see your text, see your message. Good morning. Good morning, Abinaz. Okay, just wanted to share a couple of verses and then we'll pray. This is something that I shared yesterday with the other class. So first, Timothy chapter 4 and verse 12, Paul writes to Timothy and he gives some instructions and he says, you know, let no one despise your youth, be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity, till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Verse 14, do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with a laying on of the hands of the eldership. Verse 15, meditate on these things and give yourselves, give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all.  Right? So some instructions that he gives Timothy who is in Ephesus and who's overseeing, you know, the church in Ephesus and he has people who are older than him, younger than him. And so here's Timothy, much experienced. So here's Paul, much experienced in ministry and he's giving this instruction to the one who is, you know, just probably starting off. Right? So he's saying, let no one despise your youth, how inexperienced or how young you are, but be an example to the believers. Right? So for the first thing he says is your life example, be an example to the believer and you listen down, you know, in word, in conduct, etc. In verse 13 he says, till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Right?  So he's saying, you know, first was life example, second one is give attention to the word, give attention to the teaching, the doctrine. In verse 14 he says, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership. So next he's, he's talking about the work of the spirit. Right? So we saw life example, we saw doctrine, then he's talking about the work of the spirit. So don't neglect that. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, the Holy Spirit has imparted. So don't neglect that. Then he goes on to say, meditate on these things, all these things that I think deeply about it. Let it be part of your thinking, let it occupy your mind, your thoughts, meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Now give yourself wholeheartedly, don't hold back, give yourself entirely. So he's talking about life example, he's talking about teaching and doctrine, he's talking about the work of the spirit, the gifts of the spirit in his life. He's saying, meditate on these things, think about these things, give yourself entirely to them. Let there be no reservation, don't hold back, give yourself completely. So when you do that says your progress will be evident. So in two things, when you do this, there will be progress. That's something that he's stating there, that your progress will be evident. So there will be progress and this progress will be something that will be evident, something that will be seen to all. It's not something that you notice but this progress will be noticeable to everyone, everyone that you interact with, to the ones who are, to whom you're giving spiritual oversight, leadership. So it will be evident to all. So I just wanted to submit that to us to really pray on these lines and saying, God, let me do these things, that we can put to practice, apply in our own lives, our life example, the teaching, exhortation, doctrine of the word of God and then the gifts of the spirit, the work of the spirit that lives will be open to it and whatever he has poured out into our hearts that we will not neglect it, that we will walk in it, that we will use it and that we will give ourselves entirely, wholeheartedly to these things and there will be progress. Especially for those of us who are thinking, oh, I seem to have hit a plateau, I seem to have hit a hit a rock, hit a ceiling. Paul encourages us and God encourages us through these words, give yourself entirely. Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to these things, entirely to them so that your progress may be evident. There will be progress and it will be noticeable progress that'll be evident to yourself and to all. So let's pray. Father, we just want to thank you, Lord, for these exhortations from scripture, for these instructions which are, Lord, by your spirit. And we thank you, Lord, that they are applicable today for us as it was in those days to Timothy. And Lord, we just receive it, Lord. Yes, Lord, whether it's our life example or the attention to the study of your word, the meditation of your word and the work of your spirit, Lord, and our willingness to yield to the work of the spirit, Lord, are hard to desire the work of the spirit, not for you. It's very clear that we need to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. So for us to be desiring it always and also God, that we will give ourselves wholeheartedly, unreservedly to these things, God, that our progress will be evident, that there will be progress, spiritual construction and spiritual progress, Lord, in our lives, God. And it will be evident. It will be manifest and put on display for all so that your name will be glorified so that others are edified as well. Yes, Father, God, we just want to give you thanks that you're able to do this. And I pray for each and everyone here, God, in class, and I just pray this over their lives, pray with us over myself, that our progress will be evident to all, even as we give ourselves wholeheartedly. And I just pray, God, that whatever their whatever blocks are there, whatever barriers are there, let them be removed in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus, let them be removed in Jesus' name, whatever emotional barriers are there, let them be removed in Jesus' name, whatever be the works of the enemy, whatever be the deception of the enemy, that it be cleared out in the name of our Lord Jesus. And yes, Lord, to you be all the glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' matchless name, we pray. Amen. Okay. Okay, so last class, we were looking at how leadership involves people and how we as as leaders or potential leaders, there's no running away from people, right? We can't look at people as problems. We can't look at people as, you know, as irritations. But really, ministry is about people and God wants us or he wants to use us to bless people. God wants to move in us and through us, you know, causing us to be spokespersons, right? So whom do you speak to? Yeah, of course, we will declare to mountains and go through rivers and so on. But ultimately, it comes down to people whom the Lord considers very dear to his heart, right? For whom he gave himself on the cross. So for us to have that perspective is very, very important. So last class, we looked at how we can get ourselves ready to relate to people, right? And we were looking at John C. Maxwell's resource, Winning with People. And we looked at a few things there. We looked at the lens principle. And I think we closed with that, right? So today, we'll look at a few more principles that John C. Maxwell talks about. So and then we will, you know, we will kind of take some time to evaluate ourselves, right? Evaluate and see where we stand with regard to these principles, these truths, and, and make changes wherever we need to be, right? And these small decisions that we make about ourselves will go a long way, right? Because we these decisions we make, we, of course, obviously, we involve God in it. We invite the power of the Holy Spirit in our decisions. And the Lord takes this up very seriously, right? So it is with all sincerity of heart. And we want to do it so that we can relate well to people, relate in a healthy manner with people, right? Okay, so I just want to continue where we stopped off with the video. And so we will watch the video for about maybe maybe five or maybe 10 minutes or so. And then we will stop and then evaluate certain things and then continue, right? So just want us to be attentive. And let's watch this video. Let me just share the screen and we'll watch it. Just a minute, please. The mirror principle. Following in your notes is talking about the mirror principle, which is also there. So you can follow with that. But let's watch this. I'm going to turn my camera off so that there's no buffering issues. Okay. The mirror principle says the first person we must examine is ourselves. And coping with difficult people, I love this quote, coping with difficult people is always a problem, especially if the difficult person happens to be you. The question I must ask myself, have I examined myself and taken responsibility for who I am? Here's how the mirror test works. People are not aware of who they are and what they do often damage relationships with others. The way to change that is to look in the mirror. It is something all of us must do. It's what I call taking the mirror test. Consider these truths that we must learn about ourselves. Number one, the first person I must know is myself. That speaks of our self awareness. Human nature seems to endow people with the ability to size up everybody in the world, but themselves. That is so true. As I have worked and talked and counseled with people, they're a much better evaluator of others than they are of themselves because you see, we judge others by their actions and we judge ourselves by our motives. We know what we intend to do, what we would want to do, what we feel and what we would like to have done. Number two, the first person I must get along with is myself. This deals with my self image. Sidney Harris observed, if you're not comfortable with yourself, you can't be comfortable with others. I would take that one step farther. If you do not believe in yourself, you will sabotage relationships. Most of you are aware because I wrote the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership that I talk about the law of the lid. The law of the lid basically says that if this hand is my leadership skill, then this lid, this leadership skill and effectiveness will determine how I can grow my organization or how I can develop my department, et cetera, that there's a lid, a leadership lid that keeps us from expanding or growing. I would just stop and say to you, that's true about relationships also. There's a relationship lid that keeps us from expanding and growing in our knowledge and understanding and connection with and relationship with others. And it deals with this right here. If you can't get along with yourself, if you have a poor self image, I can promise you, you'll never get along with a lot of people, and you'll never be able to believe in them because you don't believe in yourself. Number three, the first person to cause me problems is myself. That's self honesty. Or as comedian Jack Park quipped, looking back my life seems like one big obstacle race with me being the chief obstacle. I did a tape one time a leadership tape entitled how to get out of your own way. And basically the thesis of the tape was don't worry about competition. Most people never get sidetracked with competition or beat up by competition. They just blow themselves up. Most people if you just let them alone, it's only a matter of time till they go into the ditch. We can't even run away sometimes with ourselves. Because of the self image, because of this whole process of the mere principle and unable to cope with who we really are. Number four, the first person I must change is myself. This deals with self improvement. In the crypts of Westminster Abbey, the following words were written on the tomb of an Anglican bishop who lived in the 11th century. When I was young and free, my imagination had no limits. And I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change. So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it too seemed immovable. As I grew in my twilight years in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family those closest to me. But alas, they would have none of it. Now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realized if I had only changed myself first, then by example, I would have changed my family and from their inspiration and encouragement, I would have been able to better my country and who knows, I may have even changed my world. Number five, the first person that can make a difference is myself. This deals with self-responsibility. In the 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, I wrote about the law of significance that one is too small of a number to achieve greatness. I truly believe that no significant accomplishment can be achieved by individual effort. However, I also believe that every significant accomplishment begins with the vision of one individual. That person not only possesses the vision, but also takes responsibility for carrying it out to others. If you want to make a difference in this world, you must take responsibility for yourself. A couple of years ago, I was going to Australia to speak at a conference and Margaret and I stopped for a couple of days at Christchurch, New Zealand. Beautiful country. The first morning that when we got up at our hotel, Margaret and I both loved Diet Coke in the morning to kind of get that caffeine, get that blood flowing for you. So I went on a search to find some Diet Coke, which I couldn't find any Diet Coke and couldn't find any ice. And I'm wondering the halls and I see this door, this door that basically says staff only and me being the kind of person I am, I assumed that back there is the ice and back there probably is some Diet Cola and I raised my right hand, made myself a staff member and entered the door and looked around and there was no Diet Coke, there was no ice.  And at the top of the full length mirror it had these words, take a good look at yourself. What you see, the customer is about to see. And as I looked at that little mirror and I saw those words I said to myself, every day I would like to tell people, before you go out into the world, look in the mirror, take a good look at yourself because who you are is how you'll see others. What you represent by your actions, by your face is going to have a lot to determine on how well you relate to people. Now a lot of times people when they look in the mirror, they don't want to face reality. They're like the guy with a health problem and he says, Doc, could you just touch up the x-rays? But you just kind of work on those a little bit. It's not an x-ray issue. It's something that you and I have to do as we look in the mirror. People principle number three, the pain principle. The pain principle says, hurting people hurt people and are easily hurt by them. Okay. Some good stuff there, you know, to evaluate ourselves, about self-awareness, about getting along with ourselves. So I just want us to, you know, take a good look at ourselves and evaluate ourselves to see. The first thing that we can do is, yeah, maybe take some time to see okay, what are our strengths right now? Putting it in the chat. What are our strengths? What is my, maybe we should just personalize it. What are my strengths? Right? Okay. What are my strengths? Second one, what are my, I'm not going to say weakness, but I'm, what are my areas of growth? Right? So what do I, what I perceive about myself as, okay, this needs to change. This needs to improve. This needs to grow. Okay. So it could be in the area of skill. It could be in the area of maybe character. It could be in the area of, you know, whatever, about yourself, you look at it, maybe you can, for those, for just to help us, it could be in the area of skills, ability, you know, knowledge. I just group them, group them as one category, knowledge, learning, okay, or it could be in the area of character, okay, maybe temperament. It could be in the area of, yeah, maybe habits like style, okay. It could be in the area of relationships, right? I guess it will come into the second category, but you get the idea, right? So let's just take an honest look at ourselves and see, you know, what are those, what are those strengths? What are those areas that, well, they don't seem to be strengths right now, but they can be, right? They can be made strong and certain things are maybe, maybe not there at all, right? And this is something that you don't have to share with others. So we're not, I'm not going to ask us to, you know, share or with the class or even to, you know, speak out about it, you know, but it's important for us to know this, it's important for us to write down, right? Be honest with ourselves, to be honest with God and say, yes, Lord, I just see that this is a problem, right? This is something that needs change. And I see this as an area of strength. Praise God for that. Thank you, right? So thank God for the area of strength and pray and ask God for those things that you see as weaknesses, as areas of growth, right? So we don't take about five minutes to do that. And then we will get back and continue. Okay. So how does it look? Does it look good, bad, ugly? You know, the intention is not for us to feel bad at the end of the day, but to really, the intention is for us not to feel bad about ourselves, but really to have an honest look, be real and authentic about this so that there can be change. You know, we can invite change into our lives, right? So it's important that we see ourselves for who we are. And here's the best part. We see ourselves as as ones who are washed by the blood of Jesus, as ones who have a new identity. Okay, so this is where, like when we look at areas of improvement, when we look at, you know, things that are not really happening the way it should be, it doesn't have to stop there, right? It doesn't have to stop there because in your spirit, we are born again. We are new creations. We have a new identity. We have the overcoming power within us, and we are moving from glory to glory. We are moving from strength to strength, right? Okay, so Sam asked the question, what about our blind spots? Okay, so what are things that, you know, that we are completely blind to ourselves, right? You know, we are not aware of it. Sometimes it's an embarrassment.  We are completely taken by a surprise. So what about our blind spots? You know, the one who can reveal our blind spots is the Holy Spirit, right? So that's the advantage, you know, rather than going to another person, of course, another person would also, you know, a friend, someone who understands, someone who knows and wants the best for us, can also, you know, make us aware of our blind spots, right? And say, okay, when we say blind spots, we are looking at, you know, some things that need change in us, some things that need to be improved in us, and which we are not aware of ourselves. Maybe we look, you know, maybe it's a problem, you know, it's something that we say, something that we do, and we don't even realize it, but maybe we are hurting people, maybe we are hurting ourselves, and that is actually stopping our progress, right? So, so that is what we mean by, you know, blind spots, something that we don't, you know, see in ourselves, right? So, well, we could, we could always have a friend, a mentor, someone whom we hold in high regard, who can give us an objective, you know, an objective, who can observe and give us a very objective response, okay, this is the problem, and over and above that, we, you know, we have God, the Holy Spirit, who indwells us and who quickens the word to us, you know, as we look at the mirror, you know, when we look at the book of James, we see that the word of God is referred to as the mirror, right? Let me just read that scripture, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, like this is James 1 verse 23, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does, you know, so, right, so when we read the word of God, when we look into the word of God, when the Holy Spirit shows, reveals us for who we are, you know, he shows us even our hidden, hidden weaknesses, you know, things that we do not know about ourselves and things that we need to change about ourselves, okay, another, another, another thing that we, or another resource that we have is the gift of praying in tongues, when we pray in the Spirit, there is edification, right, there is change, there is edification, we are being built up in the inner man, right, and we see that when we pray in tongues, you know, sometimes we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to, right, and sometimes we completely, because we don't know, hey, this is a problem with me, I don't, I don't know it at all, you know, it's not come to my awareness, but when I pray in the Spirit and we pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit who knows us inside out, you know, he enables us to pray that perfect prayer and to bring about change, even in those hidden areas, right, okay, yeah, so, so some of the, you know, some other questions to, I hope that helps, I'm so, some other, yes, yes, Master, awesome, thank you, so some other questions to ask ourselves is, you know, would I hire myself, you know, if yes, for what reason, if you're running a business, or if you're starting out a ministry and you need help in certain area, would you hire yourself for, if it's yes, you know, what are those reasons for which you will hire yourself, if it's not, you know, what are those reasons again, another question to reflect and ask ourselves is, what problems have I created for myself, for myself in the past, or maybe even right now, what are the some things that I've created for myself, and then these are things to, you know, for which we can get some real answers, but the thing is not to stop there, not to stop them, many times when we just reflect, we get stuck because we are just in a downward spiral of looking at the flesh aspect of it, the unrenewed aspect of our lives, and we just stuck there, but we know that we can go beyond that because of who we are on the inside, right, because of who we have become on the inside, yes, that change needs to come, that you know, we need to renew our mind, our thinking for it to be part of our life, for the choices that we need to make for our lifestyle and behavior and everything to change with, we need to you know, express that inward change through our senses, right, through our emotions, through our thinking, through our words, our actions, and that would come only when we renew our mind to the truth of who we are, right, so that's the second part of it, okay. Okay, let's move on, so we looked at what is the mirror principle that will actually help us to to be aware and as we have the honest look of, look about ourselves and and also, you know, change things about us, right, change certain things about us, and we know that it's going to be a work in progress, but as long as we are committed to that, that work in progress, committed to that process of saying God, you know, as you lead, as you, as you prompt, as you show, you know, I'm going to be changing, there is going to be continuous renewal and praise God for that, right, he is there to lead us from one level of strength to another level of strength, so he's doing that and he is bringing about change in us from one level to another level, so as long as we commit to following him, commit to obeying him, we know that, you know, that's going to be a journey that we need to make and it is a process, okay, I'm just going to share the notes to look at the next principle which is the pain principle, right, okay, the pain principle, so basically it's, it is, we know that it is common knowledge that those who hurt or who are hurting hurt others, right, because they are dealing with the pain themselves and those who are hurting hurt others or as someone said hurt people hurt people, right, you are hurt and you are still nursing that hurt and and because of that you hurt others as well, okay, and you know, I, the, the, our response to maybe a small issue could be, you know, sometimes it's not in proportion to that, you know, the smallness of it and sometimes we realize, you know, why did I react that way, why did I respond that way and it could be because of undissolved hurt, right, because we've not resolved it or we are irritated about something and our response to that, to the discomfort or to the, to the, you know, the environment, the surrounding is, it's, it's not in proportion or that to that problem, it's not in proportion and we realize it's because it's coming from that place of hurt, right, so the pain principle is important, so if we are not walking healthy, right, if we have not gone before God in our own honesty or not going before God, before the Lord in an ongoing manner to deal with the hurts, to deal with the disappointments, regrets and be set free, you know, that is going to come in the way of us relating to people, you know, I remember, you know, when, when a daughter was a toddler and, and daughter was a toddler and then, you know, she would have played with the toys and, you know, the whole living room would be full of toys, you know, this room everywhere and she would have been just playing with stuff, she was too, too young to just, you know, arrange it, et cetera, but then, and I remember walking into the house after, you know, a day at the office and, you know, as you all know I've shared and I used to be in the sales job and high pressure, targets, targets all the time and just walking into the house and, and I remember, you know, if, if I'm irritated about something, right, I remember my reaction, my response to that would be, you know, even if there was one thing which was out of place, you know, I, that would just get me, that would really get me, you know, upset, irritated and if the, even if there was, you know, and so you can imagine the scene when, you know, the toys all over the floor and I just come in and, and just get so bothered, so upset and I'll come in, you know, just picking up the toys, I've not even taken my toy or tie off or my, you know, back off but I'll be, I'll be just coming in right from the door, picking up the toys, picking up and putting them in, you know, because it's just getting to me, right and, and, and I remember when things were okay or internally when I was at peace and I was, you know, much better or not really shaken by, you know, not really, or not really under pressure or things were okay, then even if, you know, the whole house was upside down, I was fine, right, so the, so one thing I, looking back, I understood was it, it was actually about me, right, the way I related to things, I, I would, you know, I would probably look at it a very positive manner and say, oh hey, these things need change and then go rearrange it and, and do it with a smile but if I was hurting myself, it was under pressure myself and things were not okay, then I would walk into a place and, you know, my house and even if something small was out of place, it would just upset me, you know, throw me out of balance, right, then I, then I realized that, hey, it, it need not be so, it cannot be so, right, so even you think of unresolved issues from the past, okay, maybe the way, maybe the way, or some of the things that people said, you know, spoke to you, they said to you, or some of the labels that people put on you, okay, or he is always like this, you know, many times growing up, interacting with children, you know, at that age, they make a lot of statements, a lot of comments about our physical appearance, right, to start with physical appearance, you know, maybe if you're fat, you're called a fatty, you're thin, you're called, you know, something, maybe the color of your skin, maybe, you know, maybe you started wearing, you know, spectacles, glasses at a very young age and then they call you four eyes or several things, right, and, and some of those labels stick, and let's say, you know, years after, years after, many years, maybe decades after that, and if somebody picks on that, or somebody, you know, says that, and if, you know, calls us by that, or maybe someone on the road, and maybe in traffic, you did something, and then someone responded in anger calling your name or putting a label, then, you know, you, your response to it is, is, you know, so much bigger, right, not able to leave that because there's something which is there right from, you know, from an young age, young age, you know, you've not let go of that label, right, you've been reminded of that and you're just holding on to that, okay, so the thing is this, that, you know, as leaders and as, you know, as a human being, as believers, God wants us to be healthy and praise God that in him, you know, we are set free, the truth sets us free, right, and, and praise God that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, and, and we, and we read that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, that the freedom that we experience, the manifest liberty that we experience in our spirit, you know, at times is, is, is just a proof, tangible proof of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord and his work and his ministry in our lives, right, so, so when we look at, you know, maybe ourselves, getting ourselves ready to interact with people and, and be good at that, you know, we need to look at this as well, that the pain that we feel, or pain that we, we have not dealt with, we need to, you know, it will come in the way and it can come at, sometimes it can be embarrassing, so we need to, you know, deal with that in the right manner, right, and we can deal with it and we can overcome and walk in freedom, okay, so, you know, three John chapter one verse two, we, we've looked at it in financial, you know, stewardship class, it's talking about prosperity and, and linking that with the prosperity of our soul, you know, thriving, the flourishing of our soul, meaning our, our thoughts, our mind, our will, our emotions, our imaginations, everything, right, so his prayer is that, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things, just as your, your soul prospers, right, that you may prosper in all things, just as your soul prospers, so your soul, your imaginations, your thoughts, you know, how is it right now, you know, are you dealing with some recurring cyclical oppressive thoughts over and over again, right from the time you wake up, right, how these thoughts bothering, you know, are they oppressive, you can be set free, right, and we are called to walk in freedom, right, and the truth will set us free, okay, so it depends on what we are filling our minds with, you know, just on our side, right, what we are filling our minds with, the things that we look, the things that we watch, the things that we read, the things that we are listening to, what are we filling our minds with, right, so it, it's very important, yes, we want to be aware of things that are going on in the world and, you know, news and information and all that, newspaper and media and all that, it's good, but over and above that, we need to come back to what God wants to do with our soul, right, he wants to restore our soul, right, and when we interact with the world, when we open our lives to, you know, what is happening in the world and we do get affected by what we see, you know, we do get challenged by what we see and it's a good thing, right, we do get affected in the sense we get upset about injustice, we get, we get angry about some things that are unrighteous and things that are happening, we get sad by looking at some of the, you know, inequalities that are there in the world because it's fallen, right, we get upset and these are all good and we are created that way, but we need to get back to a place of health with regarding, I mean, regarding our soul so that we can respond in the right manner, right, and not from a place of hurt and not from a place of, you know, even guilt or condemnation, right, but from a place of, from a place of health, okay, so 147 Psalm 147 and verse 3, he heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds, right, he heals the broken hearted, who heals, Lord heals and he binds up their wounds, so God can, God does, God will heal our hearts as we open up our lives to him, right, so the same happens when we are dealing with others, you know, understand that, you know, even as we have gone through this and even as we are in the process of over being over, I mean, overcoming, you know, these matters of the soul and understand that we are dealing with others who are hurt as well, okay, so maybe certain personal remarks, maybe, you know, certain things that people say and comment, we need to understand, right, sometimes it just takes us by surprise, why is it person saying that, you know, maybe it's about another person, why, you know, and in the course of a conversation, why are they so upset, you know, you see it and it's, it's nothing, but for them, you know, there is something beyond that issue, so we are able to look at it objectively, we are able to, you know, look beyond their response and look through those emotions, right, yeah, so that's the pain principle that would help us to under, when we understand this principle, right, it helps us to relate to people in a better way, right, okay, we'll stop here, take a break, and then, and then get


Alright, so I hope you're gaining something out of this any thoughts any comments some I mean I didn't stop to ask all of you because you know I don't want to interrupt I know that particularly this class you just prefer to listen to the whole thing at the stretch so yeah any anything that you want to share before I go further are you able to understand it and then again is it too slow too fast if I can get some feedback that will be helpful. Okay, Kandan, if not Dev, Vakiran, Thomas, Isman, I just want to say a little bit as a hope in God and how the as a believers how the believers have that hope without seeing the God and and and something the we is invisible so the hope is there and without seeing we are like a believing God is a big thing and and and also the righteousness how the believers is like leading by the Spirit and His presence that is a living. Thank you. Yeah, thank you Kiran. Thank you for sharing about the hope that we have in Christ and you know that's being brought out by Peter quite well. So thank you for sharing that any other any other observations by the others they've anything you want to add. Okay, alright, so we'll just proceed then and I'll try and cover more ground and if you have any comments then please do you know stop me in between that should be okay. Alright, so then I'll just continue. So yeah, I was telling us that the believers are so blessed and both I mean all three the Father the Son the Holy Spirit have done a work in harmony to save the believer sanctify the believer give the believer an inheritance and so we should not be overtaken by the earthly struggles instead keep our focus on God and another thing that he's telling the believers Peter in this case he's saying that we should be very careful with the way we think so our minds he says be sober okay and our thinking should be completely resting on hope okay God's hope and we must remember that we are also called to be holy because God is holy alright so as a people as a people and these are the dental believers so they had a different way of living before they became before they accepted the sacrifice of Jesus so they were living in lusts they were living in ignorance those are things that Peter is saying no longer correct to continue that way instead have a holy life you are set apart for God now you are God's people so live like God's people then again he is helping them understand about the precious work that the Lord Jesus has done so he says you have not been redeemed with corruptible things so you see like even as I'm sharing with you I don't know whether I'm really able to add you know or explain the glory of God the way it is that it is so you know like how do I put it it's it's really a great work which God has done the more even we may not have the language to explain it fully that's the greatness of his work from every angle you see that the believer is justified the believer has an inheritance and Jesus has done this work with great excellence okay so how did he redeem the believer not with corruptible things or in other words things that perish so notice even the the investment or the redemption price which was given that was also precious the inheritance that came out of it is also incorruptible right undefiled it will it will not be it will last okay so everything about the kingdom is like this it's holy it's incorruptible so the people were redeemed through something incorruptible what is that that is the precious blood of Jesus Christ so that is the price that was given for us now God did not pay with the blood of or even he uses things like silver and gold okay silver and gold we might think that that is precious enough but for God there was something more valuable and that is the precious blood of Jesus so he says that through that you have been redeemed and what have you been redeemed from very specifically here in verse 18 he says aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers so that means that the blood of Jesus and the sacrifice it has the power to break the hold off sinful traditions that have been passed on through generations for example you know we could say that as a believer you know the family of the believer all their ancestors and all they had a problem with anger or they had a problem with lust or they had a problem with something else you know maybe corruption money the way they were dealing with money so this is all aimless conduct but when the when a person accepts Christ and they come into the kingdom of God now they don't have to worry that these traditional generational sins will follow them because here the Bible says that the precious blood of Jesus has broken that connection okay so I can claim it we can claim it and we can say yeah you know our forefathers were like this they did evil in the sight of God but I won't do it because I have been set free by the incorruptible precious blood of Christ so that has broken any connection that I have with aimless conduct aimless conduct okay so that's the confidence which we have and again you know there's a reminder that the sacrifice of Jesus was not something that God thought of when Adam and Eve sinned oh now they have sinned now I have to come up with a solution but you see God is a God who is very well prepared well planned well thought out so we are told he had four ordained before the foundation of the world four ordained before the foundation of the world that Jesus will come Jesus will redeem and that was done you know manifest in these last time so God had already thought it out but at the right time Jesus Christ came and when we believe when we believe in him we receive salvation okay so that is the that that is what God has done for the believer so it is through the Lord Jesus that we experience this salvation now moving on verse 25 you know he says that our souls are purified in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren so basically he's also talking about just now he said have a holy life or a set apart life now he is also telling them that they need to have a life of obedience they need to have a life of obedience before God and have sincere love for the brethren love one another fervently with a pure heart having been born again again he says not by corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever so another thing that God has put into our lives is the word of God okay and the word of God is what will it has already worked in us and it will continue to work forever it abides it lives and abides forever so we have been born again through what we just saw we saw about the incorruptible blood of Jesus we also are now seeing about the incorruptible word of God so when you think about the the ingredients that God is used or in other words you know if you look at the building and if it is a it's a very important and a precious building you know you would find that the material that goes into making that is precious so when we think about the kingdom of God the work of salvation you know God has invested his best is what we can say he shed his own blood and now you know his incorruptible seed he has given which is the word of God so you know he has built this kingdom with eternal things to get eternal results and that is the kind of a precious kingdom which he has given us and we see here the importance of the word of God we were born again by it having been born again not of incorruptible seed but not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever because then you know he quotes from the Old Testament and there is a passage here it says all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass the grass withers and its flower falls away but the word of the Lord endures forever so basically what he's saying is that the things in this world it's not going to remain but what will what will remain as eternal is the word of God so believer there is so much for us to be confident about there is so much for us to be certain about and you know stable in and hold on to these things remember that this world is not going to last forever and so don't let the things of this world sway you okay so he is sharing these eternal truths with the believers and then later on he will go to explaining to the believer what kind of lifestyle they need to have see one thing is to know the truth the second thing is to live out the truth so that is how you know Peter is going to go go through this this letter of his so initially he's just helping the believer remember the preciousness of the work of salvation and what has happened and the investment God has made all that so the believer understands that you know this this is all about eternal life okay and and then you know he reminds them that you are not a people like before something different has happened to you so when you live in the world your response to the authorities your response to others has to be in line with salvation so let's continue for some more a part of chapter 2 he will you know talk about all these these precious things such as the word of God and you know the identity of the believer so at the beginning of chapter 2 he says now that you have understood about you know it the the the preciousness of what God has done therefore so whenever there is a word therefore you have to read the previous section so because of all this you lay aside laying aside all malice all deceit hypocrisy envy and all evil speaking so basically he's saying when we know what kind of salvation we have you know can we still continue to live a worldly life can we still continue to live a life filled with the works of the flesh so he puts down here there is a list isn't it he says malice okay hypocrisy envy evil speaking so all these things are about an evil heart or the works of the flesh how can we walk in the flesh but we should walk in the spirit so he says please don't continue with an evil lifestyle instead he says as newborn babes what do new born babies want they want milk that's what they always want so he says desire the pure milk so the word desire here which has been used in the Greek you know it is similar to the word which you see in Psalm 42 verse one where the psalmist writes as the dear pants so there is a deep longing or a desire for the word of God so he says that should be the attitude of a true believer you know we are very excited and we are longing for he says pure milk of the word so he compares the the word like pure milk the way babies desire milk we should desire the word of God so we can check our own hearts and see do I desire God's word like that or is God's word you know sometimes would any baby be okay if the mother decides okay today I'm not going to feed the baby I'll feed the baby tomorrow no baby will be okay with that because every few hours you have to give the milk that is the only thing that the baby is depending on and so in the same way as believers if we don't have that kind of dependence on God's word you know something if suppose a baby is not drinking milk we would come to the conclusion that oh something is not okay with the baby why what is happening you know is the child sick so similarly spiritually if we don't have a desire like that you know we can check ourselves and see you know am I sick am I spiritually sick because I don't have that longing for God's word so he is encouraging the believers you know now that you've understood how precious the salvation is why can't you desire the word of God like little babies okay and their need for milk and another thing he says here he says that you may grow so when you desire the milk pure milk of the word that you may grow another thing we understand is that if I want to experience spiritual growth then I should nourish myself with the word of God now is it possible for a believer to just live the Christian life not read their Bible not try to understand God's word and still be spiritually strong no it's not possible because the strength of the spirit man comes from the word of God so growth comes from there maturity comes from there so if I don't take time in God's word there is no way that I would experience growth so he's telling these Gentile believers come on you have to grow up for that you need a desire for the word of God okay and you know that you know God is a good God if you've understood all these things about salvation please don't live like before in fleshly things but live a holy life now he continues now he says when you look at the Lord Jesus you know he is that stone which men rejected there is a reference in the Old Testament to that so he says rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious so the Lord Jesus is like that if you look at his life people did not think much about him you know he was not like in the earthly terms he was not a king or he was not a rich person or he was not so-called accomplished person as per people in the world but we know that God had a very special plan for the Lord Jesus so he says the Lord Jesus was rejected by men but chosen by God and similarly he is like that precious chosen stone live you too are living stones okay and what does God use to build his building how are buildings built you use bricks you use stones so the kingdom of God the house of God how does God chosen to build it he also uses stones what are those stones they are living in other words the people of God are the construction material of his house and he says he's building a spiritual house he's building a spiritual kingdom filled with God's people they are living stones that's why the term living stones because God is not building you know a non-living entity but his kingdom is very much a living entity and there are people who are like stones in the kingdom of God and he says more descriptions of what God is building so he says that God is building a spiritual house a holy priesthood a holy priesthood means now these Gentiles they would have thought we are not Jews we have nothing to do with the traditions of the Jews and so somewhere you know we are lacking as believers in Christ Jesus we don't we don't have that kind of an inheritance which the Jews have but he's helping the believers no see what has happened to you now you focus on it because God has now made you a holy priesthood even though part of your ancestors you did not have priests who went and stood in the temple through the spiritual work that God has done in Jesus Christ you are now a royal priesthood okay so we can say the same thing about ourselves now we are not you know Gentiles Gentiles was a certain community that Peter was writing to but if we consider ourselves we are from another nation another time in history but then this applies to us as well you know we are a royal priesthood and that's how God sees us even though we don't have that backing of our ancestors going into the temple like the you know natural Jews and offering up sacrifices still in a spiritual sense you and I are royal priesthood and God sees us like that so you know it gives us so much of courage and strength and he says so this kind of priesthood that we have now we can offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ so he says look what God has done for you you know you may not be a Jew but you know you are a royal priesthood and you can now offer spiritual sacrifices and that is applicable to us as believers today so I am a royal priesthood and I can offer up spiritual sacrifices and then he goes on to talk a little more about the Lord Jesus as that rejected cornerstone so he quotes from scripture and he says you know it was said about Jesus behold Elaine Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame so he is bringing in a prophetic word you know from the Psalms and he's saying that it was already foretold that Jesus would be that main person on whom the church will be built on whom the kingdom will be built so cornerstone those days was a part of a building on which most of the weight would fall so I don't know whether like in architecture whether they still use this concept of cornerstone I'm sure it has evolved into other other things but those days they would have one particular stone which would be the key part of a building structure and in the same way today when we look at God's house his kingdom the weight is borne by the cornerstone that is the Lord Jesus Christ and we are told when we believe in him we will buy no means be put to shame to you who believe he is precious but to those who are disobedient so he says you know those who are part of the kingdom and you understand who he is you will recognize but how did the Jews treat Jesus they never understood the values you know the unbelieving Jews they never understood the value of the Messiah so he adds here from that quotation the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone people rejected Jesus but Jesus became you know the main person whom the kingdom is built on and then you know he says a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense so you know we recognize this isn't it for the Jews he was a stumbling stone because they did not expect the Messiah to be the way Jesus was you they expected that he would be a political leader or a ruler and you know he will he will conquer territories that was their understanding but Jesus came in a completely different way and the obedience that he expected from people was completely different he began with believe believe in me right which they were not ready to receive so he became a stumbling block for them so they were ready to put him away okay and even for the Greeks we we see Paul writing about this we see that the Greeks wanted something very intellectual philosophical very interesting for them the fact that a man would come you know God would come as a man and God would die for the sins of mankind you know they were looking for something more you know intricate than that so they too were not able to receive what Jesus did for us in his own way so he became a stumbling stone and a rock of offense for the unbelieving people so those who don't believe they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were also they also were appointed is what we are told so there are people who didn't believe and they could not receive of the work which Jesus did but he reminds these believers and he says come on but you understand isn't it and so I want you to recognize who you really are just now he said that you are living stones so God is using you and me we can say that about ourselves today when we go to church we can look at all the people around and and say wow they are all living stones the kingdom is built through each one of their lives and each one of us is a royal priesthood so we no longer have to go to the temple to offer sacrifices but here we are offering up spiritual sacrifices what are our spiritual sacrifices our praise you know our giving our worship things like this these are our spiritual sacrifices that we offer unto God okay and he continues to remind the believers you are a chosen generation now also you know think about this when we see the Gentiles and then comparing themselves to the Jews they would have thought oh we are not chosen like you know the people of God the Jews so he's telling every believer spiritually we are on level ground what Jesus has done for the Jew he has also done it for the Gentiles so that's why he's boldly saying things like you are a royal priesthood which for a Gentile it would have been wow this is amazing now he adds to it and he says you are a chosen generation the Jews thought they were chosen but here we are we can apply to ourselves also we are a chosen generation we are a royal priesthood we are a holy nation his own special people so why has God done all this for us here is the answer so that we can proclaim the praises of this God proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so that is the intention so today you know I know all of us who are part of this class many of us who are part of the bible college here what is our goal we want to serve God we want to preach the gospel we want to lead in worship we want to serve people you know in different ways so that God is honored so that his name is praised and that's what Peter is telling the believers you know God has done so much for all of us he has made us a very precious people and the outcome of that is you know our life should bring glory to God we are here to proclaim the praises of God and that's what God expects you know from each of us so live that kind of life so see you see he's trying to build that narrative from the beginning he's saying believer you are so blessed believer God has done so much for you through your life you know God is worthy of praises so you live that kind of life desire God's word let it work in you don't live a carnal life don't live a fleshly life but live a holy life and then he continues he also says you were not once you were not a people but now you are a people of God so he's saying that come on you know God has done so much that even though you were not the so-called nation or all that now spiritually you are God's people and that's the tag which has been given to each one who believes and we have obtained mercy okay so don't ever forget everything that God has done for you so now after telling them all these truths now he says I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims so now that you are supposed to have an eternal perspective about life now let me come to the point now he starts talking about how to live the life on the earth he says abstain from fleshly lusts so knowing that you know people have come from a certain background I already explained to us now if you go back even to the book of acts the Gentiles you know there was this whole contention should the Gentiles also be circumcised at that time the Jerusalem council they come up with the suggestion or the instruction that no Gentiles don't have to be circumcised because salvation is about believing it's not about you know doing certain works so okay fine you know believe in in Christ however there were a few things which they were told the Gentiles that you know they should not eat the blood of strangled animals and some some things like that because they had certain practices in their past life now he is telling all believers he's telling believers come on believers we may have had a particular way of living before we accepted Christ but now that we are in Christ Jesus we have to put those things behind us and we have to practice a holy life we have to live a holy life before God and so for the Gentiles they must have had many different practices isn't it so probably you know Peter what are those traditions what are those practices now he wanted to tell the people don't continue those things but you put it away and you practice a life which is godly in your own sight and also godly when others observe you so he says apps stand from fleshly lusts what are fleshly lusts you know immoral things that can be sexually immoral things things that have to do with you know extremes maybe taking care of our body the the way we eat the flesh has cravings isn't it maybe food or rest or anything that goes out of control is a lust okay so he is telling them whatever fleshly lusts we have you put it away abstain is stop stop those things why because the fleshly lusts they war against the soul so if I want to have a healthy soul I must get rid of lustful things now imagine you know believers we say that we want to live for God we want to be whole no spirit soul and body but when we have open doors to sin when we have open doors to lustful things in our lives we may think that nobody knows all this is going on in the area of my mind or in private life it'll not affect in any way but you see here Peter wants the believers he says you cannot have lust or we cannot have lust in our lives and still have a healthy soul because what does lust do it will destroy our soul you know our mind will emotions our ability to think uh correctly our ability to decide correctly mind will emotions our emotions right our normal healthy emotions it will begin to interfere so basically lust has a property to destroy the soul so he's warning the believer and he's saying please don't keep open doors to lustful things instead you have your behavior or your conduct honorable okay among the Gentiles so he also lets the believers know that see when we are living in the world others are watching us they're observing us maybe there are family members part of the believer believers life who have not accepted Christ still but they will be looking at this believer and saying no let me see how his life is going to change he says that he believes in Jesus Christ so how different is his life from my life I want to see right so there are people who are watching you they're observing you and now that Gentile believer you have come into Christ your life must be honorable and same thing applies to us now that I am in Christ Jesus everything about my behavior my conduct it has to change I have to have a godly life and he says we should live in such a way that even when people speak against you as evil doers let them observe your good works and glorify God okay in the day of visitation so he's saying even Jesus said this he said let your works your good works exceed that of the Pharisees so our life has to match our faith if we say we have faith but we don't have a godly lifestyle then there is a clash okay and Peter adds here and he says people are observing don't let God's name be put to shame we must ensure that people should not be able to even find fault that's why he's saying you know see it's normal that those who don't believe will accuse us but then even if they try to accuse they should not be able to find anything do you remember about Daniel and Shadrach Meshak Abednego there are so many things that were happening at that time but you know people could not find fault with them they put them through trial also but they couldn't find fault with them okay Paul's life he was tried isn't it he was brought and accused of so many things but ultimately they were not able to point out anything or establish any any accusation against him so what a great call you know God has for us that we should live also in such a way that nobody should be able to find fault with our conduct so we need to have an honorable lifestyle is what we are being told now coming to verse 13 he is talking about submitting to submitting to authority okay so he says we must submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake so what what does he mean by this every ordinance of man is you have people who have leadership over the land then later he explains he says king as supreme governors those who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of those who do good so basically he's saying there are people in different places of authority now they are not evil because for a believer when we talk about kingdom of God and you know all that kingdom of light and kingdom of darkness the believer might think or let's say you are pilgrims your citizenship is in heaven the believer might think that I must disregard every form of earthly authority but that's not the point that's not the way we should live life so it's very interesting though we have to have an eternal perspective when it comes to authorities God is saying please don't disregard them or don't treat them with content or dishonour don't do that we must value and walk in submission to these authorities because what is God's intention in having authorities no there is an authority structure isn't it that God establishes the reason why God establishes authority structures is so that righteousness will prevail in the land okay so that evil is punished that is God's idea so God is the one who establishes authority structures and so we as believers we should never think that I belong to the eternal kingdom and so it doesn't matter whether I follow the whether I honour my my earthly leaders here or follow the law of the land I'll break every rule because I'm a citizen of heaven you see that's a wrong interpretation on the flip side if I am a citizen of heaven I should actually be living my life in submission to the earthly authorities and honour to the earthly authorities that's how it must you know come forth in our lives and he's very clearly letting the believer know that we should live an honourable life and submit to authorities and he says see this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men okay so he says obviously there would have been people who are accusing these believers so he's saying they are foolish they don't know what they are saying but when you do the right thing it's like you're making them silent you know this is the way we can be loud about what God has done you know it's not with the words that we speak with the life that we live isn't it that we show the glory of God and that is the call upon the believers and then you know he says for the Gentile believers you know they would have been they would have felt a sense of freedom having come into Christ because you know they were not brought back into bondage with traditions and you know you have to be circumcised you have to go to the temple you have to make the sacrifices so that was not the case but what they're being taught is you have now liberty in Christ Jesus okay you can live a free life you can live for God and you know know all these spiritual things that that God has done for you but he's saying now that you know that you have this kind of a liberty please don't make it a license to live an ungodly life or a fleshly life because even today we have that happening isn't it people just misinterpret grace and they think oh grace is you know the mercy and God's love and favor that I don't deserve God has already given it to me so whatever I do it's okay God is not going to you know worry about that or God will not punish if I do the wrong thing but you see when we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ you know in John 1 verse 14 we said that isn't it that you know he was full of grace and truth we beheld his glory full of grace and truth so that is our God there is grace but there is also truth we cannot have only one they are two sides of the coin there is grace and truth we have to uphold the truth so walking in unrighteousness and calling that liberty you know will dishonor God in the world that we live in and so here Peter is telling the believers please live an honorable life before men don't say I have freedom and Christ and do whatever you like instead all the more we should honor the people especially authority and then he goes on to say honor all people love the brotherhood fear God honor the king so in our conduct in relating to authorities in relating to you know brotherhood brotherhood is other believers we should we should be submissive be loving we should be honorable so we are kind of running out of time so I think I will stop here we will come back to the next section on submitting to masters in the next class so I'll pause here for a bit and if you have any thoughts that you want to share or comments you can do that and then we will close with the word of prayer okay Kiran would you like to share and then also close in prayer yes ma'am sir yeah I like very much the the chapter and the books ma'am it's very much like godly godliness and the sanctification the living life and all and also how the god how he is the the teachers us like we have to like not card cardinal mind we are told with like a godly mind and all and move forward yeah that's great yes Kiran please go ahead which prayer other god we come before you're thrown once again and we want to say thank you father god to your word and your your wisdom and your revelation father god that we can understand nicely with father god to you your thanks father god other god reveal your more thing father god reveal and give your wisdom and knowledge father god and lead lead us father god to glory and glorious the way father god we that we can move forward in you father god we can work within you father god your kingdom work father god thanking you father god for the pass and the desire what you give in us father god thanking you father god lead us father god to your kingdom work thanking you father god submitting to your hand rest of the day thanking you father almighty Jesus name paper amen amen amen thank you thank you Kiran thank you everyone for joining god bless you have a wonderful day and anyway I will post the assignment this week and we will meet next next Monday okay so take care god thank you thank you thank you bye thank you thank you thomas bye