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Steve DeWitt The Joy of Opposition - Part B Study Guide for Spiritual Exiles, Nehemiah 4:1-23 Scripture Reference: Nehemiah 4:1-23 Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter Donate to Support The Journey Sermon Transcript for Spiritual Exiles, Nehemiah 4:1-23 Sermon Series: Spiritual ExilesMessage: The Joy of OppositionAirdate: 9/18-9/21/26Programs: 2360 and 2361Morning, Bethel Church, and this is our challenging weekend with Daylight Savings. I said, or I just was thinking about our first service people today, that those are the really early risers to show up at the 815 on the spring ahead weekend of Daylight Savings. You're sort of more the hoi polloi, the sort of the normal folks, and we'll see who comes to the next service. I stand before you as a tired man. My daughter was up throughout most of the night, and I'm running on fumes today. So I say that to you in some way to mitigate my guilt for something stupid that I might say, because my eyes are like rolling in my head, I feel like today. So we'll get through the morning and go home and take a really good nap. And you parents who've been there, you know how I'm feeling today. I do want to greet our Cedar Lake campus this morning, and thank you so much for joining with us. Our Hobart Portage campus, which is not in this service with us, but are next week celebrating their... grand opening. I can say our grand opening. We're just one church. Really excited about that.So if you happen to just remember that in prayer, we've got a lot of work that's gone into kind of kicking that off, and I've seen the plans, and it's really going to be a great weekend next weekend over there. And how often do you, you know, grand open a new campus? You know, like, well, we've done it twice in the last six months, but we don't know how many more ever in the future, so we want to celebrate that, and we're going to next week. Today, we're going to stay in the stream of our teaching in 1 Peter without being exactly in 1 Peter. We've seen in 1 Peter this focus on trials. That trials are meant by God to reveal and to refine us. We look at them often as being bad things. God looks at them as being good things because of the effect that they have. And 1 Peter is written to people that are in exile, that are experiencing opposition.They're experiencing... ostracization, and Peter encourages them to see even those things as being part of God's refining fire, that work that he works in us, and to embrace them, not as being bad things, but in the end ultimately good things. So today I want to take a little break from 1 Peter and to look at one particular kind of trial that we so often run into as individuals and as a church. And that is just the trials of opposition, the trials of opposition. And my title is The Joy of Opposition, which sounds oxymoronic, right? Who looks at opposition and goes, yay, we don't naturally do that. There is from Scripture and from the teaching of Scripture every reason for us to even look at opposition as being something that we can rejoice in. James, of course, says, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials and temptations”, and that includes the trials of opposition. We all face opposition, don't we? Maybe as I say that, names come to mind. Perhaps that person is sitting next to you today. and try not to be poking them throughout the sermon, especially if you're married.But we all face opposition, and we have to know how to respond to it if we're ever going to make it through these trials that God brings our way and these people that God puts in our path. How should we respond to opposition? And Nehemiah is just a fantastic... book and a fantastic story about a man who suffered great opposition and who not only endured it, but who goes down in history as a great example of somebody going through it in a way that honors the Lord. And so... is that Nehemiah hears that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and remained in that condition. He was serving King Artaxerxes in Susa, the capital of Persia, and he hears that Jerusalem is still in ruins, the wall is still in ruins, and he has a burden for that. He offers a prayer, and God blesses that prayer, and King Artaxerxes says, Nehemiah, you can go, and I'm going to... the thing. I'm going to provide what you need for this thing. I'm given a letter that ought to get you all the way there. And he was the most powerful man in the world at the time. And so that was like a huge endorsement.And so Nehemiah, he goes to Jerusalem and he inspects the walls and he gathers the Jews and he says, listen, my friends, let's rise and let us rebuild this wall. And Nehemiah is this amazing story of how a people that, you know, they weren't naturally masons and builders, but they come together and they accomplish this amazing feat of rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And in the midst of all of this success, there is chapter 4 where there is trouble. There's trouble. Even in the midst of a great success, there's trouble. And it seems to me, my observation would be, and even my own experience, that whenever God is really doing something, whether that be in somebody's life, a new Christian, or maybe some victories that you've had spiritually in your life, or maybe it's your small group, or even a church or a mission work, wherever God is really moving, so often when there is a lot of momentum, something will happen or somebody will come or there'll be some sort of criticism that steps into that moment and can so easily derail the entire thing. And that's what Nehemiah faced.And I'd like to begin in our little study here of chapter four by looking at the strategies that the opponents of Nehemiah employed against him. So let me introduce you to the bad guys, okay? These are the bad guys. And their names are notorious, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. These were three kings of small kingdoms that surrounded Jerusalem. And they represent the opposition to the Jews rebuilding this. wall. We're introduced to them in chapter 2 verse 10 where they first hear that Nehemiah has come to rebuild the wall and the text tells us that they are displeased greatly. And they begin then to wage a kind of psychological war against Nehemiah. That continues throughout the story. Even after chapter 4, it's not the end of it, because as the story unfolds, they write an open letter, you know, a kind of assassination of Nehemiah's character. They post it on Facebook for everybody to see what this guy was really all about and what his motives were and questioning those. Later, they want to meet him in the fields of Ono. And when your enemies want to meet you in the fields of Ono, you say to them, Oh, no, I am not going to go there.They wanted to kill him. And so these guys were serious about this. And Sanballat is the ringleader. Tobiah is kind of... his sidekick, and Geshem was the schemer behind the scenes that was doing his scheming. This might help a little bit. Sanballat was the Sith Lord, Tobiah was Darth Vader, and Geshem was General Grievous, just to give some communication to some of you. Now, these guys surrounded Jerusalem. Their kingdoms surrounded Jerusalem. Maybe you're in a situation like that right now as I talk about opposition. You feel like you've got it on all sides. I got nowhere to go. There's no safe zone for me. There's no green zone for me. Everywhere I look, it seems like I've got opposition against me. That's what Nehemiah was facing. Everybody around them wanted them out of there. Now, these men couldn't attack Nehemiah directly because, remember, Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, the king of really the world at that time, had endorsed the project. So to come out overtly and to say, we're going to take you on, we're going to take you down, would have been in opposition to Artaxerxes. And even these guys didn't want to mess with Artaxerxes.So their strategy really is one more of cloak and dagger. All right, this is espionage. This is insinuation. It's the psychological guerrilla warfare that they employ against God's people in the rebuilding of this wall. So what are the strategies that they employ? Well, notice, first of all, that they begin where every schoolyard begins, and that is with taunting and with ridicule. Look at verse 1. “Now, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, He was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that? Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, yes, what they're building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.” Emphasis added for effect, okay? So here you have Sanballat now. He's the ringleader. He's the spokesperson. He's the Sith Lord. And he begins by ridiculing the effort that these Jews are doing in rebuilding the wall.And the text literally says this. It says that he became very angry. Literally, his nose became hot. This is a Hebrew idiom for when somebody is really mad. It's like the blood. They get red in the face all the way to the end of their nose. Like if you see a guy who's red all the way to the end of their nose, he's mad, right? And that's Sanballat. He's mad to the end of his nose, mad. And so he begins by taunting them. And visualize this with me. He gathers his cronies, he gathers the army of Samaria, and he begins to jeer the Jews in a way that he knows they're going to hear what he is saying, and he begins to mock them. And this sounds like, you know, the local elementary schoolyard, or maybe an IU-Purdue football game, because he begins by saying this. He says, these feeble Jews. Okay, what's that? Name-calling, right? They're wimpy. They've got nothing. He derides their ambition. Will they restore the wall? In other words, this project's a joke. Come on. Putting this whole thing together. He ridicules their optimism. He says, what are they going to do? Pray the wall up? They can't build this wall.All they have is their prayers. He mocks their enthusiasm. He says, well, they finish in a day. Word had gotten out that they were busy little beavers working so hard on the wall. All of their enthusiasm. Do they really think they can do this thing? I mean, come on. He undermines their confidence. Can they bring the stones back to life? In other words, they can't do it. They can't. Do it. And if you can visualize this, here's all these people, and they hate the Jews. They're not for this wall going back up. And every one of these that he says, all the guys, you know, they've been drinking. Think of a sort of a drunken sort of mob scene where they're all, wow, no Jews, and they can't do it. And so it kind of is building a Sanballat, kind of does this and does that. And I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where somebody tells a really good joke and somebody else thinks it's a great time to pile on. Or jump on the bandwagon. There's not a lot of humor in the Bible, but this is one of them, actually.Sanballat very effectively rolls out these ridicules, and there's Tobiah. He thinks it's a great time to jump in, and he goes, yeah, if a fox ran on the wall, it would fall down. I hear everyone going, oh, Tobiah, that's so stupid. Why would you say something like that? And we know from history and archaeology that it is stupid. They've done studies of the wall that Nehemiah built. It was nine feet thick. That would be a big fox. Knock that wall down. The point here is that he wasn't saying this for the armies, and he wasn't saying this for his cronies. He was saying this hoping the Jews would hear it, hoping they'd hear the mockery and the laughter. You know, the old adage in the schoolyard is, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. You've heard that before. You've probably said that. And the fact that you have to resort on the schoolyard to poetry ought to say that words are effective at discouraging us, aren't they? And even as adults, a little contrary word, a little criticism, a little taunt, a little mockery, and inside we can suddenly become so fleshly, we can be discouraged.And that is always the case. Words are effective. Now, why do you suppose Sanballat began with ridicule? Why not just march the armies out there and just take them all on? Because what is Satan? He's known as the father of what? Lies. Satan is the master of the subtlety. He's the master of the insinuation. We see that with Adam and Eve, or with Eve specifically in the garden, as he just twists the words and he plays with the mind. Those that Satan controls and follow his path, they do the same thing. Satan knows that he doesn't have to get a good Christian to deny the virgin birth or the fact that Jesus is coming back. All he has to do is discourage him a little bit. And with that discouragement, the good work that God's doing in them or the good work that God's doing through them, all of a sudden, it can come to a halt. Why? I'm so discouraged. And maybe you're there right now. You're rejoicing in what God's done in the past, but right now you're discouraged and somebody said something. Something's going on.This person's in my life. I got a Sanballat. I got a Tobiah. And you're just thinking, oh, that's the way the enemy operates. How should we respond? Notice how Nehemiah responds in verse 4 and verse 6. I won't read them, but in both cases, he prays. Now, I never saw anybody in the schoolyard do that. I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray over these words that you've said. It's not our natural response, is it? have an example here from Nehemiah, I'll come back to this later, in how to respond to criticism and opposition. Go to God in prayer. And notice what he adds after verse 6. He says that the response of the people was that they worked even harder. And the text says they worked because they had a heart to work. I love that little phrase there. And as I read that, you know what I think about? I honestly think about Bethel Church.One of the qualities of this church that I love so much is that this is a church that has a heart to work. And I've seen that over the years. I can think of just even recent examples of moments where it just comes pouring out. A year ago right now, we said, hey, we bought this building in Gary. We got a clean 30 or 40,000 square feet. Y'all come out now. And I know a terrible cold, I mean, I-65 was a sheet of ice. I know because I drove down it. You know, we had 400 people, volunteers that showed up and we scrubbed every inch of that building. And I saw the way that people were working and laboring and sweating and all of that. No pay for God, you know, that kind of a thing. And I just admire that so much. And like the, you know, a month ago we said, hey. somebody's given us two gym floors, come pull planks. Nobody wakes up in the morning and goes, I think I'm going to pull planks today.But we had all these people that showed up and they pulled planks all day and they got blisters and sore backs, but they did it to the glory of God. Why? Because they had a heart to work. And I just think about our church and even the day-to-day kind of week-to-week ministries, I think it's a wonderful quality of our congregation. We're good at building walls. and projects, and just having a heart to work for the Lord, and I commend you for it. So look at that verse and go, that's us right there. We're just like them. Encouraged? I want to be encouraging. The second thing that we find the enemy doing is, and you see how these escalate, okay? Escalates. Ridicule doesn't work, the people just work harder. So they amp it up now in verse 7 and 8, and they just seek to make trouble. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. Now before they were greatly disturbed, greatly upset, now they are really mad. And what do they do?And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. The second thing that opposition will do when the ridicule doesn't work is they will just seek to do mischief. They will seek to do something that can frustrate the plans. They'll plot. They'll come together and strategize against the work of God. They will gossip. They will slander. They'll do whatever they can to create trouble. It's a kind of verbal terrorism that takes place. And of course, again, God's enemies do this because their Sith Lord Again, notice Nehemiah's response in verse 9. But we prayed and we posted a guard. That little verse I find to be one of the most helpful and insightful with a common problem amongst God's people. When opposition comes or trouble comes or some conflict comes, whatever it might be, there are really, it seems, two kinds of Christians. There are the kinds of Christians who say, we're just going to pray about it. We are going to pray about it. And indeed, they do pray about it. And then you have another group of people. They say, you know what? We're going to post a guard, right? We're weaponizing. We're getting the guns out.They want to do battle. Bring it on, okay? We are going to take practical steps. to take them out. They're more of the sort of practitioner type. So you have the kind of praying types, and you have the kind of post-a-guard types. And what I've seen pastorally, this plays out this way, where you have some people say they're just going to pray about it. I have seen in my ministry, I've seen people, they'll get like, I have cancer. And their response is, I am simply going to pray about this. And I have urged them, I'll say, pray about it, but why not get some medical help and do whatever you can medically as well as praying in order to take care of this problem? And I've seen people who have refused to seek medical advice because in their minds, I think, they think it's more faithful to simply... pray about it. At the other side of this, I have seen often, and I have done this myself, a problem arises and I skip the praying and I go to the posting of the guard stuff. Well, let's just think about how to make this happen.And we're going to do this and we're going to do that and we're going to take care of this and we're going to take care of that. And there's no regard for seeking God. It's like Israel when the Gibeonites faked him out and Joshua said, eh, we won't go to war with you. And then they find out they're the next country over. Why? Because they did not seek the Lord in the matter. And so it seems like there are those two kinds of Christians. And Nehemiah shows the beautiful balance of embracing both of those. What ought we do when we come to some trouble or trial in our life? First thing to do is to pray about it. And we see Nehemiah over and over again. He prays. His instinct is prayer. And for us as Christians, that ought to be our first thing. Hey, let's pray about that right now. Let's seek the Lord about this right now. But when we say amen, it doesn't mean now I don't have to think about anything else. There are all kinds of wisdom and prudent matters that the Bible also talks about.Read through the wisdom literature of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and it's filled with practical advice for faithful living in the real world. We live in a real world where real things have to be taken care of. And the wise Christian and the wise church We'll do both of those. So maybe ask yourself, am I a I'm going to pray about it and then sort of take my hands off kind of person? Or am I a forget about praying about it, get right down to fixing it kind of person? And maybe Nehemiah could inspire us to be both of those. Okay, both of those. An example of both of those would be a dear woman in our church a few weeks ago had a very, very difficult surgery. According to James 5, she asked if the elders would pray over her, and we did. We anointed her with oil, we prayed over her, we prayed over that surgery. And then she went and she had the best medical care that she could possibly find. And to me, that is Nehemiah. Praying about it, posting a guard. A great example, I think, for prudent and prayerful living.The third thing we find happened now, again, an escalation, okay? Taunting, troublemaking, and now we see threats. Look at verse 11. “Also, our enemy said, before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and we'll kill them and put an end to the work.” Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, wherever you turn, they will attack us. Wherever you turn, they will attack us. Wherever you turn, they will attack us. Over. The language here in the Hebrew means over and over and over again. They were saying, they're going to get you. They're going to get you. They're going to kill you. Now, how fun would that be? Right? There you are. You're building a wall. You're hewing out stones. You're piling them up. You're making a wall. And at the same time, you've got some of your own people, cronies of your enemies, who are saying to you, you're going to die. Now, these people realize they didn't know they were Bible characters. Right? They're not in there, oh, this is a Bible story. We're going to be fine. They have no idea. They're living life like you and I live our lives.Would that be an effective, fearful tactic? I mean, what if, as you came in, there's all these people outside of the church going, you walk in there, they're going to kill you. How many of us would go, oh, no problem? No, it would have its effect, wouldn't it? And indeed, it did in that day. It had an effect of discouragement. Word gets out, they're going to kill us. In fact, let's look at that effect. What is the effect of the taunting? And what is the effect of the ridicule? And what is the effect of the troublemaking and the threats? of opposition in this story at this point is discouragement. Look at verse 10 of chapter 4. “In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” What Nehemiah is recording there is what is the word on the street. What were people saying as they were building the wall? They're looking at all the rubble now and they're saying there's so much rubble. This is weeks after, or days after, Nehemiah said, let's rise and build.Was there more rubble now than there was before? No. But when we are discouraged, everywhere we look, there's rubble, right? Oh, yeah. I'm a little discouraged right now. My whole life stinks. There's rubble everywhere. When we're encouraged, there's no rubble. When we're discouraged, everything's rubble. Are you with me? Remember, I didn't have a good night of sleep, so I have no idea what I'm saying right now. I just hope it's connecting somehow. These words were having their effect in spite of the amazing progress that was being made. This goes down as one of the greatest and most unified team efforts that God's people have ever done. And in spite of this amazing accomplishment, and in the midst of it, You have all of this turmoil and opposition and drama and people actually saying, we're never going to make it. We can't do it. There's too much rubble and too much trouble. The danger, I think, in verbal attacks is we begin to believe what's being said, even when it's not true, right?Do you think, how likely is it that Geshem and Tobiah and Sanballat are going to take their armies against people that the most powerful man in the world said had permission to build this wall? Not very likely that they would do it. But if you hear something enough, you believe it to be true, don't you? If somebody tells you that you're nothing enough or somebody tells you that you can't do it enough or somebody tells you that, you know, your faith is a bunch of hooey because I know the kind of person that you are enough, you begin to believe it and discouragement kind of creeps in and now the progress that you were making, it slows down or stops, right? And you're like, oh, there's so much rubble. Why are we even trying this? We're never going to make it. I wonder if you've lived. In verse 10, have you had your face flush as your nose gotten red all the way to the tip as a colleague or a family member or a neighbor or a former friend or a former spouse tells you what a terrible person you are and questions every character quality in your life?Have you been, in verse 10, discouraged? As a pastor, you know, as a leader of any kind, if you take on any responsibility, expect that you're going to deal with this. I can tell you, I've been a pastor for 22 years. I can think of names that come to my mind of Sanballats of Tobias and Geshams over the years that have said this or that and questioned this or that and on and on and la la la. It's just, it's part of what it means to be a leader. But I know well that sense of discouragement, that deep down thought that I'm a failure or my faith isn't real because this person says they don't think I'm a good Christian, etc. I don't want to ruin the ending here again, but they rebuilt the wall in 52 days. They're halfway done. They're only like three weeks away from the time that Nehemiah said, let's begin rebuilding the wall. This is one of the greatest projects and team efforts in history, yet it was criticized. It was mocked. And this is the danger, I think, of criticism is that it can sap the energy from the most spiritual and noble of efforts.These people were rebuilding the wall to the glory of God. They heard from Nehemiah earlier all the things that Artaxerxes, all the things really that God had done. I mean, what are the chances that the most powerful man in the world is going to come to the aid of the Jews in rebuilding the wall of a city that had rebelled against his predecessor? Why would a king do that? And yet that king came to Nehemiah and the Jews' aid and provided the resources and gave the letter and made all the provisions. I mean, you look at all of that and what can you say? This is a God thing, right? This is a God thing. And yet, in spite of it being a God thing, a little bit of criticism just takes the wind out of the sails. This was tough for Nehemiah. opposition outside, discouragement within. Maybe you're in verse 10 right now, and you can relate to this. It's like, man, you're describing my life here, where I am today on this Sunday. I'm discouraged.And here's where Nehemiah, I think, provides an inspiring and helpful example of how to respond when life brings opposition. to what God is doing and what God wants to do in our life. And I've got four things, four responses that Nehemiah has here and four ways that we can actually experience these oppositions and turn them into actually a kind of joy. And I share these with you not because I do this perfectly or even 75%. This is as much for me as it is for anybody. And we have to be reminded of this because it happens so often in our life. But how do we respond when opposition comes to us? First of all, I think it is so critical that we expect it, that we expect opposition to come. There are some people that think mistakenly that to be a Christian or to be a part of a church, I mean, it's like... where it never is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. I mean, that's every local church, isn't it? To go there would be just a blissful experience of happy Christians all the time.I'll never have anybody tell me anything but something that's uplifting and encouraging to me. Nothing will ever happen in the church that I don't walk out of there going, I'm so glad I'm a part of that church. I mean, it's just gonna be, it's like heaven on earth. Well, nobody amen'd that. And that's because you all have been in churches and in this church. The reality is, no matter what God is doing, there is always going to be negative opposition, criticism, a discouraging person, a Sanballat, a Tobias, somebody like that. J. Oswald Sanders, great Christian man, wrote a classic book on leadership, said this, “no leader is exempt from criticism, and his humility will nowhere be seen more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts it and reacts to it.” Do you think that Nehemiah thought to himself as he was on his camel or donkey or walking or however he got from Susa to Jerusalem, you know what, I'm just going to show up there. I'm going to give an inspiring speech. And not only are the Jews going to rally to the cause, but everybody around Jerusalem, they're all going to be happy about this. It's going to be fantastic.My speech will do it. No. He knew what was coming. He knew there would be trouble. Chuck Swindoll, many of you know Chuck Swindoll, says this, “there will always, always be opposition from those who are by nature negative and critical, but the work must go on. Progress should not stop because of a few who were critical of the plan.” I think it's a falsely idealistic perspective on the Christian life to think that it's going to somehow be easy. that I'm going to skate along and everyone's going to be happy with what God is doing in my life. It won't happen. And we can look at examples in the scripture, not just Nehemiah, but Jeremiah certainly faced that. Paul faced that. Well, how about Jesus? I mean, if there was ever a leader who was such an awesome leader that, I mean, everybody would have loved everything that he did and just rallied to him. I mean, everybody would just applaud him and be like, you know, be like Palm Sunday every day of his life, right? No. What happened to our perfect leader, Jesus?Not only were there many people that opposed him, famous now, men like Caiaphas and Pilate and the Pharisees, but even within his own circle. Judas betraying him. The greatest leader who's ever walked this earth, beginning the greatest organization that has ever been begun, the church, faced trouble, didn't he? And opposition. So who are we to think that in our... smaller context and in our own lives that we are going to be able to follow the Lord, fulfill his will for us, and somehow think everybody's going to love it and everybody's going to applaud it. It simply won't happen. In fact, I think if there is a key truth here, it is this one, is that God's will didn't allow the wall to be built without opposition. I mean, could God have rebuilt this wall without Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem? You bet he could have. Could he have rebuilt this wall in some way where everybody thought it was great? You bet that he could have. But it was God's will that there be a Sanballat. It's God's will that there was Tobiah and all the rest. God included that in the plan for Nehemiah and the plan for the rebuilding of the walls.It included the conflict. It included the slander. It included the threats that were made. And I wonder today if you might have a Sanballat in your life. Even as I've been talking about this, there's been somebody coming to mind. And in your heart, you're like, you know, God, if you love me, you will destroy them, right? Because you're not the author of evil, and you don't like evil people, and yet this evil person is in my life. And it seems to me that... this whole thing to work the way that, in my opinion, it ought to work, that person needs to be eliminated. And we try to pray the Sanballats out of our life because we think something's wrong, that they are in our life. And too often we think that with even criticism, right? We think, I must be out of God's will because somebody said something negative. Mrs. So-and-so said something. And so we look at and we listen to so-and-so who says such-and-such about this or that, and we think, well, I must not be a good Christian, or maybe this faith thing isn't true, or maybe I'm out of the will of God.Joe Stowell III, his dad was the first pastor of our church, and he was longtime president of Moody Bible Institute, once said, “in every church I have pastored, God has placed difficult people around me to keep me dependent on him.” Now, I have no idea what he's talking about there in my own personal experience. But there is truth there, isn't it? That opposition is not out of God's will, but it is a part of God's will. And that indeed, God gains greater victory when his people trust him in the midst of trouble and overcome in spite of opposition. that there's a greater glory that comes from that why do you think God created Satan? Did God know when He made him the highest archangel? Did He know the whole story? Indeed, did He purpose the whole story, that Satan was going to rebel against Him and take a third of the demons, or the angels, with him, and that all of this would ensue? Why? Why does God do that? As Luther said, even the devil is God's devil, right?That God uses The taunts and the ridicule and the criticism and all the rest to gain a greater victory and a greater glory. God thought it best that there be a Satan. And we have to look at these kind of situations and realize that apparently God thinks it's best that there's a Sanballat in our life. Now that's a hard thing, isn't it? Because we want them out of there. But God has them and sovereignly places them. in our life. Now, if I might make a very quick tangent here, you may be here and in an honest evaluation, you're not Nehemiah in the story. You're Sanballat. And maybe you're like, you know what? This vindicates my role in this church. Somebody's got to do it. And that somebody is me. We have to realize that while it is God's will for there to be Sanballats, it is never God's will for us to be a Sanballat. And I would call you to change. In fact, you could ask the question, why was Sanballat so upset about this? And this is where conflict reveals the opportunity. of our hearts, doesn't it? Was it about the wall for Sanballat? No, it wasn't about the wall.It was about influence. It was about economy and money. It was about power. And Nehemiah and that wall being reconstituted represented a threat to Sanballat. And that's why he wanted them out. So don't be a Tobiah. Don't be a Geshem. Don't be a Sanballat. We need to expect there to be opposition. And maybe next week, one of you will come up to me and say, I didn't think that sermon was very relevant, but boy, the week I had. And I'll say, good. I don't know if I should say it that way, but hey, you're applying God's word. That's a good thing. Second thing we see here is that Nehemiah provides this wonderful example of prayer, of prayer. Look at verse 4. Look at the first thing that Nehemiah does. It says, Nehemiah prays this, “Hear, O God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.” Now that doesn't sound like a very loving prayer.And if you read through the Psalms, there are Psalms that are known as imprecatory Psalms where David writes psalms that sound sort of like that, you know, where he is praying God's justice and wrath down upon his enemies. I'm not into the content of the prayer as much as I am in the fact that he prayed. And we see that pattern. Verses 6 through 8, there's troublemaking and scheming. What is Nehemiah's response? Verse 9, but we prayed to our God. When we face opposition, that has been sovereignly brought into our life by God, why would prayer be an effective strategy? Because if this person or this opposition is in my life by the sovereign hand of God, when I pray, I'm talking to the right person about the issue. I'm talking to the person who has the power to mediate the situation and to mitigate it and to take it away if he wants or to do whatever, but I'm praying to the right person. I'm praying to God. I wonder, the Sanballat in your life that I referred to earlier, have you prayed about this person? Have you prayed about this situation? Have you gone to the Lord in prayer?The example of Nehemiah throughout the whole story is that trouble comes, trouble comes, trouble comes. Nehemiah's response, he prays, he prays, he prays, he prays. It's a book on prayer. And that prayer in response to trouble. And we don't, I think, naturally do that. Naturally, we want to post the guard, right? We want to man up. We want to soldier up. We want to go take care of business. We want to take care of this person. We want to fight back. We want to sort of Mike Tyson in his prime. But Nehemiah begins with prayer. I would call you to pray. You say, ah, it's just Nehemiah. What did Jesus do? What did Jesus do the week of his passion when he knew what was coming? You say, well, he knew it was coming. Why pray about it, right? I mean, if you know it's coming, you can ask God all you want, but it's coming anyway, so what's the point? And yet he prayed. He prayed in Gethsemane. He prayed even on the cross. His last words were prayers.And if that doesn't eloquently show us the importance of prayer, especially when we are in trouble, and we have people in our church who are in trouble. Life has brought trouble. Life has brought pain. And prayer sometimes is like, oh yeah, we prayed. No, this is a key part of how Christians respond to trouble. We go to God. We open our hearts to him. We ask for his help. We pray about the Sanballat. We pray that that good work that God wants, may that refining work be done. I want to be that goal that is purified. I don't want to waste this trial. I don't want to waste my cancer. I don't want to waste this. unemployment. I don't want to waste this conflict with a fellow Christian. I want it to have its good effect and to embrace that and to tell God that. I wonder, do you do that, friend? One thing I've noticed when I've been dealing with a kind of Sanballat situation, you know, my natural instinct is to pray that God would take them out, right?But I find that when I pray for that person, especially if they're a fellow believer, When I pray for that person, I find a little impulse of charity towards them. Have you noticed this? It's hard to pray for somebody and hate them at the same time. I find that when I pray for that person, it's a little step towards the command to love your enemies and to do good to those who despitefully use you, Romans 12. Give that a try. You're like, I don't want to pray for this person. Try it. Pray that God's will would be done in their life. Pray that even their taunts and their ridicule and their criticism, whatever 1% gain that your spiritual life could have from it, say, God, I want that 1% gain. What they're saying is evil and their motives, I believe, to be bad. But whatever good can come from it in my life, I want that. And I find that when I get my heart around to praying that way, it has a way of restoring some encouragement. And when you're discouraged, what do you need? You need encouragement. Pray. Keep praying. The third thing is to prepare for it.And I've said this before, but notice that even in this chapter, Nehemiah, he doesn't simply pray, but he takes actions to meet the opposition. Back to the text again a second, verse 9. But we prayed and posted a guard. In verse 13, it says that Nehemiah armed the workers so they could respond to an attack. Now, there might have been someone going, you're not a man of faith. Why are you giving us swords? And he's like, I prayed and I'm giving you swords. In verses 16 through 18, he had workers work with a chisel in one hand and a sword in the other. Does that mean he wasn't a man of faith? He brought a trumpeter with him. And the idea was that if there was attack anywhere on the wall, they would blow the trumpet and everyone would rush to that place in order to engage the fight. He had people work in the low spots in the wall in verses 12 through 15. Now, why do you think Nehemiah would have people working in the low spots? Where do you think an attack would most likely happen? In the high spots or in the low spots?It seems to me it'd be the low spots, and that's what Nehemiah thought as well. And he had people in verse 22. He said, everyone stays in the city until the wall is done. What do we see there? Practical wisdom, okay? He got prepared for the opposition. I think we ought to expect it. We ought to pray for those who oppose it. Oppose us, but we also must be prudent and wise in responding to it. And the fourth thing here, and this is really, I would say, the most helpful, is that after we've prayed about it, after we have prepared for it, we've expected it, we know it's coming, here's the final point. Look at verses 19 and 20, what Nehemiah says. “I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, the work is great and widely spread and we are separated on the wall for far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.” Here's the key phrase. “Our God will fight for us.” Nehemiah was a practical man. Nehemiah was a prayerful man.But Nehemiah was also a man who understood that in the end, the battle is the Lord's. And that bottom line for us has to be our bottom line, because all of our praying and all of our prudency, and I don't know if that's a word, but all of our, you know, sort of strategizing, in the end will feel superficial to us if our anchor and if our sort of our bottom line is not the God who has made promises to us. that he will fight for us, that he will come to our aid. And of course, as Christians, what do we know? We know the end of the story, don't we? You can read Revelation. At the end of the story, there is no opposition, there is no authority, there is no power that stands against the king of kings and lord of lords who comes riding out in that white horse. And he is going to return, and every enemy, Satan, included is going to go under his feet and in the end, Philippians 2, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.We know the end of this story is that God wins, and because we are God's children, we win with Him. And our walls may build or not, our troubles may come or go, our critics may say or not, but in the end, we know that with the Lord, we win. Our God will fight for us, and faith is the victory that overcomes the world. But we are living now in this time where we have to We have the tension between what we know to be true by the promise of God and the realization of that. And the Bible says that in this world, you're going to have trouble, right? You are going to have trouble. New Christian, it is going to be hard. Do not be discouraged by the trouble that comes and the critics that come and the opposition that comes. You're going to have people that are going to say things to you. You might even have people in this church that are going to discourage you in some manner. But we cannot have our hope in the people of this church or in the critic changing his mind or coming around and saying, you know what, I was mistaken.You really are a wonderful person. Can I hug you? It's not likely to happen. Our hope is in the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” Psalm 121. And as God's people, when we face these temporary trials, which are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all, we look at that trial and we look even at that person, that Sanballat, and we see them as temporary in light of the big picture. And “though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.” Martin Luther. A mighty fortress is our God. And on and on. I mean, there's songs and verses. This is where real life is lived. It's in the trenches and in the troubles. And this is how God refines us. And when I can see that this is how God does it, then I can even embrace the tough times and to see that there is good that comes from it. You say, oh, that's not true. Let's look to the cross of Christ. I've got one behind me.If there is one great example of how God uses the taunts, the ridicule, the betrayals, the enemies of God and all of their schemings to do an ultimate good, it is the cross of Christ, the perfect person, the perfect leader, the perfect sacrifice, killed at the hands of Satan and all his minions, and yet the greatest wrong producing the greatest good and glory. And our lives are little microcosms of that grand narrative. And you might not have a Caiaphas, you might not have a Pilate, it may not even be a, it's not the Sith Lord you're dealing with, it's General Grievous, or some lesser situation. But all of them are a part of a temporary trouble, but an ultimate victory. I heard somebody one time say, You know, for unbelievers, this life is the best that they'll ever experience. But for Christians, this is the worst that we will ever experience. The future is bright. The future is glorious. And we live in light of that in the troubles and the trials of today. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That wasn't in the Bible when Nehemiah lived, but I think it might be today his favorite verse.And he lived it out very well. And I hope that we will as well as a church. And those are just some words from a tired pastor. I don't know if they connected at all. And when I get up from my nap, I'll wonder what I said this morning. But maybe God will use them, and I hope that he does. Let's stand together. I'd like to pray and give a final benediction.This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.

In this episode, Pipeman sits down with Lee Jennings of The Funeral Portrait at Louder Than Life Festival. The discussion is full of humor, festival stories, rock n' roll insights, and personal reflections on music, style, and the artist's journey. Lee Jennings gives an inside look at the band's upcoming record, the creative process, and the importance of authenticity and community in music.Main Topics CoveredFestival vibes and backstage stories from Louder Than LifeHair color choices and music style as self-expressionSurviving festival weather and near-misses with lightning and rainLee Jennings's writing process for The Funeral Portrait's new recordThe evolution of an artist and creative growthThe grind and realities of being in the music industry todayFavorite festival performances (Danny Elfman, My Chemical Romance, Black Veil Brides)Reflections on legendary artists and their impact on the sceneThe significance of community and being a positive force in the music worldKey Discussions & StoriesHair Colors & CarsPipeman shares stories about matching hair color to his vehicles, including buying a blue Lexus to match his blue hair and considering green to match his lime green Jeep 00:54.Lee Jennings dishes on going green for festival season and the upkeep involved in dyed hair 01:42.Festival Survival & DramaThe interview recounts the sweltering heat and a dangerous storm at Louder Than Life, almost causing cancellations for headliners like Pierce the Veil and My Chemical Romance 02:25.Lee Jennings talks about being a fan in the crowd (GA) to catch My Chemical Romance and shares the joy of watching with family 03:15.Creative Process & New MusicLee Jennings discusses The Funeral Portrait's new record, describing it as a “rock opera” and a complete body of work created with a big-picture vision, unlike previous rushes 04:19.Emphasis on artistic evolution: learning, growing, and changing with every album 05:16.Thoughts on finding a voice and “now it's time for us to run” as a band 05:31.Realities of the Music IndustryPassion for music as both work and a hobby 05:47.Honest takes on the shrinking profits in modern music, compared to stories of legacy artists 06:14.The 20-year “overnight success” journey and hustle 06:47.Community, Kindness, and Staying RealLee Jennings and Pipeman advocate for being a good human first; “no room for assholes at my table” 07:15.Legendary InspirationsSwapping stories about Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo, and iconic performances—Pipeman recalls seeing Oingo Boingo at his high school assembly and as an opener for The Police 07:37.Lee Jennings shares his love for Elfman's work, from Nightmare Before Christmas to solo records and movie scores 08:30.Shoutouts & Where to Find The Funeral PortraitLee Jennings: “We've got the most unique name ever—just type in The Funeral Portrait. If you see a guy with green hair, you know you're in the right place.” 09:50Promoting the community aspect—easy to spot and connect at festivals 10:02.Notable Quotes“It's basically like a rock opera. It's gonna be crazy.” – Lee Jennings 04:44“If you're not having fun in this business, then you shouldn't be in the right business.” – Pipeman 06:10“You should be a cool, fun human first. If you're not that, then I don't know, there's no room for you here at my table.” – Lee Jennings 07:15“It takes 20 years to become an overnight success.” – Pipeman 06:47“All you got to do is type in The Funeral Portrait. If you see a guy with green hair, you know you're in the right place.” – Lee Jennings 09:57Resources & Links MentionedThe Funeral Portrait: Easy to find on all platforms—just search “The Funeral Portrait”Artists/Performers Referenced:My Chemical RomancePierce the VeilDanny ElfmanOingo BoingoBlack Veil BridesThe PoliceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support.Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

In this episode of The Adventures of Pipeman on W4CY Radio, Pipeman sits down with Kurt Vanderhoof and Ken Mary of Metal Church at the Louder Than Life festival. The conversation dives into Metal Church's long-standing creative drive, the evolution of heavy metal, artist experiences on the festival circuit, and the power of staying true to classic metal roots. Listener favorites like musician-run coffee, festival life, and the camaraderie of the metal community are also featured.Main Topics CoveredThe enduring creativity and songwriting process of Metal ChurchEvolution of American and European metal festivalsArtist treatment at Danny Wimmer festivalsThe subgenre segmentation in metal and its impact on the U.S. scenePersonal stories from the road and memorable showsMetal Church's new album, "Dead to Rights"Side ventures, including the musician-run Ellefson Emporium coffee brandThe importance of authenticity and unity within the metal communityKey Discussions & StoriesSurviving and Thriving at Metal FestivalsMetal Church's history with European and U.S. festivals, comparing the weather extremes: "either it's super hot or it's raining" 01:02.The unique, localized vibes of each major festival and being at Louder Than Life with a new album launch 01:38.Staying Creative After DecadesKurt Vanderhoof's process: Finding flow in songwriting, gratitude for being able to continue after all these years, and the challenge of staying fresh while remaining authentic 02:21.On musical focus: “I don't really care about much else other than music...” 02:43.Festival Organization & Artist ExperienceKen Mary's praise of Danny Wimmer's festival organization and artist treatment, from great catering and security to efficient tech staff 04:18.The ease of load-in, sound checks, and on-stage preparation noted for their impact on performance mood 05:06.Supporting Artists' Side ProjectsThe festival allows artists to bring unique ventures, like Ellefson's coffee brand—parallels with bands like Tool and artisanal wine 05:22.Coffee as a new community ritual for sober musicians and fans: “coffee became the new bro down” 06:10.Classic Heavy Metal and SubgenresKurt Vanderhoof on Metal Church's sound: classic heavy metal, not chasing subgenres or trends 06:59.Unity over fragmentation: Nostalgia for pre-subgenre times when a metalhead was simply a metalhead 07:54.Ken Mary on subgenres' negative impact in the U.S.: “We've segmented... There's just too many different genres. It should just be... heavy metal” 08:42.Reflections on Legacy, Musicianship, and FunDiscussion about age, longevity in music, and having fun performing—“it's pretty darn funny when you got a bunch of senior citizens up there playing heavy metal” 11:25.Emphasis on multi-generational inclusivity and mentorship in the scene, with shoutouts to Iron Maiden as heroes and influences 10:53.Metal Church's New Album and Moving ForwardKen Mary encourages listeners to check out "Dead to Rights," calling it “ferocious,” and unusual for him to praise an album he played on 12:10.Pipeman reflects the sentiment of growth, saying Metal Church may be better now than ever 12:35.Notable Quotes“Once I get started, if I get in album writing mode… it just goes. I don't know why or how, but I've been very, very lucky in that respect.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 02:21“He's musician friendly, and I love that about him.” — On festival organizer Danny Wimmer 05:51“We are just classic heavy metal… for lack of a better term.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 07:12“It should just be… heavy metal.” — Ken Mary 09:12“It's pretty darn funny when you got a bunch of senior citizens up there playing heavy metal.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 11:28“If you haven't checked it out, Metal Church, Dead to Rights, check it out.” — Ken Mary 12:31Resources & Links MentionedMetal Church - Dead to Rights (Album): Available wherever music is sold or streamed 12:10Ellefson Emporium (Coffee Brand): Various blends curated with a celebrity chef, order and details at the official website 06:00Louder Than Life Festival: Highlighted as a leading U.S. metal festival, organized by Danny Wimmer PresentsChicago Open Air: Another notable U.S. festival mentioned in the context of artist engagement 05:22European Festivals: Wacken, Czech Republic, Germany—praised for their legacy and diversity 01:23Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support.Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

Legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde sits down with Pipeman at Louder Than Life to discuss his multi-faceted career, his philosophy on music and life, honoring Pantera, the magic of musical creation, and the importance of doing what you love. Packed with wit, wisdom, and humor, this episode dives deep into Zakk's journey through music, family, community, and the roots of rock and metal.Main Topics CoveredZakk Wylde's current projects: Pantera Celebration, Zakk Sabbath, Black Label SocietyPhilosophy of doing what you love and life motivationThe experience of honoring Pantera and the community it createsGenerational connection through metal musicMagic in the creative process of making musicInfluences, stories from the road, and the humor of life as a touring artistKey Discussions & StoriesZakk Wylde's Musical Workload & MotivationDiscussion of Zakk's tireless schedule and multiple simultaneous bands (01:05)Zakk quips about keeping his family happy and enjoying the journey (01:26)Emphasis on loving all aspects of the musician's life, from recording to touring (02:28)Doing What You LoveBoth speakers advocate for living a fulfilling life and changing paths if something brings no joy (03:35)Reflections on reaching 60 years of age and prioritizing peace and happiness (04:06)The Pantera Celebration & Musical CommunityZakk shares the honor felt stepping into Pantera, recounting Rob Halford's perspective and the spirit of filling a fallen friend's shoes (05:40)The sense of legacy, including fans young and old coming together around Pantera's music (07:03)Generational Bonds in MetalDiscussion of how metal and rock have become family events, connecting multiple generations through concerts (07:39)Personal stories about raising children in the music scene and sharing festival experiencesThe Creative ProcessInsights into the magic of songwriting: developing an idea from a simple riff into a full-fledged song (11:19)Comparisons to artists like Salvador Dalí in the process of creation (12:15)Road Stories & HumorLots of comedy and memorable stories from years of touring (13:38)Advice to younger bands about the wealth of experiences that touring brings, even in just a few weeksPersonal Influences & ReflectionsEarly passion for sports before fully committing to music at 14 (09:14)Admiration for guitar influences like Randy Rhoads and the legacy of greats before him (10:40)Lighthearted MomentsZakk's humorous take on pre-show routines, including shaving his legs and preparing fishnets (14:19)Banter about cooking chicken piccata and bandmate habits (15:02)Notable Quotes“Just do what you love.”“If anything in life is turning into a chore…then what are you doing it for? Write your own book, make your own movie.”“It's an honor for me and Charlie every night to be up there [with Pantera].”“The whole secret to life, kids: do what you love.”“From the germ of an idea…to this living, breathing thing. That's magic.”Resources & Links MentionedBands & Projects:Pantera CelebrationBlack Label SocietyZakk SabbathFestivals:Louder Than LifeAftershockOzzy Osbourne (discussed as a major influence)Rob Halford / Judas Priest (special mention regarding Pantera tribute)Dario Lorina (bandmate known for his chicken piccata with capers)Radio Station:W4CY (Listen at: w4cy.com)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-adventures-of-pipeman--941822/support.Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

Jaguars CB Jarrian Jones and OL Robert Hainsey speak to the media on Monday of Week 3 of the 2026 season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde sits down with Pipeman at Louder Than Life to discuss his multi-faceted career, his philosophy on music and life, honoring Pantera, the magic of musical creation, and the importance of doing what you love. Packed with wit, wisdom, and humor, this episode dives deep into Zakk's journey through music, family, community, and the roots of rock and metal.Main Topics CoveredZakk Wylde's current projects: Pantera Celebration, Zakk Sabbath, Black Label SocietyPhilosophy of doing what you love and life motivationThe experience of honoring Pantera and the community it createsGenerational connection through metal musicMagic in the creative process of making musicInfluences, stories from the road, and the humor of life as a touring artistKey Discussions & StoriesZakk Wylde's Musical Workload & MotivationDiscussion of Zakk's tireless schedule and multiple simultaneous bands (01:05)Zakk quips about keeping his family happy and enjoying the journey (01:26)Emphasis on loving all aspects of the musician's life, from recording to touring (02:28)Doing What You LoveBoth speakers advocate for living a fulfilling life and changing paths if something brings no joy (03:35)Reflections on reaching 60 years of age and prioritizing peace and happiness (04:06)The Pantera Celebration & Musical CommunityZakk shares the honor felt stepping into Pantera, recounting Rob Halford's perspective and the spirit of filling a fallen friend's shoes (05:40)The sense of legacy, including fans young and old coming together around Pantera's music (07:03)Generational Bonds in MetalDiscussion of how metal and rock have become family events, connecting multiple generations through concerts (07:39)Personal stories about raising children in the music scene and sharing festival experiencesThe Creative ProcessInsights into the magic of songwriting: developing an idea from a simple riff into a full-fledged song (11:19)Comparisons to artists like Salvador Dalí in the process of creation (12:15)Road Stories & HumorLots of comedy and memorable stories from years of touring (13:38)Advice to younger bands about the wealth of experiences that touring brings, even in just a few weeksPersonal Influences & ReflectionsEarly passion for sports before fully committing to music at 14 (09:14)Admiration for guitar influences like Randy Rhoads and the legacy of greats before him (10:40)Lighthearted MomentsZakk's humorous take on pre-show routines, including shaving his legs and preparing fishnets (14:19)Banter about cooking chicken piccata and bandmate habits (15:02)Notable Quotes“Just do what you love.”“If anything in life is turning into a chore…then what are you doing it for? Write your own book, make your own movie.”“It's an honor for me and Charlie every night to be up there [with Pantera].”“The whole secret to life, kids: do what you love.”“From the germ of an idea…to this living, breathing thing. That's magic.”Resources & Links MentionedBands & Projects:Pantera CelebrationBlack Label SocietyZakk SabbathFestivals:Louder Than LifeAftershockOzzy Osbourne (discussed as a major influence)Rob Halford / Judas Priest (special mention regarding Pantera tribute)Dario Lorina (bandmate known for his chicken piccata with capers)Radio Station:W4CY (Listen at: w4cy.com)Pipeman in the Pit is a music, festival, and interview segment of The Adventures of Pipeman Radio Show (#pipemanradio) and from The King of All Festivals while on The Pipeman Radio Tour. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pipeman-in-the-pit--2287932/support.Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials &  Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

Outline: “Power Encounters” I. Opening and Introduction Welcome, blessing, and encouragement to the congregation. Emphasis on being part of a church family. Lighthearted interaction with the congregation. Encouragement to bring physical Bibles rather than relying solely on phones. Avoid distractions from texting and social media. Introduction of the sermon title: “Power Encounters.” II. What Is a Power Encounter? A power encounter is described as experiencing God's power in a real and tangible way. It moves beyond intellectual or philosophical arguments into an experience of God's authority. Biblical power encounters demonstrate Jesus Christ's authority over spiritual forces. The Book of Acts provides examples of God's power confronting darkness, wickedness, and demonic oppression. III. The Reality of Spiritual Battle The sermon identifies an ongoing conflict between: Light and darkness. Truth and deception. Good and evil. Holiness and sin. Christians are encouraged to recognize that spiritual opposition exists. Personal example: A church prayer gathering for the nation was met with opposition from an atheist organization. Main point: As the church moves forward, the preacher believes spiritual opposition will attempt to resist its progress. Christians should not respond with fear but with awareness and preparation. IV. Being Forewarned and Forearmed Reference to 2 Corinthians 2:11: Christians should not be ignorant of the enemy's devices. Warning signs are presented as preparation rather than reasons for fear. Ephesians 6:10: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” The believer's strength comes from: God. God's Word. God's presence. Spiritual battles cannot ultimately be fought through human strength. V. The Purpose and Message of Acts Acts records the beginning and expansion of the Christian church. The Gospel spreads: From Jerusalem. Throughout the Roman Empire. Ultimately toward the nations. Paul continues preaching even while imprisoned. The church's mission is to proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel offers: Forgiveness of sins. A new relationship with God. A transformed life. The Gospel continues despite opposition. VI. Dependence on the Holy Spirit The church's work depends completely on the Holy Spirit. God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. The disciples' transformation illustrates this: Before Pentecost: fear, self-doubt, shame, and hiding. After receiving the Holy Spirit: boldness, conviction, and courage. Central question: What made the difference? Answer: The power of the Holy Spirit. VII. Spiritual Power for Spiritual Battles Believers need spiritual power to: Serve God. Serve the church. Witness to Jesus. Face spiritual opposition. Psalm 144:1 is used to describe God training believers for spiritual battle. Spiritual strength and victory are developed through: Scripture. Prayer. Learning to operate spiritually. VIII. Fighting From a Place of Victory Christians are encouraged not to fight from a mindset of defeat. Instead, they should recognize the victory already accomplished through Christ. Illustration: the preacher's childhood baseball team His team was undefeated. Although he was not the strongest player, he had confidence because he knew astrong team was behind him. He pitched a one-hit game. Application: Confidence comes from knowing who is behind you. Christians can face spiritual battles because Christ has already won the victory. IX. Christ's Victory Over Spiritual Powers Colossians 2 is used to explain Christ's victory. Christ: Removed the record of sin. Nailed it to the cross. Disarmed principalities and powers. Triumphed over them. The cross appeared to be defeat but ultimately represented Christ's victory. Because Christ has victory, believers can fight from a position of victory rather than defeat. X. The Power of the Holy Spirit vs. Human Wisdom 1 Corinthians 2 is introduced. Paul emphasizes that his ministry did not depend on: Human wisdom. Persuasive speech. Intellectual ability. Instead, it depended upon: Demonstration of the Spirit. God's power. The goal is for faith to rest in God's power rather than human wisdom. XI. Personal Encounter With God The preacher encourages listeners to experience God personally. Personal experience is presented as something that cannot easily be argued away. The emphasis is not on: Emotionalism. Fanaticism. Sensationalism. Rather, the emphasis is on a genuine personal encounter with the living God. XII. Keep Moving Forward Believers are encouraged not to stop serving because of: Hurt. Offense. Betrayal. Disappointment. Discussion of “church hurt.” The church is made up of imperfect people. Jesus is the only perfect person. God works through imperfect people who can understand and sympathize with oneanother. Main exhortation: Keep serving. Keep coming. Keep giving. Keep helping. Keep blessing. Keep moving forward. Illustration: Things that stop moving eventually weaken, deteriorate, or become unusable. Spiritual growth likewise requires continued movement, even if it is only a small step. XIII. God's Presence and Manifestation God is described as omnipresent—present everywhere. However, the preacher distinguishes God's general presence from moments when God makes His presence especially evident. The early church experienced God in a powerful and tangible way. Christianity is presented as more than doctrinal statements: It is a living relationship with God. It involves experiencing His presence. XIV. Three Results of a Power Encounter 1. Reality God's presence and power make His reality tangible. 1 Corinthians 2: faith should rest in God's power. Luke 24:32: the disciples' hearts “burned” as Jesus opened the Scriptures. The preacher desires listeners to experience a similar spiritual awakening. Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Faith is presented as something to be personally experienced, not merely intellectually observed. Worship creates an atmosphere for people to seek God's presence. 2. Refreshment Spiritual encounters bring renewal and refreshing. Acts is referenced regarding “times of refreshing” from God's presence. Believers can become weary through: Spiritual battles. Job difficulties. Sickness. Discouragement. Old patterns of thinking. God's presence provides renewed strength. Key idea: New levels require new strength. 3. Restoration God restores the soul. The preacher connects restoration with bringing something back to its proper condition—and ultimately making it better. God can restore: Joy. Peace. Spiritual strength. What has been lost or stolen. Believers are encouraged to seek a fresh touch from God. XV. Closing Prayer and Invitation The congregation is asked to stand. The worship team returns. Prayer for: The Holy Spirit's presence. Hunger and thirst for God. Spiritual strength. Refreshment. Awareness of spiritual opposition. Congregants are invited to: Leave their seats. Pray. Kneel. Seek the Holy Spirit. Receive prayer from the ministry/prayer team. Final emphasis: “Lord, I need Your Holy Spirit.” “Lord, I need Your touch.” Central Message Believers should seek a personal encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit, recognize that Christ has already won the victory, and continue moving forward in faith, receiving God's strength, refreshment, and restoration.

Steve DeWitt The Joy of Opposition - Part A Study Guide for Spiritual Exiles, Nehemiah 4:1-23 Scripture Reference: Nehemiah 4:1-23 Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter Donate to Support The Journey Sermon Transcript for Spiritual Exiles, Nehemiah 4:1-23 Sermon Series: Spiritual ExilesMessage: The Joy of OppositionAirdate: 9/18-9/21/26Programs: 2360 and 2361Morning, Bethel Church, and this is our challenging weekend with Daylight Savings. I said, or I just was thinking about our first service people today, that those are the really early risers to show up at the 815 on the spring ahead weekend of Daylight Savings. You're sort of more the hoi polloi, the sort of the normal folks, and we'll see who comes to the next service. I stand before you as a tired man. My daughter was up throughout most of the night, and I'm running on fumes today. So I say that to you in some way to mitigate my guilt for something stupid that I might say, because my eyes are like rolling in my head, I feel like today. So we'll get through the morning and go home and take a really good nap. And you parents who've been there, you know how I'm feeling today. I do want to greet our Cedar Lake campus this morning, and thank you so much for joining with us. Our Hobart Portage campus, which is not in this service with us, but are next week celebrating their... grand opening. I can say our grand opening. We're just one church. Really excited about that.So if you happen to just remember that in prayer, we've got a lot of work that's gone into kind of kicking that off, and I've seen the plans, and it's really going to be a great weekend next weekend over there. And how often do you, you know, grand open a new campus? You know, like, well, we've done it twice in the last six months, but we don't know how many more ever in the future, so we want to celebrate that, and we're going to next week. Today, we're going to stay in the stream of our teaching in 1 Peter without being exactly in 1 Peter. We've seen in 1 Peter this focus on trials. That trials are meant by God to reveal and to refine us. We look at them often as being bad things. God looks at them as being good things because of the effect that they have. And 1 Peter is written to people that are in exile, that are experiencing opposition.They're experiencing... ostracization, and Peter encourages them to see even those things as being part of God's refining fire, that work that he works in us, and to embrace them, not as being bad things, but in the end ultimately good things. So today I want to take a little break from 1 Peter and to look at one particular kind of trial that we so often run into as individuals and as a church. And that is just the trials of opposition, the trials of opposition. And my title is The Joy of Opposition, which sounds oxymoronic, right? Who looks at opposition and goes, yay, we don't naturally do that. There is from Scripture and from the teaching of Scripture every reason for us to even look at opposition as being something that we can rejoice in. James, of course, says, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials and temptations”, and that includes the trials of opposition. We all face opposition, don't we? Maybe as I say that, names come to mind. Perhaps that person is sitting next to you today. and try not to be poking them throughout the sermon, especially if you're married.But we all face opposition, and we have to know how to respond to it if we're ever going to make it through these trials that God brings our way and these people that God puts in our path. How should we respond to opposition? And Nehemiah is just a fantastic... book and a fantastic story about a man who suffered great opposition and who not only endured it, but who goes down in history as a great example of somebody going through it in a way that honors the Lord. And so... is that Nehemiah hears that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and remained in that condition. He was serving King Artaxerxes in Susa, the capital of Persia, and he hears that Jerusalem is still in ruins, the wall is still in ruins, and he has a burden for that. He offers a prayer, and God blesses that prayer, and King Artaxerxes says, Nehemiah, you can go, and I'm going to... the thing. I'm going to provide what you need for this thing. I'm given a letter that ought to get you all the way there. And he was the most powerful man in the world at the time. And so that was like a huge endorsement.And so Nehemiah, he goes to Jerusalem and he inspects the walls and he gathers the Jews and he says, listen, my friends, let's rise and let us rebuild this wall. And Nehemiah is this amazing story of how a people that, you know, they weren't naturally masons and builders, but they come together and they accomplish this amazing feat of rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And in the midst of all of this success, there is chapter 4 where there is trouble. There's trouble. Even in the midst of a great success, there's trouble. And it seems to me, my observation would be, and even my own experience, that whenever God is really doing something, whether that be in somebody's life, a new Christian, or maybe some victories that you've had spiritually in your life, or maybe it's your small group, or even a church or a mission work, wherever God is really moving, so often when there is a lot of momentum, something will happen or somebody will come or there'll be some sort of criticism that steps into that moment and can so easily derail the entire thing. And that's what Nehemiah faced.And I'd like to begin in our little study here of chapter four by looking at the strategies that the opponents of Nehemiah employed against him. So let me introduce you to the bad guys, okay? These are the bad guys. And their names are notorious, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. These were three kings of small kingdoms that surrounded Jerusalem. And they represent the opposition to the Jews rebuilding this. wall. We're introduced to them in chapter 2 verse 10 where they first hear that Nehemiah has come to rebuild the wall and the text tells us that they are displeased greatly. And they begin then to wage a kind of psychological war against Nehemiah. That continues throughout the story. Even after chapter 4, it's not the end of it, because as the story unfolds, they write an open letter, you know, a kind of assassination of Nehemiah's character. They post it on Facebook for everybody to see what this guy was really all about and what his motives were and questioning those. Later, they want to meet him in the fields of Ono. And when your enemies want to meet you in the fields of Ono, you say to them, Oh, no, I am not going to go there.They wanted to kill him. And so these guys were serious about this. And Sanballat is the ringleader. Tobiah is kind of... his sidekick, and Geshem was the schemer behind the scenes that was doing his scheming. This might help a little bit. Sanballat was the Sith Lord, Tobiah was Darth Vader, and Geshem was General Grievous, just to give some communication to some of you. Now, these guys surrounded Jerusalem. Their kingdoms surrounded Jerusalem. Maybe you're in a situation like that right now as I talk about opposition. You feel like you've got it on all sides. I got nowhere to go. There's no safe zone for me. There's no green zone for me. Everywhere I look, it seems like I've got opposition against me. That's what Nehemiah was facing. Everybody around them wanted them out of there. Now, these men couldn't attack Nehemiah directly because, remember, Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, the king of really the world at that time, had endorsed the project. So to come out overtly and to say, we're going to take you on, we're going to take you down, would have been in opposition to Artaxerxes. And even these guys didn't want to mess with Artaxerxes.So their strategy really is one more of cloak and dagger. All right, this is espionage. This is insinuation. It's the psychological guerrilla warfare that they employ against God's people in the rebuilding of this wall. So what are the strategies that they employ? Well, notice, first of all, that they begin where every schoolyard begins, and that is with taunting and with ridicule. Look at verse 1. “Now, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, He was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that? Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, yes, what they're building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.” Emphasis added for effect, okay? So here you have Sanballat now. He's the ringleader. He's the spokesperson. He's the Sith Lord. And he begins by ridiculing the effort that these Jews are doing in rebuilding the wall.And the text literally says this. It says that he became very angry. Literally, his nose became hot. This is a Hebrew idiom for when somebody is really mad. It's like the blood. They get red in the face all the way to the end of their nose. Like if you see a guy who's red all the way to the end of their nose, he's mad, right? And that's Sanballat. He's mad to the end of his nose, mad. And so he begins by taunting them. And visualize this with me. He gathers his cronies, he gathers the army of Samaria, and he begins to jeer the Jews in a way that he knows they're going to hear what he is saying, and he begins to mock them. And this sounds like, you know, the local elementary schoolyard, or maybe an IU-Purdue football game, because he begins by saying this. He says, these feeble Jews. Okay, what's that? Name-calling, right? They're wimpy. They've got nothing. He derides their ambition. Will they restore the wall? In other words, this project's a joke. Come on. Putting this whole thing together. He ridicules their optimism. He says, what are they going to do? Pray the wall up? They can't build this wall.All they have is their prayers. He mocks their enthusiasm. He says, well, they finish in a day. Word had gotten out that they were busy little beavers working so hard on the wall. All of their enthusiasm. Do they really think they can do this thing? I mean, come on. He undermines their confidence. Can they bring the stones back to life? In other words, they can't do it. They can't. Do it. And if you can visualize this, here's all these people, and they hate the Jews. They're not for this wall going back up. And every one of these that he says, all the guys, you know, they've been drinking. Think of a sort of a drunken sort of mob scene where they're all, wow, no Jews, and they can't do it. And so it kind of is building a Sanballat, kind of does this and does that. And I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where somebody tells a really good joke and somebody else thinks it's a great time to pile on. Or jump on the bandwagon. There's not a lot of humor in the Bible, but this is one of them, actually.Sanballat very effectively rolls out these ridicules, and there's Tobiah. He thinks it's a great time to jump in, and he goes, yeah, if a fox ran on the wall, it would fall down. I hear everyone going, oh, Tobiah, that's so stupid. Why would you say something like that? And we know from history and archaeology that it is stupid. They've done studies of the wall that Nehemiah built. It was nine feet thick. That would be a big fox. Knock that wall down. The point here is that he wasn't saying this for the armies, and he wasn't saying this for his cronies. He was saying this hoping the Jews would hear it, hoping they'd hear the mockery and the laughter. You know, the old adage in the schoolyard is, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. You've heard that before. You've probably said that. And the fact that you have to resort on the schoolyard to poetry ought to say that words are effective at discouraging us, aren't they? And even as adults, a little contrary word, a little criticism, a little taunt, a little mockery, and inside we can suddenly become so fleshly, we can be discouraged.And that is always the case. Words are effective. Now, why do you suppose Sanballat began with ridicule? Why not just march the armies out there and just take them all on? Because what is Satan? He's known as the father of what? Lies. Satan is the master of the subtlety. He's the master of the insinuation. We see that with Adam and Eve, or with Eve specifically in the garden, as he just twists the words and he plays with the mind. Those that Satan controls and follow his path, they do the same thing. Satan knows that he doesn't have to get a good Christian to deny the virgin birth or the fact that Jesus is coming back. All he has to do is discourage him a little bit. And with that discouragement, the good work that God's doing in them or the good work that God's doing through them, all of a sudden, it can come to a halt. Why? I'm so discouraged. And maybe you're there right now. You're rejoicing in what God's done in the past, but right now you're discouraged and somebody said something. Something's going on.This person's in my life. I got a Sanballat. I got a Tobiah. And you're just thinking, oh, that's the way the enemy operates. How should we respond? Notice how Nehemiah responds in verse 4 and verse 6. I won't read them, but in both cases, he prays. Now, I never saw anybody in the schoolyard do that. I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray over these words that you've said. It's not our natural response, is it? have an example here from Nehemiah, I'll come back to this later, in how to respond to criticism and opposition. Go to God in prayer. And notice what he adds after verse 6. He says that the response of the people was that they worked even harder. And the text says they worked because they had a heart to work. I love that little phrase there. And as I read that, you know what I think about? I honestly think about Bethel Church.One of the qualities of this church that I love so much is that this is a church that has a heart to work. And I've seen that over the years. I can think of just even recent examples of moments where it just comes pouring out. A year ago right now, we said, hey, we bought this building in Gary. We got a clean 30 or 40,000 square feet. Y'all come out now. And I know a terrible cold, I mean, I-65 was a sheet of ice. I know because I drove down it. You know, we had 400 people, volunteers that showed up and we scrubbed every inch of that building. And I saw the way that people were working and laboring and sweating and all of that. No pay for God, you know, that kind of a thing. And I just admire that so much. And like the, you know, a month ago we said, hey. somebody's given us two gym floors, come pull planks. Nobody wakes up in the morning and goes, I think I'm going to pull planks today.But we had all these people that showed up and they pulled planks all day and they got blisters and sore backs, but they did it to the glory of God. Why? Because they had a heart to work. And I just think about our church and even the day-to-day kind of week-to-week ministries, I think it's a wonderful quality of our congregation. We're good at building walls. and projects, and just having a heart to work for the Lord, and I commend you for it. So look at that verse and go, that's us right there. We're just like them. Encouraged? I want to be encouraging. The second thing that we find the enemy doing is, and you see how these escalate, okay? Escalates. Ridicule doesn't work, the people just work harder. So they amp it up now in verse 7 and 8, and they just seek to make trouble. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. Now before they were greatly disturbed, greatly upset, now they are really mad. And what do they do?And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. The second thing that opposition will do when the ridicule doesn't work is they will just seek to do mischief. They will seek to do something that can frustrate the plans. They'll plot. They'll come together and strategize against the work of God. They will gossip. They will slander. They'll do whatever they can to create trouble. It's a kind of verbal terrorism that takes place. And of course, again, God's enemies do this because their Sith Lord Again, notice Nehemiah's response in verse 9. But we prayed and we posted a guard. That little verse I find to be one of the most helpful and insightful with a common problem amongst God's people. When opposition comes or trouble comes or some conflict comes, whatever it might be, there are really, it seems, two kinds of Christians. There are the kinds of Christians who say, we're just going to pray about it. We are going to pray about it. And indeed, they do pray about it. And then you have another group of people. They say, you know what? We're going to post a guard, right? We're weaponizing. We're getting the guns out.They want to do battle. Bring it on, okay? We are going to take practical steps. to take them out. They're more of the sort of practitioner type. So you have the kind of praying types, and you have the kind of post-a-guard types. And what I've seen pastorally, this plays out this way, where you have some people say they're just going to pray about it. I have seen in my ministry, I've seen people, they'll get like, I have cancer. And their response is, I am simply going to pray about this. And I have urged them, I'll say, pray about it, but why not get some medical help and do whatever you can medically as well as praying in order to take care of this problem? And I've seen people who have refused to seek medical advice because in their minds, I think, they think it's more faithful to simply... pray about it. At the other side of this, I have seen often, and I have done this myself, a problem arises and I skip the praying and I go to the posting of the guard stuff. Well, let's just think about how to make this happen.And we're going to do this and we're going to do that and we're going to take care of this and we're going to take care of that. And there's no regard for seeking God. It's like Israel when the Gibeonites faked him out and Joshua said, eh, we won't go to war with you. And then they find out they're the next country over. Why? Because they did not seek the Lord in the matter. And so it seems like there are those two kinds of Christians. And Nehemiah shows the beautiful balance of embracing both of those. What ought we do when we come to some trouble or trial in our life? First thing to do is to pray about it. And we see Nehemiah over and over again. He prays. His instinct is prayer. And for us as Christians, that ought to be our first thing. Hey, let's pray about that right now. Let's seek the Lord about this right now. But when we say amen, it doesn't mean now I don't have to think about anything else. There are all kinds of wisdom and prudent matters that the Bible also talks about.Read through the wisdom literature of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and it's filled with practical advice for faithful living in the real world. We live in a real world where real things have to be taken care of. And the wise Christian and the wise church We'll do both of those. So maybe ask yourself, am I a I'm going to pray about it and then sort of take my hands off kind of person? Or am I a forget about praying about it, get right down to fixing it kind of person? And maybe Nehemiah could inspire us to be both of those. Okay, both of those. An example of both of those would be a dear woman in our church a few weeks ago had a very, very difficult surgery. According to James 5, she asked if the elders would pray over her, and we did. We anointed her with oil, we prayed over her, we prayed over that surgery. And then she went and she had the best medical care that she could possibly find. And to me, that is Nehemiah. Praying about it, posting a guard. A great example, I think, for prudent and prayerful living.The third thing we find happened now, again, an escalation, okay? Taunting, troublemaking, and now we see threats. Look at verse 11. “Also, our enemy said, before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and we'll kill them and put an end to the work.” Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, wherever you turn, they will attack us. Wherever you turn, they will attack us. Wherever you turn, they will attack us. Over. The language here in the Hebrew means over and over and over again. They were saying, they're going to get you. They're going to get you. They're going to kill you. Now, how fun would that be? Right? There you are. You're building a wall. You're hewing out stones. You're piling them up. You're making a wall. And at the same time, you've got some of your own people, cronies of your enemies, who are saying to you, you're going to die. Now, these people realize they didn't know they were Bible characters. Right? They're not in there, oh, this is a Bible story. We're going to be fine. They have no idea. They're living life like you and I live our lives.Would that be an effective, fearful tactic? I mean, what if, as you came in, there's all these people outside of the church going, you walk in there, they're going to kill you. How many of us would go, oh, no problem? No, it would have its effect, wouldn't it? And indeed, it did in that day. It had an effect of discouragement. Word gets out, they're going to kill us. In fact, let's look at that effect. What is the effect of the taunting? And what is the effect of the ridicule? And what is the effect of the troublemaking and the threats? of opposition in this story at this point is discouragement. Look at verse 10 of chapter 4. “In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” What Nehemiah is recording there is what is the word on the street. What were people saying as they were building the wall? They're looking at all the rubble now and they're saying there's so much rubble. This is weeks after, or days after, Nehemiah said, let's rise and build.Was there more rubble now than there was before? No. But when we are discouraged, everywhere we look, there's rubble, right? Oh, yeah. I'm a little discouraged right now. My whole life stinks. There's rubble everywhere. When we're encouraged, there's no rubble. When we're discouraged, everything's rubble. Are you with me? Remember, I didn't have a good night of sleep, so I have no idea what I'm saying right now. I just hope it's connecting somehow. These words were having their effect in spite of the amazing progress that was being made. This goes down as one of the greatest and most unified team efforts that God's people have ever done. And in spite of this amazing accomplishment, and in the midst of it, You have all of this turmoil and opposition and drama and people actually saying, we're never going to make it. We can't do it. There's too much rubble and too much trouble. The danger, I think, in verbal attacks is we begin to believe what's being said, even when it's not true, right?Do you think, how likely is it that Geshem and Tobiah and Sanballat are going to take their armies against people that the most powerful man in the world said had permission to build this wall? Not very likely that they would do it. But if you hear something enough, you believe it to be true, don't you? If somebody tells you that you're nothing enough or somebody tells you that you can't do it enough or somebody tells you that, you know, your faith is a bunch of hooey because I know the kind of person that you are enough, you begin to believe it and discouragement kind of creeps in and now the progress that you were making, it slows down or stops, right? And you're like, oh, there's so much rubble. Why are we even trying this? We're never going to make it. I wonder if you've lived. In verse 10, have you had your face flush as your nose gotten red all the way to the tip as a colleague or a family member or a neighbor or a former friend or a former spouse tells you what a terrible person you are and questions every character quality in your life?Have you been, in verse 10, discouraged? As a pastor, you know, as a leader of any kind, if you take on any responsibility, expect that you're going to deal with this. I can tell you, I've been a pastor for 22 years. I can think of names that come to my mind of Sanballats of Tobias and Geshams over the years that have said this or that and questioned this or that and on and on and la la la. It's just, it's part of what it means to be a leader. But I know well that sense of discouragement, that deep down thought that I'm a failure or my faith isn't real because this person says they don't think I'm a good Christian, etc. I don't want to ruin the ending here again, but they rebuilt the wall in 52 days. They're halfway done. They're only like three weeks away from the time that Nehemiah said, let's begin rebuilding the wall. This is one of the greatest projects and team efforts in history, yet it was criticized. It was mocked. And this is the danger, I think, of criticism is that it can sap the energy from the most spiritual and noble of efforts.These people were rebuilding the wall to the glory of God. They heard from Nehemiah earlier all the things that Artaxerxes, all the things really that God had done. I mean, what are the chances that the most powerful man in the world is going to come to the aid of the Jews in rebuilding the wall of a city that had rebelled against his predecessor? Why would a king do that? And yet that king came to Nehemiah and the Jews' aid and provided the resources and gave the letter and made all the provisions. I mean, you look at all of that and what can you say? This is a God thing, right? This is a God thing. And yet, in spite of it being a God thing, a little bit of criticism just takes the wind out of the sails. This was tough for Nehemiah. opposition outside, discouragement within. Maybe you're in verse 10 right now, and you can relate to this. It's like, man, you're describing my life here, where I am today on this Sunday. I'm discouraged.And here's where Nehemiah, I think, provides an inspiring and helpful example of how to respond when life brings opposition. to what God is doing and what God wants to do in our life. And I've got four things, four responses that Nehemiah has here and four ways that we can actually experience these oppositions and turn them into actually a kind of joy. And I share these with you not because I do this perfectly or even 75%. This is as much for me as it is for anybody. And we have to be reminded of this because it happens so often in our life. But how do we respond when opposition comes to us? First of all, I think it is so critical that we expect it, that we expect opposition to come. There are some people that think mistakenly that to be a Christian or to be a part of a church, I mean, it's like... where it never is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. I mean, that's every local church, isn't it? To go there would be just a blissful experience of happy Christians all the time.I'll never have anybody tell me anything but something that's uplifting and encouraging to me. Nothing will ever happen in the church that I don't walk out of there going, I'm so glad I'm a part of that church. I mean, it's just gonna be, it's like heaven on earth. Well, nobody amen'd that. And that's because you all have been in churches and in this church. The reality is, no matter what God is doing, there is always going to be negative opposition, criticism, a discouraging person, a Sanballat, a Tobias, somebody like that. J. Oswald Sanders, great Christian man, wrote a classic book on leadership, said this, “no leader is exempt from criticism, and his humility will nowhere be seen more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts it and reacts to it.” Do you think that Nehemiah thought to himself as he was on his camel or donkey or walking or however he got from Susa to Jerusalem, you know what, I'm just going to show up there. I'm going to give an inspiring speech. And not only are the Jews going to rally to the cause, but everybody around Jerusalem, they're all going to be happy about this. It's going to be fantastic.My speech will do it. No. He knew what was coming. He knew there would be trouble. Chuck Swindoll, many of you know Chuck Swindoll, says this, “there will always, always be opposition from those who are by nature negative and critical, but the work must go on. Progress should not stop because of a few who were critical of the plan.” I think it's a falsely idealistic perspective on the Christian life to think that it's going to somehow be easy. that I'm going to skate along and everyone's going to be happy with what God is doing in my life. It won't happen. And we can look at examples in the scripture, not just Nehemiah, but Jeremiah certainly faced that. Paul faced that. Well, how about Jesus? I mean, if there was ever a leader who was such an awesome leader that, I mean, everybody would have loved everything that he did and just rallied to him. I mean, everybody would just applaud him and be like, you know, be like Palm Sunday every day of his life, right? No. What happened to our perfect leader, Jesus?Not only were there many people that opposed him, famous now, men like Caiaphas and Pilate and the Pharisees, but even within his own circle. Judas betraying him. The greatest leader who's ever walked this earth, beginning the greatest organization that has ever been begun, the church, faced trouble, didn't he? And opposition. So who are we to think that in our... smaller context and in our own lives that we are going to be able to follow the Lord, fulfill his will for us, and somehow think everybody's going to love it and everybody's going to applaud it. It simply won't happen. In fact, I think if there is a key truth here, it is this one, is that God's will didn't allow the wall to be built without opposition. I mean, could God have rebuilt this wall without Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem? You bet he could have. Could he have rebuilt this wall in some way where everybody thought it was great? You bet that he could have. But it was God's will that there be a Sanballat. It's God's will that there was Tobiah and all the rest. God included that in the plan for Nehemiah and the plan for the rebuilding of the walls.It included the conflict. It included the slander. It included the threats that were made. And I wonder today if you might have a Sanballat in your life. Even as I've been talking about this, there's been somebody coming to mind. And in your heart, you're like, you know, God, if you love me, you will destroy them, right? Because you're not the author of evil, and you don't like evil people, and yet this evil person is in my life. And it seems to me that... this whole thing to work the way that, in my opinion, it ought to work, that person needs to be eliminated. And we try to pray the Sanballats out of our life because we think something's wrong, that they are in our life. And too often we think that with even criticism, right? We think, I must be out of God's will because somebody said something negative. Mrs. So-and-so said something. And so we look at and we listen to so-and-so who says such-and-such about this or that, and we think, well, I must not be a good Christian, or maybe this faith thing isn't true, or maybe I'm out of the will of God.Joe Stowell III, his dad was the first pastor of our church, and he was longtime president of Moody Bible Institute, once said, “in every church I have pastored, God has placed difficult people around me to keep me dependent on him.” Now, I have no idea what he's talking about there in my own personal experience. But there is truth there, isn't it? That opposition is not out of God's will, but it is a part of God's will. And that indeed, God gains greater victory when his people trust him in the midst of trouble and overcome in spite of opposition. that there's a greater glory that comes from that why do you think God created Satan? Did God know when He made him the highest archangel? Did He know the whole story? Indeed, did He purpose the whole story, that Satan was going to rebel against Him and take a third of the demons, or the angels, with him, and that all of this would ensue? Why? Why does God do that? As Luther said, even the devil is God's devil, right?That God uses The taunts and the ridicule and the criticism and all the rest to gain a greater victory and a greater glory. God thought it best that there be a Satan. And we have to look at these kind of situations and realize that apparently God thinks it's best that there's a Sanballat in our life. Now that's a hard thing, isn't it? Because we want them out of there. But God has them and sovereignly places them. in our life. Now, if I might make a very quick tangent here, you may be here and in an honest evaluation, you're not Nehemiah in the story. You're Sanballat. And maybe you're like, you know what? This vindicates my role in this church. Somebody's got to do it. And that somebody is me. We have to realize that while it is God's will for there to be Sanballats, it is never God's will for us to be a Sanballat. And I would call you to change. In fact, you could ask the question, why was Sanballat so upset about this? And this is where conflict reveals the opportunity. of our hearts, doesn't it? Was it about the wall for Sanballat? No, it wasn't about the wall.It was about influence. It was about economy and money. It was about power. And Nehemiah and that wall being reconstituted represented a threat to Sanballat. And that's why he wanted them out. So don't be a Tobiah. Don't be a Geshem. Don't be a Sanballat. We need to expect there to be opposition. And maybe next week, one of you will come up to me and say, I didn't think that sermon was very relevant, but boy, the week I had. And I'll say, good. I don't know if I should say it that way, but hey, you're applying God's word. That's a good thing. Second thing we see here is that Nehemiah provides this wonderful example of prayer, of prayer. Look at verse 4. Look at the first thing that Nehemiah does. It says, Nehemiah prays this, “Hear, O God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.” Now that doesn't sound like a very loving prayer.And if you read through the Psalms, there are Psalms that are known as imprecatory Psalms where David writes psalms that sound sort of like that, you know, where he is praying God's justice and wrath down upon his enemies. I'm not into the content of the prayer as much as I am in the fact that he prayed. And we see that pattern. Verses 6 through 8, there's troublemaking and scheming. What is Nehemiah's response? Verse 9, but we prayed to our God. When we face opposition, that has been sovereignly brought into our life by God, why would prayer be an effective strategy? Because if this person or this opposition is in my life by the sovereign hand of God, when I pray, I'm talking to the right person about the issue. I'm talking to the person who has the power to mediate the situation and to mitigate it and to take it away if he wants or to do whatever, but I'm praying to the right person. I'm praying to God. I wonder, the Sanballat in your life that I referred to earlier, have you prayed about this person? Have you prayed about this situation? Have you gone to the Lord in prayer?The example of Nehemiah throughout the whole story is that trouble comes, trouble comes, trouble comes. Nehemiah's response, he prays, he prays, he prays, he prays. It's a book on prayer. And that prayer in response to trouble. And we don't, I think, naturally do that. Naturally, we want to post the guard, right? We want to man up. We want to soldier up. We want to go take care of business. We want to take care of this person. We want to fight back. We want to sort of Mike Tyson in his prime. But Nehemiah begins with prayer. I would call you to pray. You say, ah, it's just Nehemiah. What did Jesus do? What did Jesus do the week of his passion when he knew what was coming? You say, well, he knew it was coming. Why pray about it, right? I mean, if you know it's coming, you can ask God all you want, but it's coming anyway, so what's the point? And yet he prayed. He prayed in Gethsemane. He prayed even on the cross. His last words were prayers.And if that doesn't eloquently show us the importance of prayer, especially when we are in trouble, and we have people in our church who are in trouble. Life has brought trouble. Life has brought pain. And prayer sometimes is like, oh yeah, we prayed. No, this is a key part of how Christians respond to trouble. We go to God. We open our hearts to him. We ask for his help. We pray about the Sanballat. We pray that that good work that God wants, may that refining work be done. I want to be that goal that is purified. I don't want to waste this trial. I don't want to waste my cancer. I don't want to waste this. unemployment. I don't want to waste this conflict with a fellow Christian. I want it to have its good effect and to embrace that and to tell God that. I wonder, do you do that, friend? One thing I've noticed when I've been dealing with a kind of Sanballat situation, you know, my natural instinct is to pray that God would take them out, right?But I find that when I pray for that person, especially if they're a fellow believer, When I pray for that person, I find a little impulse of charity towards them. Have you noticed this? It's hard to pray for somebody and hate them at the same time. I find that when I pray for that person, it's a little step towards the command to love your enemies and to do good to those who despitefully use you, Romans 12. Give that a try. You're like, I don't want to pray for this person. Try it. Pray that God's will would be done in their life. Pray that even their taunts and their ridicule and their criticism, whatever 1% gain that your spiritual life could have from it, say, God, I want that 1% gain. What they're saying is evil and their motives, I believe, to be bad. But whatever good can come from it in my life, I want that. And I find that when I get my heart around to praying that way, it has a way of restoring some encouragement. And when you're discouraged, what do you need? You need encouragement. Pray. Keep praying. The third thing is to prepare for it.And I've said this before, but notice that even in this chapter, Nehemiah, he doesn't simply pray, but he takes actions to meet the opposition. Back to the text again a second, verse 9. But we prayed and posted a guard. In verse 13, it says that Nehemiah armed the workers so they could respond to an attack. Now, there might have been someone going, you're not a man of faith. Why are you giving us swords? And he's like, I prayed and I'm giving you swords. In verses 16 through 18, he had workers work with a chisel in one hand and a sword in the other. Does that mean he wasn't a man of faith? He brought a trumpeter with him. And the idea was that if there was attack anywhere on the wall, they would blow the trumpet and everyone would rush to that place in order to engage the fight. He had people work in the low spots in the wall in verses 12 through 15. Now, why do you think Nehemiah would have people working in the low spots? Where do you think an attack would most likely happen? In the high spots or in the low spots?It seems to me it'd be the low spots, and that's what Nehemiah thought as well. And he had people in verse 22. He said, everyone stays in the city until the wall is done. What do we see there? Practical wisdom, okay? He got prepared for the opposition. I think we ought to expect it. We ought to pray for those who oppose it. Oppose us, but we also must be prudent and wise in responding to it. And the fourth thing here, and this is really, I would say, the most helpful, is that after we've prayed about it, after we have prepared for it, we've expected it, we know it's coming, here's the final point. Look at verses 19 and 20, what Nehemiah says. “I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, the work is great and widely spread and we are separated on the wall for far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.” Here's the key phrase. “Our God will fight for us.” Nehemiah was a practical man. Nehemiah was a prayerful man.But Nehemiah was also a man who understood that in the end, the battle is the Lord's. And that bottom line for us has to be our bottom line, because all of our praying and all of our prudency, and I don't know if that's a word, but all of our, you know, sort of strategizing, in the end will feel superficial to us if our anchor and if our sort of our bottom line is not the God who has made promises to us. that he will fight for us, that he will come to our aid. And of course, as Christians, what do we know? We know the end of the story, don't we? You can read Revelation. At the end of the story, there is no opposition, there is no authority, there is no power that stands against the king of kings and lord of lords who comes riding out in that white horse. And he is going to return, and every enemy, Satan, included is going to go under his feet and in the end, Philippians 2, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.We know the end of this story is that God wins, and because we are God's children, we win with Him. And our walls may build or not, our troubles may come or go, our critics may say or not, but in the end, we know that with the Lord, we win. Our God will fight for us, and faith is the victory that overcomes the world. But we are living now in this time where we have to We have the tension between what we know to be true by the promise of God and the realization of that. And the Bible says that in this world, you're going to have trouble, right? You are going to have trouble. New Christian, it is going to be hard. Do not be discouraged by the trouble that comes and the critics that come and the opposition that comes. You're going to have people that are going to say things to you. You might even have people in this church that are going to discourage you in some manner. But we cannot have our hope in the people of this church or in the critic changing his mind or coming around and saying, you know what, I was mistaken.You really are a wonderful person. Can I hug you? It's not likely to happen. Our hope is in the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” Psalm 121. And as God's people, when we face these temporary trials, which are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all, we look at that trial and we look even at that person, that Sanballat, and we see them as temporary in light of the big picture. And “though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.” Martin Luther. A mighty fortress is our God. And on and on. I mean, there's songs and verses. This is where real life is lived. It's in the trenches and in the troubles. And this is how God refines us. And when I can see that this is how God does it, then I can even embrace the tough times and to see that there is good that comes from it. You say, oh, that's not true. Let's look to the cross of Christ. I've got one behind me.If there is one great example of how God uses the taunts, the ridicule, the betrayals, the enemies of God and all of their schemings to do an ultimate good, it is the cross of Christ, the perfect person, the perfect leader, the perfect sacrifice, killed at the hands of Satan and all his minions, and yet the greatest wrong producing the greatest good and glory. And our lives are little microcosms of that grand narrative. And you might not have a Caiaphas, you might not have a Pilate, it may not even be a, it's not the Sith Lord you're dealing with, it's General Grievous, or some lesser situation. But all of them are a part of a temporary trouble, but an ultimate victory. I heard somebody one time say, You know, for unbelievers, this life is the best that they'll ever experience. But for Christians, this is the worst that we will ever experience. The future is bright. The future is glorious. And we live in light of that in the troubles and the trials of today. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That wasn't in the Bible when Nehemiah lived, but I think it might be today his favorite verse.And he lived it out very well. And I hope that we will as well as a church. And those are just some words from a tired pastor. I don't know if they connected at all. And when I get up from my nap, I'll wonder what I said this morning. But maybe God will use them, and I hope that he does. Let's stand together. I'd like to pray and give a final benediction.This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.

The Rebbe responds to a letter about medical treatment, advising to begin with the simplest approach—Tiberias baths. He emphasizes the importance of the husband's attention to diet and health, noting that physical well-being is a Torah directive and impacts their personal matters. https://www.torahrecordings.com/rebbe/igroskodesh/018/002/6551

The sermon addresses the spiritual dangers of financial bondage, identifying the lust of the eyes as a primary cause of a defiled conscience. It establishes that all wealth belongs to God and warns against the deceptive nature of riches, which can lead to pride, idolatry, and misery. The speaker outlines practical biblical principles for financial health, including diligent work, saving with a budget, avoiding debt on depreciating assets, and resisting impulse buying. Emphasis is placed on generous giving and tithing as acts of worship that protect believers from spiritual destruction. Ultimately, faithful management of money serves as a test of character and a prerequisite for receiving greater spiritual responsibilities.

Conference on Practice & Quality Improvement Second Plenary Session - Tuesday, September 1, 2026Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming clinical care, medical education, and research. While AI has significant potential, meaningful integration remains challenging. When AI-powered tools are developed in technology silos without close collaboration with key stakeholders, real-world impact is limited. Even the most powerful AI tools lack practical value if they aren't conceptualized, designed and integrated to address clearly defined and meaningful problems. These challenges highlight the need for a problem-driven approach to AI development and adoption.This session presents a practical framework for advancing AI initiatives grounded in quality improvement (QI) principles. Drawing on Dr. Sattler's experience as a clinician and improvement-focused innovator, the session uses examples across clinical care, education and research to illustrate how AI can be applied to address real-world challenges. Emphasis is placed on identifying meaningful problems as the necessary starting point for exploring AI-enabled solutions and using iterative, small-scale testing to evaluate their impact.This session also highlights the importance of collaboration among key stakeholders and technology developers to ensure that AI tools are responsive to real-world needs. Participants are encouraged to view themselves not as passive users of AI, but as active contributors to its thoughtful development and implementation. The session also addresses potential benefits, limitations, and risks of AI use. Learning Objectives:Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:Describe practical examples for meaningfully integrating AI into clinical practice, education and research.Apply a quality improvement-informed, problem-driven approach to advance a personal AI goal.Evaluate potential benefits, limitations and risks of AI use.Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026Speaker Bio - Amelia Sattler, MD, is a family physician and problem-solver. Her medical training began while seated around the dinner table in rural northern California where, as a child, she was inspired by the joy that her parents experienced working as family practitioners. She ventured to Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN, where she was “raised” in a culture of medicine that prioritizes the needs of patients. She returned to California to train at Stanford's O'Connor Family Medicine Residency Program. After residency she joined Stanford Family Medicine, where she continues to see patients.Dr Sattler holds three leadership roles. She is an associate program director of the Stanford Healthcare AI Applied Research Team ("HEART") and works with teams to study and implement AI technologies to solve specific, practical problems in healthcare. She is the primary care program director of integrated behavioral health and is partnering with psychiatry, social work and primary care teams to build a collaborative care model at Stanford Primary Care. She is also the associate section chief for program innovation in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health where she collaborates with providers and operational leadership to amplify the impact of their 30+ innovative primary care programs. Website - https://stfm.org/stfmpodcastCPQI26second 

Could Tamin Lipsey play for Iowa State in 2026-27? Jake Brend shares what we know.Plus, as Iowa State football continues to try and establish the run, Jimmy Rogers and Tyler Roehl share the importance of connecting on big plays. Presented by Whiskey River in the Northwest Bank Studios. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series! Today, we're joined by Todd Gerson—mental health therapist and creator of the Ninefold app—for a deep dive into how nature, self-reflective practice, and technology can work together to enhance our well-being. Todd shares the inspiration behind Ninefold, explains how it empowers users to actively reflect and build healthier practices outdoors, and gives us a guided tour of the app's features. Whether you're a therapist, coach, outdoor enthusiast, or simply looking to deepen your connection with nature, this episode explores practical ways to use both the outdoors and digital tools to become agents of change in your own life and for those around you. Get ready to rethink your next walk—and how you process it—with insights from Todd and the story of the Ninefold app.DISCUSSION1. Introduction to the Podcast and GuestOverview of the Outdoor Adventure Series and its focus on exploring and enjoying nature [00:00:06]Introduction of Todd Gerson as a mental health therapist and creator of the Ninefold app [00:00:28]Purpose of the episode: exploring how nature and apps like Ninefold can promote physical and mental well-being [00:00:33]2. Todd Gerson's Background and InspirationTodd's background as a therapist, education, and experience in mental health settings [00:01:58]Work with trauma, anxiety, mood disorders, and life transitions [00:02:24]The origin story and inspiration for developing the Ninefold app [00:03:17]Personal experiences in nature and with injury [00:03:22]Observations about limitations in existing mental health resources [00:03:49]The desire for more active, reflective, and personalized practices [00:04:09]Developing the app and learning to code [00:05:03]3. Using the Ninefold App in NatureFlexibility in app usage: indoors, outdoors, and while moving or sitting [00:06:27]Deliberate design to reduce device engagement and avoid gamification [00:07:02]Self-contained activities encouraging users to put the phone down and experience nature [00:07:21]Activities rated by intensity and reflection depth to suit user needs [00:07:25]4. Integration with Outdoor Coaching and Therapy PracticesAlignment with principles such as forest bathing and outdoor mindfulness [00:08:50]Suggestions for therapists and coaches on introducing the app to clients [00:09:12]Options for clients to independently explore or work collaboratively with a practitioner [00:09:46]Nonlinear and structured exploration within the app's framework [00:10:20]5. Example Practice: Leaves on the StreamUse of nature-based metaphors (leaves floating as negative thoughts) for reflection [00:10:43]Applicability for coaching and therapeutic conversations in outdoor settings [00:11:26]Positive feedback from practitioners about the accessibility and clinical grounding of app practices [00:12:30]Design for users of all backgrounds, not requiring specialist knowledge [00:13:25]6. Guidance on App Usage and CadenceRecommendations for pacing: starting wherever feels natural and building up over time [00:13:40]Features for setting reminders and revisiting practices [00:14:26]Tailoring frequency and type of activities to individual needs and goals [00:15:01]Encouraging meaningful practice and self-reflection rather than prescriptive use [00:16:16]7. App Tour and Functional OverviewOnboarding process and overview of the home screen [00:17:01]Mandala interface showing progress through different app paths [00:17:17]Description of the 8 initial paths and the unlockable 9th, deeper path [00:17:35]Selection of activity intensity: light, medium, or deep [00:18:00]Overview of specific paths:Spirit (values, meaning, goal setting) [00:18:18]Persona (roles and masks) [00:18:27]Soma (mindfulness, grounding, emotion regulation) [00:18:36]Shadow (shame, avoidance) [00:18:48]Relational (relationships, boundaries, communication) [00:18:55]Light (gratitude, strengths, connection) [00:19:05]Inner Script (thought patterns, beliefs, incl. leaves on a stream) [00:19:13]Self Within (inner identity) [00:19:21]Practice saving and reminders, chronological logging, and narrative timeline features [00:19:54]Archive and insights features for reviewing and reflecting on progress [00:20:31]Unlocking deeper content with progression [00:21:13]8. Demonstration of Activities and Reflection PromptsWalkthrough of grounding and reflection practices such as 5-4-3-2-1 and box breathing [00:23:12]Requirement of user reflection after engaging in a practice [00:24:02]Emphasis on reflection as an agent of change and making it a habitual part of well-being routines [00:24:56]Built-in prompts and example reflections to support users [00:25:57]9. Reflections on the App's Purpose and ImpactTodd's personal and professional integration in the app's design and philosophy [00:27:30]Valuing user autonomy, non-pressured growth, and a non-gamified approach [00:28:11]App as a culmination of Todd's views on well-being and growth [00:28:42]10. Advice for Outdoor Leaders, Teachers, and FamiliesThe value of using the app to cement and structure outdoor experiences [00:30:34]Encouragement to use the app for reflection and to enhance the impact of time spent in nature [00:30:44]Resource for encouraging new outdoor experiences in a meaningful way [00:31:05]12. Closing ThoughtsSummary of the episode's discussion and the app's role in outdoor well-being [00:32:48]Encouragement to get outside and use tools for reflection and change [00:34:19]LEARN MORETo learn more about Todd and Ninefold, visit the Nionefold website at https://ninefoldapp.com,  or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninefold.appLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddgerson/RESOURCES:Outdoor Coaching by Jonathan Passmore and Ellie Lloyd-JonesCoaching Outdoors by Lesley RobertsAssociation of Nature and Forest TherapyForest Bathing (Treeming)NEXT STEPSVisit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com to like, comment, and share our episodes.KEYWORDSTodd Gerson, Ninefold App, Outdoor Coaching, Howard Fox, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast Interview#ToddGerson #Ninefold #OutdoorCoaching #HowardFox #OutdoorAdventureSeries #PodcastInterviewMy Favorite Podcast Tools:  Production by DescriptHosting BuzzsproutShow Notes by CastmagicWebsite powered by PodpageBe a Podcast Guest by PodMatchBanner Customization by Nano Banana & Canva

The Rebbe addresses the timing of weddings, advising against Tevet and permitting Kislev. He emphasizes spiritual preparation over material excess and suggests dedicating extra funds to Torah and mitzvos for the couple's merit. https://www.torahrecordings.com/rebbe/igroskodesh/018/001/6519

Introduction: To Support the Church, Each of You Give Something (1 Corinthians 16:1-4) To SUPPORT THE CHURCH , each of you give something. (1 Cor 16:1-4) To support the church, EACH OF YOU give something . (1 Cor 16:2) To support the church, each of you GIVE SOMETHING . (1 Cor 16:2) Give Something. You Have to Consider: Am I giving INTENTIONALLY ? Am I giving PROPORTIONALLY ? Am I giving EXPECTANTLY ? Luke 6:38 - give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: Giving an Offering Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:05Let's open up your Bibles to the passage that Max just read. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. While you're turning there, let's just pause for a moment and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately as I should. And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord is teaching us in our passage today. Let's pray.00:34Our Father in Heaven, as Bob said just a few moments ago, this is Your book. We believe that You wrote this book. And I pray that we would give it the attention and the obedience and just the high regard that it deserves because it is Your communication to us.01:04We believe that, Father, and we believe that it is through Your Word and Your Spirit working together in our hearts that transformation happens. I pray, God, that today would be a day of transformation. To Your glory and honor, we pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and all of God's people said, Amen.01:351 Corinthians chapter 16.01:36Are you there?01:39Last week when I was preaching, I had a suit jacket on.01:47And right in the middle of the sermon, the top button just broke off.01:54Nothing makes you feel more like a fatty McButter pants than your button bursting right in the middle of just talking.02:04No jacket today.02:08You know, I was sharing this with Pastor Taylor, and he seemed genuinely surprised when I told him that I was able to sew the button back on.02:18I'll probably have to use reinforced thread or something stretchy.02:23But I think he was genuinely surprised that I was able to sew the button back on.02:28It's not complicated, right?02:31It's not complicated.02:34At our house, we have a hyperbaric chamber.02:39It's one of the portable deals.02:40Just imagine like a seven-foot-long, like indestructible balloon.02:45It's a pressurized chamber that you get inside.02:49And the whole deal works because it has these valves, right?02:53And the valves know when to kick on to regulate the pressure.02:57Well, years ago, one of the valves broke. And I called the company and I said, I need to get new valves. And they took my order and they said they're going to send them out. And I said, well, I don't know how to put the valves on. And the guy on the phone talked to me like I was an idiot. He goes, you just take the old ones off and you put the new ones on. And I'm like, Look, I'm a pastor. I went to Bible college because it was just one book that you needed to buy. I am not a hyperbaric chamber repair technician. They did not cover that in Bible college. I don't know how to do this. I'm like stressing. I told the guy, I'm like, I don't know how to do this. Like, what kind of tools I need. I mean, my parents were both bankers. I didn't come from a long line of, hyperbaric chamber repair people. Like, I don't know how to do this. And he goes, you just take the old ones off. You put the new ones on. He goes, we'll send them out. And if you need help, just give us a call. And I got to tell you, I was so stressed about this. Like, I don't know how to do this. Do you know how to do this? Like, who do I even call? Who do I call? Who do I call? I didn't know Krauss at the time. I mean, does he have experience? Who do I call? I was so stressing about this. And I got the valves in the and I grabbed a bunch of tools and I went down and when I took the valves out of the box they were just threaded at the end. And I said no it can't be. And I took the old ones and unscrewed it off and I screwed the new one. It was almost, almost, almost as hard as changing a light bulb.04:57It wasn't complicated.05:00The button on my jacket.05:02The valve.05:04Important stuff.05:05Not denying.05:05Important stuff.05:06It's not complicated.05:08It's not complicated.05:10And today, we're going to talk about how to give in the church.05:18And I've got to tell you, I spent a lot of time studying this passage this week.05:24And here's the conclusion I think we'll all come up with after we study it together.05:29When it comes to giving, it's not complicated.05:34Now, this message, it's about giving.05:37Okay, this isn't a guilt trip.05:39We're not in crisis as a church.05:41Pastor Rich is going to give us an update later.05:45Why are we talking about giving?05:46Because we go straight through the text.05:48We go where the text goes, right?05:50That's what we do.05:51And that is the subject of this passage.05:53We get to the end of 1 Corinthians. We've been going through this. We had the resurrection chapter, chapter 15. And now when we get to the home stretch here, chapter 16, over the next few weeks, Pastor Taylor and I are going to be looking at, it's just some business items. Paul's closing up the letter because we have a few items of business we've got to discuss. All right? First up, look at verse 1. He says, Now concerning. That's a key phrase in 1 Corinthians. I don't know if you noticed that. Chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 12. Paul keeps using that phrase, and it seems like when he uses that phrase, he's addressing their questions. Right? Like, you ask me some questions, and I'm answering them.06:48Okay, now concerning this. Okay, now concerning this. And apparently, they had asked about giving. And he's like, all right, here's how to give. And if you were with us last week, the last few weeks, you might think, wow, giving? Like, that's kind of a hard left turn from talking about the resurrection, right? I mean, there was no smooth transition there.07:18That's a really hard turn from talking about something as lofty as resurrection. And I would say, not really. Because if you understand eternity and all the promises that God has for you, that should motivate how we give now. And I have to say this. He's talking about this collection and how he instructed the churches of Galatia.07:47In Paul's day, poverty was a real issue. Okay? It's not an issue for us here today. In this country, in this area, there is not a poor person among you. All right? But Paul was collecting from the churches over a year.08:17to take to the poor Christians in Jerusalem. There were people in Jerusalem that were destitute. Some Christians that were poor. So Paul was taking this collection for them, and that's what he's talking about here. This is how to give. This is how to give, and it's not complicated. All right? So on the top of your outline, here's your heading. To support the church, Each of you give something. To support the church, each of you give something. Okay? Point number one, jot this down. To support the church, each of you give something. Look again at verse one. It's not complicated. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatians, so you also are to do. All right? For the saints. Giving is for the Now listen, be clear. We're not saying you never give outside of the church. We're not saying that. We're not saying that you don't give to a person you see in need, like the story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told. We're not saying that. The point is just simply this. The church should fund its own needs. That's all. The church should be taking care of its own people.09:45The people of God give to the work of God. You're like, for what? Well, we talked about this back in 1 Corinthians 9, paying the ministers to support those who are in need in our church, to pay bills here. Everything from Bibles to snacks for the littles back there to the AV equipment to all of it. The people of God give to the work of God.10:15The money that's given should support the church. And Paul says, this is what I directed to churches in Galatia. This isn't just a Corinth thing. It's actually been a practice since the very beginning. Read the book of Acts. Read Acts chapters 2, 3, 4, 5. You see it's the pattern. The people of God give to the work of God. Like, alright, it's not complicated. What's it look like? Well, look at verse 2. He says, On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come. First day of every week. What's he saying? He's saying when you come to church on Sunday to worship, part of worship is giving.11:14That's just part of worship. We sing, we pray, we fellowship, we're in the Word. Part of worship is giving. He says, so there's no collecting when I come. I think that's kind of funny. Paul knew the Corinthians. They didn't exactly have their act together, right? Have you been with us on this study? So there'd be no collecting when I come. Paul was already like ahead of it, right? That he was already anticipating the possibility that like he was going to show up. He goes, okay, do you have that collection? Like, was that today? Like, let's hurry up and scramble and gather stuff up. And he goes, no, no, no, no, no. You should already be doing this. All right? You should already be doing this. But why give every week? Why should we give every week? Why not just once a year? Why not just once every quarter? Why do Why does Paul instruct very clearly on the first day of the week? Why do we do it weekly? It's about being consistent. It's an act of faith that should be done regularly. As God gives to me, I thank God by giving back to Him. And right now some of you might be like, well actually Pastor Jeff, I get paid monthly.12:43I only get paid every two weeks. Look, we're not being legalistic here, okay? We're not being legalistic. It's not complicated. Give as God gives to you. Giving should be a constant practice. Like, why? Why should it be a constant practice? Why should it be on the regular? Because that's the very nature of faith itself. It's an act of faith. It's an act of And the nature of faith is constant practice and expression. Here's what I mean. The gospel of Jesus Christ is, you know, we're all born sinners, rebellious against God. And we deserve His judgment, but God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins, to raise from the dead so that we could have eternal life.13:43and believe and receive his gift of grace in Jesus Christ.13:50That's the gospel.13:52And if I were talking to you and you said, I put my faith in Jesus Christ, and I said, when did you do that?14:00You say, 1995.14:05I'm like, hey, me too.14:06That's when I received Christ, 95.14:10But then my follow-up question is, okay.14:13Your faith in Jesus, you put your faith in Jesus in 95. Was that just a one-time thing? Was that 31 years ago? Was that a one-time thing you put your faith in Jesus? What about today? Did you put your faith in Jesus today? What about next week? Are you going to put your faith in Jesus next week? You're like, well, I guess when I put I'm always putting my faith in Jesus. 95 was just the beginning of that, you see? And the point is, it's the same with giving. It's the same with giving. If you're like, I thank God with what He gave me by giving back to Him. And I'm like, when do you do that? And you're like, well, I did it in 1995. I'm like, oh? Well, Did you just do it once back then and that's it? You're done giving? What about today? Are you thankful today? What about next week? Do you anticipate that you were going to be thankful for God's provision next week? You're like, well, I imagine I'm going to be thankful for God's provision always. Yeah, and that's why giving is a constant practice. We are constantly expressing thanks and trust by giving.15:42And part of that faith in giving is trusting the leaders. Look at verses 3 and 4. Paul says, When I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. Keep in mind they didn't, like, wire the money back then, all right? They had to have people, like, carry the money. Paul says, I'll send them.16:11Or, verse 4, he says, if it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. We give to the church to support the church and the leaders distribute the money. That's the way it works. Why? Why do we give to the church and ask the leaders to distribute the money? Because the just objective truth is this. The leaders are better equipped to know what the needs are. That's it.16:43Do you know what all the needs are of the church? Do you know what our budget looks like? Do you know when it comes to missions and staffing and supplies for the kids? Are you in the know on all that where our leaders are? That's why when you bring the offering, the leaders distribute that. Oh, so if you're one of the leaders here, this is a good place to remind you you better be trustworthy because you have people here that are giving money to God, but they're trusting you.17:11to be faithful to use it appropriately.17:16So, it's not complicated.17:20To support the church, each of you give something.17:26Alright?17:28Point number two.17:29Write this down.17:31To support the church, each of you give something.17:39Look again at verse two.17:42I want you to see this. He says, on the first day of every week, what's the next phrase? Say it loud. Come on, say it.17:52Each of you. Is that in your Bible?17:55That's in my Bible. I think your Bible says the same thing that my Bible says.17:59On the first day of the week, each of you.18:03Each of you.18:05You know what that means in the Greek?18:08It means every Every one of us, Andrew. Every one of us. That's what that means. Every one of us can give something. Every one of us can. Now look, I want to remind you, I don't know who gives what in this church. I don't know. I get a bottom line of the numbers. I don't know who gives what. Why? Why don't I know that? It's a conviction.18:39to help me avoid favoritism. So I don't cater to the people who are financially supporting the church. I don't know who gives what. But if you are one of those faithful givers of our church, and there are many of you here, if you are faithfully supporting this ministry, the missions we support, if that is one of you, you know, if that's you, I just want to sincerely say thank you for your generosity. But giving, is for people who call Harvest Bible Chapel their home. Okay, if you're a guest here today, you're not obligated to give. We're not expecting you to give. If you want to, whatever, that's between you and the Lord. You're not expected if you're a guest, but if you're a member, if this is your home, you are expected. You are commanded. Who's commanded? Each of you. Each of you.19:39But you know I hear it all the time. Because we can say, it's not complicated. Each of you, put something aside. But people are so quick to excuse themselves. And I've heard this so many times. People say, well, Pastor Jeff, if I had more, I'd give more. Have you ever heard that? Oh, if I had more, I'd give more. And I would lovingly respond to that.20:09No, you wouldn't.20:13If you had more, you would not give more.20:19Get this idea out of your head that having more means I'm going to be faithful because did you know the opposite is actually true?20:29The opposite is true.20:30I can prove that very easily.20:33Let's just, we're going to talk about tithing in a minute.20:35Let's just talk about a 10% tithe.20:41If you had a dollar, let's say that's all you have to your name.20:44You have one dollar. Would you give God a dime?20:49Would you give God a dime?20:51And some of you are like, I think I'd give God a dime if I had a dollar.20:56If you had $100, would you give God $10?21:03$10.21:06Yeah. Yeah. Harder than a dime though, isn't it? Let me ask you this. If you had $10,000, would you give God $1,000? Like, whoa, whoa, $1,000? Give God $1,000? It's the same. It's 10%. It's exact same. But do you see how the higher you get in dollar amount, it gets harder? Listen to me very closely.21:35Having more money will not suddenly make you a generous person because generosity is a hard thing. Faithfulness is never about dollar amount. It's about character. And here's what I mean. If you really believe God's Word commands you to give and He rewards you when you do, if you really believe that, you're going to give no matter what you have. You're going to give. Because that's who you are. And if you don't really believe, then you won't give. If you have a little, or if you have a lot, you won't give because that's who you are. And I want to encourage the parents here, Train your children now. Parents, you need to train your children now.22:44Because a child, a little child who gives to God a portion of his allowance is going to become a teenager who's going to give to God a portion of his part-time job earnings.22:57and he is going to become an adult who gives to God because he's been discipled to faithfully obey God's word when it comes to giving. It has to start now. You have to teach your kids now. Everything's God's. Everything that you have, it was God's. And you're just giving back to him as a way of saying, thank you and I trust you for the rest. Teach your kids that now. So to support the church, each of you, Give something.23:30It's not complicated.23:33And our last point.23:35Number three.23:36Write this down.23:37To support the church.23:40Each of you.23:41Give something.23:44This is where it gets complicated.23:48Give.23:49Something.23:53But it gets complicated.23:54Because you say.23:54Alright.23:55Give something.23:56So is that a tithe? Is that 10%? Do I give 10%? Is that a tithe? And when I give 10%, do I tithe on my gross income? Or do I just tithe on the net income? Or do I just tithe on that? What if tithe is 10%. Literally, that's what the word is. But today, we use the word generically. It's a term incorrectly slapped on all giving no matter the amount. Some people give like 1%. They're like, I tithe. No, that's mathematically not a tithe. That's what a tithe of a tithe, right? This idea of tithing comes from the Old Testament law, but Many people don't understand how it really worked for Israel. Did you know in Israel there were three tithes? Did you know that? There were three tithes. Numbers 18 says the first tithe was for the Levites. It was to pay the priests. The second tithe, Deuteronomy 14, was for the annual festivals. And then every three years, according to Deuteronomy 26, every three years there was another tithe, a third tithe taken.25:26that was to support the poor. So that means annually Israel was tithing 23 and a third percent. And I want you to understand this. Listen very closely. Israel, Old Testament Israel, was obligated to tithe. It was required giving in order to support their government. So you have to see the Old Testament Israel tithe.25:56It was the equivalent of us today paying our taxes. It's what kept the government going. That was how God designed it. But Old Testament giving went beyond the tithe. There was free will giving on top of the tithe. That's 1 Chronicles 29. That's Deuteronomy 16. That's Exodus 35. So free will giving had nothing to do with the tithe because they had to pay that just like you were supposed to pay your taxes.26:27And you're like, whatever. The question is, is tithing for today? And I would answer it this way. The Bible says the Old Testament law is the tutor. The Old Testament law is to teach us the ways of God. And tithing is the tutor for the subject of giving. There is value in the principles of tithing. Here's what I mean. We're so quick to dismiss Old Testament things that we don't think about the value that the Lord is teaching us through that. Like, for example, the Sabbath. As New Testament Christians, are we obligated, required to keep the Sabbath? No. But is it a good idea to set a day aside to rest? Isn't that still a good idea?27:25Well, yeah. And tithing is sort of the same thing. Even though we're not obligated to tithe as they were in the Old Testament, isn't it still a good idea to put a percentage aside to give back to God? Okay, this is where it gets complicated because you're like, all right, all right, all right, whatever. Just tell me, Pastor Jeff, just tell me, How much should I give? Is there a dollar amount? Is there a percentage? How much should I give? It's right here in the text. You ready? Look at it again. Each of you is to, what's your Bible say? I'm going to give you another run at that, verse 2. I'll even start at the beginning, and then I want everybody to say it together.28:24is to say it.28:29I'm just going to tell you.28:32How much should I give?28:35Give something.28:41Put something aside.28:44So here's the answer.28:45Are you ready for this?28:46Are you ready for this?28:47Because the TV preacher ain't going to tell you this.28:50But this is biblical.28:52Are you ready?28:53Give whatever you want to give. You give whatever you want to give. But give something. Maybe this isn't so complicated. Something. Something. So, I know, we need a little direction here. That's a little broad.29:22That's a little vague, right? I don't think so. Give something. But I do want to give you some things you have to consider. Right? Give whatever you want. That's what the Bible says, right? Give something. Whatever you want. But consider some things. Consider some things when you give. Letter A, am I giving intentionally? The first thing you have to consider is, am I, You have to ask yourself, am I giving intentionally? He says put something aside. Emphasis now on the word put. That's intentional. Put something aside. That's intentional giving. That makes us think of another beautiful Old Testament concept when it comes to giving. It's the concept of first fruits. Study your Old Testament. It's all through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. It's all through Proverbs.30:22This idea, first fruits, when I get from God, when I get anything from God, the first thing I do is I give back to God the first and the best. That's the first thing I do. Thank you, God. I'm worshiping you with this, and I'm trusting that you're going to keep providing. Everything is yours, God. Everything is from you, so I'm going to give you the first and the best. So I would encourage you, when you get paid, You should give to God first. First fruits. God, I'm giving you first and best. Before you're paying your cell phone bill or your electric bill or whatever, your Netflix bill, whatever, the first thing you should do is give back to God. God, you've given me so much. Thank you for this. I'm giving back to you first. First fruits. First fruits tells us that giving, shouldn't be an afterthought, which it is for a lot of Christians. We pay all our bills, we buy all our toys, and then we're like, oh, do we have anything left over to give to God? That is so not first fruits. You have to be intentional, church. You have to be intentional. Last week we talked about time. This week we're talking about money. Do you know what time and money have in common?31:52If you're not deliberate in how you spend them, they're going to be gone, and you're going to wonder where it went.32:01True or false?32:06Am I giving intentionally?32:07Letter B, am I giving proportionately?32:10Look again.32:14He says, put something aside and store it up.32:18Talking about the church collecting.32:20But look at this next phrase.32:21as he may prosper. Am I giving proportionately? Give from what God has given you. Give from what God has given you. It's not complicated. God is not expecting you to give in proportion to what someone else makes. God isn't expecting me to give on the level like a professional athlete would be able to give. He's not expecting that from me because I don't make that kind of a salary.32:54And that's why I think tithing is a principle that gives you a great start. Gives you a great start. 10% of whatever it is that we make, that's a great start. You know why that's a great start? Because there's really only one way that you can't give 10% of what God's given you. There's only one way that it's impossible for you to give 10%. Do you know what that is? If you make zero.33:21Anybody make a zero paycheck? You're like, no, they direct deposit that into my account. Every two weeks, zero. Listen, if that's you, if you're making zero on your paycheck, please, I'm begging you to come and see me after service. We will get you help. But if you make anything north of zero, that means you have something to give. And what does God say? Give something.33:53Right? Give proportionately. Give according to how God's given you. And then number C. This is getting complicated. Letter C. Am I giving expectantly? Am I giving expectantly? You know there's promises attached to giving. I thought it was so interesting that in this passage, Paul doesn't mention the promise And I'm wondering if the Corinthians were still sort of getting all wiggy about this giving thing because Paul did talk about the blessings attached to giving in the sequel to 1 Corinthians, right?34:392 Corinthians.34:41He talks about it in 2 Corinthians 9.6 that there is a glorious promise attached to giving.34:48And it's the same promise that comes with sowing and reaping.34:52The more seed you sow, the bigger your harvest. That's how it is. Out in your field farmer, that's how it is in your garden. The more seed you sow, the bigger your harvest. And the Bible says, listen, the Bible says that's true with money. The more money you give God, the more money God gives you. That's just what the Bible says.35:21God sees that you're giving and you're faithful. And God's like, wow, look at her. She's giving it away. I'm going to make sure that she gets more because she's obviously got a heart to be generous. So I'm going to make sure she is well-funded. That's how God works. You're like, really? Yeah, really. Jesus talked about this. Look at Luke 6, verse 38. Jesus said, give and it will be given to you. Good measure. Press down. Shaken together.35:50running over will be put into your lap.35:56For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.36:03So if you're sitting here today and you're like, how much should I give? How much should I give?36:09How much do you want to return on?36:12If you're like, well, how generous should I be with God?36:18How generous do you want God to be with you?36:20because he said he's going to match you. Generosity for generosity. Give expectantly. You will never outgive God. To support the church, each of you, give something. Our worship team would make their way up. So, Follower of Christ. Member of the Harvest Bible Chapel family. What does the Bible say about giving? All of this was the introduction. Here's the sermon. You ready for it? Who said that? Who was that? Okay. Talking to you. Here's the sermon.37:20You ready? To support the church. Each of you. Give something. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we just thank you for the, just how clear your word is. It's baffling to me that people say that your word is so hard to understand. It's really not. You've communicated so clearly, and when we don't understand, It's a spiritual issue, not an intellectual one. Father, You've told us that we are, as a family, we are to support this ministry and the missions that are supported by this ministry. You've called us all to be a part of this. You've called us all to give something. And Father, You have so lavishly blessed every single one of us in this room and the people that will be at the next service and the people that watch the stream or listen to the podcast.38:19We are so abundantly blessed. Father, let us reflect a heart of gratitude and worship by giving to you as you move our hearts, Father. Let our worship not just be in song, not just be in service. You have called us to worship with what you give us. And you didn't have to promise us a return on anything. It's all yours.38:48You could demand that we give everything back and get nothing in return, but You have graciously, graciously given us the promise that You will match our generosity by giving back to us. Thank You, Father, for that grace, and give us the faith to believe that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 16:1-4What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Why is giving to be done every week? Why not just save up and give once a year?What would you say to someone who says “I just don't have any money to give to the church.”?Is tithing a New Testament command? Why or why not? What does New Testament giving look like?BreakoutPray for one another.

(00:00) Zolak and Bertrand begin Hour #3 awaiting the arrival of the busy Albert Breer of the MMQB. (7:40) Zolak and Bertrand are now joined for the hour by Albert Breer, Sr. NFL Reporter from SI and the MMQB, for his immediate reaction to the Patriots (13-10) loss to the Seahawks. Drake Maye's game gets highlighted.(24:59) The emphasis on the Patriots running game. The guys decipher the Patriots offensive gameplan.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof." 1 Chronicles 21:18-27

Maciej is the CEO of Base.com in the United States, where he's leading the charge in helping brands remove operational bottlenecks and scale across multiple sales channels more efficiently.Before this, he was with Amazon—so he understands both sides of the ecosystem—and brings a unique perspective on what it actually takes to go from a successful Amazon business to a truly scalable, multi-channel brand.Originally from Poland and now based in Seattle, Maciej is driven by a simple but powerful mission: eliminating the hidden friction and self-imposed constraints that slow down e-commerce entrepreneurs.In today's conversation, we're diving into how to build a true business operating system for your brand—and how to successfully expand beyond Amazon into new sales channels without breaking your operations.Highlight Bullets> Here's a glimpse of what you would learn…. Importance of a strong operational backbone for scaling e-commerce brands.Strategies for expanding beyond Amazon to multiple sales channels.Necessity of mastering Amazon operations before diversifying.Recommended marketplaces for expansion: Walmart, Target Plus, Etsy, eBay, TikTok Shop, and Shopify.Challenges and considerations for entering Target Plus and other curated marketplaces.Role of inventory management and supply chain in multi-channel growth.Impact of AI on e-commerce operations and its limitations.Need for effective delegation and avoiding operational fragmentation.Importance of documenting processes for leveraging AI effectively.Emphasis on methodical scaling and execution over chasing trends.In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley speaks with Maciej Stanski, CEO of Base Com, about scaling e-commerce brands beyond Amazon. They outline a strategic sequence for expansion, covering marketplaces like Walmart, Target Plus, and TikTok Shop, followed by Shopify, international markets, and wholesale. Both emphasize that operational excellence, including strong inventory management, fulfillment systems, and documented processes, is the foundation for sustainable multi-channel growth. They also discuss AI's role, agreeing it enhances solid operations rather than replacing them. The core message: master your fundamentals before chasing new channels.Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:Build your operational backbone firstCentralize SKUs, automate inventory syncing, and document SOPs—operations (not ads) become your main competitive edge when scaling.Expand channels one at a time (with small tests)Start with 1–2 marketplaces, launch limited SKUs, validate demand + fulfillment, then scale—avoid “shiny object syndrome.”Use AI to scale proven systems, not fix chaosDocument workflows first, then automate repetitive tasks—AI amplifies what already works (or breaks faster if it doesn't).Timestamps:00:00:36 Introduction to the Ecomm Breakthrough PodcastThe podcast introduces its mission to help seven-figure e-commerce business owners unlock their full potential and scale to the next level.00:01:00 Meet Maciej StanskiHost Josh Hadley introduces guest Maciej Stanski, CEO of Base Com, highlighting his background at Amazon and his mission.00:04:03 The Importance of an Operational BackboneMaciej explains why a strong operational system is crucial for brands to scale beyond Amazon in the current competitive e-commerce environment.00:06:58 A Step-by-Step Scaling StrategyJosh outlines his recommended strategy for Amazon sellers: first, systematize Amazon operations, then expand to other marketplaces using existing FBA inventory.00:11:31 Why Marketplaces Are the Easiest Next StepMaciej agrees with Josh's strategy, emphasizing the importance of delegating, avoiding fragmentation, and using MCF to experiment on new channels.00:16:00 Which Marketplaces to Expand ToMaciej discusses potential marketplaces like Walmart and Target Plus, stressing that the right choice depends on the product and business readiness.00:19:46 The Six Phases of Scaling Beyond AmazonJosh details a six-phase scaling path: master Amazon, expand to marketplaces, international expansion, TikTok Shop, Shopify, and finally, wholesale/retail.00:25:21 A Different Perspective on Scaling SequenceMaciej offers a different view, cautioning against premature international expansion and suggesting that wholesale relationships should be started early on.00:33:11 The Role of AI in E-commerceMaciej shares his perspective on AI, stating it's a powerful tool but requires strong operational fundamentals to be effective.00:38:59 Three Actionable TakeawaysJosh summarizes the key takeaways: prioritize operations, scale methodically to avoid shiny object syndrome, and focus on your supply chain.00:42:03 Maciej's Final RecommendationsMaciej shares his most influential book, favorite AI tool (ElevenLabs), and respected figures in the e-commerce space.Resources mentioned in this episode:Josh Hadley on LinkedIneComm Breakthrough ConsultingeComm Breakthrough PodcastEmail Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.comTools and Software  "Base": "00:02:11"  "Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF)": "00:10:08"  "ElevenLabs": "00:42:49"  Books  "Thinking, Fast and Slow": "00:42:09"  Websites and Platforms  "Etsy": "00:09:50"  "

In this special episode, Lead Pastor Chan and Care Pastor Sal speak to the call and vision of our church to care for one another in obedience to God's Word. Thanks for listening in to The Ridge's Sunday Audio podcast! Although we hope you are greatly blessed by listening to this message, we also believe it's important to belong to a local body of believers. If you live in our area, we would love to worship with you on Sunday mornings at 8:00a, 9:30a, or 11:15a!

Emphasis on sexual sins? Pre-recorded Masses? Elevation at Mass? Join us for Open Line Wednesday with Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Erica Gwyn.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Erica Gwyn.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Erica Gwyn.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Booker T. Washington.

HR3 - Kevin Stefanski & Ian Cunningham putting emphasis on getting bigger in trenches In hour three Mike, Ali, and Beau continue to react to the Atlanta Falcons finalizing their initial practice squad yesterday, the Falcons claiming linebackers Yasir Abdullah and Jared Ivey and offensive lineman Cameron Williams off waivers, the Falcons waiving defensive backs Jammie Robinson and Natrone Brooks and defensive lineman Zach Harrison, the Falcons placing inside linebacker JD Bertrand on the reserve/injured list, and signing inside linebacker Josh Woods to the active roster yesterday as well. The Morning Shift crew also explains why they think the Falcons latest roster moves show that they want to be bigger and heavier across their offensive and defensive lines. Mike, Ali, and Beau also continue to recap and react to the Atlanta Braves getting their seven game winning streak snapped last night after losing to the San Francisco Giants 7-3 at home, talk about how Braves starting pitcher last night Bryce Elder wasn't as sharp as he usually is, explain why they think the Braves must continue to treat their upcoming series like they are playoff series, talk about what they learned during the show in ‘The More You Know', and then close out hour three by answering people's questions about anything in the Morning Mailbag!

It's time for our monthly check in where we review our goals from last month and see what's coming up for the next.Do you set yourself monthly goals and if so, how many do you set? Juan and I on the first week of every month go over our progress from the previous month and where we are heading for the next. Emphasis as always is on the shortcomings; what we didn't achieve in the previous monthly goals and how we will fix that for the month that comes. We hope you get some value from this series, showcasing our own methodology. What do you do differently and why?Stan Link: https://stan.store/meremortalsTimeline:(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:03) August goals review and content creation habits(00:08:23) August reset, work hours and handstand progress(00:10:31) Yoga teacher training and finding a better rhythm(00:16:42) September goals for training, nutrition and content(00:27:01) Choosing a physical boss battle and robot investing(00:33:01) September goals on dating, meaning and finances(00:48:31) Cleaning, moving plans, AI projects and book chat(00:59:08) Wrap up and ideas for the next conversation Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/K99e8fysBnTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcastsValue 4 Value Support:V4V: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/supportPaypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Hosts: Ed Jones (Owner – Nutrition World) & Clint Powell A variety of topics all related to living a healthy life Presented by: Nutrition World www.nutritionw.com Broadcasting from the Nooga Dentistry Studio www.noogadentistry.com Production of: Whitfield Media Group www.vitalhealthradio.com Title: Why Your Collagen and Probiotic Supplements May Be Falling Short   [0:02:32] State of U.S. Health & Helpful Resources Ed discusses declining national health despite record healthcare spending. Emphasis on personal responsibility: lifestyle, nutrition, and smart supplementation. Recommends EWG.org and the EWG app to check toxicity and “forever chemicals” in consumer products, especially cosmetics and personal care. Curt shares he researches through Perplexity AI (more conventional) and Bright Answers (more alternative), then lands in the middle. [0:05:04] Toxins, Seed Oils & Distrust in Food Labeling Discussion of a UC study on avocado oil products showing many were adulterated with seed oils. Curt describes feeling “betrayed” by brands that market as healthy but hide poor ingredients. Ed notes avocado oil is highly prone to contamination; olive oil tends to be more reliable. Brief mention of tallow‑fried chips sold at Nutrition World—nutritionally superior but pricier. [0:06:11] Local Food Spots, Tallow Cooking & Health Fair Announcement Ed highlights Tallow House (Chattanooga/Cleveland area): simple menu, tallow‑fried foods, attention to high‑quality ingredients. Kurt praises a local Steak and Shake using 100% grass‑fed burgers and tallow‑fried fries/tots. Ed mentions Portofino as a regular spot (shish kebabs, salads, better‑quality olive oil, his drink “Edward's Elixir”). Announcement: October 24 Health Fair—described as the largest health fair in the region. [0:08:10] Fertility Challenges & Free Lecture by Katie Poole, NP Promotion of a free fertility lecture by Katie Poole (nurse practitioner) on September 16 at 7 p.m. Details available under Events at nutritionw.com. Main contributors to fertility struggles: hormone imbalances, PCOS, chronic inflammation, nutrition, stress. Ed shares success stories of women who conceived within months after working with Katie on testing and protocol changes. [0:09:25] Pepcid, Reflux, Serotonin & Histamine Angle Ed asks about Pepcid (famotidine). Kurt: Pepcid is an H2 blocker used for reflux/heartburn; overall very safe for symptom control. Comparison to PPIs (e.g., Prilosec): PPIs take 6–8 hours to start working and are not good “take it when you're hurting right now” drugs. Concerns about long‑term PPI use and overuse. Ed references Dr. Peter McCullough's comments on serotonin syndrome and notes Pepcid has been discussed as part of managing issues tied to high serotonin/histamine (not medical advice, but shared as education). [0:11:30] Ed's Bodybuilding Prep, Pain Flare, Oxalates & Pepcid Relief Ed details his Chattanooga Fitness Bodybuilding Contest prep (Jan 2–July 11): 6 days/week lifting + 1 day cardio, felt exceptional with no aches/pains despite age 69. Two weeks after relaxing his diet post‑contest, he developed significant morning and nighttime aches. Suspected contributors Increased oxalate intake Histamine issues After starting Pepcid based on McCullough's article, Ed reports near‑total relief of pain within one day, strengthening his belief in a histamine/serotonin component. [0:16:39] Collagen 101 Introduction of Reagan, Registered Dietitian and National Educator for Ancient Nutrition. Ed recounts his double hip replacement and heavy, “double‑dose” collagen regimen before/during/after surgery, crediting it with very rapid recovery (back to work ~day 7, gym ~day 9). Reagan defines collagen: A structural protein and most abundant protein in the body. Key for joints, skin, hair, nails, ligaments, tendons, bone matrix, and gut lining. [0:18:10] Modern Diet vs. Nose‑to‑Tail Eating & Collagen Decline with Age Past generations consumed collagen via nose‑to‑tail eating (skin, connective tissue, cartilage, broths). Modern diets focus on muscle meat, leading to low natural collagen intake. Reagan: collagen production drops starting around age 25, accelerating visible aging and tissue wear. Supplementation (or deliberate dietary choices) can help replenish and support these structures. [0:19:37] Forms, Dosing & Multi‑Type Collagen Ed prefers powders over capsules to reach meaningful doses. Reagan: unflavored hydrolyzed collagen Mixes easily into beverages and foods. Is heat‑stable, so cooking and baking with it is fine. Emphasis on multi‑collagen formulas (multiple types, e.g., I, II, III, etc.) because each type targets different tissues. Reagan explains hydrolysis: proteins are broken into smaller peptides/amino acids for easier absorption. Recommended to choose “hydrolyzed collagen peptides” for best utilization. [0:24:35] Collagen vs. Whey Protein & Visible Benefits Reagan confirms collagen cannot replace whey or complete proteins for muscle building; it's complementary, not a substitute. Ed's protocol: Ancient Nutrition A2 whey for muscle + collagen for connective tissue, skin, etc. Noted benefits: significantly faster fingernail growth and more frequent haircuts while using collagen consistently. Reagan describes collagen loading: Rough guideline: ~20 g/day for 4–6 weeks to build up “stores”. Then 5–10 g/day as a maintenance dose. [0:32:37] Gut Microbiome & Dr. O'Hara's Probiotics with Dr. Ross Pelton Ed introduces Dr. Ross Pelton (“The Natural Pharmacist”), author of 13 books and 20+ peer‑reviewed articles. Central theme: gut microbiome health as a foundational driver of immune function, detoxification, neurotransmitters, and graceful aging. Dr. Pelton explains: Gut microbiome (~100 trillion bacteria) primarily in the colon. Their main job: convert components of food into postbiotic metabolites. It's largely these metabolites, not the bacteria directly, that regulate many aspects of health. Beneficial bacteria require dietary fibers and polyphenols (from plant foods) as fuel. Most Americans are deficient in fiber and phytonutrients, compromising postbiotic production. [0:37:53] Why Many Probiotics Underperform (The “Oral Probiotic Dilemma”) Factors limiting typical oral probiotics: Stomach acid kills many bacteria before they reach the intestines. Bile and pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine can damage bacterial membranes. Even surviving strains often enter a colon that's a “food desert” (low fiber/polyphenols), so they don't thrive. Billion‑CFU marketing claims may not translate into proportional clinical benefits. [0:40:30] Dr. O'Hara's: Long Fermentation & Metabolite‑Rich Formula Dr. O'Hara's is distinctive because it focuses on delivering postbiotic metabolites, not huge CFU counts. Production: 13 starter bacterial strains + 14 plant foods (fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweeds). 3–5 years of fermentation in large vats (including anaerobic phases to mimic the colon). Outcome: ~500 different postbiotic metabolites, including 100+ weak organic acids that help keep colonic pH mildly acidic (ideal range 6.2–6.8). The product does contain live bacteria, but the primary value is the metabolite complex. Clinical data: Study on college‑aged women with chronic constipation: 3 capsules/day for 2 weeks led to normal bowel function in many, vs. placebo. Ed shares his own experience with the sachets, noting dramatically improved elimination and joking about “best bowel movements of my life”. Dr. Pelton: the formula acts as a bowel adaptogen, helpful for both constipation and diarrhea. [0:44:51] Oral Microbiome Use & Product Variants Some dentists instruct patients to bite open a capsule, swish, then swallow to support oral microbiome and gum health. Ed uses ½ sachet intentionally for oral and gut benefits. Product line: Original Formula – 3‑year fermentation. Professional Formula – additional 2 years anaerobic fermentation. Sachets – each packet ≈ 5 capsules of Professional Formula worth of metabolites. [0:49:21] Dr. O'Hara's Origin Story & Essential Formulas Dr. O'Hara's path: Initially a landscape architect with a global clientele. Became very ill in Malaysia after drinking a traditional beverage. Quickly recovered after locals gave him a fermented fruit “jam”. Fascinated, he studied these products, then at age 49 returned to school for a Ph.D. in microbiology. Spent ~10 years refining the multi‑year fermentation process. Michael Schoor (future founder of Essential Formulas) had a similar healing experience with the product in Malaysia, then later secured exclusive U.S. distribution rights. In Japan, the product is known as OMX (O'Hara Mountain Extract); rebranded in the U.S. as Dr. O'Hara's Probiotics. [53:27] Closing Reflections: Supplements, Aging & Future Topics Ed reflects on: The value of being proactive versus reactive in health. Kurt resonates with Dr. Pelton's journey from a traditional pharmacist to nutraceutical advocate, seeing his own path echoed. Ed flags rapamycin as another key anti‑aging interest, teasing a future focused conversation with Dr. Pelton.  The post Radio Show / Podcast – August 30, 2026 first appeared on Vital Health Radio.

By Don Ward - This sermon explores the power of the Devil and how we must put on the whole armor of God to overcome him. The sermon also shows how we must believe and claim God's promises in order to stand against wicked spirits. Emphasis is also placed on the shield of faith and the necessity of keeping the

We're back with Part 2 of Rule 9 on Whistle Talk!Episode 2 picks up immediately with one of the most important safety-related areas of Rule 9: illegal helmet contact.Mike D and Coach Chip discuss initiating contact with the helmet, butt-blocking, face tackling, spearing, and targeting. Coach Chip also looks back at how blocking techniques were taught when he played and how the rules have evolved to better protect players. Illegal helmet contact carries a 15-yard personal foul.The conversation then moves through a long list of Rule 9 personal fouls, including:Horse-collar tacklesBlind-side blocksTrippingRoughing the passerRunning into the kicker or holderRoughing the kickerRoughing the snapperThe guys take a particularly close look at roughing the passer, including when contact after the pass becomes a foul and why certain illegal personal-contact fouls against the passer can result in an automatic first down.Mike D also explains one of his most important responsibilities as an umpire: protecting the snapper on field goals, extra points, and other scrimmage kicks. He breaks down what constitutes an initial charge into the snapper and what contact is simply the result of another play developing.The episode then moves into flagrant personal fouls, disqualifications, and the process some states use to determine whether a disqualification results in a suspension for the next contest.From there, Mike D and Coach Chip discuss unsportsmanlike conduct, including profanity, gestures, excessive celebrations, and the difference between a first and second unsportsmanlike conduct foul.The second half of the episode dives into substitutions and illegal participation, including:Replaced playersSubstitutesIllegal substitutionIllegal participationTwelve players on the fieldPlayers intentionally leaving and returning to the fieldPunt gunners who are blocked out of boundsPlayers continuing after their helmet comes offDisqualified players remaining in the team areaCoach Chip also shares some great stories involving creative—and sometimes questionable—substitution and participation tactics from the past.The final portion of Rule 9 covers illegal kicking, batting, restricted-area violations, sideline control, unfair acts, and the 2026 Point of Emphasis regarding sideline control.00:00 – Illegal helmet contact01:30 – Spearing, butt-blocking and targeting02:00 – Personal-foul signals03:00 – Horse-collar tackles05:00 – Blind-side blocks08:00 – Tripping09:00 – Roughing the passer12:00 – Running into vs. roughing the kicker15:00 – Roughing the snapper19:00 – Flagrant personal fouls23:00 – Unsportsmanlike conduct30:00 – Illegal substitutions36:00 – Illegal participation43:00 – Players leaving and returning to the field48:00 – Illegal kicking and batting52:00 – Restricted area and sideline control56:00 – Unfair acts58:00 – Wrapping up Rule 9Rule 9 is about more than personal fouls. It's about player safety, sportsmanship, proper substitution, participation, and maintaining control of the game.Mike D and Coach Chip bring real-world examples and stories to the rules, helping coaches and officials understand not just what the rule says, but what to look for when it happens on the field.If you're an official, coach, player, or serious football fan, this is an episode you don't want to miss.Subscribe, like, and follow Whistle Talk for more NFHS football rule breakdowns, officiating discussions, and conversations with coaches and officials.Sponsored by RefShop.usUse code TALK26 at checkout for 10% off your officiating equipment and uniform order.

Rule 9 is packed with situations that can change a football game in a hurry—and in this episode of Whistle Talk, Mike D the Referee and Coach Chip break down the first half of Rule 9 with plenty of rule knowledge, officiating perspective, coaching insight, and stories from the field.The conversation starts with one of the NFHS Points of Emphasis: helping the runner. Mike D and Coach Chip explain the difference between legally pushing the pile and illegally pushing, pulling, or lifting the runner.From there, the discussion moves into legal blocking techniques, illegal use of the hands, holding, interlocking blocks, and what defensive players can and cannot do when dealing with offensive players and potential blockers.The episode also takes a close look at blocking on kick plays, including fair-catch situations, protecting kickers and holders, free-kick restrictions, and the protection afforded to defenseless receivers during onside kicks.Mike D and Coach Chip then break down blocking below the waist, including the free blocking zone and why officials need to pay particular attention to pullers and kick-out blocks. The conversation also covers blocking in the back, the definition of the free blocking zone, chop blocks, and clipping.The guys discuss why officials need to watch the entire play when determining whether a high-low or chop block has occurred, including situations where a player's foot slips or contact develops as a result of another block.The episode continues into fighting and illegal personal contact, including the importance of keeping substitutes off the field when a fight breaks out. Mike D and Coach Chip explain how well-intentioned players can potentially put themselves in trouble by running onto the field during a fight.Other topics include:Defenseless playersFace-mask fouls and the NFHS five-yard vs. 15-yard distinctionHurdlingPersonal-foul signalsHow coaching and playing techniques have changed over the yearsStories from Coach Chip's playing and coaching careerAnd before the episode ends, Coach Chip shares a great story about a hurdling penalty from a Memphis game and how, 25 years later, he ended up coaching the son of the player who received that penalty.00:00 – Welcome back to Whistle Talk01:45 – Coach Chip's podcast and social media03:00 – RefShop.us sponsorship03:45 – Introduction to NFHS Rule 905:30 – Helping the runner09:00 – Knee-pad and equipment Points of Emphasis11:00 – Legal blocking techniques13:00 – Defensive use of hands14:00 – Illegal use of the hands and holding18:00 – Illegal blocking on kick plays21:30 – Blocking below the waist25:00 – Blocking in the back28:00 – Chop blocks and clipping32:00 – Fighting and illegal personal contact37:00 – Defenseless players39:50 – Face-mask fouls42:20 – Hurdling44:30 – Coach Chip's Memphis storyRule 9 isn't just about throwing flags—it's about understanding what players are allowed to do, recognizing dangerous techniques, and knowing when contact crosses the line.Mike D and Coach Chip bring both the official's perspective and the coach's perspective to these situations, making this episode a must-listen for officials, coaches, players, and anyone trying to better understand NFHS football rules.Subscribe, like, and follow Whistle Talk so you don't miss Episode 2 of Rule 9.Sponsored by RefShop.usUse code TALK26 at checkout for 10% off your officiating equipment and uniform order.

Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton addresses the media following Tuesday's practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, rethinking accountability partners, praying with randos at the state fair, whether its ok that our churches are known […]

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Booker T. Washington.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Booker T. Washington.

In this episode, Dr. Shannon Russell shares her personal journey through mental health struggles, her holistic approach to overcoming chronic pain, and practical tools for mental well-being like journaling, breathwork, and the importance of inner work for lasting results."Comparison is the thief of joy."Chapters:00:00 Introduction to mental health and self-worth00:28 The impact of internal self-worth on physical health00:57 The importance of taking one step at a time01:49 Challenges of becoming the person you want to be02:28 Shannon's journey into mental health advocacy03:23 Personal struggles with body image and anxiety04:51 Holistic approach to overcoming chronic pain07:01 Daily mental health practices: journaling, walking, and water09:26 Breathwork and its role in stress and pain management11:36 The importance of consistency and small changes14:14 Inner work and self-love as keys to progress16:41 Nutrition tips for mental health and sustainability20:31 Connecting with Shannon and final thoughts"Emphasis on your exhales can calm the nervous system." More Key Topics Covered:*Mindfulness practices*The role of fitness and movement in mental health*Impact of climate and environment on mental health*Strategies for sustainable lifestyle changes *Grounding techniques reduce stress.Support the showSubscribe to stay current and share with a friend who could use this episode. All questions for the host or guests: Email PodcastsByLanci@gmail.com.Show Partner: Living Proof TBI Coaching

Talk, talked. Walk, walked. Go...went? In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns! We talk about sound and spelling irregularity, word irregularity and euphemisms, grammatical irregularity and fossils of older systems, and how irregularity is perhaps the most regular thing about languages. We also talk about those parts of systems that seem to be magnets for attracting irregularity, like negation in signed languages and common words generally, how kids learn irregular patterns in a U-shaped curve, and perhaps the most fun kind: jocular irregularity like octopodes and more. Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://pod.link/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjM4NTQ1MDQ4MA Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/825515335444807681/transcript-episode-119-irregularity-is-all-over Announcements: We have new merch! We've used the metaphor of a musical instrument several times when talking about how the human vocal tract is organized, and how you can change the shape of your mouth as the air is on the way out, which changes what the air sounds like. We've used a couple of different musical instruments as metaphors, the meat clarinet, the meat bassoon, the meat bagpipe… but Gretchen just couldn't get that original imagery of the meat clarinet out of her head (maybe it's because she played clarinet in high school band). So Lauren was eventually persuaded that what we really need in our lives is some art of the human vocal tract and a clarinet merged together, in… meat colours (Lauren would like it noted that she thinks this art is deeply cursed and will not be buying any). (No, it's not anatomically accurate because the mouth of the clarinet would have to be your mouth and we decided that was even more disturbing.) If you want to see how our artist Lucy Maddox even went above and beyond and offered us several horrifying meat textures in the concept phase, join us on Patreon. Patrons get to hear about new merch and other exciting announcements early, so sign up so you don't miss anything! In any case, it was truly one of the most terrifying (and let's be real here, entertaining) design briefs we've ever had to write, so check out the full merch range here and tell us if you love it or hate it! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/177274079 We even made a zine to go along with your new cursed merch - 'Guide to your meat clarinet'. In this Lingthusiasm zine, Gretchen gets a little bit too enthusiastic about this horrifying metaphor to encourage you to explore the workings of your own meat clarinet. https://lingthusiasm.com/zines In this month's bonus episode we get enthusiastic about how the structure of a language influences what forms of poetry are possible in the language! We talk about why so much English poetry depends on not putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle, how languages that don't have word-level stress like French write poetry based on syllable counts instead, how English speakers write haiku in a way that's actually subtly shifted for the constraints of the language, and how signed languages like ASL use handshape repetition for poetry. Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 110+ other bonus episodes. You'll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds. https://www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm/posts/bonus-114-how-of-165605312 For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/825515003806367744/lingthusiasm-episode-119-irregularity-is-all-over

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares nine vital lessons from over a decade of e-commerce experience, having scaled his own brand from zero to eight figures. He covers key topics including the difference between opportunistic selling and true brand-building, the importance of hiring top talent, Amazon's continued dominance, the challenges of omnichannel selling, cash conversion cycles, and return on invested capital. Josh also warns against comparing yourself to other brands. He closes with a bonus lesson reminding entrepreneurs that family and relationships ultimately matter more than business success.Bullet Points:Key differences between building a brand and opportunistic selling in e-commerce.Importance of hiring talented individuals for business growth and success.The dominance of Amazon in the e-commerce landscape and strategies for leveraging it.Challenges associated with building an omnichannel brand across various platforms.Significance of having a sustainable business money model, including customer retention strategies.Necessity of active management and adaptability in the fast-paced e-commerce environment.Understanding and optimizing return on invested capital (ROIC) for financial health.Dangers of comparing one's business to others and focusing on personal growth instead.Importance of cash conversion cycle in scaling an e-commerce business effectively.Emphasis on prioritizing family and relationships over business achievements for personal fulfillment.Timestamps:00:00:54 Lesson 1: Brand Building vs. Opportunistic SellingDefining the difference between building a true brand with a customer journey versus being an opportunistic arbitrage seller on Amazon.00:06:43 Lesson 2: The Best ROI is PeopleHiring talented people who are smarter than you provides the greatest return on investment and leverage in your business.00:09:21 Lesson 3: Amazon is Still KingAmazon will continue to dominate e-commerce, so entrepreneurs should lean into its strengths rather than trying to diversify away completely.00:11:42 Lesson 4: The Difficulty of Building an Omnichannel BrandBuilding a successful omnichannel brand is extremely difficult because each platform (Amazon, Shopify, TikTok) requires a completely different skillset.00:14:49 Lesson 5: The Importance of the Money ModelA business model with compounding customers, like subscriptions, is ten times easier to scale than one focused on front-end acquisition.00:18:17 Lesson 6: Active Management and Adaptability are RequiredE-commerce is not a "set it and forget it" business; it requires constant learning, adaptation, and active management to succeed.00:21:13 Lesson 7: Understanding Return on Invested CapitalKnowing your return on invested capital is a critical, yet often overlooked, metric for making smart inventory and business decisions.00:25:02 Lesson 8: Avoid Harmful ComparisonsComparing your brand to others is damaging because you don't know the financial reality or unique circumstances behind their success.00:29:39 Lesson 9: Cash Conversion Cycle is EverythingThe time it takes to get your capital back after investing in inventory is the key constraint to scaling an e-commerce business.00:35:57 Bonus Lesson: Family and Relationships Matter MostThe greatest fulfillment in life comes from family and relationships, not from the money or success achieved in business.Links and Mentions:Tools and Websites"Amazon": "00:00:00""Shopify": "00:00:00""TikTok Shop": "00:00:00""FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)": "00:10:48""AWS (Amazon Web Services)": "00:10:48""Meta (Facebook/Instagram)": "00:12:49"Podcasts and Videos"Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast": "00:00:00""Podcast on Building a Brand": "00:04:48""Podcast on Cash Conversion Cycle": "00:34:39"Summary of Lessons"Opportunistic Selling vs. Building a Brand": "00:00:54""People Over Everything": "00:07:51""Amazon's Dominance": "00:09:49""Omnichannel Challenges": "00:11:42""Compounding Customer Base": "00:15:55""Active Management": "00:19:04""Return on Invested Capital": "00:22:14""Avoiding Comparisons": "00:25:02""Cash Conversion Cycle": "00:29:39"Bonus Lesson"Family and Relationships": "00:36:32"Transcript:Josh Hadley 00:00:00 Today, I'm going to share with you the top nine vital lessons that I have learned while selling in the e-commerce space for over a decade. Welcome to the Econ Breakthrough Podcast! I'm Josh Hadley. I've scaled my own ecommerce brand from 0 to 8 figures, and I'm actively building towards nine figures in sales. This podcast is where I document that journey and share the systems, the strategies, and the lessons learned in real time so that you can learn what actually matters and scale your own business. My name is Josh Hadley. First and foremost, I'm a man of faith. I'm a husband to a beautiful wife and the father of four children. I've been selling in the e-commerce space for over a decade, doing over $20 million in annual revenue and selling multi-millionaire on channels such as Amazon, Shopify and TikTok. Shop. And last but not least, I am also the host to the number one business strategy podcast for eCommerce entrepreneurs, which is E-com breakthrough. As we dive in today, I'm going to be sharing with you the top nine lessons that I have learned that I wish I would have known and had.Josh Hadley 00:00:54  These lessons kind of taught to me prior to starting in the e-commerce space over a decade ago. These are going to go in ascending order. And so when we get to number nine, this is what I believe is one of the biggest lessons that I learned and the biggest lesson that I wish I would have understood. And the biggest thing that I'm trying to communicate to anyone that is starting in the e-commerce space here, brand new today. So here's lesson number one. Lesson number one is defining the difference between an opportunistic e-commerce opportunity versus actually building a brand. Those are two very, very different things. And honestly, in the number of conferences that I go t...

Welcome to Season 14 with Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS!The discussion explored the importance of understanding the four main keyword types: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional, highlighting that commercial keywords account for a crucial 22% of search demand. Emphasis was placed on commercial keywords being the bridge between window shopping and purchase intent.A key theme that emerged was the necessity of data-driven keyword selection using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Ubersuggest. The discussion highlighted that even highly niche or seemingly unconventional businesses can yield significant results when leveraging strategic keyword research.Several points were raised, including the technical significance of URL slugs, content quality over quantity, proper keyword placement, and the increasing value of integrating social media channels for SEO purposes (e.g., linking Instagram/LinkedIn pages for higher authority).Personal success stories from participants illustrated rapid ranking improvements and revenue growth, underscoring the long-term value of SEO over paid ads for sustainable traffic and leads.Who Is This For?The conversation focused on business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone interested in leveraging SEO and commercial keywords to drive meaningful growth—especially those with websites or digital services looking to increase traffic and conversions through organic search.Key Moments With TimestampsIntroduction to Keyword Types and SEO Fundamentals 00:00:04Explanation of Informational, Commercial, Navigational, and Transactional Keywords 00:01:21Real-World Case Studies on SEO Transformations 00:10:00Deep Dive Into Commercial Intent and Keyword Research Tools 00:14:14Strategic Use of URL Slugs and Their Impact 00:32:43Using Social Media Integrations in SEO 00:19:03Success Stories: Ranking Improvements and Data-Driven Tactics 00:49:56The Importance of Niche and Low-Competition Keywords 00:46:33How to Turn SEO Traffic Into Leads 00:58:04FAQsQ: What's the difference between informational and commercial keywords?A key concept discussed was that informational keywords answer questions, while commercial keywords indicate buying intent, such as “best software for…” or “top alternatives to…”.Q: How do I choose the right commercial keywords?The discussion explored using data from keyword research tools rather than guessing, emphasizing specificity, intent, and competition metrics.Q: Why are URL slugs important for SEO?One concept discussed was that your URL slug directly impacts your site's discoverability—matching it to target keywords can boost rankings.Q: Can small businesses compete for high-value keywords?A key theme was targeting long-tail, niche, or region-specific variants to outmaneuver larger competitors—sometimes ranking quickly.Q: How often should I update SEO content?The conversation focused on improving and refining content over time, especially as ranking and analytics reveal what's working.Action Steps for Favour Obasi-ikeEducate Your Audience: Continue breaking down SEO concepts such as keyword types, intent, and technical fundamentals in digestible formats, using case studies and real-world examples.Promote Data-Driven Decisions: Encourage the use of keyword research tools, and stress the importance of not guessing terms but validating them with competition and search data.Advise on Technical SEO: Remind clients to optimize URL slugs, interlink content, and leverage Google Search Console and social integrations for enhanced visibility.Showcase Success Stories: Regularly share tangible case studies demonstrating before/after results from commercial keyword deployments.Foster Community Engagement: Invite listeners to submit their own results, questions, or niche discoveries for review in future episodes or on social media.Create Step-by-Step Resources: Develop checklists or templates for commercial keyword research, URL optimization, and data tracking.Offer Consultations: Direct listeners to book a strategy call for personalized SEO roadmaps and deeper dives into their analytics and keyword gaps.Plan for Follow-Ups: Organize part 2 sessions to address advanced or transactional keyword strategies and continue the learning journey.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

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