but apart from that, we don't know anything much. 17 years were the silent years of Paul. Okay. So finally, after 17 years, he goes on his first missionary journey. Okay. So here we see a pattern of working and also how God works in times and seasons. Okay. Moses, he knew he was calling at the age of 40, but only at the age of 80, he got into his divine call. So 40 years of preparation time. David was anointed as king at age of 17, but he became king of entire Israel and Judah at the age of 30. So 13 years of preparation time. Saul, you know, he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus at age of 33, but 17 years of silent period didn't do anything much, just preaching here and there, receiving revelation. Only at the age of 50, he began his first missionary journey. So what is the point I'm trying to get at? The point is that God is not in a hurry to do things in your life. Don't think and don't, you don't hurry. Even Jesus, what age did he begin his ministry at the age of 30? And how many years did he finish his mission? Three years. Okay. So God can do things. He's got a restorer of time. Here's a locus of eating he can restore. But what is he doing to this preparation time? He wants us to be sanctified vessels, useful, honorable vessels for his use so that he knows that when he pours out his anointing, anointing is not going to be a waste. That we are going to be powerful weapons, powerful, honorable vessels, sanctified, useful for the masters use. Amen. Amen. Okay. So even as you go through this preparation process, God is molding your character. You will discover your hidden talents, gifts and your callings in your life. Okay. Now there are two things that God does even as he or he brings about even as he takes us through the preparation process. What are the two things? The first thing is Godly character. The second thing is he brings us maturity in all areas of our life. Okay. So Godly character. Why does he want to bring in Godly character? Because we read in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 19 to 21 so that we can be prepared for every good work. Okay. Look at Matthew chapter 9 verse 17. What does Matthew chapter 9 verse 17 say? Can somebody read that please? Matthew chapter 9 verse 17. Nor do they put new wine into old wine skins or else with the wine skins break, the wine is split and the wine skins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wine skin and both are preserved. Yes. So Matthew chapter 9 verse 17 says, can you pass on the mic to somebody else? They can read. Thank you. Here says wine talks about wine skins, talks about new wine. What is wine skins here? Wine skins resemble a character. Character is wine skin. So please write that down. You not know otherwise. Character is the wine skin. The new wine is the anointing. Okay. The new anointing is a character that has been built up in you. Okay. So when people put wine, they don't put new wine into old wine skin. Why? Because a new wine will ferment, expand and the old wine skin will not have the capacity to hold, it will burst. So they put new wine into new wine skin so that when both are expanding more, it can, the new wine skin can accommodate the new wine when it is getting fermented. Okay. So character is the wine skin and wine is the anointing. So God will put his, pour out his anointing, not in a character that is since tamed or bad, but he'll put it into a new character when he molds us into a new being, a new character so that we can hold his anointing. Okay. So look at some of the points given in your notes. Now the gifts, grace and anointing comes from heaven. That's not there in your notes. You can write it. The gifts, grace and anointing is from heaven and character is built on the earth. Okay. Now you can receive your gift in a moment, but character is developed through a lifetime. It's not there in your notes. You can write it down. Okay. Gifts, grace and anointing comes from heaven, but character is built here on the earth. God can give you a gift in a moment and you can activate your gift and flow in your gift, but character is developed in a lifetime. So God is more interested in your character because he knows when he just pours the gift anointing and the grace in a moment. If a character is not good, it's going to be a waste. It'll just burst spin and it'll be an utter waste and will destroy the kingdom work. So God is more interested in our character than in our gifts. Okay. We can reach great heights in our life, but if you don't have the character, we cannot stay there. It will bring us down. Okay. So greed, pride, selfishness can bring us down. We can jump up the ladder of success. We can get to great heights, but if our character is not good, everything can come crashing down in just a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Okay. So your gift can take you where your character cannot keep you. Okay. If you don't have a good character, there's no point in the gift that you have. Your character is a foundation upon which your life is built. That is why God is more interested in the preparation process in your character. Okay. And gifts and anointing are given from heaven, but character is built on earth. So that is why it's important to go through the preparation process. God, don't say God, how long are you taking to prepare me? I want to become what you promised me. I see I'm a pastor of a big church. I'm a missionary. I'm doing this, great science, miracles and wonders. When gone, wait. Moses had to wait. Paul had to wait. You know, Jesus had to wait. All of us too have to wait and go through the preparation process. Okay. The second thing that God wants to do in the preparation process is he wants to bring maturity in all areas. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 16. Can somebody read that, please? Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 16. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 16. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and flow and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the chakri of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may God up in all things into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does a share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Amen. Thank you Sister Getrood. So here we see that you know verse 12, God is equipping the saints for what? For the work of ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till when he does this, look at verse 13, till when does he does this? Till we come to the unity of faith, the knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect man and to becoming a perfect woman. Okay. Coming to a place, the full measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ till we come to the fullness of Christ till we become matured. Perfect means matured. Another word for perfect is maturity. Okay. So in what are the areas of life that God wants us to come to perfectness, maturity and fullness? Verse 15, in what things does God want us to come into perfection, maturity and fullness? In verse 15, in all things, right? In all things, God wants us to grow or to become like Christ Jesus. Tell your neighbor, in all things, God wants you to become like Christ Jesus. Okay. So in all things, God wants us to become like Christ Jesus. Okay. He also wants us to have maturity. In what are the all things, maturity in our personal walk with God, obedience in all areas of our life, maturity in the way we relate to people and maturity in using our gifts and our calling. Okay. So these three areas, maturity in our gifts and calling, maturity in our relationships with people, maturity in our personal walk with God and obedience in all areas of our life. Okay. And we need to know that, you know, when God ups us to grow into Godly character, into maturity, it takes time, right? It's progressive. Progressive means what? It happens over a period of time. It's slow learning. Okay. We can just get our gifts in a moment of time. Grace like this gives like this calling like this, but character is progressive. So each time you step into a new level of obedience, a new level of godliness, a new level of maturity, you will find new levels of God's anointing over your life, a new measure of grace, greater measure of grace, because you're moving to a greater level and God is moving you to a much greater level. And the things God is teaching you today and shaping you and molding you. He's preparing you to fulfill his plans and purposes for tomorrow. Okay. So we'll just quickly look at how God prepares us. How do you think God prepares us through his word? Okay. He uses his word to sharpen us, to correct us, rebuke us, teach us, guide us, train us in righteousness and holiness. How else does he prepare us? How does God prepare us through his word? Holy Spirit? Yes. The Holy Spirit in living in us is a counselor, is a guide. He teaches us all things. He leads us into all truth. Okay. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us to the extent we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and to correct us. Okay. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 says, all scripture is profitable for correction, instruction in righteousness so that the man of God is complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Okay. So it is important that we take time to read God's word and, you know, so that we can be prepared and built up in God's word. Second thing is Holy Spirit, you know, the Holy Spirit transforms us in the image of Christ from glory to glory. So we need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and correct us. How else has God prepared us? God uses people, right? God uses imperfect people to perfect, imperfect people. So I am imperfect. God can use me to perfect you. You are imperfect. You are imperfect. God uses you to perfect me who I myself am. Imperfect. So Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 says, iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Okay. Also, God uses life experiences. Okay. Different life experiences, difficulties, challenges, problems. Look at Romans chapter 5 verses 3 and 4. Can somebody read that please? Romans chapter 5 verses 3 and 4? Romans chapter 5 verse 3 and 4 and not only that but we also glory in tribulations. Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope. Amen. So what is tribulations? Difficult times and what is Paul telling us to do in difficult times? Glory means take pride, be happy, rejoice, celebrate, take glory in difficult times. How many of us take glory in difficult times? No, we don't, right? We find it very difficult. We cry, we murmur, we grumble, we are frustrated, we're unhappy, sad, but this is glory. Why? Because all of these difficult times that we go through is doing what? It's producing perseverance. What is perseverance? What is perseverance? Remember, I explained perseverance. What example I gave you for perseverance? Spider, right? The spider keeps on spinning the web, you pull it down, start spinning again. Perseverance, never giving up. Okay? So that is what the Bible says, be happy when you go through difficulties and tribulations because God is teaching you, perseverance is making you strong and perseverance is going to bring about what? Character, godly character, strong character, you know, a useful vessel and character is going to bring you hope. Okay? Look at James chapter one verses two to four. Can somebody read that please? James chapter one verse two, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces passions but let passion's heart is perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. Amen. So it says brethren count it all joy. Why should we? What should you count all joy? It says so that, you know, your trials produces patience and patience will make you complete lacking nothing. Okay? We'll continue with this next class. We'll stop here. Anyone has any questions? Okay? So since we've learned our nine guideposts, look for it, you know, ask God to reveal things, show you, speak to you, identify the seeds, you know, counsel from people, also the recognizer times, the seasons, the patterns, the circumstances and no God's calling and purpose. And you know, even as you're going to this preparation time, open yourself to God so that he can prepare and mold you to be a useful, perfect vessel. Okay? Thank you everyone for joining today's class. Have a blessed weekend. I'll see you next week. Thank you. Thank you very much ma'am. Thank you.