Podcasts about answer because

Missions Update I want to begin this morning with a missions update from our partners in India. We support two couples, Tia and Atula and Murry and Louivani. They have a two-fold mission. First they train up students in a seminary and provide them training for the pastorate and the mission field. Recently they have moved their seminary from Bagalore which is the tech capital of the world to a more strategic spot in the north called Nagaland. It’s a little different up here. The reason they moved their seminary is because there is access to the neighboring countries, Mynmar, Bangladesh, Butan. Their seminary is in the city but they can, in a relatively short period of time, reach into the tribes and minister to them. This a mix of spiritism anamism, budhism, muslim and hindu. It’s an incredible opportunity. They recently purchased a plot of land for a seminary and we have been saving to give toward this project so we were able to give $40,000 toward this facility and we are so excited to be partners with them. You or I would have a hard time getting into some of these countries, but many of the students and graduates are either from these countries or are going there as missionaries. We are so thankful to be in partnership with them. Please pray for them as they work so hard for the Lord. Introduction Have you ever been confronted by someone and you know the message is true but you refuse to admit it. In fact, you MUST NOT confess it because the implications are too overwhelming. Let me give you an example in my own life. We built an extra room onto the side of our house a few years ago. My wife and I had agreed on the design. So I’m framing up the walls and I’m really exciting that I’m making good progress. I’m efficient, I’m being incredibly productive. I’m flying. Lisa had been gone running some errands and couldn’t wait to show her how much progress I had made. So she comes in and I can tell by the look on her face something’s wrong. I hate that look. And sure enough she says, “Well, that’s not going work. We need another window right here." And I could feel my emotional zeal for life getting sucked out of my soul like a tornado. So I objected,”What do you mean you don’t like it? What’s not to like? Why do we need another window?" And then she gave me some reasons. Well: It would be more symmetrical. It would let in more light. It would give the room a more open feel. Now if you were to stop me right there. Objectively speaking, do you agree with her points. I would have said yes to all three, an emphatic yes. I actually love windows. Here’s what I said: I mean, symmetry? It’s is all a matter of perspective. Symmetrical to what? Sometimes asymmetrical looks better. Let in more light? There’s giant trees shading the whole yard. That’s not going to let it more light? What do you mean open feel? Define open. The ceilings are vaulted and 15 feet high. How much more open can you get? The insanity! I agreed with her and yet I communicated disagreement. Why? Because I didn’t like the implication of her being right. If she’s right than I’ve got to tear down and and rebuild and I don’t want to. Now in the end, I confessed. She smiled. And the room looks awesome. Now it’s one thing to have to tear out a few studs and rebuild a partial portion of a single wall; it’s one thing to swallow a bit of pride and lose an hour or so of my life. Not so big a deal. But it’s another thing entirely to realize that your entire life, everything you have worked so hard for, has been built upon the wrong foundation. To realize that every stud you’ve laid, every nail you’ve pounded, every ounce of energy you’ve invested, every dollar you spent, everything - 100% of it needs to be tore out. Why? Because the entire foundation of you life is incorrect. It needs to be jackhammered out, hauled to the dump and you need to reform and repour the whole thing. Everything you have been living for has been a complete waste. That, my friends, EVEN IF YOU ARE 100 percent convinced, is not easy to admit. You see, this is why many cannot come to Jesus Christ. Not because they don’t have enough evidence, not because they suspect the evidence is untrue. The real issue - and it operates mostly on the level of the subconscious - is that they don’t like the implications of the evidence. In our passages last week Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” If you accept that, if you believe that Jesus is in fact the ONLY source of TRUE LIFE, then that necessarily DEMANDS that things you’ve been chasing are NOT life.* The career, the girl, the family, the money, the glory, the degree, the job. These things are NOT life. If you admit that Jesus Christ is the source of LIFE, then you have to admit you’ve been wasting your life barking up the wrong tree. And that means we need to break out the jackhammer and break up the foundation upon which we’ve built our entire life. Today, all of us will be offended at some aspect of the message. This is maybe the most offensive chapter in all the Bible. So, if you aren’t offended, I probably haven’t done my job. But here’s the encouragement, if you can receive it, there’s life waiting for you. True life. Abundant life. Everlasting life. Review Let’s review. Last week we saw Jesus confronting the shallow interest of the crowds.He was confronting this shallow, genie-in-a-bottle interest in Jesus’ miracle working ability. They wanted Jesus to fill their belly, to add another couple zero’s on the end of their bank account. They didn’t want him. They only wanted what they could get from him. Jesus confronted this; you guys are all focused on the plane of your crude human needs. You need to stop looking for bread that perishes and instead work for the bread that never perishes. And the natural question is well, what is the bread that never perishes and how do I get it? What is the bread. Jesus says? I am the bread of life. John 6:40, “…everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” LIFE! Zoa. Jesus is claiming to be that life. And the way you get it is to believe. Believe who Jesus claims to be. Everything we read last week was the claim. What we are going to see this week and next week is the response. And here is what we are going to discover. This claim that Jesus is the bread of life come down from heaven is UNIVERSALLY OFFENSIVE. No human being who truly hears and understands what Jesus is saying accepts it without offense. Today we are going to look at five ways that Jesus’ offer to be the bread of life offends us and how we can move from offense to worship. So Jesus has just finished saying, “I am the bread of life”. Here’s the response from the religious leaders. Jesus is offering them eternal LIFE in himself; but in order to get the life you have to believe the claim. Jesus has them on the horns of a dilemma. Because on the one hand they cannot outright dismiss him. Why? He’s been healing people like crazy. He just multiplied bread and fish so as to feed 10,000 people. He’s healed the blind, lame, deaf. So they cannot dismiss him, but on the other hand, his claims are outright unbelievable, “I have come down from heaven?” Come on!? Now, they have to come up with some sort of explanation for what they see and hear but this is not it. Even though it doesn’t say it outright, I could guess at their explanation. Here’s a miracle worker; miracle workers in the Bible are prophets. They’ve got a category for that. That’s what made sense to them. Here’s a man, a regular homo-sapien, who has prophet-like access to God. That’s what my intuition tells me. But Jesus says. Nope. Here’s what’s really going on. I have come down from heaven. Just like we would say, “I’ve come down from McCall,” Jesus said, “I actually used to live in heaven. Now I live here on earth.”Jesus says, I came down from heaven. It’s a major focus of chapter 6. Look how many time the phrase is used in chapter 6. How could a man come down from heaven? That’s totally and completely counter-intuitive. Jesus says, your right. “I’m actually not a man.” God has given me power to raise the dead and judge the world. You see, I am a GOD-MAN. Well I wasn’t expecting that! How could a God-man look just like me? They definitely had an expectation about Messiah and it wasn’t this. If Jesus is who he claims, God come down from heaven, I certainly wouldn’t expect him to come this way. So normally. So undramatically. To Nazareth? Does anything good come out of Nazareth? My intuition tells me coming from heaven doesn’t work like that. But let me ask you, “Does that make it not true?” Just because something isn’t intuitive, doesn’t make it untrue. The theory of relativity is not intuitive - at all. Does that make it not true? Something that upsets our intuition and upsets our expectations is not evidence of it not being true. It’s just evidence that our intuition and expectations are incorrect. There are thousands of things that are counterintuitive but are still true. To refuse them on the basis that they upset intuition is to the epitome of pride because it makes conformity to intuition the definition of truth. I wouldn’t have expected Messiah to turn water into wine is a strange miracle to begin the public ministry of Jesus Christ. So be it. My expectations are wrong. Shall I be offended or learn from it? Humility is letting truth inform your intuition. In fact is often the act of upsetting expectations and intuitions that lead us to the truth. Before you became a Christian you might have had a way to explain Christian behavior. I know why religious people try to be moral. They are trying to work their way to heaven. But then you realize, nobody who is a true follower of Christ is trying to work their way to heaven. That counter-intuitive discovery will lead you to the truth. Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” That claim offends our intuition. That’s our first point. In other words, when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” our natural inclination is to say, thank you but no thank you. I don’t want that. When Jesus hears them grumbling about having come down from heaven he says, Now you think the first two were offensive. This, to many, is downright repugnant. What we are reading about here is what theologians call the doctrine of election. Election speaks to the divine force responsible BEHIND our CHOICE to submit to God. Or to state it more simply, “Who chooses God? Do you choose God or does God choose you?” This is a thorny question. You come at this question wrong and your liable to get poked and bleed. But if we’ve learned anything thus far in the sermon. Don’t trust your intuition and don’t assume it’s going to be like you expected. Do we really expect God to match our human intuitions? Don’t judge by the external appearance alone. If you watch any survival shows, you know that a barrel cactus can save your life in the desert because beneath the spiny exterior is a storehouse of life-giving water. The doctrine of election is like a spiny barrel cactus. Many will pass over it’s life giving water never knowing it’s even there. Some have heard that there is water inside, but get injured drinking it and then run away. But there are others who carefully listen to the instructions, pierce through that spiny exterior and the water is the sweetest, most satisfying, most nutritious, life-giving drink you could imagine and it quenches the thirsty soul. Here’s how the doctrine presents itself in the passage. The pharisees grumble at the claim that Jesus is from heaven. They don’t like it. And Jesus say, “Well that’s not surprising. That’s to be expected.” Why? Because no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. In other words, he’s saying, unless the Father draws you, you will never find me attractive. Without God working on your heart, you won’t ever want me. Paul says the same thing in Romans 3:10: What does this doctrine teach? It teaches that the problem with the human condition is broken desire. We want the wrong things. We love the wrong things. There is a fundamental inability. Now what is that inability in specifics. Let me illustrate. Imagine for a moment that I sit you down at a table and give you two choices. On your left you have toasted cream brule and on your right you have ground up worms and slugs. Which would you choose? Okay, maybe that was a fluke. Let’s run the experiment again. cream brule or the ground up worms and slugs? 1000 times out of a thousand. 10,000 times out of 10,000 you will never choose the worm compote. Why? Is the problem that you cannot eat the worm and slugs? It’s not that I can’t eat it; it’s that I can’t want it. That’s my problem. The inability is in the domain of desire. When Paul says, “the natural mind is hostile to God” or “no one comes to me unless the father draws him” he’s saying not saying they can’t come to God, he’s saying they can’t want to. Our unaffected desires never move toward God. What the Bible teaches is that for us to move toward God, he’s got to move toward us. And the form of that movement is the love of God being pressed upon our hearts. The love of the Father is prior. It’s aggressive. It pounces. I want to talk about two things here: order and cause. There’s an order and a cause. Both are important. The order is God FIRST, then us. God’s love was first. And then that initiating love CAUSED us to love him. It is because he FIRST loved us that we then love him. That’s what Jesus is saying here, “No one can come to me, unless the father draws him.” This is offensive. Why? Because it strips us of any reason we can be congratulated. We can’t take credit for our good choice. If you make a good investment, you can take credit for it. But if the stock company accidentally liquidates your investments and transfers it to another portfolio and it skyrockets, you can’t congratulate yourself. God drew you. Is that what you expected? - No. Is that intuitive? - No. But is true? Absolutely. Now you may say, “No I choose Christ. He didn’t choose me.” Well, fine. But be consistent. If you are the one who chooses him, how do you know that someday you will not unchoose him? You can’t have it both ways. How do you know that you won’t foul the whole thing up again? Adam was created perfect and fouled the whole thing up. How do you know you won’t foul the whole thing up again? You see, here’s the beauty of it. Here’s why this doctrine is sweet, life-giving water. Because if God is the one who draws you, he is also the one who will keep you. And he is the one who will raise you up on the last day. And that’s exactly what he says next. Now my intellect is being confronted. Here’s why Jesus is not okay with their grumbling. Their grumbling was dangerous. Our grumbling is dangerous. Maybe you are grumbling about the nature of election. Why is that bad? Because it presupposed that our brain is the ultimate court in which God gets sorted out. If we just discuss this long enough, through our intellect and talking the matter over…with enough thought, we can make sense of this. If I can’t make sense of it, if the supreme court of my brain can’t sort this thing out, then it cannot be true. Here is the severe warning. As long as we are content to remain, confident in our own ability, our own intellect, our own intuitive sense of how things ought to be we will never seek divine insight and intellect outside ourselves. As long as we are content to assess our experience and the meaning of our experience using our own methods, we cannot come to the Christ. This is an issue of authority. When there is a contradiction who wins. It does not make sense to my intuition. I don’t desire it. And I can’t understand it. Yet, Jesus says it’s true. Which one wins? This is what is at stake. Jesus says, “They will all be taught by God.” This is a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:13, addressed to the restored city of Jerusalem that the prophet foresees: ‘All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children’s peace.’ It’s a picture of restored Jerusalem drinking in knowledge from the source of knowledge. Jesus, you tell me what is true. You know that feeling when you are talking to an expert in their field. And they start explaining something and your brain goes into record mode. I trust every word that comes out of his or her mouth. That’s the picture. Total authority. Absolute knowledge. You believe it because you trust it because it’s true. The bread of life insults our intuition, offends our desire, disregards our intelligence, and now offends our vitality. What is meant here. There is a certain amount of pride that we carry within us that relates to our sense of vitality. I’m young and pretty. I’m young and athletic. I hike. I bike. I’m an academic. I’m an artist. I raft. These are all evidences of vitality. Jesus says, “That’s cute. But your going to die.” This is a nod to how we began our message last week. We are all dying. We are all playing a game of who can keep the water cupped in our hands the longest. What we didn’t talk about was why? Why are we dying? Answer: because we are starving. If you stop eating food you don’t die instantly. It takes a little bit of time. But you do die eventually. It’s a slow process of starving the body of what it needs. And because we are not eating the spiritual bread of life, we are dying. Well, Jesus says, if you want to live forever, if you want to have eternal zoa, then you need to eat the bread of life. Now here’s is where the offense, turns to disgust which turns to revulsion. Now here’s our final point. This offer of life offends our intuition, our desire, our intellect, our vitality. And finally…. What in the world does Jesus mean that we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood? First off, obviously this is a metaphor. But he’s pressing here, isn’t he. Let’s go back to what he said earlier in the text. Jesus said, if you want to receive the bread of heaven, you can’t work to receive it. The one work that earns the bread of heaven is to confess that you can’t do anything to earn the bread of heaven. That’s what he’s saying. You have to receive it. You have to believe in it. That’s how you receive it. You receive it by believing it. But then when we get here in verses 53–59, we see Jesus continually using present-tense verbs having to do with feeding. It’s clear that to be a Christian means to be continually in a process of feeding on Christ. And the terms are very graphic. The idea, is that being a Christian is not something you can dabble in. You have to take it inside of you. Think about food. If you want food to sustain you, you can’t be independent of it. Their is real power for it to sustain you. But exists out here. And you will die unless you take in inside of you. And it gets dissolved down and actually becomes part of you. That energy now courses through your veins. Being a Christian means that Jesus Christ becomes part of you in that way. That’s where the metaphor is pointing. As post crucifixion Christians understand the imagery far better than they did then. Jesus’ body was broken for us. His blood was spilled for us. And so taking that into us, means accepting the substitutionary sacrifice. The imagery of the OT sacrificial lamb now makes all the sense in the world. Remember passover was at hand here. Remember the first passover. The angel of death was going to go throughout all the land of Egypt and destroy every firstborn male. But if you killed a lamb and put it’s blood which symbolized it’s life over the doorpost, that angel of death would passover. And what were you to do with the lamb itself. You were to eat it. And it’s life given for you would now enter into you and sustain your life. That’s the picture. Communion Could we do church today and not do communion? My goodness, no. We come to the table this morning, ready to symbolically eat the flesh and drink the blood. It confronts and offends at almost every level. It offends my intuition, my expectations, ability, intellect, vitality and my independence. Why would we ever do it? Answer: Because it is the path to everlasting zoa. Life exists in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s in him. You cannot be independent of Jesus and live. What Jesus is really focusing on here is SOURCE. Where is the source of life to be found? Jesus says, I live BECAUSE of the Father. You will only live BECAUSE of me. I am the SOURCE of life. And you have to take me in. Now I want to illustrate this principle. You probably learned in elementry school that all life on planet earth exists because of the sun. It is the source of life. Well animals eat the plants or other animals and the plants get their energy from the sun. Not only all life, but all power. Cars move around because of fossil fuels. What are fossil fuels? They are decomposed buried dead organism - things that used to be alive. We get electricity from hydroelectric plants. Where does the rain water that powers the giant turbines at the bottom of dams come from? Evaporation from the ocean which is from the sun. Solar panels from the sun. Windpower from heating and cooling that comes from the sun. If it moves, is heated, reproduces, eats, grows.. it’s all from the sun. Jesus Christ is claiming take it one step further. And the sun exists because of me. “I am the bread of LIFE.” I am the SOURCE of everything. You cannot be INDEPENDENT of me and live. If you live, you will live BECAUSE OF me. Just as the SUN is the source of all power and life on earth so the SON is the SOURCE of the SOURCE. I am the SOURCE of ETERNAL LIFE, both bios and zoa. Can you see what it means to make him your Bread? Something is your meat and drink. Something is what you are making a beeline for because you think that’s living. Is it him? Is it a personal relationship with him? If it isn’t it will spoil. It will not endure, and neither will you. Come and eat the Bread and labor for the Bread and take the Bread that endures to eternal life.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 88. Today we examine in-depth that odd expression of …. “Thank you for asking.” In last week’s episode I talked about making a New Year’s resolution of interacting with people in such a way that they will send you a “thank you” note in writing. That’s going to take some effort on your part because people rarely send thank you notes anymore. So for you to receive one, it will mean you’ve done something so meaningful for someone they can’t help but express their appreciation in writing. That’s a tall order, but still a worthy goal. As I said last week, it will bring out the best in us when we make it our goal for people to appreciate in writing what we’ve done for them. Today, however, I want to give you a related relationship goal this is easier. It’s a listening goal that will be a quick win for you. The goal is to get people to say to you, "thank you for asking." A quick win listening goal This expression, thank you for asking, is such an odd statement. Why are we prompted to thank someone for just asking us a question? Answer: Because it’s uncommon. Most people are usually telling, not asking, and when they do ask, it’s for news or something to benefit them, not for any intrinsic purpose to simply get to know you as a person. In a 90-minute listening talk at MC2, I gave this challenge at the end of the workshop, “make it your goad to get people to say ‘Thank you for Asking.’” I don’t mean to elicit this response from the clerk at the gas station or the teller at your bank who greets you with, “Hi, how are you today?" and you say, “Fine.” And then you ask the clerk or teller how they’re doing and they respond back with “Fine. Thank you for asking.” That’s just a polite courtesy, with not much meaning behind it. (By the way, I may have said it before, but you know what “fine “ is, don’t you? Feelings Inside Not Expresses. F.I.N.E.) So how do you do this? How do you ask someone a question that causes that person to respond with thank you for asking? You use the O.R.A principle. The O.R.A. principal It starts with Observing, followed by Remembering, then Asking. O.R.A. Observing Pay attention to what people say, and don’t say. Notice the body language. What do their eyes tell you? Notice the lip that starts to quiver, the knees that shake. The smile that comes across their face. Pretend you’re a reporter or detective, and note as many details as possible. Notice any incongruities between their words and their actions. Look for emotion. What do you think they are feeling? People watch, Speculate about them. What are they happy about? Sad about? Worried about? Look for the emotion. It’s how we connect with one another. Game with our grandsons at their favorite pancake house. Imagine what the people are like in the next booth over. Or sitting in a Chick-fil-A near a window to the drive-through, and speculate about each driver who passes by Above all, be curious. Remembering Observing is about the present. Remembering is about the past, about prior observations File observations in your memory bank In meeting a friend or someone else, ask yourself, “What did we talk about last time we met? What were they concerned about? What was on their mind then? Recreate a picture of your interaction with them from awhile ago What decision were they facing? What had time sensitivity to our last chat? Praying for people helps you to remember what to ask them about. Asking Ask something about them. Don’t ask something that benefits you, ask something about them. Remind them of your last or prior conversation, and pick up where you left off. Be tentative, you can always be corrected. Picture yourself in their shoes The “If they wanted me to know they’d tell me. I don’t want to be nosey.” It’s a myth. Be sensitive to time and place. The result of practicing the ORA principle: People will feel cared about, that someone would notice and remember, certainly from the past, but also something from the here and now. I’ll give you an example: recently I shared with a few people an unfortunate situation affecting someone from our extended family. It was a very troubling situation for this person, and because Janet and I are close to this person, it troubled us deeply too. It even kept me at night, it was so bothersome. We told a few people about it, two in particular - one in person, and one in a phone call. A week or so after we told what was going on, both people followed up with me. One called because they observed even in a phone call how bothered I was. They could easily picture themself in my situation. They remembered my situation after some time passed, and asked how I was doing, and how our extended family member was coping with things. And then several weeks later they called again, still remembering what I had shared, asking how all of us were doing. The other person did essentially the same thing, but by text. In both cases, I felt cared for because these two friends Observed, Remembered, and Asked. The one thing I hope you remember from today’s episode Make it your goal to become a better observer of people, remembering what you see, and what others tell you about themselves. Make this the basis for inquiring about their lives. They will thank you for it. Here are a few ideas for how we can respond to today’s program. Mention we need the power of Jesus to help us do anything of consequence. Stress grace. “God does the work” To better reflect the character of God, we… What do we learn from this story we can apply in our own relationships? The ORA principle is based on the premise you actually care. IF you don’t really care, it will come across as manipulation. To not observe, not remember, or fail to ask is a real relationship killer. It communicates you don’t care, when in reality you may indeed care. Observing - Remembering - Asking is a skill. And like any skill, it takes repetition and practice. Watch a movie or TV show and pay attention to the actors, using the things we talking about in “observing.” What are they feeling? What might be going on just below the surface of their life? If you could ask them a question that would cause them to reply, thank you for asking, what would you ask? As always, another thing you could do is let me and your fellow listeners know what resonated with you about today’s episode. The easiest way is to put your thoughts in an email and send them to me, john@caringforothers.org. Or you can share your thoughts in the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of the show notes. Another thing you could do to help get the word out about this podcast is to leave a review in iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. A related resource that might interest you Episode 065: End With This Important Question to Ask Episode 063: Six Reasons Why We're Not More Curious About People Closing I hope your thinking was stimulated by today’s show, to both reflect and to act. So that you will find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This. That’s all for today. See you next week. Goodbye for now. You Were Made for This is sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry. We depend upon the generosity of donors to pay our bills.  If you'd like to support what we do with a secure tax-deductible donation, please click here. We'd be so grateful if you did.

What actually happened at the Capitol Building on January 6th, 2021? Was it, as the media says, a “riot”? What do we actually know and what information is being kept from us? Paul, Jarrad, and Zach will discuss what we know rather than what people think.  Also, what has changed in the United States? After January 20th will we be able to trust the election process again? Will Big Tech stop silencing and censoring the people? Will the courts go back to doing their jobs? Will the MSM stop lying for one party?  These questions are critical and we must confront the facts that are before us if our children and grandchildren hope to live in a free nation. Thanks for being a part of SOTG! We hope you find value in the message we share. If you’ve got any questions, here are some options to contact us: Send an Email Send a Text Call Us Enjoy the show! And remember…You’re a Beginner Once, a Student For Life! TOPICS COVERED THIS EPISODE [0:00:13] “10” Codes Huge thanks to our Partners:Brownells | CrossBreed | Duracoat | SWAT Fuel [0:10:00] Capital Building: What We Know Media calls Jan 6 event riot, BLM/Antifa events were peaceful protests  Video of rally A lot of people were at the rally, why didn’t more people occupy the building? Answer: Because it wasn’t us. What would the purpose be? Video of Capitol Police moving barriers - What to make of this? BLM/Antifa protesters entered the capitol building. The constitution? Questions about the video of the police shooting the woman “A free man does not consult with slaves, nor do the strong take counsel from the weak.” Nothing has changed. The Democrats still committed the greatest instance of fraud in the history of our nation. The Media is still censoring and silencing any dissent. The Courts refuse to hear the evidence. FEATURING: Madison Rising, Jarrad Markel, Paul G. Markel, SOTG University PARTNERS: Brownells Inc, Crossbreed Holsters, SWAT Fuel, DuraCoat Firearm Finishes FIND US ON: Full 30, Roku, United Gun Group, iHeart Radio, Apple TV, Amazon, iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, tumblr

WHY do we hold onto the negative experiences or feedback more than celebrating the positive?Answer:Because it attacks our belief around whatever it is that we are doing.Our belief is who we are to the core.I don’t think we are afraid of failure. I think we are afraid of our belief being rejected.To me, failure seems more tangible. It is something I did or didn’t do. Belief is my identity. It is who I am or who I am trying to be.It’s personal.One common belief I find across all entrepreneurs is hope. When your hope is crushed, so is your identity.Recently, I was doing a LIVE training and started to share a specific story about a situation that seems like it happened yesterday. It felt like someone came from behind and literally sucker punched me.The change in your pocket would have solved the problem for my customer.It took me a little longer to find my resolution and understand my impact was bigger than me.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Joseph Thomas on Sunday, March 8, 2020. The scripture reference for this sermon is found in the book of Romans 5:1-5. Introduction: Christianity has a different and radical view! Buddhism “Two Noble Truths” – suffering is caused by attachment to worldly things; so detach from the world Hinduism is the outcome of deeds done in the previous life Islam either the result of sin or is a test from God 1. With the word “Therefore” (5:1) Paul establishes that we are both “justified” and “righteous” (4:11, 5:12-20). Based on that truth, Christianity would detach sin’s implicit connection from suffering 2. We are greeted with a radical concept of how to confront suffering: with joy (vs 3; James 1:2) In the secular world, 5-7 stages of grief are recognized: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance Drs. Ross and Kessler identified a 6th stage: Meaning Question: Why should a Christian embrace suffering? Answer: Because of what it can accomplish 3. Suffering takes us on a journey … a) It violently confronts us with our frailty (i.e. me) If we don’t give up … b) It teaches us endurance (Heb 12:1-3, James 1:4) You develop ‘muscles’ c) It produces character (2 Cor. 7:1) You develop holiness d) It produces hope, i.e. in God [cf. (a)] You develop a richer relationship (see vs 5) Conclusion: Suffering can accomplish a (God) purpose www.nvbc.net

Why do park rangers lob explosives onto a mountainside to purposely start an avalanche? Answer: Because the avalanche you start yourself is the easiest one to control. In this episode The Guys explain how to deal with disagreements while they’re still minor grievances and before they erupt into full-blown battles. This episode is a replay of one of our most-downloaded episodes, and was originally released as Episode 104.

Intro…Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone and today we are in week 45 of our journey through the Heidelberg Catechism. Today, I will be talking to you about question 116-119.This week’s questions are aimed at the Christian’s prayer life.Question 116: Why do Christians need to pray?Answer: Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. and also because God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for the these gifts and thanking Him for them.We are still in the gratitude section of the Catechism and we need to remind ourselves that we have arrived at this point only because we have travelled through the guilt and grace sections. We started out the year 2019 by opening the first pages of the Heidelberg and learning that the greatest problem facing humanity is not a political one, it is not a financial one, nor a social one; it is a spiritual problem.We live in a natural state of sin and misery. God has graciously revealed to us that the root of all that has gone wrong in the world is the separation that exists between the Creator and His creatures. We have sinned and our sin sets us at odds with our Holy God. But God’s mercy is greater than our sin.In Christ, God has poured out grace to cover our sin. On the cross, Jesus paid our debt and has ransomed us from our guilt and into relationship with God. Once we were far off but now by the blood of Christ we have been brought near to God. By faith in Christ we now have a relationship with God and prayer is a key component in that relationship.Transition…In prayer we express our gratitude for God’s love and grace. In prayer we ask God for forgiveness, wisdom, strength, and help. In prayer we seek the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In prayer we talk to our heavenly Father. Most of us know this, but at the same time, most of us still struggle with prayer.In his book, A Praying Life, Paul Miller asks us to imagine a trip to a prayer therapist who is going to help us with our prayer struggles. The therapist begins the session by asking us to describe what it means to be a child of God.You reply that it means you have complete access to your heavenly Father through Jesus. You have true intimacy, based not on how good you are but on the goodness of Jesus. Not only that, but Jesus is your brother. You are a fellow heir with him.The therapist smiles and says, “That is right. You’ve done a wonderful job of describing the doctrine of Sonship. Now tell me what it is like for you to be with your Father? What is it like to talk with him?”You cautiously tell the therapist how difficult it is to be in your Father’s presence, even for a couple of minutes. Your mind wanders. You aren’t sure what to say. You wonder, does prayer make any difference? Is God even there? Then you feel guilty for your doubts and just give up.Your therapist tells you what you already suspect. “Your relationship with your heavenly Father is dysfunctional. You talk as if you have an intimate relationship, but you don’t. Theoretically, it is close. Practically, it is distant. You need help.”[1]I think we all need some help in the area of prayer. So, let’s see what Heidelberg has to say that might help us.Lord’s Day Focus...Question 117: How does God want us to pray so that He will listen to us?Answer: First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, who has revealed Himself in His Word, asking for everything He has commanded us to ask for. Second, we must acknowledge our need and misery, hiding nothing, and humble ourselves in His majestic presence. Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation: even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. This is what He promised us in His Word.This is a very thorough answer and every line of it has something to teach us. Let me encourage you to take your time and go through this line by line, meditating on the instruction found here. We could spend the rest of our time in this devotion, teasing out all the points mentioned here but for the purpose of this devotion I will offer a summary of this answer.Our prayers should be directed by Scripture. The first part of this answer assumes that the person praying has a thorough grasp of Biblical truth. God isn’t interested in vain, repetitious or arrogant prayer. He is God and the way we approach Him needs to be informed by what the Bible teaches us about Him.Our prayers should be from a heart that remembers our guilt and God’s grace. We are the ones facing sin and misery, not God. God is not obligated to do anything for us, not obligated to give anything to us, not even obligated to listen to our plea for help. But He does because He is majestic and gracious.Our prayers should be motivated by the confidence that we have through Christ. We do not come to God in prayer on our own, we come through the blood and mediation of Jesus. It is because of Him that we have a relationship to God and this knowledge should guide and motivate us to prayer.So our prayers should take all of this and more into consideration.Question 118: What did God command us to pray for?Answer: Everything we need, spiritually and physically, as embraced in the prayer Christ our Lord Himself taught us.I’ve never really gotten over the fact that Jesus told His disciples that the reason they don’t have certain things is because they have failed to ask for those things. “You have not because you have asked not.” He also said that we don’t have things because we ask with wrong motives, meaning we simply ask for things that satisfy some fleshly appetite not a spiritual one.All of this, and the catechism is aimed to help us realize that we are helpless children and our God is a wise, loving and generous Father. We come to Him with every need that we can think of and when we run out of things, we look to Him and His Word to help us grasp what our true needs are, and we ask for those as well.Too many of us take prayer for granted and therefore we don’t pray. Too many of us treat prayer like an unimportant thing and therefore we don’t pray the way God tells us to. Too many of us pray selfishly and get frustrated when we don’t get what we want.But now that we have a relationship with God through Jesus, our prayers should be shaped by the Father-child relationship. We should pray with a sense of our Father’s gracious presence. We should pray with the knowledge of His Fatherly generosity. We should pray with our mind on His Kingdom and how He wants us to live while still in this world.That is how I would summarize the way Jesus teaches us to pray.Question 119: What is the Prayer?Answer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgives us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.In this model prayer, Jesus wants us to pray sincerely, humbly and confidently. He wants us to pray with His saving grace as fuel, in fact we can’t come to God unless we come through Jesus, through the fountain of flowing grace. But by faith in Christ we come and pray.He wants us to pray from the heart and from our head. He doesn’t want vain repetitive babbling. He doesn’t want pseudo-spiritual and hypocritical speeches. He wants honest prayer to flow from the hearts of His children to their One True Father in Heaven.The essence of Christian prayer is relational communion with our heavenly Father. When Jesus teaches us to pray, He tells us to approach God with love, as a son or daughter would approach their father. He teaches us to begin our prayer with, “Our Father…” How does a child talk with their father? Loudly, boldly, unashamedly, desperately, with no regard for decorum. They will interrupt you in a second if they have a need, or a want, or even an idea. Big words never enter that conversation, but feeling, and emotion almost always do.Paul Miller,Being a child in prayer means to just come. Children are not tied up in all the details when they come to their parents. They just come.Jesus invites those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him. He doesn’t call the organized and fixed up but the broken. Why do we forget that when it comes to prayer? The dirty, imperfect and broken you is the real you. Don’t try to put on the spiritual façade in prayer. You can talk to God about whatever is on your heart, so just come as you are. Be weak and open in prayer before God. In this way you are remembering and applying the gospel to your prayer life. We need to learn helplessness. That is what a child reflects.[2]Don’t come to your God pretending to be something or someone you are not, He can see straight through that. But come as you are, open your heart to His saving grace in Christ. Repent and receive Jesus as savior and Lord, and when you bow before Him in prayer you will find all the love you will ever need. Come broken and find His compassion. Come needy and find His supply. Come confused and find His Wisdom.Thank you for joining me today to discuss Christian prayer. Next week, we will dig a little deeper into the Lord’s prayer and I hope you will join me for that discussion as we look at Lord’s Day 46 and questions 120-121.Conclusion…If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.Thanks for listening.[1] Miller, Paul E.. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World (p. 5). NavPress. Kindle Edition.[2] https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/helping-your-people-discover-the-praying-life

A quiz show spoof that lampooned other quiz shows of the time such as Information, Please and The Quiz Kids. The format of the show was simple. Three nitwits made up the "board of experts". They spent more time trying to figure out what the question was than actually giving a sensible answer. The questions were as ludicrous as the ones in this episode “Why are women like the ocean? Answer: Because they never dry up!” or “Why doesn’t a regular soldier sit down? Answer: Because he belongs to the standing army!”. Critics slated the show when it first appeared and said it wouldn’t last. They were wrong. The show ran for nine years. Starring: Tom Howard, George Shelton, Harry McNaughton, Lulu McConnell --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dennis-moore9/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dennis-moore9/support

Intro…Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone and today we are in week 24 of our journey through the Heidelberg Catechism and I will be talking to you today about questions 62 - 64.Transition…This week, we are going to discuss the role that our individual good works play in the big picture of our salvation and our Christian life. Last week, we learned that it is 100% necessary for us to possess a perfect righteousness in order to be made right with God. But we also learned that this necessary righteousness is not something that we earn but something that is given to us by faith.In other words, the righteousness that gets us back into fellowship with God is not our own, it is a gift. We are saved by grace. We are made righteous by faith. We are saved by Jesus’ good works, not our own. But, if all this is true, and it is, then what is the point of being good? If we are saved by grace, what part does our personal pursuit of righteousness play in our lives?Lord’s Day Focus...Question 62: But why cannot our good works be the whole or part of our righteousness before God?Answer: Because the righteousness which can stand before the judgment-seat of God, must be perfect throughout and wholly conformable to the divine law, whereas even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin.In order to give some commentary on question 62 and its answer, I want us to think about something that Jesus said at the very beginning of His ministry. I want to draw our attention to the posture of heart that Jesus says is absolutely essential for anyone who is interested in the Kingdom of God. I want to take us all the way back to the Sermon on the Mount.Of all Jesus’ teaching, none is more readily identified and associated with Him than the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It appears in the first book of the New Testament and while it is not the first recorded statement of Jesus, it is by far the longest and most comprehensive of His public sermons. It seems clear that Matthew views this message as the foundation upon which Jesus’ life, ministry and kingdom are to be established.The sermon is ground-breaking on multiple levels. It is the inauguration speech of the King of the Universe. It is the sermon that broke 400 years of divine silence and at the same time it introduced the world to the Kingdom of God in a way that it had never known before. This sermon describes what human life and human community look like when they come under the rule of God’s grace.[1]Some people love this sermon, some hate it, but ignoring it isn’t really an option. This sermon is intended to shake things up. It takes the value system of our sinful world and turns it upside-down. It points an unflinching finger at religious legalists and hypocrites and tells them that they will have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven. But it also makes clear that not one part of the law of God will be overlooked.But the sermon doesn’t do what many of us might expect. It doesn’t start with a list of religious duties that we must all perform in order to earn God’s love. Instead, it starts with the posture of heart that is necessary for entry into the Kingdom of God.Matt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.The phrase poor in spirit means to be completely impoverished. It means to recognize one’s own poverty of the soul. Even in our own day we use this term to refer to someone who leads the life of a beggar. This is someone who has no property, no money, no power, no status; someone who is completely dependent on others for support. This person is empty, with nothing to offer and they know it. But the type of poverty that Jesus is after deals with one’s soul.The poor in spirit are those who have come to see and feel the brokenness in their heart and the bankruptcy in their soul. When it comes to righteousness, true righteousness, they are no better than a beggar on the street. Even if they had a little money in their pocket it wouldn’t come close to paying off the debt they owe to God, they are truly poor in spirit.No one wants to find themselves in this place. Our natural inclination is to assume that we have much to offer and that our spiritual life, though not perfect, is far from a state of poverty. The Pharisees that gathered around to hear Jesus’ message would have scoffed at this opening statement. This is not what the religious people in the crowd wanted to hear, but this is the point of entry into the Kingdom of God. This is how we are made to feel when the gospel hits our ears for the first time.The gospel does two things in us; it tears us down and then it builds us back up. The gospel shows that our hearts are so desperately wicked that there is no hope that we can overcome our past sin much less do enough to earn eternal life. The gospel holds up the law of God demanding that we keep it perfectly, and then shows us that we have no chance. We are utterly incapable of pleasing God on our own. The gospel puts us on our knees before God and that is exactly where Christ wants us to start because only those who have come to understand their poverty of spirit before God are fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.To be poor in spirit means an absence of spiritual pride, an absence of self-assurance and self-reliance. It is this tremendous awareness that we are nothing in the presence of God (Lloyd-Jones).[2]To be poor in spirit is to be like the prophet Isaiah who saw the Lord high and lifted up, but he fell to knees and cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost…I am unclean and everyone around me is unclean as well.”To be poor in spirit is to be like the apostle Paul who could quote a spiritual resume that would shame everyone in this room, but when he stood before Christ he came to realize that all of his religious past was worthless. Paul said, “I count it all to be loss…like nothing but rubbish (dung) in the eyes of God.”To be poor in spirit is to be like the Tax Collector in Luke 18 who would not even look up to heaven but instead beat his chest saying, “O God, be merciful to me as sinner.”When Jesus says, “Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven…” He is making it clear that the kingdom is fit only for those who feel that their only hope of salvation lies outside of themselves because on their own they are nothing more than a beggar.There is no one in the Kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit. It is the fundamental posture of its citizens and it is the entry point into the Christian life.That’s what question 62 is trying to help us understand. The righteousness that restores our relationship with God is not our own, because our own righteousness is imperfect and full of holes, like swiss cheese. Our good works are incomplete, but Jesus’ good works are perfect, and therein lies our hope.Question 63: How is it that our good works merit nothing, while yet it is God’s will to reward them in this life and in that which is to come?Answer: The reward comes not of merit but of grace.Years ago I read a quote that helped put this answer into perspective for me.“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.”[3]This goes against our natural instincts. We naturally think that in order for us to obtain what we desire most we will have to work for it, at least, I think that most of us think that way. We are born with a debtors ethic, which causes us to think this way.The gospel destroys that ethic. Undeserved mercy and unearned reward don’t make sense in the world, but they do in the Kingdom of God. The rewards of blessings in this life and heaven in the life to come are not the result of our effort, but the work of God’s grace.Question 64: But does not this doctrine make men careless and profane?Answer: No; for it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith, should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.Thinking back to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees if we hope to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Does this mean that we must keep all of the 240 commandments and 365 prohibitions that they added to the law of God? No! Christian righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees in type not in degree. The righteousness that is pleasing to God is the inward righteousness that begins in the heart and then faithfully seeks to live out the law in life.We call this sanctification and it is an ongoing work of God’s grace where God’s people are, over the course of their lives, transformed more and more into the image of Christ. God enables us by His Spirit and His Word to grow in faithfulness more and more and to turn from sin more and more. This process starts when we are born again and it continues throughout our lives as a fulfillment of the promise that God made in Ezekiel 36.Eze 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.If you are a born-again believer in Christ then you have the Spirit of God within you, but that doesn’t mean that you can dispense with the law, because the work of the Spirit is to give us new hearts, to write God’s law on those new hearts, and to enable us to walk in obedience to God. Not in order to earn God’s love, but because God’s love has already been poured out on us by grace.Jesus is not interested in empty, superficial, hypocritical religious practice. Religion is a word that has the ability to conjure up both positive and negative ideas when it is used. The term religion, when used in a negative sense, refers to the empty religious rituals and formalities that are devised by man and are sadly so prevalent in the church. Behind the negative use of the term is the belief that religious practices are sufficient for us to earn the favor of God. Religion says, “I obey the rules so that God will accept me” and when this idea is full blown it teaches people that in order to be saved we must simply keep all the rules.But this is a lie and this is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel says that “God accepts me on the basis of Jesus ‘works and in response to this grace, I obey (Eph 2:8-10).”Thanks for joining me today as I discuss the Heidelberg Catechism. I hope you’ll join me again next week as we look at Lord’s Day 25 together and discuss questions 65 – 68 on the Holy Sacraments.Conclusion…If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.Thanks for listening. [1] John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Pg. 18)[2] MLJ, pg. 50.[3] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/49184-grace-is-not-opposed-to-effort-it-is-opposed-to

The LAST DAY of Castlefest 2019 was a great one (as were all of the other days). Check out day 4’s summary: Jimmy Fair:  Diastology: Consider approaching diastology as binary; does your patient have elevated left atrial pressure or not? If you want a more in-depth summary, watch: Diastology part 1, Diastology part 2 Cardiac arrest: Concentrate on getting windows during your 10 second pulse check, save clips, then interpret the image during compressions. Unless if you have TEE.  Then just leave it in there and get continuous monitoring. RUSH: It’s not a law that you have to do every part of the RUSH exam in all your hypotensive patients. Peter Weimersheimer: Pelvic Ultrasound: If you can get the answer with transabdominal US, you don’t necessarily need to go for the endocavitary probe TEE: Why learn this if I get good TTE views during arrest?  Answer: Because you often can’t.  Also, some tips on how to start a TEE program. Here’s the Link to Annals of Emergency Medicine article on TEE and cardiac arrest (that Mike Mallin was second author on) Claire Heslop:  Volume responsiveness is defined as the ability of a patient to increase their cardiac output with fluids.  Best way to tell with US: VTI.  Although carotid flow time is an up-and-comer. Bendfest 2019 is coming soon! Spots are filling quickly, reserve your spot today! Interested in an online ultrasound fellowship?  Go to ultrasoundleadershipacademy.com

Lord’s Day #16Intro…Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone and today we are in week 16 of our journey through the Heidelberg Catechism and I will be talking to you today about questions 40-44.Transition…Today, we are talking about death and Hell. Particularly, we will be talking about Jesus’ death and whether or not he actually descended to “Hell.” Over the last 15 weeks of working through this Catechism, I have received more questions about this topic than any other. The Apostle’s Creed contains a phrase that is more than a little strange when you think about it.Here’s the phrase in question…I believe…in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; (here it comes) He descended into Hades; the third day He rose from the dead;Now, you may already know this, but that little phrase, “He Descended into Hades (or Hell in some versions),” is the most contested line in the creed. What does it mean? It is true? Should we just leave it out or is there a way to understand this phrase that is helpful to Christians today? We will discuss that in a minute.But for now, let’s get started this week by looking at question #40.Lord’s Day Focus...Question 40: Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer death?Answer: Because, by reason of the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no other way than by the death of the Son of God.The first few questions this week are fairly easy for us to answer and understand as they make plain what Christ accomplished for us when He died. Question 40 is asking why did our Messiah have to die? What was the point of it all and what did His death accomplish?Jesus death was necessary because He had come to save us from our sins and the proper payment for sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death…(Rom 6:23).” But this goes back even further in Scripture, all the way back to Genesis 2. When God gave Adam the instruction about not eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He issued a warning that if they did eat from its fruit they would surely die.Death is the just penalty for sinning against the law and commands of God. So, why was it necessary for Christ to suffer death? Because God’s justice demands it. In order for Christ to save us from our sin, He had to die for our sin, and that is what He did.Question 41: Why was He buried?Answer: To show thereby that He was really dead.This is perhaps the easiest question we will answer this week as it simply makes sense. A person is buried to show that they are dead, truly dead. Over the years, there have been some theories floating around among other religious groups that Jesus didn’t actually die. Some claim that He simply passed out and then later revived in the tomb and pushed His way out.Even in the NT, there is evidence of early Jewish stories aimed to deny that Jesus died. You can read about this in Matthew 28:11-15. But the simple reality is that Jesus was buried because He actually died.Here’s what the gospel of Mark says about it…Mk 15:42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.Question 42: Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die?Answer: Our death does not pay the price for our sins. Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life.This is a great question, but again there is plenty of Scripture at our disposal to help us answer this. Death is our entrance into eternal life. In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul says, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”Christ died in our place to pay the price for our sins, which means that our death is not paying the debt we owe to God. But death is necessary as it frees us from this world and allows us to enter into the eternal life that Jesus has purchased for us. But the catechism also points out that death is something to celebrate as it puts an end to our sinning.As I grow older in my faith, and hopefully more mature and closer to Jesus, I have a deepening sense of my own sin. I see sinful impulses in my heart that I am ready to be freed from. I battle temptations that I would rather not have to battle. My flesh is weak and death will put an end to my struggle with sin and temptation.Question 43: What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?Answer: Through Christ’s death our old selves are crucified, put to death and buried with Him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead we may dedicate ourselves as an offering of gratitude to Him.This question and answer seem to have been pulled completely from Paul’s logic in the book of Romans.Rom 6:6 We 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.And then more from Romans 12…12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.By faith, we are united with Christ in ways that we need God to reveal to us and that is exactly what Paul is doing in Romans. God is revealing to us, through Paul, the amazing connections that we need to draw from our relationship to Jesus. Not only have we trusted in Jesus but we have been united with Jesus in a death like His, in a freedom from sin, in a resurrection like His.Therefore, understanding the awesome truth of how Jesus’ death has been applied to our souls and life, we should be all the more desirous to live the rest of our lives on earth as a living sacrficie of praise to Him.But finally, let’s look at question 44.Question 44: Why does the Creed add, “He descended to Hades?”Answer: That in my greatest temptations I may be assured that Christ, my Lord, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors which He suffered in His soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of Hell.To make sense out of this question let’s talk about some history. The phrase “descended into hell” doesn’t’ appear to have been part of the earliest form of this creed. It occurs in only one version of the Creed prior to AD 650 and in that version the phrase was understood to mean that Jesus “descended into the grave.”Personally, I think this is the best way to understand the phrase, but there is still a small problem and it has to do with the fact that the phrase just before it says that Jesus was “crucified, dead and buried.” So why would the Creed state that Jesus was buried and then add another phrase to say that same thing by pointing out that He also descended into the grave. I assume that you can see the dilemma.But what is so bad about Jesus going into Hell? For starters, Hell is a place of punishment for sin and the NT understands that Jesus’ endured the punishment for our sins on the Cross. Since hell is a place of punishment this would mean that Christ’s death on the cross was not enough and that he thereafter needed to descend into Hell to finish the job. This idea doesn’t hold up to the rest of the NT teaching.In fact, John Piper has argued,“There is no textual basis in the New Testament for claiming that between Good Friday and Easter Christ was preaching to souls imprisoned in hell or Hades.”[1]Piper goes on to argue that the church today should omit the phrase “descended into hell” because it causes too much confusion and it is not supported by the rest of the NT. But others, including John Calvin, have said that there is a way that we can understand this phrase so that it helps us.Calvin would have us understand this phrase not in the sense that Jesus entered Hell in reality but that He entered it spiritually. Not only did Jesus endure the physical pain and suffering on the cross, but he also endured the pain and torment of separation from His Father.Calvin writes, “Surely no more terrible abyss can be conceived than to feel yourself forsaken and estranged from God; and when you call upon him not to be heard.” This can be a comfort to us because it tells us there is no hellish experience that we can have in this life where Christ cannot identify with us and offer us comfort as one who has made it through to the other side.In other words, you can read this phrase and understand that Jesus’ death on the cross was more than physical, it was spiritual. When you remember this fact it can comfort you in your spiritual trials, knowing that you are loved and kept by the One who has faced something even worse.Thanks for joining me today as I discuss the Heidelberg Catechism. I hope you’ll join me again next week as we look at Lord’s Day 17 together and discuss question 45.Conclusion…If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.Thanks for listening. [1] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/did-jesus-spend-saturday-in-hell--2

Let MONSTER PARTY be your MONSTROUS MARRIAGE COUNSELORS! JAMES GONIS, SHAWN SHERIDAN, LARRY STROTHE, and MATT WEINHOLD, pop the question, "Why don't more marriages last?" Answer: Because they become... MACABRE MARRIAGES!!! In this matrimony challenging episode, MONSTER PARTY investigates married couples who take the vow, "Til death do we part", a little too literally. We've got amorous aliens, bloody brides, demented Don Juans, gruesome grifters, insensitive insectoids, perverse parents... AND MORE! Walking us us down the aisle of this potentially thorny subject, is a returning guest and an acclaimed filmmaker, who brought us such films as TREKKIES, TREKKIES 2, SUCKERS, and THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE... ROGER NYGARD! Roger's new award winning documentary, THE TRUTH ABOUT MARRIAGE, may provide a few of you with some practical help in avoiding your own MACABRE MARRIAGE. For the rest...there's always Mexico! SPOILER ALERT: In this podcast, we discuss a certain episode of GAME OF THRONES, that features a rather non traditional wedding ceremony. If you haven't seen this episode, you may want to fast forward ahead. You're welcome. ATTENTION: Stay tunes after the end music and outtakes  for the kaiju conclusion of our BONUS CONTENT from the 2018 G FEST CONVENTION in Chicago! Bringing it all home is our old pal, TERROR OF MECHA-GODZILLA enthusiast... ADAM G. HULTS!   

I know you all know what a Virtual Assistant does, but why do they do what they do? Answer: Because many small business owners don’t, won’t, or can’t do it all. It’s okay, to not be superhuman all the time. Asking or hiring help does not make you a bad business owner. You’re actually an awesome business owner because you recognize time isn’t on your side , but if you split it between two people, it will work for you . So listen up , then visit vegaspsp.org for a list of my services . If you have questions email saskew@vegaspsp.org or follow @partingseasprofessionalsllc on IG. Enjoy and thanks.

Question? Why my business model went south. Answer: Because it wasn't my True North. Ik heb al eens eerder een podcast opgenomen over het sléchtste business advies dat ik ooit heb gekregen: https://louniestadt.com/podcast-25-slechtste-business-advies/ Maar dit business advies staat met stip op nummer 2 van sléchtste business adviezen...! Nu ik weer met een afstand naar mezelf kan kijken zie ik pas wat een ongelooflijke chaos ik heb gecreëerd in en met mijn business model. Niet de inhoud op zichzelf, maar de vorm heeft voor enorme overwhelm gezorgd. Niet alleen voor mezelf, maar vooral voor mijn bondgenoten. Toen ik begon met het maken van e-courses over hoe je creatiever, grootser en meeslepender kunt leven met wat je al hebt en wat je al kunt, was het allemaal nog heel overzichtelijk. Een e-course per keer, een onderwerp per keer, je deed mee of je deed niet mee, maar je wist waar je ja of nee tegen zei. Omdat de interactie tijdens de courses zó inspirerend voor ons was, ontstond het éne na het ándere idee. Ooooooh laten we nu dit gaan doen! En zo rolden we samen van de ene course in de andere course. Eén voor één. Omdat ik het creëren en het geven van de courses zálig vond, maar het steeds opnieuw ruchtbaarheid moeten geven aan wat we nu weer gingen doen niet, leek het me fantastisch om één plek te maken, waar álle e-courses bij elkaar kwamen, zodat je naar hartenlust kon creëren wat je maar wilde. Bovendien wilden mensen de e-courses die al geweest waren nog doen, maar ik was dan net met een andere e-course bezig. Het leek me een goed idee om daar een membership model van te maken, zodat je zelf kon kiezen wélke e-course je wanneer wilde doen en hoe lang je er gebruik van wilde maken. In eerste instantie koos ik voor een jaarmembership. Want ja, je moet wel een beetje tijd hebben om met al die courses aan de slag te gaan. En dat werkte best goed. Totdat ik het tweede sléchtste business advies opvolgde... En daar gaat deze episode over. Lees verder op mijn blogcast: https://louniestadt.com/podcast-33-van-chaos-naar-clarity/ EACH ONE TEACH ONE! Dag! XX Het nummer uit deze podcast is natuurlijk weer toegevoegd aan de Joyride to Freedom Playlist (open.spotify.com/user/rl6s63ldyes…7jR8KSMf-HYp21rg) en de bijbehorende afbeeldingen op het Joyride to Freedom Pinterest bord (nl.pinterest.com/louniestadt/my-j…ride-to-freedom/) Als je mee wilt reizen op mijn onregelmatige avonturen, schrijf je dan even in op mijn Joyride to Freedom mailinglist: eepurl.com/dFJ3yD

Why do park rangers lob explosives onto a mountainside to purposely start an avalanche? Answer: Because the avalanche you start yourself is the easiest one to control. Episode 104 of The Communication Guys podcast is “Dealing with Conflicts Before they Become Conflicts,” where The Guys explain how to deal with disagreements while they’re still minor grievances and before they erupt into full-blown battles.

Social Media Tip of the Day: When automating social media, you still need to check the posts to ensure they post properly. Question: Why do I have to check the post if I scheduled it? Answer: Because your automation could've fumbled. Is there a typo you didn't catch the first time? Did the wrong image pull from a blog post? Does your feed flow look funky? Did you tag the wrong person, or forget to tag someone? This may sound silly and minor, but it is NOT minor. You could think your automation is on point, only to realize there was an error and your automation tool couldn't post the update. Or you pulled the wrong image and now your blog share looks ugly. It is obvious when people automate everything because they miss little things like typos, weird filters, random images that don't match the content. When coupled with no responses and no engagement, it reflects poorly on your brand. For more tips visit thebestmarketingblog.com.

In No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us that when he was a young monk he thought the Buddha never suffered.    Then, as he matured, he realized that OF COURSE the Buddha suffered. He had a body so he had to at least occasionally get a headache or a stomachache. And, when a friend died, he’d feel sad. He was a human being. Therefore, he experienced pain and suffering.   Of course, he was also the enlightened Buddha so he was very good at regaining his equanimity.   Which leads to another interesting discussion.   If the Buddha was enlightened, Thich Nhat Hanh asks, then why did he still meditate after attaining his enlightenment?    Hmmm… Fascinating question, eh?   Answer: Because the Buddha’s happiness and equanimity was, like EVERYTHING else in the world, IMPERMANENT.    The Buddha needed to tend to his own well-being. Every day. Even after his enlightenment.   Now, if the Buddha needed to keep on doing his fundies after he attained his enlightenment, I’m pretty sure that means we do as well. (Hah.)   So…   Today’s +1.   How’re your fundies?    Want to maintain your high levels of awesome? Continue crushing your fundamentals — long after you think you “need” to.   P.S. I’m reminded of peak performance and mental toughness trainers Lanny and Troy Bassham. They tell us that average performers practice something until they get it right. Elite performers? They practice until they can’t get it wrong. (That’s a really cool distinction.)   The jumbo, uber-elite? They never stop practicing.

In No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us that when he was a young monk he thought the Buddha never suffered.    Then, as he matured, he realized that OF COURSE the Buddha suffered. He had a body so he had to at least occasionally get a headache or a stomachache. And, when a friend died, he’d feel sad. He was a human being. Therefore, he experienced pain and suffering.   Of course, he was also the enlightened Buddha so he was very good at regaining his equanimity.   Which leads to another interesting discussion.   If the Buddha was enlightened, Thich Nhat Hanh asks, then why did he still meditate after attaining his enlightenment?    Hmmm… Fascinating question, eh?   Answer: Because the Buddha’s happiness and equanimity was, like EVERYTHING else in the world, IMPERMANENT.    The Buddha needed to tend to his own well-being. Every day. Even after his enlightenment.   Now, if the Buddha needed to keep on doing his fundies after he attained his enlightenment, I’m pretty sure that means we do as well. (Hah.)   So…   Today’s +1.   How’re your fundies?    Want to maintain your high levels of awesome? Continue crushing your fundamentals — long after you think you “need” to.   P.S. I’m reminded of peak performance and mental toughness trainers Lanny and Troy Bassham. They tell us that average performers practice something until they get it right. Elite performers? They practice until they can’t get it wrong. (That’s a really cool distinction.)   The jumbo, uber-elite? They never stop practicing.

RED ALERT Technology makes exposing CLINTON SOROS possible, but there's a THREAT you may not see. As yourself this: Why is there no talk of antitrust suits against any of these tech companies? Answer: Because they play along. Right? Every one of these companies have learned to play along. ð??³ DONATE on PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/LeeStranahan ð??§ LISTEN to Fault Lines w/ Nixon & Stranahan: https://sputniknews.com/radio_fault_l... â?«ï¸? POPULIST.TV: http://www.Populist.TV â?«ï¸? TWITTER & INSTAGRAM: @stranahan â?«ï¸? http://www.CitizenJournalismSchool.com

Isn’t success in life more likely when we do exactly what we should do when we should do it? What interferes with this winning formula? Simple—our feelings and moods. Why didn’t you make that sales call/exercise/call your mother/deliver that order??? Answer: Because you didn’t feel like it. What if ancient Jewish wisdom can make you less susceptible to your feelings? Well, it can! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Banker’s Voice is Mightier than the Pen and the Sword. We have entered the era of total competition. No matter your industry, company, or nationality, there is a battle-ready competitor somewhere who is busy thinking how to beat you. There are no safe havens. Yet the hard truth, for all the talk of new paradigms, reengineering, and organizational learning, is that most executives in most companies are still equipped to fight the last war. Their strategic assumptions, management structures, information systems, and training programs are geared to a competitive battlefield that no longer exists. The rules of engagement have changed. Strategic mind-sets have not. In the life-or-death quest for strategic change, business has much to learn from war. Both are about the same thing: succeeding in competition. Even more basic, both can be distilled to four words: informed choice; timely action. The key objective in competition - whether business or war - is to improve your organization's performance along these dimensions: To generate better information than your rivals do To analyze that information and make sound choices To make those choices quickly To convert strategic choices into decisive action Together they represent informed choice/timely action. This is Kelly Coughlin, CEO of BankBosun, helping bank C-Suite Executives manage risk and discover reward. Kelly Coughlin is the CEO of BankBosun, a management consulting firm helping bank C Level Officers navigate risk and discover reward. He is the host of the syndicated audio podcast, BankBosun.com. Kelly brings over 25 years of experience with companies like PWC, Lloyds Bank, and Merrill Lynch. On the podcast Kelly interviews key executives in the banking ecosystem to provide bank C suite officers, risk management, technology, and investment ideas and solutions to help them navigate risks and discover rewards. And now your host, Kelly Coughlin. Greetings, this is Kelly Coughlin, CEO of BankBosun, helping bank C Suite execs with risk, regulation and revenue creation in a sea of threats and opportunities. Just to remind you, in case you don’t recall from podcast shows from last year, a bosun is a nautical term referring to the crew member on a ship that helps the sea captain (that’s S E A ) in all areas of the ship’s navigation, operations and management. As such bankbosun, me, I’m the crew member that helps you, the C-Suite Captain of your ship – your bank – in all areas of risk, regulation and revenue creation. Got it…pretty creative isn’t it. Here’s a boatswains whistle for you.. Today’s podcast is on revenue creation. And specifically the use of audio podcasting as a cost-effective tactic to get your value proposition communicated to your market to get new customers and create new revenues. Some smart guy, they don’t actually know who, said “The pen is mightier than the sword,” implying that a person can change the opinion of others with words more effectively than with force and violence. Well, I have a corollary or addendum to that. It goes like this: While the pen is mightier than the sword, the voice is mightier than both. Some of you might remember the TV ads against drugs. I think they were in the 80s led by Nancy Reagan. It went like this. A guy picks up a whole egg. And says, this is your brain. And then the guy cracks the egg in a hot skillet with scalding hot grease and it bubbles up and he says, “this is your brain on drugs.” Well, you might ask, what the heck does that have to do with banks and revenue creation. Permit me to demonstrate. Here is a mashup of some sales pitch lines from five top financial advisors in the US. Here is what the sound like when they are READ by their intended audience in say printed material. This equates to the brain on drugs. The fried egg. I’m a professional wealth manager who provides custom financial solutions for your unique financial challenges and goals. My entire firm is passionate about helping people like you make smart financial decisions. We help people make sound decisions to enjoy a full life. My expertise is in the development, implementation and ongoing management of a customized portfolio builder and diversification strategy created just for you. Personally, my mission is to help you build wealth and successfully maintain your financial security every step of the way. Boo There it is…financial planning platitudes fried up in the skillet. Here is what it sounds like when the reader has taken your printed material and put it in their briefcase to read on the plane. Professional wealth manager…custom financial solutions… financial challenges…passionate….helping people …sound decision…expertise…implementation…management…customized portfolio… diversification….mission…wealth…financial security. Flight attendant, would you please take this and throw it out. Now, here is what they sound like when they are HEARD. This equates to the healthy brain, the whole fresh egg. I’m a professional wealth manager who provides custom financial solutions for your unique financial challenges and goals. My entire firm is passionate about helping people like you make smart financial decisions. We help people make sound decisions to enjoy a full life. My expertise is in the development, implementation and ongoing management of a customized portfolio builder and diversification strategy created just for you. Personally, my mission is to help you build wealth and successfully maintain your financial security every step of the way. Cheers Academy award nominations for that performance would be much appreciated. I hope you can see…rather hear that the human voice, your voice is the key. Your voice showing what I call the three Es: emotion, emphasis and empathy. These are the key and critical differences. Even today, in this world where people are obsessed with digital communications, email, and texting - people are hungry for the communication and connection of the human voice…your voice. Here is what I propose and I guarantee it will help your bank claim market share and grow revenues. You create a podcast channel with your brand – ABC Bank Podcast show – once or twice per month with one or more representatives of your company…from your CEO down to your product technical specialists would be interviewed and recorded. We talk about your industry; your market space; the needs, issues and challenges your customers face. And what your industry does to help them deal with those needs, issues and challenges; and why and how you are so much better and different than anyone else. We can even interview your customer prospects. Trust me on this, it’s a great way to build a relationship with a prospect. You are put in a position where you get to truly LISTEN to them and show empathy for them. An opportunity to understand their outlook on life, family, business world. It’s a great way to build a relationship with existing customers and more importantly with prospective customers. But the real hidden benefit…and it truly is the secret sauce…the algorithm…the black box….that I am going to share with you and you alone in this podcast. I call it tactical ecosystem marketing. In short it works like this…you include in your podcast program interviews with anyone and everyone who exists in  your banking ecosystem. Picture your bank and your customers as a big coral reef. And you have all these creatures, eels, sharks, groupers, all swimming around the reef. Let’s say your ecosystem is banking services for individual lending, business lending, personal wealth management and trust services, private client; portfolio management for institutional accounts and of course traditional depository banking. That’s a big reef. Some of you might not have trust and wealth management by example. Regardless, there are many, many influencers who exist in this ecosystem. You have accountants, lawyers, pension consultants, board member of pension plans, other business owners, all of whom have desires to get their brand and name exposed to your entire ecosystem. Your goal is to keep building a big-league ecosystem. The traditional way of building this ecosystem is to exchange business cards and hope like heck the other members will think of you when an opportunity comes up. And then you periodically follow-up with them to make sure they continue to think of you. A better way is to include them all in your bank podcast program. Interview them. Record it. They will want to send out the link to the podcast to all their clients, this gets your name out there in front of all their clients. They benefit. You benefit. You create value and you capture revenues. Big banks and brokers can’t do this, because they can’t possibly let their local branches create their own messages in any media, but certainly not audio podcast channel. And financial advisors don’t have the diverse products lines… depository, credit, insurance and wealth management to offer. They talk about a few of these product lines. Banks have many products and services to talk about…I’m going to list a handful so you can get an idea on what I’m talking about… Here’s some podcasts related to your bank’s culture and market position: History, Mission and Purpose of Your Bank Community Involvement in Your Bank The Importance of Community Banks in the Community Here’s some Podcasts related to Wealth Management: Why do I need a wealth manager when I can use the Internet? Is there a difference in fees between banks, brokers and financial advisors? Are brokers fiduciaries? Are bank fiduciaries? Do I need a fiduciary? What is a fiduciary? Podcasts related to Lending: Five issues that kill a business loan Which is more important for a bank loan: Revenue, Profits or Assets? Accounting records: Will and audit help me get a business loan? And how about some podcasts related to trust accounts: Can a broker serve as a trustee for my kids’ trust accounts? If a bank fails are my stocks, bonds and mutual funds guaranteed? Do I need a trust account? These are just a handful of topics. We could go into financial instruments…explaining what mutual funds are..or portfolio risk…portfolio management…the topics are unlimited. The goal is to get your target audience whether it be current customers or prospective customers, listening to your messages. Sun Tzu said, to beat your enemy you must Avoid his strengths and attack his weaknesses. The weakness of big banks and brokers is all marketing and branding and promotion comes out of their centralized corporate office. Imagine a top ten bank allowing its 500 branches creating their own podcast channel…it just ain’t gonna happen. But a community and regional bank can easily do this. So, don’t listen to me…listen to Sun Tzu, ”Avoid the strengths of your competitors and attack their weaknesses.” There are a couple additional benefits to a more human connection you get with audio it allows executives to multi-task while listening like driving, exercise, watching a sports event on TV. Now, you might ask, if the human voice is so important why don’t I just call them on the phone. Answer: Because you are interrupting them when you call them. And it’s not repeatable and shareable. With a recorded audio podcast, you give your audience the opportunity to hear from you at their time and place of choice in a non-intrusive way. And many of the business development people like trust officers, wealth management execs and credit officers at banks aren’t real keen on cold-calling…like brokers in a bullpen. But sending links to podcasts and following up on that…well that is a much different story. Memorializing your story in an audio podcast is so much more effective than sending them a printed document. By the way we transcribe all our podcasts. So you get both the printed and audio media. But this enables you to tell your story once with the energy and passion it deserves, and then have it shared between husband and wife and even kids to help them get more educated on your bank or among board members or officers for commercial business. Millennials connect with this. Since they hate talking on the phone and dread stepping foot in your bank, so we are told. Well, that’s my story, and I’m sticking with it. I encourage all of you to give serious consideration of this. It will generate new customers and new revenues…guaranteed. I know banks don’t have a lot of discretionary funds. So, I am all about coming up with a program that you can afford. The investment in this program can range from zero, for banks holding bank owned life insurance asset or if you don’t have that asset, a one-time fee to generate one or two podcasts for the year or a monthly fee to generate one or more podcasts each month. The average fees are about $3,000/month for a monthly program. Give me a call at 612-232-6640 or send me an email at Kellycoughlin@bankbosun.com Thank you for listening. We want to thank you for listening to the syndicated audio program, BankBosun.com The audio content is produced by Kelly Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of BankBosun, LLC;  and syndicated by Seth Greene, Market Domination LLC, with the help of Kevin Boyle. Video content is produced by The Guildmaster Studio, Keenan Bobson Boyle. The voice introduction is me, Karim Kronfli. The program is hosted by Kelly Coughlin. If you like this program, please tell us. If you don’t, please tell us how we can improve it. Now, some disclaimers. Kelly is licensed with the Minnesota State Board of Accountancy as a Certified Public Accountant. The views expressed here are solely those of Kelly Coughlin and his guests in their private capacity and do not in any other way represent the views of any other agent, principal, employer, employee, vendor or supplier

The hawks and crows made an agreement that they would split everything obtained in the forest. One day, they saw a wounded fox lying helpless under a tree. The crows said, “We will take the upper half.” And the hawks said, “We will take the lower half.” The fox laughed and said to the hawks, "I always thought the hawks were superior to crows and as such they should get the tastier upper half." "Oh yes, that’s right," said the hawks. "No, not at all," said the crows. Then a war arose between the two parties and many were killed. The fox continued there for some days leisurely feeding on the dead crows and hawks and observed, “The weak benefit from the quarrels of the strong.” Kelly Coughlin is a CPA and CEO of BankBosun, a management consulting firm helping bank C Level Officers navigate risk and discover reward. He is the host of the syndicated audio podcast, BankBosun.com. Kelly brings over 25 years of experience with companies like PWC, Lloyds Bank, and Merrill Lynch. On the podcast Kelly interviews key executives in the banking ecosystem to provide bank C suite officers, risk management, technology, and investment ideas and solutions to help them navigate risks and discover rewards. And now your host, Kelly Coughlin. Hey this is Kelly Coughlin. I’m the CEO of BankBosun. Selling products and services to banks is a challenge. Frankly selling products to anybody is a challenge. And the more features, benefits and complexities you have to offer… the harder it is. Why? Mind share and attention. The only time you can get mind share and attention from a decision maker is at conferences or an office visit, your website and of course the phone and written communication. That’s it. We all know how awkward and challenging it is to search for target prospects at conferences by squinting at the name tags during the social hours. And then looking away when its not a desired target as if they were not worthy of your attention. And then you have the phone. Good luck getting that done. Do you leave a message or not. If you do, you can’t call back for at least 4 or 5 days or you are pestering…and executive secretaries are quite skilled at blocking you. Face to face office visits are ideal…but time consuming, and expensive and those are also tough to get done. You need to advance the prospect a bit down the sales cycle so you are not wasting your time and their time on a prospect who cannot or will not buy from you. The other approach is to write articles or reports. I have certainly done my share of that. But sadly, you will not get a bank executive and decision maker to read a paper longer than three minutes…that’s it. Here is what your beautifully written report sounds like in the mind of the banker when he reads it: “My company has been in this industry for over 20 years. We offer superior products and services that meet the needs of our bank customers. We are a strong, innovative, and highly successful company and our employees love to take good care of our customers. And we are so excited to help you compete, succeed and win.” That’s what your written report sounds like. So what can you do? Audio. The human voice. Your voice is the key. Audio allows you to show your passion and energy for your company, products and services. Even today, in this world where people are obsessed with digital communications, email, and texting - people are hungry for the communication and connection of the human voice…your voice. Here is what your report sounds like if you communicate it by audio: My company has been in this industry for over 20 years. We offer superior products and services that meet the needs of our bank customers. We are a strong, innovative, and highly successful company and our employees love to take good care of our customers. And we are excited to help you compete, succeed and win. Now, I’m no Robert De Niro…although people say I did used to look like Mel Gibson, in his early years. I wonder if they meant Mel Gibson when he played William Wallace in BraveHeart though…Regardless, hopefully the audio version sounded a little human than the robotic simulated written version. In addition to a more human connection audio allows executives to multi-task while listening like driving, exercise, watching a sports event on TV. Now, you might ask, if the human voice is so important why don’t I just call them on the phone. Answer: Because you are interrupting them when you call them. And it’s not repeatable and shareable. With a recorded audio podcast, you give your audience the opportunity to hear from you at their time and place of choice in a non-intrusive way. I propose that one or more representatives of your company…from your CEO down to your product technical specialists be interviewed and recorded. Interviewed by me. Where we talk about your industry; your market space; the needs, issues and challenges your customers face. And what your industry does to help them deal with those needs, issues and challenges and why and how you are so much better and different than anyone else. They need to HEAR that you know this and that you CARE about them. In short, they need to know why do you exist and why should they care that you exist. This is big picture stuff. Oh and by the way, everyone in your organization should know this. If you are selling paper clips and post its, maybe this is not as critical. But if you are selling products and services that require buy-in from multiple departments and people including the board, and if there are fairly significant vendor management quality controls and approvals in place, which you certainly have with banks and Dodd Frank regulation, then this big picture stuff is absolutely necessary. Memorializing your story - the picture - in an audio podcast is so much more effective than sending them a printed document. You will most like want to supplement it with that. By the way we transcribe all our podcasts. But this enables you to tell your story once with the energy and passion it deserves, and then have it told 100 times within the organization through the sharing of the content. It also ensures that your message is told consistently throughout your enterprise. It’s a great way to get your mission, features and benefits in front of your market…and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than multiple office visits. So send me an email to Kellycoughlin@bankbosun.com  Remember here is what that email sounds like when I get it: “Hi Kelly, I would love to increase revenues this year in a cost-effective way. My board and boss are killing me for revenue growth…I could really use some help.” Or Give me a call at 612-232-6640 to talk…and here is what that sounds like: “Hey Kelly, I would love to increase revenues this year in a cost-effective way. My board and boss are killing me for revenue growth…I could really use some help.” Thanks for listening and one final word…FREEDOM!!... that was Mel Gibson in Braveheart. We want to thank you for listening to the syndicated audio program, BankBosun.com The audio content is produced by Kelly Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of BankBosun, LLC;  and syndicated by Seth Greene, Market Domination LLC, with the help of Kevin Boyle. Video content is produced by The Guildmaster Studio, Keenan Bobson Boyle. The voice introduction is me, Karim Kronfli. The program is hosted by Kelly Coughlin. If you like this program, please tell us. If you don’t, please tell us how we can improve it. Now, some disclaimers. Kelly is licensed with the Minnesota State Board of Accountancy as a Certified Public Accountant. The views expressed here are solely those of Kelly Coughlin and his guests in their private capacity and do not in any other way represent the views of Equias Alliance nor any other agent, principal, employer, employee, vendor or supplier of Kelly Coughlin, BankBosun or Equias Alliance.

How To Start A Successful Blog Today The blogging space is full of what I call “Noise.” This just means there are a lot of blogs out there, and very few are valuable. I’m not trying to be harsh it’s just the truth. If you want your blog to be successful, you are going to have to work extremely hard and have patience. If you have GREAT content and a consistent posting schedule you will be fine. There are a few things you can do the “right way” when you are starting your blog that will help you get a head start on your competition. Below is a list of things that you can do as a new blogger, that will get you on the right path. 1. A Domain Name That Looks Professional If you haven’t started your blog yet, I highly suggest you get a domain and hosting package from a web hosting service such as Bluehost. It is simple to build your blog with their built-in one-click WordPress install tool. In as little as 5 minutes you can have a FREE professional looking domain name and a hosting service.  You don’t want you URL to look like this — www.yourblog.weebly.com You WANT it to look like this — www.yourblog.com Free services such as WordPress native blogs and the Blogger platforms are great, BUT they have their branding in your domain name. If you are serious about building your brand with a blog, you must have a specific domain name. If you want a successful blog, this is important. 2. Update Your Permalink Structure When you are creating a new blog post the permalink is the URL that your blog creates after you publish. It will be set as something ugly that looks like this: http://www.onlinebusinessrealm.com/*&$=786 Not what you want to be shown when people go to your specific posts. Before writing your first blog post go to the Settings tab in your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to the Permalink section. Under Settings —> Permalinks change the structure to be “Post Name”. 3. Change The Favicon For Your Website A favicon is a 16X16 icon that shows up next to your URL in the browser, and it also shows up next to the tabs or when you create a bookmark for the site. If you choose not to upload a favicon, it will show up as blank or some ugly little globe object from WordPress. Yes, this is just a small thing, BUT it all adds up, and it will make a difference in making your site stand out. To update your favicon, you will nee a 16 X 16 pixel icon (formatted as favicon.ico). If you are a WordPress user, most of your templates will have a section to upload the favicon directly from the appearance tab. Go to favicon.cc to create a favicon that will work on any platform. 4. Don’t Go Crazy With Plugins and Widgets One of the best things about WordPress is how easy and fun it is to customize your site using plugins and widgets. I would recommend you do some research on which plugins would best suit the needs of your site before installing any. Here are a few listed below that I recommend for all blogs/website. WordPress SEO by Yoast — A fantastic SEO plugin that helps you optimize each post for search. BackupBuddy — The most user-friendly site backup plugin for WordPress that can back your site up automatically. W3 Total Cache — The speed of your site is IMPORTANT, and this plugin will optimize your site to run as fast as it can. WPForms — WPForms is the most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress. OptinMonster — A simple to use lead generation plugin. (Free). OptinSkin— A more in-depth lead generation plugin. (Premium). Disqus — A WordPress commenting system. Disqus Looks much better than the native WordPress systems. Floating Social Bar — The best social media sharing plugin for WordPress. It is, of course, subjective to what are the best plugins for the job, but this is a great list to get you started. Just make sure you have a backup plugin, cache plugin, and some type of SEO plugin. 5. Format Your Blog Posts  One thing I see newer bloggers do is to create posts with great content, BUT they are no fun to read. Make sure you are breaking your content up appropriately with headings and pictures. Your posts should include headings, subheadings, bold keywords, italics, lists, white space, pictures, diagrams, charts, infographics, and links. It will take some practice, BUT if you can learn how to construct an eye-catching blog post, you will be ahead of most people already. 6. Be Original The last thing I’m going to touch on is just being “you”. Originality is key in the online blogging space, and you need to find what makes you different. Yes, there will be other blogs out there about the same thing you want to write about. Question: Why is your blog any different? The Answer: Because of YOU. You are what makes your blog different; it’s your perspective on the topic, your creativity, the value that you add. Here are some other tips to get you started: Be Honest — Your blog needs to be real – it needs to FEEL real if you want people to read it. You don’t have to be a professional writer, just come at each post as if you were speaking with the individual who is reading it. Transparency — Always be honest, and be transparent when it adds value to what you’re writing. Let your audience in your world when it could bring them value. Time — After you have started your blog, you’ll learn that blogging takes a log of time. Once you have your design set up, don’t tweak it too much; spend the time on your writing. Social Media — In the beginning, the only person reading your blog will most likely be your mom. I recommend using Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram, among other social networks that fit your niche. BUT don’t get so caught up in this that you have no time to write good content. There has to be balance. Ignore Negative Criticism and Trolls — This may come as a shock to you BUT there are going to be people out there that do not like what you are creating, and they are going to be mean to you. This sounds juvenile, but it’s so true. You have to learn to keep your head down and focus on the people who are positive about what you are doing. Pay the trolls no mind; your site is not for them. Delete their comment and move on. In closing just Be Interesting. Write awesome content. Especially if you want people to share it with others.

PREGUNTA: Por que decidieron Mark y Tom irse de Inglaterra y vivir fuera? RESPUESTA: Porque el Reino Unido se esta convirtiendo en un "estado ninera"! Escucha esta conversacion en ingles y descubre a que se refieren con "estado ninera". La conversacion incluye una charla sobre la sanidad en el Reino Unido y Espana, las regulaciones del tabaco en el Reino Unido y Espana y por que los espanoles viven durante mas anos que los ingleses!En ingles:QUESTION: Why did Tom & Mark leave England to live abroad? ANSWER: Because the UK is becoming a "Nanny State"! Listen to this English conversation and find out what they mean by "Nanny State". The conversation includes a discussion about healthcare in the UK and Spain, the smoking laws in the UK & Spain, and why the Spanish live longer than the British!