Good evening and welcome to episode 325 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Uzaman Dunwar Komalo. It's the Tuesday edition of the Private Property Podcast. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome to it. You are tuned in to the early daily property podcast in the country. So do make sure that you go to our Facebook and our YouTube page to catch up on all the great content that you've already missed out on.  This is your one-stop shop on all things relating to property. And to all our regular viewers on Facebook, on Instagram, as well as on YouTube, you know how we do it every single weekday. You and I have an appointment at 7pm. I'm always in conversation with an expert who helps us navigate our property journey and certainly helps us make better property decisions. And you know how we do it every evening. I want to see the love, especially there on Facebook. I know many of you share great green hearts and of course are always eager to share some of your experiences with us. And as you know, on our Facebook page, we're also running a great competition where you can stand a chance of walking away with 500 grand in cash. Now, the competition had three components. We had three goals for this competition. We've already achieved one and it couldn't have been possible without you at home. So the first one was we wanted to reach one million followers on our Facebook page and we've already done that. We did it last week and we're now over a million, which is absolutely incredible. I think if anything is testament to how we are growing as a community and of course, how you at home are making sure that we grow it and you know, you continue spreading the word, making sure that your friends and family see all the great work and the great content that we share with you. And of course, the other aspects, we wanted to reach 10,000 comments on the post that we have pinned on our Facebook page and that is of course the competition post as well as 10,000 shares. We're halfway there with both of those. We're sitting at 5,200 comments and 5,500 shares. So we're halfway there. So the competition is still on and we're only going to stop this competition when we reach 10,000 for both of them. So if you want to send a chance of walking away with that cash, make sure you engage with that post as much as possible. It's on our pinned post on Facebook so you can tag your friends, make sure that you also share the post and of course, also leave us with the review on our Facebook page. Those are some of the great ways that you can participate. And last night, we unfortunately didn't get a winner. They didn't send us a message before the end of the show. Remember, if you want to win the money, you know you've entered the competition, then you also need to claim your prize live on air. We're in the comments section waiting to hear from you at home. The money bag is currently sitting at 1,000 rands. So if you know you've entered, then you can potentially walk away with 1,000 rands in cash. Well, that's some of the great things that are happening on our social media pages. And you can follow myself on Twitter as well as on Instagram at Zamanthuan underscore K, but we're always tackling some other thing relating to property. Now, this evening's conversation is one that I am very excited about. Not only do I absolutely love my guest this evening and the great work that she is doing, but it's also one of those conversations that I think at home we need to get a better understanding of. We're seeing the need for us to certainly come together as a collective to raise money in our different ways. And we're seeing the power of doing so. This evening, we're going to be looking at structuring a stockfile. We often talk about property stockfiles or asset-based stockfiles. And we all know what a stockfile is. We certainly grew up with our family members in one. Perhaps we are also now in different kinds of stockfiles and have tried out different ways that we can grow our property portfolio with friends or even family. Now, we're going to look at the best practices when it comes to structuring a stockfile. There's so many different creative ways that one can go about it. And we really want to get tips and insights on the best ways or the different possible ways that we can do it, especially considering how you can go from being one of those stockfiles that has a fixed amount every month or that's based on different members' ability to contribute to a certain amount. So how do we then go about determining the dividends that get paid or the share in the profit? That's some of what we're going to be looking at this evening. And before we get started with our conversation, I want to find out from you at home, are you part of a stockfile? And if you are, what does your stockfile do?  Whatever the case is, do share with us down here below. I already see some of the love that we're getting. I have a range of pediatrics as well as well as Masola on our Facebook page. Do keep the love coming. And this evening, I am joined by Obalesa Lemulu, who's a finance professional at Palengo Holdings. Obalesa, good evening and thank you so much for joining us. Good evening. Thank you so much for hearing me again, Zama. Happy women's man. It's such a pleasure to have you with us, Obalesa.  And I think one of the great things is us having a better understanding of what is possible when we use stockfiles. I think we're now the generation that's actually seeing the different ways that we can use stockfiles beyond what we've seen from, you know, particularly our older relatives, whether our mothers or aunts, who did really phenomenally with stockfiles and continue to do so. And so now we're almost looking at it from a different dynamic because we're looking at asset-based stockfiles. And then before we even get to the nitty gritty, when we look at, you know, structuring a stockfile, let's look at what are some of the fundamentals that we always just need to bear in mind, regardless of sort of what structure you choose, because we'll go into that right now. But just the key basic fundamentals that viewers at home must always bear in mind when they set up a stockfile or look at structuring their stockfile. Yes. So the first thing and foremost that most of the time we forget when we come together and collaborate and especially in the form of forming a stockfile is actually having a common goal. So sometimes you can get so excited in terms of, okay, let's come together and pull our funds together and do great things with this. And then we don't define what is this great thing that you are doing as a thing. And then when you're already in a stock storyline, oh, but wait, I wanted to invest in property. No, but I wanted to invest in agriculture. So the first thing is define your common goal. Why do you want to come together and prove your financial resources together? Do you want and if you want to invest in various assets, do you want to invest in one asset? Because that also can be a conflict. Or do you want to just save money and raise the capital and invest maybe in businesses? So you need to define from the beginning at least what you are starting with as a common goal. Then first and foremost, because everything that comes after that comes to what type of constitution you're going to have, what type of entity you're going to choose when you are structuring which way you are going. So yes, first and foremost, common goal. Secondly, and it's stockfills based on trust. When I say trust, I'm not saying everybody that you're supposed to be in a stockfiller with is supposed to be your friend or somebody that you have met. There's various ways of verifying people because a lot of stockfills now are digital and they're in digital platforms. So you can almost do your due diligence in terms of checking who you're getting into a stockfiller with. Who are you forming your stockfiller with? If it means asking for their ID, checking their background in order to form them, in order just to have that some kind of trust as a fundamental before you get into anything serious. For me, I would say those are the top two things before getting into the documentation that as a normal stockfiller, you should have that has been always there in terms of the principles of stockfills because even back then when people came together to buy money, whether it was for funeral or for grocery, the common goal is always clear what they are putting money for. So it's important to define that. And then secondly, it's important to get into these things that people you trust or trustworthy people or even have a mechanism in place that will be able to check the people that you are in this with. And you know, I'm actually so happy that you mentioned that first one as an important step before you even getting contracts in place trying to find which vehicle entity to use to run your stockfills. Because I tend to find especially with us young professionals, we understand that we get the point behind stockfills. We certainly see the power and potential that stockfills have. And you sometimes know that, you know, you've got great friends or even a great network that you can tap into. And I've certainly seen some people start stockfills that they say are for investment purposes, but it was never clear what kind of investment, you know, what the investment goal is because there are so many things one can invest in, right? I mean, there are various kinds of assets, you can look at the stock market, for example.  So I think it becomes so important to have that common goal and define it so that even when, you know, members leave, they're not leaving because, but why are we now suddenly investing, for example, in trucks? And yet, Mina, I thought we're doing, you know, property. And even those who do property, they thought, I thought we're doing, you know, single units, but now all of a sudden, somebody wants us to go build. So even when you do property, it also becomes important to even be able to define is it property in its entirety? Are you at some point going to do property management or what exactly in property do you want to do? So it becomes so crucial to just get those fundamentals, right? Because I think so many people probably get that bit wrong. So when we then have the common goal, and we've defined it and we know that we're very clear on what it is that we want to do. And we also understand how stockfills are fundamentally based on trust and not in a, you know, just because you want to be a member of the stockfile, I automatically trust you.  When we then have that right, how do we go about looking at which entity to choose? Because I think one of the things, one of the trends that I'm seeing now, especially when young professionals are joining is, you know, you can have a trust, you can have a PTYLTD. I've seen some people wanting to buy old CCs because they think that actually might be slightly better. Very few though, like that isn't on trend as much. How do we then go about choosing the vehicle that we want to use once we've identified particularly the goal that we have for our stockfile? Okay, so even getting before then to the vehicle, now you've defined your common goal and you know who you're getting into this. Now you have to put the most important document in place in stockfiles, the constitution. So this is where you put all your wish list together, what you'd like to do and how you would like to do it in terms of structuring the best way to do it is to actually get a professional after you have put what you'd like to achieve together and roughly a draft of everything, should anybody die, what should happen, what are the exit points, everything that covers a constitution that is very important, who's going to be responsible, who will be the board of directors of this whole thing, all that and then give it to a professional and a legal professional, preferably a lawyer, that will now be able to structure it as a proper legal document so that they also check blind spots that you might have and even there, they even can't be able, even from then, even advise in terms of because this is what you want to do, a PTY would be better or a trust would be better or a cooperative would be better or you come to them say actually we prefer a cooperative, make this one work for us legally. So that would be the first step when it comes to structuring and then the second one would be depending on the type of asset that you want to invest in, it will depend on the entity or the vehicle that you want to use to invest in it and as most people know that stockfills are legal but they're not legal entities to hold assets by themselves, they either have to partner with the legal entity and PTY, cooperative or a trust or they convert into one of those legal entities if they want to invest into property and in that manner of ownership. So that is why it's important what you said even at the beginning, Sama, detailing to the biggest detail in terms of what you want to invest in, even anything as simple like come from we want to invest in property, this type of property, so that there is no ambiguity in between how you're going to, in terms of now when you're coming to choosing a vehicle that will be suitable for your wishes as a group that you want to choose. So depending on the type of asset you want to be, there is an option of a PTY, there's an option of a trust and there's an option of a cooperative, they all have their pros and cons and they all are not the same in terms of setting up, in terms of the finances involved and they all have their rules as they are governed by different acts, the company act for PTY, the cooperative act for the cooperative, the trust act for the trust. So that's why it's important when you are getting advice in terms of the article, make sure that number one, you can afford the vehicle when you're structuring your entity choosing that you can afford, you'll be able to abide by the law of the certain entity and be able to pay back, the payback process is able to cover the needs of the members.  And also if you are able to structure something within that entity that is allowable in terms of allowing others to contribute more than others and be paid according to their contributions. So it all depends on what asset you want to invest in in order to find which suitable vehicle that would work for you. And that also will be answered mostly by the first fundamental, what is your common goal? What do you want to do with this coming together as a group? We are taking your questions and comments this evening and seeing all the love that we're getting on our Facebook page, La Rochaofa and Veik, I see you, that was earlier on in the show, Colin Jansen saying, I'm in a grocery stock fall, very helpful at the end of the year. Remember, I want you to share with us if you're in a stock fall and if you are, what kind of stock fall is it? Nia Shahela or you're buying groceries, one of the really great ones that I've also seen is the one that helps out in the beginning of the year for registration fees. We know a lot of parents tend to struggle quite a bit at the beginning of the year with the December blues, so you know that you're saving up for the following year so that you don't have any issues with tuition for your kids, and some even aim to pay the full amount by March because you know that you get that special discount across many schools when you finish your school fees before March, so they want to take advantage of that as much as possible. Shanafari saying, having taken part in a stock fall yet, I've heard some scary things, but our domestic worker has one with friends for groceries for December months, and it's very interesting and helps a lot putting the money together and then splitting all groceries bought. We've got Ugamohello Masula coming back saying, I think having a common goal is the biggest factor when we want to start a trust is another factor because people do run away in December when they have to share. I'm going to go up to one of the top fan gang members saying my first stock fell was 35 rounds per person in varsity 17 years ago. Senior students ran with my money. I should search for him, but I've always belonged to one with friends and family. I belong to one property stock fell. Got to share with us how the property stock fell is going like. I love hearing you know stories about property stock falls in particular. We're going to go through more of your comments and questions later on. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back from the break, I'm going to share some of the great reasons that you've shared with us on our Facebook page, why you love private property. Let's see who's the potential winner of that 1000 round that is in the money bag this evening in our competition. Let's have a look who's going to get away or certainly be able to win this 1000 rounds. And this evening's winner is you have until the end of the show to claim the 1000 rounds that's in the money bag. I really hope that you're watching. It's 1000 rounds. That's so if you are watching, do make sure that you drop us a text down here below to claim your 1000 rounds and go into some of the great comments that you shared with us on our post, when you were sharing why you love private property. We've got a great comment here from Isabel saying, wow, congratulations Pam. I love private property because of the podcast. I love the way they give us free educational about the property and also their properties are beautiful. I love the way they present them in and make you feel like you are living heaven on earth. That's coming from Isabel and we've got another one here from saying I love the podcast for all the insights and information. Private property has helped me realize that there are ways to make my property goals a reality. Having access to all the shows and podcast lines has truly made learning about the property market accessible and has exceeded my expectations. Thank you, private property. Keep it up. And the last one this evening coming through from Nipi Pindi saying it's been years with you, private property. What I love about private property is that you give us the best shows and the best property. I have learned many things since I've joined the family. We are family. I would love to own a property one day and with you I know I will do it. Love you, Pam. Absolutely love that, Merci. And you certainly will be able to do it. To think, you know, you certainly will get there always say your property is one of those things that teaches you very quickly that it's a marathon. It's not a sprint and there are absolutely different ways for you to be able to reach your goal. I've got a great question here this evening as I'm in conversation with Opalesa Longolo who's a finance professional at Palengo Holdings and we're looking at structuring a stockfile and you know, questions that have come in. Alisa, we've got a great one here from Onela Miartaza saying how can I apply for funding as a property stockfile? So if your stockfile is just a stockfile on its own, so there are certain financial institutions that can give loans. I think we can make it, we can say which one because so far when it comes to property we know there's technically only one that's made it possible for multiple people to own this. So they're the only player right now. So we can say the name. We can say the only ones come out with this particular offering and we know they're targeting, you know, the stockfile model in particular. So yes, FNP has really come with the product that does allow funding for a stockfile. You need to find out the details in the terms of the conditions of that and I was actually looking into that last week. It's great but I think property stockfile members need to, they have a lot to consider when they are looking into things like that. It is not too different from applying a home loan on personal capacity because your credit check, your personal credit check as members is still going to affect their application and the payment of that one member missing a payment can affect the whole group. There is also the upside. I like the fact that they have kept it until 12 because it could be maybe that's how they're starting it with less people and maybe as time goes there'll be more people. But one of the things that I was personally worried about was like this cannot be more than 15 people when I was thinking about it and I just heard about it. So there is that option in terms of finding your property options. There are also other banks that are looking into the model. I personally know one that I can say now that is also looking into the property space where they will be offering a different type of financial product for specifically property stockfiles also with a certain benefit. As you know, especially the banking center, they do offer the same products just in different terms and conditions and different benefits. There's this particular benefit that I like in this one that I think will be great for the property stockfile members. The most important thing about what's evolving in the stockfile industry is the fact that now stockfiles are actually being considered as customers of these institutions while all along they were almost not ignored but they were just given savings. They're not adequately serviced for the most part. You can think of things like loans. Loans have been around ever since banks have been inserted but why didn't they give true stockfiles? Especially when they can see that they bring in literally billions of rands per annum. So it's not that the stockfiles go cray-cray as it were but you see the money coming in obviously also see the money being withdrawn at the end of the typically the end of the year and so how do you creatively get in at the very least a certain percentage of that money as a financial institution and create solutions that the stockfiles can benefit from because unfortunately up until recently they haven't been adequately they haven't been able to take advantage of that particular facility at banks. So the only thing you could do is of course you know save but there aren't that many instruments that you can use that facility with. So I think it's great that we're seeing financial institutions coming to the party when it comes to stockfiles. We still have some really great questions coming in. I can already see somebody who's very invested in this conversation on Facebook is Orifule Malibana asking us a series of different questions. Let me go through I'll go through three other questions. So I think the first one you've pretty much answered when you're answering Onela's question and her question was you know can a stockfile get a loan and the second question was can you join a stockfile even if you don't have source of income and I'll wrap it with her third question and her third question I already have a short answer for it and the third question is is the WhatsApp stockfile legit and I think when you answer the the WhatsApp stockfile exactly right I think the answer is very short but I want to expand her question and look at and you were saying this earlier Palae said that stockfiles now also operating in the digital space and a lot of stockfiles who may not for example use banks will use stockfile you'll be able to find a stockfile via stockfile and perhaps part of the communication will then be via WhatsApp so let's not even look at WhatsApp stockfile the way we know it's a pyramid scheme but look at the the way in which stockfiles are now using digital tools to meet to report how do we then suss out if those are real and legit because it's so easy they can have a WhatsApp group they can have a Facebook group and all kinds of different you know modes of communicating that you're still feeling like I don't know if this is a scam or it's just a stockfile that's innovative and using you know or that's very tech savvy and just using all these different platforms to communicate their value offering so okay I'll let me start with the WhatsApp stockfile also just add into that very true summer so one of the first things that was a red flag for the WhatsApp stockfile number one is the fact that it was just people joining a group and in the next changing money there was no agreement in place in terms of signing terms of and conditions of how the stockfile works and it was not formally structured it was money was rotating from one person to another it actually didn't even meet one principle of a stockfile it was just such a pity that at the end of it it was said it was a WhatsApp scope stockfile it was supposed to be called something like WhatsApp scam or something a WhatsApp pyramid because it doesn't meet the requirements of a stockfile having a common goal having a constitution in place having due diligence that you have done on the people that are coming in through a lot of people in those groups with people that that were just taking money and then exiting to go start another group there was no anything in the name of the WhatsApp of the stockfile whether it's a bank account or a financial institution that has been registered with the FSA or any of the regulators in the finance sector so there was just a lot of red flags and usually when so many red flags are they and how it ended it had proven that it was a scam it was a scam from the beginning it's still a scam today and then the second question please remind me what was it about and so the second question was you know can can you join a stockfile even if you don't have source of income so to be honest that's gonna be quite challenging because a stockfile is a putting financial resources together and so when you're not contributing money into it you're gonna you can talk to the people that you are in the stockfile at least to say how you can contribute I think one of the things that stockfiles are that in involving into the future and into the current stockfiles that we are seeing today is that it's not only about putting in money together where it's a collaboration of financial resources financial resources is more than about money it's about the different skills that people are bringing into the group the different networks that the people are bringing into the group the different resources that people are bringing into the group you'd find that um you have a lawyer in the group you've got an accountant in the group uh you've got an administrator in the group you've got a property expect in the group meaning you don't even have to ask for some of the things that you need to structure within your within your within your group uh you you can you can get it from the people that you have collaborated and come together with so in terms of not having income it could be defined in terms of how long are there is a certain stockfile able to to carry with you without an income and what can you offer maybe you are good at doing for keeping that will be your contribution of of the of the of of in the stockfile that the stockfile can can can can can be widely in terms of that so i have seen uh stockfiles that do work like that but you don't need to have an agreement in place and things like period needs to be clear in terms of that and in a clear future plan is that are you planning to do you want to work for the stockfile so that they can actually pay you so those are the options that depending on this on the stockfile that you need to discuss with with the leaders of that stockfile and having something in writing in place for it so yes um uh it it would be hard for a person without any income to to to be part of in order to contribute money but there are other ways of contributing into a stockfile and that is non uh money related because it's a financial resources collaboration and financial there's a lot of things comes with we've got a great question here coming through from on the pillion value in the pillar that's such a beautiful name it's the first time i'm coming across that name um and in the pillars question is if a stockfile has a company plus trust for buying of assets what are some of the options of ensuring say 100 members of the stockfile are beneficiaries of the stockfile without this being an admin nightmare and we're talking about this of a right that some stockfiles are obviously big and you might want to buy via a pty ltd or trust or use a combination of both how do we then ensure that you know first it's not an admin nightmare as indipela has asked but also that we adequately keep track of people's contributions and are clear on then the percentage whether it's dividends pay out that they'll be able to receive i actually know uh hotline dimpile is what he's talking about there is a stockfile that is functioning like that so um one of so the thing is that when there's a lot of people in a stockfile there's one thing that you need to accept from the beginning is the admin that gets into that but the admin is once off so it's a big administrative um uh process uh to get it off the ground in terms of beneficiaries of all 200 and something people and and and and outsourcing that to to to a lawyer that's why a lot of uh legal people like a network of stockfiles and that wanting to either go into a trust or a cooperative first of all they always they always think actually can we rather divide these people into three stockfiles or something like that there you like know the goal is that everybody must be in one so that it's affordable and um this is what we are trying to achieve so um if it means we have to pay you more or pay an administrator in order to get this off the ground let's rather do that so there is no way of really running away from the administrative when you are still setting it up and structuring it but it is a once-off process what if you put it um correctly uh from the beginning in terms of um making sure that um everybody you've got everybody's details everybody's a beneficiary they're uh everybody's being communicated with everybody uh we will have that documentation and they've signed everything that they need to be signed from the beginning because it won't be that every time something happens you need all 200 people to agree to something like the perception that is out there or every time a transaction is to happen all 200 people that day yes in terms of gathering and administrative and making sure that um everything admin wise is done correctly and in place with the help of the lawyer and the and and and the other experts according to your investments that you are making that is an administrative tap once-off administrative task it might take even maybe six months to even while you are already investing into a certain asset to actually get everything in terms of admin because we've got a lot of members but once it is done you are able to function like any other organization or any other business when now the concentration is rather on the board or the committees or the however you are structuring your leadership structure to be able to handle everything else that comes after that but Lisa before I let you go any final tips for our viewers at home when it comes to structuring their stock fall and especially when it just comes to thinking through some of the administrative work that they'll need to do early on because as you've just pointed out the moment you're going to actually even when you're not going to be many because I'm I'm in a solar one even when you're not many you find the admin is there regardless of the size you just find you just need to add more people if they're obviously more of you so these admin regardless so any tips for us in terms of looking at structuring our our stock falls and just thinking through not just the admin loophole but really the best structure given what we say we want to invest in and the kind of returns that are also going to be tax efficient right because I think that's a big thing especially once you look at the numbers and you know the bigger stock falls that you want to use a vehicle or a combination of vehicles that are also going to be as tax efficient as possible so first and foremost is that money money a lot of a lot of times when organizations outside stock falls charge admin fee or or charge some kind of charge that is outside whatever that they are offering it's almost like why you are charging that until you get into this and actually realize that outside the contributions outside the money that you are raising outside the capital that you are you are going to get you are going to invest in a certain asset there is so much money that is needed and a lot of people that get into stock falls whether they are going to formalize into a certain vehicle or stay as a stock fell they are already have their businesses or they already occupy with something else or already employed they're not necessarily going to be looking into this thing alone even if they are experts in that so you need a part to raise specifically for admin or operational expenses for if you are getting into a into the today's stock fell so and this this operational expenses part of fund needs to be quite reasonable because it can run out very quickly you're going to be consulting how to structure your your your your your your your stock fell your the lawyers the accountants the NDAs the SLAs that you're going to you might get it into all those things need money and not little money and a lot of times people end up taking the extra money capital that was raised for the asset to cover operational expenses so the first thing is that you know when they say money talks when you do raise money also raise a lot of money for operational and admin fees of running the whole structure number two is governance and we're going to be looking we're going to be working with a lot of people you almost don't have a a a choice but to have a strong professional governance structure you need to have a correct board according to the vehicle that you are going to be choosing you need to have working committees according to the needs of that are going to be needed in terms of operations of the group so that needs to be clear and and and work according to uh and follow the the the rules of a certain structure so then in terms of of vehicles a lot of people are more familiar with pty because it's the most popular form of of of of of of an illegal entity and a lot of stock sells especially the ones that don't have a lot of people in them go into the pty route because it's what they know and their rules are quite simpler than other other entities so they tend to lean more into that one and also the text that comes with it it seems um it's it's it's more or less um reasonable and what we think that people need to know text is very important when you are choosing these vehicles for example trusts are very expensive um to set up and to maintain so almost uh needing a when you are going to going into a trust as a vehicle they are choosing you almost have to have a budget to be able to to to to run such and not forgetting the text implications that comes with um with a trust and um and then a cooperative also a cooperative it is the most simplest way of getting into a legal entity because it is like a stock fell but it's just that it's a legal and it's a legal entity that can actually invest in in in in in in assets but it also does have its own rules in terms of making sure that uh so they quite very strict cooperatives in terms of um how it should be run you should go exactly like um your constitution and how form of conduct and principles need to go according to the act um otherwise it can be reported that you are not uh operating it uh correctly but in terms of also texts is almost the same as the as the pty and the reason I'm going to text is that a lot of people in stock fells just once they transform into a certain entity they think the text the entity is going to pay that it stays there when you ask them going to get the pay out you still gonna get your personal texts many texts even if you are part of a trust or a pty shareholder or a cooperative shareholder so um depending on the number I will say for example the less people in a stock fell pty most of the time now more people and uh in a in a in a stock fell especially 100 and more uh uh uh cooperative more complicated um not really complicated um way where beneficiaries and have a different uh effort benefit what I like the most about trust last pty setup is the benefits that comes with being beneficiaries of the members themselves so it's almost when you are building generational wealth a lot of people will rather go for the trust one so again it depends on the members uh they are members what they want out of this are they building generational wealth I'll tell you a lot of members if they are most of their common common goal what revolves around I want to leave things this to my to my kids I want to do this I want to make sure my kids is also part of this and uh also most of the time will go for the trust uh issue again also affordability issue a lot of stock fells that wants to be contributing less money wouldn't go for a trust because they want the expense that trust comes with so those need the just the summary and that each I think the one thing that I'll add you know having having had some experience in it is and you touched on it that some stock fell members don't think about how they'll get taxing their individual capacity and let's look at for example an asset based stock fell so a property stock fell um let's say you're 20 or you're even 10 and you are going in as individuals and you're going to have the payout whether it be on a monthly basis after you've of course bought your investment properties and there is some kind of you know payout or it's in an annual basis as much as the the vehicle suppose you're using a PTY is is going to get taxed you as individuals um will also get taxed when you you know get the receive the payout from from the company and sometimes the way around it is for the the membership to be of another company so instead of you being you know the member who gets the money have your company so register a separate company and you're able to use those funds but of course that that just requires you to be slightly creative um and be very clear about what kind of you know funds you're going to receiving and what kind of entity and and that's probably you know a master class session all by itself and unfortunately we have run out of time this evening Balisa uh thank you so much for joining us on the show as usual thank you so much Azama for having made just as long people know that stock falls work and uh it's all depends there's no sites it's all in here and they definitely can't be used to make money work for them and and that is Obalisa Lumolo who's a finance professional at Balino Holdings I can already promise you we're definitely going to have a part two of this conversation uh because stockfiles especially when it comes to structuring them in some of the nitty gritties are so crucial going to squeeze in this banter that's going on on our facebook page uh underneath of course this conversation from Gattekwakhapa saying why can't we see Zamanthoma and Salani Plays saying because her beauty distracts us we can't concentrate on the important info uh so she turned off her camera thank you very much Salani and that's a great note to leave it on this evening uh the team tells me that unfortunately we didn't have a claim this evening uh Upetinsak Osambo didn't message us so the money rolls over tomorrow evening it's going to be 1,000 Fibonadrans in the money bag well it is a Tuesday so you can look forward to the farming podcast that's coming to your screens just now at 8 p.m. I'll be back tomorrow evening until then hoping you stay home and stay safe Balisa thank you so much thank you thank you Zamanthoma that was fantastic that was great we definitely need a part two because it's one of those great topics


Miguel, over to you. Okay, so good evening, everybody. Again, we are witnessing the situation in Middle East. Again, a new panel about the Middle East. Again, listening to the war and gloomy situation in Middle East. I don't know what will be our role, because to hear here and there how situation is, how gloomy is the perspective of the future, what could give us some sense of nostalgia of the past, but cannot help us to really find the way to get out of this tremendous mess. I've never been confronted in my short period of life. I was getting older and older, of course, every year. With such a situation in the Middle East, never. Even I will say before the Madrid Space Conference, we can compare with today, we will never have such consideration of confusion, chaos, and lack of hope for the generations that live in the Middle East. Well, there is a famous quotation, my dear Itamar of your former Foreign Minister, Ava Eval, very, very known, that used to say that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I will make a rephrase of this quotation. I think international community never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity in the Middle East. And I will say why we are in this such a mess today. And I will try to identify three main historical rendezvous, or three main events that have produced the situation of today. The first one was in 2000. 2000, it was the year of the new millennial. We were very happy. We were practically all convinced that peace was at hand. I remember how Barack was elected, everybody was ready to help Barack. Everybody was going to be having a final peace deal with the Syrians. The situation in the Middle East, the United States, the European, the private sector, everybody was enthusiastic. What happened? We missed this opportunity. And it not was only because Barack failed in Geneva succeeding with half of the last set. That is the beginning of the end, by the way. How the Syrian talks at Geneva failed. And then Barack moved immediately. I needed an agreement with the Palestinians. Let's go to come David. And then they failed. And everybody figured out Arafat is the one to blame everything. But then we tried until there was Clinton parameters, and at this taba talk, everything collapsed. Sharon was elected, and the traditional way to solve the peace in the Middle East was lost. No more bilateral talks. Well, Ehudalmer tried. It was the last attempt. But the traditional way to solve this Israeli-Palestinian conflict was abundant. Second highlight, immediately after 2001, 9-11, well, unfortunately, we have this tremendous shock, the collapse of the Twin Towers, and the new approach. It was, of course, the security that was being considered the main and only element in the talks and the negotiation. It was not land for peace, like in Madrid. It was security, security, security. And so we have to address the security concerns in Israel. And then the Americans' Administration committed, as our friends, Berna, has just mentioned, the strategic historical mistake to intervene in Iraq. And that became, you know, as Honez Mubarak was to tell me, the major mistake in history. And that caused this spread of radicalism, terrorism, that we are suffering today. And the third highlight is the so-called Arab Spring. Arab Spring was considered at the beginning of a new page of the history of Arab society with democracy, rule of law. In reality, it was a covert operation. Let me frank. It was a covert operation in order to guarantee the chain of energy from, you know, North Africa to the Middle East and to Afghanistan. And so the people in the region didn't really understand what it was of course they want to have democracy, but in which condition? And with the West and Europeans we were not able to really respond to this new challenge because we were not prepared and the parties themselves were not prepared and was imposing this new election with the Muslim Brotherhood, as you say, Mona, as a consequence of that. So these three main elements give us the sense of today's real chaotic situation. So what to do? Well, we have to go to the basic. That means number one, as our friend Odez said, you cannot forget, you know, the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It's going to be there forever if we don't solve it, but we have to address it in a different manner. We cannot continue to be that. We can return to the negotiation table like it was in the past. No, we have to have a political will to do so. Unfortunately, today, neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are really prepared to engage seriously. It's even worse than when it was before Madrid. I have to start to back channels to try to convince them to meet again secretly. Can you imagine? After 25 years that we have to start as a squad one, so we have to get from both sides a real legitimacy to engage. And then the role of third parties, my dear friends. That has been my conviction. The parties say that the U.S. is the honest broken. It's the only one who can deliver. And my experience, no, my will. My experience has demonstrated to me that only the United States cannot facilitate the deal. Unless we international community, Arabs, Europeans, and the Americans work together, we will not be able to solve a problem. If we continue to wait for Godot, for that Godot. Godot is not coming. And Godot is now even worse because he's not honest broker. And the Palestinians will not want to talk to them, so they will need your opinions to advance. Why we don't get and resume what our friend Lauren Fabius tried in Paris? It was a very genuine and honest intention to put everybody around the table to find a solution. It came in a very complicated world, but you have the courage, to make everybody work together. We have to invent a new way. Why you don't use energy for Eastern as a catalyzer? Why does Southern is Mediterranean countries instead of fighting for demarcation of the oil and gas reserve? Why you don't create like a European, a high authority that can share and coordinate the use, the exploration of energy? That will produce something different. Why you don't invent new proposals in order that Israeli and Palestinian can find a way? Secondly, we have to really... One minute. One minute, I know. Secondly, we have to start to have this reconciliation in the Arab world. Yes, the worst we have a lot of responsibilities. Okay, we are the one, we are absent, we don't have... But what about our brothers or friends in the Arabs? What they are doing themselves? Why they don't get together? After what happened with journalist Kassouli, why they don't get this occasion to say enough to have the GCC split? Why they don't have, after the German war, why they don't have a kind of new bonus rebending with Iran? Why the Arabs don't decide by themselves to say, once we are adults and we want to have a better future for our children, your future generations? And we Europeans can help, and Americans can help. But not always the Europeans have to be present. No, we have to work together. And I think we can be made. So, my last word is that finally, today's situation is gloomy, it's desperate, it's frustrated. But when we are going to be serious, when we are going to take each of us the responsibility to propose and to act in a manner that we can solve this part of the problem in the Middle East. It will be a benefit for everybody. Of course, it will decrease spending of weapons, because it's a paradox that is the region where more expenditure of military budget is in the Middle East. Five percent of each national budget is in military weapons, and they have increased 60 percent of the military budget altogether. So, that is my proposal and that is my wish. Thank you very, very much. And thank you for trying to look ahead. I appreciate it.


Hello and welcome to CMC Markets on Tuesday, the thirtieth of June, and the weekly market update. Last week, I looked at the Euro stocks 50 in the context of the downtrend that it had been in since the end of April, and we broke to the top side, and we can see that we broke to the top side on this daily chart that I've got in front of me. I raised the question, were we coming to the end of the downtrend that we've been in since the highs that we saw in April. Rwy'n mynd i llawer yn ddawtheoriad. Ddylu'n ddawtheoriad yn sphynodol am oes y pofyddiadol, ond os yw'r rhai cyfain yma, dyfod os y bod yn lwym yn ardal, mae'n ddweud i'r ddweud y dyfodol, rydyn ni'n meddwl ei gael online o'r ysgrifennu, meddwl ei'r ddweud o'r mysch yn y troi'r cofnig yma:「 Rwy'n meddwl ei ddweud i'r polygol yma i gael unrhyw moedd yn y dyfodol. Felly gynnar y ddacks wedi'r rhaid i'r ysgrifennu, o'r 50 oed wrth hyn bydd y gwerthafonau o'r 50. Felly, mae'r 50 rhaid yn ffrifoedd yma, maio i'r 50 y gallwn a bwrdd y cerddau sy'n cyhoeddu nad oedden nhw. Mae ydych chi'n iawn ar gyfer'u gŷl, gallwch am ar y cyfrif yma yma, a byddech oedden ni ddech Hut hyd oedd y credu o'r 50 oed yn ffrifoedd yma. A fyddech chi eisiai ddaeth rwy'n ffordd ar hyn. o'r ddax chart. We actually came all the way back down to the previous lows that we saw in June, in mid June. And we've done exactly the same thing on the Euro stocks 50. So if you look at the Euro stocks 50 now, I'm going to put the daily chart up for that again and I'll let you digest that and I'll ask you to look at the 200-day moving average as well as the twin lows at 3,370. And we can see straight away that's a very, very key support level. Let's look at the ddax. A ddax, again, we're coming close to the 200-day moving average. We're also very close to a key support level at 10,790. So we know from both of these charts here on the indices that we're approaching a very key support level for both. So if we're going to see further declines in the ddax and in the Euro stocks 50, we need to see a confirmation of a break lower on both, not just one, both, because the risk of a false break is very high if one goes through and the other one doesn't. And that was born out on the break higher that we saw on the Euro stocks 50 that wasn't confirmed on the ddax. So I think it's very important that when you're looking to trade equity indices, you need to find, if possible, confirmation and the ddax in the Euro stocks 50 generally tend to be a good mirror of each other. They tend to work fairly well. Doesn't always have to be that. It can be the Dow Jones industrial average and the Dow Jones transportations. That's the origination of Dow theory. But overall find a currency pair that will help confirm a buy or sell signal. On that theme of confirmation, I'm going to take it a step further and we're going to use currencies because we've had a massive move, not only in equity markets over the course of the last few days, namely because of what's been going on in Greece, but also we've got some very key data coming up later this week, namely US non-farm payrolls on Thursday, and we'll be hosting a webinar for that on Thursday at 1.15. So sign up for that. There'll be a link at the top of the screen for you to click on, register, Colin and I will basically talk you through the numbers on Thursday at 1.15 and we're respecting round about 225,000. So it's going to be a very, very key week for the US dollar. And in that context, I'm going to look at the Euro dollar, the moves that we saw on Euro dollar over the weekend, the massive drop to 109.60, the subsequent rebound on the back of, on the back of the Greece news that the potential that the likelihood is we could get some form of agreement. Who knows what type of agreement we're going to get. Ultimately, we need to trace the price, we need to trade the price action. And in that context, that's why when I look at Euro dollar, I also look at the dollar index. For quite some time now, I've expressed some skepticism about the fact that the Euro dollar can go any lower. Now, obviously, the weekend Greek news was not particularly great news for any Euro dollar longs. We went through the support 110.50. We bottomed out a 109.50.60, but we came back like an express train. And if we look at the chart that we've got in front of you right now, we can see that we broke the downtrend, we broke the uptrend line rather from the April lows around about 105.20. And that trend line support came in just below around about 110.20, but we were unable to sustain the move lower. And this is where again, confirmation is very, very important because while we broke the uptrend line on the Euro dollar, so now when we look at the Bloomberg chart and look at the similar price action on the dollar index, we can draw the same trend line or a very similar trend line, only this time through the highs, the April highs, and we can actually see that through the April highs on the dollar index, that trend line didn't break. So on the Euro dollar, the downt, the uptrend line, the line from the lows was broken, but on the dollar index, it wasn't. And in the context of Euro dollar, that is important because Euro dollar, 55% of the dollar index is comprised of Euro dollar. So if you're looking for a breakout on Euro dollar, you want to see a similar breakout on the dollar index. So what does that mean going forward for Euro dollar? Well ultimately, with non-farm payrolls coming up, 110.50 is once again going to be a key support level on Euro dollar, but also keep an eye on that downtrend line on the dollar index in the event of a very good US number. That trend line on the dollar index needs to break above the price needs to break above the trend line. You need to see a subsequent break below the Euro dollar trend line to suggest that we're going to get further US dollar strength. So that concludes this week's weekly market update, the last one in June, the last one in the second quarter of 2015, doesn't time fly when you're having fun. So until Thursday, where Colin and I will be hosting a non-farm payrolls webinar, and until Q3 next week, this is Michael Hueson talking to you from CMC Markets.


Well, it was a pretty eventful summer on Malax Lake, but as the seasons change, anglers will find more restrictions on fishing at the lake. And this week's Northwoods Adventure Clayton Castle shows us what we can fish for this fall. With schools back in session in Labor Day in the rearview mirror, summer fishing season is beginning to wind down as well with the closure of walleye fishing on Malax Lake. On the day after Labor Day, walleye fishing will close, and there will be again a live bait ban. The exception with the live bait ban this time is if you're fishing from dock or from the shore, live bait is loud, and we wanted to do that, so you know, primarily kids and families fishing panfish or whatever from the dock still had that opportunity. But there's no need to fret, there are plenty of other species you can fish for on Minnesota's largest lake. Fishing for all other species is perfectly fine as long as artificial lures are used, or muskie and pike fishermen can also use Sacramento's 8 inches or larger. The lake is a landmark for many Minnesotans near and far, as its proximity from other larger Minnesota cities brings tourism to the surrounding community. Well, I would have to say, well first it's two hours from Minneapolis, it's two hours from Duluth, it's two hours from Detroit Lakes, it's two hours, it's kind of right smack dab in the middle of the state. So it's a quick day's drive, I mean you can get up in a day and drive back in a day and enjoy the resource. Malax Lake had a busy summer as the Minnesota wild held their first annual bass fishing tournament on the lake, and soon after that Malax Lake was braided as the best bass fishing lake in the country by Bassmaster Magazine, and people are taking notice of the lake skyrocketing popularity which will carry over into the fall. There's a great bass and northern population waiting to cause some excitement. There's nothing like pulling an 18 to 20 inch bass in or 35 to 40 inch northern, and there's an abundance of all those sizes. The current fishing season continues through November 30th before the new fishing year kicks off on December 1st. Reporting in Garrison for this week's Northwoods Adventure Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


وَإِنْ تَعْجَبْ فَعْجَبٌ قَوْلُهُمْ أَيْذَا كُنَّا تُرَابًا أَيْنَا لَفِي خَلْقٍ جَدِيدَ أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم وأولئك الأغلال في عناقهم وأولئك أصحاب النارهم في يا خالدون بسم الله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ورحمة الله وبركاته أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم أولئك الذين كفروا بربهم أولئك الذين كفروا بربما هل ت sor fiance أولئك الذين كفروا أولئك ذن كفر أولئك الذين كفروا أولئك ذنك الى يوم الدين أما بعد في رسالة هذه المساعدة هذه المساعدة السيكولوجيا و المساعدة أن الناس يوجد هذه المساعدات و المساعدات لا شكل أنك يذهب إلى المساعدة الله قمدنا إذن القرآن عندما يقول سبحانه وتعالى فسألوا أهل الذكري إن كنتم لا تعلمون يجب أن يساعدون إذا كنتم لا تعلمون و أنت تساعدونهم were instructed by the Qur'an to do so فسألوا خبير الرحمن فسأل به خبيره أسأل الذهاب المساعدة و أسألهم عنهم لنا المساعدة حدثنا حدثنا و نحتاج حدثنا و الأقوان يأتي منها لكن لا يتحدث عن كل شيء و إستخدم فهي تساعدت على حديث ي Mulvay for their view on an issue or the knowledge of it And if it goes against the Qur'an and the Sunnah You consult the scholars If it goes against the Qur'an and the Sunnah If they tell you to do things that are not permissible in the religion Then you convey that to the scholars And you tell them about it And whatever they tell you insha' Allah Based on the evidence from the Qur'an and the Sunnah You follow insha' Allah Okay so the next question I have for you That's come into our email address أم أسابة و نعمة من أصبحت أسابة أريد أن أدعي أطفالي لنشر بشكل أساس و أمام أهم أمام أهم يمكن أن أدعي أطفالي لنشر بشكل أساس في إسلام مهم 1 يجب أن يكون القرآن أول شيء الشيء الأطفالي يجب أن يكون القرآن يجب أن يتذكر القرآن دون أنه يحصل على عدة أساس once the child finishes the quran then it goes for the speech of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم لذلك يتذكر فوتي حديثة وليمام النوى once he has done that, he goes for تحفت الأطفال which is basically he has learned the Qur'an in a practical way his pronunciation, his articulation is correct now he is going to go to a theoretical side where he is going to learn the Qur'an in a theoretical way where this is how it is read and this is why you said this and it is explained to him and then after that he goes for the عقيدة series written by محمد عبد الوهب تلاتة الوصول كشف الشبوهات كتاب التوحيد all of this the kid memorizes sponge, he takes it all in once the child does that when the parent either provides a teacher for that child who knows the Arabic and is willing to give money historically even if you look at it the early scholars like أليمام الشافية I mentioned this before شافية's mother was very she didn't know anything about the religion she had no knowledge of the dean and the scholars they mentioned that she learned the religion through her son but look at that all she did was she paved the path for her son she facilitated for her the mother doesn't have to be a scholar or a person of great knowledge if she just sets a guideline for her son you don't know the Arabic language then somebody else can teach her maybe my son cannot learn in the UK let's travel and go somewhere else the religion is a very valuable thing I realized one statement one sheikh said really stuck with me he said it's become sad that the person who fails in the dunya we say go seek knowledge of the religion and it becomes like a second alternative and so it happens that the people who go for the religion have become the dimwitted ones the ones who failed in life and the ones who go for the academic sciences are the smart ones the clever ones they always told go for medicine if you failed in life maybe seeking Islamic knowledge is not for you really that's exactly how the sheikh put it if the mother sees a spark in her child that maybe he's picking up concepts quickly she should push him towards an Islamic education number one that doesn't mean later the child doesn't learn the academic sciences of course he does but any and every child the path that needs to be paved for that child is the deen he learns the deen great responsibility your child before he reaches the age of 20 teach him the deen of Allah let him learn this properly then you say to your child 15 14 finish all these books what do you want to do do you want to embark on this path and become a scholar or do you want to become a doctor I'll help you with that now that's how it should be just a follow up question on that you mentioned obviously at the start the focus should be on memorization because they're young and their brains are like sponges the answer to this it might be that it depends on the child but is there a kind of guideline for the kind of age where they should start shifting from memorization to more of understanding once the child finishes the Quran and he finishes those more two on those books I'd say basically at the age of 12 12 13 the parents start now pushing a lot of explanation before that child they should memorize it before the age of 13 even 14 the child he should just be left to memorize everything just take it in take it in next question I have for you is you mentioned in the podcast that it's important to restrict our understanding of the religion to the first three generations and you gave ample evidences for that but the question I have here is that what about the latest scholars like Ibn al-Qaim they come up with their own works their own thoughts, their own understandings their own benefits and we take that from them so isn't this contradictory when we said in our podcast that we go back to the three noble generation we were talking about مسائل which are مسائل which are fundamental issues of that doesn't evolve over time like in issues of sub branches they require this on this issue so the ayah has an evidence that a technology comes out something happens and the muslims need a ruling somebody takes that ayah and he places it on this issue I mean they said if I'm not here to apply that because this is not a fundamental issue it's a branch sub branch so when we say that we follow the early three generation we're not saying that the door of each tihad is locked and there's no each tihad anymore we're saying of course there is each tihad that's fiqh related issues and we're saying that we go back to the three noble generation when it comes to what when it comes to matters of the tihad matters of you know belief also the issues of fiqh the framework that they set is what's used we don't go outside that framework the boundaries that they went in and how they learned and how they did the extraction and the deriving of rulings from the ayat that's the same that ibn ul qayyim and ibn utamiya and other great scholars are doing it they're just applying on the evolving of the people and how these issues relate to them okay the final question i have for you again we did mention that we obviously refer back to the early scholars and the early generations but it appears that many of the salafis actually take a lot of their knowledge from the likes of sheikh ibn al-Taymin sheikh al-Bani, sheikh bin Baz these are people you've mentioned throughout your lectures, throughout your podcasts isn't again this contradictory that you're actually referring to the later scholars and you're actually blind following the later scholars the modern day scholars yet theoretically you're saying we should go back to the early scholars this is very important to be understood when we say we follow the salaf the scholars they mention the salaf in terms of time, virtue and irtiqat belief so we follow the three noble generation in terms of their knowledge their understanding and everything and anyone who follows them in their knowledge and follows them in their righteous actions and their belief was also followed whichever time he came from because he's in line with what they were doing so sheikh al-istami ibn al-Taymin didn't come with anything new ولا محمد عبد الوهاب ولا شيخ ibn al-Baz and if they did say a statement here or there that doesn't go in line with what the early generation said was rejected and it wasn't taken from them do you see my point at any statements that they said any views that they came with in the early generation we rejected so شيخ ibn al-Baz and ibn al-Wahab محمد عبد الوهاب and sheikh al-Samtemi ibn al-Qayyim ibn al-Rajab we take their statements as long as it's in line with the three noble generation and it's in line with the early righteous pious predecessors once it is then we take it and we quote it because it's easier for us to grab it أسلام until next time مرحمة الله وبركاته I hope you found the answers to those questions beneficial just a reminder once again as I mentioned at the start if you have any questions on any of the episodes we record on the hot seat podcast then head over to www.thehotseatpodcast.com where you can fill out an online form and ask us your questions alternatively feel free to انتظروا جداً لأخبركم على سؤالات السؤالات at thehotseatpodcast.com. That's questions at thehotseatpodcast.com. Until next time, في إمان الله وسلام ورحمة الله وبركاته.


Hello. Welcome back. We've completed chapter 15. The local church as a Zion got chosen people. Let's go to chapter 16 now. The local church as the vine and the branches. The vine and the branches. John chapter 15 verse 1 to 8. We've heard numerous stories, sermons on those in this chapter. Let's read it. John chapter 15 verse 1 to 8 says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, this is very important, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. You will be my disciples. Okay, so what are some of the significant points that kind of stands out to you or what we just read? Okay, so the importance of abiding in Christ, okay, whose relationship, importance of our relationship with God, okay, that stands out. All right, what else? We've just read through eight verses, isn't it? So what stood out the most for you is what I'm asking. Thank you for quoting the one of the important instruction to us, that is to abide in him. Okay, so that stands out for you. All right, it's important to be fruitful. Okay, it's not just saying the scriptures, but if you read carefully, just not saying be fruitful, it's important to be more fruitful. Okay, yeah, and Nina has mentioned, apart from me, you can do nothing. Yeah. So is it very interesting? You see, in verse five, it says, I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me. This is Jesus talking, right? He who abides in me and I in him. And then the imagery is changing. It says, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, right?  And who he who keeps my commandments, will be loved by my father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him. Well, if you obey my commandments, it's simply what, if you obey my word, isn't it? If you obey my laws, if you obey my precepts, my statues, if you keep them, that means if, in other words, if you abide by them, I will manifest myself to you. I really forget which verse that is, I read it again, I told you yesterday and I forgot. Right, it starts off by saying verse one, I am the true vine, not just vine, I am the true vine. The difference between the truth and fact is, truth is unchanging. Fact can change, right? It may rain today, it may not rain today, weather forecast, isn't it? So facts can change, but the truth does not. It is constant, right? He is the unchanging one. He's the same yesterday, today and forever, right? That's why he says, I am the true vine, the unchanging one and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, takes away. Nina, are you saying something? No, no, sorry. Just that reference about manifesting, yes, they would manifest themselves if we keep the word. Thank you so much, John 21. I think so. I just have to check it. Thank you. Okay, tell me some of the things about fruits. What do you know about fruits? Fruits have seeds. Yeah, guys. Okay, fine. Fruits have seeds. Okay, really? Okay, what about, so are you saying that there are no fruits that is available throughout the year? Okay, so there we go. One characteristic of a fruit is it can be seasonal or it is continual available throughout the season. It's a very important point for us to remember. Are we expected to be seasonal, Christian, sorry? Okay. What else? What do you know about fruits? Okay, fruits come from a tree. Okay, fruits. Are fruits always sweet? That's another question. So fruits can be sweet or bitter. So it can be, what else? It can be either ripe or rotten. Yeah, raw or ripe or ripe and rotten. So it can be raw, ripe, rotten. Okay, right. So from what little do we know about fruits? It can be seasonal or continual. Bananas are available throughout the year. Apples are available through year. And what else? So many other fruits. Again, I'm not an expert in fruits. I'm just, you know, trying to think of a tomato or fruit or a vegetable. Why was it a fruit? It's a general knowledge question. Right, Nina says a tree is recognized by its fruit. Yeah, fruit shows what a tree is if it's a good tree, bad tree, whatever. A tree is recognized by its fruit. Yeah, I think there's so much to learn. I think again, if you look at from the time Bible days, they've used, Peter uses so much of the language of an architect, so to speak, like buildings, sculptures, the cornerstone, chief cornerstone. Now all of that has a significance because again, the Romans and the Greek, they gave a lot of importance to, he's talking from their context, right? And then we see parables from the language of a farmer farming in the tree and all of this, they all hold very very significant. And in this context, coming back to this now, understanding that the fruits can have all of these different characteristics. It can be raw, ripe, rotten. It can be seasonal or continual. It can be sweet or sour or bitter, whatever. So having understood all of that, when we look at this scripture in the light of that, verse seven, it says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Verse six, it says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And so it is possible that you can still bear fruit outside of him, but it depends on what kind of fruit that is. It's not going to be sweet, right? It's not going to be a fruit that anybody desires to eat. It's not going to be very nice, basically, right? In other words, it talk and we'll just, as we go on in this chapter, we look at, talks about a character, you know, when we talk about the fruits of the Holy Spirit, etc. Okay. So we are designed to be fruitful and God desires us to be very fruitful. To be fruitful is to manifest or express the life of the vine. So beautiful, isn't it? To be fruitful or full of fruit. It's what any word ending with a full means, isn't it? Wonderful is full of wonder. Mercyful is full of mercy. Faithful is full of faith. Fruitful is full of fruit, right? So all of us are to manifest according to Galatians chapter 5 verse 22-23. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All of those are what? Foods of the Spirit. Yeah. So it's not seasonal. It doesn't depend on, you know, as long as we abide in him and he abides in us. And that's the language of intimacy, isn't it? And according to John 14, 21, it says, if you keep my commandments, that means if you obey them, obedience is the language of intimacy. We need to realize that. We need to know that. Okay. It's, which is better than sacrifice. Is he pleased in burnt offerings? For obedience is better than sacrifice, the Bible says, isn't it? So obedience is the language of intimacy. And if you've gone through the gospel of John, time and time again, we see that Jesus saying, the Son of God, he says, my teachings are not my own. What I do are not the things that, you know, are not my own. What I say are not my, you know, is what the Father tells me to say. I go where the Father tells me to go. Jesus lived our last line of the declaration absolutely perfectly. The Son of God, he lived in absolute surrender. He could have easily said that, okay, these are my teachings. Why? Because I'm co-equal with God. I'm the Son of God. But he understood his assignment so beautifully and it's all so humility, right? In Philippians chapter two, we see that he humbled himself, made him nothing, isn't it?  And I'm saying that in line with intimacy, right? And I would have mentioned this in first year intimacy, if you break it down, it simply stands for, yeah, into me, you see, because I show you, isn't it? And so if you have an intimate relationship with a person that you say that because I know the intimate parts of that person, the secrets that that person would not necessarily share with anybody else is willing to share with me because the person, he or she trusts me, isn't it? And so God is saying that abide in me. There are things that I want to reveal to you that which I can only show to you. And I have things in store for you. All you have to do is abide in me.  And that leads to fruitfulness, right? You guys okay? So second Peter chapter one was five to eight from your notes again, it says, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. Peter is just operating in a different level of wisdom. This is so good. He is not talking like a fisherman, isn't it? You know when Jesus asks his disciples, who do you say I am? Peter says, you are the Christ, Son of God, right? And then what does Jesus say? Flesh and blood is not revealed to you, but my Father in heaven has revealed. Okay, so he's operating in a realm of revelation from the Father, the Holy Spirit. It's just astonishing to see that, right? And just to see the series of words and the choice of words with so much wisdom, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. That means be virtuous. I will talk about a virtuous man and woman, right? What it is to be virtuous. And to virtue, add knowledge. And to knowledge, self-control, because knowledge without self-control can see what's happening to a lot of young people these days, is so much of knowledge available at your fingertips. Everybody knows everything about everything. Peter for a long time, he was like that, you know, usually if you have a gun, what do you do? You are taught to aim and fire. Peter was more like fire and aim.  So for if these things are yours and bound, you will be neither barren nor, everybody's looking at that, right? You will either be neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if, for if these things are yours and you're abound, and if you abound is what? Like overflow. I read this quote recently, very simple quote, it says, you are not full unless you're overflowing. You are not full unless you overflow, right? Why do we pray, Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit, not just to the brim of it, but just to overflow, right? The river of God flows, it just does not stay in this temple, right? And wherever the river flows, though it brought life. You know that, right? Okay. Okay.  That means you will not be seasonal in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. So faith, virtue simply means character. Character as pastors and as leaders are very important. And me for quoting this old thing, I'm sure you know this, your anointing will take you up, but it is your character that will keep you up there, right? So you need to remember that character is, it's very important to say the least, your anointing will take you up, it may keep you, it may take you to places where you have not dream talk or imagined, but it is your character that will keep you there. And so that's what Peter's talking about. Faith, virtue or character, a virtuous man, a virtuous woman, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Kindness. So again, the Greek was another word that was used in the Bible is do good. Do good. Yeah. Hebrews 13, it says, offers spiritual sacrifices and thanksgiving. It goes on to say, while you're doing this, do not forget to do good. Psalm 37 was three or verse four. It says, I mean, Psalm 37 was one to eight. You will see these words repeated. It says, do not be afraid, do not be afraid, or it says, do not fret, etc, etc. It's saying all of this time and time again, but in the middle it says, while you're not being afraid, trust in the Lord and do good. That means trust in the Lord, while you're trusting in the Lord, be kind. Another word for kindness is generosity as well. Another way of expressing kindness is you are being generous. And when I say generous, it's not just giving money. I mean, that's one of the things that we can relate to is labor. Thank you for your generosity, as someone donated so much money to a charity, etc, etc. But I can be generous with my time. Isn't it? I can be generous with my time to you. Time is very precious, priceless, isn't it? And so when you're saying all of this, it's all coming under the fruits case of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, Godliness, brotherly love, kindness. These are seven areas in which we need to keep on growing to be fruitful. Keep on growing, not be satisfied where we are at. There is more. I want overflow. I want a bound in love, a bound in self-control, etc, etc. All okay? So practical ways our local church can implement this. As a local church, we need to emphasize and focus on intimacy with him. That is the answer to everything. Literally every problem in life or issue that we face or every challenge that we face, we need God. The answer lies there. And it's found in him in his presence with our intimate relationship with him. As a local church, we need to check upon fruitfulness. The same way he checks upon us, we should not get busy with activity. It's a possibility, isn't it? You get too busy with ministry. We forget to check on the garden. So we forget to prune it. What's happening is everything all healthy and good, etc, etc. Okay? I'm going through the remainder of the chapter. So again, as a church, the local church, we are called to be the vine and the branches. We are called to abide in him. Anything that is outside of Jesus is not going to last long. Okay? Any doctrine, any theology that is outside of Jesus is not going to last long. In fact, according to verse 6 from John 15, says, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and they throw them into the fire. It's talking about judgment over there. Right? All good? Yeah, that's it. Okay. Okay, let's move on to the next chapter, chapter 17, the lamp stand. I have this small menorah at home. I wanted to bring it and I forgot. I mean, I'm sure we've all seen that. Sorry. It's a metal one. Yeah. It's a small one. Sorry. Yeah, you can't light it. It's a very small thing. Okay. So it's beautiful. Actually, my dad got it when he went to Israel. Okay. But so again, we know the lamp stand was first introduced in the Tabernacle of Moses. Tabernacle of Moses had outer quotes in the quotes, holy of holies. In the outer quotes, there were two pieces of furniture. What were they? Sofa and dining table. Alter of sacrifice and a brazen labor or bronze labor. Right? So sacrifice was performed. So as soon as you enter the Tabernacle of Moses, it had a gate. The gate was made of four different colors. Saffron white and green. The gate was made of four different colors, scarlet red, white, blue, and purple. All of that has significance. Right? And then as you enter the outer quotes, you have the altar of sacrifice or bronze altar of sacrifice. That's where the sacrifice was performed barbecue. And then there was bronze labor or like a tub, which was inside, was made up of mirrors that women used. And then it was filled with water. Okay. All of that has significance. And then you enter the holy place or the inner quotes. Inner quotes had three pieces, table of showbread, lampstand, and then the altar of incense. Okay. So outside there was natural light, sunlight. Inside there was artificial light or the light that you got from the lampstand. Okay. It was the responsibility of the priest to make sure that there was oil always there in the lampstand and the wicks was always trimmed. Yeah, it always trimmed. So if it's burning off and so they need to trim it. The point was they need to make sure that the fire was always there, that there was always light burning. It's quite amazing the responsibility. Right? And so in that light, and again, there's a replica of this, the tabernacle of Moses on YouTube, you know, like in Israel, they've actually built one the way it looks. And it's pretty dark inside without the light because again, the covering was made up of skin, right? And so it was very thick. So it's very, it's not possible for light to penetrate. And so without the light of the lampstand, priests cannot perform their duties in the inner coats, making sure that the table, you know, of showbread has bread. We all know the importance of light, isn't it? So table of showbread signifies two things, a lot of things, but communion, bread. And Jesus is the bread of life. And it was also fellowship. There were 12 loaves of bread that were kept, signifying the 12 tribes of Israel. And it was replaced every seven days. Okay, fresh loaves would be replaced. And then there was an altar of incense, which signifies intercession of prayer. And so coming down to all of this, why is the lampstand very important? It was a place of illumination. Another word for illumination is revelation. Like with illumination, you get revelation that you get to see. It's unveiling, isn't it? And so without that illumination of the lampstand, you can hardly see anything. There's no revelation of what you want to do. And so church is called to be the light. Yeah, it's called to be light, the lampstand. And so without us, without the lampstand, it's impossible to do the works of God, other works of God as well. Okay, well, let's just look at it a little bit more. The local church as a lampstand, it says, in the revelation that John receives, he sees the Lord Jesus walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Revelation 1, 12, 13 and 20. Let's read it. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down and the feet and girded about with a chest with a golden band, the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. Okay, so angels or angelos means messenger. So it's the same word that is used for an angel of God and also the leader of a church, a messenger. So how do we know that in this context, it's not the angel, the heavenly angels, and it's the earthly human being, because nowhere in the scripture we see that an angel was given leadership to lead a church. When you read the whole context, we need to understand it like that. Okay, and so when he talks about the angels of the seven churches, it's talking about the, in other words, pastors or leaders or elders of that seven churches. Okay, one more scripture, Revelation 2, 1 and 5, it says, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, right, these things say, he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or else I will come and come to you and quickly and remove your lampstands from its place unless you repent. Okay, one more thing that we need to, if you pay attention from chapter 2 and end of chapter 3, all of these seven churches are mentioned. And to all these seven letters, Jesus starts off by saying, I have seen your works. I see your work. I see you. It's there when you read through the book of Revelation. That means he is watching what the churches are doing. Okay, and so what is the significance here that if he was watching back then, he's not stopped watching now. Okay, so he is watching, right, so and says, so the local church as a lampstand is to be the light. That's what we've been commanded the world to illuminating hearts and minds so that they can come into a place of understanding. Where is it? We all know the scripture Matthew chapter 5 was 14 and 16. You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand. It gives light to all who are in the house. Okay, so if you and I as individuals and as a collective are a lampstand, I know there's a lot of content here, but just pay attention. We'll finish pretty soon. When if I'm the light of the world and you know people who are around me, if I'm shining the light of Jesus in and through me, I'm allowing them to see that he is the bird of life, right, and I'm allowing them to see that Jesus is interceding for us. Hey with me, because it is the golden lampstand that allowed the priest to perform the other duties that the table of shoe bread and prayer intercession etc etc. And in the scriptures we see that he is the bird of life. He is the light of the world and he is our intercessor. Jesus is interceding for us and so if you and I as an individuals and as collective are the lampstand or the light called to do what he is called us to do, we allow people who don't know Jesus to say that okay he is the light of the world, he's the bird of life and he is interceding for us etc etc. All good, no? We are to walk as people of the light. Do you know that in the light? Walking in the light of the Lord. It's a great thing to praise the Lord. You know the Sunday school song, your walk talks and your talk talks, you know that? But your walk talks louder than your talk talks. Walk not in darkness as children of the night. Walk even as Jesus walked as children of the light. I heard that only once in Sixth Standard and I never forgotten it. Let's come to a conclusion here by reading Philippians 2, 14 to 15. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and a perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Okay practical ways the local church can implement this. Maintain our first love, intimacy so that our lampstand is burning strong in his presence. We then have the power to influence our world with his light. A local church must provide illumination for God's people so that they can be in a place of understanding God's word, place of communion, prayer and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Encourage believers to live lives and do good works that will point people to the Lord and expose waters of darkness. Okay all these points once again are very fundamental to a Christian life, to a Christian walk. Intimacy is the key of everything. Pursuing his presence is the secret, is the key. Learning to host his presence, living a life aware of his presence is simply the key and knowing that he deserves all the glory on a power and praise is fundamental. Are you all with me? So let's conclude with chapter 18. It's like a summary of everything what we've covered so far in section 2. Chapter 18 is just talking again using the example of the early church from the Book of Acts and just simply saying how that church was a body of Christ and as the body of Christ they represented Christ powerfully in their world. As a family of God they shared all things and supported one another. As a pillar of truth they stood against the pressure of opposing traditions. As the army of God they advanced forcefully and overthrew the works of darkness and released people and regions from demonic domination. As the bride of Christ they were deeply in love with their bridegroom God. As a house of prayer and worship that devoted themselves to powerful prayer, worship and intercession. As the temple of God they saw God's presence and glory manifested. As the people of God talking about Zion they lived radically different from the world around them. As the branches of the true wine they walked in intimacy and fruitfulness. As the lamp stand set by God they let their light shine in the midst of the darkness. Okay this is wonderful we are concluding section 2. We are concluding section 2. We have one blueprint 10 different perspective and as a leader, as a future leaders, senior pastors, founders, ministry or just ordinary person etc etc. One way that you can gauge if your ministry is healthy is looking through these different windows this is different perspective. It's and check okay is your ministry doing all right is the church doing all right. Where is your church in this area of praise and worship? Where is your church in the area of intercession or as a bride is their love is in the right place or etc etc. Okay all good okay so with that we'll actually stop here I think we've covered a lot of content for today Francis is saying amen and see it in his eyes I can see it in his eyes thank God bottles were falling iPads were iPads were falling everything was falling without the anointing of the Lord everything was falling in this place so it goes online I think it's safe to stop now before they start falling in class but thanks for joining in I'll see you again next week okay God bless you thank you