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Ministry Moves On By Louie Marsh, 8-29-2021     1) Remember the Ministry is GOD'S NOT MINE.   “2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3:2–3, ESV)   “1The word of the Lord that came to Hosea…(Hosea 1:1, ESV)   The Gospel belongs to   “1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1, ESV)   The abilities I use in ministry are NOT MINE.   “7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7, ESV)   2) Accept that we're all TEMPORARY.   “15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children,” (Psalm 103:15–17, ESV)   “24But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.” (Acts 20:24–25, ESV)   I must have EMPTY HANDS to receive new ministry.   “7Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! 8Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 9For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. 10In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. 11But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” (Psalm 37:7–11, ESV)   3) The key to moving on is LETTING GO.   “15As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:15–16, ESV)   “35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”” (John 1:35–38, ESV)   Ownership is good, only if it's   “6For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6–7, ESV)   “62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”” (Luke 9:62, ESV)      

The authorities are now telling you when to breathe and talk, you must be vaxxd to go to church and what in the world is tarot card christianity?Here are some of the verses I reference today:James 5:13-15Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.Ezekiel 34:3-4The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.Matthew 2534 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.'1 John 3:17But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?--For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12--Thanks for listening!Find Me:Website: churchpublic.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChurchPublic/Twitter: https://twitter.com/churchpublicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/churchpublic/keywords:keepthefaith, church public, churchpublic, church public podcast, church, public, faith, hope, love, Jesus, culture, spiritual, religious, faithandculture, podcast, philosophy, speaker, blogger, christianity, truth, lutheran, theological, seminary, youtube, values, chicago, graduation, new life, living waters, cornerstone, non denominational, progressive, churches, open, minded, small, ltsc, Bible, word, 

2 Corinthians 12:9b (NLT) 9b…So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.Pastoral Sacrifice in Pursuit of Souls2 Corinthians 12:12-14a (NLT) 12When I was with you, I certainly gave you proof that I am an apostle. For I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you. 13The only thing I failed to do, which I do in the other churches, was to become a financial burden to you. Please forgive me for this wrong! 14Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have—I want you.2 Corinthians 12:14 (NLT) 14Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have—I want you. After all, children don't provide for their parents. Rather, parents provide for their children.1 Timothy 5:8 (NLT) 8But those who won't care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.Caught in a Contradiction?2 Corinthians 12:16-19 (NLT) 16Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. 17But how? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you? 18When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No! For we have the same spirit and walk in each other's steps, doing things the same way. 19Perhaps you think we're saying these things just to defend ourselves. No, we tell you this as Christ's servants, and with God as our witness. Everything we do, dear friends, is to strengthen you.2 Corinthians 12:19 (NLT) 19Perhaps you think we're saying these things just to defend ourselves. No, we tell you this as Christ's servants, and with God as our witness. Everything we do, dear friends, is to strengthen you.Concern about Unmet Expectations2 Corinthians 12:20-21 (NLT) 20For I am afraid that when I come I won't like what I find, and you won't like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior. 21Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence. And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins. You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.

Disciple Up # 217 Should We All Be Iconoclasts? By Louie Marsh, 6-30-2021     icon·​o·​clast | ī-ˈkä-nə-ˌklast  Definition of iconoclast 1: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions 2: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration   Synonyms: bohemian, boho, counterculturist, deviant, enfant terrible, free spirit, heretic, individualist, lone ranger, lone wolf, loner, maverick, nonconformer, nonconformist   Antonyms: conformer, conformist   For the Meaning of Iconoclast, Break It Down   Iconoclast is a word that often shows up on vocabulary lists and College Board tests. How will you remember the meaning of this vocabulary-boosting term? If you already know the word icon, you're halfway there. An icon is a picture that represents something. The most common icons today are those little images on our computers and smartphones that represent a program or function, but in the still-recent past, the most common icons were religious images. Icon comes from the Greek eikōn, which is from eikenai, meaning "to resemble." Iconoclast comes to us by way of Medieval Latin from Middle Greek eikonoklastēs, which joins eikōn with a form of the word klan, meaning "to break." Iconoclast literally means "image destroyer."   First Known Use of iconoclast in English 1641, as an icon destroyer.   Article on this: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/neil-seeman/iconoclast-genius_b_4116396.html   https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-88/great-iconoclast.html   Joy asked Lewis to autograph her copy of his book, The Great Divorce. He wrote, "There are three images in my mind which I must continually forsake and replace by better ones: the false image of God, the false image of my neighbours, and the false image of myself. C. S. Lewis 30 December 1952 (from an unwritten chapter on Iconoclasm)."   Lewis was saying that spiritual growth is iconoclastic because it constantly breaks our idols and replaces them with something better.   Iconoclast in Church History:   https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/iconoclasm   Iconoclasm (Eikonoklasmos, “Image-breaking”) is the name of the heresy that in the eighth and ninth centuries disturbed the peace of the Eastern Church, caused the last of the many breaches with Rome that prepared the way for the schism of Photius, and was echoed on a smaller scale in the Frankish kingdom in the West. The story in the East is divided into two separate persecutions of the Catholics, at the end of each of which stands the figure of an image-worshipping Empress (Irene and Theodora).   Luther & the Iconoclasts: https://lutheranreformation.org/history/luther-and-the-iconoclasts/   Was Jesus an Iconoclast?   “13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:13–22, ESV)   “1On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”” (Luke 6:1–5, ESV)   What About the apostles?   “9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,” (1 Thessalonians 1:9, ESV)   “16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:16–25, ESV)   “15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:15–21, ESV)   What happens when you tear something down without a plan to replace with something better?   What needs to be smashed today?   What are the idols (icons) in the church today that to be challenged and removed? Remember I'm speaking largely metaphorically, not about physical idols.   Some say the denominations, like the Southern Baptists for example, need to deal with issues of racism in their history more and are even introducing parts of Critical Race Theory to do so?   Is it even possible to follow Jesus and not be an iconoclast to one degree or another?   What idols in our culture need confronting?   CRT? PC speech and action codes? Gender issues? Sexual morality in general?  

Pre-order Michele's book on talking to customers! https://deployempathy.com/order Michele Hansen  00:00Welcome back to Software Social. This episode is sponsored by Fathom Analytics. Fathom is trusted by thousands of businesses to power their privacy-first website analytics like GitHub, FastMail, Buffer, Tailwind, and so many amazing small businesses, too. For the longest time, website analytics offer was seriously bad.  It was hard to understand, time consuming to use, and worse, and exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. Fathom is website analytics without compromise, easy to use, respectful of digital privacy, and fully compliant with GDPR. Plus, Fathom's script loads faster than Google Analytics, meaning it's better for SEO. With Fathom, you can see all of your visitors, not just half, because they've pioneered the method to bypass ad blockers without invading privacy. Fathom also doesn't chase venture capital or need investors. Like my company, Geocodio, they are customer-funded, and customers are the only folks they answer to. Try a free seven day trial or check out Fathom at UseFathom.com/ssp.  Michele HansenSo, the other day, I totaled up how much I have made from my book so far, and all the expenses.  Colleen Schnettler  01:19Okay.  Michele Hansen  01:20So, as of that point, $1363 in presales, which is just, like, the number of copies times 29. That's not my actual payouts. It's just, like, the gross revenue.  Colleen Schnettler  01:34Okay.  Michele Hansen  01:34And then, so the expenses. So, first one, for the formatting, I have to use the software called Vellum, which is $250. I had to buy ISBNs, like, the little, like, numbers on the back of the book that identify it.  Colleen Schnettler  01:49Yeah. Michele Hansen  01:50So, and I had to, you can either buy one, or like 10, and since I'm going to do an audio book, you need an ISBN for that, and like, a hardcover needs zone ISBN. And so anyway, that was $295. A barcode is $25. Proofreading $800, which is a lot of money, but I feel like that's the price of like, not being embarrassed that it's full of typos and you know, I feel like if I want to, like, have a book that, like, a manager could buy for their team, or like, people would recommend to their clients, like, it has to be professional.  And so having, like, professional proofreading is the cost of that. Colleen Schnettler  02:24Yeah.  I didn't know that was something. I didn't know that was a thing. Michele Hansen  02:30Yeah. Yeah, I spent, I think last week I mentioned how I was fighting with Grammarly a lot, and,  Colleen Schnettler  02:35Yeah.  Michele Hansen  02:36I just, I was like, I have spent like, two days fighting with Grammarly, just trying to get it to work, and like, and I was like, this is just, my time is more expensive than this. Colleen Schnettler  02:47Yeah. Michele Hansen  02:47So, I'm just gonna hire a proofreader.  Colleen Schnettler  02:50Good choice. Michele Hansen  02:50And then, of course, you know, don't include hundreds of hours of my time over the last couple of months. But, so, the total for expenses so far is $1370. Colleen Schnettler  03:01That's wonderful. Michele Hansen  03:02So, when you deduct $1363 minus $1370.  Colleen Schnettler  03:11Oh. Michele Hansen  03:12You get negative seven. Colleen Schnettler  03:16Yeah, I see. I misunderstood what you were saying. Got it. So you're in the hole seven bucks and hundreds of hours of your time. Michele Hansen  03:25Yes. Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  03:26Alright. Well, good thing it;s a labor of love. Michele Hansen  03:28So, I looked at that number, though, and I just had this moment where I was like, holy, forking shirtballs, like, I need to market this thing.  Colleen Schnettler  03:39Yeah.  Michele Hansen  03:40Umm, and actually, so like, I sold another two since then. So now, I am actually at positive $51.  Colleen Schnettler  03:51Whoo.  Michele Hansen  03:52Yeah, whoo. Umm, and of course, you know, we're only like, only in presale, and like, a ton of people have today said they want the hardcover or they want the audio book. So they haven't, they haven't purchased it yet, or they just simply want the finished version. Umm, But yeah, that was kind of a wake up call for me that, like, I've been, you know, we talked about with Sean like, I, like marketing a info product feels very different for me than marketing a SaaS.  Colleen Schnettler  04:19Yes. Michele Hansen  04:19And also requires a lot more self-promotion, which I'm not comfortable with. Like, it makes me like, deeply uncomfortable to like, reach out to people and be like, hey, like, would you consider, like, you know, reviewing my book like, or, you know, can I be on your podcast and, like, talk, like, it makes me super uncomfortable. Umm so, so but I got to do it because like, negative $7, man, for like, four months worth of work is, you know, basically half of my time the last four months, certainly, last two months, has been on this book. And so I feel like I owe it to myself just for that, like, time to like, sell the gosh darn thing. Colleen Schnettler  05:07Definitely. Michele Hansen  05:09Yeah. So I like spent, you know, this week I was kind of working on, you know, like, I went through all of the newsletter issues and I, like, put in a link at the top to, like, buy the book because I've noticed that people are sharing the scripts around. Like, I can see the analytics that they're getting shared in people's Slack channels, or, you know, Trello, or Asana, which is a good sign that those maybe have some staying power. So, and just kind of thinking through a little bit more, a little bit more of the marketing and trying to arrange, you know, yeah, podcasts and stuff, but I gotta, I gotta market this thing. Colleen Schnettler  05:52Yeah, didn't Alex, who promoted his book on our podcast, didn't he do, like, 20 or 30 podcasts? Michele Hansen  06:00Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  06:01And how many have you done? Michele Hansen  06:04Um, I, well,  Colleen Schnettler  06:07I already know the answer. Michele Hansen  06:09Well, I mean this one. I mean, I was on a couple recently where I talked about the newsletter. Like, I was on, I, yeah. Like, I was on the Get the Audience podcast, and I was on the Learn Neto podcast as well. But like, the book wasn't out yet. So those weren't really, Colleen Schnettler  06:37Right, you didn't have anything to sell at that time.  Michele Hansen  06:39Yeah, it was just the newsletter. Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  06:40A good goal for you would be to try to book 15, you know, and get yourself as a guest on 15 to 20 podcasts to promote your book, because you can sell it now. Right? Even though it's not completely done. Michele Hansen  06:52Yeah. Yeah, I guess I guess. Yeah. I'm like scheduling one for the middle of July, like, so I'm currently, my goal is to publish it on July 2, but I like, I really hope that happens. But there may be like, you know, some people may need more time to, like, write reviews, and, like, making a cover and everything. So, it should be out by early July. Colleen Schnettler  07:20You're, when you say, I don't know. You mean the book?  Michele Hansen  07:22Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  07:22I am little confused about what you're saying. Michele Hansen  07:23 Yeah. So like, upload it to Amazon, and people can buy a physical copy. Colleen Schnettler  07:28Yes. Michele Hansen  07:29So I don't think I'm quite there yet. Like, exactly like, and I think there's some things that I'm just saying aren't going to happen for, like, this first version, like, a friend of mine, who is a UX research expert was reading it, and there's a couple places she's like, this would be a really great table. This would be great as a graphic. And I'm like, yes, it would be but I have zero faculty for visual communication, and that is not going to happen right now. Like, that can like happen when my brain has the space to like, think that through, but it is, it is not happening right now. But yeah, I guess I guess I should say, I guess that, I don't even know where to start. Colleen Schnettler  08:13No no, Let's go like straight Nike style here.  Michele Hansen  08:15Nike style? Colleen Schnettler  08:16What is it, just do it? Just do it. That's my challenge for you. I'm not going to talk to you for a couple weeks because I'm about to embark on my epic road trip. So, my challenge for you is to reach out to, find and reach out to 25 podcast hosts that you think, Michele Hansen  08:34Good Lord. Colleen Schnettler  08:34And they're not all going to say yes, which is like, hey, man. I know. Michele Hansen  08:37I'm sitting here being like, Colleen, and I really struggle with self promotion. And even, you know, one person was hard for me and you're like, go do it 25 more times.  Colleen Schnettler  08:4525 times. I love that idea. Michele Hansen  08:46Coach Colleen says 25 more reps. So not fair. Colleen Schnettler  08:50Yes. So, that's what my challenge for you is, is to reach out, Michele Hansen  08:54 How about five?  Colleen Schnettler  08:57Really? I'm not impressed with your five. Michele Hansen  09:00I feel like everybody, I feel like everybody like, needs this person standing on their shoulder that's like, I will write one landing page this month. And you're just there. They're like, really?  Colleen Schnettler  09:11Really? That's the best you can do? Michele Hansen  09:13That's, like, that's it, you know? Wait, like, why are you here?  Colleen Schnettler  09:18You should try and, I don't know, just ask, ask one of our prominent friends who is a book author, Alex comes to mind again, how many podcasts he went on?  Michele Hansen  09:27Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  09:28And try to hit that number. I mean, it's game time girl. Like, you wrote the book. You did the hard work,nd now it's a whole new set of hard work that you have to do because you're right, like, this is a brilliant book. You don't want it to languish because, no one's ever heard of it. Michele Hansen  09:43I didn't say it was brilliant. You said it was brilliant. Colleen Schnettler  09:46Well, here you go. It's brilliant. it's needed. It's gonna be amazing. So, I think you need to like, get in gear. Michele Hansen  09:54Yeah, I, yeah. Okay. I guess, I have to go, well, if you are listening and you want to promote me, then help me. Colleen Schnettler  10:06Maybe what we can do is we can, I have an idea. Okay, plan. So, just put a tweet out and ask everyone for their favorite business podcast. I bet you'll get a list of at least 30. And then you can just, Michele Hansen  10:17Yeah, I guess, yeah, like, but like it has to be for SaaS, for example, because like, Planet Money isn't gonna have me on. Colleen Schnettler  10:25Right, right. I meant yeah, SaaS podcast. I mean, there's enough of them that do podcasts similar to ours.  Michele Hansen  10:31Make the internet do my research for me.  Colleen Schnettler  10:34Yes, there we go. Harness the power of the internet. Michele Hansen  10:41So if you see a tweet from the Software Social Account soon about your favorite business SaaS podcast, now you know why.  Colleen Schnettler  10:50The secret's out. Michele Hansen  10:52Yeah, the secret is out. Okay. Well, I will, I will try to book myself on some, some podcasts. I guess, I guess there's other ways I could promote it, too. Like, I could go on, like, Tiktok or, Colleen Schnettler  11:12No.  Michele Hansen  11:14No, we will not do that. For those listening at home, I think Colleen just spit out her coffee. Yeah. Okay. Well, I have some marketing to do. Colleen Schnettler  11:34Yes. Michele Hansen  11:36Yeah. I think I have like, I've literally sent I think one email, maybe two. No, yeah, one email that mentioned that the presale was live, which basically goes against every best practice, like, some like, someone sent me some advice the other day, and they're like, send at least three emails a day on your like, launch days. I was like, okay, I've sent like, one in the last two weeks, and I sent out my newsletter the other day, and I actually forgot to include a link to the presale. So, I need to, like, Colleen Schnettler  12:06You know what, suggestion.  Michele Hansen  12:07Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  12:07This is really cool. So do you know the Wes Bos is?  He's, like, a famous JavaScript instructor. I bought like, all of his courses. But what he does is, he does, when he has a new product to launch, he does send a lot of emails, but he actually segments his emails. And to be fair, his list is probably like 30,000 people. But he segments his email, so you can unsubscribe just from the product launch emails, which I love, because I'm like, oh, I don't care about this product launch, or I already bought that, and then I can still continue to get all the normal newsletter emails. I mean, don't stress yourself out.  Michele Hansen  12:10Yeah. Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  12:14But it's an idea. It's an idea. Michele Hansen  12:20Yeah, I'm only using review at this point for, so, I don't, like, I don't even have like, ConvertKit or anything.  Colleen Schnettler  12:50Okay, set up. Michele Hansen  12:51Set up, so I, I don't, I probably should do that, but I haven't really,  Colleen Schnettler  13:00Okay, so I think podcast.  I'm still in editing, like, get it out the door mode, because there's still other like, launch stuff. Like, I have to like register the ISBN and like, I need to go through the whole process with Amazon of like, making sure all that's like, setup.  Michele Hansen  13:19So, that feels like a July task. Colleen Schnettler  13:24July task. That's fine. It's halfway to July. It's almost July. So, Michele Hansen  13:30Yeah, so I, maybe I should, like, make a spreadsheet of all the different things and, like, have a goal for those. Colleen Schnettler  13:39I'm, I'm a big fan of measurable goals, right? Like, so, so I'm team, you know, write it down, keep a spreadsheet, keep track of it. Not that I've executed so well on my goals, right? It's easy for me to sit here and tell you what to do. It's way harder when it's you telling me what to do. So, you know,  Michele Hansen  13:57Well isn't there, there's some business axiom about like, it's not like, like, like, achieving the exact goal is not important. It's the fact that you create one and then work towards it that matters. Like, there's somebody who has said something to that effect much more articulately than just said, but you know, it's like just you set the goal and then you go off on a journey to get there and you may end up somewhere else, but like, you have, you're at least doing something. Colleen Schnettler  14:23Right? You're making forward progress. Michele Hansen  14:25Yeah, and I should probably have a revenue goal, too. Like,  Colleen Schnettler  14:29So, okay. Michele Hansen  14:29Even though I don't want one, I should, I guess. Colleen Schnettler  14:32Okay, I'm gonna get off topic, and I don't want to get too far off topic. But, so I'm a really big fan of, like, famous sports coaches, like,  Michele Hansen  14:42Okay. Colleen Schnettler  14:43Like, this is, like, a thing. Like, I love reading biographies of like John Wooden and all these other really successful sports coaches. And one of my favorite takeaways from all of this information that I've osmosed is you cannot control the outcome, right? You can only control your effort and your attitude, which is why revenue goals are not very actionable. Because a revenue goal, like, you actually can't control that. What you can control is your attitude, right? How you approach the problem, and your effort, and how hard you work, and by aligning all of these steps in terms of effort and attitude, the revenue will come. But to set a goal, like, like, in the, you know, the basketball metaphors, like when the NCAA championships, you can't actually control that. You can just control how prepared you are, and your mindset when you attack the problem. Michele Hansen  15:40Oh, that makes sense. Colleen Schnettler  15:43I know that's, like, totally off topic, but I just read about it. And I'm like, Michele Hansen  15:48Yeah, so it's, so to what you were saying, like your goal of 25 podcast episodes. And, and rather than having a goal of say, you know, I don't know, like, $5,000, for example. Instead having it be like, be on 25 podcasts over the next six months to a year, about it, not including this one, because if we include all the episodes of this show then I'm like, totally hitting that, but I assume we're not. Um, and, you know, so like, being on a specific number of podcasts, or something else. I don't know, guest talks or something. Um, yeah, like picking like, specific actions that I can do that's like your equivalent. Like, it's like, write a landing page, right? Like, like, all these, like, things that are actions that I know are accretive towards,  Colleen Schnettler  16:51Right. That's the idea. Michele Hansen  16:52Good outcomes, but like, I fundamentally don't have that much control over how much I actually sell. Like, I can keep my ears out for things that might sell like, you know, for example, I'm gonna sell templates, too, for $19 that are like, Notion templates of all the scripts and it occurred to me earlier, like the, the How to Talk So People Will Talk section like, people seem to really love that. And I was like, that could maybe be its own, like, mini book for like, $10. It's like, just like, so you want, like, you know, you, you want to get information out of people, and you want them to think you're like, trustworthy and you want to, you know, learn how to, like listen actively, then, a mini book or something, like there's other stuff I could do. Colleen Schnettler  17:36Right, I guess all of my points, all of that that you just described, that's effort, right? Those are things you do. You ultimately can't control your revenue, but it'll get there if you put the effort in. That's the idea. Michele Hansen  17:46But like, I if I set the goal of like, be the, I don't know, New York Times number one bestseller or whatever, like, I have zero control over that. It's also not realistic. And it's not it, in some ways it's like, de-motivating there have a goal that is not clearly achievable.  Colleen Schnettler  18:07Exactly. Michele Hansen  18:07But being on 25 podcast is not like, like, that's like, those are very nebulous goals, because it's unclear what will lead to that.  Colleen Schnettler  18:17Yeah. Exactly. Michele Hansen  18:17But being on 20 Live podcast in six months is concrete. And I ostensibly have control over that. Colleen Schnettler  18:26Yes. Nice. Michele Hansen  18:28Wow. So, it sounds like you are doing like a lot of like, business reading lately. Colleen Schnettler  18:38Yeah, um, not a ton. So I do have a couple audio books queued up for my drive that I'm excited about, business ebooks, Obviously Awesome is one that I've been wanting to listen to and I have purchased but I have not yet. This one I just really liked. This one was about, like I said, some of the famous coaches. First of all, I'm a sucker for sports movies, but, but I really liked that idea that ultimately you, you can't control, like, if you're going to win, but you can control all of the aspects of your journey, like how much time you put in, how much effort you put in, like, what your mindset is, you could, those are all things that you know, you can control. And as you know, for like, it feels like for a couple months now I've been struggling to move the product forward. Like, the product is doing well. I hit $1300 MRR.  Michele Hansen  19:28Nice. Colleen Schnettler  19:28Which is, yeah, I mean, it's great.  Michele Hansen  19:30Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  19:30I'm really happy with it. But it, I feel a little bit stuck. I feel, and I don't know if it's, I feel stuck because I haven't had the time, or if I feel stuck because I'm actually stuck. Like, I can't figure out if I feel stuck because if I, if I, let's say I gave myself a week and I just worked every day on it if I would get myself out of that kind of rut, or if there's really no rut to get out of and this is just the nature of the product. That it's just a slow burn, which is fine. I mean, it's going well, like I'm not complaining, I know some people can't, you know, haven't hit this milestone, especially not as quickly as I did. But, um, so there's that. So, I think what I want to do is I want to make a bigger push on content. Because I really haven't, I really don't have any content out there. So that's something I'm going to try and spend some time on, and like, there's just some things about the product that I want to keep iterating on, and I want to make better. Michele Hansen  20:36I mean, we were just talking about goals and the, sort of how difficult it is to have a monetary goal because you don't have control over it. And it's, it's awesome, first of all that, I mean, to have $1300 MRR means that, I mean, a month or two ago, we're talking about how you're hitting 1000. That means that like, that's, the thing, the thing about revenue for a subscription business is that revenue happens every month, like, this revenue that I have from the book, that happened once, and that's not going to happen again. But yours, people are paying you. So it's not just that you have made $1300 like, you, that is compounding and adding on top of each other. But I am sort of curious, like, there has to be some number or range in your head where you're like, I can stop consulting now. Or I can, you know, somebody offers me a full time job and I can just like, turn it down without even thinking about. Like, there has to be some number for you. Colleen Schnettler  21:38Absolutely. And I think like, and, and, absolutely. And I mean, I'm in this for the money. Like, just to be clear, that makes some people really uncomfortable. I don't know if they're not used to women saying that or what, but like, when I tell people that they get a little uncomfortable. Michele Hansen  21:53It's like, your job, like, Colleen Schnettler  21:55Yeah, like, I want to make more money.  Michele Hansen  21:56Like, of course everybody is in their job for the money. Like, yes, I'm doing this book as like, a passion project and like, which leads me to make all sorts of decisions that are confusing to people who prioritize money, like, but like you, understandably, are prioritizing money, because this is your job. And if this doesn't work out, then you know, Colleen Schnettler  22:17I gotta go get a real one. Michele Hansen  22:18I mean tons more consulting, or like, getting, getting a paycheck job is what you have to do. Like, this is not, Colleen Schnettler  22:25Yeah, so.  Michele Hansen  22:27Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  22:28I mean, the thing I love about owning your own business is the possibilities are infinite, right? Like, I mean, I, from a personal perspective, you know, if I could get to 10k, that would be like, Oh, my gosh, I cannot, that would be, I'd be over the moon, right?  Michele Hansen  22:45So that's the number. Colleen Schnettler  22:47The number would be 10k. But, you know, why can't I have a couple million dollars a year in revenue? Like, I want a business. Michele Hansen  22:53 Why can't you have a million dollars?  Colleen Schnettler  22:56I mean, I want a business. Like, if I hit 10k and stay there forever, like, I probably would be a little frustrated. Like, to me, the whole point of having your own business is the possibilities are, in, you know, infinite. And like, one of the things I've been able to do with my modest income, is I've been able to hire two people to help write content for me. And yeah, hired someone else.  Michele Hansen  23:23Oh, you're, wait.  Colleen Schnettler  23:25And, yeah, man, I'm crazy over here. I'm just, dollar bills.  Michele Hansen  23:28Dude, and I'm like, 7 years into this and I like, just hired, like, a part time VA, like, three months ago. Colleen Schnettler  23:34Yeah, yeah. I feel like you're doing it wrong. But that's a different issue. Michele Hansen  23:37Probably. I'm doing it my way, okay.  Colleen Schnettler  23:40That's right. So, and the thing I love about that is, I, with, with the people that I'm paying, I've been able to, you know, people who are kind of writing anyway, now I can pay them to write, it seems like such a win-win. Like, I feel like I'm, it's good for them and it's good for me. And it's something I really love. So like, ultimately, I would love to build this into, like, you know, a really successful business and hire a person and, and, and be able to have created this environment where I can work with who I want and buy my beach house and all that. I mean, I'm big on the beach house if I haven't mentioned that a few times already. Michele Hansen  24:25So the first, like, the first big goal, which I think it'll be fun to reevaluate this a year from now, is like 10k basically. Colleen Schnettler  24:36Yeah. I mean, Michele Hansen  24:36To get you to 10k revenue and then to like, the big, big goal is buy Colleen a beach house. Colleen Schnettler  24:43Buy Colleen a beach house. Yeah. But to me 10k, and I don't know if I have, and I'm still, I feel like I'm in that messy middle phase. Like, I hit 1k, which makes it feel like it's a real thing. Like it's, it's legit, but I don't know if I'm in, I feel like there's a, going from zero to 1k is different than going from 1k to 10k. Right? It's a factor of 10 more. Like it's a big, you feel like going from zero to 1k is one milestone and one to 10 is your next milestone. But one to 10 is way more than zero to one, right? So, I honestly don't know if I'm positioned correctly with this product to get there. Michele Hansen  25:26Which is why you're reading Obviously Awesome. Colleen Schnettler  25:28Which is why I'm reading Obviously, Obviously Awesome. I just, I just don't know, if I'm in the right space, there's so much opportunity. I was talking to a founder recently and he talked about how he pivoted his company and moved into a totally different space, and they started growing, like they were kind of stagnant for a while, and then they kind of made this pivot, moved into a new space and their growth exploded. So, I definitely think there's a spot for me, I just don't know what it is, and I just don't know, it feels like a lot. Like the other thing that, that I wanted to just kind of bring up is when people talk about how to grow in your business. They talk about, like, building the product, as if it's this static thing that takes you like two weeks, and like writing good software is hard. And, it's a constantly evolving process. So it's something that constantly needs my you know, my attention, and that's not bad. I just feel like, you know, it's hard to balance, as most people who listen to this who are working and building a product know, it's just hard to balance all of those competing desires. So I just don't know if I have a, I guess the truth is, I don't know if I have a product that's going to get me to 10k. Like, I don't know, I don't know where it is right now. It's that product. Michele Hansen  26:52I mean, thinking back to where we were like I don't, I don't have our numbers in front of me, so I don't remember them exactly. But like, the thing that really made our revenue jump was not adding any one particular feature or one particular marketing thing. It was a pricing change, because we like, so we started out, I think we were like $31 our first month. And then I don't know, like, maybe maybe $100 the next month, and then like $400 the next month, and then in May of 2014, we had someone who needed, like, a crazy volume of usage every single day. And the only way we could make that work was basically to give them their own server. And we looked around and see what, you know, big companies were charging for these sort of really high volume, like, plans and we're, and I think we we figured out like, the cheapest one was like 10,000 a year, for, that was still like rate limited, I think to 100,000 a day, but we're like, okay, we can do like basically Unlimited, up to like 5 million a day for you for $750 a month, which worked out to 9000 a year. And adding that plan, which was like, slightly different feature-wise, but like it wasn't it wasn't like adding a feature to the API, but it was like a pricing feature, and a new plan, adding that one plan and then, like, we didn't think anyone else would ever take it, and then people started taking it. Like, that is what caused our revenue to really grow. And so I wonder if there's some space for like, you know, pricing evolution here. And like maybe there's some other way of packaging your products with the existing features in a way that's at a higher price point. But I don't like, I don't know why that is. Colleen Schnettler  28:44So I do. Michele Hansen  28:44 It's your business, like, so.  Colleen Schnettler  28:46Yeah. Michele Hansen  28:46But like, I think it's worth thinking about, like, the pricing aspects of, of this. Colleen Schnettler  28:50Yeah, well, and one of the things I do is my app has a lot more power that I'm exposing at the moment. So, I think the answer for example, like, I think I limit your file size to 50MBs, there's no reason I have to do that, like I don't, you know, there's there's a couple things someone reached out to me and told me that his company has a setup now where their customers upload files, like up to a gig(GB) through Upload Care, and then they, but they move them off the Upload Care servers, because it's so expensive, or it's a whole thing. I'm talking to him, I'm gonna, you know, have I have an interview scheduled with him to better understand Michele Hansen  29:26Whoo. Colleen Schnettler  29:26I know. Michele Hansen  29:27Music to my ears.  Colleen Schnettler  29:30But I, you know, so my point is, there's the two things that I'm not doing, I think I've might have mentioned this last week, is multiple file uploads, which I can do. I'm doing it for one client, special, and large files. So it might just be that I'm not quite positioned properly yet.  Michele Hansen  29:46Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  29:46In terms of I've really kept, I've kept a lot of that functionality close to the chest for no particular reason, just because I didn't want to like, release all the features at once and overwhelm everyone like, oh my goodness, but since I can't do those things, it seems like re, kind of revisiting, revisiting some of those options would probably be a good move for me.  Michele Hansen  30:09Yeah, I think it's really smart that you're, like you're doing a big road trip. So you're, and you're going to be listening to this book in the car, right? Colleen Schnettler  30:19Yes, ma'am. Michele Hansen  30:20Like, I find that we do our best like, business thinking on road trips, like, I, maybe it's because, you know, you like, you, you can't be doing anything else, like, you are literally stuck there. Colleen Schnettler  30:34Right. You're stuck. Michele Hansen  30:34And like, and I can't be looking at my phone in the car, otherwise, I'm going to get carsick. And, of course, it's the two of us and like, like, our go to for road trips is like, how I built this. So we end up like, really like, coming up with stuff on on, like, you know, I have, like, emailed myself of, like, conversations we've had on road trips. And so of course, it'll only be you. But, you know, those times when, like, the kids are sleeping in the back or whatever, and you can't have the audio book on and thinking all these things through, like, I think it'll be really good thinking time for yourself. And but remember to like, take notes every day on what it is that you think about. Colleen Schnettler  31:17Oh. That's a good point. I should bring a notebook. That's a really good point. Michele Hansen  31:20Like, a notebook or even just like, record a voice memo for yourself or whatever, if that's easier, just like, something so you don't, like, because there are times when when we've had like, an amazing conversation on a road trip, and then I didn't write it down. And then like, you know, a week later, we're back and we're like, oh, my God, like, what was that like, an amazing thing. And like I had this whole, like, like pre COVID, we were on a road trip. And I had this whole idea of like, our content strategy built around, like really unique address data. Like, for example, in South Carolina, there's three, there's like four towns called Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, all right next to each other, like, I was gonna, like, write about all of these, like, odd location, address things, and I came up with this great name for it on the road trip, and then I like, I still cannot remember what that name was, so take notes. Colleen Schnettler  32:09Yeah, I totally, I totally hear you. I know exactly what you're saying. I think that's a great idea. I think I have a lot of thinking to do. You know, I kind of feel like it was really exciting in the beginning when I was trying to launch the product. And then it's really exciting. And then everything is very, very exciting. And then you hit your first milestone, and then it's kind of like, oh, but now there's another milestone, okay, so I never really win.  Michele Hansen  32:32Right. The goalpost just moves. Colleen Schnettler  32:34The goalpost continuously moves. So it's interesting to me, I mean, I have a lot to think about is like, is this a product that can get me to 10k? How do I, and how do I get there? Right? Like, what is what do I need to do to get there? As I just said, when I was giving you my little pep talk, like it's putting in the work, I mean, you know, it's not going to sell itself. So yeah, I'm ready to really, really give it some time to think about it on my epic journey. Michele Hansen  33:01Alright, well, on, on that note, I guess we should just sort of make a quick programming note that Colleen will be away for the next two weeks. And so we will, we will be leading on that social side of Software Social and have some guests coming up that I'm super excited about. And then I will be away the following week, so Colleen is gonna have a guest on, and then we will both be like, basically a month from now. Colleen Schnettler  33:34Oh my gosh. I won't talk to you for a month. Michele Hansen  33:35Wow. That feels so weird.  Colleen Schnettler  33:37Oh, gracious. That's sad. Michele Hansen  33:45I mean, you'll text me roadtrip updates. Colleen Schnettler  33:45Obviously. Michele Hansen  33:46Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  33:46Obviously, I'm so excited to see, like, cactuses, by the way.  Michele Hansen  33:52Yeah? Colleen Schnettler  33:52In Arizona. Yeah. I'm so excited to see the great American West. Michele Hansen  33:55I've heard Arizona is, like, gorgeous. Colleen Schnettler  33:57Yeah, I'm super pumped to see a big cactus. Anyway. Michele Hansen  34:00Oh, I've been there. I was okay, whatever. We're gonna stop here for today. Colleen Schnettler  34:07Wrap it up. Michele Hansen  34:11I'll talk to you next week.

15Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.…-Jeremiah 13:16

Michele Hansen  00:00Welcome back to Software Social. This episode is sponsored by Oh Dear, the website monitoring app. As an Oh Dear customer myself, I particularly like how easy it is to make SLA reports with Oh Dear. They're professional and sleek, and they make it easier for us to service enterprise customers. And I actually requested this feature myself last year, and I'm so delighted with how open to suggestions they are. You can sign up for a free 10 day trial with no credit card required at OhDear.app. Colleen Schnettler  00:32So Michele, how has your week been?  Michele Hansen  00:34It's good. It's good. You know, I was, I was doing some writing this morning, which is funny, I've realized it's, like, my reward work. Like, you know, when I get through all the other stuff, like it's like, oh, like, now I have some writing time. And, Colleen Schnettler  00:47That's amazing because I remember being in high school and, like, English, like whenever I had to write a paper, it was literally my least favorite thing to do. So I find that fascinating that, for you, writing is your reward work. Michele Hansen  00:59I, five paragraph essays are, I don't think anyone looks forward to writing those. Like, this is very different than, than that. Um, but so I was, I was writing and I started thinking about this framework that I know we've talked about, and it occurred to me that I have a very tangible example of that. Colleen Schnettler  01:20Which framework? StoryBrand, or something else?   Michele Hansen  01:22No, so it's a Marty Cagan framework.  Colleen Schnettler  01:25Okay. Michele Hansen  01:26So, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna back up first. So, there's this misconception, I think that people sometimes have or fear about customer research that if they start listening to their customers, then they have to do everything the customers ask them for. And they're basically, like, giving up control over the vision of the product to the customer.  Colleen Schnettler  01:47Okay. Michele Hansen  01:48And that's not true, right? Like, you'll always have to weigh it against, um, what makes sense for you to do. And so, there's this one framework that I particularly like that was developed by Marty Cagan, who is kind of, like, the the product guru, like, he's the head of this consultancy called the Silicon Valley Product Group. Like, he is like the product guy, and in order for a product to be successful, he says how it needs to be valuable, viable, usable, and feasible. Colleen Schnettler  02:26Wow, valuable, viable, usable, feasible.  Michele Hansen  02:30So let's, let's break it down a little bit. So first, it has to be valuable for the customer. Like, it has to be something that is, you know, accomplishes something for them and helps them do something, right. Because if it's something that doesn't help them do something that they would want to do, then they wouldn't use it. Like, the example I kind of think of for this is what was that startup that would, like, squeeze a bag of pureed fruit for you? Like Juicero, or, like, it was some, like, they raised like billions of dollars or whatever, for, like, a smoothie machine, and everyone is like, why? Like, not really very valuable to people.  Colleen Schnettler  03:04Right. Okay.  Michele Hansen  03:05I'm sure they had wonderful ideas, and they were great people. It has to be viable, which means it has to be, like, commercially viable, like people have to be willing to pay for it. So like, I could make something that's super awesome and useful, but if no one is willing to pay for it, then it's not a viable product, right? Like, if I'm solving a problem that no one experiences painfully enough to, to pay someone to solve it, then it's not going to work out.  Colleen Schnettler  03:30Okay. Michele Hansen  03:30It has to be usable, which may be the easiest of all these words, to understand that, like, they have to be able to figure out how to use it. So,  Colleen Schnettler  03:39Okay. Michele Hansen  03:39You may have heard this in the context of usability testing, which is basically, like, if I make a website that you can do something on, but you can't actually figure out how to do that, and it's confusing, then it doesn't matter if what the product does is something that's valuable to you. If you can't figure out how to do it, you're going to move on to something else.  Colleen Schnettler  03:57Right.  Michele Hansen  03:57And then the last one is it has to be feasible, like, it has to be possible for you to produce this product. So,  So this would be the equivalent of being, me being like, Colleen, I really need a spaceship. And you being like, that's awesome. I can see that's valuable for you. Maybe you have the ability to pay for that. I don't, but you know, let's go with it. I can build it in a way that, that you can use it. You know, you're an engineer, right? Any kind of engineer can build any kind of thing, right?  Colleen Schnettler  04:05Oh, okay. Sure.  Michele Hansen  04:25Yeah. Like, you could build a bridge. No, I'm, I'm, for all the certified engineers out there, I'm aware that they're not all transferable. But it wouldn't be feasible for you to build that.  Colleen Schnettler  04:37Right.  Michele Hansen  04:38So, so this framework of valuable, viable, usable and feasible is something that I always keep in mind when we're getting feedback from people because you don't necessarily act on every single problem and every piece of advice that you hear, and, like, and that's okay.  Colleen Schnettler  04:55Yeah, okay.  Michele Hansen  04:56And so, a specific example of this that relates to the book and to something we have been talking about quite a bit is consulting and whether I should do consulting related to the book.  Colleen Schnettler  05:10Right.  Michele Hansen  05:10It's something we've talked about, and I've gotten quite a few requests from people about. And, you know, as I thought about it, okay, so clearly, this would be valuable for people. Like they, they feel like they need help getting started with understanding their customers. They seem to be willing to pay for it. I don't know what that would be, like, I, granted I haven't told anyone, like, cool, here's, you know, an invoice for, I don't know, $500 for a 30 minute conversation, or whatever it is people charge. But like, people seem to be willing to pay for this, and they've told me that they pay other people for this. So there's clearly an ability and desire to pay there. And then usable, like, I feel like I would be able to deliver it in a way that would make it useful for them. But it's not feasible.  Colleen Schnettler  05:56Why not? Michele Hansen  05:56Time zones. Colleen Schnettler  05:59Oh. Michele Hansen  06:00And also the fact that I already have a business that I need to keep going. So I, like, I already have a pressure on my time in that regard. But I basically only have one hour of decent overlap with the US, which is from, Colleen Schnettler  06:15One hour?  Michele Hansen  06:16From nine to 10am Eastern. Colleen Schnettler  06:19Wow, because what time is 9 to 10am Eastern in Denmark.  Michele Hansen  06:22So that's 3pm. So our daughter gets out of school at 3. So, Colleen Schnettler  06:26Yeah. Michele Hansen  06:26Making anything else work requires a huge amount of schedule gymnastics for me. And I already have customers that I need to have, you know, calls with anyway. Like, and, and so if I were to do consulting, then I would have to say that I could, like, do it for everybody except North America, which totally doesn't make sense because, you know, if you assume that the audience for this podcast is a pretty good overlap with the people who might want me to consult for them, that'd be like, 80% of the audience would not be eligible, and people might find that a bit off-putting, or frustrating. But like, I mean, I just can't do it. Like I can, you know, 8am Eastern is a great time for me, because that's 2pm here, but like, that's, that's a bit early for, for business conversations. And most of the time, like, if I have to have a call with California, like, it ends up being at 9 o'clock my time. And,  Colleen Schnettler  07:21Yeah, that's rough. Michele Hansen  07:22Even 9am is a bit early. Like, I've worked in companies that, like, had like, a basically an official, like, no meetings before 10, but really not before 11 rule. Like, if you got a 9am meeting, I was like God, like why are you punishing them? So it's just, it's not feasible for me. So,  Colleen Schnettler  07:42Okay. Michele Hansen  07:42Maybe it will be in, you know, 15 years when I don't have a child at home, and I can, you know, just blow through dinner time, like, and work and like, honestly, it's probably not gonna be good for my work-life balance, like, but it's, it's simply not feasible. Colleen Schnettler  07:59Is this something you want to do? Or is this just a, like, convenient reason not to do it because you already don't want to do it? Michele Hansen  08:07I was trying to dive into like, why the thought of it was even, like, immediate, no in my head.  Colleen Schnettler  08:14Right. Okay.  Michele Hansen  08:15And I think that was kind of, and like, the reason was like, I don't have time for that. And then it's like,  Colleen Schnettler  08:20Yeah. Michele Hansen  08:21But I do, like, I, I have time to work already, so why wouldn't that fit into my existing work time? And it's because it wouldn't happen during the work time. Now, I could be like, oh, I'll just consult for people in the UK, but like, I, like, most of my network is in the US anyway. So, and I think it's just easier just to say no to everything. But again, as we kind of talked about, like, I could always do this 5 or 10 years from now. And people have asked me about courses too, which is easier to make work across time zones, but I'm not really a natural teacher. So I admit that that, like, that kind of scares me because I feel like I would not only have to learn, like, how to create a course. But I would have to learn like, how to teach, which is, you know, a skill set that people to go to school for for four to six years to learn. Like it's not a, it's not an insignificant thing to learn how to do. Colleen Schnettler  09:21Yeah, well, you already have a lot of demands on your time. So, I don't know that adding consulting would be good for you even if you were in the US. Michele Hansen  09:29Yeah, that's true. I mean, you actually used to have a course, right? Or you were starting one, or?  Colleen Schnettler  09:34Haha, yeah. So one of my many, many business ideas. I was going to do a course, and holy cow, it was so much more work than I anticipated. So I decided not to do it, and that was a good decision. Michele Hansen  09:52I think when we first met you were, like, getting that course going. Colleen Schnettler  09:58Yeah, I think I did a couple videos. I mean, my, my idea had been to do Ruby on Rails course for beginners and try to, like, incorporate some more advanced topics, so like an advanced beginner course. But, and I know some people have a lot of success with courses, but you know, I started doing it, and it was just like, because I was trying to do a video course. It was a tremendous amount of work, and I found that I, this, this was years ago, too, right? This was a couple years ago, and I didn't have any audience or network so to speak of, and I think to be successful with a course, a couple of things have to happen. You either have to have the right course at the right time, so you're releasing a course on something that is new and hot, and everyone wants to learn about, or I think you have to have a really well-established network and audience, and I had neither of those things at that time. And, and also, you know, people talk about being on, like, the content treadmill, so the thing about if your business, if your primary business is a subscription video service, or, you know, subscription courses, like, you have to constantly be producing content, and that wasn't really something that I wanted to do either. So yeah, the course was just, the video course was just so much work, like, the editing and the trying not to talk over myself, and the, oh, my goodness. So it wasn't a good fit for me. Not saying it wouldn't be a good fit for you in the future. I mean, there's tons of opportunity there.  Michele Hansen  11:33I'm curious, how long did you work on that course from like, when you had the idea to when you ended up giving up on it? Colleen Schnettler  11:41I don't remember. So, I started with a couple intro videos, and I mean, we're talking like 10, 15 minute videos, and they would take me hours. That was the first problem. And then I actually was going to do it with a friend who has a really successful Ruby on Rails template. So he and I recorded, I mean, Michele, we must've recorded 10 hours of video.  Michele Hansen  12:03Wow.  Colleen Schnettler  12:03Yeah. I mean, we have, I still have it. So yeah, for the Rails listeners, it's the guy who developed Bullet Train. And Bullet Train is like a really opinionated, Ruby on Rails, SaaS kind of template builder to start with. And he's been doing this a lot longer than I have, and so I really was fascinated in terms of like, there's some more advanced concepts that you never really get in the material that's out there. And a big one he feels really strongly about is domain modeling, and like, how to do your domain modeling. And this is a thing, I found that as a developer, like, there's tons of entry level courses, and as soon as you get past entry level, it gets harder. Like, when you get to the point where you can't Google the answer for what you're trying to figure out, there isn't a lot. It's more about, like, learning and problem solving, and there aren't a lot of courses or examples or things that can, like, draw you in to these more advanced concepts. So, Andrew and I had talked about doing a course, like, kind of teaching people about domain modeling, which was really cool, because I really love the way he's done it in Bullet Train. And I've worked on a lot of different apps, and typically, it's kind of a mess, right? Like, because you don't, you don't really think big term. I mean, things grow and things, and things evolve, and that's the nature of software, whereas Andrew's, the way he tries to handle it is it's top down, like you know, you don't think you're going to need teams and users, and, you know, join tables, but you should start there. Michele Hansen  13:36We thought that. Retrofitting that later is painful to the point where we haven't, like, fully, like, we, like, have done it, and we need to do more of it. And it's, oh god, just retrofitting, like, user access controls like that is, that's like one of those things, if I can fly back to me eight years ago when we were building this, it's like, just build that in from the beginning. People are gonna want a billing user. They're gonna, you know. Colleen Schnettler  14:06Right, that's literally exactly what, what it was about. It was about that, because when you start you don't care, right? Or you don't think about it, because you're like, I, I don't need to get that complicated. But if you start from the beginning with that framework, when you're where you guys are, it's so much easier to retrofit in all that stuff because it's already there. Anyway, now that I'm talking about it, I'm getting excited about it again. Michele Hansen  14:27I can tell. Like, you really do see a void for this. But I think, like, I think it's important to bring up though, because you, like, you tried a bunch of stuff before you found something that's kind of working, right. Like I mean, we like we launched stuff that didn't work. Like, I think people kind of you know, you listen to like podcasts like this or whatnot, and you're like, wow, like, this person has everything figured out and they're just amazing, and there's something about them that like makes them what they make successful or whatever, and I'm like, no dude, like we've had stuff that failed. Like, that's normal. Like,  Colleen Schnettler  15:04Yeah. Michele Hansen  15:04I don't think there's anybody out there who has launched something successfully and not had 10 other things behind it that were either total duds or like just completely, you know, never got off the ground or were soundly rejected, or panned on Reddit, which one of ours was. But anyway, speaking of remotely successful products, Colleen, is it time for our weekly numbers update on Simple File Upload? Colleen Schnettler  15:35Your weekly update for Simple File Upload. Yes, so this week, I crossed the 1000 MRR mark. Michele Hansen  15:42We have totally buried the lead. Colleen Schnettler  15:47I know right. Michele Hansen  15:47Oh my god! Colleen Schnettler  15:49I'm super, I mean, it was really exciting.  Michele Hansen  15:53Oh, my gosh, yes. Colleen Schnettler  15:55Yeah. So that really makes it feel like a real business, if you will. I mean, $1,000 that's like real money. Michele Hansen  16:02That is real money. Colleen Schnettler  16:04Yeah, like, even after I pay all my you know, I do have the, the hosting fees, and the, Heroku takes a cut. But yeah, it's really exciting. Michele Hansen  16:13Wait. So I think last time we, like, really dove into the numbers on it. Your costs of what, you know, what we would sort of call in business jargon the cost of goods sold, which is like, you know, servers and everything that you have to pay for in order to make the app run, that was like $200 a month, and you thought it would be pretty, like consistent.  Colleen Schnettler  16:41Yeah.  Michele Hansen  16:42Are you, is that still true? Colleen Schnettler  16:44Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's still true. Now I do, so it's, that's, that's probably an estimate of all the, the fees and like you said, server hosting storage. And then Heroku takes 30%, because I'm in their marketplace, much like the App Store. I know, it really hurts, like, you're just like, oh, ouch. But, I know, but you know what, I mean, I still will bang the drum, or whatever that phrase is on this, for ,launching this in a marketplace was just such a good idea because if I look at the users I have coming from the open internet, versus the users I have coming from Heroku, like, far and above, the majority of my paid users are coming from Heroku. Michele Hansen  17:27So, so if your cost of goods sold is $200 a month, and for purposes of this, we're pulling out that processing or like, you know, sort of marketplace fee, which is 30%, so then basically your margin is like, $500 a month. Does that sound right? Colleen Schnettler  17:47Yes.  Michele Hansen  17:48Wow.  Colleen Schnettler  17:49Yeah. Michele Hansen  17:50That's pretty good. Colleen Schnettler  17:52I know, I was pretty excited. Um, yeah. So it's, it's good.  Michele Hansen  17:58That's really interesting for when, you know, if you're able to get to a point, eventually, where you're selling outside of Heroku, like, that, you know, if we were to assume an 80% margin like that, that's pretty good. That's where a lot of software businesses are. So it's, I mean, it sounds like your, your fundamentals are pointing in the right direction. Colleen Schnettler  18:22Yeah, I think, I mean, we've talked a lot about, I think last week I was a little frustrated because I still can't really identify my ideal customer, or people who are even using it. But I think one of the huge benefits of being in this marketplace is people are signing up. So the more people I get signing up, the more chances I have that someone will actually, that I'll be able to talk to people and kind of figure out my value proposition. I'm finding a lot of people, a lot more people are finding me on the internet. So I'm getting a lot more signups that bounce when they see you have to have a credit card upfront. But I mean, on the, on the plus side, that means there's clearly a demand for this. This is clearly a thing people want because a lot of people are signing up. Now, will a lot of people pay for it is always the, the, you know, the thing you're trying to figure out, but I'm seeing quite a lot of people putting in their email address, putting in their email addresses on my non-Heroku site. Michele Hansen  19:23How, like, upfront does your non-Heroku site make it that people have to put in a credit card for the free trial? Colleen Schnettler  19:30So the way it works right now is you sign up and then, then you go to the pricing page. And then you click the button to say sign up for this plan, and then you have to put a credit card in.  Michele Hansen  19:42But like, on the landing page itself, does it make it clear that a credit card is required for the trial?  Colleen Schnettler  19:48No.  Michele Hansen  19:50You should probably do that. Colleen Schnettler  19:52Yeah, I thought about that. But I was looking at other people's landing pages and no one really, like, that doesn't seem to be a thing people do. Cuz it feels, like, where would you put it? In like, small print under free, free trial? Free 7 day trial, credit card required for sign up?  Michele Hansen  20:07Yeah, I, you know, something that I noticed with that is that when somebody has a free trial and no credit card is required, they always say that. Colleen Schnettler  20:17Right, no credit card required, right. But when they do require a credit card, they don't say anything. Michele Hansen  20:23Yeah. And that, that tells me something. Now, Colleen Schnettler  20:27Yeah, no one wants to pay, Michele Hansen  20:28A lot of big companies like, they'll you know, if you, if you are a marketing person who is incentivized for email signups, then yeah, you're gonna want to hide the fact that a credit card is required because that's how you hit your metrics. But also, the incentive should be redesigned in that case. But I think it's worth at least having that somewhere on the landing page, because as you said, then people are bouncing, and so there's no point in you having this pile of email addresses from people who aren't going to pay for it unless you want it to try to monetize them some other way. But that doesn't really seem to be like something you want to do, and also with, like GDPR, and CCPA and all of those privacy acronyms, like, it could be, you know, a liability for you. Colleen Schnettler  21:21Yeah, I was thinking about it, because I've seen so many signups recently. So I think that's a, but I, the reason I didn't put it was because I've never seen it. And I was like, is that a huge turnoff to be like, credit card required for signup. But I agree, I'm not doing anything with those email addresses. I mean, in the future, maybe I can remove it and try a different kind of, you know, when I have more time or a little bit bigger, and maybe try to learn more about those people. But at this point, it doesn't do any good, like, I'm not keeping their email addresses or anything. So I'm just seeing that there's a lot of traffic. Michele Hansen  21:54I wonder how, so I signed up for Savvy Cow recently, speaking of all of my timezone issues, like, I had to make this little redirect basically, so that when people request to have a meeting with me, if the browser detects their timezone, and then it sends them to the calendar based on their timezone, because like, I'll only do those 9pm calls for you know, people on the west coast, for example. But, so I signed up for for Savvy Cow, and they have a 7 day free trial with a credit card required, and now I'm looking at their website to see how clear that was, because I remember that, like, I knew that it would be required, and like, that, they would just automatically charge me after that point. And I'm actually looking at their landing page. Oh, okay, actually, it just, it just, just say get started for free. Colleen Schnettler  22:48See, no, no one says that. Michele Hansen  22:50But maybe they, like, maybe isn't an automatic, maybe it was an email they sent me instead that, um, oh, okay. Okay, so here's how it works. So it says what you can, zero cost to create an account, but then once you're ready to start sharing your calendar links, then the one week free trial starts, and then that has automatic billing. Colleen Schnettler  23:12Where did you get that, in an email? Michele Hansen  23:14It's on their pricing page. Colleen Schnettler  23:16Okay, I'll look at that. That's probably a good idea. I like that, like, yeah, it's, it's free to create an account. But if you actually want to upload files,  Michele Hansen  23:23Sure, you can give us your email address, but if you want to do anything, but I think that, you know that, that makes sense for like a product. Like this, where like, there, there is some amount of stuff that might need to happen before you actually use the products, like, people might need to have internal discussions or like, you know, with this, like, you have to kind of set it up, and there's also this positive effect, where, if you've done all of this work to get it set up, then you are more bought in to the product. Like, this is the approach that TurboTax uses. Like, I don't know, if you notice that they,  Colleen Schnettler  23:55I know, I know.  Michele Hansen  23:55They don't, they'll be like, well, it's free to file, but then it's you know, 19 or 29 or whatever.  Colleen Schnettler  24:00It's free to do your taxes, Michele Hansen  24:01Whatever, but to actually file your state one, or to have us automatically send it to the IRS or whatever it is, like,  Colleen Schnettler  24:08Yeah. Michele Hansen  24:09Then you have to pay for it. And all the people listening in other countries, like especially anyone in Denmark, where you can just file your taxes online, like for free and like, you know, you don't have Intuit, with this massive lobbying budget, making it complicated. Yeah, I mean, so so there's definitely some benefits to that kind of model, and I think as long as what you do, just like, making it really clear what that like, make it clear what's going to happen to people. Colleen Schnettler  24:41Yeah, I like the idea of putting it on the pricing page because I don't want it on my landing page because that's gonna look bad. But like, if you click sign up for a free trial, I like having another pricing page because again, it doesn't do anyone any good for, I don't care about your email address if you're not interested, and you are annoyed because you fill out the welcome to my thing form, and then you have to enter a credit card, and you felt you know, you didn't know. So, I, um, I like this idea. I think it's a good idea. Michele Hansen  25:06Yeah, I think, so your call to action, it says try it now, sign up for a free 30 day trial.   Colleen Schnettler  25:13Yeah. Michele Hansen  25:14And I also wonder if, you know, changing out from like, sign up to be like, you know, start free trial or whatnot, like, because I think people really do grok the difference between free trial versus free tier. And, and I saw that when I scrolled all the way down, there's a free 30 day trial, but I don't actually see that above the fold on your site. And so I wonder if making it clear that it's free trial would help with that.  Colleen Schnettler  25:46Okay. I like, I like changing it to start, start your trial or something.  Michele Hansen  25:50Yeah. Because they're actually, there's no button either, like, right below the header. There's like, there should be a button there that's like, start your free trial.  Colleen Schnettler  25:59Oh. Michele Hansen  26:00There's no call to action button. Colleen Schnettler  26:02Wait, below the header. Michele Hansen  26:04So it says add File Uploading to your app in minutes, like, integrate file uploads in your website, no service required, blah, blah, blah. Like, where's the button? Give me a button. Colleen Schnettler  26:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Michele Hansen  26:17But hey, while I'm looking at SimpleFileUpload.com, for anyone who is listening, there is a testimonial there.Yay. Colleen Schnettler  26:26Yay, I did. I got a testimonial up.  Michele Hansen  26:31And it looks awesome.  Colleen Schnettler  26:33Yeah. So I'm happy about that. Yeah, you're right. There should be a call to action button right here. Michele Hansen  26:39Tell me what to do, Colleen. Colleen Schnettler  26:41Oh, my gosh. See, this is, like, the stuff I don't know about. You're absolutely right.  Michele Hansen  26:44Tell me to sign up. Colleen Schnettler  26:45Tell me to sign up, start trial now. Nice. Okay, I like it. Good point. Michele Hansen  26:52And I guess, yeah, you just want to like work on that wording because like, as you know, the Savvy Cow example, like, the trial doesn't start until you actually do something. And so it's like, does the trial start like, right from the time they sign up? Or just, you know, wherever you can, like, make it clear what's going to happen to people. Colleen Schnettler  27:09Yeah, so I think, so right now, if you click on sign up, it takes you to a nice signup page. But then after you hit the signup page, it takes you to the pricing page. I wonder if I should switch those since I'm going to require a credit card, and instead of taking you to the signup page before the pricing page, sign up, pricing page, which explains that you have to, you know, pay, not pay I'm sorry, that you have to enter your credit card and then a start trial button. Michele Hansen  27:45Okay, so I'm actually going through it right now. Colleen Schnettler  27:48Yeah, okay.  Michele Hansen  27:49Um, so let's do it live. Okay. Colleen Schnettler  27:54Usability testing live with Michele. Michele Hansen  27:57F it will do it live. Okay. So, select your plan, try it out with a 30 day free trial, up, upgrade or cancel at any time. Okay. Colleen Schnettler  28:06So if you go back, though, if you start from the homepage, okay, if you go to Home. So go to home. Michele Hansen  28:10Home.  And then sign up. Colleen Schnettler  28:12Sign up. Michele Hansen  28:13Yeah. So then it's just like a login screen.  Colleen Schnettler  28:16Right.  Michele Hansen  28:17Yeah, I wonder maybe, maybe you would, you could also experiment with when you click sign up, taking people to this pricing page, and then when they click start trial, then they create an account, and then they add a credit card and everything. Colleen Schnettler  28:35Yeah, I tend to wonder if that's a better workflow because again, I don't need to collect or want to collect information for people who don't want to put their credit card down.  Michele Hansen  28:45Yeah.  Colleen Schnettler  28:47So I think I'll do that. I like that. I like that idea. Yeah, and then they can go, if signup would take them to pricing, and then under where it says select your panel have something like, it's gonna be a seven day trial, but I'll fix that, try it out with a seven day trial credit. I mean, it sounds so bad, credit card required when you are ready to use the service or something. I don't know. I'll figure that out.  Michele Hansen  29:07And I also noticed you have a 30 day money back guarantee. So a 30 day free trial,  Colleen Schnettler  29:12Oh my gosh. Michele Hansen  29:12And a 30 day money back guarantee? No. Colleen Schnettler  29:15Okay. I do, but I shouldn't.  Michele Hansen  29:17Yeah. Colleen Schnettler  29:17Cuz this is like, I need to change that. Oh, my gosh, it's so funny that you said that. Because basically, like, this, the framework for the SaaS is built off of the Bullet Train app, which I mentioned earlier that Andrew and I were going to make a course for, and this is just, like, their default wording. And I literally, like forgot to take it out.  Michele Hansen  29:39Okay. Colleen Schnettler  29:40So I don't want to do that. I just, no one has asked for their money back. So that's good. Michele Hansen  29:44That's also a liability for you, so.  Colleen Schnettler  29:47Yeah, no, I need to get, where did you see that? Michele Hansen  29:49When I clicked on start trial from the pricing page. Colleen Schnettler  29:53Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I need to change that. Michele Hansen  29:57Well, it sounds like you now have a lot of work on your plate. So,  Colleen Schnettler  30:02Yeah. Michele Hansen  30:03I guess I should let you go. Colleen Schnettler  30:05Plenty of things to do. Yeah. Great. This is good, though. This is good. I haven't really thought through that onboarding workflow in a long time. So, I'm glad we took a look at it. Michele Hansen  30:15Awesome. Well, I guess that'll wrap us up for this week. Thank you so much for listening. If you liked this episode, please tweet about it or write us an iTunes review. That means a lot to us and, yeah, we'll talk to you next week.

Sermon Guide Book of Galatians Part 4 - "Hypocrites" Big Idea: There's no such thing as a better Christian. Galatians 2:11-21 11But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter's hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? 15“You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners' like the Gentiles. 16Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” 17But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! 18Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. 19For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Discussion Questions 1. Do you have trouble reading the Old Testament because of all rules and regulations? Were you aware that all those laws were made to show you that you need a savior? Name some laws that you think are weird or ridiculous. 2. Like Peter, what is an area in your life where you are most afraid of criticism? 3. What is your “plus”? What other thing besides Jesus do you feel like you need to feel whole, valued, loved? What is it that, if you just got THAT THING, you would feel whole, complete?

Weekend Sermon Notes Series Title: Christ Centered Community SPEAKER: Dr. Jon Akin   We have to get the Gospel right Galatians 2:15-21   1. We have to get the gospel right for our freedom Galatians 2:1-4   2. We have to get the gospel right for the lost and hurting Galatians 2:5-10   3. We have to get the Gospel right for life change Galatians 2:11-14   4. We have to get the Gospel right for the unity of the church Philippians 1:15-18   Galatians 2:1-21 ESV 1Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. 11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.   Philippians 1:15-18 ESV 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,  

Hope For Life with Bob Lenz - an inspiring message for your busy day. This week's devotional theme is Christian Life. Today's episode will be from Philippians 2:17.Philippians 2:17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.To discover more, visit lifepromotions.org.

Matthew 6:16-18 (NASB95) Fasting; The True Treasure; Wealth 16Nowwhenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocritesdo, for theydistort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting.Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.17But as for you, when you fast,anoint your head and wash your face,18so that your fasting will not be noticed by people but by your Father who is in secret; and yourFather who seeswhat is donein secret will reward you.

Romans 1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Hebrews 10 1 to 18 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18Now where there is [e]remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Hebrews 11: 13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off [e]were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Galatians 3:1-18 Galatians 3: 5Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Habakuk 2: 1I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 2Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Matthew 16Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

BUY THE GO CREATOR GO BOOK & JOURNAL:www.antoinebeane.comhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GV2DK1Vhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GVJ6MP5FOLLOW GO CREATOR GO & TRIUMPH MEDIAWORKS:Facebook & IG: @gogreatorgo & @triumphmediaworksTwitter: @gcreatorgwww.triumphmediaworks.com___________________________________SCRIPTURES CONCERNING IDENTIGenesis 1:27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.Jeremiah 1:5Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.1 Peter 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.1 Corinthians 1:30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.1 Corinthians 12:27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.1 Corinthians 6:17But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.1 John 3:1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.1 Samuel 12:22For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.1 Samuel 16:7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.Colossians 2:10And you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.Colossians 3:12Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.Ephesians 1:1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.Ephesians 1:11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.Ephesians 1:13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.Ephesians 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.Ephesians 1:4Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love.Ephesians 1:5He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.Ephesians 1:7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.Ephesians 2:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.Ephesians 2:13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.Ephesians 2:19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.Ephesians 2:6And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.Ephesians 2:8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.Ephesians 4:24And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.Ephesians 5:8For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.Galatians 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.Isaiah 43:1But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”Isaiah 49:16Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.Isaiah 64:8But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.John 1:12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.John 15:15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.John 15:16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.John 15:5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.Matthew 5:48You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.Matthew 6:26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?Philippians 3:20But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,Philippians 4:19And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.Psalm 100:3Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.Psalm 139:14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.Romans 5:1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.Romans 6:6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.Romans 8:15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”Romans 8:17And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —yet he did not sin. Hebrew 4:15For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”Romans 1:17But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 1 John 3:5

Going Deeper What is the primary message Peter and John were proclaiming to the religious leadership in this chapter? With the 40 year old man having been healed and present in the gathering, why do you think the Jewish leaders were undecisive as to how this message could be stopped? This early A2 community was marked by unity, prayer and generosity. What could/should that look like in your life group? In our church? How do you plan to move in that direction?Teaching NotesWhen God makes a wave, it is unstoppable. Acts 4:1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.5The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11Jesus is“ ‘the stone you builders rejected,which has become the cornerstone.’12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. 23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. …31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Three ways we ride God’s unstoppable wave:1. Prayer - We don’t move without prayer When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God…Acts 4:24 2. Unity - We are better together. All the believers were one in heart and mind.Acts 4:32 “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23 3. Generosity - God is generous and so are we. …they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.Acts 4:32-34 God loves to use people just like you. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13Sunday Set ListEvery Beat- North Point InsideOutO the Blood- Mitch LangleyPeace Be Still- The Belonging CoGreat Are You Lord- All Sons & DaughtersBe sure to follow our Spotify Worship Playlist, updated weekly with the upcoming Sunday’s set!

Tread more lightly and create a beautiful sustainable spaces by using repurposed materials. Annie and Shane from Salvage Merchants show you how to repurpose materials for your next renovation or home improvement project.In this episode we discuss:What sort of materials you can use for renovation and home improvementTips you can use for your DIY repurposing projectsBiggest mistakes people use when they use repurposed materialsCreating bespoke pieces using items with sentimental value and salvaged materials**This episode of the Dream Home Movement was recorded live at the RPPFM**Follow the Salvage MerchantsWebsiteFacebookInstagramFollow the Dream Home MovementFacebookInstagramFollow Carl and Jo VioletaFacebookInstagramWebGuest bioHusband and wife team, Shane and Annie Brereton quit their jobs in 2017 and went searching for adventure. They dreamed up Salvage Merchants on a trip down the East Coast of Australia. A desire to tread more gently led them to repurposing. With too many combined skills to mention, this dynamic duo create unique, authentic living spaces using salvaged materials. They value doing more with less, driving change through example, connection without competition and open hearted engagement with their clients and they don’t mind getting their hands dirty to create something truly beautiful for their clients!Transcript00:00:00 - 00:00:05Welcome to the Dream Home movement. This's your weekly dose of home00:00:05 - 00:00:11and property inspiration. Bring you clever tips and advice from the very best00:00:11 - 00:00:20experts. And really like Renno storeys with your host, Joe Violeta. Welcome00:00:20 - 00:00:23back to the Dream Home Movement. You're here with me, your host job,00:00:23 - 00:00:29Violet. And tonight we are talking about repurpose ing materials for your00:00:29 - 00:00:35renovation and for home improvements. So to help me of that topic, I have00:00:35 - 00:00:41Anne and her husband, Shane, from salvage merchants in the studio. Now00:00:41 - 00:00:45their business specialises in renovating and making over space is using00:00:45 - 00:00:50salvaged and repurpose materials. They offer a solution beginning from design00:00:50 - 00:00:54right through to implementation and everything in between. They're00:00:54 - 00:00:59completely hands on from beginning to end, and they don't mind getting their00:00:59 - 00:01:06hands dirty to truly crypt create beautiful, sustainable spaces for their client.00:01:06 - 00:01:12Welcome to the studio. It's lovely to have you here, and I think what we might00:01:12 - 00:01:16start off where before we get stuck into the nitty gritty because we're going to00:01:16 - 00:01:20look at what sort of materials you can use when you're repurpose ing for00:01:20 - 00:01:24renovation. Home improvement. We're going toe. I'm going to pick anyone00:01:24 - 00:01:33Shane's brains for tips that you can use and also look at mistakes that people00:01:33 - 00:01:37make when they're using repurposed materials. We're going to look at all that00:01:37 - 00:01:42stuff is loads of value in this episode. But before we get started, what led you00:01:42 - 00:01:47to create a business that uses repurpose ing for renovation and home00:01:47 - 00:01:53improvement? So why salvage merchants? Joe, we didn't really have a plan,00:01:53 - 00:01:58to be honest almost two years ago, we were both feeling pretty dissatisfied00:01:58 - 00:02:05with the 9 to 5 grind, and we just had a desire Teo work together. We've got00:02:05 - 00:02:10what we consider a pretty unique combined skill set, and we work really well00:02:10 - 00:02:15as a team. And so this was something we wanted to have a go it. We weren't00:02:15 - 00:02:18exactly sure what salvage merchants would look like, and it has certainly00:02:18 - 00:02:26changed in the two short years we've been going. But at the rial heart of our00:02:26 - 00:02:31business was a passion to churn a little more gently on this earth and which we00:02:31 - 00:02:37are doing in our home life. But doing it our business life as well. I absolutely00:02:37 - 00:02:42love that, and there does seem to be a riel movement at the moment towards00:02:42 - 00:02:48more sustainable living and particularly it comes to crew creating homes with00:02:48 - 00:02:53here on the peninsula. There's definitely a move towards using more00:02:53 - 00:02:58environmentally friendly materials. Ram Jeff Walls, for example. So I love00:02:58 - 00:03:04that. That's one of the inspirations behind your business. So what kind of00:03:04 - 00:03:12materials do you repurpose anything from furniture? Anything from building00:03:12 - 00:03:18materials, doors, windows. There is so much out there to be used, and I see it00:03:18 - 00:03:22every day because we look for it and it sze everywhere and everyone's00:03:22 - 00:03:30backyard or so one of the main basis off our business is to reuse repurpose. So00:03:30 - 00:03:33find something that you've already got or something that already exists instead00:03:33 - 00:03:38of going out and buying the new all the time. So we work around sourcing00:03:38 - 00:03:43materials. That would be, as I said, furniture from antique shops, vintage00:03:43 - 00:03:48shops, anything that takes your fancy, and you, Khun with the styles, he says00:03:48 - 00:03:51you can mix all that up so we look for that and we also looked for building00:03:51 - 00:03:54materials from wrecking yards, houses getting knocked down, a ll the time we00:03:54 - 00:03:59see them beautiful houses knocked down and then something a big box built00:03:59 - 00:04:03back up there and nothing reused, and it's quite sad to see it all go to waste.00:04:03 - 00:04:07So anything from anything from furniture at the end of the smallest piece,00:04:07 - 00:04:12right up to a whole house full of full of gear that we use, that's it. Basically.00:04:12 - 00:04:19Wow. So it Khun Bay furniture. It could be building materials like tiles.00:04:19 - 00:04:22Would trials are hard won. Yeah, and it's one of the hard ones to get up. But00:04:22 - 00:04:28timber flooring, skirting boards, doors, windows A ll, that sort of thing. Yes,00:04:28 - 00:04:32yes, they're pretty much anything. Get out of the house without breaking it is00:04:32 - 00:04:38reusable. Wow, that's amazing. And I greet is really sad. You do see a lot of00:04:38 - 00:04:44beautiful mid century homes, older homes, beautiful with sometimes a00:04:44 - 00:04:50beautiful art Deco features and they just ripped down on. We put four town00:04:50 - 00:04:55houses on top of where they, which is fine, like, you know, I totally get that.00:04:55 - 00:05:01We want to develop affordable housing and invest in property and all that sort00:05:01 - 00:05:06of stuff. But it is sad if that's right down and then nothing is. It's just gone00:05:06 - 00:05:13completely. Yes, so do you have any tips for people who would like to use00:05:13 - 00:05:18repurpose and up cycled materials in their homes that they want to do a bit of d00:05:18 - 00:05:24I y Yeah, look, I think for a lot of us, we all think everything's too hard, and00:05:24 - 00:05:28so there's a lot of procrastination and nothing happened. So my advice, really,00:05:28 - 00:05:32just like our business is, Just have a go. You know, there's so much to be00:05:32 - 00:05:37learned out there. We're so fortunate with the Internet, with Pinterest YouTube00:05:37 - 00:05:44all those avenues available, asked to us tto learn and to explore different uses S00:05:44 - 00:05:49O if you've got something that you love and you cherish but sitting in a carbon00:05:49 - 00:05:53, it's not being used. Just jump on Pinterest, jump on some of those online00:05:53 - 00:05:58sites and have a look for some ideas and you'll find tutorials. You find all sorts00:05:58 - 00:06:05of things. Teo learn how how to do things. But yeah, I guess my main advice00:06:05 - 00:06:10is just have a go. Just give it a crack. What have you got to lose? And00:06:10 - 00:06:21Pinterest is a great source of inspiration. It's also Rabbit Hole. You can get E00:06:21 - 00:06:26and I can actually track my life through my boards. You know, 10 years ago it00:06:26 - 00:06:34was wedding staff and then it's like baby staff. And now it's like cleaning stuff00:06:34 - 00:06:44, eyes happening to my life. Thea Pinterest is great. Ah, lot of because I get a00:06:44 - 00:06:50lot of real life. You know, people on the show is just ordinary people that have00:06:50 - 00:06:59done their own renovations and love them like YouTube. U e. But I really love00:06:59 - 00:07:05that. Just give it a go. Give it a go. You offer a service where you create00:07:05 - 00:07:09among your other services. You offer a service where you create bespoke00:07:09 - 00:07:16pieces for your clients. What does that process involve? So, Joe, usually00:07:16 - 00:07:22what happens is a client will come to us either with an idea or potentially a00:07:22 - 00:07:29problem that they need solving and to give you an example way really00:07:29 - 00:07:34encourage our customers to reuse things they've got. And we have beautiful00:07:34 - 00:07:37customer that we've done quite a few pieces for. And she had her00:07:37 - 00:07:44grandmother's vintage mix up bench mix up and she'd seen Shane had made a00:07:44 - 00:07:50similar lamp out of an old mixer in store. We used to have a little retail store,00:07:50 - 00:07:54which we no longer Joe on DH. She came one day and she said, Look, I've00:07:54 - 00:08:00got this in the cupboard and I don't use it But I love it and it has great sentiment00:08:00 - 00:08:03And I said, What? You let us turn it into a lamp on DH? She was just thrilled00:08:03 - 00:08:09. It just is incredible to see how people feel and the connexion that they have.00:08:09 - 00:08:14Teo really simple pieces. They don't have to be expensive, but they create true00:08:14 - 00:08:18meaning. And that's really what we're about. ATT. The moment chains00:08:18 - 00:08:24building a beautiful outdoor table for some clients who were doing it a big00:08:24 - 00:08:29outdoor renovation for and they haven't existing table. But they don't love it00:08:29 - 00:08:34and said, What can we use and way happen? Tohave instructs, um, old00:08:34 - 00:08:42timber palate pieces. Once of a better word, they were packing pieces of00:08:42 - 00:08:46packing timbered. These we've little pieces of hacking timber and Shane's00:08:46 - 00:08:51laminate them all together and made this incredible table on bench seats,00:08:51 - 00:08:55which they haven't seen yet. So, George, if you're listening, just stand by00:08:55 - 00:08:59because it was really exciting. Further it, it's just it's beautiful and, you know00:08:59 - 00:09:03, these are pieces of timber picked up off the side of a road actually by another00:09:03 - 00:09:07customer of ours who saw them and couldn't let them go to waste loaded them00:09:07 - 00:09:10up in is you brought them down to us and he said, Hey, guys, could you we00:09:10 - 00:09:14use them We said, Well, not now, but we will and we have. And that's00:09:14 - 00:09:20fantastic. Well, so that they would have ended up in landfill. Correct. And00:09:20 - 00:09:27now can we just go back to the mix up? Hold on What? The mix. It became a00:09:27 - 00:09:36lamb mixture like a MENSA and then e a nick so that you make cakes. We do00:09:36 - 00:09:41that, um, insight still into elect. You know, the ones that used to be, oh,00:09:41 - 00:09:45handled. It's great looking pieces, but no one knows what they're doing00:09:45 - 00:09:51because it's all electric these days. So turned into a lamp so you could have00:09:51 - 00:09:56something at home that has great sentimental value. But there's no riel00:09:56 - 00:10:03everyday use for it. You'd like to be able to see it or use it or borrow, and you00:10:03 - 00:10:07could go. We could got come to you and just say, this is what I've got what00:10:07 - 00:10:14can what do you believe that one of the favourite lance that chains made was a00:10:14 - 00:10:19old silver tea set. So the coffee part in the Sugar Bowl and Crema and hey00:10:19 - 00:10:24stepped it all up into a beautiful, beautiful lamp. And you know that that was00:10:24 - 00:10:27something that belonged to somebody that was sitting in a cupboard not being00:10:27 - 00:10:34used. And now it's enjoyed every day. I love that. That is so very clever. Are00:10:34 - 00:10:40there any other very special bespoke pieces that you've created for a client that00:10:40 - 00:10:47really stand out for year? Look, the ultimate is a complete cottage. So we00:10:47 - 00:10:53were very fortunate, really Early in our business, Tio have been contacted by00:10:53 - 00:10:59some some people that we knew through through other connexions and they00:10:59 - 00:11:02asked us for some input into little cottage. They have down here on the00:11:02 - 00:11:08Mornington Peninsula on their property and we're looking at ways Teo utilise00:11:08 - 00:11:12that space and I don't think either of us. We're quite sure what we're going to00:11:12 - 00:11:16do. And we put together some ideas and basically they turned around and said00:11:16 - 00:11:22, Yes, Tio, what we propose, which was back in that day, a Pinterest board00:11:22 - 00:11:28and with great faith and trust in us. These incredible people literally and00:11:28 - 00:11:34figuratively handed us the keys to their property and said, Do what you like00:11:34 - 00:11:40and we delivered them. And Airbnb business full off completely bespoke00:11:40 - 00:11:44pieces. So speaking about Lance being made, they've got a beautiful little old00:11:44 - 00:11:51bell in the on sweet that's made from a light Sorry, that's made from a bell.00:11:51 - 00:11:57The vanity sink in the bathroom is an old jam, copper posh on DH. Pretty00:11:57 - 00:12:02much everything in that cottage was either secondhand or actually belonged to00:12:02 - 00:12:08the clients and had been repurposed or part from mattresses and linen, which00:12:08 - 00:12:15we really don't go second hand on fair. Everything else was created by us, so00:12:15 - 00:12:21it's a complete bespoke solution for them, and we're just so incredibly proud of00:12:21 - 00:12:26it. And so, you know, thrilled that somebody would have that trust Eunice00:12:26 - 00:12:32Teo build a business for them like that. Have I seen photos of that little Jack00:12:32 - 00:12:40cottage? So if you're listening to the live show head on over Teo, either goatee00:12:40 - 00:12:46instagram and go to either the Dream Home Movement page, the latest couple00:12:46 - 00:12:54of posts the Jack Cottage or go to is it salvage merchants. Yet on Instagram,00:12:54 - 00:13:00and I'm pretty sure that was one of your most recent posts as well was the Jack00:13:00 - 00:13:05If you go on overto ira, go to both instagram accounts and have a look and you00:13:05 - 00:13:11you will see just how gorgeous this piece of I think it's like livable artwork. To00:13:11 - 00:13:15be honest with you, I was really quite stunned. You may have noticed I went a00:13:15 - 00:13:21little bit over the top with Instagram storeys that cottage this week. It's00:13:21 - 00:13:25gorgeous and people can stay. There certainly can, eh? So what, They just00:13:25 - 00:13:31look up Jack Cottage Instagram. It's Jack Underscore Cottage and got the most00:13:31 - 00:13:36beautiful garden surrounds Just down in Somerville on DH. It's a really00:13:36 - 00:13:40beautiful place to start. Hell over. There we go. You just get your clients a00:13:40 - 00:13:51little Ah, that sounds amazing. And to be given creative licence is amazing On00:13:51 - 00:13:56the topic off Airbnb Tze and bed and breakfasts and that sort of thing the00:13:56 - 00:14:02peninsula is brimming with holiday rentals. I just stayed in a gorgeous one in00:14:02 - 00:14:07German or a couple of weeks ago, but there's just so many Airbnb. He's on the00:14:07 - 00:14:13peninsula, and I was doing a bit of research for this episode, and I noticed that00:14:13 - 00:14:19you've got a service called the Elevate BNB service, which I think would be00:14:19 - 00:14:24perfect for the peninsula. All these Airbnb he's on the peninsula. So can you00:14:24 - 00:14:30tell us about that that service? What? What does it involve? Sure, So it's a00:14:30 - 00:14:35service that we provide. And Jack Cottage was really eye opening for us and00:14:35 - 00:14:41was footing the door to the short term rental market. And we just absolutely00:14:41 - 00:14:48love it and very keen to provide experiences for people and help people that00:14:48 - 00:14:54already have event. These short term rentals really elevate their experience00:14:54 - 00:14:58because there are some horror storeys out. There s o the service that we offer00:14:58 - 00:15:05provides. It's going to have a look at the property and really looking at every00:15:05 - 00:15:09aspect of the property, from online presence, social media presence,00:15:09 - 00:15:17photography and imagery of the cottage pricing structure right through00:15:17 - 00:15:25everything to do with with house manuals, all sorts of tips and tricks that we00:15:25 - 00:15:29know. We've spent a lot of time on a lot of energy and researching thiss field.00:15:29 - 00:15:35So we go and we then compare this property with other comparable listings in00:15:35 - 00:15:40the immediate area. So if it's a two bedroom sleep, small people, we would00:15:40 - 00:15:44We would present a really comprehensive report of recommendations based on00:15:44 - 00:15:48comparable process properties where where we feel your property could sit00:15:48 - 00:15:52pricing wise. And you know what? Your occupancy should be sitting out,00:15:52 - 00:15:56what sort of returns you should be getting. And from there we provide a really00:15:56 - 00:16:00detailed list of recommendations of what we could do to really get you up to00:16:00 - 00:16:05that stage. Because, as I'm sure you're an Airbnb user, I'm sure you've looked00:16:05 - 00:16:10at lots of properties online, looked at an image, and I never stayed there. Yeah00:16:10 - 00:16:17, and imagery really is the first thing, and it's an easy thing to solve. And so00:16:17 - 00:16:22we help clients right through every step of that process through the having, as00:16:22 - 00:16:27we say, having the pantry stopped ready to go. So that's what we offer. We00:16:27 - 00:16:31provide a report. We come down, we have a look. We provide a report, and00:16:31 - 00:16:35then you can choose which recommendations you like to pursue from there.00:16:35 - 00:16:42Wow, that's like a four consultancy services. Well, that's amazing. And so00:16:42 - 00:16:47needed because the competition is fierce on the peninsula. Yes, a lot of people00:16:47 - 00:16:53like to holiday here, but there are a lot of being based to compete with. But I00:16:53 - 00:17:00still think you can make great money if you've got the right product. And yet00:17:00 - 00:17:06imagery is just so important, isn't it? Absolutely. It's gotto feel like you're00:17:06 - 00:17:11having a break from reality. You know, you're providing an experienced, you00:17:11 - 00:17:15get experience. It's not. You're not just doing in somebody's home, you know00:17:15 - 00:17:19you are or rental or whatever. It's an experience. That's what people want.00:17:19 - 00:17:22And that's what they should be demanding for the money that they're spending00:17:22 - 00:17:27something out of the ordinary, something different and unique and spoke on00:17:27 - 00:17:31DH. That's what we help our clients create. And then they choose the00:17:31 - 00:17:36recommendation, and then you go and we do and then do it all case. It's00:17:36 - 00:17:41consultancy, and then it's the actual implementation that's correct, so they can00:17:41 - 00:17:45take on board a ll the ideas and tips that we give them and do it themselves if00:17:45 - 00:17:49they work. Ideally, we like to get in there and, you know, get it looking,00:17:49 - 00:17:54looking good online style, A little bit, you know, with a reasonably low00:17:54 - 00:17:59budget actually just boost the sales, boost the accommodation and that's what00:17:59 - 00:18:03it's all about. You wantto you want your business to go online and be00:18:03 - 00:18:09successful. But if you haven't got a ll these little boxes ticked. It's really hard.00:18:09 - 00:18:13A CZ, you said with with all the other ones around. It's just so hard to get into00:18:13 - 00:18:20the market. And the competition's pretty and you're styling is on point as well.00:18:20 - 00:18:26Who's in charge of the styling? E. Try really? D'oh! And I'll put something00:18:26 - 00:18:29on or move something. Sure, she'll look at it and I go, What do you think?00:18:29 - 00:18:34And she just gives me this little look and I go, It's no good. So I just leave that00:18:34 - 00:18:38to her most of the time. You know, right from when I get up in the morning00:18:38 - 00:18:42and I'll set up the pillows on the bed and all that sort of thing and ensure00:18:42 - 00:18:46passing. Just look at it and I just still haven't got It just happened. So that's a00:18:46 - 00:18:50no on the duo are put things together. I screw things together and now things00:18:50 - 00:18:54and paint things and and she does to you. We both get into the into the tools00:18:54 - 00:19:02and all that sort of thing. But stylist Shane you and I like birds of a feather00:19:02 - 00:19:07soon because I just don't know what looks good with what? That's why I think00:19:07 - 00:19:10that's why I started this show so I could make friends. Have lots of stylists like00:19:10 - 00:19:16send them photos of my housing. Is this right with you on? And he says, I00:19:16 - 00:19:20want this make this like the last year she said to me, I want a Christmas tree00:19:20 - 00:19:24made out of fence pickets like, you know, the old style. Oh, cool. And she00:19:24 - 00:19:29said, He's the pickets and Christmas Trail. Okay, sat down and come back00:19:29 - 00:19:32and see. What do you think of this? You know, you're not too bad, but00:19:32 - 00:19:36changes and change that took it away again. Come back. What do you think?00:19:36 - 00:19:40I think that's really close. But you just need this and then it'll come together.00:19:40 - 00:19:46So I'm on the tools, but she's got putting himself down a lot. He has an00:19:46 - 00:19:50incredible creative. Yeah, that is honestly the real reason why we wanted to do00:19:50 - 00:19:55something together. He's got He may not know how to fluff a pillow or use00:19:55 - 00:20:01your room. That's so he does have a really great creative eye on. So00:20:01 - 00:20:06everything we do really is a combined effort way bounce ideas off off each00:20:06 - 00:20:11other all the time, and I just I just want to add about that elevates service, You00:20:11 - 00:20:16know, what I really want to say is at the heart of that whole service is the ethos00:20:16 - 00:20:21of our business, and it is reused. And so we don't come in and go and get rid00:20:21 - 00:20:26of every piece of furniture. That's just not who, Where about where about00:20:26 - 00:20:29what else have you got? What have you got hiding in the garage that I can use00:20:29 - 00:20:34? What can I say? You know, throw a lick of paint on to completely transform00:20:34 - 00:20:40that. So it's very much of the core of everything we do is our reuse repurpose00:20:40 - 00:20:44philosophy. I love that, and I just love how complimentary you are of each00:20:44 - 00:20:54other as well. I wish everyone could see in the studio that is like smiling. But00:20:54 - 00:20:59I do really appreciate the fact that you can transform and Airbnb or a home, for00:20:59 - 00:21:04example, and use stuff that you already have. We don't realise what treasures?00:21:04 - 00:21:08We've got it. You can buy it anymore. You just can't find all this stuff. You00:21:08 - 00:21:12can go into your stores so the name but and you could get a piece of furniture.00:21:12 - 00:21:17But if you go put that piece of furniture out on the front lawn and it rains on it,00:21:17 - 00:21:22it's gone. You know where some of the old stuff is just so good. And it's00:21:22 - 00:21:26coming back in, and we are. There is a turn. There's a really big shift, I think00:21:26 - 00:21:30. And we're right at the start of it because, you know, the planets all going Tio00:21:30 - 00:21:35, you know, and we're all going to get in and work out ways of doing it. And00:21:35 - 00:21:40it'll happen. It's all goingto have tto happen where we all have to actually think00:21:40 - 00:21:44about what we're actually doing day to day. Yeah, yeah, we do. Yeah, And it00:21:44 - 00:21:50is I feel like that shift is happening. I d'oh, it's very slow yet, and we're really00:21:50 - 00:21:56at the start of it. But for a long time, I didn't make a lot of changes and we00:21:56 - 00:22:00didn't as a family make a lot of changes because we all feel so overwhelmed by00:22:00 - 00:22:04how much we should be doing. And then we just made a decision as a family,00:22:04 - 00:22:09you know, progression over perfection, progression over perfection every day00:22:09 - 00:22:15. You know, if I'm better than I was six months ago, Better than I was child00:22:15 - 00:22:20months ago. We all still got a long way to go. But we've just got to try. Yeah,00:22:20 - 00:22:26I love that message. I did have Andrea from roving refills Frankston in the00:22:26 - 00:22:31studio a few months ago. She and she has a blood caught on wasteful Andrea.00:22:31 - 00:22:37And she has that same message that we get too caught up with trying to be00:22:37 - 00:22:42perfect when it comes to sustainability and reducing waste that then people just00:22:42 - 00:22:48do that. Then they become paralysed and do nothing but small changes. They00:22:48 - 00:22:53do actually add up, and they are quite significant. Don't worry. Andrew is not00:22:53 - 00:23:05. She's not perfect. No one. Every day we're still changing. We're still00:23:05 - 00:23:08becoming aware of what we're doing, and we still may. We can change that00:23:08 - 00:23:13now and, you know, and what a lover. And she'll go out and forget to take the00:23:13 - 00:23:16shopping bags with their and she'll come home with a plastic shopping where00:23:16 - 00:23:20get again and you know, you just come on and you know, the younger00:23:20 - 00:23:25generation of you got to save themselves a cz well, but yeah, and we do. We00:23:25 - 00:23:28keep making those mistakes, and sometimes you have to. You can't bring00:23:28 - 00:23:34them 20. Apple's a bag. That's fair enough. You just gotto practise it. I think00:23:34 - 00:23:38we're all gonna practise, and we'll get there eventually. What are some of the00:23:38 - 00:23:42mistakes that people make when they are using repurposed materials in in their00:23:42 - 00:23:46home? And how can they avoid those mistakes? I think one of the biggest00:23:46 - 00:23:51ones is people think it's going to be cheaper, which is not always going to be a00:23:51 - 00:23:58it. Generally it is. But if you're going to go out and buy a sticker timber from00:23:58 - 00:24:02Bunning's, it's quick. It's easy. It's reasonably cheap, and it really is. But it's00:24:02 - 00:24:06not about saving money for us. It's more about saving the earth at the end of00:24:06 - 00:24:11the day, so don't make that mistake. You think it's going to be cheaper because00:24:11 - 00:24:14quite often you'll go out and buy a piece and have to bring it back and modify it00:24:14 - 00:24:19and change it or sand it back or painted or whatever it is S O that's that's the00:24:19 - 00:24:26first thing it's never, never, never, always cheap. So that's one of the other00:24:26 - 00:24:31thing would be If it's out of your depth, just don't do it way. Can't do00:24:31 - 00:24:34everything. We can't do everything but have a go. If it's something that is00:24:34 - 00:24:38qualified tradesman like Electrician's or plumber and all that sort of thing,00:24:38 - 00:24:42they're the things that don't like to touch. I do a little bit of election electrical00:24:42 - 00:24:48work, but it's all well within my scope of skills and always get it checked by00:24:48 - 00:24:51an electrician's anyway. So I'll get it tested and tag in the light special with my00:24:51 - 00:24:58lamps and things like that s o that sze another thing have ago. But, you know,00:24:58 - 00:25:03make sure you're not well, you know, out of your depth on I think the third00:25:03 - 00:25:08more third thing, I think, was if you really need it done, if the biggest mistake00:25:08 - 00:25:16is if you haven't called us, that's a really I think that's a thing call and we'll get00:25:16 - 00:25:21it sorted for you. You know, the D I Y things is massive. Now it's you see it00:25:21 - 00:25:25on TV. Everywhere people are getting in, getting their hands dirty and having00:25:25 - 00:25:31go and it sze really a big achievement when you do something yourself and00:25:31 - 00:25:35there's plenty of help that out there A said YouTube. Get on there, you learn00:25:35 - 00:25:39how to do anything. I taught myself how to play the piano off YouTube, you00:25:39 - 00:25:43know, all rose sorts of things. And the other day I was out there learning how00:25:43 - 00:25:47to fix my car. There's something broke on it, and I fixed it. You know, it's I00:25:47 - 00:25:53didn't have to send it off and pay top dollar to get it fixed. So there's things00:25:53 - 00:25:58like that. So I have a go at it on DH. Enjoy what you do, Teo. That's what it00:25:58 - 00:26:02comes down to us. We really enjoy fixing things, and I'm Mr fix it. I just love00:26:02 - 00:26:05getting in there and getting something sold in solving problems for people. I00:26:05 - 00:26:11love that. So the biggest mistakes. Number one, not having an understanding00:26:11 - 00:26:15of your budget. When you when you embark on these projects, it just just cost00:26:15 - 00:26:24it up. So you understand how much it's going to cost and number two is trying00:26:24 - 00:26:27to do things that are actually out of your depth, and that's a message that we00:26:27 - 00:26:32share a lot on the show is that day. I was great, but there are certain things that00:26:32 - 00:26:37you actually need a qualified trades person. And also, I think, something that00:26:37 - 00:26:43I see when I watch shame, work, a cz his apprentice. But I would quite often00:26:43 - 00:26:47say to him, are We're just, you know, we just need to pop that door on there.00:26:47 - 00:26:50Or I think sometimes people underestimate that, particularly when you're00:26:50 - 00:26:55working with salvage materials. You're starting with something that perhaps00:26:55 - 00:26:59not the correct size to go in that area. It's it's not the correct think nurse. The00:26:59 - 00:27:04hinges air in a different spot. All those sorts of things that you think way have00:27:04 - 00:27:08a bit of a joke amongst ourselves. He always says, Yeah, I'll just put it in. It's00:27:08 - 00:27:16just four screws, darling e like No, it's not, is it? And Weigh replaced a door00:27:16 - 00:27:23for a client recently in her home, and it was a full day's work because we00:27:23 - 00:27:28bought a second hand or for her, and the whole jam had to be modified and00:27:28 - 00:27:32that's fine. That's exactly what we love doing. But I think people sometimes00:27:32 - 00:27:37under Estrada, underestimate how much time and effort is involved in using00:27:37 - 00:27:40salvage materials. Which brings us to mistake number three, which is not00:27:40 - 00:27:47calling. So before we get to our signature questions, let's just tell people how00:27:47 - 00:27:51they can fix mistake number three, which is how would they get in contact00:27:51 - 00:27:56with you so you can jump on? All our socials are at salvage merchants on00:27:56 - 00:28:00Facebook and Instagram, or you can find us on our website salvage merchants00:28:00 - 00:28:03dot com dot you. We're just based in Maadi, Alex. So we're just up the road00:28:03 - 00:28:06from the peninsula and we do a lot of work down this way, and we always00:28:06 - 00:28:11enjoy hopping on Peninsula linked to come down here for the day. So, yeah,00:28:11 - 00:28:15just give us a call. We'd love to chat when love to visit people's homes. We'd00:28:15 - 00:28:19love to see how people live and listen to their ideas and their concepts, and we00:28:19 - 00:28:24just really enjoy working. Their business attracts the most incredible people,00:28:24 - 00:28:29and we're really fortunate in that way really like minded people. So, Richard00:28:29 - 00:28:33Yeah, the results are stunning. Do make sure that you pop on over and cheque00:28:33 - 00:28:39out those socials and the website. All right, signature questions. What is your00:28:39 - 00:28:44favourite? Thiss question was made for you. Thiss question was made for you00:28:44 - 00:28:48. What is your favourite interior design or architectural style from a bygone era00:28:48 - 00:28:56? Well, I'd have to say as owners are very owners are. What's a CZ?00:28:56 - 00:29:02Custodians of 150 year old church would have to say. It's a Victorian era. We00:29:02 - 00:29:07have very fortunate to have a beautiful little church out past Bella Rat that00:29:07 - 00:29:16we're currently renovating to be an Airbnb for people and just that era off. It00:29:16 - 00:29:21was a really tough time in Australia, the gold rush, and we look at our little00:29:21 - 00:29:28church that is five metres high, the roof at the lowest points, five minutes high00:29:28 - 00:29:35, and this was all built by men from ladders with hand tools. And so just I00:29:35 - 00:29:41guess for me it's the appreciation off that the love and the dedication and the00:29:41 - 00:29:46care that went into buildings of that time and they are beautiful and detailed,00:29:46 - 00:29:51and it was done by hand. And that's just incredible to may. So with all that00:29:51 - 00:29:56preserving that it is incredible, isn't it? You know, we need to preserve those00:29:56 - 00:30:01sorts of buildings and that history we cannot lose that it's so important. What00:30:01 - 00:30:08does the phrase dream home mean to you? Oh, he's looking at May E May.00:30:08 - 00:30:13Well, certainly a dream. Hofer may. It's not for walls, and it never has been.00:30:13 - 00:30:19I've lived in beautiful homes. I've lived in plane, home, small homes and my00:30:19 - 00:30:27dream home is the people within a on the people that I cherish. And the items00:30:27 - 00:30:31within that means something to me that have value. Having said that, though,00:30:31 - 00:30:34Joe I have it. I have got a bit of a Pinterest board going because we have a00:30:34 - 00:30:39mutual prince Pinterest, love and Shay and I worked very hard on our Pinterest00:30:39 - 00:30:42board for our dream home property that, you know in the future will look00:30:42 - 00:30:48something like a rambling country estate with workshops being held and00:30:48 - 00:30:52community gatherings. And that's what our plan for our dream home is. But00:30:52 - 00:30:58you know, right now we live in a factory and it's unreal, and it contains00:30:58 - 00:31:04everyone that I love. That's my dream Home contains everyone that I love. I00:31:04 - 00:31:14can't wait to see your rambling one well again. If you want to find any in00:31:14 - 00:31:20Shane, you Khun, go to salvage merchants on Instagram and Facebook or all00:31:20 - 00:31:26the W's salvage merchants dot com dot a. You got that right. Great. Thank00:31:26 - 00:31:31you so much for coming in to the studio that was so informative, super00:31:31 - 00:31:36valuable and really inspiring. Thank you, Joe. It's been a real pleasure to be00:31:36 - 00:31:42here, and we just love being able to get a message out to people. Thanks for00:31:42 - 00:31:46joining us on the Dream home movement. Be sure to come over and say hi on00:31:46 - 00:31:51Facebook and Instagram. I hope that your dream home projects are going well00:31:51 - 00:31:54and I look forward to chatting with you again next week.

John 8:34-35 34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. 35And the bondservant abideth not in the house forever: the son abideth forever. Ezekiel 46:16-17 16Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. Matthew 25:14-30 For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. 16 Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. 17 In like manner he also that received the two gained other two. 18 But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. 19 Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them. 20 And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22 And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents. 23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 24 And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; 25 and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. 26But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; 27 thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. 28Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. 29 For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. 30 And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few chosen. Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry. 2 Timothy1:9 who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus; Hosea 11:1-2 1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. 2The more the prophets called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. Exodus 32:33 33 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Revelation 3:5 5 He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. Psalm 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, And not be written with the righteous. Revelation 22:18-19 18I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: 19and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. Romans 8:28 28And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. Jude 1:5-6 5Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 1 Timothy 6:11-12 11But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 2 Peter 1:5-7,9-11 5Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; 6and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; 7and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love. 9For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: 11for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Revelation 17:14 These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with him, called and chosen and faithful. Ephesians 1:4-5 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: 5having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 1 John 5:11 And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 1 John 2:6,24 6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked., 24 As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. 1 John 3:6,24 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither knoweth him. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us. John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. 1Corinthians 6:18 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Hebrews 10:26-27 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. 1John 3:5 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin. 1Corinthians 6:15 15 Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. 1John 3:21-22 21Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; 22and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. Leviticus 5:17 And if any one sin, and do any of the things which Jehovah hath commanded not to be done; though he knew it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, and upon their mind also will I write them;then saith he, James 4:17 17 To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Romans 14:23 23 But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 5:13 for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. John 15:22 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. Hebrews 10:11 And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: John 1:29 29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Romans 6:6,11-12,17-18 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; 11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: 17 ut thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; 18and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. Revelation 3:1 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Jude 1:12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 2Timothy 3:5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away. 1John 3:7-8 7My little children, let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous: 8he that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Luke 6:40 40 The disciple is not above his teacher: but every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher. Matthew 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household! 2Thessalonians 1:10-12 10when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day. 11To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith, with power; 12that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. New to Unleavened Bread Ministries and not sure where to start?   Here is a good guide. Want more fellowship? Consider joining Outreach Teleconference Ministry by phone every Tuesday and Thursday evening with Michael Hare. We are firm believers in the old adage, "Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime."   Learn of hidden prophetic revelations straight out of the Bible on the timing and nature of the rapture, tribulation, Man-child ministry, beast covenant, mark, image, abomination, son of perdition, two witnesses, nuking and invasion of America, and much more. These videos will excite you by uniting scriptures from the whole Bible to put together the panorama of the End Times   God Warns of Coming Pestilence   Learn from God's Vaccine Book   7 simple steps to be immune from plagues/pestilences     The Koran Reveals Jesus and the Bible   Father Told Us Whats Coming   Dragon Fails to Devour Man-Child/Trump Parallel   Invasion To Chasten The Apostate Church   NEW! Escape the Falling Away [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 ]   The Dragon Destroyer (Updated 10/25/17)   Faith in the LIGHT of God's WORD brings things from the drawing board of our mind into the physical realm. [ youtu.be/w9QKDv6yg3s ],   [ whatdoesitmean.com/index2414.htm ]   Saving The U.S. From Corruption (Pray Down These)   The Truth About the Meaning of "Born Again" - Is it just accepting Jesus? [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 ]   Follow the Narrow Path to Safety   Supernatural Warnings to Prepare for the Bride   Ruth Bader Ginsburg Double? NEW   Pray Now or Lose Your Freedom (15) Important!   To My Beloved Enemy "Christian" Snipers David Wilkerson's Vision of Satan's Slander War       Go Here to Download or Read UBM Books   

From the November 10, 2019 Evening Service Bless the LORD, O My Soul Of David. 1Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14For he knows our frame;a he remembers that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

From the November 3, 2019 Evening Service Bless the LORD, O My Soul Of David. 1Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14For he knows our frame;a he remembers that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

James 3:13-18 (NIV) 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

James 3:13-18 (NIV) 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

WHEN GOD BRINGS YOU INActs 121Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. 2And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.5So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.6And on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. 8And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10And when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street; and immediately the angel departed from him.11And when Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.13And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14And when she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15And they said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. And they kept saying, “It is his angel.” 16But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

[Due to lightning stike this weeks recording was cut short] The Boldness of the Disciples 13When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15After they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, 16saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.” 18So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; 20for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done. 22For this sign of healing had been performed on a man over forty years old.

Find us online at: AdventNYC.orgEmail us at: Podcast@AdventNYC.orgTalk with us at: Advent Sermons & Conversations on FacebookCome to a service and hear the sermons live and in person Sunday morning 9am and 11am in English and 12:30pm in Spanish at 93rd and Broadway.Readings for this Week:First Reading: Joshua 5:9-12By celebrating the Passover and eating the produce of the promised land instead of the miraculous manna that had sustained them in the desert, the Israelites symbolically bring their forty years of wilderness wandering to an end at Gilgal.9The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.  10While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. 11On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.Psalm: Psalm 32Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord. (Ps. 32:11)1Happy are they whose transgressions | are forgiven,  and whose sin is | put away! 2Happy are they to whom the Lord im- | putes no guilt,  and in whose spirit there | is no guile! R 3While I held my tongue, my bones with- | ered away,  because of my groaning | all day long. 4For your hand was heavy upon me | day and night;  my moisture was dried up as in the | heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not con- | ceal my guilt.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt | of my sin. 6Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in | time of trouble;  when the great waters overflow, they | shall not reach them. R 7You are my hiding-place; you preserve | me from trouble;  you surround me with shouts | of deliverance. 8“I will instruct you and teach you in the way that | you should go;  I will guide you | with my eye. 9Do not be like horse or mule, which have no | understanding;  who must be fitted with bit and bridle, or else they will | not stay near you.” 10Great are the tribulations | of the wicked;  but mercy embraces those who trust | in the Lord. 11Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice | in the Lord;  shout for joy, all who are | true of heart. RSecond Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21One way to describe the gospel is the promise that in Christ everything is transformed into newness. All mistakes, all deliberate sins, all old history is reconciled with Christ’s resurrection. This is Paul’s strong message to the congregation in the city of Corinth.16From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32Jesus tells a parable about a son who ponders his father’s love only after he has spurned it. The grace he receives is beyond his hopes. That same grace is a crisis for an older brother who believed it was his obedience that earned his place in the father’s home.1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  3So he told them this parable: 11b“There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.  25“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

1 THESSALONIANS 2:13–20: 13AND WE ALSO THANK GOD constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! 17But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 18because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20For you are our glory and joy. THE THANKSGIVING that started in verse 2 hasn’t finished yet. The word of God was at work within the church at Thessalonica and Paul felt that they shared the gospel bond, but he and his companions were concerned for them in their absence. Like parents sending their firstborn off to school for the first time, Paul felt the sting of the possible outcomes. Would they be bullied? Would they remember what he taught them? Unlike kindergarten, the culture in Thessalonica was pagan to the core and loved Rome. They had many gods to turn to and Caesar was lord. It was like sending your five-year-old on the first day of school directly into the principal’s office with a list of ways the school was not doing things right, and suggesting the principal should step down.

1 THESSALONIANS 2:13–20: 13AND WE ALSO THANK GOD constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! 17But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 18because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20For you are our glory and joy. THE THANKSGIVING that started in verse 2 hasn’t finished yet. The word of God was at work within the church at Thessalonica and Paul felt that they shared the gospel bond, but he and his companions were concerned for them in their absence. Like parents sending their firstborn off to school for the first time, Paul felt the sting of the possible outcomes. Would they be bullied? Would they remember what he taught them? Unlike kindergarten, the culture in Thessalonica was pagan to the core and loved Rome. They had many gods to turn to and Caesar was lord. It was like sending your five-year-old on the first day of school directly into the principal’s office with a list of ways the school was not doing things right, and suggesting the principal should step down.

Luke 20:9-19: "And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' 14But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' 15And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!" 17But he looked directly at them and said, "What then is this that is written: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." 19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people."

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 16"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. 18"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. 19"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Sermon “You Have Heard it Said, But I Say” February 12, 2017 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his (God’s) ways, and observing his (God’s) commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying him (God) , and holding fast to him (God), for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Matthew 5:21-37 21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire… 27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart… 33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God… “Choose life, l'chaim!” “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” There is a Jewish toast that I want to lift up and use today for the sermon. “l'chaim,” or in English, “Choose life.” Many years ago as a teenager I remember that on one occasion when I went to get my hair cut at the local barbershop, the woman that was cutting my hair got shared with me a struggle that she was having in faith. This woman was from a fairly traditional church with fairly conservative teachings. The teaching that was causing her a bit of a faith crisis had to do with baptism. Her church taught that baptism was a prerequisite to having eternal life. Therefore the unbaptized were not welcomed into heaven. Her faith crisis happened when one of her friends had a baby that died shortly after being born. Due to the suddenness of the child’s death, the child had not been baptized their pastor. Now this woman, my barber, was struggling with her fear that this child, due to the lack of being baptized, was not welcomed into heaven, into eternal life. Her faith told her that the only outcome here was death. Now I do not remember exactly what I said to her but what I do remember of that time in the barber’s chair was that I could not imagine that the God we believed in could be so cruel as to bar an infant from baptism for the lack of being baptized. I chose to believe in a God that offers life. A second thought on eternal life was triggered by my attendance at funeral not long ago where another pastor was giving the message. In an effort to offer hope in the midst of death, this pastor on several occasions remarked that the deceased through his death had entered eternal life. Each time it was stated, I was thinking, I am not so sure about that. You see, I believe that his entrance into eternal life did not happen at death but happened much earlier than that. I believe his entrance into eternal life happened the moment he experienced life. Each of these stories speaks to an understanding of eternal life and of faith. Both give voice to what I believe is a bit of a limited view of both God and eternal life. Each is limited in that the emphasis on life with God is placed after one dies. Plus, neither does justice to either the Hebrew or Christian scriptures. I think of Jesus’ words, “You have heard it said, but I say to you” as a way to challenge us to think in new ways. For instance, consistently both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures are concerned about the here and now. Neither the Hebrew or Christian scriptures places its emphasis on what happens after death. But historically though, there has been a part of the Christian faith that has placed an emphasis on the eternal life (after death), ours included. By so doing, those who chose this emphasis in belief then did not have to seriously address issues of faith in the current life. As a result, as long as Christianity was only about the afterlife, then it had little or nothing to say about the current life. For instance, here in the United States for decades the church read scripture in such a way to justify slavery. (Who among us today would do such a thing today?) “A century and a half ago, Frederick Douglass, as he led the faith-rooted struggle against slavery in America, wrote, ‘Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference -- so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt and wicked.’”1 Douglass clearly saw that the Christianity of this land, not that of Christ, by placing its focus on the afterlife not only had little to say about the issues of its day but found justification its support of the great evil of slavery. So in this enlightened age, let us not like those in the past error by dwelling only on life after death but let us be challenged by Moses and by Jesus to choose life in the here and now. Let us consider what is meant in the Hebrew scriptures when it says to choose life. What doesit mean to choose life? Or easier yet, what does it not mean? For Moses, choose life did not mean worshipping the crazy idols of the Canaanites, the people who occupied the land where the children of Israel were headed. This is good advice for us too. We all have things that we idolize or covet or prioritize over God's teachings, things such as money, power, fame, big houses, fancy cars, or our cell phones. None of us have these as gods, right? So tell me, how anxious were you the last time you went someplace and realized that your cell phone was not with you? What emotions did you experience? If you experienced any anxiety, then that phone has become more than just a telephone. Moses tells us that these things that cause us to be anxious do not lead to life. In fact they only lead to destruction and death. Idols can be powerful things. If we worship money, for example, we become greedy. If we worship power, we can become corrupt. If we worship another person, we can become co-dependent. As Ralph Waldo Emerson explained, "That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our life and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming." Beware of the idols, for they do not lead to life. So what is life? Moses answers in verse 20: "Loving the Lord your God, obeying God and holding fast to God; for that means life to you." This is all in the present tense. It is what we do now during this life that makes a difference - that gives us life, eternal life.2 In the Christian scriptures, Jesus challenges us to choose life as well. First of all he stresses that the Kingdom of God, the Beloved Community, is present now. And if it is present, if God is present among us, then our lives ought to reflect that reality. If we trust that God is present, then we have the power to choose life and to live life to its fullest. He challenges us to choose life in such a way as to not limit what God has in store us. He suggests that life is threatened when anger and judgment and insult reign. So he says, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” He suggests that life is threatened when women are objectified, or merely seen as fulfillment of sexual desire or the carrying on the family name. So he says, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” He suggests that life is threatened when you do not follow through with oaths you make. So he says, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” In other words, Jesus is saying that interpreting the law is far more complex than you make it out to be. And if your interpretations lead to death -- the silence of voices, the discounting of the personhood of the other, the disrespect and demeaning of entire groups of people, the labeling (which is a nice way to say calling names) thereby putting people in their place -- then you have to think long and hard about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.3 Consistently the teachings of Moses and of Jesus, those about choosing life, are at their root all about how one lives in community with one’s neighbor. I came across this poem recently that speaks truth to how to choose life and to live in community. I you us them those people wouldn’t it be lovely if one could live in a constant state of we? some of the most commonplace words can be some of the biggest dividers they what if there was no they? what if there was only us? if words could be seen as they floated out of our mouths would we feel no shame as they passed beyond our lips? if we were to string our words on a communal clothesline would we feel proud as our thoughts flapped in the breeze?4 To choose life is to enter into eternal life in the here and now. By entering in the here and now we begin to fully experience what it means to live in the presence of God! When we realize that we are in God’s presence, that is living life at its fullest. “l'chaim” --choose life! 1. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/oped-moral-outrage-after-national-prayer-breakfast-n716261 2. The Rev. Susan Sparks, Sermon - L'Chaim, and Don't Mess It Up! February 16, 2014 3. Karoline M. Lewis , Associate Professor of Preaching and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair in Biblical Preaching 4. "clothesline," poem by Marilyn Maciel. Published in Patti Digh, "Life Is a Verb: 37 Days To Wake Up, Be Mindful, And Live Intentionally." (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), 42

Pastor Zenzile Legend March 2, 2014 I Corinthians 6:12 12“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20 15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

The Power of the Gospel Part 3: He Condemned Sin All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you. (Colossians 1:6) Romans 8:1-4 v. 1 Those of us who are in Christ are no longer under any condemnation. v. 2 The power of the Spirit overcame the power of sin and death over me, through Christ Jesus. v. 3 God condemned sin in sinful man. How could God condemn sin in the flesh of Jesus Christ? There was no sin in Jesus Christ to condemn. So the question is: Whose sin was condemned when Jesus' flesh was tortured and killed? God condemned sin in the flesh of his completely innocent Son. What sin? Whose sin? 2 Corinthians 5:21, "[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." It was my sin and your sin that was condemned in Jesus Christ. He was innocent. He committed no sin. He deserved no punishment. But he took on the punishment of your sin and my sin once and for all that that we should never bear it. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! Sin Has Been Condemned, not Merely Shown to Be Condemnable What does it mean that God condemned sin? Did he criticize sin? Like when a political figure condemns and act of terrorism? No, God did something more than the law could do. The law criticized and called sin condemnable. He means that in Jesus' flesh – in his suffering and dying body on the cross – God executed a final sentence of condemnation on the sin of everyone who is in Christ. "God condemned sin" means God found sin guilty and sentenced sin to be finally punished and carried out the penalty of suffering in the death of his Son. The death of Jesus Christ takes away all my condemnation. Because when he died God was condemning sin, sentencing it, and punishing it completely and fully and finally for all who are in Christ by faith. It was my sin that was being condemned and sentenced and punished when Christ died. And if my sin was punished there finally and fully, I will not be punished for it again. The punishment for our sins was carried out on Jesus Christ. This is why, for us who believe in Him, that we find sin so appalling. 1 John 3:9 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. Romans 6:1-2 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Sin is what was killing us. It is what killed Jesus. How can we live in it anymore? As a believer, I want to live my life that honors Jesus’ sacrifice. I don’t want to treat His sacrifice as if it doesn’t matter. He died to set me free from sin. Romans 6:15-18 15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. We were slaves to sin. Jesus death broke sin’s claim over my life. I have been set free from sin’s grip on me. I am no longer its slave. I am now a slave to righteousness, to do what is right and honorable.

This sermon was given at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Huntsville, Texas by the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, 2010. It was on Luke's Gospel 16:14-31, Proper 21 of Ordinary Time. Luke 16:14-31 The Law and the Kingdom of God 14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. 15So he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. 16 ‘The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force.* 17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped. 18 ‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. The Rich Man and Lazarus 19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.* The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.* 24He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” 25But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” 27He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” 29Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” 30He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (English Standard Version) The Choice of Life and Death 11"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 15"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."