Urban Church Planting | Lecture 1 : BC309-UCP-20260813

This call is now being recorded. This call is now. >> All right. Good morning everyone and welcome to the >> good morning sir. >> Okay. Let's just pray and we'll begin our course this morning. Let's pray. Father, we just want to thank you so much for your goodness, your faithfulness upon each of our lives, God. And especially we want to thank you for this time where we could just come and sit in your feet and Lord just learn and study your word. And Lord even as we do that we pray Holy Spirit that you will give us the wisdom the understanding that everything that we learn oh God may it be rooted in our hearts in good ground that we may use it to bear fruit in our lives. God bless this time bless this entire semester God. everything Lord that we going to study may it bring glory to your name in Jesus name we pray amen all right so uh this semester I'll be teaching on urban church planting and it's a very exciting course because I believe that all of us can be pioneers start off something new start new ministries and that's what God's called us for right uh so just a little bit of outline on what we will cover this First we look at um you know natural dynamics right so we're going to look at see for example a church in Bangalore and a church in maybe Andhra Pradesh or or or Tamil Nadu or anywhere else north India the way you plant a church may be very different right um what works in a city may not work in a town or in a village but there are certain dynamics When I say dynamics, it means natural dynamics or spiritual dynamics. Um, which we will need to learn and apply to build a strong church or a strong ministry. So, we're going to learn that. Then we're going to learn we're going to look at even from the book of Acts a few aspects on how the church was planted, how they built the church, how um, of course we look at Apostle Paul, how he went out and many churches. Then we will also look in section two we look at uh practical aspects right. So when you want to plant a church there are many things that we have to do practically right and you know survey phase launching phase preparation phase so many other things that are involved right so we look at that how to uh grow how to consolidate strengthen uh the church all of that we look at then section three we look at spiritual aspects understanding that uh when you start a church when church planting is it's not it's not because I'm doing it I don't have any other work to do or because you know it's exciting to stand on the stage. No, this is a spiritual battle. There will be a battle and we will look at how you and I can be must be equipped to fight that battle. Then in section four we look at very important which is the personal life of a church planter. uh we need to have a good prayer life, personal life, character, integrity, all of that we look at and then we will end it with the future right meaning after you plant a church you have you know built the church it's probably 20 30 years how are you going to you know uh look into it for the next generation raise up next leaders who can take the church to the next level so a lot of things that we can learn and we can apply all of is in our own uh you know journeys. Okay. So let's go to uh chapter one. Pastor has just shared a few thoughts here on his personal journey. How he was in school and then went to college and slowly he started. The reason we have this is because we must understand that church planting doesn't happen sometimes immediately. Right now you may say hey I want to plant a church. I want to become a pastor. Good. But there's all these phases that God may take us through. Yet remember that it can also be very small insignificant things that you do that can later you know enable you and equip you to launch into your ministry. right now. Uh when we look at church planting, right? Uh remember that the journey is for some people may be very quick. The journey for some people can be you know okay average. Some people may be very slow. Right now for example I know people who have planted a church in their early 20s 24 25 they planted a church the church has grown and now they they don't know anything about the world right they've always been in the church but I know people who have started churches in their late 30s and I know some of them who have started in their early 50s they started church right and they're doing well right so never compare your church planting ideas and strategies is what go how God is using you to somebody else's okay however God is leading you right sometimes God will tell a person 10 years I want you to prepare to become a pastor sometimes God will say you become a pastor then I'll prepare you it may vary right so for the reason pastors put it here is he's just sharing his journey right how he when he was in school he you know he would go and just preach uh during the lunch breaks and then in college he would get students together and preach. These are all small seeds in our hearts that God begins to sew. Eventually they become like you know a training ground. Then one day when when God will really release you to what he wants you to do. But the key is to be faithful stewards during those small seasons. Right. I think now in a time we are living in, we have YouTube and all these things and everything is so fancy, right? Fancy screens, LED screens, LED light, everything is fancy. And sometimes we want to, you know, we want success very fast, right? God's promises, I will prosper you. I'll cause you to succeed. But he never said how you know how fast he'll do it. There is a way. There is a season that he'll take us through. Right? So let's go to chapter two which is the Holy Spirit our leader. Right? Now when we are called to plant a church always remember the Holy Spirit is our leader. When we say the Holy Spirit meaning he's the one who is going to give us the counsel, the wisdom, the strength, the ability. Remember what Jesus said, "I am going." John 14:15, 16, he says, "I'm going and I'm glad that I'm going because the helper is going to come." And when he comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will tell you, he will explain to you, he will be with you. So, Acts 1:8, and I've shared this many times, but Jesus uh says something so powerful. Acts 18, he has met with the disciples, but he says to the disciples this, he says, "Go and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit." And in Acts 18, let's read that. But when but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses and in witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now Jesus knew that he has to prepare these disciples. Remember these disciples have no concept about church. They don't know what is church right because it's Jesus has died. He's resurrected but there's no concept about church. Now he's saying here if if you have to plant churches, go out to places, be a witness, first you need the empowering of the Holy Spirit. So he says go and wait. And verse 18, he says, but when the when but but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses. What's the key there? You will receive power. I like the Greek word. It says dunamis. It is it is a it is a a a mighty power not an ordinary power not a power of this world not political power not money power no no saying you will receive the dunamis the the the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you'll receive power to be a witness in Jerusalem in all Judea and Samaria let's read Zechariah chapter 4. And so another very powerful verse. Zechariah 4 6 and 7. Anyone can read that please. Zechariah 4 6 and 7. A very common verse. Read it if. >> So he answered and said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts." >> Yeah. >> Who are you? >> No, that's that's fine. Right. 4:6. Now, let me give you an understanding what's happening here. Right. During this time, the Babylonians have come and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, right? Everything is ravaged in Jerusalem. It's nothing. It's all desolate. It's it's it's broken down. They have the nation of Israel. They have no money. They have no resources. They have no people. People are discouraged. People are living with no hope. And in this time the prophet Zechariah is coming and saying at that time Zerubbabel is a king right imagine Zerubbabel is thinking I don't want to build any temple but here's another thing the the temple that Solomon built was a majestic temple it is one of the greatest temple right and that temple was destroyed by the Babylonians now Zerubbabel is the There's no temple, right? Everyone understanding, right? There's no temple. It's all destroyed by the Babylonians. That means what Solomon built completely destroyed. Now, the people are discouraged. Zerobe is saying, "Let's build. We'll start small, right? We will do a small structure. We'll start building the temple." But what happened was the people started saying, "What is this? Solomon built such a big temple. What are you doing here? Some small temple you're trying to build. Right? So Zerobe also as a king he got discouraged. People are discouraged saying Solomon's temple was so great and so big you know made of gold and all these precious stones. What temple is this you're building? Then the word of the Lord to Zechariah came and said listen it's not by might it's not by power. It's by the Holy Spirit, right? And that's what encouraged him. And he went on to build the temple. Was it as grand as Solomon's temple? No. But he went on. What does it teach us? Never despise small beginnings. Never look at Never compare what somebody else did to what you are doing. The people of Jerusalem that time were comparing. Hey, Solomon's temple was so great. what you're building here. That is Solomon's time. It's destroyed. It's gone. Was it great? Yes. But it's gone now. It's it's to the ground. At least now start something small. He goes on to say, "Do not despise the day." See verse 10, he says, "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plum line in the hand of Jerusalem." Is he saying, "Don't despise this. Don't compare the temple we're building now to the temple Solomon had. Solomon had money. Solomon had wisdom. I gave them gave him everything. Right? But now the scenario is different. What you can do you do. But even as you do it, remember it's not by your might. It's not by your power. It's by the Holy Spirit. So very important. Even as we begin to maybe start our own ministry, we launch out. It can also be our own business. Whatever God's calling you to do, remember it's not by might, it's not by power, it's by the Holy Spirit. Everything you do must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you can start strong, but you will wear out. It's like, you know, if you run a mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar marathon or not a marathon keep you know maybe a 400 m or a 800 meter race 800 m could be probably around four rounds right imagine this if the you know you're all fresh you're getting ready to run when you start off you can start fast but what will happen after two rounds you start body starts becoming weak when then what happens after the third round said man I can't do this I can't my legs are giving way and they may give up but I'm just giving you this example but in church planting in ministry sometimes we can start strong but what matters is are we being faithful and finishing strong right see all of you joined Bible college first year many came many left but he's finishing strong right that's what matters right now what is what is the key here our dependence is on God unless he builds our efforts are in vain always our 100% dependence must be on God now just because our dependence is on God doesn't mean we don't have to work we look at natural aspects later right our dependence is on God but we have to put in a lot of effort as well let's read Psalms 127 7 verse one. Psalms 127 and verse one. A very common verse. Really? Yes. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. Who build it? Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. >> Yes. Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. So important. We can, you know, see what is what is the Lord trying to teach us here? He's saying, see, we can build a house on our own. Think of it in the natural sense. Can we build a house? We can, right? Okay. You know, as an architect, you'll know. Okay. Get the foundation right, put the stones, make the foundation strong, build the walls, have a strong ceiling. Yeah, we can build a house. But God is implying something here very important. He's saying your efforts will go in vain if you don't let God be the center of building your house. In in the book of Matthew, Jesus gives this beautiful example. Matthew, I think Matthew uh Matthew 5, he starts with a sermon on the mount. He ends the entire sermon on the mount with this beautiful small parable of the wise and the foolish builder. He says, "The wise man built on rock. The foolish man built on sand. What's the difference? Both built a house. Both had maybe two bedrooms and whatever. Both had protection. But the winds came, the storms came and it beat on both the houses. But the house that stood on rock stood firm." What is he trying to say here? Listen, we can depend on our own wisdom. All of that is there. But unless the Lord builds, meaning unless the Lord blesses, unless the Lord is the anchor of what you're doing, it's like you're building on sand. That's what he's trying to say. If you are building a ministry, make sure that you're building it on rock. If you want quick success, you can build on sand quickly. just make okay you know compound wall raise the walls very fast. Why would you want to dig a foundation and wait you know you know the foundation if you look at it in the natural the foundation is the most expensive and it takes the most time. Building the walls takes no time. Right? In a couple of weeks, if you've noticed, they, you know, they do the foundation and if you drive around, you'll see the foundation will be like that only for so long. Why? Because they're putting rocks, they're filling it up, they're watering it, and it needs to soak inside. The sand needs to really go in. Those those rocks has to go in and make that foundation strong. And then you come after two weeks, suddenly you'll notice it is already the first floor is over. Why putting the stones on the sides is easy? Because they have confidence that the foundation is strong. The same way when we build, take time to look at the foundation, we look at personal life and all of that later. Our efforts will be in vain. Otherwise, our efforts, whatever we do, must be empowered, God centered, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Why am I building a church? Why am I starting my ministry? Am I doing what is needed? Am I being empowered by the Holy Spirit? Am I giving glory to God? These are questions that we must ask ourselves. Okay. In John chapter 15 uh verse 4 and 5 again John 15 Jesus's last few moments with his disciples John 15 John 14 he's promises he's comforting the disciples he's promising the holy spirit and John 15 right he comes there verse 4 and 5 he says remain in me and I will remain in you no branch can bear fruit by itself it must remain in the vine neither can You bear fruit unless you remain in me. Verse five, I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And Jesus's words are very simple here. He says, "Remain in me, I will remain in you." And very clearly he says, "No branch can bear fruit in itself. It must remain in the vine in the same way in the like manner you can bear fruit. Sorry, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. So you know initially we can start strong then we say okay God help me to start you know I'm going to start the church praying spending hours in prayer hours in the word and then eventually God enables us to start the church or start a ministry and then a ministry is going on then what happens we become busy and we become tired right because we may have to do a lot of hard work right moving around traveling saying now it's very easy in that busyiness to forget about God. I'm not saying we'll go and start sinning or we may do something that is against what the word says. No. But slowly something else is creeping in and taking time in our life. It can be ministry. Says I'm doing ministry. No, no, no, no, no. Ministry is not building a strong foundation. Your personal time with God is building a foundation. That is why even here at APC, what we say is volunteers serve two times a month. And make sure that you don't compensate your personal life with by saying, "Oh, I'm serving in the church." No, no, no. Serving in the church is serving in the church. volunteer personal time with God that is different. You cannot compromise that right. So ensure that each one of us right in our personal work in our personal journey to spend that time initially okay but as time goes on as we become busy as we as life you know uh people will come to you you have to go for house visits hospital visits preparing sermons so many things to get done right then you as your church grows you just become more busy that's all and you Sometimes you won't even realize why you're so busy. Right? So some things that we as pastors we try to do is we we take breaks in between right two days three days whatever take breaks refire ourself right go back spend a lot of time in the word but also our every day our morning or evening whatever we we we focus we understand that this is this ministry is given by God and God is the the Holy Spirit is the one empowering us. So we must be able to spend time in God's presence. That is why we have five days of prayer, 30 days of prayer. I love the five days of prayer. It just it's just so relaxing. Maybe many of them you saw coming and working. I I didn't bother to get my laptop. You'll never see me getting my work during five days of prayer because that's prayer, right? And I can't tell you in those five days of prayer so many times God has given me ideas, strategies, how to resolve problems, right? And sometimes you you're so physically tired. But evening when you finish the prayer, you feel like as if you're fresh, you know, you've not done any work. You feel like that. Why? It's the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit. So remember that you need to have that time dedicated with the Lord spent aside. Right. Three, we labor but all increase come from God. This is the principle that God has put all right right from the beginning. He says to Adam, you till the ground, you look after it. I will make it grow. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 and 7. Let's go there. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 and 7. He's explaining to the Corinthians what's happening here in Corenth. Some of them are saying I follow Paul. Some are saying I follow Apollos. Some are saying I follow Cphus. And there's a confusion here. Now Paul's response. See verse 6 and 7 actually let's go to verse uh 4 onwards right for when one says I follow Paul another I follow Apollos are you not mere men what after all is Apollos and what is Paul only servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task I planted the seed Apollos house watered it, but God made it grow. Verse seven, so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes it grow. So powerful this is. We labor. Did Cphus did Peter labor? Yes. Did Apollos work hard? Yes. Because we see in the book of acts that uh you know they attributed Apollos's teachings almost to Paul's meaning he was so wellversed with the old testament and the way he would preach and teach. She was a powerful teacher and a lot of hard work, right? Reaching out, reaching out, going to places. Apo, Apostle Paul, of course, he writes about all the challenges that he goes through. But Paul is saying, listen, Apollo, somebody sw the seed, somebody watered, but God made it grow. If I only put the seed in water, and if it doesn't grow, what's the use of it? Look at it. Even in the natural, if I put a mango seed, I water it. If it doesn't grow, what's the point? I mean, naturally, you've done everything. We put the seed in good ground. You've covered it well. You've watered it. You're you're looking at it. Nothing's happening. Can we do anything about it? It's God who makes it grow. Look at things in the natural. Everything, right? Look at look at how a baby is formed in a mother's womb. It's God who makes it grow. It's one of the greatest miracles. If you study, you know, the whole aspect of a baby being born, it's scientifically it is just amazing. Who does it? God makes it grow. Now, we may come up with, you know, I ate the good food, I ate this, I had all that is there, right? God makes it grow. It is God. So here he's saying, Paul is saying we must labor. He's not saying don't labor. We labor. But the increase comes from God. So when we are in ministry, we labor. We work hard, right? And it's important to work hard. God does not bless laziness. Remember this, right? God blesses hands that work. Hands that Paul later on also he says if you don't work don't even eat. He was putting a principle. He's saying that means without food you can't live. That means don't don't sit and do nothing. You have to work. Right? Of course I understand there may be you know people who are housewives and uh all of that. That's okay. That's different. But there should be the principle of work. Right? And that's God's design. So Paul is saying, you work, but God will bless the labor of your hands. So think of this. Imagine you're ready to plant a church. You're, you know, you're going for street evangelism. It's hot sun and you know, nobody's nothing is happening and we can get very discouraged. Or you plant a church. You started a church first Sunday, nobody's come. Two, three people have come and they are also your friends. So God, what to do? Don't be discouraged. Labor. The more you labor and the more you put Jesus as a center, it will grow. It's God's principle. What you see now here in APC is not a one year, 5 year journey. Recently, we celebrated this year 2026, we celebrated 25 years. You were there for the service, right? Yeah. 25 years. So, it's not an easy journey. lot of hard work, a lot of preparations, lot of, you know, ups and downs. But it is a journey worth laboring. It's God who makes it grow, right? From what we were as a Bible callers to what we are now, it's God who makes it grow. We were faithful in the small. Okay. Next, [snorts] eternal fruit can only be gathered by engaging eternal means. Oh, this is very powerful. Now, what is Paul saying? 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Let's move there. Now, Paul is from talking about division in the church. Suddenly, he moves his moves the understanding to the judgment seat of Christ. But he's painting a very beautiful picture here. He's talking about fruit, right? Here he he said somebody sws another person waters god makes it grow. Now suddenly he changes he changes direction and he's saying even as you sow the seed even as you water he's painting a picture of what is going to happen in the judgment seat of Christ. Let's read verse 10 onwards 10 to maybe about uh 15 10 to 15. Can someone read that please? According to the grace of God given to methians 3 10-15 >> according to the grace of God which was given to me as a voice master builder I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will be clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. >> And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone if if anyone works If anyone work which he has built on it, it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire. Yeah. Now, I'm sure you know this passage, right? So, immediately Paul is moving and he's saying, I built the foundation. God gave me the idea. I went to Corenth. When I went to Corenth, I preached the gospel. The church was planted. Now, somebody else is building. I put the foundation somebody else is building and he's saying now be careful how you build. He says here right each one of you should be careful how he builds for no one can lay any foundation other than which is already laid which is Christ Jesus. So now in our ministries the foundation is Jesus. We cannot remove that foundation. But what we are doing is what did Jesus say? I've you know uh I will build my church. He said to the disciples, go make disciples, baptize them in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit. I'm with you always. Right? So he's given us the commission. Foundation is already there. Then he says if anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver and costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is. Because the day, you notice the the word day is a capital D. Is it on your Bible on a capital D? Yeah. This day is referring to the judgment seat of Christ. Okay. The day will be shown for what it is. The day will bring light to it. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. Oh, so here's what he's saying. The day will come you are building but a day will come when all your works will be tested. Right? So you got three two things here. You've got wood, hay, and straw. Then you got gold, silver, and costly stones. And God is the Lord Jesus is saying on that day, the judgment seat of Christ, the day of judgment, I will test your work. I will test it by fire. What happens to wood, hay, and straw if you burn it? What will happen? You've never burnt hay and straw ashes. What will happen to gold, silver, and costly stones? Okay. Now, it's our decision how we want to build. So, that's what he's saying. If it is burnt up, he will suffer loss. Now, of course, this judgment seat of Christ is just a judgment for us as believers, right? Uh I don't want to go into revelations, but uh it's just us for believers. But our rewards, we may say, "Lord, I've done ministry for 30 years." Very good. The Lord will say, "Very good. Let's test your work." Right? I have to test and see what you did. So, he tests it by fire. What was 30 years of ministry? You'll test it by fire and say okay in the 30 years only 10 years looks like it was done faithfully or it was done for my glory. So Lord what about the other 20 years? It's burnt up. Sad. But God is a God who will reward us no matter what. Right? But we will suffer loss. Right? So very important even as we build build with gold, silver and precious stones those are eternal fruits not earthly fruits not just something for earthly benefits don't start a church just so that people can call you pastor don't start a church just because it's a easy way to you know live life I don't have to go to office don't start a church because easy way to you know nowadays it's become an easy way to make money, right? I asked, you know, I was talking to a few of them, few young men uh couple of months back and they literally said this. I asked him, "Hey, why do you want to start a church?" One person said, "It's the fastest way to make money." He told me that straight. I said, "All the best." That's all I could say. It may be the fastest way to make money, but it's of no use. You're not going to get any fruit. And I of course later I explained to him I was telling him, you know, this the wrong reason. There's another person who doesn't believe in God, but he wants to start a church. Why? Fastest way to make money and travel. What? It's becoming a money laundering business now. No, no, no. that is only going to get burnt up when God tests it by fire. Always be assured that if you are stepping into ministry and you're planting a church, understand that you need to build on gold, silver, and costly stones. Foundation is built. Let me do it with eternal fruit in my mind. Even if I do a small church for 20 years, maybe 100 people, 150 people, it's okay. Remember God is not looking at quantity only. He looks at quality. Right? The quality of a it's not how long you live. You can live 90 years and do nothing in life. I'm not saying don't ask to live for 90. God said I will bless you with long life. But we can also live 35 years and do something great. Leave a mark. You get what I'm saying? So, it's not the longevity of life, but it's how fruitful your life is. Look at Stephen in the Bible. How much do we know of him? But we talk so much about him. Why? We just know that he was serving food, doing something small, but his life was cut short. But he did something great, right? Uh so like that it's not only about living a long life. No, it's about living a fruitful life. Without me you can bear no fruit. Okay. [snorts] So we're going to look at natural methods and means for urban church church planting and we are not depending on our own efforts for success and fruitfulness but we are being good stewards of the knowledge tools and learning that God has given us in the body of Christ. Now here here's very important good stewards. Everyone say good stewards. God has given us a lot of tools right if you look at what's happening now there's so much right we can open to Google we can we have you know so much of material that we can use and learn and equip ourselves we have study Bibles we have Greek we have you know I remember one one of our church member one young man he said pastor I've joined Bible college online where we they teach the New Testament in Greek So he's fully excited and he's learning it. He's a working professional. He's part of our uh sound and setup team. But he's doing this and he's saying it's very easy pastor. I think you should do it. I said yeah let me know how what are the things because it's a very self-paced learning and you can learn it's all online. There's so much that's available, right? There are books, there are resources, there are videos, there are many many things available, right? And you use these tools, right? And if you look at us as a church, we are using these tools, right? to to build. When you look at administration, when you look at our um things that we're doing on the social media, we're using high the new we're not using what was used used into 2020 saying okay we are a church we should not use all this is worldly. No, no, no. Let's all use the tools, the resources God has given us to build a church. Right? So, right now we have like you know for example let me give you we have a database in that database everyone every member of our church the details are there. So in case we want to meet we want to talk to anyone just put the name it'll come up name address everything and then we can just talk to them right. uh we have all the volunteers what they do different so all of that is managed it's not easy you know managing you can't have a notebook name number you go walking around with that notebook everywhere so everything's on file everything's on document right [snorts] uh use the tools we need to increase in knowledge use the tools and the learning that God has given us right so it could be you know I say this Now very I could be wrong but I I say this because I' I've noticed it in this generation. It's very easy to learn an instrument. Just go to Google, go to whatever YouTube, just watch and learn. They'll show you where to put your finger. Uh play the chord. Okay, done. All you have to do is practice it. That's it. Right now you have online classes and all of that. Very simple. Now when we were learning, there was nothing. There's no YouTube and all that. First of all to get those printouts for uh chords was so difficult right it's very difficult so now it's very easy knowledge has expanded phenomenally right children are able to learn things what we learned in when we were 18 they're learning at 8 right knowledge has expanded but we use all these things to build the body of Christ right it requires wisdom to take a city. Proverbs 21:22. I love this verse. Let's go there. It requires wisdom to take a city. Proverbs 21 and verse 22. A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the strongholds in which they trust. A wise man basically saying you can overpower. Think of this your city. Think of your city. Think of all the things that are happening there. Think of the people there. A wise man can enter in and pull down the strongholds in the city. But you need wisdom. Of course, you need the anointing, the power of the Holy Spirit, wisdom on how to take down a city. If God is calling you to take your city, right? Maybe you know, see, it's not it's not like we we're saying, you know, go there should be 1 million people or or what one lakh people in your church. Okay, if God does it, great. But you know what? Even 200 is more than enough to impact an entire city because you're going to be light there. When the Apostle Paul started when he went to Athens, we studied about it, right? He he went he preached the gospel four people or five people came to Christ Church was started we are reading about it now because of those four five people the entire city got to know about Jesus at least whether they believed or not that secondary at least that whole aspect of Jesus came there was no remember he was preaching they said who is this Jesus what are you talking about we haven't even heard this thing Jesus but he brought it in right and he was able to uh minister the gospel in these places. So you and I can also make an impact. Question here, what are some challenges we struggle with in learning to do both? Right. In learning to listen and depending on the Holy Spirit as well as research, observe, strategize and wisdom execute a church plant or a ministry. What are some challenges we struggle with? Sometimes we may feel you know God I I I don't know how to start it. That can be a you know some of them have a starting problem and how many of you are going to start your own church from zero from scratch. you want to do that. Okay, good. Good. Right. So, uh the others don't feel okay, this is not for me. No, no. Okay, learn these principles. I'm sure it's going to help you. Right. Uh what are some challenges? Let me say okay, I can do all the outreaches. No problem. But this preaching and teaching, I can't sit in one place and read the word. I can't sit. I'll do all the outside work. Right? So, we all have those things, right? I was like that I can do the outside you give me I'll do it whole day I can do outreach no problem all this stuff you know data all that oh but I realized hey I have to be good at that also I have to learn it it should not become a a hindrance for me to build a church so okay I have to learn it right so what are some challenges we struggle with sometimes I I may say okay I can I can really depend on the Holy Spirit on few things but other things not really right um research strategize coming up with new ideas and plans right you need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit right so some some things and along the course I I will share things that we're doing in ABC and also in ABC East where we are doing these events and uh we use these events as ways to evangelize. Right? So, next month we're doing the uh marriage and family workshop. And so, we're going to use this event to reach out to people, engage with people, uh use it as outreaches, evangelize with people. Now, there are people who are married, young couples, older couples. Do marriages go through problems? They go through financial problems. They go through stress, anxiety. Couples go through a lot of things. You know sometimes they're young couples but they feel within one year they feel I can't handle this person within one year why you know everything was so beautiful before marriage after marriage in one year the same pastor I don't know what I was I was I was not you know thinking with my mind I was thinking in my heart my heart thought it's him or I heart thought it's her but I don't want pass. I can't handle this. And I'm talking about Christians. Imagine there are people who are from other faiths as well. So, we use these uh these events as opportunities to reach out, bring restoration to families as well, right? Uh okay, we'll take a break and we'll come back. We'll get into chapter 3.