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He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted.” Matthew 19:11This was Jesus' response to a lengthy discussion about the indissolubility of marriage. One of the reasons that “Not all can accept this word…” is because marriage, and every other vocation, requires wholehearted sacrifice and selflessness. When this is not present, and when the selfless living that is required of us turns to selfishness, then every conflict becomes a heavy burden. A burden that is unbearable without grace.What is love? What form of love is required in marriage and every other vocation? What love is required of parents and grandparents? The answer is the same to all of these questions. We must love with complete selflessness and in a sacrificial way. Love, in its truest form, always looks to the good of the other and never focuses upon oneself.Only grace can enable us to live a life based on true love. Our fallen human nature tends to “navel gaze,” meaning, we tend to go through life thinking about ourselves—“What will make my life better? How will this affect me? This person has hurt me. I don't want to do this or that, etc.” It is very difficult in life to turn our eyes from ourselves to the love of others. This is why Jesus said that this form of love can only be embraced by “those to whom that is granted.” And those to whom this depth of love is granted are those who are open to God's transforming grace in their lives.One reason that it is very difficult to love in a completely selfless way is because it requires us to live by grace. Our feeble human minds cannot arrive at the high calling of charity by itself. It is only by grace that we will understand that selfless living is not only best for those whom we are called to love, but it is also best for us. And in the context of married life, parenting, other vocations and every other situation in life, if our love is always focused upon the good of the other, and if our lives imitate the total sacrifice of Christ, then we will see God do great things through us. As He does, we will also see God do great things in us. The bottom line is that we only become who we were made to be when we live like Christ. And He lived a life that was unconditionally sacrificial and selfless.Reflect, today, upon the high calling of love that you have been given. Can you accept this teaching of our Lord? Has an understanding of the nature of true love been granted to you by grace? And if so, are you doing all you can to live a life of selfless sacrificial love in union with Christ Jesus? As you examine your life and your relationships, especially with those closest to you, consider how well you act as Christ to them. Consider whether you forgive, turn the other cheek, seek mercy, compassion, understanding, gentleness and every other virtue and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Where you are lacking and find selfishness, do not hesitate to beg our Lord to grant you the grace to not only understand your high calling of love, but to also embrace it in your actions to the fullest degree. Then, and only then, will you be able to live the vocation to which you have been called.My loving Lord, Your love is beyond all comprehension. It is a love that can only be understood by the gift of Your grace. Please do grant me the grace I need to not only understand and to receive Your love in my life but to also offer Your love to all. May my life become an ongoing instrument of the perfection of love that You lived. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2021 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Michele Hansen  00:00Welcome back to Software Social. This episode is sponsored by the website monitoring tool, Oh Dear. We use Oh Dear to keep track of SSL certificates. If an SSL certificate is about to expire, we get an alert beforehand. We have automated processes to renew them, so we use Oh Dear as an extra level of peace of mind. You can sign up for a ten day free trial with no credit card required at OhDear.app. Michele Hansen  00:28Hey, welcome back to Software Social. So today we're doing something kind of fun. We're leaning on the social part of Software Social, and we have invited our friend, Sean Fioritto, to join us today.Sean Fioritto  00:44Hey guys. Thanks for having me.  Colleen Schnettler  00:47Hi Sean. Thanks for being here. Michele Hansen  00:48So, and the reason why we asked Sean, in addition to being a great person, is that Sean wrote a book called Sketching With CSS, and as you all know, I am writing a book and figuring it out. And there is a lot of stuff I haven't figured out, especially when it comes to, like, actually selling the book. Like, I feel like that, I feel like the, writing the book is, like, I feel like I kind of got a handle on that. The whole selling the book thing, like, not so much. Um, so we thought it would be kind of helpful to have Sean come on, since like, he's done this successfully. Colleen Schnettler  021:36So Sean, I would love to start with a little bit of your background with the book. What inspired you to write it? How did you get started? Where did that idea come from?  Sean Fioritto  01:50Yeah, so I wanted to quit my job.  Colleen Schnettler  01:53Don't we all? Michele Hansen  01:55Honest goal. Sean Fioritto  01:56I always wanted to go on my own, be independent, run my own business. That's been a goal for a very long time. So, I tried various things, you know, in my spare time, with limited to no success for years and years before that, and I was just getting sick of, the plan was, you know, I'm like, okay, I have this job. And in my spare time, I'm gonna get something going and then, and that just wasn't working. So I was getting impatient. Anyway, I ended up signing up with Amy Hoy's 30x500 class. This was seven or eight years ago. So, I signed up for that class. Actually, wait, I'm getting my timeline a little mixed up. So, I started reading stuff by Amy Hoy. It's funny, I'd actually bought another book that she wrote, and she used her sort of process for that book. And I bought that for my, for my job earlier. And I was like, oh, this Amy Hoy person is interesting. And so I started reading her blog, and then she has these things she writes called ebombs. You guys are probably familiar with that term. But they're basically content that, it's educational content directed at her target, you know, customer, which she would call her audience. So I was just, she, at that point, she had started 30x500. I think it was actually called a Year of Hustle at that point. And so she had all this content, and I was just devouring it, because I was like, she gets me. She knows my problem, and this is awesome. So I was just reading everything that she could write, that she wrote, and, you know, finding any resource that she'd ever written about, like, what's her process, because she was talking about this mysterious process that she has, she, she would talk about it. And I was able to sort of reverse engineer part of her course, the main thing called Sales Safari. So I'm not, I'm at my job, coasting, doing a half-assed job, spending a lot of time doing Sales Safari, trying to figure out what, what product I should do. Not product, but that's not the way to think about it with Sales Safari, but trying to figure out like, what, who, what audience should I focus on? And what problems do they have, and what's the juiciest problem that makes sense for me to tackle? And then, and she would call them pains, by the way, not, not problems. So what's the juiciest pain that they have, for me, that was like, be the easiest for me to peel off, and, and work on. So I started digging, and it was like, alright, well, what audience makes sense for me? This is kind of the process, and it was like, you know, like web designers, web developers, because I was a web developer. And so like, what are the, you know, audiences that are close to audiences that I'm in is kind of ideal. So I started there, and then I just read and read and read. I probably put like, 80 hours of research time into that process.  Colleen Schnettler  05:05Wow. Michele Hansen  05:06That's a lot. Sean Fioritto  05:06Of just reading and reading and reading and reading, and taking notes. And really understanding and whittling down and figuring out my audience, and figuring out, so the thinking, the benefit of that amount of time spent deliberately going through a process like that is that at some point, I became so in-tune with the audience that I could identify, and this is gonna pay off for you, Michele, this, this little story, because this feeds into like, how do you sell it. At some point, it meant that I could tell when a thing that I was, like a piece of content marketing that I was working on, was going to resonate very strongly with my audience and be worth the effort, if that makes sense. And it didn't really take much. Like, after I got done with that much amount of research, it was sort of, like, pretty trivial for me to come up with ideas for content that I could write that I knew people were gonna just eat up. And so that's, that's how I started building my, building my mailing list. And then that's how I eventually, Colleen, to your question, I came up with Sketching With CSS, which it was a solution to a pain point that I'd identified in my audience, which at that point was web designers. Colleen Schnettler  06:37How big did your mailing list grow? Sean Fioritto  06:39I have 20,000 people on my mail list. Colleen Schnettler  06:4120,000? Michele Hansen  06:42Holy guacamole.  Sean Fioritto  06:46Yeah. So like I said, I got really good. No, no, no. Michele Hansen  06:51I've got like, 200 people on my mailing list, or like, 220. And like, for context, that's like, 200 more people than I ever expected to have on the mailing list, and hearing, like, 20,000 feels very far from, from 200. Sean Fioritto  07:10Yeah, well, let me say something that will hopefully be more reassuring. The, Amy and Alex, for example, they've been running 30x500, for years, and I think their mailing list is just now approximating, like 20,000 or so. And like, the, they have been making so much money with that course with a significantly smaller mailing list. And that's a really, like, high value product, too. So anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I really think they only have like, a couple 1000 people on their mailing list for a long time. And then, for me, I launched pre-sales of my book, at that point, my, I think I only had, boy, I used to, I used to have this memorized. But like, it's been so long now. But I think I only had like, it was less than 2000 I think. I think. So, and even then, I don't think you need that. I know people that have launched with much smaller lists than that, and, and it was fine. Because the people that are on your list now guarantee it, your, will be very interested in, in buying the book. You know, that'd be like a low, low barrier to entry, assuming like, your mailing list is one of the ways that you're thinking of selling the book. Michele Hansen  08:26Yeah, I guess. That's not a good answer. But like, I, I, I actually, I admit, I'm a little bit like, wary to kind of hit it too hard. Like, I would probably send out like, like, if I did a pre-sale, which I guess I should. Actually, I had someone a couple days ago, who has been reading the drafts, who actually I think is also a 30x500 student in the past, say that they wanted to, like, pre-buy the book and asked me how to do it. And I was like, that's a great question. I will figure that out. And like, so maybe do that, and then maybe one more when, like, the book comes out? Um, yeah, cuz, so I've been thinking about the newsletter as a way to draft the book because I find writing an email to be a lot easier than, like, staring at a blank cursor just, you know, blinking at me. And I guess I haven't really, like, and like, people signed up for it to read the draft of the book, so I guess I almost feel bad like, using it for sales too much. Like you know, I want to let people know that the book exists, but like, I don't want to. I don't know, does that. Sean Fioritto  09:45So, it's very considerate of you to think about that. Michele Hansen  09:52Another way of saying that another, also a way to not make any money off of this. Sean Fioritto  09:57Well, yeah, that, but also, it's kind of inconsiderate of you to not be thinking about all the people that really, really, really want to buy it and also would like to read anything that you're writing right now. Like, you're just completely leaving them out there to dry. And there are definitely people like that on your mailing list. So, they're like, there's like, some people on your mailing list are not going to be interested in your content if you're sending it too much, or, or just in general, really lightly interested in what you're writing about, or mistakenly signed up for your mailing list, which at this point, you probably don't have that problem. So like, to some extent, that's always the case, and it used to bother me a lot. I would send an email, and sales emails especially would result in bigger unsubscribes after every email, because you know, your little email tool tells you like, can, you know, so nice of it to tell you like, this many people unsubscribed after you sent this email. And it's always a big jump after like, a sales email. That used to bother me a lot. But then I started, kind of watching even my own behavior, and you probably do the same, and you probably like, look forward to some emails from some people that hit your inbox from some newsletters that you're looking forward to, and you'd very much like them to send you more. And then there's other people where you're like, well, I signed up for that, like, a couple years ago, and I just am not thinking about that anymore. And I need, like, to like, whittle down my content. So you unsubscribe. So then you become that unsubscribe number on the other end of the person sending the email, but like, you weren't annoyed, you didn't mind. It was just like, time to move on. And that's usually the case. So I think people can just unsubscribe as long as it's easy. I would literally put it at the top of my emails. So like, because I would send emails very infrequently. I was not disciplined about that. And I still don't think that that's a problem. But the, but because I sent them infrequently I put at the top like, hey, you know, you signed up for this, because you probably read this thing I wrote. You weren't interested in the book, whatever, if this is not for you anymore, just unsubscribe, like, first thing. So that always made me feel better about sending emails. And also, I don't know, I think that's the right thing to do so people just know, like upfront, that you know, oh, okay, there's the easy to find unsubscribe button when they're done. And then that's fine. Michele Hansen  12:26We did that for Geocodio once, like, I want to say it was like a year or two ago, and our lists had been like, super disorganized. And like I think we had, we were sending stuff like, we send like one or two marketing emails a year from MailChimp. And then we also had Intercom, and those things didn't sync up. And so like, sometimes people would unsubscribe in intercom and then like, not be unsubscribed in MailChimp, or like vice versa. And then, since we didn't send a lot of email, we used MailChimp's pay as you go. And then they just like, shut down their page and go option a couple of years ago, even though we had a ton of credit, which was a little annoying. And, and then, so like, the next time, and I think we migrated over to Mailcoach. And so the next time we send out an email, we actually like for some reason, we were like, there's probably a lot of people on this who have meant to unsubscribe. And so at the very top of the next email, we put an unsubscribe link and we also put a link to delete their account. And like, a bunch of people did it, but then our number of people who were unsubscribing later on like, went like, way down. So it was like, ripping off the band aid basically. Sean Fioritto  13:36Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I think like, I don't know, when people unsubscribe from Geocodio, at this point, it doesn't like, break your heart anymore, I'm guessing. Right?  Michele Hansen  13:45No, I mean, we're like, we're kind of like jumping into something that has been very much on my mind, but I hadn't been wanting to admit that it was there and just trying to like, pretend that it's not there, which is all the dealing with rejection around either, you know, people being mad that they were being sold to or negative reviews. And I like, you know, it sounds like you kind of have a process for, like, accepting those feelings.  Sean Fioritto  14:19It used to bother me a lot.  Michele Hansen  14:22Like, yeah. Sean Fioritto  14:24Yeah, it used to bother me a lot. There are two things that I hated. I hated frontpage Hacker News, and I hated getting angry emails.  Michele Hansen  14:33Oh.  Sean Fioritto  14:35I also got creepy, tons of creepy emails. Once you get, like, past a certain threshold and the number of subscribers you have, the creepiness factor increases. Yeah. Yeah. But the, but I got used to all of that. I just realized, like, there's just some percentage of people that are just angry right now or whatever, like, whatever they're going through. And I know that, like, I am very carefully crafting things such that the most, most of my content is not self-serving, most of it is directly a result of research that tells me that this is a problem that people are having, and now I'm helping you. So I'm like, I never feel bad about those, and then even the sales emails, I started to not feel bad about those, too, because I'm like, this is also a thing that's helping you. But that took a while to get to. I mean, honestly, it did. And it got worse when it became my only source of income, which added extra, extra feelings. But yeah, there's a lot of feelings to like, get through. And now I have just developed more of a thick skin, you know. Like, I'm not terrified of having a super popular article anymore, or, you know, stuff like that. That doesn't, that doesn't bother me anymore. I think it just came with time, just like with you and Geocodio. I mean, I'm sure you are used to like, some fluctuations of revenue, which probably bothered you a lot at the beginning, but now, not so much. I mean, I'm just, I'm guessing, but that seems, you know, I'm sure there's some things they're that you've got a thick skin about now. Michele Hansen  16:12Oh, my gosh. I mean, for years, every time a plan downgrade came through, like every time it was like a punch in the gut. Like, and yeah, I think now that I, I guess I trust the revenue more, I'm not as impacted by it. It's more like, oh, I wonder, like, why that was. Like, did their project end, or like, you know, like, what happened? But yeah, in the beginning, especially when it was first our like, when it, when it became my, like, full time income. I mean, as, as you said, like, that is really painful. Like, I'm curious, like, so you,  so like, when did you start writing the book? Sean Fioritto  1705Let me think, like, like the year, or a timing, like, in terms of the timeline?  Michele Hansen  17:12Whichever one you want to go with.  Sean Fioritto  17:15Yeah, I can't remember the year cuz it was a while ago. It was like, eight years ago.  Michele Hansen  17:19Oh, wow. Okay. So you started, Sean Fioritto  17:22I think it was 2013 is when I started. Yeah. Michele Hansen  17:24You did the, sounds like you did 30x500 first, right? Sean Fioritto  17:30Yeah, I had the, I had started writing the book before 30x500. But like I said, I was ,I was following her process already at sort of reverse engineered it. And then I felt like I just owed her the money for the, for the course. So, plus I wanted to meet her, so. Michele Hansen  17:44Yeah, so you started like, the research process basically, like, like 30x500 like, was only one part of your, like, research. Like, cuz you said you had sort of, you had figured out what her process was based on the blog posts and whatnot before you took the course. Yeah. Sean Fioritto  18:00Yeah.  Michele Hansen  18:01Okay. Sean Fioritto  18:02Yeah, and at that point, I had already generated the research I needed to see, to choose Sketching With CSS as a, as a product. I pretty much had, I think I had a landing page. I hadn't done pre-sales yet, but I was, I was gearing up for that. Michele Hansen  18:17You are so organized. Colleen Schnettler  18:19Michele, do you have a landing page?  Michele Hansen  18:22There is a website.  Colleen Schnettler  18:24Okay, I didn't know. Michele Hansen  18:26I haven't told anyone about it because I talk about,  Colleen Schnettler  18:29Your secret website. Michele Hansen  18:30I actually have two. I thought of the domain name, or like, the name for it in the shower, and then I like, immediately like, ran for the computer to see if it was available. And I actually bought two, and then I think we put, like, a book, oh my god, I just typed it wrong. Colleen Schnettler  18:55This is the part where you tell us what it is.  Michele Hansen  18:57There's nothing on it, and actually, if I say it now then we have to have something on it by, Colleen Schnettler  19:01Well, there's no way to pressurize a situation than to tell us right now. Michele Hansen  19:06So okay, it is DeployEmpathy.com. Okay, okay, crap, now I have it out. I don't even know how I'm going to sell it. Okay. So um, and I think I have another one, too. But yeah, we have like, a very basic like, WordPress template on it. Like, it's not, it's not, okay. While I was trying to figure it, so like, people keep asking me like, oh, like, when's your book coming out? And I'm like, I have no idea. I have never done this before. I don't know what steps are ahead of me. So, okay, so you started writing the book while you were doing research concurrently, and then how, and you were also, Sean Fioritto  19:48Oh, sorry, there's two types of research.  Michele Hansen  19:50Okay. Sean Fioritto  19:51So, we could clarify that. There was my audience research and understanding the pain that I was solving, and then there's the research about the book. I didn't have to do as much research about the book. I mean, I already, like, the type of book I ended up writing, I already had, you know, the expertise I needed to write that book. So yeah, I was, audience research was already done by the time I was writing Sketching With CSS. So I wasn't doing research like that while writing the book. Michele Hansen  20:16Okay. And then you also had the landing page up, and you started building your list while you were doing this research and writing phase. Okay, so how long did it take you from, like, the time that you had the idea for the book to when people could, like, buy and download the book, like, just like, the big picture? Like, how long did that process take you? Sean Fioritto  20:45Well, I mean, keep in mind, that ton of the work was while I was still full time working, in theory. Michele Hansen  20:56I mean, I guess I am, too, right? Like, this is not my full time thing. Sean Fioritto  21:00Yeah, but I think like, from, from, from research to launch, like, book is done, it was like, in the four to six month range. Michele Hansen  21:14Okay. Okay. So I think I started at like, the end of February with the newsletter, and it's May, so that's like, yeah. I do feel like I'm doing a little bit of, I think what we have termed Colleen does, of putzing in the code garden, rather than selling things or doing marketing or whatnot. And I am totally doing that with my manuscript, I guess you could call it. Sounds so fancy. And just like, moving commas around and like, totally procrastinating on making images for it, like totally, totally procrastinating on that. Okay, so it took you like, four to six months to get to that point.  Sean Fioritto  21:59Yeah, there was a, there was a launch in between there. Michele Hansen  22:02So when was the like, so was your pre-sale your launch? Or like, how does that work?  Sean Fioritto  22:08You could do lots of launches.  Michele Hansen  22:11This is like, the part that is like, just sort of like, you know, in my head, it's like step one, write book, like, step two of question, question question, and step three, profit. Like that's sort of where I am right now. Sean Fioritto  22:24I feel like you're already doing most of the things that I would do. The, the one thing, so alright. So you're, you're working in public, so you're getting interest via Twitter. You're writing to your mailing list. You're doing the right thing, which is writing content for your book that, you know, is also useful to your mailing list, like, independently. Like, like getting double bang for your buck is smart when you're doing this kind of business. So you're keeping your list warm enough. People are, you're building anticipation, people are telling you you're building anticipation, because they're like, hey, when do I get to buy this book? So, you know, you're basically doing all the things. As, you know, from from my perspective, looking in, it seems like you're just accidentally or intuitively doing the right, doing the right stuff. The thing that's missing between like, what you are doing and what I did is probably, I would press pause on book writing and do specific content marketing things just to build my mailing list. Michele Hansen  23:37But I love putzing in the code garden.  Sean Fioritto  23:39And I'm not, I'm not, sorry, I didn't mean to say that as like, you should do that. That's what I would, as in like, I was doing that. And I don't know, Michele Hansen  23:48And you wrote, like, a successful book and sold it, and it was your full time job for a period of time. So you're kind of here because you're good at this and because I need to be told these things. Sean Fioritto  23:59Right. Well, I'm just saying what I did. But it's, it's really ultimately you get to pick and choose what you do. The, you know, I actually happen to very much enjoy the process of coming up with content that I knew would be popular and writing it and sharing it everywhere and doing all that stuff. And also, I knew I needed to because I was going to try and make this my full time living, so I'm like, I need more people on my mailing list. So that was pretty important to me based on the goals I was trying to achieve. The, the other thing is though, like, even with a small mailing list, your book as the, a lot of book sales are gonna come from word of mouth. Like, I sort of forced the book onto the scene. But like, it's not a, the Sketching With CSS is not like a, while the marketing theme is, like, the marketing message at the time, it doesn't connect anymore because  the world has moved on from that phase of web development. But like, while people could read the marketing, the landing page and connect really strongly, and, you know, be interested in the book, the book didn't really lend itself well to word of mouth, because it's not like, it was not like a, oh, you should read this, like, it's this lightweight, like reading recommendation. It's got to be, you've got to be like, ready to commit to learning a bunch of code. So it's like, there's like, a smaller group of people at any given time that are like, at that point, does that make sense? Versus your book, it's, it seems like, it's like a higher level of value, like, it's a more abstract, then like, here are the, learn this code. Here's how to type in Git commands, here's how to do that. You know, like, I was really like, down at the, like, here's what you're gonna be doing day to day in your job. And you're giving them the same message, but like, in a way that can be, that is at like, a higher level, it's maybe easier to read, you know, in your spare time. It's like a business book, has the same qualities of, like, successful business books. So, I think that you may not have to do any of the content marketing stuff that I was doing is what I'm getting at, because, like, I can already tell, I'm ready to read your book, and I'm ready to recommend it to people, because it does it solve, like, a question that people have all the time, and a problem people have, and they're like, oh, I wish I knew how to, you know, talk to my customers more effectively, or understand, you know, the types of customers that are gonna be interested my products, or what problems they're having, etc, etc, right? Customer research, that kind of thing. That is a topic of conversation that comes up a lot in my communities that I hang out in, and so, you know, your book’s gonna be like, at-hand for me to recommend. That's, that's what I suspect. That's my, that's my theory for your book. Michele Hansen  27:00Yeah, I guess, I mean, there's parts of it, definitely.  Sean Fioritto  27:02It's also got a catchy name.  Michele Hansen  27:04Hey, I thought of it in the shower, and then I ran to register the domain, which is exactly what you are supposed to do when you have a good idea for something right? Like, this is the process. Colleen Schnettler  27:13Definitely. Michele Hansen  27:13Like,  Sean Fioritto  27:14You already had a book though, so it's different. You're like, I'm gonna write this book called Deploying Empathy. And you already, like, wrote it. So I think you're good to go. Michele Hansen  27:20Yeah, actually I didn't have a name for a while. Okay, so, so something else I have, like, a question on, which you kind of just sort of touched on with that about, like, super practical elements. So some, some of it is you can, you can definitely sit down and, and you could probably read it in a sitting or two. But then there's, there's the stuff that's more like a toolbox with all of the different scripts, which, by the way earlier, when you were saying like finding the type of content that people are really hungry for like, that, like, those scripts are the thing that people are the most excited about. The problem is, there's only like, so many sort of general scenarios. So I've basically written the main ones, but, so something I noticed with your site, which is SketchingWithCSS.com, just for everybody's reference, so you have the book plus code, which is like, your basic option for $39. And then you have one with the video package for 99. And then you have another one with more stuff for 249. And then there's one with like, all the things for your team for 499. And so, something that people have asked me for is like, like, there's the book piece, and then there's also, people want to be able to easily replicate the scripts so that they can then like, use them to build their own scripts off of it, and like, modify them and whatnot. So people have said, like, well, that could be like a Notion Template, like, bundle that it's sold with, or Google Docs or, or whatever. And so I've been like, kind of like, how do you sell the book with this like, other bundle? And like, can you also do that, like if you sell like a physical book to like, if I did it through Amazon, like, could I also sell a Notion Template bundle or something? Like, I just, I'm kind of, that sort of like, something that's on my mind is like, I'm not really sure how to approach that. And I'm wondering if you could kind of like, talk through your approach to creating like, different tiers, and what you provided at those different tears.  Sean Fioritto  29:33Mm hmm. Right. So, at the time, I know, I have a more sophisticated thought process about it now, but the, when I did the initial set of tiers, it was because Nathan Barry told me that I should have three tears because it tripled his revenue. So I was like, oh, okay.  Michele Hansen  29:53I mean, that's a good reason.  Sean Fioritto  29:55Like, we just happened to be at the bacon biz. That was the other person that I was, I bought his book. So here's the thing I always do, I would buy people's books that way I could email them. Michele Hansen  30:08Is that a thing? Like, if you buy someone's book, like, do you have a license to email them? Sean Fioritto  30:13Well, you get one. You get one email. And as long as it's, you know, not creepy. That's, that's the main thing. But yeah. So we had a bake in this conference in real life, and then, yeah, that's what he, that's what, he told me that I was like, oh, yeah. Okay. I think Patrick McKenzie was there, too, and he said something similar. So I was like, oh, because they did a landing page tear down for me at that conference. That's right.  Michele Hansen  30:36Wow. Nice. Sean Fioritto  30:37Yeah. So anyway, so I did the, I did that, because somebody told me to. And in fact, it's true. Like, if I hadn't done that, you could just see like, the way the purchases ended up that like, that absolutely almost tripled my revenue. So,  Michele Hansen  30:53Oh, wow. Yeah. Sean Fioritto  30:54Which is a big deal for books, because it's not like, yeah, anyway. The, the, the way, the way you were talking about it, though, because there's another way to think about it. I was thinking about in tiers with the book, but another way to think about it is in terms of a product funnel. So your, your book could be super cheap, and it is the entry point into your product, your little product universe. Because like, you're, what you're doing is naturally, because you're literally writing a book about this, listening to your customers and understanding that they have other like, you're really understanding what their, their pain is, and you see that there's different ways that you could solve it for them, right? Those things as a product. So you could bundle that stuff into your book, you could create tiers, like I did. And maybe it does make sense, we talk about this more, but like there's, there's, there's different ways to do tiers with books that, that makes sense, that aren't exactly what I did. But also, like what you're describing is basically different courses. So let's, so, like, people that run these info product businesses, like, what you end up with is like, you've got this world of courses, and you've got this world of content. And people come in from like, search, you know, or whatever channel that you've worked on, usually it's like an SEO channel, like through your content. And then they enter your automated marketing system. And then the first thing they do is buy probably your cheapest thing, your book, and then you're moving them on to the next level into your email marketing system to get them to start looking at, you know, your course, which is like a more in-depth version of the book, or whatever. So anyway, I'm just sort of sketching out, like how, how these content marketing businesses tend to work. So you kind of end up in their little universe and then you just get bounced around all their various email automation. If you've been in anybody's like, any internet famous person's little, like, email world, you'd probably notice eventually, if you're there for long enough, like, I already got that email. And so anyway, so let's there's like a different way of looking at it. You don't have to do tiers. You could just sell your book, you know, digital version, here's the hardback version, you make it cheap, and then, you know, lots of people, lots of people read it. And then you, turns out that this is still really interesting to you, you still like solving people's problems and you're like, you know what, like, I should release like, some recordings of customer interviews as like, examples or whatever, you know, and then you peel that off into a different product and you sell that, and slowly you build up this machine, basically. Also the guy to talk to would be Keith Perhac, who's in our group, too. Michele Hansen  33:51Oh, yeah, I should totally talk to Keith.  Colleen Schnettler  33:53Did he write a book? Sean Fioritto  33:55Yeah, he did but also his, his job before running SegMetrics was with the internet famous person that you guys know of that ran these huge content marketing programs and had this whole product funnel thing and all this stuff that I was talking about. So Keith is like, expert on that topic. Michele Hansen  34:15I guess I don't know if I want to go that direction just now because I do, you know, I do have a job. Um, so I'm, yeah.  Sean Fioritto  34:28You could just be like Amy.  Michele Hansen  34:33So, I, yeah, so I guess I have to think about that, and thinking about like, like, where to price it and those bundles and whatnot. Actually, I have another super like, mechanical question. So, between the time you announced the pre-order, and when you, like, people could actually like, to like, first of all, like, what was the incentive for somebody to pre-order? And then, what was the time from like, when you announced the pre-order to when you like, people could actually get it? Like, how far in advance do you do a pre-order? And what do you like, do you have to give people something? Sean Fioritto  35:10Yeah, I can't, I actually can't remember. I can't remember, what did I do? I did a pre-order. I can't even remember if I gave him the book or not. I don't think you have to. Some people just buy it ready to go. I think I, I probably did give ‘em like, here's everything I got so far, and it's gonna change, but, you know, here's that. Here's what I've got. And, you know, whatever version, like, people don't care if it's like, not even formatted or, you know, give me everything you got. Because the people that are going to do that are ready to just devour it. And then also, some of them might be like, I'm not wanting to, I don't want it right now, but I had a discount, right? So there's like, the pre-order, it's like a little bit cheaper to buy it now. Because I knew I was going to be selling it at like, as, like, a $40 product. So the discount, I think I sold it initially for pre-orders for like, 29 bucks, or maybe less even. Yeah, maybe like 20 bucks or something like that. Michele Hansen  36:08Okay, and it's 30 now. Colleen Schnettler  36:11Yeah, it probably makes sense for you, as someone who, I'm using it and referencing it, even though it's not done, because those scripts, like you were saying, are so valuable to people.  Michele Hansen  36:20Yeah, I mean, I guess, I guess I sort of like, feel like everybody already has everything. I mean, reality like, they, they don't because everything has been changed so much. But I guess I need to like, set it up, too. Like, I need to decide on a platform to use to actually sell it.  Sean Fioritto  36:42Oh, I didn't do that at first.  Michele Hansen  36:45Okay. So did you just use Stripe? Sean Fioritto  36:47I think I used PayPal. I was literally like, here's my email, send PayPal money there. And then I sent it to ‘em. Michele Hansen  36:55How did you deal with that and sales tax and stuff?  Sean Fioritto  36:57I don't think that existed. But also I would have just ignored it. Michele Hansen  37:03Okay, yeah, I guess I'm in the EU, so I kind of can't. Sean Fioritto  37:08It's the wild west out here. Michele Hansen  37:12'Murica. Sean Fioritto  37:15No, I had a really bad tax bill the first year because I ignored all of that stuff.  Michele Hansen  37:19Oh, okay, so you're not advising. This is not financial advice.  Sean Fioritto  37:26I'm just saying what I did. I'm not saying you should do that.  Michele Hansen  37:30This may or may not be good advice, what you are hearing, just so you know. All of this may be bad advice. Okay, so I basically, Sean Fioritto  37:39I got audited, too, actually. I forgot about that. So don't, yeah, definitely don't do that. Being audited is not as bad as it sounds, it turns out but that's, anyway, that's a different story. Michele Hansen  38:55I was, I feel like I should do a, like a talk hear, hear, and be like, well, on that massive disappointment, thank you and good evening. Um, so okay. So you know, I feel, see, I feel like I look at you and you're like, you, like, have your stuff together about selling a book. And the fact that you had all like, you had these fears about, like, getting rejected by it, and like, put all this into it, and you did it without having done it before. And, you know, made mistakes, looking back, that you are now helping me not replicate. Um, I feel, I feel a little, I feel a little better about this. And also, I guess I have a deadline now, which is five days from now to have the website functional. So, that's fun.  Colleen Schnettler  38:51You're welcome. I'm here for you, Michele. Just push you over the cliff. Michele Hansen  38:56Like, copy paste content into it, right? Um, I noticed actually that Sean, like, your site has a ton of testimonials, and that's something I have been sort of tepidly starting to collect. Like, I guess I'm a little bit afraid to, like, ask people for testimonials. But I've gotten a couple. Sean Fioritto  39:17So what you do is you write them the testimonial, then you email them and you say can I use this as your testimonial? And then they say yes, and then you put it on your page. Michele Hansen  39:25That's lower friction than what I've been asking for. Um, but, but that makes sense. Sean Fioritto  39:32I mean, I would also peel out, so they said something good in an email and I'd copy it and then change it so it sounded better, and then, can I use this as a testimonial?  Michele Hansen  39:39Yeah. Yeah.  Sean Fioritto  39:42I mean, when I say sounds better, I mean, just like copy edit, right? Michele Hansen  39:45I mean, I guess, like, we do that with Geocodio. And I think, like, Colleen and I have talked about this how, I guess I've like, gotten over all of these fears with Geocodio, and I'm so much more confident with it. And maybe it's because it doesn't have my name, like, directly on it, or it's just been around for like seven and a half years now. Versus this, I'm like, I'm so much more unsure. Like,  Sean Fioritto  40:07You haven't done this in a long time.  Michele Hansen  40:08I never have written a book. Sean Fioritto  40:12Well, whatever. Like, you haven't done a launch. Because you can launch anything. You could have launched Geocodio. Michele Hansen  40:18Yeah. Sean Fioritto  40:18You could've launched it this way, too. But you just haven't done that before. And it's weird, launch is weird because launch is like, everybody, pay attention to me now.  Michele Hansen  40:29Yeah, I'm just super uncomfortable with that.  Sean Fioritto  40:33Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's what it feels like. But then when I realized it was, if you're doing it, right, it's not that. It feels like it, but you're not actually making it about you. It's about them. And then for like, a couple days, you know, you gotta be like, here's the product, you can buy it, and you got to be like sending more emails than you normally. Lots of people will unsubscribe. But like I said, those people are not subscribing. Some of them probably hate you, but you know, most of them are probably just unsubscribing because like, they're, turns out, they weren't interested now that they actually see what it is. They're like, oh, no, that's not what I was thinking it was, or whatever. You get used to it, like, you definitely get used to it. I did it for a couple products. And over time, I just didn't care anymore. Like, I absolutely felt like I was doing a good for people. And I know that I was because I didn't get nearly as much. I think that some of my friends who were in that space would tell me that I needed to go harder, you know, like a little more salesy than I was. But anyway, the point is, Michele Hansen  41:39The thing is, like, I'm not like, I'm not averse to marketing, I think, I mean, this is something that like, we were actually talking about the other day, like people, like technical people being averse to like, sales and marketing and like, like, I have written the book with this in mind that like, hopefully, like, people will recommend it, like, like an audience of the book is like product leaders and marketing leaders who need to teach their teams how to do this. And so like, that's an audience I'm writing for because if they then they have like, buy the book for like five people, and then if they get a new job, or promotion, or whatever, in two years, and they need to teach the team like their new team how to do it again. Um, and so like, that is like, comfortable for me. But yeah, I guess as you were saying, like, hitting the sales hard is, is a little bit uncomfortable. And I guess I will just have to deal with a couple of days of like, that being awkward and like, doing the whole, like, you know, I don't know, like home shopping network style, like, and here's this book, and you can have it for the low, low price of $29. Plus, all of these bundles. Like, Sean Fioritto  42:43So, the thing that, okay, maybe this will help you, but they would help, it helped me, is I just focus on, on the, on the people that are, on your audience, and like your copy and everything is about them. It's about you. You're using, I know you're doing this, right, so you're gonna use the word you in your copy. Like, you never use the word I in your copy, right? So everything is about them. You've done all this research, you know, them, you know, you know, the problems they're facing, you know the pains they're having. And so you could just keep talking about that, talking about that. Launch, then, is then just like, more of those types of emails, like, a higher cadence than you're used to, which is still just about them. And then you're hitting them with like, okay, and now it's here. Like, you're, the whole time you're telling them it's coming, it's coming, it's coming. And then now it's here, here's what's in it, and you're gonna have these emails that just say, here's everything that's in it, and then here's questions that people might have, email that follows up, and then hey, this is gonna end in like a certain amount of time, follow up and then you got one hour left, you know, email. So you do these, you do this sequence of emails, but like, you have to remember when you're sending those that are the most uncomfortable that some people are really, really excited, and if you don't send them that stuff, they won't buy it and they'll, they'll regret it. Like, there's some people that genuinely are very excited and super thrilled to get those emails. Michele Hansen  44:03Can I run a, I have like, a tagline, or not like, a headline I have been throwing around in my head. Can I run it past you?  Sean Fioritto  44:12Yeah. For an article?  Michele Hansen  44:13No, for the book, but like, so like, this would be the like, main headline on the site. Sean Fioritto  44:18Yeah, yeah.  Michele Hansen  44:21Your time is too valuable to spend it building things people don't want.  Sean Fioritto  44:27Perfect. I mean, it's a little wordy, but yeah, like, the concept is perfect. Michele Hansen  44:32I will work on the wordiness. Sean Fioritto  44:36I mean, it's really, it's good, though. That's perfect.  Michele Hansen  44:38It's good. I guess it's good enough, right? It's good enough for me to slap a site together in the next, checks watch, five days, and, and get that going. Sean Fioritto  44:50Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, you could roll with that as an H2 on a landing page. Easy. Yeah. That would be fine the way it is. Michele Hansen  44:57Cool. Second image of the book. All right. There's all this stuff I'll have to do, but I guess I'll just be working away at this. Sean Fioritto  45:04You know what would be fun for you? I have an archived version of like, my old initial website, if you go to, oh, it doesn't work anymore. Michele Hansen  45:15Can I look it up on Internet Archive? Or it's like, Sean Fioritto  45:19Probably you can, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't. I used to have it just up so that I could, you could go to the URL. But yeah, so you'd have to go through the Internet Archive. But I had, and I did a, I did a write up on the landing page tear down and discussed screenshots from the, from the old version. It was truly, truly awful. But I sold $7,000 worth of book through it. So, Michele Hansen  45:40Can I ask you how much you sold overall? Do you reveal that? Sean Fioritto  45:44Yeah, yeah, of course. So it's actually hard to know because the, well, because as I've revealed I'm not fantastic about keeping track of my finances, or I wasn't then, but the, the book, through its lifespan, has made about $150,000.  Michele Hansen  46:06Whoa.  Sean Fioritto  46:07And most of that was the first two years because I was really, really actively pushing it. And then it just sort of, like, continued to make sales in dribs and drabs, and now it makes, probably, I don't know, I think I sold $1,000 worth of it last year, which makes sense, because it's pretty out of date at this point. Michele Hansen  46:28That'd be interesting to know why people are still buying it. Sean Fioritto  46:32Well, because the concept of designing in a browser is still something that people, you know, talk about from time to time. Should designers write code, or should they be using Figma, or at the time, you know, Sketch or Photoshop, I think all my copy is about Photoshop. So, you know, so like, I think that that concept is still valid. My copy is a little dated, the, the tech inside the book is a little, little dated at this point, though, still useful. So yeah, I think that is just the, so that was one of the things that I learned for content marketing was the, so if you want something to be really like, a really big hit, and to sort of like, make the rounds on the internet, you know, just those articles, it's sometimes just like, everybody's reading. The key to those is there has to be, well, there's like three rules. But like, one of the rules is, it has to be something everybody's talking about right now. And so at the time, everyone was talking about should we design in the browser? That was a big point of conversation. I would say now, like a similar level of conversation would be people talking about how much they hate single page apps, like in the Ruby on Rails community and trying to like, get off of that, right. So like, if you wrote a book about building single page app equivalents in Hotwire or something like that, that would probably resonate really, really well with that community right now. And you'd get a lot of free buzz when it's, people are already talking about it. So that's the problem. I think that that's why, like, hardly anybody's buying it now. But still, people are talking about that. So you get like, a little bit. And then also, I have all these marketing automated things that are still running. So like, I have some content that I accidentally wrote that has a lot of Google traffic, right? Like, I didn't accidentally write it, but I accidentally, like, did some search engine optimization on it. And so I get quite a bit of traffic from those pages, and then they end up signing up for, like, my tutorial things. And then they're in my little email automation thing that I set up, and eventually they get a pitch and then they, and then they buy. So there's some trickle down of that. Michele Hansen  48:50That makes sense. So, I guess, and this will be my last question. Um, is there anything else I should know about selling a book? Sean Fioritto  49:02Yeah, you don't have to do any of the things that I said, like. Like, well I think, I think you're already like doing all the right things. I was pushing really hard to make it my business. And so that, and frankly, once it got to the point where it was my business, that was a distraction for me. It made it hard, harder for me to stay relaxed and focused on doing the things that were the best for my customers, like, once money became this, like concern. So to me, you have this advantage of like, you don't have to, you don't have to worry about that. Like, each one of the things that I did, like it feels like you should bone up a little bit on how to do a launch, though that's not too difficult. You don't have to do like, the greatest job ever, and you maybe even already know how to do that to some extent. But other than that, I don't know, like 200 people on the mailing list, probably enough already. And you'll get more as people are more and more interested. And, you know, do you have an email subscribe on any of your content at all that you've written? Michele Hansen  50:16So it's all in review, so I think it all has a subscribe link at the bottom.  Sean Fioritto  50:22Perfect. Michele Hansen  50:23I think I have one on Twitter, like, on my pinned tweet is a subscription to the newsletter. Sean Fioritto  50:30Yeah, yeah. Cuz like, by the time I was doing it full time, I mean, the number of, I was doing so many other things that we didn't even talk about, for marketing, which it's like, we don't, we don't even need to go there. Because you don't, you don't need to do any of that stuff. I think you're doing everything right. And I would think carefully about, like, what your goals are with the book, and, for both you, you and for your customers, and then kind of size it right size it accordingly. And don't feel guilty about not doing all the right marketing things, because the right marketing things, just as long as you're focused on your audience and the people that are going to be reading your book, you're doing the right thing. Michele Hansen  51:13Hmm. Well, thank you for that, like, boost of encouragement.  Sean Fioritto  51:19You're welcome.  Michele Hansen  51:21I guess to wrap up, we should mention, by the way, that you have your own show. And you're actually getting something off the ground right now. Do you want to talk about that for a second? Sean Fioritto  51:34Yeah. So my friend Aaron Francis and I, we have a company called Hammerstone, that's at Hammerstone.dev. Our podcast is, is linked to there on the home page. We have, like you guys, it's kind of like a ride along podcast, and we just do our weekly check in we record it as a, as a podcast. And what we're working on is a drop in component for Laravel. The component allows you, allows your users to build, dynamically build queries, which they can, you could then use to display reports, etc. to them. Yeah, so that's, that's our new thing that we're working on. That's a new thing for me. I should probably have a whole other podcast and invite you on, ask you about how I should be marketing my software business. Michele Hansen  52:30So by the way, so, the podcast is really good. We finished it on a road trip a couple of months ago, and you should totally start at the beginning because, like so, so yes, like, the software part is interesting. But there's this whole other element that Aaron's wife is pregnant with multiples. And the podcast started in like, December, right?  Sean Fioritto  52:52Yeah.  Michele Hansen  52:53So, and she was due in April. And so there's this like, whole, like, tension of it of like, oh, my god, like, are they gonna get to launch stuff before, like, Aaron goes from being not a parent to the parent of multiple children overnight? Like, is it like, is it gonna happen? And I found myself as I was listening, I was like, oh, my god, like, like, it really added this element of suspense that I have not felt while listening to another podcast, and it made it very enjoyable. Sean Fioritto  53:24You know what's frustrating. I just realized your audience actually overlaps with the audience of my product. And I just did a horrible job of pitching it. I was like, I could just sort of half-ass explain it here. But, Michele Hansen  53:34All you Laravel people, like, just check it out.  Sean Fioritto  53:37Yeah, that's good.  Michele Hansen  53:40Just take my word for it. This has been really fun, Sean. Thank you so much for coming on.  Sean Fioritto  53:50You're welcome.  Michele Hansen  53:51I really appreciate all of your advice. And I, I don't know what you call the, the anti-advice. You know, don't ignore taxes. And encouragement and perspective, that really means a lot to me.  Sean Fioritto  54:08You're welcome. Thanks for having me on.  Michele Hansen  54:11This is awesome. So if you guys liked this episode, please leave us a review on iTunes. Or let us know that you listened on Twitter, and we'll talk to you next week.

The Gospel of John 1-7, Pt. 3 The Sign of the Son By Louie Marsh, 5-2-2021 Intro: Signs The 5 Man Electrical Band lyrics as recorded by The Five Man Electrical Band in 1971   And the sign said, "Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down and pray" But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn't have a penny to pay So I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me. I'm alive and doin' fine." Wooo!   Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?   5 picture Slides, last one the gas pump!   The story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana is found only in the Gospel of John.   1) I need to PAY ATTENTION to the Sign!   “11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11, ESV)   John said that it was through this “sign” that Jesus revealed his glory for the first time. John saw glory in Jesus. Glory is a big word meaning honor, dignity, and splendor. These words point to the deity of Jesus. It’s interesting how quietly this miracle took place but how many divine attributes of Jesus can be seen.   Focusing on whether there was alcohol in the wine is an ABUSE the text.   2) Jesus shows me I must live HONORING others.   “1On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”” (John 2:1–5, ESV)   Some say Jesus did this miracle simply to appease his mother. Or, as some have put it, he obeyed her. But Jesus was an adult and was no longer subject to her authority. To this, they may respond that he was honoring her. Or could it be that she exhibited faith with her words, “do whatever he tells you,” and he honored her faith? Either way, we see honor.   3) Jesus shows me His way is always COUNTERCULTURAL.   “6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.” (John 2:6–7, ESV)   Jesus had the servants fill the ceremonial washing jars, which were used for washing the outside of the body according to the law, and refilled them with something inside the body. This demonstration is just the beginning of his counterculture teaching. Over and over he would come to challenge the ways of the religious leaders, and the thinking of the people.   “8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8, ESV)   4) Jesus shows me His unmatched AUTHORITY.   8And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.” (John 2:8, ESV)   In changing the water into wine, Jesus demonstrated his authority over all things down to the molecular level. Some argue he didn’t turn water into wine but into grape juice. This is simply ridiculous, but just to humor such criticism, it takes a miracle for either transformation to occur. Water doesn’t change its molecular makeup without the authority of the Creator.   Dr. Cliff Lewis explains:   At a molecular level, the water, basically hydrogen and oxygen, was changed into wine that contains sugars, yeast, and water, which contain carbon and nitrogen along with oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, by changing water into wine Jesus demonstrated his authority over even the atomic structure of atoms by commanding oxygen and hydrogen atoms to disassemble and reform into other atoms of different configurations.    The amount of energy it would take to perform this atomic deconstruction and reconstruction is staggering. This intermolecular energy being released is the source of the explosive energy from an atomic bomb. However, since Jesus caused the wine atoms to come back together, he would have to put this astronomical amount of energy into the atoms in order to have them reconstruct. To do so without any visible energy transformation of the liquid (John does not say anything about people noticing the transformation) indicates a mastery of natural law far beyond our current comprehension. And he accomplished it with no physical exertion.   5) Jesus shows me His unmatched POWER.   “9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”” (John 2:9–10, ESV)   Changing water into wine requires demonstrating power over time and space. Wine requires many processes that cover a long period of time. The growth of the plant. The maturation of the grape. Harvesting the grape. Treading the grapes into juice. The aging time required for fermentation. Great wine takes a long time to ferment. Jesus bypassed the entire timeframe in moments, which only God can do.   6) Jesus teaches me to trust God not PEOPLE.   “23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:23–25, ESV)   “26Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” (Proverbs 28:26, ESV)   “8It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. 9It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:8–9, ESV)  

Ephesians 3-7-13 -ESV--7Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. -8To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, -9and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, -10so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. -11This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, -12in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. -13So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

Amos Disasa preaches - John 13: 1-11This is part 6 of a 7 part worship series.To find out more on how you can get involved with First Presbyterian Church of Dallas visit us at www.fpcdallas.org and Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

John 2:111 (ESV) The Wedding at Cana 2On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. 4And Jesus said to her, Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. 5His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. 6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it. 9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Amos Disasa preaches - John 7:53 - 8:11This is part 3 of a 7 part worship series.To find out more on how you can get involved with First Presbyterian Church of Dallas visit us at www.fpcdallas.org and Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Podcast: The Lawfare Podcast (LS 70 · TOP 0.05% what is this?)Episode: The Past, Present and Future of Sovereign ImmunityPub date: 2020-12-11This week, the Supreme Court returned once again to the complex and sometimes controversial Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, or FSIA, that protects foreign sovereigns from litigation before U.S. courts. At the same time, Congress is once again debating new exceptions to the protections provided by the FSIA on issues ranging from cybercrime to the coronavirus pandemic, an effort that may risk violating international law and exposing the United States to similar lawsuits overseas. To discuss these developments and where they may be headed, Scott R. Anderson sat down with two leading scholars on sovereign immunity issues: Chimène Keitner, a professor at the UC Hastings School of Law and a former counselor on international law at the U.S. State Department, and Ingrid Wuerth, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School and one of the reporters for the American Law Institute's Fourth Restatement on U.S. foreign relations law.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”  Luke 21:10-11This prophecy of Jesus will most certainly unfold.  How will it unfold, practically speaking?  That’s still to be seen.    True, some people may say that this prophecy is already being fulfilled in our world.  Some will try to associate this and other prophetic passages of Scripture with a certain time or event.  But this would be a mistake.  It would be a mistake because the very nature of a prophecy is that it’s veiled.  All prophecy is true and will be fulfilled, but not all prophecy will be understood with perfect clarity until Heaven.  So what do we take from this prophetic word from our Lord?  Though this passage may, in fact, refer to more grand and universal events to come, it may also speak to our own particular situations present in our life today.  Therefore, we should allow His words to speak to us within those situations.  One specific message this passage tells us is that we should not be surprised if, at times, it appears as if our world is rattled to the core.  In other words, when we see chaos, evil, sin and malice all around us, we should not be surprised and we should not get discouraged.  This is an important message for us as we press on through life.For each one of us, there may be many “earthquakes, famines, and plagues” that we encounter in life.  They will take on various forms and will be the cause of much distress at times.  But they do not need to be.  If we understand that Jesus is aware of the chaos we may encounter and if we understand that He actually prepared us for it, we will be more at peace when the troubles come.  In a sense, we will be able to simply say, “Oh, this is one of those things, or one of those moments, Jesus said would come.”  This understanding of the challenges to come should help prepare us for them and endure them with hope and trust.Reflect, today, on any particular ways that this prophetic word of Christ has taken place in your own life.  Know that Jesus is there in the midst of all apparent chaos, leading you through to the glorious conclusion He has in mind for you!Lord, when my world seems to cave in around me, help me to turn my eyes to You and to trust in Your mercy and grace.  Help me to know that You will never abandon me and that You have a perfect plan for all things.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.  Luke 6:10-11This is a very disturbing passage.  Over and over again we find that the scribes and Pharisees acted with much intentional and calculated malice.  Here they were looking for anything they could try to accuse Jesus of doing.  And what do they find they can accuse Him of?  They witness Him doing a miracle on the Sabbath day.  And they act as if this is a sin on the part of Jesus.  Seriously?  The reason this passage is so disturbing is because those who were the religious leaders of the time were clearly only interested in themselves, and Jesus was getting in the way of their self-importance.  He was becoming more popular and respected than the scribes and Pharisees and they were filled with envy.  One important point to learn from this passage is that the sin of envy lead us to irrationality and foolishness.  This sin blinds us and leads us to think and say foolish things.  This is what the scribes and Pharisees did.  Who in their right mind would “accuse” Jesus of doing something as good as healing on the Sabbath?  Only those who have become blind by envy.Though this passage is disturbing, it should hopefully become disturbing in a helpful way.  It should be an opportunity for each of us to look at our own lives and to examine the relationships we have.  Do you see envy present in any of those relationships?  Do you see yourself acting and thinking in an irrational way at times towards this person or that?Reflect, today, upon any tendency you may have to be like the scribes and Pharisees.  Know that their actions were included in the Scripture to teach us about this ugly sin we sometimes struggle with.  Let the disturbing part of it motivate you to work toward freedom from envy in your life.Lord, I do want to be free of the sins of pride, envy and jealousy.  Help me to see these in my life, to repent of them and to replace them with Your mercy and love.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2020 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Welcome back to episode 11This episode Shahidah and Tanya talk about entanglements being a part of the new American Marriage or is that just with Will and Jada. Is monogamy dead or an antiquated idea?Also we end with the fabulousness that is Beyonce and Black is King!

True crime fans know the story of "The Staircase—" the landmark miniseries about the death of Kathleen Peterson and subsequent conviction of her husband Michael Peterson—very well. The house where the death occurred is featured heavily in the real-life thriller, so we could click fast enough when we learned that the Durham, NC-based colonial recently hit the market. On this episode we take a peek inside 'The Staircase' house and discuss the ... questionable decor, among other things.Other topics we get into:Kanye West's latest real estate project on his Wyoming ranchWhether the HGTV show "Home Town" is really the new "Fixer Upper," plus, an interview with a participant from season 4 episode 11This week's celebrity real estate winner and loserReady to listen? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please: Throw us a five-star rating if you like what you hear. The more good ratings and reviews we have, the easier it is for people to find us.Want to chime in? Have your own crazy home-related story you’re dying to share? We’re all ears, eagerly waiting to discuss all of your burning real estate questions on “The Mailbox” segment. Email us at podcast@realtor.com, follow us on Facebook, or tweet us @housepartypod on Twitter.

Rachel Twigg's Sermon for the 7th Sunday in Eastertide, May 24, 2020, on John 17:1-11This sermon was offered on yet another Sunday on which our community was unable to gather in the church building, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were just five of us present to lead the liturgy and provide the music, with a much larger congregation being gathered through Facebook Live. The full service is available as a video on our website.Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to audio and recommend this episode to your friends. We invite you to rate us or write a review of what we are doing on Apple Podcasts. Reviews help others join the conversation.* * *This podcast is created at saint benedict's table, a congregation of the Anglican Church of Canada in Winnipeg, where we've been making great audio since 2006. Listen to other recent episodes on our website and see our entire catalogue of almost 500 shows on our hosting page.Our MissionTo provide rich and stimulating audio resources to the wider church and engage topics and issues relevant to the concerns and questions of the larger culture in which we live.

April 5, 2020 - "A Truly Triumphal Entry" - Matthew 21:1-11This episode of the Meeting Midway Podcast comes from the homes of Pastor Jennie and Pastor Brad during a statewide stay-at-home order. In this episode, Pastor Jennie leads us in a prayer in the midst of these challenging times of COVID19 pandemic. Then, Pastor Brad shares a message on the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Click here to give to Midway. Midway is a podcast of Midway United Methodist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and on our website, www.midwayumc.org)Service Times:Traditional (Historic Chapel) - 8:30AMAcoustic (Historic Chapel) - 9:45AMContemporary (Modern Sanctuary) - 11:00AM

Tim goes on a rant about how we should love better. Scripture: Matthew 22:35-40Ephesians 5:21-26John 8:1-11This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Episode 34 from Season 2 titled: What is Lent and how to use it and an exploration of Matthew 4:1-11This year unlock the grace of Lent by using these four keys, L-E-N-T:* Let Go* Enter In* Never Give Up* Time OutCris explains Lent and how to approach it using Matthew 4:1-11.Cris Rogers is a church leader at Allhallowsbow.org.uk and Director of Making Disciples. For more information check out wearemakingdisciples.com

Philippians 3:1-11This is a stand alone sermon.

Believers and Unbelievers alike have heard the Story of the talking snake in the Garden of Eden, but what few realize is that snake is still talking today. Unravel the mystery in the Garden of Eden.Today's question is how do we put those talking snakes out of our garden?Our text is taken from Matthew 4:1-11This is Part 4 of " You Are The Tree"

Sunday's Business Motivation Segment is dedicated to weaving faith back into the our everyday lives and the business world through entrepreneur's and millennial who put God first and are trying to live a wholistic lifestyle. For many cultures, religion is imperceptibly woven into the fabric of life. To talk of a transcendent spiritual realm separate from temporal human strivings for justice and freedom is to embrace an intellectual dualism with disastrous consequences for both the individual and the community. Its time to weave our faith back into both our culture and our community!-We bridge the gap between truth & religion in people’s daily lives-committed to making biblical knowledge relevantBelievers and Unbelievers alike have heard the Story of the talking snake in the Garden of Eden, but what few realize is that snake is still talking today. Unravel the mystery in the Garden of Eden. Today's question is how do we put those talking snakes out of our garden?Our text is taken from Matthew 4:1-11This is Part 4 of " You Are The Tree"

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”  Luke 21:10-11This prophecy of Jesus will most certainly unfold.  How will it unfold, practically speaking?  That’s still to be seen.    True, some people may say that this prophecy is already being fulfilled in our world.  Some will try to associate this and other prophetic passages of Scripture with a certain time or event.  But this would be a mistake.  It would be a mistake because the very nature of a prophecy is that it’s veiled.  All prophecy is true and will be fulfilled, but not all prophecy will be understood with perfect clarity until Heaven.  So what do we take from this prophetic word from our Lord?  Though this passage may, in fact, refer to more grand and universal events to come, it may also speak to our own particular situations present in our life today.  Therefore, we should allow His words to speak to us within those situations.  One specific message this passage tells us is that we should not be surprised if, at times, it appears as if our world is rattled to the core.  In other words, when we see chaos, evil, sin and malice all around us, we should not be surprised and we should not get discouraged.  This is an important message for us as we press on through life.For each one of us, there may be many “earthquakes, famines, and plagues” that we encounter in life.  They will take on various forms and will be the cause of much distress at times.  But they do not need to be.  If we understand that Jesus is aware of the chaos we may encounter and if we understand that He actually prepared us for it, we will be more at peace when the troubles come.  In a sense, we will be able to simply say, “Oh, this is one of those things, or one of those moments, Jesus said would come.”  This understanding of the challenges to come should help prepare us for them and endure them with hope and trust.Reflect, today, on any particular ways that this prophetic word of Christ has taken place in your own life.  Know that Jesus is there in the midst of all apparent chaos, leading you through to the glorious conclusion He has in mind for you!Lord, when my world seems to cave in around me, help me to turn my eyes to You and to trust in Your mercy and grace.  Help me to know that You will never abandon me and that You have a perfect plan for all things.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Setting The Captives Free - Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Scripture: 2nd Samuel 11: 1-11This week: Men we are being challenged to look at ourselves as it relates to our relationships. How are we handling the forbidden? How are we dealing with Temptation? How are we overcoming our addictions? David is our example of what can happen when you get caught up. We must always walk with integrity. We must never give up on the teachings of God and how he wants us to love our women. Amen.Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Scripture: 2nd Samuel 11: 1-11This week: Men we are being challenged to look at ourselves as it relates to our relationships. How are we handling the forbidden? How are we dealing with Temptation? How are we overcoming our addictions? David is our example of what can happen when you get caught up. We must always walk with integrity. We must never give up on the teachings of God and how he wants us to love our women. Amen.Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - Series Pt.2 “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Scripture: 2nd Samuel 11: 1-11This week: Men we are being challenged to look at ourselves as it relates to our relationships. How are we handling the forbidden? How are we dealing with Temptation? How are we overcoming our addictions? David is our example of what can happen when you get caught up. We must always walk with integrity. We must never give up on the teachings of God and how he wants us to love our women. AmenSetting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - Series Pt.2 “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Series: Relationships 101: “ Man Man Man What Have You Done Now!!”Scripture: 2nd Samuel 11: 1-11This week: Men we are being challenged to look at ourselves as it relates to our relationships. How are we handling the forbidden? How are we dealing with Temptation? How are we overcoming our addictions? David is our example of what can happen when you get caught up. We must always walk with integrity. We must never give up on the teachings of God and how he wants us to love our women. AmenSetting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - “ What Would Happen When You Claim Jesus The Way He Claims You!!”Topic: “ What Would Happen When You Claim Jesus The Way He Claims You!!”Scripture 2nd Timothy 2:1-11This week: The Apostle Paul is our teacher today. We are being encouraged to stay strong in grace. This life presents us with so much opposition. We must remain in righteousness in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:11-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - “ What Would Happen When You Claim Jesus The Way He Claims You!!”Topic: “ What Would Happen When You Claim Jesus The Way He Claims You!!”Scripture 2nd Timothy 2:1-11This week: The Apostle Paul is our teacher today. We are being encouraged to stay strong in grace. This life presents us with so much opposition. We must remain in righteousness in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:11-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - Part 2 of “ Spiritual Wellness “Part 2 of “ Spiritual Wellness “Scripture Psalms 139: 7-11This week we are continuing deeper into the revelation of ourselves. God wants us spiritually fit not spiritually sick. The Bible says let a man examine himself. The man of God today is challenging for you to give yourself a spiritual-physical. Ask God to give you insight into your purpose and your calling in life because like it or not, YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM GOD!!!Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

Setting The Captives Free - Part 2 of “ Spiritual Wellness “Part 2 of “ Spiritual Wellness “Scripture Psalms 139: 7-11This week we are continuing deeper into the revelation of ourselves. God wants us spiritually fit not spiritually sick. The Bible says let a man examine himself. The man of God today is challenging for you to give yourself a spiritual-physical. Ask God to give you insight into your purpose and your calling in life because like it or not, YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM GOD!!!Setting The Captives Free is a podcast like no other. God allowed me to go thru a 27-year wilderness experience. Thru my trials and tribulations, I have developed a non-judgemental spirit. God has challenged me to love all to preach to all and if I do that, he will save all!!https://www.facebook.com/raleigh.thorntonhttps://www.facebook.com/stormtalk365msb/www.stormtalk365radio.comAll information, content, and music provided solely for general information, reference and entertainment purposes only. No copyrights infringements impliedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of Storm Talk 365 Radio, any of the affiliates or concerned parties represented by the network.Tags: settingthecaptivesfree ministerraleighthornton stormtalk365 religion spiritualwarfare spirituality religion christianity talkshow

John 2:1–11    1On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”    6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Let me ask you all a question. How much weapons-grade nuclear material do you think it would take to level a city the size of San Francisco? How many of you think it would be an amount about the size of this suitcase? OK. And how about this minibus?0:33All right. Well actually, under the right circumstances, an amount of highly enriched uranium about the size of your morning latte would be enough to kill 100,000 people instantly. Hundreds of thousands of others would become horribly ill, and parts of the city would be uninhabitable for years, if not for decades.0:56But you can forget that nuclear latte, because today&`&s nuclear weapons are hundreds of times more powerful even than those we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And even a limited nuclear war involving, say, tens of nuclear weapons, could lead to the end of all life on the planet.1:20So it&`&s really important that you know that right now we have over 15,000 nuclear weapons in the hands of nine nations. And if you live in a city or near a military facility, one is likely pointed right at you. In fact, if you live in any of the rural areas where nuclear weapons are stored globally, one is likely pointed at you.About 1,800 of these weapons are on high alert, which means they can be launched within 15 minutes of a presidential command.1:59So I know this is a bummer of an issue, and maybe you have that -- what was it? -- psychic fatigue that we heard about a little bit earlier. So I&`&m going to switch gears for just a second, and I&`&m going to talk about my imaginary friend, who I like to think of as Jasmine, just for a moment.2:16Jasmine, at the age of 25, is part of a generation that is more politically and socially engaged than anything we&`&ve seen in 50 years. She and her friends think of themselves as change agents and leaders and activists. I think of them as Generation Possible. They regularly protest about the issues they care about, but nuclear weapons are not one of them, which makes sense, because Jasmine was born in 1991, at the end of the Cold War. So she didn&`&t grow up hearing a lot about nuclear weapons. She never had to duck and cover under her desk at school. For Jasmine, a fallout shelter is an app in the Android store. Nuclear weapons help win games. And that is really a shame, because right now, we need Generation Possible to help us make some really important decisions about nuclear weapons.3:10For instance, will we further reduce our nuclear arsenals globally, or will we spend billions, maybe a trillion dollars, to modernize them so they last throughout the 21st century, so that by the time Jasmine is my age, she&`&s talking to her children and maybe even her grandchildren about the threat of nuclear holocaust? And if you&`&re paying any attention at all to cyberthreats, or, for instance, if you&`&ve read about the Stuxnet virus or, for God&`&s sake, if you&`&ve ever had an email account or a Yahoo account or a phone hacked, you can imagine the whole new world of hurt that could be triggered by modernization in a period of cyberwarfare.3:54Now, if you&`&re paying attention to the money, a trillion dollars could go a long way to feeding and educating and employing people, all of which could reduce the threat of nuclear war to begin with. So --4:08(Applause)4:11This is really crucial right now, because nuclear weapons -- they&`&re vulnerable. We have solid evidencethat terrorists are trying to get ahold of them. Just this last spring, when four retirees and two taxi drivers were arrested in the Republic of Georgia for trying to sell nuclear materials for 200 million dollars, they demonstrated that the black market for this stuff is alive and well. And it&`&s really important, because there have been dozens of accidents involving nuclear weapons, and I bet most of us have never heard anything about them.4:48Just here in the United States, we&`&ve dropped nuclear weapons on the Carolinas twice. In one case, one of the bombs, which fell out of an Air Force plane, didn&`&t detonate because the nuclear core was stored somewhere else on the plane. In another case, the weapon did arm when it hit the ground, and five of the switches designed to keep it from detonating failed. Luckily, the sixth one didn&`&t. But if that&`&s not enough to get your attention, there was the 1995 Black Brant incident. That&`&s when Russian radar technicians saw what they thought was a US nuclear missile streaking towards Russian airspace. It later turned out to be a Norwegian rocket collecting data about the northern lights. But at that time, Russian President Boris Yeltsin came within five minutes of launching a full-scale retaliatory nuclear attack against the United States.5:47So, most of the world&`&s nuclear nations have committed to getting rid of these weapons of mass destruction. But consider this: the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is the most widely adopted arms control treaty in history with 190 signatories, sets no specific date by which the world&`&s nuclear-armed nations will get rid of their nuclear weapons.6:16Now, when John F. Kennedy sent a man to the moon and decided to bring him back, or decided to do both those things, he didn&`&t say, "Hey, whenever you guys get to it." He gave us a deadline. He gave us a challenge that would have been incredible just a few years earlier. And with that challenge, he inspired scientists and marketers, astronauts and schoolteachers. He gave us a vision. But along with that vision,he also tried to give us -- and most people don&`&t know this, either -- he tried to give us a partner in the form of our fiercest Cold War rival, the Soviet Union. Because part of Kennedy&`&s vision for the Apollo program was that it be a cooperation, not a competition, with the Soviets. And apparently, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier, agreed. But before that cooperation could be realized, Kennedy was assassinated, and that part of the vision was deferred.7:15But the promise of joint innovation between these two nuclear superpowers wasn&`&t totally extinguished.Because in 1991, which is the year that Jasmine was born and the Soviet Union fell, these two nations engaged in a project that genuinely does seem incredible today in the truest sense of that word, which is that the US sent cash to the Russians when they needed it most, to secure loose nuclear materials and to employ out-of-work nuclear scientists. They worked alongside American scientists to convert weapons-grade uranium into the type of fuel that can be used for nuclear power instead. They called it, "Megatons to Megawatts." So the result is that for over 20 years, our two nations had a program that meant that one in 10 lightbulbs in the United States was essentially fueled by former Russian warheads.8:18So, together these two nations did something truly audacious. But the good news is, the global community has the chance to do something just as audacious today. To get rid of nuclear weapons and to end the supply of the materials required to produce them, some experts tell me would take 30 years. It would take a renaissance of sorts, the kinds of innovation that, for better or worse, underpinned both the Manhattan Project, which gave rise to nuclear weapons, and the Megatons to Megawatts program. It would take design constraints. These are fundamental to creativity, things like a platform for international collaboration; a date certain, which is a forcing mechanism; and a positive vision that inspires action. It would take us to 2045.9:15Now, 2045 happens to be the 100th anniversary of the birth of nuclear weapons in the New Mexico desert. But it&`&s also an important date for another reason. It&`&s predicted to be the advent of the singularity, a new moment in human development, where the lines between artificial intelligence and human intelligence blur, where computing and consciousness become almost indistinguishable and advanced technologies help us solve the 21st century&`&s greatest problems: hunger, energy, poverty,ushering in an era of abundance. And we all get to go to space on our way to becoming a multi-planetary species.10:03Now, the people who really believe this vision are the first to say they don&`&t yet know precisely how we&`&re going to get there. But the values behind their vision and the willingness to ask "How might we?" have inspired a generation of innovators. They&`&re working backward from the outcomes they want, using the creative problem-solving methods of collaborative design. They&`&re busting through obstacles. They&`&re redefining what we all consider possible.10:34But here&`&s the thing: that vision of abundance isn&`&t compatible with a world that still relies on a 20th-century nuclear doctrine called "mutually assured destruction." It has to be about building the foundations for the 22nd century. It has to be about strategies for mutually assured prosperity or, at the very least, mutually assured survival.11:08Now, every day, I get to meet people who are real pioneers in the field of nuclear threats. As you can see, many of them are young women, and they&`&re doing fiercely interesting stuff, like Mareena Robinson Snowden here, who is developing new ways, better ways, to detect nuclear warheads, which will help us overcome a critical hurdle to international disarmament. Or Melissa Hanham, who is using satellite imaging to make sense of what&`&s going on around far-flung nuclear sites. Or we have Beatrice Fihn in Europe, who has been campaigning to make nuclear weapons illegal in international courts of law, and just won a big victory at the UN last week.11:52(Applause)11:55And yet, and yet, with all of our talk in this culture about moon shots, too few members of Generation Possible and those of us who mentor them are taking on nuclear weapons. It&`&s as if there&`&s a taboo. But I remember something Kennedy said that has really stuck with me, and that is something to the effect that humans can be as big as the solutions to all the problems we&`&ve created. No problem of human destiny, he said, is beyond human beings. I believe that. And I bet a lot of you here believe that, too. And I know Generation Possible believes it.12:39So it&`&s time to commit to a date. Let&`&s end the nuclear weapons chapter on the 100th anniversary of its inception. After all, by 2045, we will have held billions of people hostage to the threat of nuclear annihilation. Surely, 100 years will have been enough. Surely, a century of economic development and the development of military strategy will have given us better ways to manage global conflict. Surely, if ever there was a global moon shot worth supporting, this is it.13:20Now, in the face of real threats -- for instance, North Korea&`&s recent nuclear weapons tests, which fly in the face of sanctions -- reasonable people disagree about whether we should maintain some number of nuclear weapons to deter aggression. But the question is: What&`&s the magic number? Is it a thousand? Is it a hundred? Ten? And then we have to ask: Who should be responsible for them? I think we can agree, however, that having 15,000 of them represents a greater global threat to Jasmine&`&s generation than a promise.14:00So it&`&s time we make a promise of a world in which we&`&ve broken the stranglehold that nuclear weapons have on our imaginations; in which we invest in the creative solutions that come from working backward from the future we desperately want, rather than plodding forward from a present that brings all of the mental models and biases of the past with it. It&`&s time we pledge our resources as leaders across the spectrum to work on this old problem in new ways, to ask, "How might we?" How might we make good on a promise of greater security for Jasmine&`&s generation in a world beyond nuclear weapons? I truly hope you will join us.14:48Thank you.14:49(Applause)14:53Thank you.14:54(App

https://youtu.be/JS9t9IJAtI0 READ 1 Sam 4:1-11This is an interesting story- A few weeks ago we talked about Hophni and Phineas two brothers who were doing very bad things in the temple of God- And now, Israel is going out to battle the philistines. Israel seems to always be fighting with the Philistines in the OT. The philistines were descendants of Noah’s son Ham, and they occupied territory that God had promised to the Israelites- so the Israelites had to rout them out to get their land from themHuge battles with tons of death of both sides- The end result is that the philistines will be defeated (not in this battle) but Israel is going to learn that they will not win against the philistines without God. God will eventually defeat them, and Israel will learn that they cant depend on themselves- They must depend on GOD and him alone for their victoriesSO- This battle they carry the ark into battle, and they lose royally. 30k Israelites die, they lose the ark and Hophni and Phineas die. They were not repentant- Don’t ignore correction So they go to battle, lose 4k, think ““Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.”It’s a great question- but what they are forgetting is the promise of 1 Sm 2:31 “behold the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your fathers house, so that will not be an old man in your house”Now- Some would say that this was set in motion and it was- but H and P haven’t died yet- there was still a chance at repentance- 4K died in the initial skirmish, but they didn’t come back and look at themselves- They didn’t repent- they tried another way“why has the Lord defeated us” is a great question! They should be asking that!the answer is that because you were told you were doing wrong and you didn’t do anything about it. You didn’t REPENT and turn to God!Its called true repentance- Realizing that you’ve done GOD wrong- and turning to him for forgivenessRepentance is real and tangible- its an act of the will and the heart To Understand repentance- FIRST There is a one time act of repentance- When we turn from death to life- we are justified before God and are totally forgiven of our sins- Saved, born again, set free, aliveRomans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,Romans 3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.SEOND We must live a life of repentance- if we sin we don’t lose our salvation- we lose our awareness of our forgiven state and our fellowship with GodYou cannot actively sin and fellowship with God at the same time- its impossibleRepentance is the way back to fellowship- active unrepentant sin ends in apostasy1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. SelahProverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.The Bible is full of admonitions for people to repent and turn to God. Paul in the NT admonished the churches to repent and turn to God- it wasn’t to restart the relationship. One sin doesn’t cast you into the depths of HellJesus challenged the churches in revelationRevelation 3:3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works,

The Beginning of the End Revelation 16:1-11This last book of the New Testament describes (with dramatic imagery and frightening detail) the culmination of God’s redemptive work in the world. Spoiler alert: God wins. 2017-2018; Ken Mitchell.August 5, 2018 | Westside Chapel

Fara Augustover is a speech-language pathologist, owner of Island Wide Speech on Long Island, NY and author of the children’s book, Harmony Hears a Hoot.Five years ago, Fara worked at a nonprofit clinic in NYC, transitioned to school based while seeing clients part time privately. As her caseload grew and the commute to Manhattan became tiresome, she decided to repurpose space in her home and create an in-house clinic complete with a separate entrance, bathroom, and waiting room. Here's What We Discuss:- Where Fara's desire to work independently stemmed from - How she transitioned from part-time to full-time private practice- How she decided whether to do private pay vs. insurance, what her schedule should be, whether to stick with her primary specialty (aural rehab) or branch out, and more.- How a former professor from SUNY Buffalo taught her an important lesson that has guided decisions in her practice- Fara's easy to follow social media strategy- Jena’s "aha moment" about private practice business plans- How she became a children’s book author with a successful Kickstarter campaignFor more information, including a discount code for her book, visit: www.PrivatePracticeSuccessStories.com/11This episode was sponsored by The Private Practice Solution. To learn more, visit: www.ThePrivatePracticeSolution.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Encouragement as the End Approaches Revelation 10:1-11This last book of the New Testament describes (with dramatic imagery and frightening detail) the culmination of God’s redemptive work in the world. Spoiler alert: God wins. 2017-2018; Ken Mitchell.April 15, 2018 | Westside Chapel

Luke 5:1-26There is going to be a voice in your head that wants to mute these stories and censor these stories from encouraging you to trust in God for miraculous intervention.Let me encourage you to let down your guard for the next few minutes and allow the Holy Spirit to encourage your heart.Verse 1-11This day was probably the most successful day Peter ever had as a fisherman. He probably had never caught this much fish. If his vocation was a negative thing then why did Jesus give him his best day ever?Verse 12-16Instead of crowds Jesus is gathering followers. He is also calling these followers to do life together. He is forming the church. These people don’t just have relationships with him, they also have relationships with one another. And those relationships are unique. Verse 17-26I think the church walks around saying "Jesus will forgive your sins." But it isn't healing the suffering of their community. It is easy to be the church that says "your sins are forgiven." It is much harder to be the church that says "your sins are forgiven, rise up and walk." 

Audio recording of January 7 worship - Epiphany Festival. Bulletin pasted below:Welcome to Shepherd of the Lakes! We’re here to shepherd Christ’s flock and seek the lost sheep by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with all. Come, let us worship!For your convenience, in the back corner of the sanctuary there is a room for any parents with children in need of a quiet place. The restrooms are located on the lower level. Please ask if you have any further questions or concerns. Lord Jesus, you took on our humanity in order to live under the law and redeem us. Grant that I always marvel at your grace, and receive you with joy; AMEN.Christ, our Advocate:Our churches teach that the history of saints may be set before us so that we may follow the example of their faith and good works, according to our calling. For example, the emperor may follow the example of David [2 Samuel] in making war to drive away the Turk from his country. For both are kings. 2 But the Scriptures do not teach that we are to call on the saints or to ask the saints for help. Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor [1 Timothy 2:5–6]. 3 He is to be prayed to. He has promised that He will hear our prayer [John 14:13]. This is the worship that He approves above all other worship, that He be called upon in all afflictions. 4 “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1). Augsburg Confession, Article 21 (Concordia p. 44)Glory Revealed:God has blessed us with 40 years of worship here. What a miracle!An heir was placed in the lap of bereaved Naomi. What a miracle!The Magi worshipped the young Christ-child. What a miracle!Paul reveals the mystery of the miraculous: God’s grace is for all people!How does Epiphany relate to our gospel proclamation today?OPENING HYMN: 83 – As with Gladness Men of OldLITURGY: Service of Word & Sacrament, CW p. 26Please rise.PRAYER OF THE DAY:M: Lord God, by the leading of a star you once made known to the nations your one and only Son. Guide us, also, who know him now by faith, to come at last to the perfect joy of your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen.The WordFIRST READING: Ruth 4:13-17Through Ruth, God provided a descendent for bereaved Naomi; in the mystery of his grace, God included Gentiles in the ancestry of Christ:13Then Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went to her. The LORD enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14Then the women said to Naomi: Blessed is the LORD, who has not left you without a redeemer today. May his name be proclaimed in Israel! 15He will restore your life and care for you in your old age, because your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given birth to him. She is better for you than seven sons! 16Then Naomi took the boy and put him on her lap, and she became his caregiver. 17The neighboring women named him, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.PSALM: 72, p. 93 SECOND READING: Ephesians 3:2-12 God has proclaimed the mystery: Through this gospel, we can approach God in freedom & confidence:2Surely you have heard of the administration of God’s grace given to me for you, 3namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation (as I have already written briefly). 4When you read this, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. 5This mystery was not made known to people in past generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and people who also share in the promise through the gospel. 7I became a servant of this gospel, in keeping with the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. 8To me—even though I am the very least of all the saints—was given this grace: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ 9and to enlighten everyone about the administration of this mystery. In past ages this mystery remained hidden in God, who created all things. 10He did this so that, through the church, the multifaceted wisdom of God in the heavenly places might now be made known to the rulers and authorities. 11This was done according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him we can freely approach God with confidence through faith in him. THEME VERSE: Matthew 2:2Alleluia. We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. Alleluia. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! These words are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!GOSPEL READING: Matthew 2:1-12In his grace, God leads Gentiles to worship Christ:After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, 2“Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4He gathered together all the people’s chief priests and experts in the law. He asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the prophet: 6You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of Judah: because out of you will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people, Israel.” 7Then Herod secretly summoned the Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.” 9After listening to the king, they went on their way. Then the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy. 11After they went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Since they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route. This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.Praise be to you, O Christ!CONFESSION OF FAITH: Nicene Creed, p. 31HYMN OF THE DAY: 79 vv. 1-3 – How Lovely Shines the Morning StarSERMON based on Psalm 72: The Fulfillment of the King’s ReignHYMN: 79 vv. 4-5 – How Lovely Shines the Morning StarOFFERINGPRAYER & LORD’S PRAYERThe sacramentFor our Holy Communion practice, please see the purple sheet in the pew racks.COMMUNION LITURGY: p. 33DISTRIBUTION HYMN: 310 – I Come, O Savior, to Your TableSONG OF THANKS: CW p. 36CLOSING HYMN: 622 – For Many Years, O God of GraceNOTESChristmas undecorating today at 11:30 AM.All are invited to the parsonage for chili lunch. (517 Tilden St)Starting this Wednesday, 6 & 8 PM - WELS Online Bible Study. Tune in from the comfort of your home computer - www.wels.net/interactivefaithFebruary 4, Annual Voters’ Mtg.THIS WEEKToday Judges 2 9:30 - Epiphany Festival Worship 10:45 - Sunday School & Bible Class: Genesis 3 11:30 - Christmas undecorating 12:02 - Lunch at the ParsonageMonday Judges 3Tuesday Judges 4 7 PM - CouncilWednesday Judges 5 11:30 AM - LW @Perkins 5 PM - Small Catechism ClassThursday Judges 6 6 PM - ChoirFriday Judges 7Saturday Judges 8Sunday Judges 9 9:30 - Epiphany 2 Worship 10:58 - Bible Class: Genesis 3 & Godly Discipline  Green Pastures with Jesus is the daily podcast from Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church of Fairmont, MN. Here you’ll find a variety of segments to lead you to the green pastures of the Word of God, where our Good Shepherd feeds our faith.  Find us online: www.shepherdofthelakes.net or http://facebook.com/shepherdofthelakes Worship is Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM.Bible class & Sunday School follow at 10:40 AM.323 E. 1st St – Fairmont, MNpastorhagen@icloud.com or (507) 236-9572 iTunes & iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/green-pastures-jesus-shepherd/id1183522558?mt=2 Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=127180&refid=stprOr simply search for “Green Pastures with Jesus” in your podcast app. Intro & Outro courtesy of Koine - The Church Band. Check them out at www.koinemusic.com, or find them on iTunes & Amazon: Search for Koine. Bible text from Biblegateway.com - EHV.                                              

The Worship of God on His Throne Revelation 4:4-11This last book of the New Testament describes (with dramatic imagery and frightening detail) the culmination of God’s redemptive work in the world. Spoiler alert: God wins. 2017-2018; Ken Mitchell.October 15, 2017 | Westside Chapel

For key takeaways from the interview and show notes, head to http://doyouevenblog.com/podcast/11This episode is a bit different. I have two guests today, both of whom are new-ish bloggers who have done incredible work and seen amazing results in their first 3 months of blogging.It's my pleasure to bring you a casual conversation with Lily from The Frugal Gene and Ms. FAF from Frugal Asian Finance.Lily -> 9k views/month in 3 months, 2-3 podcast bookings, 1k+ Twitter followers....and she also brings in roughly $7k/month just from her AirBnB rental(!)Ms FAF -> 17k views/month in 4 months, incredible engagement on every single post, and she has incredibly helpful monthly blog reports.We chat aboutHow these 2 ladies have helped each other grow their blog traffic and engagement.The supreme importance of real-world blogging relationshipsHow bloggers over-emphasize traffic and analyticsIs having paid software really going to make a dent in accomplishing your goals?Gender/ race opportunities and limitations in blogging (why isn't anyone talking about this?)Enjoy the ad-free episode, and join us at http://doyouevenblog.com!

Counsel for the Afflicted Revelation 2:8-11This last book of the New Testament describes (with dramatic imagery and frightening detail) the culmination of God’s redemptive work in the world. Spoiler alert: God wins. 2017-2018; Ken Mitchell.August 6, 2017 | Westside Chapel

Works for piano by Schumann performed by Paavali Jumppanen on May 4, 2014 and November 30, 2014.Robert Schumann: Variations on the name "Abegg" in F Major, Op. 1Schumann: Sonata in F-sharp Minor Op. 11This podcast comes courtesy of several musical personas. Not just Schumann, the composer of both the works, but also his alter egos – Florestan and Eusebius – the characters he used to personify different aspects of his artistic disposition. It was under these names, not his own, that Schumann published his first piano sonata—the “Grosse Sonate” in F-sharp minor, opus 11.Before the sonata, we’ll hear a shorter showstopper, also by Schumann: Variations on “Abegg,” Schumann’s opus 1, the first piece he ever published. The dedication is to another of Schumann’s fictional friends—the countess Pauline of Abegg, a character likely inspired by Schumann’s childhood friend Meta von Abegg. The piece takes its namesake quite literally, building on a theme using the notes A-B-flat-E-G-G—spelling out the name “Abegg” in the notes. Those five notes are a starting point for a series of variations that are alternately dazzling and lyrical.Both pieces were performed at the Gardner by pianist Paavali Jumppanen. We begin with the Abegg Variations.

Matthew 4: 1-11This morning we're going to continue to think about what it means to live The Jesus Way, what it means to grow to be more and more like Jesus. As we do that, we're going to learn a very important truth: if we try to follow The Jesus Way, we have an enemy who would like to keep us from moving ahead on the journey. This morning we'll look at some of the temptation that come our way as we seek to be like Jesus. Support the show (https://pushpay.com/g/hillsidechgr?src=hpp)