Podcasts about fourthly

Okay, hear me out. First off, this was re-recorded a couple weeks ago because i'm extremely good at backing up audio files from 2 years ago entirely in line with the professionalism this podcast is known for. Secondly, there's some audio issues in this that I can't get rid of, no matter how much I try (remember when I said this was recorded 2 weeks ago?), sorry about that. Point III: This isn't this weeks normal episode, that's still to come, and the rest of these will be additional free episodes just like originally promised. Fourthly, we used my near 2 year old notes for this and if i'm being entirely honest I reckon it shows, but for the next one (yes, we're actually doing all of these and finishing it) I've got a revamped set of notes ready so it should be a bit slicker. Anyway, enjoy the much awaited sequel to the running joke that you lot have been haunting me with for far too long. Subscribe for two whole bonus episodes a month: https://www.patreon.com/praxiscast Watch streams: https://www.twitch.tv/praxiscast Buy shirts: https://praxiscast.teemill.com/ Follow us: https://bsky.app/profile/praxiscast.bsky.social Cast: Jamie - https://bsky.app/profile/wizardcubes.bsky.social Rob - https://bsky.app/profile/trufflehog.bsky.social David - https://bsky.app/profile/sanitarynaptime.bsky.social Alasdair - https://bsky.app/profile/ballistari.bsky.social

#richmondva #blackbank #maggielenawalker In 1903, Maggie Lena Walker was the first Black woman to charter an American bank and become its Bank President... An astounding accomplishment for a Black Woman in the early 1900s. The lesson highlights five key integrated Black ideas exemplified by Walker, emphasizing the importance of independent thought, collaborative leadership, and practical application of concepts for Black advancement.Professor Kimya outlined five key lessons derived from the work of Maggie Lena Walker that are still pertinent for Black people today. These are presented as interconnected "integrated black ideas".Firstly, Walker emphasized the critical need for Black people to develop their own concepts and theories and to actively implement them through strategies and actions to achieve tangible results. She serves as an example of someone who moved beyond abstract ideas to create real-world change.Secondly, Walker's work underscored the importance of collaborative leadership and the collective development of knowledge. This challenges individualistic approaches and highlights the power of working together and leveraging available resources for communal advancement.Thirdly, Walker demonstrated the significance of establishing economic development initiatives within the Black community. Her involvement in banking, newspapers, and retail showcased a strategy of connecting these sectors to foster economic empowerment.Fourthly, Walker's leadership within the Independent Order of St. Luke and her participation in secret societies illustrated the vital role of community organizations and networking in facilitating social and economic progress for Black people. These networks provided essential support and opportunities.Finally, Walker's later engagement with Disability Services emphasized the importance of addressing the diverse needs present within the Black community, ensuring that efforts for advancement are inclusive of all members. There were a few White women who preceded Maggie Lena Walker as a Bank founder; their stories are here:https://www.nps.gov/mawa/learn/historyculture/female-bank-presidents.htm Keywords:Maggie Lena WalkerRichmond VABankingFirst woman bank presidentIndependent Order of St. LukeEconomic DevelopmentCollaborationsIndividualismBoycottsHistorical ContextPolitical DevelopmentCommunity OrganizationsNetworkingDisability ServicesAlma BarloGrassroots ActivismRichmond Tenants Organization (RTO)Public HousingEmpowering the PowerlessBlack Concepts and TheoriesSolutions-Oriented ApproachWealth BuildingResource DevelopmentScams and Unrealistic SolutionsTalented TenthBlack Intellectuals and ScholarsInterested in sponsoring the channel? Email OurBlackImprovement@gmail.com. $20k - $90K of business funding - https://mbcapitalsolutions.com/positive-vibes-consulting/ Money for your business: https://davidallencapital.com/equipment-financing?u=&u=PositiveVibes Money for Real Estate Investments: https://PositiveVibesFinancial.com Purify yourself, house, and environment to remain safe: https://www.vollara.com/PositiveVibes Invest in stocks via STASH: https://get.stashinvest.com/sekosq72j Fix your credit: https://positivevibes.myecon.net/my-credit-system/ Raise money with Republic: https://republic.com/raise/i/jpdajr Raise money with WeFunder: https://wefunder.com/sekovarner/raise #GetOnCode #GetOnCodeShow #GetOnCodePodcast #TheFlyGuysShow #OmegaPsiPhi #Ques #Uplift #ConsciousCommunity #PanAfrican #FoundationalBlackAmerican #Indian #BlackIndian #Melanin #Indigenous #BIPOC #CopperColored #Moorish #B1 #FBA #ADOS #BlackAmerican #AfricanAmerican #Investment #Wealth

The evolution of life is a product of divisions and differences. But there is  'oneness' behind these divisions like an invisible thread supporting different pearls to form a necklace (7.7, 7.8). The game is to develop the ability to see that 'oneness' among the illogical and unreasonable divisiveness we see around us. This can be attained through awareness about 'oneness' and by attaining balance in our actions (2.38, 6.16). Krishna mentioned about four divisions that happen based on gunas and karmas. He says, "Tranquility, restraint, austerity, purity, patience, integrity, knowledge, wisdom, and faith —are the natural qualities of a Bhramana springing from their own nature (18.42). Valor, strength, fortitude, dexterity, not fleeing from battle, charity, and leadership abilities are the natural qualities of Kshatriyas springing from their own nature (18.43). Agriculture, dairy farming, and commerce are the natural qualities of Vaishyas. Actions that are service oriented are the natural quality of Shudras" (18.44). Firstly, these divisions are neither based on birth nor are they hierarchical nor are they indicators of competence. As in the case of gunas where the game is to transcend them to be Guna-ateeth, the challenge is to transcend these divisions to be with ''oneness' especially when we are identified with one of these divisions. Secondly, One guna broadly dominates us throughout our lives. But we keep wading through different gunas in a day. The same thing happens with these divisions. Thirdly, sometimes we help ourselves to gain knowledge, power or money and sometimes we serve others like family, friends, coworkers etc. This reflects that we keep oscillating between these divisions with time. Fourthly, in the past century, the world has moved from an agrarian economy to an industrial one to a service oriented economy. Thus, since external factors also keep changing with time there is no place for one quality or division to dominate.

Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Philippians. Notes//Quotes: Phil 3:1-11 Acts 15:1 The key passage is Genesis 17, and the important point can be simply expressed. The covenant is God's promise. He goes on oath in certain specific matters. Abram is the recipient of the promise which is first personal: Abram becomes Abraham (verse 5), a vivid promise of regeneration or a new nature, for with the new name there is created a new man. Secondly, the promise is national, a multitude of nations (verses 5b–6). Thirdly, it is spiritual, ‘to be God to you and to your descendants after you' (verse 7). Fourthly, it is territorial, the ‘land of your sojournings' (verse 8); and finally, by way of emphasizing the most important point, spiritual again, ‘and I will be their God' (verse 8). Circumcision symbolizes the application of the covenant promises to those individuals whom God has chosen to receive them. This came to be seen as the essential heart of the covenant promise and the most quoted verse in the Bible: ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.' Paul, the Philippians, the whole company of Christian believers down the years—we are the chosen people of God, individually born again, individually and collectively heirs of the Lord's purposes of grace. It is as though Paul said: We may be sure that God has set his personal seal of choice and ownership upon us, for we are the circumcision-  Alec Motyer Eph 2:11-16,  Gal 3:26-29 “I consider them rubbish is too weak a translation for the shocking word Paul uses (skybala). Found only here in the New Testament, skybala could refer to refuse, stinking and decaying food, or even human excrement. It carries the idea of something that is only fit to be thrown out because it is so disgusting. As a result, filth or the coarse colloquial term “crap” better captures the detestable quality expressed in this term. Paul could hardly have stated his revulsion toward his former sources of pride and self-righteousness more emphatically - Dean Flemming "Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously, radically insecure persons. We must first make real to them the grace of God accepting them daily, not because of their spirituality or their achievements in Christian service, but because God has accounted to them the perfect righteousness of Christ.” Richard Lovelace Matthew 7:24-27

The Make America Healthy Again movement strives to do just that. But health is ambiguous, vague, and often confusing. Firstly, this semi-political movement only exists because a presidential candidate selected an opponent to join his team for the votes. Hats, shirts, etc., with MAHA printed on them are a quick way to earn a campaign dollar with no real meaning being put behind them. Second of all, the complexity of the food-pharmaceutical-medical-chemical complex is far to interwoven into every day life, into the minds and bodies of citizens, to simply fix by mandate, regulation, or law; the most altruistic movement to solve these often unspecified problems will not take days, weeks, months, or even years, but decades. Third, not only will these necessary changes require expert knowledge, legal maneuvering, and redefining the American food supply, but it will require that Americans of all affiliations are on board. In other words, if the country says it prefers fluoride, food coloring, chemical additives, etc., for whatever reason, then we shift from a relatively uninformed population who are being manipulated by these things, to a population who demands these things consciously due to some misplaced political or similar bias. Fourthly, the pushback from industry itself to save a few dollars will be immense, and the psychological ramifications of that are going to alone be devastating on a public brainwashed their entire lives by mommy and daddy corporations. Even if a magic wand could be waived and the problems fixed, there must be at minimum a form of transition and leniency, which in the past has typically been a grace period of up to a decade. By that point, nobody even remembers. Fifth, it's probably a good idea to halt premature celebrations because MAHA is acting like they are going to revolutionize the world when in fact the United States is arguably dead last, especially among industrial nations, when it comes to health and the quality of food to begin with; we are celebrating coming in last place as if we won the race. Sixth, the consumption of highly processed sugar, fat, flour, chemicals, etc., since it is so engrained, will require more than a legal or political shift, it will require a personal shift in how one chooses to live and consume, and a cultural shift. The very essence of America is driving your car to get fast food or having it delivered all times of the day and night. That cultural shift includes recognizing the outrageous portion sizes that Americans consume, which is not something that is going to be accomplished by political or legal moves. It's important to recognize the man fueling this movement is almost entirely alone, even within the newly realigned political lines of the country. And that's the point, even with political support, if there is no genuine spirit behind the movement, it is bound to fail like a diet. We cannot sit back and just hope that RFK Jr. makes our food healthy, when the fact the government itself created the problem by collusion with big corporations, and therefore likely can only make the problem worse, especially when we're dealing with political compromise on highly controversial things, lobbyists, and big money. Furthermore, the power has always resides with the people, and if the public doesn't demand this with their dollar, the movement is already dead. The fact is that right now you can vote for food coloring or natural foods; you can go to any store and purchase vegetables and fruits, grains and legumes, spices, herbs, mushrooms, etc., without any government involvement. Perhaps government could change the rules on what is purchased through government assistance like WIC, or FS, or start an unbiased educational program about shopping, ingredient lists, cooking, and so on, but unless there is a cultural shift in America our health problems are going to continue to get worse. Otherwise, we just want MAHA to act as magic, no different than a diet pill purchased at a gas station, a dime a dozen workout videos, or the next trendy diet on social media that emerges.-FULL ARCHIVE & RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-secret-teachings Twitter: https://twitter.com/TST___Radio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesecretteachings WEBSITE (BOOKS, RESUBSCRIBE for early & ad-free show access): http://thesecretteachings.info Paypal: rdgable@yahoo.com CashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tst-radio--5328407/support.

A Daily Chronicle of AI Innovations on November 07th 2024

John 18:39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" 40 Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. 4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." 5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" 6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."   Here we see how the Romans would pacify the Jews by releasing someone convicted of crimes to them on the Passover.  Pilate hopes he can finally get Jesus set free and His blood off his hands.  But the Jews have outmaneuvered Pilate again and they have told the crowd to ask for Barabbas the robber.  Pilate scourges Jesus, mocks Him, puts a crown of thorns on His head, and a Kingly purple robe on Him and yet the crowd still will not feel sorry for Jesus, they want him killed.  He finally tells them to behold the Man, in other words look at this pitiful fellow, don't you want Him to be released and they cry out Crucify Him, Crucify Him.  Then for the second time Pilate tells them I find no fault in Him.  Jesus has done nothing wrong for Him to be convicted of and especially crucified, so Pilate says if you want Him crucified, you do it.   And then we come to verse 39 and John picks it up from there. And this is the story of Pilate's inability to get rid of Jesus. May I make a spiritual point at this time, and I'm going to remind you of it at the end? You have here exactly what every man has to face, listen to it, an ultimate decision about what to do with Jesus Christ. Pilate tried every single thing he could to get rid of Jesus and he couldn't get rid of Him, God forced him to make the decision himself. And so he will every man. In Leviticus 24:16 it was blasphemous for a person to call himself a king in Judaism.  Under a theocracy for you to say you were a king if you weren't a king was guilty of death.  That's a religious law and a religious system under Caiaphas.  A political law, if you call yourself a king, you're fighting against Caesar as the true emperor king.  So both of these charges now of sedition raise it way high and Pilate's going to have to do something about it.  So, Pilate's really got two options on his hands. Now he's a man of some justice. He's not any kind of average commoner, this guy's a pretty sharp guy or he wouldn't be placed in such a position by Rome. And to his benefit we should say that he's got some sense of justice. They bring to him an innocent man and he's faced with two options. All right, the man is innocent, I could let Him go. That would be right cause He's innocent. But I let Him go, I've got a Jewish revolution, word goes to Caesar and I get either removed or my head removed because Tiberius didn't tolerate messing around. Tiberius Caesar was quick. And when he saw something he didn't like, it was over and he happened to be the emperor at that time. And so, Pilate had the option of doing what was right and losing his job and maybe his head because the Jews would undoubtedly revolt, or he had the option of doing what was wrong, executing an innocent man, and therefore cross‑graining all the Roman justice and judgment that he had ever learned and crucifying his own soul because in some sense he had a morality. So he had two choices ... either save your soul or save your neck. Now, there's something kind of vague about your soul. There's nothing vague about your neck. Right? So when it gets down to the nitty‑gritty, chances are you'll go for your neck. You know, that's what's going on in our world today? And Jesus said: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Fools, people live for money, pleasure, sex ... whatever. And they crucify their souls. Well, that was Pilate's option. And his neck was so tangible, you know. And so they had him where they wanted him. And with that in his mind, he has just tried to get this thing over with by saying to the Jews ‑ I find no fault in Him. But then he's faced with another problem. He doesn't know what to do with Jesus. He can't give Him back or he's going to have this whole problem on his hands, so he now begins a process of figuring out schemes to get rid of Jesus, see, out‑the‑back‑door deals. First thing he thinks of ‑ Oh, let's see, this is Luke 23 and this is the second phase of the trial which John skips, but Luke picks it up. He says ‑ Jesus is originally from Galilee, right? Nazareth of Galilee. Herod is the chief cheese in Galilee. Herod also happened to be in Jerusalem at this time. Pilate says ‑ I'll pass the buck to Herod. So Luke 23 verses 4 to 12 says he sends Jesus over to Herod. Herod looks at Jesus a while, soldiers mock Him, beat Him a little bit, then Herod says ‑ Take Him back to Pilate. And Pilate is stuck again. All right, as we move into the trial in verse 39, I'm going to show you three things: Pilate's failing proposals, Pilate's fatal panic, Pilate's final pronouncement. And here we see the absolute dissipation and destruction of a human being. And by that I don't mean Jesus ... I mean Pilate. By the time this deal is over you're going to see a raving maniac, a man who has momentary insanity ... Pilate. He completely loses it.  39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Mt 27:15; Mr. 15:6; Lu 23:17 Hoping to strengthen this suggestion, Pilate offered to bargain with the Jewish leaders. It was a custom at Passover for the governor to release a prisoner and please the Jews; so, why not release Jesus? Or, he could release Barabbas; but why would the Jews want Barabbas set free? After all, he was a robber (John 18:40), a notorious prisoner (Matt. 27:16), a revolutionary and a murderer (Luke 23:19). Who would want that kind of a prisoner turned loose? Incredible as it seems, the crowd asked for Barabbas! The people were persuaded by the chief priests and elders (Matt. 27:20) whose religious convictions did not motivate them toward justice and equity. National feelings always increased during Passover, and a vote for Barabbas was a vote against Rome. Even though Jesus had been a popular figure among the people, many of them no doubt were disappointed that He had not led a popular uprising to overthrow Rome. Perhaps they had even hoped that His “triumphal entry” a few days before would be the start of Jewish liberation.[i] At this point, Pilate seems to have an inspiration. Perhaps they would settle for a victory in principle. Pilate could appease them by declaring Jesus guilty, and then graciously releasing Him to them, as was his custom at Passover. In this way, Jesus would not be put to death, but He would have been declared guilty. It was a sort of compromise, which gave both sides (the Jews and Pilate) a token victory. The Jews could boast that Pilate had declared Jesus guilty; Pilate could be at ease that he had not crucified an innocent man. And so he put the matter before the Jews. Should he release Jesus to them on this Passover? If Pilate expected this ploy to work, he had greatly underestimated how determined the Jews were to kill Jesus. In John's Gospel, the name “Barabbas” seems to appear out of nowhere, mentioned first by the Jews. One senses that some orchestration has already occurred behind the scenes. Now, there was a custom evidently that Pilate had with the people. It may have begun before Pilate was the governor; that every year at Passover they would release from the jails of the Romans one Roman prisoner, a Jewish criminal who had been taken by Rome in prison. Now it is very obvious that this was a concession on the part of Rome to the people because the other gospel writers tells us that the people had the right to choose who it was that they desired to be released. And so Pilate in his little brain begins to think ‑ Aha, it's Passover time and they get to choose whomever they will to be released. And he thinks here's my out. I'll offer them Jesus. When the Jews approached Pilate, to request the release of a prisoner, he leaped at the chance to release Jesus in this way, but they immediately rejected this proposal, insisting rather that Barabbas be released to them. I do not think that all of this happened spontaneously, but rather that it was planned by the Jewish leaders, and then the crowds were persuaded by their leaders to carry out this plan. It may have appeared spontaneous to Pilate. It was probably designed to look this way. But from the beginning, the Jews sought to gain the release of Barabbas, knowing that Pilate's desire was to release Jesus. In my opinion, they were skillfully removing this option. They don't want Barabbas. Barabbas was the scum of the earth. I mean, nobody wanted Barabbas. I mean, this wasn't any little petty guy, this guy was a real notorious criminal. And besides that, the other Gospels tells us that he was a revolutionary, he had been involved in an revolution. The other writers also indicate to us that he had murdered and here it says in verse 40, at the end: "...Barabbas was a robber." And the Greek word is bandit. This guy was a highwayman. Likely, the highwaymen always frequented the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. And you go down that road, it's just a steep road going down into the desert where Jericho is, and the highwaymen always hid along ‑the way. This guy was a bandit, murderer, rebel, the whole routine. And so Pilate puts him up there with Jesus. Even Mark's account leaves room for the view that the idea of releasing Barabbas originated with the Jews, rather than Pilate. Mark 15:6-15 During the feast it was customary to release a prisoner to them, whom they requested. 7 A man named Barabbas was imprisoned with rebels who had committed murder in a riot. 8 Then the crowd came up and asked Pilate to carry out the custom for them. 9 So Pilate asked them, “Do you want the king of the Jews released to you?” 10 (For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.) 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. 12 So Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?” 13 They shouted back, “Crucify him!” 14 Pilate asked them, “Why, what has he done wrong?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!” 15 Because he wanted to satisfy the crowd Pilate released Barabbas for them. Then he had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified  40 Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber. Lu 23:19; Ac 3:14 It is interesting that some manuscripts refer to Barabbas as “Jesus Barabbas,” and thus the question of Pilate, as rendered by the NET Bible: “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?” (Matthew 27:17). If you could do a black and white image of Jesus, you would see the negative and positive image in the person of Barabbas.  Even the name is a word play.  Barabbas means son of the father, not really the son of the Father, but of the Devil, delivered up the Son of THE Father Suffice it to say this, Barabbas is guilty of the very charge they falsely weigh against Jesus Christ.  So even in their release of the prisoner Barabbas we see redemption occurring, because Barabbas deserved to die.  Jesus is innocently dying.  Jesus is falsely accused.  Barabbas is accurately accused.  The irony in the Gospel of John continues to unfold at many levels. Barabbas is a very, very important individual because, you see, he exemplifies to us the depravity of man. Here is the best in the universe, God incarnate, and the worse in humanity and whom to men choose? The worst. So typical.  Well, Pilate's going to try another tact.  That one didn't work, so he'll try another one and he's going to punish Christ and see if that sort of takes the sting out of the Jew's attitude toward who this Jesus is.  You see, this is the fickle mood of the mob and this is exactly what you have right here in Mark chapter 15, it tells us what happened. I'll read it to you. Mark 15:11 says: "But the chief priests stirred up the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them." Guess who stirred the people up? Religious leaders ... Barabbas, Barabbas, Barabbas ... you know. That's people for you ... sheep, witless, following their leaders. What does the Old Testament say? "Like people, like priest," Hosea, that's what he said. So the chief priests, supposed to be the leaders, we want Barabbas. And all the people chime in and they want Barabbas and Pilate can't believe it. So typical of men. Well, why did they choose Barabbas?" Well, Barabbas was insurrectionist, the Bible tells us that. And it is very possible that they wanted Barabbas released to start an insurrection. Maybe they figured this was their leader, possible. Kind of interesting that they brought Jesus to be condemned because of His insurrectionist and then wanted an insurrectionist back so they could have an insurrection. Well, needless to say, Pilate is dumbfounded at this point and in Matthew 27, fitting in the slot right here, Matthew says "Pilate looked at the people and said, What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?" And you want to know something? That's a profound question. And you know something? That wasn't just a question on Pilate's lips, that was a question that came out of his aching torn heart. What do I do with Jesus? He had to release Barabbas and he's still stuck with Jesus...failing proposal. And when he said ‑ What do I do with Jesus? ‑ The Bible says they screamed in frenzy ‑ Crucify...crucify... crucify. Joh 19:1 ¶ So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. Mt 20:19; 27:26; Mr. 15:15; Lu 18:33 Pilate is sinking at this point. His dilemma is unresolved. So he comes up with another proposal, verse 1: "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him." Now this is an effort at compromise. Luke 23:16 tells us that Pilate had said before this ‑ I will chastise Him and release Him. That's good intentions. So now he says ‑ I'll scourge Him. This is a great example of a coward, isn't it? What are you going to scourge Him for, what did He do? Why you going to beat Him, what did He do? What's His crime? No crime, I'm just going to do this to pacify the people so I can get rid of Him. You see, he figured if he beat Jesus up and mutilated Him that the people would say ‑ That's enough, that's enough. And if he beat Him up and mutilated Him and made Him look like anything but a king, maybe they wouldn't hold on to that accusation that He was a king. And so, the Bible says he scourged Him. It's hard for us to imagine scourging. A Roman scourge was a stick, thick and it was wrapped in leather. At the end of it were leather thongs of some length and in the end of those leather thongs were held bits of brass and lead and bone filed to sharp points. The victim was then either stretched flat on the ground with his back up, or tied to a post, hanging, or strapped suspended from the ground. And then the man who was accustomed to doing it and knew how well to do it would lash the back 40 times with the scourge. And from what we understand, the back was torn and lacerated to such an extent that even the deep seeded veins and arteries and sometimes even the entrails and the inner organs were exposed. It was a total shredding of the back. This was such a horrible torture that no Roman citizen, no matter how great his crime, could ever undergo scourging. It was forbidden. And it gives us some indication of why Jesus died so soon upon the cross, because He was beaten so raw before He ever got there and the loss of the blood before He ever made it to the top of that hill with His cross would have made His death much more rapid than it would have otherwise. And so, Pilate thinks if he does this it will pacify the people, but he doesn't understand beast of prey, does he? He doesn't understand that when you wave a little blood in front of them, that doesn't pacify them that only makes them more hungry. The flogging was done with a whip-like device and on the many tongs of the whip were embedded pieces of metal and/or bone.  There are three levels of scourging and flagellating a person and we would see a bare backed person tied to a post and he'd be whipped.  A flagellation is not like a whipping in the west.  A flagellation would shred the flesh and muscle tissue clear down to the bone.  All the way around the abdomen it would often disembowel a person and many people died just from this scourging.  This is not a little whipping.  You know the verse in Isaiah 53 “By His stripes you were healed” and when you cut across a scourge on the back of a person the first time, you lay red ribbon shreds of blood and tissue right away.  By those stripes you and I are healed.  He's a bleeding hemorrhaging mess when He comes out of this scourging. Isa 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. The crown of thorns, then, is put on His head.  Typically, depending on how you grew up, you saw a picture of Jesus Christ carrying a cross with maybe one or two inch thorns in His brow and blood sort of down His face in different degrees.  That's partly true, but there's at least two more things we don't often think about.  The first is Genesis 3:18, the thorn is the result of the curse.  And so now Jesus Christ who will be cursed on a cross is beginning to pay for the curse with the very crown of thorns on His head.  So He breaks the curse that happened back at the fall. Ge 22:13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And secondly, and more importantly, and frankly probably obscure to most of us, is then the oriental kings, if you look at old pictures, art works, you'll see oriental kings with these spires off their head with radiant coming off the top of their head.  And typically they'll be larger in the middle and sort of taper off.  That's their deity, their god deity type things, their human gods on earth as a king. And so we have a palm thorn, which would be very different than the crown of thorns we think of that would be up to 12 inches long, and again, it's a mock crown.  So we have this shredded, hemorrhaging Christ, then a purple robe's going to be put on him.  And so we have the crown, is jammed on His head, this mocking Him as this would-be king.  3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. Now you see, if you can even imagine this kind of thing. In Fort Antonius where Jesus would have been, the very pavement that they believe is the base of the fort, is well preserved, on that floor are etched little Roman figures in the stone. And they're there, because the Romans use to play a game. When they had all these prisoners waiting down there to be crucified, they teased them. You see, the Romans had always played games about kings. They had a game, Flaccus tells us, that they played with idiots and imbeciles. They would catch them and they would dress them up like kings and they would sit them up on places and they would mock‑worship them and they got great entertainment out of making fools out of idiots. And the Roman soldiers liked to play this game, too, where they'd take one of their prisoners and they'd make a king out of him and his great crowning event would be when they nailed him to the cross and dropped it in its hole. And so they're playing the game with Jesus and it fits because He claims to be a king and Pilate's going to use it and so he lets them play it. And they get Jesus down there and they cram the thorns into His head, it's a mock crown and they throw and old faded robe on Him and they tell Him He's a king and they stick a phony scepter in His hand and they sit Him up. And then Matthew tells us they walked by and first of all they spit all over Him. And then when they've done that they beat Him in the face with their fists. And they made a caricature of Jesus as a king. The irony of it is that they just didn't know, did they? That indeed He was a King. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You say, "this is so horrible. Why did Jesus have to suffer all of that?" Number one, I think the fact that He claimed to be God was one great reason why they couldn't let up on and they went to such extremes and punishment because, you see, Romans 8:7 says: "The carnal mind is hostility against God." You see, an unsaved man despises the fact of God. And men are opposed to God. And so, you have here this violent reaction against Jesus' claim to be God. Another reason He suffered so greatly is because men are such vile sinners. you read Romans chapter 3 if you want a good identification of humanity. They're throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they have used deceit, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways. How do you like that for a definition? Jesus suffered because men are cruel and vile. Thirdly, Jesus suffered so greatly because this is Satan's hour, the hour of darkness. Don't you remember that why back in Genesis, the Bible tells us the serpent was going to bruise His heel? And don't you remember that Jesus said in Luke 22 verse 53, He said: "This is your hour and the power of darkness?" Who's the power of darkness? Satan. This is Satan's hour and he was giving all his shots. Fourthly, I think Jesus suffered so greatly because He was bearing punishment for our sin and He ... and our sin deserves every possible punishment conceivable, and He bore it all. Read Isaiah 53  4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." Joh 18:38; 19:6 Again Pilot tries to appease the crowd.  He's going to bring out this beaten, pathetic figure with a purple robe mocking royalty on Him and this ridiculous crown of thorns on His head and he's going to tell them, “This is what you're worried about?  This is the threat?”  And that's why he has Him scourged.  5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" Dripping with sarcasm.  Who is Jesus Christ?  The man-God incarnate.  “Behold the man of God!”  No, “Behold the man that I've shredded to nothing and, let me jab you one more time, your king of the Jews.  He's no threat to anyone.  I find Him innocent.” Well, Pilate's efforts don't work.  Verses six and seven, it enrages them.  They are unhappy and they scream out, “Crucify, crucify!” 6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." Ac 3:13 Then verse 6, in desperation Pilate says unto them: " You take Him and crucify Him," "for I find no fault in Him."  It really says Yourselves, you, take Him, I, I, even I find no fault in Him per the Greek Pilate says ‑ You kill Him. Pilate gives them the right of execution in a Roman fashion now. Desperately wants to get rid of Jesus. But you see, they don't want him to get rid of Jesus cause that lets him off the hook and they've got Pilate right where they want him and they're not about to let him get away. And so, Pilate's effort doesn't make it. " You take Him and crucify Him," and for the fifth time he says, "I find no fault in Him." They don't want justice, they don't want a fair court, they don't want a fair hearing, they want Him dead.  Now, Pilate's response is interesting, because he knows they can't crucify Him, so it's clearly a taunt.  “Well, if you don't like what I've done, you bring Him to me with the deck stacked, you want me to just sign off on your condemnation and execute Him, then you go crucify Him.”  He continues to taunt them and mock them all the way down.        Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?              John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.               “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32             Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.              hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don't go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F             The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions [i] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Jn 18:39). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Welcome to Boosting Your Financial IQ. Today, we're diving deep into "The Most Critical Things to Know About Free Cash Flow." Free cash flow (FCF) is a cornerstone metric for investors, analysts, and business leaders alike, offering a window into a company's financial health and operational prowess. Here are the five key takeaways: Firstly, FCF represents the cash generated by a company's operations after deducting capital expenditures. It's the cash available for debt repayment, dividends, and investments. Secondly, positive FCF signals financial strength, while negative FCF may indicate operational challenges. Thirdly, FCF fuels growth initiatives, providing companies with flexibility for expansion. Fourthly, it's a vital gauge of financial health, reflecting a company's ability to meet obligations. Lastly, FCF is instrumental in valuation, guiding investors in assessing a company's intrinsic value. Understanding FCF empowers decision-making and ensures a clearer perspective on financial strategies. Stay tuned for more insights as we navigate the intricacies of financial management.Access the free course "The Million Dollar Blueprint" here > Email Steve your thoughts at steve@byfiq.comHelpful links:Join the Strategic Financial Mastery programJoin Our Free CommunityTrain your team with an on-site workshopDisclaimer:BYFIQ, LLC is a wholly owned entity of Coltivar Group, LLC. The views expressed here are those of the individual Coltivar Group, LLC (“Coltivar”) personnel quoted and are not the views of Coltivar or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, Coltivar has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendations. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. Please see https://www.byfiq.com/terms-and-privacy-policy for additional important information.Support the Show.

Jesus Christ - No longer a baby 3. Jesus is fully Human We looked very briefly yesterday about Jesus being fully God. Today we go further and investigate very briefly at Jesus being fully human. That Jesus was a man who existed is not really disputable. There are a large variety of documents from that period of time about Him, including many and various sources outside the Bible. The primary historical documents about Him, the Bible, state Jesus Christ was born of a woman, which in itself tells us that before he was born he was nurtured and formed as any other male baby was and is. His genealogical line is given and he grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did. These documents we know today as the Bible books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We know from these four ‘biographies’, or gospels, written about him, that in line with his humanity, Jesus exhibited normal human emotions. Emotions such as love, sorrow, joy, anger and anguish. Jesus ate and drank. He had a body and a soul. Jesus grew tired. He slept & perspired. He wept. Jesus died just as all mortal people do. Religiously, Jesus worshipped as a Jew. It is quite clear that the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, considered Jesus to be human in the ordinary every day sense of the word. Particularly Matthew and John, who were two of Jesus’ closest friends. Jesus Christ was human in every way that we are – physically, mentally and emotionally. The only possible exception to this is that Jesus was sinless. How do we know that for certain? Because if Jesus was not without sin, if he had sinned, he too would have been in need of a Saviour! God’s salvation plan for humanity would have been scuppered. Remember that is why Jesus Christ was sent – to fulfil and enact God’s salvation plan for humanity. It is the very clear testimony of all the New Testament writers that Jesus was the Saviour, and not in need of one Himself. So why does Jesus need to be fully human? Firstly, so Jesus could align Himself with us by being our representative before God, so that his death could turn aside God’s anger at our sinfulness. Secondly so that Jesus can be in sympathy with us and pray for us. Thirdly, so Jesus could exhibit true and perfect humanity. Fourthly, so that as a consequence of his perfect humanity, Jesus is the perfect example for us to follow. In Jesus Christ, the God-man, we see that God is a personal God. A God who wants to interact with us and communicate to us! WOW! Tomorrow we will go on to see the reason for God needing to become a human. Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 I often hear people being described as gifted. They may be a particularly able pianist, flower arranger or speaker. I understand what is being said, but it could be misleading. It seems to suggest that there are two types of people – those who are gifted and those who are, sadly, not gifted at all. This passage makes it clear that every one of us is gifted. Whatever your age, strength, ability or disability, background or temperament you have got a unique gift that God, in his generosity, has given to you. Our task is therefore to discover the gift that God has given to us and to make sure that we use it. People have often told me that they don't know what their gift is. If that's true of you let me offer you a very simple five-step plan. Firstly, thank God for your gift, even though you haven't worked out what it is yet. Secondly, ask God what your gift is. Since he has gone to the trouble of giving it to you, we can assume that he would love you to know what it is. Thirdly, open your eyes. Look around you and see if you can spot what your gift is, because it is often very obvious. To be honest, the problem can be that we know exactly what our gift is and would prefer that we had been given a different one. Fourthly, if you still haven't worked out what your gift is, ask someone who knows you well. I suspect that they will be very clear what your gift is. Then, fifthly, use this gift and remember to keep thanking God for it. Question What is your gift and how are you using it? Prayer Dear Lord, thank you for the gift that you have given me. Help me to use it effectively. Amen

There's at least one important principle of advertising we need to consider today, and that is you have to demonstrate the need for your product in order to sell it. I'll tell you someone who was good at it some years ago in one of the classic commercials. It was Alka-Seltzer, one of those old commercials I still remember. They would show some irresponsible eater who consumed some nightmare menu, and then the camera just made him look all distorted, like one of those trick mirrors. I still remember the one with that poor guy holding his stomach and he's going in and out of focus, and he says, "I ate too much. I ate too fast. I ate too much. I ate too fast." Actually a lot of us don't really eat our food, we inhale it, we gobble it, we basically gulp it. And sometimes we lose it because of the way we ate it. Just because you ate it doesn't mean it's going to do you any good. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Bible - So Much More than Checking the Box." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua 1:8. Joshua is facing the great challenge of his life. He's preparing to enter the Promised Land - this great leadership challenge of taking God's people in. Here's God's word to him, "Do not let this Book of the Law" - the Bible, that is - "depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Now, if you dig into this verse, you find that there's an implied eating image here. We started out talking about how we eat, and this verse is about that. In fact, the Hebrew word for meditate is literally the word that's used to describe a cow chewing its cud. Now, I don't know what all cows are good at, but I know that they are the world's best chewers. Man, you've got to hand that to them. They just keep on chewing it! Well, God says, "I want you to keep chewing on what you get out of My Book." He wants us to do that with our daily intake from the Bible. Frankly, most of us don't. We just sort of stuff in some verses - "I ate too fast." And we never think about them again. That has two results. Even though we're reading the Bible, there's no real growth. We stay spiritually undernourished with a superficial faith. Secondly, if you keep stuffing in the Bible without chewing it properly, you get indigestion. The Bible starts to be dull and boring, and you say, "I'm not getting anything out of it." Well, of course not! You're not chewing it. That's how you get the good out of spiritual food. How do you chew spiritual food? Let me quickly give you seven steps in chewing your spiritual food. Compare it with what you're doing now. Number one, take in only a few verses - bite-size chunks. Two, go over them a few times. Three, look for a connection to something that you're going to face today. How does what God's saying connect with something in your life? Fourthly, pray back to God that connection that you found. Ask for Him to help you make that verse literally a part of that situation that day. And then fifth, write down what you digested. As you write it, it will deepen your understanding and it will deepen your commitment to Him. And then six, consciously refer back to it throughout the day; keep going back to that sentence, that phrase out of the Bible. And finally, go to sleep that night reviewing your word for today from the Word of God and how well you activated it. This command is followed by a great promise. If you do it you'll be prosperous and successful. In-gesting the Bible, it isn't enough; you only get its value if you di-gest it. So, when it comes to your daily Bible breakfast, chew your food properly.

WOW Jesus Fully Human At Christmas, we celebrate when God became human, in what we call the incarnation. But could God really enter this world as a human? As Christians, we believe that God did indeed enter our messed up world, as a man – the man Jesus Christ. That Jesus was a man is not really disputable. The primary documents about Him, found in the Bible, says that he was born of a woman, which in itself tells us that at least in a prenatal state he was nurtured and formed as any other male baby was and is. His genealogical line is given and He grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did. His birth was messy, just as any child’s birth was 2000 years ago, let alone all that was going on behind the scenes! With his humanity, and being fully human, Jesus exhibited normal human emotions such as love, happiness, joy, laughter, weeping, sadness, anger and anguish. Jesus ate and drank. Jesus grew tired. Jesus slept, perspired and bled. Jesus died just as all humans do. Religiously, he worshipped as a Jew. Not only these facts, but the 4 ‘biographies’ or gospels written about him acknowledge his humanity. He was human in every way that we are - physically, mentally and emotionally. The only exception to this, is that he was sinless. Yet we must ask, could Jesus have sinned? Yes he was tempted just as we are, but could Jesus really have succumbed to temptation? We must conclude that while he could have sinned, it was certain he would not and did not. For if He had sinned, he would have been in need of a saviour Himself! And that of course, is an untenable position. Why did Jesus need to fully human? Firstly, so Jesus death could appease God’s anger with us. Secondly so that Jesus can empathize and pray for us. Thirdly, Jesus exhibited true and perfect humanity. Fourthly, due to his perfect humanity, Jesus is to be our example to follow. Fifthly, true human nature is good. Lastly, while God is both above and beyond, He is not so far removed from us, that He cannot interact with his creation. Let us now look at some of the major errors or heresies mad ein history concerning the humanity of Jesus. Ebionite - Jewish heresy. Jesus was a man who received divine power at His baptism. Docetist - believed that the material world was evil (Common Greek & Eastern idea). So Jesus could not have had a real body, He only appeared to be human, denying His deity. Arian - 4th Century. Arius taught that Christ was a created being, trying to explain the idea of Christ being the 'firstborn' or 'begotten'. Denied the deity of Christ Apollinarian - taught that Christ had a human body and soul, but that His spirit was divine. Denies the humanity of Christ. Nestorian - 5th Century. Denied the union of the divine and human natures in Christ. Christ became 2 people (man and God) in one body. Eutychian - 5th Century. Mixed divine and human natures to create a third type of person. The human nature was absorbed into the divine. Sadly though, even in some parts of the church today, these errors and heresies are repeated. The Jesus of history was fully human, just as he was also fully God – and that’s what we will look at next time. Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file

Pilate's soul hangs in the balance as he puts Jesus Christ on trial and declares the innocent one guilty. The question lingers... are you doing the same? - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - This morning I had the privilege to sit again in the “Discovering Christ” class, which is a class we have every week to study the person and work of Christ based on the Gospel of Mark. I was struck again as we began the cycle. We're looking at infinite majesty of the person of Christ. That's the purpose of the Gospel of Mark. It depicts Jesus in His remarkable person, His authority, declared to be the son of God at His baptism by a voice that came from heaven when heaven was torn apart and a dove came down and a voice said, "This is My Son whom I love; with Him, I'm well pleased." Then Jesus begins his ministry, teaching in a way that no one had ever heard before with authority, the ability to speak the truth of God in a powerful way, authoritative way- “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.” Then as a demon possessed young man is there, to be able to instantly drive out the demon with a word. The demons were terrified of Jesus. He had no fear of them; He absolute authority over demons. Then there was every disease and sickness known to man. There was no disease or sickness He could not cure effortlessly, instantaneously, personally, effectively, every disease and sickness. We see His ability to control the wind and the waves when He was in the boat. A raging storm came down and the boat was filling with water. Jesus was asleep, then got up and stretched His hand over the wind and the waves and said, "Peace, be still." Instantly they obeyed His voice. “What kind of man is this? Even the wind in the waves obey him.” He revealed power over death as He raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. He said, "Talitha Cumi, little girl, I say to you, get up,” and her spirit returned to her and she got up. For Him, death and sleep were no different. It's just the same as waking a girl up from sleep. That's how powerful Jesus is over death, but even more, His authority over sin, His ability to declare to a sinner, your sins are forgiven and they are. This man that we've been learning about now in fourteen chapters now going into the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark is on trial before Pontius Pilate, on trial for His life, the only perfectly good man that's ever been. On trial for what? What did He do except love God with all of His heart, soul, mind and strength and love His neighbor perfectly as Himself and didn't break any of God's laws or man's laws ever. He's on trial before Pontius Pilate. Things are not, however, as they appear. If we had been transported back in time and we were there, we'd see this prisoner arrested on trial before the Roman procurator, on trial for his life. But the reality is much different. It was determined in the mind of God that Jesus should die for the sins of the world and that that would be the process whereby it would happen. It was a foregone conclusion. What's really going on in this account of Jesus before Pilot is that Pilot's on trial, actually. Pilot's on trial. In order to make that case and to make it then relevant to us, I'm going to... often I just stick with the words of Mark. But this morning I'm going to be reaching out to all four Gospels. I would say especially John 18:28-19:16 which probably puts the trial of Pilot himself more clearly than any of the other gospels. I'll be leaning on that, but also some things from Matthew. Whereas Pilot thought that he was evaluating and judging Jesus, the reality was that he was on trial and through him, all of us are, we all have a decision to make about Jesus because the Bible reveals that someday we're going to stand before his Judgment Seat. The only way we're going to survive that is if in this world, in this time now we have, come to personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Only that way will we survive judgment day, only that way. So here's Pilot judging, the only perfectly innocent man that has ever lived and by condemning Jesus to death, a man Pilot again and again asserts publicly that He is innocent. A man he may well have believed was supernatural and incarnation of sorts. We'll talk about that. He was actually destroying his conscience and condemning his own soul, he did it, we're told in the text, to please the crowd. Behind that we can say, he was trying to save his life and his job. But Jesus put it so plainly in Mark 8:36, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?" I don't know if Pilate ever did repent of his sins and trust in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, I have no idea. But if he didn't, he'll spend all eternity wishing for this moment back. The real question in front of all of us, what about us? What about you? Not just that personal moment of repentance and faith in Jesus, but understanding really what this passage teaches us. There's so many lessons here. We're going to see how God orchestrated in providence the condemnation of Jesus before the Roman procurator, before any of these things came to be, that God moved providential wheels to give the Jews, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin power over Pilate, so he would do what they wanted him to do, though he didn't want to do it. We're going to walk through that and learn providence. Now overall, the purpose of this account, like any account in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is summed up in John's purpose statement in John 20:31, "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing may have life in His name." So that's the purpose today. 1. The Charge Against the Silent Jesus: “King of the Jews” Let's walk through the trial. Let's see what happens in Mark's account, but then looking at the others as well. In the charge against Jesus... Jesus is arraigned before Pilate, the religious phase of the trial is over. The Jewish leaders had come to their decision. Look at verse 1, “Very early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, the teacher of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.” They have condemned Jesus to death, but they can't kill him, as much as they would like to. The Romans took away the power of that local body to execute people. The Romans retain that right, so they needed Pilate's involvement. They deeply wanted to put Jesus to death. They wanted him killed. Now we notice in John's account the hypocrisy of these Jewish religious leaders. In John 18:28, "Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, the Jews did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.” This is disgusting, religious hypocrisy. They maintained an outward appearance of spirituality and legality, but their whole purpose that morning was to murder an innocent man and not just any innocent man but to kill the glorious Son of God. But they're maintaining a certain pattern of religiosity so they can go through their rituals. Pilate asks Him this question, verse 2, "Are you the King of the Jews?" That's how it begins. This was the charge the Jews had figured would work with the Roman governor. They had tried to get him, as we know earlier in Mark's Gospel, on tax evasion, saying you don't need to pay taxes to Caesar, but Jesus openly asserted that they did. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's." So that didn't work out, but this “King of the Jews” charge was weighty because it implied a threat to Roman interest in the area. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus’ enemies took another approach. In Luke 23:5, they insisted, "He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here." That basically is a charge that He's a rabble rouser, He's an insurrectionist. Ironically, Barabbas, the very one they chose instead of Jesus, was openly an insurrectionist. So are you for or against insurrectionists? In Luke 23:19, "Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder." Pilate zeroes in on this question, this charge, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus gives a very interesting answer. In verse 2, "You have said it," or, "Yes, it is as you say," there are different translations. In Matthew 27:11, "You have said it." What does that mean? It’s somewhat mysterious. Perhaps Jesus meant the words like this, “Yes, it is as you say, but it's not what you mean or not how you mean. Or, you have said it but you really don't understand it.” In John 18, he goes into it in more detail. In John 18:36-38, "'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews, but now my kingdom is from another place.' 'You are a king then,' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.' 'What is truth?' Pilate asked." That's a more in-depth conversation on Jesus's kingship. Jesus's kingdom is infinitely more powerful and more complex, more spiritual than Pilate could possibly imagine, but it's an entirely different thing than he was thinking when he asked, "Are you the King of the Jews?" So was He? Was Jesus King of the Jews? Answer: Absolutely, yes. As a matter of fact, that's the purpose of the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The first thing taught in the New Testament about Jesus is that He is the son of David, meaning King of the Jews. That's true, yes, He was King of the Jews, but not the way anyone thought, not the way His disciples thought, not the way anybody on earth thought. Yes, He's King of the Jews, but certainly not the way Pilate thought. Actually, Jesus is more than just King of the Jews. In Zechariah 9:10 it says, "He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth." So not just King of the Jews, but yes, King of the Jews. Was Jesus a threat? Was Jesus a threat to Pilate? Was Jesus a threat to Caesar? Was Jesus a threat to Rome? Answer: yes and no. Let's say no and yes. Jesus is no threat to lead an immediate political insurrection against Pontius Pilate and Judea or Caesar and the Roman Empire. But Jesus threatened Pilate and Caesar with eternal damnation. Jesus' kingdom is vastly more powerful than any earthly ruler could ever imagine. When Christ returns, He will set up a kingdom that will destroy all other kingdoms and will itself never be destroyed. This is the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2, it says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.” This is the meaning of the vision of a rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. The rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. Those represent empires. All empires come to an end at the Second Coming of Christ, and Jesus's kingdom established will reign forever and ever. The account is given in Revelation 19 of the Second Coming, "Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule him with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty and on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords." "Jesus is no threat to lead an immediate political insurrection against Pontius Pilate and Judea or Caesar and the Roman Empire. But Jesus threatened Pilate and Caesar with eternal damnation." Is Jesus a threat? Absolutely. Just not the way the Pilate was thinking. Jesus responds in silence, in direct fulfillment of prophecy. Look at verses 3-5, the chief priests accused Him of many things. Again, Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they're accusing you of." But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. This is in direct fulfillment of course, of Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." Why not? Why was Jesus silent? There's a horizontal and a vertical aspect of Jesus' silence. Horizontally, He's silent because the trial is completely corrupt and unjust, and there's nothing He can say that will change it, and He's very aware of that. There's no point in Him saying anything. As He says in Luke 22:67-68, "'If you are the Christ,' they said, 'tell us.' Jesus answered, 'If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you a question, you would not answer.'" So He's openly saying, "What's the point?” Horizontally, there's no point in Him answering. Vertically, He must be silent because He's our sin bearer and there's nothing we can say in response to defend ourselves. We are guilty. We have broken God's laws and He has taken our sins on Himself and cannot reply to Almighty God, and so He must be silent, vertically. Pilate was amazed at the silence. He had never seen any prisoner behave like this man. As procurator with the power of life, death, he was used to seeing prisoners in many different states. Some might beg and plead for their lives, groveling on the ground. Some might be terrified, unable to speak because of terror, paralyzed. Some might be sullen or defiant or louder defiant. But Jesus had a supernatural calm to Him and a peace to Him. In the Gospel account, especially in John, there's a sense that He's in charge of the whole process. He has no fear at all. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Pilot's never seen a man like this before. Never. Proverbs 16:32, "Better a patient man than a warrior. A man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Jesus was in absolute control of Himself, of His emotions, of His reactions at every moment. He was infinitely strong. 2. Pontius Pilate on Trial It really is Pontius Pilate on trial. Look at verses 6-15, “That was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilot to do for them what he usually did. ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews,’ asked Pilot, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilot release Barabbas instead. ‘What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews,’ Pilot asked them. ‘Crucify him,’ they answered. ‘Why? What crime has he committed,’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.” Pilot's on trial here, though he doesn't know it. As we look at John's account, we can see that Pilot again and again and again tries to release Jesus. It's his top priority it seems, below self-interest. He wants to release Jesus, he wants to set him free. Pilot knows that Jesus is innocent. In our text he says he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. Pilot has undoubtedly heard about Jesus's miracles and the power that surrounded His ministry. Thirdly, Greeks and Romans frequently believed that the gods and goddesses took on human bodies and mucked around in human life and did human things and got into human affairs, and they believed this. There's biblical support of this conception. In the book of Acts, in Acts 14:11-12 when Paul and Barnabas were ministering in Lystra and did a healing miracle, it says, "When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in Lyconian language, 'The Gods have come down to us in human form.'" That's it right there. Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul, they called Hermes. They tried to offer sacrifices to them. This idea of gods taking on human bodies was well established in Greek and Roman culture. Fourthly, we have Pilate's wife who had a dream about Jesus and sends him a message during the trial about the dream, and we'll get back to that in a moment. John's Gospel, therefore, makes it plain that Pontius Pilate was afraid of Jesus. Most of the depictions of the trial do not show this aspect of Pilate, but he was afraid of Jesus. In John 19:7-9, “The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from,’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” What do you think was in his mind when he asked him that question? Are you a God? That's what he's asking. But however afraid he was of Jesus, he was even more afraid of what the Jews would do to him if he didn't do what they wanted. Now to get this background, we have to turn to a Jewish historian named Josephus, who tells us what the early stages of Pontius Pilate's rule was like in Judea. It was bad. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived shortly after Jesus, and he gives us insights. Pilate ruled the Roman province of Judea from 26-36 AD. Once he was established in his position, he quickly offended the Jews multiple times by his high-handed and arrogant treatment of the Jewish people. Right away he marches into Jerusalem and sets up the Roman Eagles in the temple itself. The Roman Eagles were looked on by the Romans and therefore by the Jews as idols, representatives of Caesar's power. For him to put them physically in the temple was incredibly offensive to the Jews. They assembled and demanded that he remove the Eagles. Pilate refused and threatened the Jewish mob with slaughter if they didn't disperse. Undaunted, the Jews bared their necks and said, "Go ahead and kill us. We're not leaving." So Pilate backed down, losing face and authority with them. Soon after that, he offended the Jews again with his handling of a public aqueduct conflict. Again, the Jews assembled a protest. Pilot had the crowd infiltrated with plain clothes Romans, bearing swords. When the Jews refused to disperse again, Pilot gave the signal and the soldiers slaughtered many of the Jews. Jesus talks about this, how Pilot had mingled their blood with their sacrifices. He killed a lot of Jews that day. But the Emperor Tiberius was so angry at Pilot for his mismanagement because if he's stirring up trouble, Caesar will have to send more troops to the region. This is key. He was under orders to keep things quiet and orderly and get along with the Jews. These two things happened before Jesus's trial. Do you not see the hand of God in all this? He's giving to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the high priests, the chief priests, power over Pilot and they traded it in, in John's Gospel. No doubt about it. It says in John 19:12, "From then on Pilot tried to set Jesus free." You see that statement? He wants to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar's. Anyone who claims to be a king, opposes Caesar." They're clearly threatening to go to Tiberius, to go over his head. There's no doubt about it. Now, as I said, Pilot's conviction is that Jesus was completely innocent. He knew it was out of envy that the chief priest had handed Jesus over to him. Three times in John's Gospel, he declares publicly that Jesus was innocent of any charge at all. John 18:38, "I find no fault in him." John 19:4, "Look, I'm bringing you out to let you know I find no fault in him." And then verse 6, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against." That's three times a public assertion of Jesus's innocence. Set him free, you’re in charge. Set him free if he's innocent. This whole conviction is even more greatly strengthened by his wife's dream. Matthew 27:19, "While Pilot was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message. 'Don't have anything to do with that innocent man.'" Innocent man. "For I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him." What effect do you think that message would've had on Pilot in the middle of this? In John's account, he goes out to the Jews and back to Jesus. He goes out. He's going back and forth. He doesn't know what to do. He's like a trapped animal. All of this was orchestrated by God. Why? Because He wanted to give His only-begotten son, in your place, as an atonement for your sins to bring you to heaven. That's why, and Jesus was equally determined to die for you and me. That's why all this was happening. Now he tries the clever attempt. One of the things he tries is, "Oh wait, yeah, it's the feast. I can release a prisoner. I got an idea. Let's do that.” It was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people had requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists, who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. Pilate brings it up in John's Gospel. They both remember this custom. "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews," asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. However, this clever attempt to get out of this whole thing was thwarted by the Jewish leaders. In verse 11, the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. I don't know how they did that, but they were running the show here. They had infiltrated the crowd. They had whispered, they'd called in IOUs, maybe bribed some people, got some people to shout things out for Barabbas and then shout, "Crucify!" for Jesus. They manipulate the crowd into a maniacal frenzy. "What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews," Pilate asked them. "Crucify him!" they shouted. "Why? What crime has he committed? He's innocent." But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!” In Matthew's account, "Pilate saw he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting." It's a frenzy. Satan must've been stirring this whole thing on as well. It was Satan that was in Judas Iscariot to orchestrate this whole thing. Satan's fanning this whole thing into a flame because he was a murderer and he hates the Son of God and wants him killed. The sinlessness of Jesus is clearly established. The roots of the chief priests and elders, their wicked hatred for Jesus was envy, greed, and power. The crowd vacillating just a week before shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna!" Now they're yelling, "Crucify, crucify!" This is the culmination of Jesus's rejection by His own people. He's been officially rejected by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. He's officially condemned to death, but now the people are shouting for His death. "He came to his own and his own did not receive him." [John 1:11]. In Matthew 27, this stunning statement is made, "When Pilot saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I'm innocent of this man's blood,' he said. 'It's your responsibility.' And all the people answered, 'Let his blood be on us and on our children.’" 3. Jesus’ Blood on the Jewish Nation (Matthew’s Gospel) Wow, what a statement. What does that mean? “Let his blood be on us,” mean we'll take responsibility. It's a common Jewish expression. Like in Leviticus 20:9, "If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother and his blood will be on his own head." In other words, he's responsible for what's coming to him. That's their way of saying, "We will take responsibility, let his blood be on us and on our children." This is the very thing that Jesus said would happen in Matthew 23, after the seven-fold woes. "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees." After all that He says, "'Therefore, I'm sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you'll kill and crucify. Others, you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come down on this generation.’" They are going to be responsible for it all. They're willing to take responsibility for the death of Jesus. Later they try to shirk this responsibility. In Acts 5, they said to the apostles, "You filled Jerusalem with your teaching and to determine to make us guilty of this man's blood." Well, you are, you are. So that's the first sense, that's the darkest sense. But there's another sense of “Let his blood be on us and on our children,” a much better sense. Because it is only by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that our sins are forgiven, that our sins are forgiven. At present through unbelief, the blood of Jesus is upon them and their children for condemnation and for guilt, but if any individual Jewish person repents of his or her sins and trusts in Christ, His blood will be on them to cleanse them from all their sins, just as it's on us for salvation and cleansing. For God delivered Jesus over as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. It is by the blood of Jesus, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. I believe that at the end of history, there'll be a massive turning of ethnic Jews physically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to faith in Jesus, and His blood will be on Abraham's children for salvation. As it says in Romans 11, "And so all Israel be saved, as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion; he'll turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” "For God delivered Jesus over as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. It is by the blood of Jesus, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." IV. The Final Verdict The final verdict is given by Pilot. In verse 15, "Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed them over to be crucified." Pilot could not evade responsibility. He washes his hands, but he's responsible for what he did. He rendered a verdict, guilty, death on a cross, but it violated his conscience. He knew he wasn't guilty. Was it really Pilot who handed Jesus over to be crucified? It was at the human level, but as I've already said, Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare His own son but delivered Him up for us all. How will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Interesting, at the moment that He was delivered over to be crucified, Barabbas was set free. That's marvelous, isn't it? It's an interesting picture. The guilty set free, the innocent dies. This is a picture of substitutionary atonement. As 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous to bring you to God." Barabbas represents a disgusting, vile murderous sinner who's set free from condemnation death by Jesus. I'm not saying Barabbas is in heaven. I hope so. Wouldn't it be great to meet him and say, "Generations have been talking about you, now here you are." But we don't know. We have no knowledge, but I'm just saying he's a picture of a guilty person set free and not having to pay the penalty that we deserve. Concerning the flogging, it was a hideous punishment. Picture a rod of wood and long leather straps with bits of bone and metal at the end, like a whip, only enhanced. The straps would wrap around the victim's body and then rip flesh off that victim's back. It was a hideous torture. If done enough, it would be lethal. It was done to weaken the victim before the crucifixion, so he ordered that it be done. Why? He was innocent. In John's Gospel, it was used as one of the steps that he tried to appease the people, but it didn't work. Here it is written at the end. It's beautiful because in Isaiah 53:5 it says, "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, sometimes translated stripes, we are healed.” As 1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” V. Applications First of all, the judgment theme. You've heard the evidence, you have the information. You're sitting, in some sense, in judgment on Jesus. You're deciding about Jesus. God gives you that time to do that. Make a right judgment. Evaluate Him properly. Look at the evidence. I began the sermon with the marvels of the person of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark. Make a right judgment about Jesus and trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul. Don't do what Pilate did. Make a right judgment about Jesus. Secondly, understand what's going on here. I've said it two or three times, I'll say it one final time. This account is evidence of God's sovereign control over human history, His orchestration of events, His maneuvering of people and positioning of people because He's sovereign over everything that happens on earth. What He was doing was giving the Jews power over Pontius Pilate so that he would condemn an innocent man to death. What God's intention was to give Jesus as a Savior for your sin. Again here, Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things?" What is the “all things”? I've been thinking about different pastoral circumstances that I'm walking through right now with different people in the church. It could be medical, it could be relational, it could be a sin problem, it could be financial. There's all kinds of things going on all the time in the life of the church. I don't know what's happening in all your lives.The things that you're yearning for are significant, they’re important. Romans 8:32 doesn't minimize. It's just saying, "With God already having given his only-begotten Son, everything else in the universe is lesser than that to Him. He would not withhold from you anything that would further His purpose in your life, which is to save your soul, use you in this world, and then take you to heaven.” Understand that's what's going on in this trial here. Thirdly, rejoice in God's sovereignty over wicked, unjust human governments. As we go through a political process in this nation, and we wonder who's going to get elected president or lesser roles, and not just our country, but around the world, we can see evidence of this kind of selfishness and weakness and caving into the crowd and injustice. Isn't it wonderful to know that God is sovereign over that whole thing and rules actively over it for His own purposes, for His own glory, and for the good of His people? Fourth, look at the fickleness of the crowd here. "Hosanna," one week, a week later, “Crucify," and distrust your own loyalty to Jesus. Say, "Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Help me not to be fickle and weak and vacillating in my love for Jesus." Finally, it's time now to get our hearts ready for the Lord's Supper. I'm going to close the sermon time and prayer ,and we're going to transition to the Lord's Supper. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for its power. We thank you for this account of the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Now as we give our attention to the Lord's Supper, we pray that you would be with us in this time. In Jesus' name, Amen.

17. Jesus the Risen King 1 Corinthians 15:1-8: Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark Luke and John, all tell us that Jesus was crucified, died and was buried in a tomb. What do these four Gospels say about the resurrection and Jesus’ rising from the dead? Let us first look at the sequence of events over the period of time after Jesus death till He ascended. Some of the sequence events have more than one Gospel reporting them, but for brevity, I will only give one reference to Scripture. The tomb is empty Two Marys watch the burial: Matthew27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke23:54-55, Roman soldiers guard the tomb: Matthew 27:62-66, Women prepare spices then rest: Luke 23:56, An angel rolls the stone away: Matthew 28:2-4 Women arrive at dawn with spices: Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1-4, Luke 24:1-3, John 20:1 Angels appear to women: Matthew 28:5-7, Mark 16:5-7, Luke 24:4-8, Women dart back to tell disciples: Matthew 28:8, Mark 16:8, Luke 24:9-11, John 20:2 Peter and John investigate the empty tomb: Luke 24:12, John 20:3-9 Peter and John go home: Luke 24:12, John 20:10 Mary Magdalene weeps by the tomb: John 20:11 Mary sees two angels: John 20:12-13 Jesus’ appearances Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene: Mark 16:9, John 20:14-17 Jesus appears to the other women: Matthew 28:9-10, Women report to the disciples: Mark 16:10-11, John 20:18 Guards testify to the priests: Matthew 28:11-15, Jesus meets two people on the Emmaus Road: Mark 16:12-13, Luke 24:13-32, Jesus appears to Simon Peter: 1 Corinthians 15:5, Luke 24:34, 2 report to disciples in Jerusalem: Luke 24:33-35, Jesus appears to the Disciples less Thomas: Luke 24:36-43, John 20:19-24 Disciples report to Thomas: John 20:25 Jesus appears to the Disciples and Thomas: Mark 16:14, John 20:26-29 Jesus appears to seven people: John 21:1-14 Jesus questions Peter 3 times: John 21:15-23 Jesus appears to 500 people: 1 Corinthians 15:6 Jesus appears to James: 1 Corinthians 15:7 Evidences for the resurrection These facts remain for the resurrection: The changed attitude of the disciples after seeing the risen Jesus. They changed from defeated, cowardly people to victorious, brave people. Nobody who could have produced the dead body of Jesus, did so. Their silence is as significant as the preaching of the Apostles. The multiple appearances of Jesus to various numbers of individuals and groups of people at various times of the day and in differing circumstances. The survival and inordinate growth and impact of the early church. If there was no bodily resurrection of Jesus’ would people really have risked persecution and death for a knowing lie? Dealing with Doubters Let’s say Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. Surely the authorities would have produced his dead body in order to quench the new movement! But they didn’t. Secondly, would the disciples have really risked death for telling and maintaining a lie about the risen Jesus? They were beaten, confused and defeated men until they saw Jesus truly did rise from the dead. After seeing Him, they were transformed and victorious people. Thirdly, somebody stole the body. Hardly likely, and if that did occur, for what reason? How would they have got past the Roman Guard and moved the stone a great distance from the tomb? Fourthly, Jesus didn’t die but merely fainted and recovered consciousness in the tomb. Even the sceptics disagree with this theory, one of whom said “It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the sepulchre, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence, and who still at last yielded to His sufferings, could have given to the disciples the impression that he was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life”. Fifthly, they all went to the wrong tomb. Whilst one person may have gone to a wrong tomb, not everyone would have done. Lastly, Jesus didn’t die on the cross but somebody was substituted for him. This is certainly untenable, given the rigidity and strict record keeping of Roman rule and with the eyes of the Jewish hierarchy watching. Significance of the Resurrection The resurrection of Jesus Christ provided the central theme for the sermons and teaching in the early church (Acts 1:22; Acts 4:33, Acts 17:18). But what significance is there in Jesus’ resurrection? The resurrection proved and vindicated all Jesus’ teaching and claims as the suffering Servant and attested to his being fully God and the last Judge of all mankind (Isaiah 53:10-12; Acts 2:36; Acts 3:13-15; Romans 1:4). Declared God’s approval of Jesus’ obedient service and the fulfilment of all the Old Testament promises, resulting in forgiveness of sins and salvation being only found in and through Jesus Christ, which was the prime motive for evangelism in the early church (Acts 2:32, Romans 4:24-25) Jesus’ resurrection is a sign of the bodily resurrection for all believers in him, giving a new attitude to death and transforming hopes (1 Corinthians 15:12-58, Romans 8:10, 2 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Peter 1:3 & 21) As the resurrected King, Jesus now intercedes for us and has perfected the redemption of all those who choose to follow him (Romans 5:10; Hebrews 6:20, 1 Peter 1:21). Jesus still meets people today As Jesus is still living, he meets with people at the present time. How does he do this? Jesus walks with us, whereever we go and in particular in the darkest periods of our life. Just as he did with the two people on the road to Emmaus, he walks with those who claim to follow him (Mark 16:12-13, Luke 24:13-32). Jesus speaks whenever the Bible is faithfully preached and read from, just as he opened the eyes of those on the Emmaus road when he explained the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). Jesus meets us in the Communion, with the bread and wine, which symbolise his flesh and blood. For more to think about please do read John 20 & 21. Ask yourself the following questions and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together. Q1. How does my faith journey compare to that of Thomas’? Q2. What can I learn from Peter and the responses he gave? Q3. How do I still encounter the risen Lord in my daily walk with him? Tap or click here to save this podcast episode as a mp3

Get our free real estate course and newsletter: GRE Letter Time, health, and money are three key resources in your life. Learn about their trade-offs. “It's not at what age I want to retire, it's at what income.” -George Foreman I discuss at least three definitions of retirement: 1-The time of life when one permanently chooses to leave the workforce. 2-To remove from service. 3-When you become job-optional. 4-When you stop doing mandatory income-producing activities. Social security, pensions, 401(k)s, and residual income from real estate and stocks are all discussed. Compound interest is faulty. Compound leverage can help you retire young. “After the first $2M-$3M, a paid off home, and a good car, there is no difference in the quality of life between you and Jeff Bezos.” We discuss.  I briefly cover the antitrust case against the NAR, making the 5-6% commission paid by the seller largely a thing of the past. Rents are up 2% annually, the biggest gain in thirteen months, per Redfin. Learn 15 reasons why single-family rentals beat apartments.  I discuss two specific addresses—one in Memphis and one in Little Rock. Our Investment Coaches help you free with these and other income properties and your strategy at GREmarketplace.com.   Resources mentioned: Show Page: GetRichEducation.com/494 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  You get paid first: Text FAMILY to 66866 Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search “how to leave an Apple Podcasts review”  Top Properties & Providers: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREmarketplace.com/Coach Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Keith's personal Instagram: @keithweinhold   Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold (00:00:01) - Welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Do you want to retire? What is the definition of retirement today, anyway? In fact, with just 2 or $3 million, would you be as happy as the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos? I'll break that down. Then I discuss key trends in the rental housing market today on get Rich education. When you want the best real estate and finance info, the modern internet experience limits your free articles access, and it's replete with paywalls. And you've got pop ups and push notifications and cookies. Disclaimers are. At no other time in history has it been more vital to place nice, clean, free content into your hands that actually adds no hype value to your life? See, this is the golden age of quality newsletters, and I write every word of ours myself. It's got a dash of humor and it's to the point to get the letter. It couldn't be more simple. Text GRE to 66866. And when you start the free newsletter, you'll also get my one hour fast real estate course completely free.   Keith Weinhold (00:01:16) - It's called the Don't Quit Your Daydream letter and it wires your mind for wealth. Make sure you read it. Text gray to 66866. Text gray 266866.   Corey Coates (00:01:33) - You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold (00:01:49) - We're going to go from Andover, England, to Andover, Massachusetts, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to Get Rich education. Around here, we say that financially free beats debt free. And for many, financially free means retirement. Now, you might be far from retirement, but those with the most foresight are those that begin with the end in mind. And it can be rather dreamy for some to think about retirement and then others don't want to retire. I'm asking you, do you want to retire? Do you ever want to retire? In fact, we posed that very question to our general education audience. I've got those results that I'll share with you here later, and it is really interesting.   Keith Weinhold (00:02:41) - But let me give you some perspective. First, I think that some young people fall into the trap of daydreaming about retirement. Oh, you might want to retire someday, but look, you can't dream about it too much. You've got to live in the moment. Because if you retire a traditional retirement age, those people tend to look back on their younger years and regret the things that they didn't try when they were younger. Don't quit your day dream, but don't dream about older age too much when you're younger. With the wealth building concepts that we discuss here on the show every week, you don't have to be that old when you retire to me. What sets the stage for you being able to retire is when you reach the point of being job optional. At what point are you job optional? That is a key turning point and for you, as soon as you're job optional. You might want to retire at that point, but you don't want to retire so soon that things will be iffy on whether or not you run out of money before you run out of life.   Keith Weinhold (00:03:49) - The best way to avoid that situation is to build your residual outside of work income alongside you during your working years, and then you won't have to merely guess on if a certain lump sum amount is going to be accumulated and sufficient. Now, one definition that I like for retirement is that you stop doing income producing activities that you don't want to do. All right. That's one definition. What you've done there is that you stopped sacrificing today for some imaginary tomorrow. If you stop doing those mandatory income producing activities. Look, you've got three key resources in your life time, health, and money. When you're younger, you'll trade away your time and even your health for money. That's because you feel like you have an abundance of time and health and not much money yet. But as you progress through life continuing to make this trade, your time and your health become more scarce, resources no longer abundant ones, there will come a point in your life where working will cost you more than retiring. You don't want to get to that point.   Keith Weinhold (00:05:09) - Now. You probably see no sheets of paper with the squares that you can hang up. There's 52 boxes in a year and is divided into 90 sections, one for each year of your life. And it shows you graphically in your face how many weeks and years you really have left. And by the way, I cannot get myself to hang up one of those sheets. That is just too much of an in my face reminder of my own mortality. Okay, I'm not doing that, but what do you like to do? Do you like canoeing or reading books or running in five K races? Well, if you read five books a year and you're going to live 50 more years, let's just 250 books for the rest of your life. Now, that sounds like quite a few, but when you're done, you're done. Do you have some best friends that you see, say, once a year? Do you live a long ways from your parents and you only see them once or twice annually, or at this rate, then you might only see your friends, say 31 more times.   Keith Weinhold (00:06:17) - And if your parents are older, what if you only see them 18 more times? That might sound like quite a few, but when that's done, that is done. Now this can get a little depressing. But what I'm helping you do here is identify what's important to you in your life. A lot of people don't have any real hobbies outside of their jobs. People feel sad and unfulfilled and can never see themselves retiring when this is the case. Now, you might enjoy drinking with your friends. All right. Sure, but that's not a real hobby. Hopefully you have the ambition to know that there are a lot of things that you really want to do, and you need to find the time in order to do those things. Well, here's the good news you are the one that's in control of how much of your time on earth you spend doing those activities are spending time with those people. Now, I was chatting with one woman about retirement. Gosh, this was interesting. And she told me that she doesn't want to retire.   Keith Weinhold (00:07:23) - Okay, well, she justified her stance by saying, who wants to stay at home? And I'm thinking, who wants to stay at home? I found that a really curious answer. Why does retirement mean staying at home? Like if you don't go to work, you'd stay at home. So maybe this person didn't have any hobbies. I mean, I would think that retirement would include the time and ability to travel. Well. So retiring and staying at home or not at all identical to me. A few years ago we had financial expert Kim Butler here on the show. You might remember that really intelligent woman. She was a retirement detractor, not a fan of retirement. The definition of retirement to Kim, if you remember, is to remove from service. That was her definition, meaning that she'll no longer serve others. I'm not saying that's right or wrong. That's her perspective. Well, I think that you can still serve others in retirement. Take a leadership position at your church, coach kids baseball, volunteer at a homeless shelter.   Keith Weinhold (00:08:28) - And even if retirement does mean to remove from service, or you probably served others at a full time job for decades, probably even for most of your life. So it's okay to have others in turn serve you in retirement. Well, today I'm here asking you, do you want to retire and what is retirement and not giving you some food for thought, let me discuss some more formal definitions of retirement first before I continue here. Now if you go and Google what is retirement, the word age appears after that as a fourth word, suggesting that you might select what is retirement age. Well, the former boxer George Foreman, he said it well. He said it's not at what age I want to retire. It said what income. Yeah. The first retirement definition that you find though, is the time of life when one permanently chooses to leave the workforce. All right. Well, that's actually a good short definition. And it'll show you that the traditional retirement age is 65 in the US and a lot of other developed countries too.   Keith Weinhold (00:09:39) - But in the US today, full retirement age when you can collect full Social Security benefits is age 67. If you were born in 1960 or later, and the earliest that you can collect benefits is 62. But do you know what the average monthly Social Security check amount is today? It is $1,767. Now, that amount can vary a lot depending on the recipient type, but it gives you some idea that that is only a supplement to your other income that you've got to figure out. And a sad and paltry $1,767. I mean that right there. That may very well be a motivator to make you want to invest well elsewhere. The old standard is that retirees need 80% of the income that they had when they were working, but were more abundantly minded. Here at GRI, I'd like to think that your income could go up in retirement as you keep adding cash flowing assets. But in a recent survey of consumer finance, the mean retirement amount saved of all working age families, the complete family here, not just the individual, is just 269 K.   Keith Weinhold (00:10:58) - That's not per year as retirement income. That's just the lump sum to live off of. Now some workers, especially government employees, they have a pension. That's where you don't have to just draw from a lump sum at the end of your life, like you would at the end of your life, like you would with a 401 K. So a pension that's a predetermined livable amount that you're paid each year in retirement, it's often based on the percent that you earn during your working years, say 75%. That's why most people like a pension within a 401 K, because pensions are about the perpetual income, not the lump sum, where you just hope that it lasts. But pensions are expensive. So the private sector really started phasing them out beginning in the ninth. 80s. Really in the US retirement. What that used to mean is turning 65 and drawing a pension and Social Security. I mean, that's what you'll hear your grandparents talk about. Now for us in younger generations, remember, your 401 K withdrawals must begin between age 59.5 and 70, and you must begin paying tax on it at that time.   Keith Weinhold (00:12:13) - Now, there's been a flurry of research about advances in longevity. Some of the more optimistic ones even say that if you're currently under age 55 and you get to the age of 65 in good health, you're likely to live to be 125 plus, if that comes true or even partially true, that tilts toward not accumulating a lump sum in retirement, but having an income stream from something like income producing real estate or stock dividends. You really need to focus on that income stream. If you're going to live a few decades longer than the current life expectancy. Look, when you make the production of ongoing income part of your ongoing investment strategy, you don't need what many retirees think of as the 4% rule. You probably heard of it what the 4% rule is. That's a popular retirement withdrawal strategy that says that you can safely withdraw the amount equal to 4% of your savings during the year that you retire, and then you're supposed to adjust for inflation each subsequent year for, say, 20 or 30 years. Well, that imposes serious limits.   Keith Weinhold (00:13:28) - I mean, that is synonymous with the life deferral plan, like a 401 K, where you voluntarily reduce your income in your working years to participate in an employee sponsored plan that isn't even designed to produce income until you're older, trading away pieces of your 30 year old self to get pieces of your 80 year old self back, you're drawing down on your big pot that you have saved for retirement. And instead, if you've been adding income producing investments for a decade or more, what you won't have to draw down at the limiting 4%, you've got to, of course, figure out inflation. Those retirees that are tapping into one lump sum amount, like from an employer sponsored plan a 401 K or a 403 B, they just try to guess at the future inflation rate. That's all any of us can do. And a lot of times they safely assume 4%. Around here we talk about how the real world inflation long term is almost certainly higher than that. So if you've got income from real estate and say you even do want to have your real estate paid off in retirement, you may or may not want to pay it off since you're ten and services your debt.   Keith Weinhold (00:14:41) - Well, you know, when it comes to inflation, rents tend to stay indexed to inflation. So your residual cash flow is pretty well protected from erosion to inflation. I've got some good news. You might be able to retire substantially sooner than you think. That's because if you're age 20 or 30 or 40 or 50, whatever, most planners, they project your wealth from a lump sum that grows with compound interest or compound interest is faulty, as we know it's degraded down after you account for inflation, emotion, taxes, fees, and volatility. Luckily for you, you have more than weak, impotent, and deluded compound interest because in addition to your residual income, you're going to have bigger lump sums than others because you had compounding leverage, not compounding interest. Even if you had zero real estate cash flow in retirement and you've got leverage, you made lots of 20% down payments on properties that appreciated, say, 5% a year. That means you were leveraged 5 to 1 and you got a 25% return in that first year of each rental property that you owned and is any Gary devotee knows that 25% is one of just five ways you're paid.   Keith Weinhold (00:16:07) - This is why you can actually retire sooner than you're thinking. With help from leverage. What you've done is collapse time frames. Understand that when you're in your retirement years, most people they have a U shaped spending pattern. Yes, u shaped spending in retirement because you tend to spend a lot of money in your early retirement years. You're traveling, you're living it up, and then you get a decade or two older. You slow down, you stay at home and spend less the trough of the U. And then your expenses go up before end of life. Care. Yes, you shaped spending patterns in retirement are common. And I know I talked about slowing down there at the trough of the year, but of course you won't be slowing down. It's just that others have tended to. Now, a really interesting topic that has circulated among many lately, and I believe that this was first proposed and debated on Reddit or X, and that is this after the first 2 million or $3 million a paid off home in a good car, there is no difference in the quality of life between you and Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world.   Keith Weinhold (00:17:29) - That's the topic. What do you think about that? 2 or $3 million is attainable. You might already be there or beyond it. And of course, this says nothing about an income stream. So let's presume that there isn't one. All right. Well, in response to this topic, Spencer here from Orlando says I strongly disagree. Private jets complete immunity to health care costs and the ability to donate sums that change lives are all heavy hitting things that you can't do with $3 million. Tug from New York says, I agree 100%. Things like vacationing on a private island or a superyacht they may be cool to experience, but these are not necessarily things I'm thinking of when I think of happiness and anonymous respondents says Bezos's 420,000 acres probably have several views. That would be my view. Glenn, from Florida, says I have a paid off 975 square foot home, a 2018 Honda Cr-V, and not much spare cash. But I do have a wife going on 49 years who loves me, so I am richer than most millionaires like Quay.   Keith Weinhold (00:18:43) - I don't know where he's from, Mike says. I disagree with the 2 million to $3 million thing. I have some wealthy friends and they say that the sweet spot is 10 million to 100 million. In this zone, you can live very comfortably, but you're also able to blend in easily enough with most of the middle class. When you eclipse $100 million, typically you're involved with something public invisible, and then security and other considerations become much more of a problem. All right, that was his take, Mike keys. And then we had a number of others point out that $2 million is not enough to fly private, which makes a big difference to your quality of life. And yes, they do have a point there. I have flown private once and there is a substantial difference. Finally, Tanner's got a good point here. He says, I agree there is no significant difference in quality of life. Having safety, security, education, some autonomy and growth potential is key. The difference between a regular vacation and a $50,000 vacation is negligible, and it is the same with cars, food, watches and anything materialistic.   Keith Weinhold (00:19:54) - That's what Tanner says. All right, well, to summarize that for you here, and this is also parallel with my belief is that I disagree with this Bezos thing, with the 2 to $3 million net worth in your necessities taken care of. There is a difference between that life and Jeff Bezos life. But remember, the claim is that there was no difference. However, that difference is not that vast. That's my opinion. And yes, one can say that no amount of money can bring you happiness, but with money, you can buy time that you can fill with happiness and those that you love. Now that you have some perspective in different viewpoints, maybe you're better able to answer that question that I asked you at the beginning. Do you want to retire? And here it is, our poll that was run on our Instagram Stories. It asked, do you want to retire and blow those words? It showed a happy couple on vacation holding hands and the result was yes, 58% of you want to retire and the nos were 42%.   Keith Weinhold (00:21:06) - If you've given extraordinary service to humanity, I say sure. Thank you for your great service to humanity. Congratulations. Go ahead and retire more straight ahead. As I discussed the most proven retire early vehicle of all time and key shifts in the real estate market, and how you can accidentally build wealth with it. Positive leverage. This is episode 494. You're just six weeks away from an unforgettable episode 500 I'm Keith Reinhold. You're listening to get Rich education. You know, I'll just tell you, for the most passive part of my real estate investing, personally, I put my own dollars with Freedom Family Investments because their funds pay me a stream of regular cash flow in returns, or better than a bank savings account up to 12%. Their minimums are as low as 25 K. You don't even need to be accredited for some of them. It's all backed by real estate and that kind of love. How the tax benefit of doing this can offset capital gains and your W-2 jobs income. And they've always given me exactly their stated return paid on time.   Keith Weinhold (00:22:19) - So it's steady income, no surprises while I'm sleeping or just doing the things I love. For a little insider tip, I've invested in their power fund to get going on that text family to 66866. Oh, and this isn't a solicitation. If you want to invest where I do, just go ahead and text family to six, 686, six. Role under the specific expert with income property, you need Ridge Lending Group and MLS for 256 injury history from beginners to veterans. They provided our listeners with more mortgages than anyone. It's where I get my own loans for single family rentals up to four plex's. Start your prequalification and chat with President Charley Ridge. Personally. They'll even customize a plan tailored to you for growing your portfolio. Start at Ridge Lending group.com Ridge lending group.com. What's up everyone? This is HGTV. Tarek Moussa, listen to get Rich education with Keith Reinhold and don't.   Speaker 3 (00:23:31) - Quit your day dream.   Keith Weinhold (00:23:43) - Welcome back. To Get Rid of Education. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. You might want to know what I think about the ruling that was made ten days ago.   Keith Weinhold (00:23:50) - With respect to the antitrust case against the Nar. I was asked to speak on television about it. I put more about that in last week's newsletter, so I don't have too much more to tell you here. The high point is that the standard 5 to 6% commissions are gone. Sellers used to pay that completely. That commission amount was split between their seller raisin in the buyer's agent. What really happened here is that the lawsuits argue that the Nar and brokerages kept buyers and sellers out of the commission negotiation process, and that led to higher overall costs. And really, the result of this is that it should make some agents lower their fees in order to stay competitive. We should end up seeing lower sales costs when one sells a property. Some estimates are that agent commissions will be down about 30%. Perhaps half of America's 2 million agents will lead the industry. We'll see about that. But see, sellers are still going to want to get the most money for their property that they can, and they're still going to be using comparable sales.   Keith Weinhold (00:24:54) - So that's why it remains to be seen if it really affects listing prices at all. Overall, the Nar continues its waning influence in the real estate industry. Before we discuss the rental property market, you know, I find this kind of upsetting. I mean, do we need to politicize everything? Redfin recently reported that the majority of U.S. homeowners and renters say that housing affordability affects their pick for president. I mean, this is getting ridiculous. That's according to a Redfin commissioned survey conducted by Qualtrics, 3000 US homeowners and renters were surveyed. Those surveyed were worried about the lack of housing inventory and affordability. I mean, how do you really know which presidential administration to blame that on for who to give credit to? I mean, Biden did recently roll out a plan to help with housing affordability. And then, on the other hand, Trump is famously known as a real estate investor, after all. Let's talk about the single family rental market. Do you know what the typical rent range is for a single family rental in America today? Well, the John Byrnes Single Family Rental Survey shows us that most respondents report monthly rents in the $1750 to $2250 range.   Keith Weinhold (00:26:18) - There are about eight ranges here, and 54% of single family reds are in that range. So really close to $2,000. And yeah, I myself have many or even most of my single family rentals in that same range near $2,000. Rents are lowest in the Midwest and Southeast, where a lot of operators report average rents 17 to $1800, and then it almost $2,700. California rent outpaces much of the nation. And you know what? If you just heard that right there, you'd actually think that California is the place to invest and that the Midwest and Southeast or not. But it's just the opposite of that, because it's not about the absolute rent amount. It's about that ratio of rent to purchase price. And that's what makes the Midwest and Southeast the best places. And a third region that's an investment sweet spot is what I like to call the inland Northeast Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, even Baltimore. Although Baltimore is getting a little coastal, it's the Inland Northeast that has the numbers that work, not the coastal northeast like New York City in Boston and those really high priced markets where rents don't keep up proportionally.   Keith Weinhold (00:27:39) - And of course, there are pockets of opportunity elsewhere, like Texas and some other markets. And note that no part of Pennsylvania is on the East Coast at all, not even Philadelphia. None of it touches the coast. I am indeed a native Pennsylvanian. You get these little geography lessons from me interspersed here at gray., Redfin tells us that rents in the US now this is both apartments in single family. Now we're just talking about single family. Earlier rents are up 2% annually. That's actually the biggest gain in 13 months. Yes, a pretty modest increase there as rent amounts have just been really pretty steady for the last year. And so much new apartment construction took place last year that there is quite a bit of apartment supply to soak up in certain metros, and you might even see concessions. On some of these. I mean, if a new apartment complex is just finished, you know what's sitting there? 250 vacant units all at once. So you're seeing some apartment owners try to entice renters with one month's free rent for a 12 month lease, for example.   Keith Weinhold (00:28:51) - The single family rental market is in better shape from a demand supply perspective than apartments are. See, what's happened, though, is that with the Airbnb market becoming both oversaturated in some markets and then cities cracking down on short term rentals in other markets, it's there's some STR owners have turned their single family homes from Airbnbs over to long term rentals, and that brought a little more supply out of the long term rental market. More places have bans on short term rentals, and gosh, I just had an awful short term rental experience last month when I stayed at one. I usually go for hotels and that's what I'll be doing for a while again,? Now, Adam data, they have some great stats for us here. They reported that rental margins are increasing in about two thirds of the nation. That's some good news. But the increase is still pretty small. And they show us the top five counties for single family rental yield. And they used three bedrooms in their single family rental yield comps. And they did it in larger markets of a million plus.   Keith Weinhold (00:30:03) - All right. So these are counties of a large population where you're getting the best cash flow today basically on single families. Fifth, and I'm surprised that this is Riverside County California. That's the Inland Empire. You sure want to check landlord tenant law in a highly regulated place like California. Fourth is Cook County, Illinois. That's Chicago. Third is Coahoma County, Ohio. That's Cleveland. The second best single family rental yield is Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. That's Pittsburgh. And first number one for rent yield on single families is Wayne County, Michigan. That's Detroit. We've discussed Detroit on the show before. It has a stigma. It seems like the only way to make the stigma disappear is to visit. And you're going to find Investor Advantage properties in a lot of those counties through our gray investment coaches here at Gray marketplace.com about single family rental homes. Now, some asset types like apartment buildings or perhaps self-storage units, they have economies of scale and some other advantages over single family rentals. But single families are a favorite.   Keith Weinhold (00:31:18) - They might have the best risk adjusted return anywhere today, even after 2008 Great Recession, those that had bought for cash flow persevered and even thrived. In fact, single family rentals have at least 15 distinct advantages over a larger apartment building, some that you probably never thought about before. And as I discussed this, don't think that I dislike apartment buildings. Okay, it's likely not the most advantageous time in the market cycle for apartments. It's tenant quality. Single family rentals attract a better quality of tenant. They take better care of the premises. Then there's the neighborhood. Single families tend to be in a better neighborhood. Then there's appreciation. Properties tend to appreciate better over time. Fourthly, there's the school district. They're more likely to be in a better school district. Then there's the retention. Tenants stay longer, creating less vacancy expense. And the aforementioned neighborhood and school districts are why they stay. And you've got common areas. A lot of people don't think about this single families. They don't have these common areas to clean and maintain.   Keith Weinhold (00:32:29) - Apartments have hallways, stairs, larger rooms, and common outdoor grounds that a custodian needs to service. And this is another overlooked profit drag that apartment investors miss in their PNL in their profit and loss projections. And I miss this expense on my first ever apartment. By then, there's utilities in single family rentals. Tenants often pay all the utilities. They even care for the lawn. The larger the apartment building is, the more likely you'll, as the owner, be the one paying utility costs like heat, electricity, water, wastewater, and landscaping. Then there's divisibility. What if you've got property that's not performing the way you hoped it would? Well, if you had ten single family rentals, you can sell the 1 or 2 that are not performing. And with a ten unit apartment building, you must either keep or sell all of the units. It's not divisible. Fire and pestilence. You know, fire and pests. They are more easily controlled in single family rentals where there aren't common walls, even if you're at.   Keith Weinhold (00:33:34) - Ensured these diffuse conditions. They often affect multiple units and families in larger complexes. Financing is a big deal. Income. Single family rentals. They have both lower mortgage interest rates and lower down payment requirements than apartments. You can secure ten single family rental loans if you're single, 20 if you're married at the best rates and terms through the GSEs, the government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with 20% down payments and apartments, rarely, if ever, have 30 year fixed rate terms like 1 to 4 unit properties do, and you can get more than 10 or 20 of them. But the financing terms are not going to be as good. And what about vacancy rate? That's true that if you're a single family's vacant, your vacancy rate is 100%. If your fourplex has one vacancy, then your vacancy rate is only 25%. But the same is true if you own four Single-Family rentals in one is vacant. Then there's management. If you hire professional management, your manager would likely rather deal with higher quality single family residence.   Keith Weinhold (00:34:44) - If you're self-managing, this is a demographic that you would probably rather handle yourself to supply and demand. There aren't enough low cost single family rentals that make the best income producing properties. Demand exceeds supply, and this is going to continue in both the short and the medium term. Then there's market risk. This is another overlooked criterion. Yes, criterion. Does anyone even know that the singular of criteria is criterion?, you've got to keep your properties filled with rent paying tennis. They have jobs. So if you think you're going to be able to buy ten rental units in the near future with your tenured apartment building, that's only going to be in one location, leaving you exposed to just one geographies economic fortunes instead with, say, ten single family rentals, you could have four in little Rock, three in Dallas and three in Birmingham. And then your exit strategy, that's an important consideration, especially for newer investors years down the road when it's time for you to sell your income property, hopefully, after years of handsome profits, there's a greater buyer pool for your single family then there's going to be for your apartment building.   Keith Weinhold (00:35:58) - More buyers can afford the lower price, and then, unlike apartments, you even have access to a pool of buyers that might want to occupy your property themselves. To live there as an owner occupant, there might even be your current tenant that buys it from you. So those are some of the attributes of single family rental homes. Again, I really like apartment buildings too. I could go on with more advantages for apartment buildings. If you've been meaning to grow your portfolio, you know when you have this information, don't let it be like two well-meaning friends that meet at the gym. And then they say, hey, we should grab lunch sometime. You know what? That is a nonstarter. You got to put something on the calendar to make something happen. You can't make any money from the property that you don't own. You can just copy me and buy the same types of properties in the same places where I buy. Get pre-qualified for a mortgage loan and we'll help you find property. We talked about retirement earlier.   Keith Weinhold (00:36:58) - I mean, the earlier you get into real estate, the better off you're going to be. From that perspective, the best time is today as you get leverage working for you and inflation profiting working for you. What's going on today is with this lower affordability, first time homebuyers, they have often now got to spend years saving for a down payment while they rent. And in the meantime, you can solve their housing problem. They become your renter in these freshly renovated homes or new build homes. And I'll even give you two addresses before we leave. Today. Though in today's tightly supplied market, you know, sound income properties can seem more rare than a pop up. And that's actually useful. Supply is short overall, but because of our long standing relationships, we have a good selection right now. This first of two properties is on Crane Road in Memphis, Tennessee. It's a single family rental. The purchase price is $169,500. The rent's 1253 bed, two bath, 1265ft². The year built is 1964.   Keith Weinhold (00:38:12) - Ask your investment coach about the fresh renovations there. And the other one is in little Rock, Arkansas. And I think I told you that when I made my little Rock real estate visit, I had some extra time and I visited the Bill Clinton Presidential Library, which though, although it's called a library, presidential library, is there really like museums a tribute. To the past president. What I don't think that I did share is that in the entire Bill Clinton presidential library, I could not find one mention of Monica Lewinsky. Not one shred of evidence that that ever took place. Nothing.   Speaker 4 (00:38:50) - Let me tell you something. There's going to be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton.   Keith Weinhold (00:38:58) - Nothing whitewashed. All the evidence at all.   Speaker 5 (00:39:01) - Nothing there.   Keith Weinhold (00:39:03) - This property is on Duncan Drive in Little Rock, Arkansas. The single family rental has a purchase price of 117 nine. Rent is 975. Three bed, two bath, 888ft². In the year it was built was 1967. So these are some of the lower cost properties that you find at Gray Marketplace.   Keith Weinhold (00:39:25) - If you prefer brand new builds, brand new construction, we can help you with those two. You typically can't find these deals on public facing platforms that are broad like the MLS or Zillow, and it's completely free. Contact your gray investment coach and learn about these properties. Rehab details and others like them. Learn about their occupancy status and more. And if you don't have a coach, pick one. They'll help you out at Gray marketplace.com. Until next week. I'm Keith, landlord. Don't quit your Daydream!   Speaker 6 (00:40:02) - Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss the host is operating on behalf of yet Rich education LLC exclusively.   Speaker 7 (00:40:30) - The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building. Get rich education.com.

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., the host of the immensely popular Huberman Lab podcast, has become a household name for his engaging and informative discussions on the latest scientific findings. With 172 episodes under his belt, Huberman has inspired countless listeners to adopt his protocols, from getting morning sunlight to optimize their daily energy to trying AG1 for their daily supplement fix and investing in an Oura ring to track their sleep. When I learned that Huberman would be sharing exclusive insights not available in his podcasts at one of his rare live events, I made sure to secure a spot at the sold-out Chicago Theatre, which seats an impressive 3,600 people. As he took the stage, Huberman exuded a natural charisma, pacing around in his signature all-black ensemble while sharing personal anecdotes and occasionally poking fun at himself. One particularly memorable moment was when Huberman shared a story about a back problem he had faced. He revealed that the single most effective exercise he did to alleviate the issue was to "hump the wall," which involves facing a wall while flexing and extending the lower back. The audience erupted in laughter, and Huberman nearly demonstrated the exercise right then and there. Throughout the evening, I discovered that Huberman, with his conversational style and straightforward, scientific approach, is remarkably relatable. Here are some of the key takeaways from his Chicago presentation: Firstly, Huberman practices what he preaches—well, most of the time. Despite his emphasis on optimizing his schedule for good sleep, he admitted to occasionally staying up past 11 to binge-watch Chimp Empire, potentially disrupting his sleep cycle. This serves as a reminder that even the most dedicated individuals are only human, and it's okay to cut ourselves some slack from time to time. Secondly, Huberman's passion for science is truly contagious. As he shared stories from his life and childhood, including his fascination with cuttlefish and their shapeshifting abilities, his love for biology shone through. His anecdote about discovering the cuttlefish's intelligence after initially doubting their camouflage skills hammered home the incredible nature of other species and his deep appreciation for the quirks of the natural world. Thirdly, Huberman is exploring the concept of stillness as a means to foster creativity. He recounted a conversation with record producer Rick Rubin, who shared that he felt most creative when his body was completely still. Huberman noted that this idea is supported by the example of Albert Einstein, who was known to abruptly stop mid-walk to think. According to Huberman, stillness allows the mind to expand and ideas to find us, much like the vivid dreams experienced during REM sleep. Fourthly, Huberman believes in the importance of delight, particularly the "early moments of delight" experienced during our pre-sexual stage. He suggests that these moments reveal something about our individual neurology and provide us with energy. While neuroplasticity declines after age 25, making it harder to "rewire" the brain, Huberman encourages us to think back to what delighted us as children and to pursue those activities. Lastly, Huberman demonstrated his openness to not knowing everything during the Q&A session. When asked about his spiritual take and whether prayer is manufactured in the brain, he responded, "I'm intrigued by the possibility that there are things not meant to be explored. Our species can allow room for things we can't explain with science. There's great value in allowing space for things greater than us." He emphasized that spirituality isn't about hedging bets but rather about knowing oneself. As the evening drew to a close, Huberman thanked the audience for their interest in science, just as he does at the end of his podcasts. His Chicago presentation not only provided exclusive insights but also showcased his relatability, passion, and openness to the mysteries of the world. It's no wonder that Andrew Huberman has become a trusted source of knowledge and inspiration for so many. Thanks for listening to Quiet Please. Remember to like and share wherever you get your podcasts

Gethsemane is the greatest display of the perfect humanity of Jesus in the Bible, it also offers opportunities to ponder the excellencies and perfection of his character. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - One sacred day, God spoke to Moses from the flames of the burning bush. "Take off your shoes, for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground." What does this mean? Since God is everywhere, all at once, holy ground means that God was about to be uniquely revealed, revealed in an extraordinary way, and Moses's knowledge of God was going to be greatly increased by this encounter. "Draw near to listen. Draw near to fall on the ground in fear and wonder in worship and adoration." If that's true at the burning bush, then how much more true is it when we come to Gethsemane? Gethsemane is the greatest display of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It contains almost incomprehensible mysteries, but also tremendous opportunities to ponder the excellencies of Christ, His glories, the perfection of His character, His courage, His obedience, His trust in His father, His willingness to suffer for us, His love for us, His reversal of the disobedience of Adam, also His frailty and His weakness, His mortality, His emotions. All of this is on display. We will spend eternity in heaven, I believe, pondering these themes and others that flow through this account. This morning, we're going to spend just a little while on them. My desire, my goals with this sermon is first and foremost to exalt Jesus Christ our Savior, based on the words of this account, that we may worship Him with all of our hearts for what He did for us at the cross. Secondly, that we would understand more accurately the humanity of Jesus, His emotions, His submission, His mortality and frailty, His temptations, and yet His sinlessness. Thirdly, that we would understand the power of prayer in facing temptations, in strengthening us to do the will of our Father. Fourthly, to motivate us to trust in Christ's finished work on the cross, more than ever before. Fifthly, to help us understand the proper use of our own will, that we would learn to imitate Jesus Christ every day in saying, "Not my will, but yours be done," no matter what the cost. And sixth, to feel intensely personally, if you are a Christian, to feel intensely personally Christ's love for you. For you. In Galatians 2:20, Paul gives us permission to do this, to say, "Christ loved me and died for me. He gave Himself for me." It is right for us as Christians to say both Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, and Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, that multitude greater than anyone could count, from every tribe, language, people, and nation.[Revelation 7]. But in Galatians 2:20, “Jesus loved me and He drank my cup for me.” Here we're going to walk through all of these themes, and I don't know what the Holy Spirit's going to do in your heart as we walk through, probably a little different than He'll do in mine. But if those things will be achieved in you, then I will have preached for the glory of God in Christ. Let's walk first through the facts of Gethsemane. I. The Facts of Gethsemane All His life, Jesus lived under the shadow of the cross. B.B. Warfield, the great Presbyterian theologian, said the prospect of His suffering was a perpetual Gethsemane to Him. He said, in Luke 12:50, "I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed” or straitened, like in a straitjacket, "I am until it is completed." There is clear evidence in the Gospel. This is very important for us to understand. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him. In Mark 9:31, Jesus said, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days, He will rise." There's no doubt about this at all. He said it again and again. As Jesus comes to Gethsemane on that faithful night, the time had come for Him to face the cross straight on, and make a final decision about what He was going to do. The Lord's supper is over. They have finished the Passover meal. They have sung a hymn. They've crossed the Kidron Valley into the garden of Gethsemane. Verse 32, "They went to a place called Gethsemane." What is Gethsemane? It was a private garden on the Mount of Olives, probably walled off, owned by some rich friend of Jesus, who allowed Jesus and His disciples to frequent the place. It was outside of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley from the city, away from the maddening crowd of millions of pilgrims that had come from all over the settled world for the Passover feast. The word Gethsemane itself means “oil press”, probably included a physical press for making olive oil from the harvest of olives on the mount, and the crushing of those olives produced a reddish, viscous, precious fluid, olive oil, to flow into containers for sale or for use. But this also could stand somewhat of a spiritual metaphor for the crushing pressure, spiritual pressure, that Jesus would experience there, so intense that by the end of the time there, His blood was flowing like sweat, like great drops of blood dropping from His face. Why did Jesus go to Gethsemane? It was a place, a regular place of retirement and prayer, a refuge for Him and His disciples. It was commonly used by Jesus and His disciples. Therefore Judas, who had left by then to betray Him that very night, would know exactly where Jesus was going that night. It was His habit to go there. He made it His habit, because in part He wanted to make it easy for Judas to find Him that night and betray Him. This is evidence, clear evidence of His willingness to lay down His life for us. He was never a victim trapped by external circumstances He didn't foresee or couldn't control. It's not the case. John 10:18, Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down freely of my own accord." It's vital to understand that. Jesus comes to Gethsemane for all those reasons, and He gives a command to His disciples, and He separates away from them. Look at verse 32-33, "Jesus said to His disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.' Then He took Peter, James, and John along with Him.” Luke tells us that Jesus separated from His disciples by a distance of a stone's throw, maybe 100, 150 feet, but He also took His closest disciples with Him. They were His best friends in the world, His closest friends, and He wanted to be with them at that point, Peter, James, and John. These are the same three, of course, that had viewed Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's amazing that these three saw Him at His most glorious, His most radiantly glorious in the days of His incarnation on Earth, and also would see Him at His most humbled and abased here in the garden of Gethsemane, eyewitnesses of both. He went there, Jesus did, He separated Himself so that He could pray. Jesus' understanding of prayer is infinitely greater than ours, clearly greater than Peter, James, and John's that night. Jesus knew it was only by prayer that He would be able to get through the cross, so He went there to pray. We see the awesome and the overpowering emotional distress that comes upon Jesus. First of all, it's stated in the accounts. Verse 33, “He began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” In Matthew 26:37, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled.” It's not only stated in the accounts, but Jesus says it about Himself. Look at verse 34, "'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' He said to them." "Jesus knew it was only by prayer that He would be able to get through the cross, so He went there to pray." These overpowering emotions, there are two words, we're going to save one of the words for later, but He says He's “sorrowful”. The root word has to do with grief, sadness of an overwhelming nature, usually associated with death. Then “troubles”. It refers to a distracted or anxious state of mind or soul, like someone consumed with anxiety about an impending event. His statement says, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow," as though He's surrounded by it. He's walled in by grief. There's no escape from it except by His own death, right there in the garden. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death," He says. I don't think this was just a phrase or a metaphor. I think it was literally true. I think He was literally close to dying in the garden of Gethsemane. So the Father has to dispatch an angel to strengthen Him. Luke 22:43, "An angel from Heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him." What an amazing moment that was. Aa amazing picture of His frailty, the frailty of the Son of God in His humanity. This angel that was dispatched from Heaven, was created by Jesus, and yet at that moment, Jesus is so much weaker than the angel. It says in Luke's account, Luke 22:44, "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." This is literally true. We look at that, it's not just an analogy, but it's drops of blood. I would think then that what happened was His blood pressure spiked there in the garden of Gethsemane, the internal pressure so great that it seemed like the capillaries just under the skin burst, they couldn't handle the pressure, and the blood came out of the pores. I mean, not a little, a lot, and it's flowing down His face and dripping to the ground there in the garden of Gethsemane, great drops of blood. It seems quite likely that, had Jesus not been physically strengthened at that moment, He might've died right there in the garden. Then Jesus prays. Look at verse 35-36, "Going a little farther, He fell to the ground, and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. "Abba Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will." His physical position, He's on His face, He's prostrate, totally weak, helpless, submissive to God, as low as He can be. As Joseph Hart put in a 1759 hymn, "Come you sinners, poor and needy. View Him groveling in the garden, low your maker prostrate lies." And then the request is, “If it's possible, Abba Father," He said, "Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me." For any parent of a child, this prayer must be the most heartrending you can possibly imagine. “Abba" means “daddy”. He's reduced to speaking like a little child. I can scarcely imagine what this must have done to His heavenly Father, who's the most perfect, compassionate being there could ever be, whose heart goes out to those that suffer, but especially His Son, whom He loved with a perfect love, with a love so complete that we can't even imagine how great that love would be. How much would Jesus's prayer rip the heart of a loving heavenly Father? "Daddy, you can do anything. If it's possible, take this cup from me." What loving father wouldn't do everything he could to alleviate the suffering, this kind of suffering from a child? But Jesus is also probing the limits of the sovereignty of God within the scope of His plan, “If it's possible.” Later, that same evening in Matthew's account, when Peter draws his sword to rescue Him from the cross, He tells him to put his sword away, and says, "How then would the Scripture be fulfilled that says it must happen in this way?" No, it isn't possible. Once it is written, once it is written, and God has made His commitment and signed it in the blood of millions of sacrificial animals, over centuries of history, and specific careful promises laid out in the prophets, there was no other way. What is this cup? How do we understand the cup? In Scripture, the cup in prophetic language frequently represents the judgments of God, the righteous judgments of God on a sinner or on sinful people or sinful nations. It's a regular pattern, the word “cup”. The most potent example of this word cup is in Revelation 14, "God's wrath and judgment poured out on the damned." Revelation 14:10-11, "He too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest, day or night." That's the cup. That's your cup and my cup set before Jesus there in Gethsemane. It's Hell. It's the wrath of God poured out on sinners. Jesus is staring into the cup of the wrath of God, and understandably in His humanity, shrinking back in horror. The wrath of God is terrifying, God is a consuming fire. The wrath of God is His omnipotence focused like a white-hot laser beam on the destruction of His enemies. Jesus is shrinking back from that, from drinking the cup of God's wrath in our place. We could also imagine He's shrinking back from being our sin bearer. We don't understand the purity of the person of Christ. We're just so used to sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 said, "God made Him, Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." It's like having tons of raw sewage poured on a perfectly pure being, spiritual sewage. In the atonement, then Jesus, the only perfectly holy man that has ever lived, would become sin for us. He would bear the defiling sins of all of His people from every generation of history, all the filth and corruption, all the lust and murder, all the covetousness and greed, all of that poured onto Jesus as our substitute. Then we see the submission of Jesus. Verse 36, "Yet not what I will, but what you will." This is the centerpiece of this magnificent moment. This is the center of it. "Not what I will, but what you will." This is the greatest act of submission and courage in the history of the human race. More on this in a moment. Then we have the admonishment of the sleeping disciples, verse 37-38, "He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. 'Simon,' He said to Peter, 'are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.'" Matthew tells us Jesus said this to all three of them, but Mark focuses specifically on Peter. By contrast with Jesus, we have the weakness and the unbelief, really, of the disciples exposed here. Jesus specifically warns them of falling into temptation, not merely being tempted, but being ensnared and overcome by it. That's what it means to fall into temptation. He tells them that the remedy is to watch and pray. He also marvels at their weakness that they're not able to watch and pray with Him for even one hour. Peter in particular should have been getting ready for the most intense spiritual struggle of his life, but instead he's giving in to the weakness of the flesh. That famous expression, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” That was Peter. Amazing also, isn't it, the shepherd heart of Jesus, to break off His intense prayer to His father, which He knew better than any of us, how much He needed, breaks that off to go back and check on His disciples, make sure they're praying, make sure they're getting ready for what they're about to face, to reason with them, to pray, and watch and pray. Then in verse 39, we have Jesus' second prayer, "Once more, He went away and prayed the same thing." Matthew gives a little more detail. "My father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." It's an evolution of the conversation that He's having with His father on this issue of the cup. Then He goes back, and we have the disciples' second failure, verse 40, "When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him." Luke tells us in Luke 22:45, "When He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow." Then we have Jesus' final prayer. It's assumed in Mark and openly stated in Matthew 26:44, "So He left them and went away once more, and prayed the third time, saying the same thing." Finally the end of the account, verses 41-43, "Returning the third time, He said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer.' Just as He was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priest, the teacher of the law, and the elders." Jesus has effectively faced His final temptation there in the garden and conquered it, and now He rises from His moment of greatest weakness, and goes forth mightily to conquer sin and death with unflinching courage. II. The Mysteries of Gethesemane Those are the facts of Gethsemane. Now let's talk about the mysteries of Gethsemane. A. W. Tozer said, "If you've never faced mystery in your study of God, I doubt whether you've ever heard a single word from God at all." We will not plumb the depths of Gethsemane here. The issue has to do with Jesus' incarnation, the theological mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is perhaps the most profound mystery in the Bible. How can Jesus be both fully God and fully man? Many over the centuries have questioned this, and sought to deny one or the other. Dualistic philosophies and theologies like the Gnostics early on, and the Docetists, deny the humanity of Christ, saying He only seemed to be human. Gethsemane is a powerful antidote to this heresy. Jesus' humanity is on full display here, especially in His weakness, His frailty, His wavering, His fear, shrinking back, and to some mysterious degree, His limited knowledge. The fact that Jesus in His incarnation can learn things. We’ll get to more of that in a moment. Jesus's emotional life is real and full and perfect. He fully displays the reality of His title, Man of Sorrows. How then can Christ be both omnipotent deity and this weak humanity? How do we understand and explain His stunning fear of death? Lots of people face death more courageously, overtly courageously than this. It's not that rare a story. Soldiers that are willing just to die, so that others may live. That actually is not all that rare. Socrates famously took the cup of hemlock, knowing it was his own death in that cup, unflinchingly drank it to the bottom and died. But Jesus seems different, just a quantum level difference. Martin Luther said, "No man ever feared death like this man." How can we understand this? How can the infinite creator of all things visible and invisible need help from an angel? How can He need strengthening? How can He shrink back like this from death? So, clearly the answers to all these questions is a mystery, but it shows clearly the humanity of Christ. We get to verse 33, and here I want to show you something that, unless you have the KJV, you won't see. The King James Version is the only version that translates the Greek word in the simplest way, the most direct way. "Now, when Christ entered Gethsemane, He knew exactly what was going to happen to Him factually." Factually. He knew He would most certainly die on the cross as a ransom for sinners. But apparently, it seems, there was a dimension of knowing that was withheld from Him by His father until this moment. Why do I say that? There's a shocking word in the KJV translation of verse 33, which accurately translates. It's not a mistranslation, it’s a good translation. "And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy." Sore amazed. The word “amazed” stops us in our tracks. The word “sore” just means extremely, like overwhelmed with amazement. So in some mysterious way, Jesus was amazed at Gethsemane. The same word is used of a crowd reaction to Jesus's ministry, or to the apostles healing of the lame beggar in Acts 3. It is frequently translated in those places, “astonished.” It implies some sense of wonder or surprise. Something is hitting Jesus here that He didn't see coming, and hence He is sore amazed. How does that apply to Jesus at Gethsemane? I believe that when Jesus began to pray, the Father revealed to Him in an immeasurably more vivid way, to His soul, to His mind and His soul, what it would actually be like to drink the cup of His wrath on the cross as our substitute. Drinking the cup of God's wrath poured full strength on Him. The revelation occurred within Jesus's mind and soul, and knocked Him to the ground. This kind of showing or display language was essential to Jesus' role and His daily ministry, actually. In John 5:20, Jesus said, "The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, to your amazement, He will show Him even greater things than these." More in general in the Scripture, this is a regular pattern, that the prophets were shown spiritual visions and realities in the spiritual realm. They had visions and dimensions like Ezekiel, of wheels within wheels and all that. This is prophetic vision. This is common, actually. But Jesus says He openly got His marching orders from the Father daily. He doesn't say any word except what the Father has told Him to say. He doesn't do anything except what the Father is doing. The Father shows the Son what He's doing. What did He show Him in Gethsemane? He showed Him the cup. "Father, what are we doing next?" "Well, today I'm going to kill you. Kill you for the sins of the world. That's what we're doing next, and this is what it'll be like." It's akin to the difference between seeing an old black and white photo of the Grand Canyon and seeing like an IMAX movie or a virtual reality helicopter tour through the ravine itself. It's just a whole different level of impression made to the mind. As Christ began to pray, God turned up the intensity in Christ's mind of what it would actually be like to drink the cup of His wrath, to absorb the lightning of His indignation, to go through Hell in our place as our substitute, and it knocked Him to the ground, it increased His blood pressure so it spiked, He starts bleeding out of His pores. Why did He do it? Why did the Father do this? I think He did it, I believe, to give Christ the ability to make a more informed choice of whether He would do it or not, whether He would go through with their plan. He refrained from doing it earlier, because look what happened to Him. I mean, the human body can only stand so much strain. It would've been too great for Him to bear. I think, in effect, some infinitely mysterious conversation went on between the Father and the Son. The Father shows the Son the cup, and then the Father says, "Son, this is what the cup of my wrath will be like for you to drink." Jesus answered, "Father, is it possible for me to save my people without drinking that terrifying cup?" The Father. "Son, no. There is no other way. Will you do it anyway?" And now comes what I've called the most heroic moment in human history. "If it is not possible to save my people any other way than drinking that cup, may your will be done." If you ever don't feel loved by God, think about that moment. Think about that. That's your cup He drank, mine too. At that moment, Christ put His own will completely under the will of the Father. At that moment, as I said, He overturned the wretched choice made by the first Adam, that he had made in the Garden of Eden. All the wretched choices that the sons and daughters of Adam have made since by their willful sinning, that's yours and mine, all the bad choices we have made, He overturned all of that. Here, Christ showed the proper use of human will, and that is to do the will of God. So, bow your head and worship all generations of Christians. This is the most perfect act of obedience ever. We also have the mystery of Jesus' prayer. Is His will somehow different than the Father's? Are they at cross-purposes? Some have wondered if the wrestling Jesus displayed in Gethsemane, "If it is possible, take this cup from me," was indicative that His will was somehow against the cross, as though He's battling within Himself, as though He and the Father disagreed about this. In general, we just as Christians have to treat Gethsemane like holy ground, and limit your speculation, and don't go too far. Jesus has said plainly in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." No doubt about that. He wasn't against the Father's will. He loved the Father's will. Isaiah 53:10 says, "It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days. The will of the Lord will prosper in His hand." It's so beautiful. It's like the Father wrote a magnificent concerto, and Jesus the soloist played it to perfection. He made it beautiful. The will of the Lord prospers. No, they're not at cross-purposes, not at all. It just shows that the cost to Jesus, and indeed to the Father, was infinitely high, and the Father was willing to pay it. He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to this for us all. III. The Glories of Gethsemane Finally, the glories of Gethsemane. We've said, the free will of Jesus, properly on display. Jesus went to the cross of His own free will. He was not coerced, He was not forced. Therefore, for those that talk often about free will, this is free will. This is what free will looks like. He had no sin nature holding Him back, no corruption. He was free, and He used it perfectly to do the will of God. That's what it's for. That's what free will is for, to do the will of God. Because the Father has a will, too. Our will is patterned after the fact that the Father has a will. Jesus taught us that the best use of human will is to find its joy and its delight and its fruitfulness in the will of God. He taught us that. From this moment in time on, Jesus will only be able to escape the cross by a direct application of His supernatural power, His wonder-working power, to get out of it. Physical forces will come on Him at the end of this account and seize Him, and the only way He'll be able to get out of it is by using His power. And He could do it, but He was not going to do it. This is His last moment of freedom, and He gave it up willingly. Therefore, we need to understand the significance of this choice theologically, Romans 3:26. Some have blasphemously, I don't even want to say these words, but blasphemously called the idea of substitutionary atonement Heavenly child abuse, as the Father's crushing His son in some way. Rather, in Gethsemane we have God the Father revealing to the Son as much as He possibly could do, what it would be like to drink the cup, and asking Jesus to make a choice, and He did. Therefore, it was of His own free will that He did it. "Not my will, but yours be done." This removes any charge of injustice against the Father concerning substitutionary atonement. Romans 3:25, "God put Jesus forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." Propitiation is the one who removes the wrath of God by drinking the cup. Romans 3:26, "He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." It is a perfect display of justice, not injustice. Why? Because in part of this transaction that we've been describing here. The willingness of Jesus to do it removes any charge of injustice. We see also the obedience of Jesus versus the disobedience of Adam. I've mentioned it, but the clear parallel is set up in Romans 5:19, "Just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous." That's staggering. You know what that means? By Jesus's obedience, He makes you righteous, if you're a Christian. What that means is He makes you obedient, positionally obedient. You are seen by God in Christ at the moment of your conversion to be as obedient as Jesus. How about that? That is our imputed righteousness. It's staggering. This is the righteousness given to you as a gift. God sees you as obedient as Jesus was there in Gethsemane, as a gift. What is that act of obedience? It's His willingness to die on the cross. Philippians 2:8, "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross." Then Hebrews 5:8-9, "Although He was a son, He learned obedience." What a staggering phrase that is. "He learned obedience from what He suffered, and once made perfect or qualified, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him." Wow. Adam used his free will to rebel against God, and we all died in that. The second Adam, Jesus, uses His free will to make a right choice, and we all live and are seen righteous in that. That's our salvation. "Adam used his free will to rebel against God, and we all died in that. The second Adam, Jesus, uses His free will to make a right choice, and we all live and are seen righteous in that. That's our salvation." Finally, we see the perfect love of Jesus, first for God, and then for His people. In Gethsemane, we see Jesus loving God and us sinners more than He loved Himself. It was the revulsion of the thing that caused Him to shrink back, but it was love, first and foremost love for God, and secondly love for us, that caused Him to deny Himself, first vertically, John 14:31, "The world must learn that I love the Father, and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do." Think about that. "The world must know and learn that I love my Father, and they'll know that when they see me go to the cross." Secondly, love for us. John 15:13-14, "Greater love has no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. You are my friends." We see that courage of Jesus, that love that drives out fear. Many people have willingly laid down their lives to save others. It occasionally happens, very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. So, the Congressional Medal of Honor is given to people that were willing to lay down their lives in the battlefield. It happens. But nothing ever in history has been like this incredible moment of courage. IV. Applications of Gethsemane Come to Christ. Trust in Jesus. There is a cup of wrath, of righteous, just wrath, poured out from God on sinners. Either Jesus will drink that cup in your place, or you'll drink it for all eternity. Those are the choices. There's no other option. You can be in denial that there is such a cup, but there is a cup of God's wrath against sin. Jesus is offering in the gospel to drink yours for you. Trust in Him, repent of sin, turn away from wickedness, and turn to Christ in faith, and let Him save you. If you're already a Christian, worship Christ for what He did for you. Thank Him for what He did for you. I don't know how you're made up. I cry basically at one thing, for the most part. It's always the same. It's Christ's love for me as a sinner. It just melts me. I melt every time, and this melts me. This text probably melts me more than any other text. I almost can't talk about it in everyday life without choking up. I never stop thinking about this, my savior drinking my cup. I want to take and sharpen this and apply it on the matter of Christian contentment. When I was studying Christian contentment, I wrote one statement that people who have read the book that I wrote said is the most convicting in the whole book, and that is this: "Has Christ crucified and resurrected done enough for you to be happy today? Or does He have to be a little more?" Let's take it in the language of Gethsemane. Is it enough for Jesus to drink your cup and that's it, so you don't have to drink it and you'll spend the eternity in Heaven? Or does He have to do some more beyond that? I'm not minimizing the things you would pray for. For the healing of somebody that you love and you want to see them heal. I'm not minimizing that. I'm just asking you to put it in perspective, Him drinking your cup for you is the greatest act of love and gift that could ever be. Keep in mind, Romans 8 said He did not spare His own son. God's not holding anything back because He's stingy. He has given the greatest thing He could ever give, His beloved, His perfect son, shattered on the cross. It should be enough, it should be enough for you to be happy. What about obedience? What about free will? This is how you should use your free will the rest of your lives. What do you say? Just choose to say to God, no matter how difficult it is, "Not my will but yours be done." Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for this infinitely deep text. We'll never be able to finish it, to plumb the depths of it, to understand it. I pray that you would take its lessons and burn them into our hearts. Help us to be overwhelmed with thankfulness, with gratitude. Help us to be overwhelmed with love for Jesus. Help us to want to imitate Him and to use our wills the way He used His. Help us to understand that, oh Lord. And God, I pray that no-one that's here today would leave this place still under the wrath of God, but they would just simply transfer that, the sin and the wrath, onto Jesus by faith, by simple faith, and trust in Him that they would know the full and perfect forgiveness of God. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Leaders who inspire us embody practices that not only make us feel seen and heard but also compel us to follow them, as they have a profound ability to bring out the best in us and unite people towards a common goal. Firstly, they model hope and integrity, serving as beacons of trust and optimism in challenging times. Secondly, these leaders have the unique ability to make the impossible seem possible, instilling confidence and ambition in their teams. Thirdly, they are not afraid to challenge the status quo, pushing boundaries to foster innovation and growth. Fourthly, they empower and enable action, providing the tools and support needed for individuals to excel and contribute positively. Lastly, they encourage the heart—inspiring courage and a sense of heroism, helping us feel valued and capable of making a significant impact. Such leaders are not just guiding forces; they are catalysts for change, inspiring individuals to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

A central article of faith of Christianity is that Jesus will return visibly and powerfully to end this era and bring in a world of eternal life and glory. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles to Mark 13 as we consider the Second Coming of Christ. And as I do this morning, my mind goes back 29 years, my wife and I were missionaries in Japan. I went regularly on Saturdays to a different city, taking a train from Tokushima to Takamatsu. In that city I would teach English and the Bible. On one particular day, a Saturday, I was walking through the streets of Takamatsu, and praying about the ministry I was about to have. I looked overhead, and there was a spectacular cloud formation. You know what I'm talking about, one of those clouds that just heap up like a pile, like a mountain up to the sky. Very, very dramatic. It was especially dramatic in that there was a small peephole of sunlight coming through and there were rays that were streaming down. I was just overwhelmed. I began singing the hymn we're going to close with today, It Is Well With My Soul, because I really felt that it was well with my soul. I was especially thinking about the fourth stanza which says, "And Lord haste the day when our faith will be sight, the clouds be rolled back like a scroll. The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul." Think about that when we sing at the end. But I was thinking about that myself, and how dramatic and how awesome that day was going to be. As I was contemplating this sermon, I was thinking about that day, the day that is yet to come, and our understanding of all that will happen on that day. I would say easily the most dramatic moment in the history of sin-cursed humanity. I can't actually imagine a more spectacular and dramatic day than that, and we are going to understand it and effectively see it today by faith. My prayer has been that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you would be able to see the invisible, the future. And that you would see the glories of the greatness and the majesty and the power and the terror, indeed the terror, of that day in which everything on earth will come to an end. To see it by faith and understand it by faith, that's my desire. How different is the circumstance of Jesus' Second Coming from that of his First Coming. Think of the Christmas hymn, A Little Town of Bethlehem, “how silently the wondrous gift is given.” We know that an army of angels came and appeared, but just to a very small number of shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem, no one else got to see that. It was just a pregnant couple, a pregnant woman, no room in the inn, and then Jesus born in the natural way. Very quiet. But the Second Coming of Christ will not be so. and we need to understand it. We need to understand it biblically. We need to understand the reasons for it. This morning, as I was thinking about that, the reasons for the Second Coming, I listed out a series of them. Why is Christ coming back to Earth? First and foremost, for the glory of God, for the open, clear, plain, visible display of the greatness and majesty of almighty God. Secondly, to be praised and marveled at by the saints, stimulating us in worship such as we have never experienced before, and that, even for all eternity. Third, to rescue His persecuted people from imminent deadly danger. Fourthly, to bring about justice for them as they are crying out for justice day and night. To bring about justice and, indeed, vindication for His people. Fifth, to punish evildoers, idolaters, blasphemers and wicked people who have not fled to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Sixth, to end the open reign of Satan and antichrist and that final government which we have described recently. Seventh, to establish the kingdom of God in righteousness and purity in answer to the prayers that have been prayed in every generation, "May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." To usher in the new heaven and the new earth, the perfect world free from all death, mourning, and crying, and pain. To be with His people forever and to end the reign of sin and death for all eternity. These are the reasons and many others. I. The Absolute Certainty of the Second Coming It's beneficial for us today to walk through this biblically, to understand it, to understand what Mark reveals about it. I begin with the absolute certainty of the Second Coming of Christ. The Second Coming of Christ is taught many, many times throughout the Scriptures. This is one of the central articles of the Christian faith, that Jesus Christ will return visibly and powerfully to end this era of human history and bring in a world of eternal life and radiant glory. We believe this as Christians. Now, Paul speaks of the purpose of Jesus's first coming like this in Galatians 1:3 and 4, "The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age." To rescue us from this present evil age. What is this present evil age, and what world of eternal blessedness did Christ come to usher in? No text captures it better than Revelation 21:4, "He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. There'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain for the old order of things has passed away." This present evil age in Galatians 1 and the old order of things that is passing away are the same, they're just different ways of talking about the same thing. The present evil age is characterized by the reign of sin, sin reigning in death, and mourning and crying and pain. That's this present evil age from which Jesus has come to rescue us. The new heavens and the new earth that Jesus will bring in at His Second Coming will be forever free from those enemies, forever free from sin, and Satan, and death, mourning, crying, and pain. Therefore, the Second Coming of Christ is a central aspect of the Christian hope. We are looking forward to it. We're longing for it. We're yearning for it to come. We're seeking to speed its coming by service to God and by the proclamation of the gospel. The Second Coming is therefore taught in many places in Scripture. First, historically, by a man named Enoch, seventh from Adam. We learned this in the book of Jude. Enoch, seventh from Adam, that's a long, long, long, long, long time ago, said these words, prophesied about these wicked men, "Behold the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones, angels, to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Enoch said that. How in the world did Enoch know about the Lord coming with thousands of angels the same way we do? The Lord revealed it to him prophetically. "The Second Coming of Christ is a central aspect of the Christian hope. We are looking forward to it. We're longing for it. We're yearning for it to come. We're seeking to speed its coming by service to God and by the proclamation of the gospel." It started with Enoch, then many other places. I zero in into my mind to Daniel 7, the vision that Daniel the prophet had at night, a night vision. The centerpiece of it was a vision of the Son of Man, Daniel 7: 13 and 14, "In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. And He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All people's nations and men of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." It's taught there in Daniel 7. It's taught in Matthew 24 and 25, and here also in Mark 13, and we'll walk through it carefully today, but there are many other passages on the Second Coming. Jesus, for example, in John 14, spoke to his apostles the night before He was crucified, saying, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my father's house or many rooms. If it were not so I would've told you, for I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you," listen now, "I will come back and take you to be with me so you also may be where I am." It's a clear prediction of the Second Coming of Christ. Then that very night after Jesus was arrested, and early the next morning when He was on trial, He quoted Daniel 7, and I'm not going to read it now because I'll read it later in the sermon, but He referred to the Second Coming at that point. It got Him killed. It got Him condemned by the Jewish authorities. Then after His death on the cross, and after His physical resurrection from the dead, and after He had spent forty days instructing His disciples and giving many convincing proofs that He was alive, after all of that training was over, He gave them His final word, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:9-11] "After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently into the sky as He was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you've seen Him go into heaven.'" It’s a clear prediction of the Second Coming of Christ. The Apostle Paul, wrote of it often. He spoke of the Parousia, the coming of Christ. He spoke of it many times, most dramatically in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18, "The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." That's the rapture. Caught up midair, mid-heaven to meet the Lord as He descends from heaven to earth, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. I hope you're encouraged with these words. This is the future. This is what Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4, and in 2 Thessalonians 2, "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Parousia] and our being gathered to Him, we ask you brothers not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, reporter, or letter supposed to have come from us saying the day of the Lord has already come. You didn't miss it.” That ship has not sailed," et cetera. But he talked about the Parousia, the coming of the Lord. The Apostle Peter talked about it in 2 Peter 3: 3-4, "First of all, you must understand that in the last day, scoffers will come scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, 'Where is this coming he promised?” What coming? That's the Second Coming of Christ. “Where is it? We don't see it. Where is this coming He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” Peter goes on to talk about how the generation of Noah before the flood were saying the same thing, Jesus made that same connection. They were saying, "There's no flood. We don't see any flood," until that flood came. Then later in 2 Peter 3 : 10 he said, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." Also the Second Coming of Christ is taught many times in the Book of Revelation, such as Revelation 1:7, "Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him, so shall it be on men." We'll return to that passage a number of times. Then of course in Revelation 19, it openly depicts and describes the Second Coming of Christ with an angelic army, and Jesus coming with a sword coming out of His mouth with which He will slay the wicked. Then in the final chapter, Revelation 22:7, Jesus said, "Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book." Again, Revelation 22:12 and 13, "Behold, I am coming soon. My reward is with me, and I'll give to each person according to what he has done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." We believe in linear history. We believe in an unfolding history. We don't believe in reincarnation and cyclical history that goes around. No, we believe in a beginning, a middle, and an end. We believe in an alpha and omega, and Jesus is that letter and that letter and every letter in between. We believe in a purpose to history, and we believe it's going to end, this phase, this present evil age will end with the Second Coming of Christ. Then again, Revelation 22:20, the second to last verse of the Bible, "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'" That's three times in Revelation 22 He says, "I'm coming soon." Then John replies, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus." It seems then that looking forward to the Second Coming, yearning for the Second Coming, crying out for it as John does, is essential to our healthy lives in this present evil age. This is a major theme taught many times in the Bible. II. The Heavenly Bodies Darkened, Shaken, and Removed What aspects does Jesus give here in Mark 13, that's our purpose now, as we look through Mark 13:24-27. It begins with the heavenly bodies darkened, shaken, and removed. Look at verse 24 and 25, "But in those days, following that distress, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” The context here, as we remember, is in those days following that distress. We're right in the middle now of Mark 13. The last sermon was entitled, as you remember, “Run For Your Lives.” Look at verses 14-19, "When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers? Pray that this will not take place in winter because those will be days of distress unequal from the beginning when God created the world until now, and never to be equaled again." The Abomination of Desolation, we walked through that, devoting a whole sermon to that. The Abomination of Desolation is the defiling of a sacred space by a blasphemous Gentile power. Concerning the destruction of the temple, Jesus talked about the Gentile army surrounding the city ready to destroy it. But the Abomination of Desolation, per se, is the antichrist finally setting himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Jesus clearly warned his church that would be living in that geographical region, both at the destruction of the temple, but then as it foretold the final events. When you see that, when you see these things spoken of by the prophet Daniel, run for your lives, get away as fast as you can. This is what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. The Book of Revelation gives many more details about what life on earth will be like at that time, and how terrifying and terrible it will be. Seven seals broken, seven trumpets sounded, seven bulls poured out. Those seven, seven, sevens give heaven's response to the wickedness and sinfulness of man on earth, and they will ravage the surface of the earth. Ecological disaster such as has never been seen before, a clear link between human sin and the ecology as we saw from the beginning when Adam sinned and the earth was cursed, and it produced only thorns and thistles for him. We learned in Romans 8 that the whole world has been cursed with the bondage of decay; there's a link between human sin and the ecology. The ecological disasters described specifically in Revelation 8, have never, however, been seen before. A burning up of green grass, a burning up of a third of the trees on earth, a turning of a third of the ocean waters to blood, a killing of a third of the living creatures in the sea. What effect would that have on human commerce and life itself? Then even worse, a third of the drinking water is fouled, made undrinkable. But what effect will that have on national boundaries when some parts of the world have drinking water and other parts don't? You can't live longer than a certain number of days without water, a terrifying, terrible rending of the planet because of the judgments of God. It's not an accident, but it's something God is pouring out. The unleashing of plagues on mankind resulting in painful sores and an agony so great that the people, the inhabitants of the earth, will long for death, but they will not find it. An unleashing of demonic powers billowing up from the deepest resources of the pit and coming to bring agonies and torments on people, [Revelation 9]. It's a terrifying time. Then the coming of the beast from the sea, the antichrist, the one-world government, the one-world religion, all of those things that culminate in the Abomination of Desolation. Those are terrible days. Mark 13:19-20, "Those will be days of distress unequal from the beginning when God created the world until now, and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive," think about that, "but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened." Immediately after the distress of those days, the Second Coming happens, and it's described here as the shaking and rending and destruction of the cosmos. Look up into the night sky. Look up into the sky and see the lights that God put there. Verse 24 and 25, "In those days following that distress, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” The heavens will be rent, similar to Isaiah's prayer concerning the wickedness of man. He said in Isaiah 64:1-2, "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you as when fire sets twigs, ablaze and causes water to boil. Come down and make your name known to your enemies. Cause the nations to quake before you." Isaiah 64, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down." It's interesting, this idea of rending the heavens, it creates a sense of a membrane or barrier between us and the heavenly realms. A rending is a tear and a rip, and out of it, Isaiah wants God almighty to come and bring judgment. What's interesting is, this is the language used at Jesus' baptism. When Jesus was baptized, the heavens were torn, but out came a dove, a symbol of peace, a symbol of reconciliation with God. That's the First Coming, peace on earth, goodwill to man. That's the first rending happening. The second will not be so. It'll be more like Isaiah 64, the wrath of God coming out of that rending of the heavens, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken and removed. I need to bring up the Polish astronomer, Copernicus. Some of you I'm sure are thinking about Copernicus. Maybe not, but I am, anyway. Until Copernicus, most people on earth thought that the stars, the sun, the moon revolved around the earth, the earth was the center of everything. They moved in concentric spheres, earth is center, and they moved across, so the sun would make it circuit across the sky in this sort of pattern. But along came Copernicus, and he wasn't the only one, but he led the way to teach us that actually the earth revolves around the sun, physically. That is true, physically. However, the Bible does give an earthbound purpose to the heavenly bodies. The reason they exist is found on planet Earth. We get that from Genesis chapter one, "And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, and it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, that's the sun, and the lesser light to govern the night, that's the moon. He also made the stars." One of the great understatements in the entire Bible, "Oh, by the way, He also made the stars." But God made them all, and God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth. That's twice we have an earthbound statement for the sun, the moon, and the stars. Let the earth physically revolve around the sun, that's fine. But when events come to their conclusion on the surface of the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars will end their career. There's an earthbound purpose to these, to give light to the earth and to mark time, seasons, and days, and years. This proves also to me, there are no other planet earths out there having an unfolding redemptive history; that Jesus is doing that saving thing that He did here in planet after planet, after planet like some traveling roadshow. That is false. It is not true. When events come to an end here, the stars will fall from the sky. Literally, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give its lights. Either the sun's light will be blocked or reduced or ceased to give it altogether, because the sun will no longer exist. The sun and the moon, we are told, will not be needed in the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem, because the glory of God will illuminate that new universe and that new Jerusalem. It doesn't mean they don't exist, it just says they won't be needed, so maybe they won't exist at all. The sixth seal of Revelation speaks of the same thing. Revelation 6:12-14, "I watched as he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair. The whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth as late figs dropped from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place." Isaiah 64, "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down and make the mountains shake before you like boiling water." The fourth trumpet in Revelation correlates, Revelation 8:12, "The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon and a third of the stars. So a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, also a third of the night." Isaiah had also predicted this, Isaiah 34:4, "All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll. All the starry hosts will fall like withered leaves from a vine like shrill figs from a fig tree." We have this image again and again and again. I'm aware that in the Book of Isaiah, it's sometime linked to cataclysmic events that happen on earth such as the end of an empire, like Babylonian empire, when it doesn't literally happen that the stars fall from the sky, but it's like the events will be so big, it'll be like that. I understand that language. But since the language is used again and again and again and again, that may be just a poetical connection to what actually will physically happen at the end of the world. Now you wonder how could God do this? It's because God is sovereign over every created thing in the universe. Isaiah 40:26 says, "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name because of His great power and His mighty understanding, not one of them is missing.” They continue to exist, according to Isaiah 40:26, because God wills that they continue to exist. God sustains the stars. A new heaven, a new earth will have a new cosmos as well. III. Jesus Comes With the Clouds Next, Jesus comes with the clouds. Look at verse 26, "At that time, men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and great glory." This was predicted by Daniel and then cited by Jesus at his trials. The very thing that Daniel saw in the Son of Man vision that I’ve already read for you, Daniel 7:12-13, he saw the Son of Man coming into the presence of almighty God on the clouds, and receiving from Him power and great glory. The angels and then all peoples on earth worshiping Him and serving Him. That's the Son of Man vision. Jesus cited that on the trial for His life before the Jewish authorities. Think of the boldness of Jesus, He knew they wouldn't be able to accept it, but He still proclaimed it, referred to it. in Mark 14:62-64, they asked Him, “'I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you're the Christ the Son of God.’Jesus said, ‘I am.’" Period. That's a claim to deity, "I am.” Then He quotes or alludes to Daniel 7, "And you'll see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven." Now that's a clear prediction to his enemies, "You will see this. You're going to see this whether you believe in me or not. It will not take faith to see this. You will see it." “The high priest tore his clothes,'Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. ‘You've heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ And they all condemned him as worthy of death.” Jesus predicting his own Second Coming is what officially got him killed, quoting Daniel 7. The clouds, Jesus coming with the clouds, I believe are both physical like I saw in Takamatsu that day, but they're also symbolic. Clouds are referred to again and again in connection with the great power of God. Clouds are awesome and dramatic. I think all of us who have flown have been above the clouds and then seen a carpet of clouds dramatically. And you can see, especially at sunset, they're all glowing, they're very dramatic things. Clouds literally hid Jesus when He ascended from the earth. It's reasonable for them to be a feature on his return. But the clouds also symbolize the wrath of God, again and again, the wrath of God. Like at Mount Sinai, Moses said to the Jews, in retrospect, looking back on the day at Mount Sinai, Moses said, "You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while at blaze with fire to the very heavens with black clouds and deep darkness." God surrounded Mount Sinai with terrifying black clouds as though a lightning strike could come out of that cloud at any moment. Psalm 18 is probably the strongest connection here. Psalm 18:7-13, "The earth trembled and quaked. The foundations of the mountain shook, they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils. Consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down. Dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherub him and flew. He soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him. The dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of His presence, clouds advanced with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The Lord thundered from heaven, the voice of the most high resounded." It's terrifying. What's going on in Psalm 18? What is David talking about? What happens is David is in trouble on a battlefield, and cries out to God to deliver him, and then God does. He comes to rescue David in the midst of his trouble. Do you not see how that applies to the Second Coming? I believe the Second Coming is a rescue mission. I believe that the bridegroom is coming to rescue the bride because she's about to become exterminated by the antichrist, and He's filled with rage over it. Psalm 18 describes that. Would God do all that for one person, King David? We know that God protected David in every battlefield he ever fought on. He never died in battle, so God did deliver him, and rescued him, and crushed his enemies under his feet. David himself is a symbol of Christ. But ultimately, I think this idea of God rending the heavens, coming with the clouds to rescue his people is consummated at the Second Coming. It's a rescue mission where the people of God are rescued from their enemies, and from imminent death. Isaiah 30:27, "Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke. His lips are full of wrath in his tongue of consuming fire.” Jesus comes with the literal clouds, the physical clouds, but also metaphorically, He comes in the wrath of God. "This idea of God rending the heavens, coming with the clouds to rescue his people is consummated at the Second Coming. It's a rescue mission where the people of God are rescued from their enemies, and from imminent death" IV. The Mourning of the Nations Next, the mourning of the nations. It's not mentioned in Mark, but I want to bring it up. It's mentioned in Matthew, and it's also mentioned in Revelation 1 and Revelation 18. Matthew 24:30, "At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn." Think about that, they’re all going to mourn. "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” Again, Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He's coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him. Even those who pierced Him. And all the people of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be. Amen." A mourning. Why are the nations mourning? “It’s not the end of the world.” No, it will be the end of the world. That's it. All of the things that those unbelievers had been living for will instantly come to an end. This is depicted with the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18:9-11, “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with [Babylon] and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!' The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more.” The party is over. All the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life is done that day. It's over. It's judgment day for them, and so they will mourn. The righteous wrath of the Lord is being poured out on them for their sins, especially because they have not loved Christ or his people. As it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” Revelation 18:18-20 says, "When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?' And they'll throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning, cry out, 'Woe, woe, Oh great city where all who had ships of the sea became rich through her wealth. In one hour she has been brought to ruin. Rejoice over her, oh heaven. Rejoice saints and apostles and prophets for God has judged her for the way she treated you.'" That's the justice of God, but there is mourning and grieving. Let me just stop right now and say the best thing we can do is believe all of these things, and the judgment day that follows, and even more, the hell that follows that, and mourn and grieve now by faith. Grieve over sin now and flee to Christ. That's the best thing we can do is believe these things now when there's still time. At that point, the tears will mean nothing. V. The Gathering of the Elect Then there's the gathering of the Elect. Look at verse 27, "And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens." This is, I believe, the primary reason, other than the glory of God, the primary reason for the Second Coming. He's come to gather His bride together, His people. The antichrist will be bearing down on them with great power, great hatred. He'll be hunting them down to force them to blaspheme by receiving the mark of the beast. Jesus said if those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. That's how bad it's going to be, but for the sake of the Elect, those days will be shortened. Everyone has their limit. There's only so much temptation we can face. No matter how courageous, no matter how faith-filled, no matter how much we are willing to suffer and die as martyrs, there is a limit to what we can endure. Remember, as I talked about last week, the night that Jesus was arrested, He made them say twice who they were there to arrest so that He could say concerning the rest of his followers, "If you're looking for me, then let these men go." John said Jesus said this so that the saying Jesus had stated would come true, "Of all those you have given me, I have not lost one." There is a time to run away. But if that antichrist power is spreading over the earth with so much domination, and if those days had not been cut short or counted as in Daniel 12, He would say, "When the Son of Man comes, will there be any believers left on earth?" So He intervenes. Furthermore, I think He just wants to be with us. Ultimately, isn't that it? Isn't that the point of His death on the cross? He wants to spend eternity with us. He wants to feast with us in heaven. He wants to walk with us in the new heaven, new earth. He wants fellowship with us. He earnestly desires to be with us. Isn't that amazing? Doesn't it blow your mind? We're pathetic, and yet He loves us and wants to be with us. And guess what? We're not going to be pathetic in heaven. Praise God. We'll be really pretty amazing. We'll be glorified. He loves us. He says in John 14:3, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” Why? “So that you also may be where I am." Or again, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, "And so we will be with the Lord forever." Ezekiel 37:23, have you heard this before? "They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Do you know how many times it says that in Ezekiel and Jeremiah? The answer is seven. That's how many times again and again, "They will be my people and I will be their God." He wants fellowship with us. Or again, it's cited in Revelation 21:3, "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God, and He'll wipe every tear from their eyes and there'll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain.'" He wants to be with us. And this is at this moment, the rapture, as I mentioned. He's going to send out his angels and they'll gather his Elect. They're dispatched to collect us and bring us up to meet the Lord in the air. Let me read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 again, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up." That's “rapture.” That's what the word means. And the Latin root is “to be captured up, caught up.” I picture like a mother cat and a kitten being grabbed by the back of the neck, something like that because we can't fly, gravity works on us. So how are we going to meet the Lord in the air? He's going to send out angels who can fly, and they will pick us up so that we can meet the Lord in the clouds. You may say, "Well, why does He want to meet us in the clouds?" I don't know, but He does. We're going to go out like a welcome committee, and meet Him in the clouds. This is the rapture. Verse 27, "He will send His angels and they'll gather His elect from the four winds from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heaven." By the way, the Elect by then will all have been converted. Evangelism and missions will be done by then, no unconverted elect. This is the eternal separation at this moment of the Elect and non-Elect, as Matthew 24:40-41 says, "Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken and the other left." Yes, I believe in the “left-behind” thing. But the left behind here is not pre-trib seven year and all that. This is the separation of the Second Coming. If you're left behind at that moment, you are non-Elect, and the gospel era is over. The sheep and the goats are separated, the wheat and the weeds are separated, the good fish and bad fish are separated forever. The non-Elect will be stunned and seem like they have no idea what's happening. They will not understand this. Matthew 24, "As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man." From the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage right up to the day Noah entered the ark. They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. VI. Properly Preparing for the Second Coming How can we apply this? How can we properly prepare for the Second Coming? I've already said it, but first and foremost, trust in Christ and Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins while there's time. That day is the end of the faith era. It's the end of the gospel era. It's the end of the open door to Noah's Ark era. God closed Noah's door with His own hand. God ended that. Everyone outside the ark perished. Now is the time to enter. Now is the time to believe. Now is the time to trust in Christ, to believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. That's how it starts. And what does that look like? Paul spoke to the Thessalonian Christians in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, "You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath." What does it mean? It's to turn to God away from idols. What are idols? It's the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. It's all the things that lead us away from God. It's all the wickedness. We turn away from those things, away from sin to God through Christ, and we receive forgiveness for all of our sins, Jesus' blood shed for all of our idolatries. You did that in Thessalonians, you turned to God from idols, and you waited, to wait for His son from heaven. So prepare that way. Secondly, cry out in prayer, I would say daily, for the Second Coming of Christ. This line is already very famous. I cited it once, but you remember it's the Lord's prayer, "Our Father in heaven, hallow be your name." What's next? "May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That's the Second Coming. It's a crying out for the Second Coming. Pray that. Do it. Revelation 22:20, "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I'm coming soon.'" What was John's response? "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." That's a prayer, right? Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Or again, Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him." John's answer, “Even so, "Amen. Let it be. I want that to happen." Or again, in 1 Corinthians 16:22, if you have New American Standard Translation, it reads like this, "If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be a cursed.” What is “maranatha”? It's Aramaic for, “come, Lord.” It's a prayer for the Second Coming. Christians should cry out for Jesus to come, and this accords with our understanding of prayer. Not as, number one, giving God an idea He didn't have before, or number two, persuading God to do something He didn't want to do until you persuaded him. That's not what prayer is. Then what is prayer? It's understanding from the Word what God has said He's going to do but hasn't done yet, and ask him to do it. Wouldn't you think the Second Coming fits that description? Has God revealed that he wants his son to come? Yes. Has it happened yet? No. Pray for it. Pray for it. Thirdly, look forward to the Second Coming and long for it. Your prayer for it will stimulate that. You should long for the Second Coming. 2 Peter 3:12 says, "Look forward to the day of God." 2 Peter 3:13, "In keeping with his promise, we're looking forward to a new heaven, new earth." Then verse 14, "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this…” That's three consecutive verses. Look forward to it, look forward to it, look forward to it. That means yearn for it. Say, "I want this to happen." Fourth, be holy. Again, leaning on 2 Peter 3, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?" Answer, you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God. 2 Peter 3:14, "So then, dear friends, since you're looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him." Now that day is coming, bringing about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with this promise, we're looking forward to a new heavens and new earth called the home of righteousness. Only pure people will enter the new Jerusalem. We know we can't purify ourselves by our own efforts, but we know that it's justification, sanctification, and then glorification. That's purification. John says very plainly in 1 John 3, "We know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Everyone who has this hope in Him is purified, just as He is pure. The more you believe in the Second Coming, what Jesus is coming to do, the more zealous you should be to put evil and sin to death in your own life. Colossians 3:5 and 6, "Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming." The Second Coming. That's why He's coming back, to destroy those sins. Fifth, speed the Second Coming by evangelism and missions. Peter said, "As you look forward to the day of God in speed, it's coming." Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." We speed the day of God by evangelism and missions. With every unconverted elect person who then becomes converted and crosses over from death to life through faith in Jesus, we've gotten that much closer to the Second Coming of Christ. We are called on to preach the gospel to lost people. We're surrounded by people who, like in the days of Noah, they are not ready for the Second Coming, and we should care about that. Sixth, serve the Lord's purposes in light of the Second Coming. 2 Timothy 4:1 and 2, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead. And by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching." We are each given a role to play. You all have a ministry or should have a spiritual gift ministry. Do it. 2 Timothy 4, "In light of the second coming." In light of the fact that in view of his coming, you're going to give an account for your life and your ministry. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we've had to walk through this deep, powerful, and significant topic. Father, I pray that you would press these truths home. Help us to live in light of them, help us to be prepared, help us to warn others who we know are not yet prepared. Oh Lord, help us to be holy, to put sin to death. Help us to just saturate our minds in the truths of the Word so that we may live a life pleasing to God. In your name we pray. Amen.

Nature can be a puzzle when trying to unravel the threads of and the motivations behind tree planting, and population growth. Welcome to another episode of The People's Countryside Environmental Debate Podcast, where your cohosts Stuart 'The Wildman' Mabbutt and William Mankelow delve into the intricacies of two thought-provoking questions posed by listeners. In this episode, listener Elaine from Telford, England, sparks a debate about humanity's place in the natural order. Elaine's questions is as follows: “Right from the start, life's evolution has always formed and influenced the makeup of the Earth's atmosphere, with various tipping points along the way. Why wouldn't man's population passing 9.5 billion again be a tipping point? When will we all admit that human existence will have positive and negative effects on the planet? Will there ever be a time when we're not motivated to change just because it has a personal benefit on us or our pockets?” William resonates with the idea that we are an integral part of nature, questioning if our current population growth is simply a facet of the natural process. Stuart delves into the consequences of human actions, emphasising the conscious impact we have on the environment compared to previous species. They explore together the concept of sustainability, touching on the challenges of controlling population growth and the complexities of an ageing demographic. Listener Roman from Slovakia, brings forward a question on the effectiveness of tree planting in addressing environmental issues. The question is as follows: “Is tree planting the best thing for conservation? Natural succession gives you functioning communities of trees and shrubs genetically suited to their environment, plus all the species that go along with that. Firstly, planting trees by-passes the natural successional stages that so much of our biodiversity depends on. Secondly, many planted trees are not from local genetic stock and sometimes not even from the same country.  Thirdly, many/most planted trees are not properly looked after and many die. Fourthly, and leading on from the above, planting trees costs a lot of money and if many/most die it's arguably a waste of money. Is it better to reduce the amount of trees we are cutting down and the drivers behind that cutting?” Stuart challenges the notion that tree planting alone can solve problems, highlighting the importance of considering how, when, and where it's done. William expands on the idea, stressing the need for diverse habitats and cautioning against a narrow focus on creating forests. The cohosts examine the deeper implications of planting trees, contemplating the anthropocentric perspective and emphasising the importance of caring for the trees we plant. What do you make of this discussion? Do you have a question that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by sending an email to ⁠thepeoplescountryside@gmail.com We like to give you an ad free experience. We also like our audience to be relatively small and engaged, we're not after numbers. This podcast's overall themes are nature, philosophy, climate, the human condition, sustainability, and social justice. Help us to spread the impact of the podcast by sharing this link with 5 friends ⁠https://podfollow.com/the-peoples-countryside-environmental-debate-podcast/view⁠ , support our work through Patreon ⁠https://www.patreon.com/thepeoplescountryside⁠. Find out all about the podcast via this one simple link: ⁠https://linktr.ee/thepeoplescountryside --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepeoplescountryside/message

Welcome to episode 174 of the podcast, where we explore the topic of positioning for lift. In this episode, Coach Tamika shares nine essential things you should do to position yourself in 2024 to be lifted to a higher position. Firstly, Coach Tamika emphasizes the importance of position mattering. It's crucial to know where you stand and what you need to do to move up. Secondly, Coach Tamika advises getting hooked onto something that can carry you. Finding a mentor or connecting with a supportive group can help you move forward. Thirdly, Coach Tamika reminds us that there will be tension. It's essential to anticipate it and prepare yourself mentally for any challenges that may arise. Fourthly, make sure you are using the right tools and resources to help you succeed. Fifthly, be in a neutral position. It's important to remain objective and not let your emotions cloud your judgment. Sixthly, adjust multiple times. Don't be afraid to pivot or change your approach if something isn't working. Seventhly, sometimes you may need to back up to relieve tension. It's okay to take a step back and re-evaluate your strategy. Eighthly, get out of the way. Sometimes, you may be your own biggest obstacle. It's important to recognize when you're holding yourself back and make changes accordingly. Lastly, move all obstructions. Clear any obstacles that may be standing in your way and hindering your progress. By following these nine steps, you'll be well-positioned to succeed and be lifted to a higher position in 2024. Thank you for listening to this episode, and we hope you found it helpful. Don't forget to follow us on socials Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/tamika.thomas143⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Restored Facebook Group - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/restoredcommunitytamikathomas/?ref=share⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/tamika_thomas_/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop with Tamika --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tuesdaywithtamika/support

Public speaking throws up many fears and challenges for all of us. As part of High Impact Presentations, one of our public speaking courses, we have been surveying the various participants for the last four years about the types of things they most want to improve. The most common request, from both Japanese and English speakers, is to “be clear when presenting”. What do they mean by clear? The speakers want their message to get across to the audience, to be easy to follow, to have some impact from their efforts to get up in front of others and speak. This is not easy, mainly because we keep snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! There are some errors we make which kill our ability to communicate with the audience. Here are some critical factors to make sure that situation never occurs. Firstly, we should decide what is the purpose of our talk? Is it to Entertain people, so they leave feeling warm and fuzzy about us and our organization? Is it to Convince them or to Impress them that our organization is reliable and trustworthy? Is it to Persuade or Inspire them to take some action that we are recommending? Is it to just Inform them of some recent data or information that is relevant to their industry? We need to be crystal clear about what we are trying to do with our talk, before we even worry about the design, production and delivery. Secondly, we need to thoroughly investigate beforehand just who will we be talking to? What is the generational mix, the age demographic, the male/female split? Are they experts, amateurs, dilettantes, critics, supporters, potential clients, etc.? We need to pitch our talk at the right level for the audience – no dumbing down to the exceedingly well informed, insulting them at every turn. We don't want to be an acronym heaven dweller or a specialist jargon snob, baffling the punters completely. We need to gauge our listener's level of comprehension and make sure we are talking to them at their level of expertise. Thirdly, we should rehearse our talk before we give it. Sounds straight forward doesn't it, except that hardly anyone does this! In sales we always advise, “Never practice on the client”. Presenters should heed the same sage like advice. If we prepare the talk in writing, we may find the cadence is different when we say the words out loud, compared to when we read it on a page. We also may find we have misjudged the time completely and be too long or too short. We need to start singling out key words we want to hit harder than others for emphasis. Speaking in a boring monotone is one of the most common errors of non-professional, non-competent speakers. Some Japanese speakers have complained to me that they are at a permanent disadvantage with public speaking, because the Japanese language is a monotone, non-tonal language. True, it lacks the tonal variety of English but there are two simple changes we can make when speaking Japanese to break out of the monotony. Apply pace to speed up or slooow right down. Another variation is to add more power to a word or phrase or to speak in an audible whisper, removing the power altogether. Both of these techniques will help monotone speakers vary their presentation and maintain the interest of their audience. Fourthly, get the mechanics of delivery right. The message cannot stand by itself; the quality of the content is not enough; the supreme value of the data is insufficient - if people can't hear you. Yes, physically they can hear you are speaking, but when the content and the delivery are not in harmony, only 7% of the message is actually getting through to the audience. That is a shockingly low number. The research on this is quite well established and it makes sense. When the message content is not congruent with the way you deliver the message, we get distracted by how you are dressed, by your body language, by the tone of your voice. As an example, if I said , “I am really excited about the prospects for this new technology” in a totally flat, no energy, barely audible monotone voice, with a bored, unhappy expression on my face and delivered it while looking down at the lectern and not at my audience, only 7% of people would get the message. Many speakers make it hard for themselves because they talk to precisely no one. They look at their notes or the screen or the floor or the ceiling; anywhere, but at that sea of expectant faces carefully scrutinising them. Engage your audience by using eye contact and keep each person's gaze for around 6 seconds to make the eye contact meaningful, without it becoming intrusive.   Japanese friends tell me “In japan, we are taught not to make eye contact”. That may be the case for normal conversation but once you have an audience, you are now in a different role. We need to step it up if we want to have the audience buy what we are saying or to keep interest in our message. This is where making eye contact for 6 seconds works so well. The members of the audience feel we are speaking directly to them and they gravitate to us as a result, because we have engaged them. Also, get you face involved! If it is good news, then smile; if you suggest doubt, have a quizzical expression on your face; if the information is surprising, have an expression of wonder; if it is bad news look unhappy or concerned. A wooden face, totally devoid of expression is a tremendous waste, when we have so much potential to add power to our words with our facial expression. Japanese speakers can gain a lot here because often they fail to take advantage of the face as a medium of their message. A well placed pause is a brilliant way to get the audience focused on what we have just said. Often when we are nervous we speed up and start running the ideas together. This makes it hard for the audience to digest the key points, because the points are rapidly overwhelming and replacing each other. A pause also gives us time to regroup our thoughts and calm down a bit, if we found we were getting a bit too fast in the delivery. Throw in some gestures to add power to the words, but don't maintain the same gesture for longer than 15 seconds. Utilise your palms, so that they can be seen by the audience. Don't hide them behind your back, or lock them up protecting your groin or keep them hidden away in your pockets. This is the classic refuge of my fellow Aussie executives. They don't know what to do with their hands so one slip into the pocket. The really confused CEOs from “downunder” put both hands in their pockets for a stereo effect. A gesture made too low may not be able to be seen by parts of the audience, so make the gesture zone between chest height and head. The gestures should be natural and not Shakespearian or thespian. Leave acting to the experts, be natural, be your “professional” self. When we know why and who we are speaking to; when we get voice, face and hands working in unison to add strength to what we are saying, we get 100% of the audience to clearly absorb our message. It is quite clear what we have to do isn't it! Action Steps Decide what is the purpose of your presentation at the very start and be clear about it Carefully investigate who you will be talking to Rehearse like crazy before you get up in front of the audience Be a legend on the mechanics of presenting      

Share buybacks and stock compensation, the bad and the ugly Share buybacks are good right? The company uses their free cash to buyback shares which reduces the number of remaining shares such that each share has a higher claim over future profits which adds to their value. Further they're tax efficient in that paying dividends results in dividend tax. BUT; Firstly, in cyclical stocks you need to be buying back at lows, not highs and the companies usually have no free cash at lows, so either they don't buy back or they do so at highs when they have the cash. Horrid value destruction. Secondly, some companies are buying back but also issuing new shares to staff, at times at a rate faster or similar to what they're buying back. This is then effectively an underhand salary to staff. This is especially an issue with large tech stocks, see examples below. Thirdly, new share issues are considered non-cash, but ultimately they are cash as you gave somebody real shares that have future claim on profits. Fourthly, often acquisitiosn are done with stock increasing the outstanding shares. Many will see this as a free deal as shares don't cost. But they do cost as they reduce every other shares value and if the company has been buybacks, well then they paid cash for those shares, just indirectly. Locally we do see buybacks, but share issues are relatively small so the impact is less shares and more value per share. Using IFRS accounting diluted HEPS uses the share count of all outstanding shares PLUS all promised shares not yet delivered. These are basically options that could become shares and gives a way better reflection of the profit, even thugh not yet issued they will potentially come to makret and be issued. Apple (Nasdaq code: AAPL) has been buying back shares and as such over the last decade it's outstanding shares is down about 38%. Apple shares outstanding Meta (Nasdaq code: META) has also been buying back, but they also issue shares at such a pace that over the last decade shares outstanding is basically flat. Meta shares outstanding Charts from Koyfin 15% discount for first 2 years Simon Shares US October CPI was 3.2%, down from 3.7% in September (after peaking at 9.1% in June 2022) and markets absolutely loved the data. Expectations for Fed rates is now no more raising and cuts starting maybe as soon as the 19-20 March or 30 April - 1 May meeting. Shoprite* (JSE code: SHP) trading update shows they still knocking it out of the park and taking market share. Woolies* (JSE code: WHL) trading update had more excuses tha a five-year old caught eating all the picnic ice cream. Decent Stor-Age* (JSE code: SSS) results with ±10% yield and discount to NAV of ±25%. The yield is nice, but you can get the same in cash right now. But when rates start coming down the yield is more impressive and lower rates could see higher valuations. A global luxury ETF Simon Brown

Tyson Foods, Inc. has publicized their earnings report with CEO, Donnie D. King, acknowledging to investors on the call, the challenges faced by the industry and the importance of operational excellence. From the report, the company appears to be focused on performance enhancement, cost reduction and market adaptation. However, no direct references to any sector changes that might impact customers or alter consumer behavior were identified. The earnings report reveals some noteworthy aspects about Tyson Foods, Inc.'s recent performance. Firstly, the company has shown consistent improvement with regard to overall earnings. Signs of growth have been detected since the fourth quarter, promoting confidence in the business's long-term potential. Additionally, market demand for protein is remaining steady, indicating Tyson's ability to meet these market requirements. Secondly, from a financial perspective, Tyson Foods displays robust strength. The company's growth is being supported by positive results from the Branded Foods segment, as well as maintaining a leading role in the retail market-share race. Expanding its international presence in key markets and channels has also bolstered company growth. Nevertheless, the company did acknowledge complications in market dynamics for beef and pork products, leading to squeezed margins. Thirdly, the success of Tyson Foods is largely ascribable to the solid performance of the company's branded products. Tyson Foods is consistently outperforming the broader food and beverage category while achieving market share growth across its core businesses. The food service sector, in particular, has been a significant momentum driver, highlighting Tyson Food's strong emphasis on efficiency, productivity and operational excellence. Fourthly, strategic plans have been developed by Tyson Foods to ensure its ongoing success. Priorities have been identified as enhancing financial strength and cash flow, with disciplined capital allocation and improved procurement as key areas of focus. In order to enhance its competitive edge, Tyson is aiming to increase operational efficiencies and grow its presence in the chicken sector. Similarly, Tyson Foods plans to build on its existing success in the Prepared Foods sector by realigning with suppliers and customers in the beef market. Their focus is further supported by ongoing productivity initiatives, among which logistics and digitalization are included. Given the commitment to operational excellence and an evidently proactive approach, Tyson Foods, Inc. is seemingly well-positioned for continued success in the ever-evolving food industry. This conclusion is, of course, based entirely on statements and acknowledgments made by the company itself on their earnings call. It's always important to independently investigate any financial claims a company interprets from their statistics.

1 Corinthians 12:7 I want to continue focusing on the verse that we looked at yesterday because it is so crucial. I have been a church leader for many years and people have told me regularly that they don't know what their gift is. Nothing could be more important than to know what your gift is, so let me spend a few moments trying to help you if you are unsure. And if you are absolutely sure what your spiritual gift is, it will be good for you to take a fresh look at it. Firstly, if you don't know what your gift is then thank God for it. Be positive. We have God's assurance that he has given you a gift so even though you haven't got a clue what it is, thank him for this mystery gift. Secondly, ask God what your gift is. I don't believe that God wants to play games with us. He has given us a gift and we can be sure that he would like us to know what it is. Only then will it be useful in the building the Church, in the way that he intends. Thirdly, open your eyes. Look at your life and reflect on the opportunities you have for serving God. My suspicion is that this is where the problem often lies. We look at some of the gifts of worship leaders and preachers and feel that those gifts are so much more exciting and important than our little gift. We don't want to be told that our spiritual gift is in listening, cleaning or being helpful. But remember that every single gift is absolutely crucial. Fourthly, ask someone else what they think your gift is. This will clearly need to be someone who knows you well and whom you trust. I suspect that this person will easily identify your gift. Their answer might not be the one you were hoping for, but they may well be right and you need to find peace in fulfilling that role. Fifthly, thank God for your discovered gift and use it. Gifts are not ornaments to be put on a mantlepiece for people to admire. They need to be used and developed. Question What is your gift and how are you helping it to grow? Prayer Loving God, help me to treasure the gift that you have given to me. Help me to become more effective in serving you. Amen

God desires for our hearts to be captivated by his glory, loving him with our hearts, minds, and souls. And he also forbids us to love anything else above him. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - When my wife and I were raising our kids, one of the things we did when they were very young was teach them a catechism. Catechism is a pattern of questions that are memorized and answers that are memorized. I still remember the beginning of the catechism, and the first question that we would ask is this: Who made you? And the answer would be given: God. The second question: What else did God make? Answer: God made all things. The third question: Why did God make you in all things? Answer: for his own glory. You've heard that your whole Christian life. What does that mean? God chose to put himself majestically on display in creation, and I would add in history, so that we could see his greatness and marvel at it and love it; that our hearts would be kindled with affection for him because of his greatness. So the fourth question is: How can you glorify God? Answer: by loving God and doing what He commands. That's what this sermon is about. God shines the light of his glory. We see it by the exquisite organ of the inner self, which we're going to talk about today, the heart, soul, mind. We perceive it by that exquisitely complex organ and that sight by faith is radiant and glorious, and we are moved by it. We are drawn to it. We're melted by it. It shows us the invisible God and we love him. Jonathan Edwards wrote these amazing words, "God is glorified not only by his glories being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that he might communicate and the creature receive his glory. That it might be received both by the mind and the heart. He that testifies his idea of God's glory doesn't glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approval of it and his delight in it." Now, there's an analogy for us with physical light to the invisible light of God's glory. God created physical light. God said, “Let there be light,” physical light, and there was light. I have said for many years I've come to realize if God says let there be light, He must also say, “let there be sight.” If He's going to emanate light through the universe but nothing can receive that light, what good is that? He didn't do it for himself. He knows how great He is. He knows completely how great He is. But to put his greatness, his glory on display, the emanation of light, He must create light receptors and must create in that case of physical light, the eye. Physical light is received by the eye. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness." The invisible spiritual light of God's glory is also received by an exquisitely complex organ, the heart. The human heart along with the soul and the mind, those internal attributes that are in the text today, are receptors of God's glory. For years, I've said faith is the eyesight of the soul. I'm not backing away from that. I think it's true. But faith is a capacity that resides in the heart, soul, and mind, somewhere in there. It's a capacity of the heart, soul, and mind to receive invisible spiritual light. God created the human beings in his likeness, and our bodies have magnificently complex organs. The eye is a exquisitely complex, delicate organ for receiving light, and so also our other organs have their magnificent complexity. God created the inner nature, the true self of humans with this language, heart, soul, and mind housed in a physical body which is connected with strength that can move in this world and act and show energy. This is what we are. All of that capacity created in the image of God. God yearns, He desires your heart, your inner nature for himself. He made that for himself. He made your capacity to see and appreciate the light of his glory. He made that for himself and He's jealous over it. He wants it. Sadly, as we saw last time, sin has entered the world, corrupting that magnificent inner organ, so we're blinded to his glory. That capacity is still there, but it goes after created things and loves them in deeply corrupt ways, destroyed by sin. The salvation work of God is to heal and restore that inner nature so that it will do finally what it was meant to do and that is to love God, and that's what we're going to talk about today. God in His grace has begun this massive work of healing and of re-creation residing in the inner nature of man, the heart, soul, and mind to love God. "God yearns, He desires your heart, your inner nature for himself. He made that for himself. " I. The Two Great Commandments Look again at the text. Mark 12:28-34, "One of the teachers of law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, 'Of all the commandments, which is the most important?' 'The most important one,' answered Jesus, 'is this. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.' 'Well said teacher,' the man replied. 'You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burn offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'" We're in the midst of an overall series in the Gospel of Mark. We've come here to the last week of Jesus's life. He's dealing with a bunch of controversies and opponents, enemies that are trying to trip him up in his words. This man is not like them though. This man genuinely has a desire to know God. It's pretty clear from what Jesus says to him and what he says to Jesus. He comes and asks this question. Last week, we looked at the two great commandments, the positive commandments, love God, love others, but we also looked at the negative, the prohibitions, the “thou shalt nots” as well and saw that we can't just stay positive. Our hearts are so corrupt that we can't just say love and do whatever you want. We will mess that up. So I took that law, the law, both positive and negative and applied it to different stages of our salvation— justification, sanctification, glorification. That was last week's sermon. And by the way, this sermon that I wrote, I wrote yesterday. I never do that. I don't write sermons on Saturdays, but I didn't like at all what I had written before. So you can just discard that outline. I don't even know what it says. It's no one's fault but my own. That's what happens when you're gone all week in a Texas prison and you come back and you look at the sermon, it's like, oh, that's really not good. The problem was I gutted a lot of its best points last week and it would just be a repetition of a lot of the same things. It wasn't anything wrong, it just wasn't anything new. I thought we need to do something else. So I now conceive of the vertical aspect of the two great commandments to love God in a three sermon series. I described last week's sermon just a moment ago. II. What Does It Mean To Love God? This week's sermon is definitional. What does it mean to love God? That's what's in front of us. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Next week is more therapeutic. What do I do if I don't love God, and that sermon doesn't exist either yet. But it will, I promise. God willing. I want to talk about how can we be healed and how can we love God if we're distant, if we're drifting, if we're cold, or even if we're normal but we want to love God more? That's what next week's sermon's about. So now it's definitional. What does it mean? What does it mean to love God? The Hebrew word for love, “ahav”, it's interesting, three of the first four times it's mentioned. If we find where it's used, it's fascinating how it's used. They all center around the person of Isaac, interestingly. First the love of a father for a son in Genesis 22:2. This is the first use of the word “ahav” in the Hebrew Bible. "Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and sacrifice him.'" That should obviously remind us of God's statement at Jesus' baptism and also at the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is my son whom I love.” But that's the first use of the word “love” in the Bible, father for a son. The second is for a husband for a wife. Genesis 24:67, "Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent of his mother, Sarah, and he married Rebecca so she became his wife and he loved her." He loved her. The third use of the word “love” that I'm listing here is Genesis 27:4, and that's actually where Isaac says to his son, Esau, "Prepare me the kind of tasty food that I love and bring it to me to eat so I may give you my blessing before I die." That's fascinating word study here. The use of the word “love.” Love of a father for a son, the love of a husband for a wife, the love of a man for meat stew, like a savory stew. Same word. What is it then? What is love? We do the same thing in English. We do the same thing in our use of it. I love my wife. I love my kids. I love my job. I love my country. I love football. I love baseball. I love chocolate. I love the fall. The same word for a widely ranging array of things. I love Jesus. I love almighty God. Same word. How do we understand it? The number one mentor I've already quoted here on this other than the Bible itself of course is Jonathan Edwards. And Edwards wrote one of the greatest works that I've ever read, The Treatise on Religious Affections. In the context of Edwards writing that, 1746 was the first Great Awakening, a massive revival of religion. A revival of people's hearts toward Christ and I think the greatest revival of the last 300 years. There's lots of ferment about Christianity, lots of activities, lives were being turned upside down by the gospel. Things were changing, lots of transformation. Lots of criticism too. People criticizing it, not liking all the displays, the emotional displays. And then as the years went on, some of those people just reverted to the old way they'd been living before. And so the idea came up, what is the nature of true religion, of true Christianity? What is it? No one I think was better suited, better gifted or positioned to answer that question than Jonathan Edwards, pastor of one of the most significant churches in New England, the church in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was a seasoned pastor with a brilliantly theologically deep mind. He also had an amazingly deep, almost scientific gift of perception. He would study spiders and watch things they did. He thought they were magnificent, and he would write things about the behavior of spiders. He was scientific, but especially about religion, about things of the Bible. With this Great Awakening, there's all this ferment, emotion, all of this change and then other aspects, tears of joy, shouts of joy, people jumping up and down, throwing themselves on the ground, crying. What is it all? He wrote his treatise concerning religious affections to try to answer the question. He argued that true conversion toward true Christianity, true religion consists in religious affections or holy affections, which ultimately simply is love. It comes down to love, ultimately. What does he mean by affections? Edwards made this insightful remark, He said, "God has endued the soul with two faculties. One is that by which it is capable of perception and speculation or by which it discerns and views and judges of things, which is called the understanding. The other is that by which it is in some way inclined to them or disinclined or averse from them as liking or disliking or loving and hating, pleased or displeased, approving or rejecting. Those are the affections." The soul studies and comprehends the world around it as it becomes aware of its understanding and its nature, and then secondly is either attracted to it or repulsed from it to a greater or less degree. That's what love is, and then true Christianity consists in love. First Peter 1:8, speaking of Jesus, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." That's true Christianity right there. [1st John 1:8] To love, truly love Jesus Christ. He argues that the soul is doing this all the time. It begins with perception. It begins with understanding, with knowledge, and it moves over to affection. The heart then moves toward or away from that thing. I want to give you an illustration from a recent experience I had with a friend of mine, Jeff Percy, who lives in Newfoundland. He came from Canada with his two teenage children, Maria and Luke, and brought them to an NFL football game. Luke, a child after my own heart is a big Patriots fan and they were playing the Jets. It was a rainy day and they're in the Meadowlands there at an NFL football game. While Luke was ardently into it, Maria couldn't care less. She didn't know much about American football, its rules. It didn't mean much to her. Third and long, what does that mean? Getting the first down with a great pass, what is that? Which team is which? What are the colors? It's just nothing for her. The heart studies and then, the more you understand, then if you are a fan, short for “fanatic”, you are going to be ardently involved in that. You're going to be passionate and jumping up and down about what's going on. So it is with everything. We start with the perception. The soul has the ability to study something with knowledge. Then the more we understand, then our hearts are kindled and our affections become engaged. "To love, truly love Jesus Christ. …It begins with perception. It begins with understanding, with knowledge, and it moves over to affection." Joe Rigney writing about Edwards' treatise said, "It's the inclination of the will that governs our actions." Some inclinations of the will are mild and minor. They barely register at all. Like choosing what socks to wear today. But other inclinations of the will are vigorous, persistent and lively, like choosing the person you're going to marry. Only the latter Edwards would term affections. It's the more ardent stimulations of the will. They're more vigorous and sensible. The soul has the power to affect the body. Sam Storms said in talking about Edwards' treatise, "Only the soul or immaterial element is capable of thinking and understanding and thus of loving and hating or experiencing joy or sorrow over what is known. The many physiological sensations we experience, the rush of blood, rapid breathing, goosebumps, chills down the spine and increased heartbeat, et cetera, those are the effects, the physical effects of affections.” The body is very complex. The mind, the heart, these are complex systems, but it has a physiological effect. Now for me, as I studied all this, a number of years ago, I started to see it from my own engineering background with two things. One is a magnet- attraction and repulsion- and the other is a number line of affections in which you lay out strong or weak affections or disaffections. That's how I tended to see it. We would say, like a bar magnet which has an N, north, and an S for south, and you have two magnets, and the likes repel. You can feel a force. If you put the N and an N together, you can feel an invisible force repelling, pushing away. That's repulsion or disinclination, disliking or hating. But if you turn one of them around and then they're opposite, there's an attract and you feel a force pulling them together. Then you take all of those arrays of things that you like on up to those things that you love, you put them on the positive side of the number line, so from your perspective over here on the right-hand side, and the higher the number, the more ardent your affections are for those things. Then on the negative side, the more ardent your disaffection, dislike, all the way up to, we would use the word hate. Zero would be perfect indifference, like Maria at the football game. But the more you learn, the more your heart starts to move one direction or the other, and so you have that sense of repulsion or attraction. I've always been interested in magnets. I was at a car parts store yesterday and there was this little telescoping magnet thing that you could reach out and pick things up. Some of you men know exactly what I'm talking about. As a matter of fact, when the guy was replacing the battery in my car, he did drop a nut down there and went and got that telescoping magnet thing. I said, "That's going to make it in my sermon." He's down there and it just gets attracted to it. Fundamentally, that's what our heart does. As you look at that number line, God stands over this whole process and demands, commands that He be uppermost in our affections. On the number line, He is by far, the farthest right thing because all of the entities that have existence in the universe are in two categories and only two— creator and creature. And there's an infinite gap between the two. Anything you love more than the creator is a creature and is the biblical definition of an idol. Romans 1:25, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who's forever praised.” That is idolatry. John Calvin said, "The human heart is an idol factory. In our wickedness, in our sin, we are continually loving, created things more than the creator who's forever praised. Amen." It's what we do in our sin. Jesus Christ also similarly claims the top spot in our affections. Matthew 10:37, "Anyone who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” As a matter of fact, Jesus says in Luke 14:26 that our love of Christ should be so great, so ardent that anything else in the universe will seem like hatred by comparison. He uses that language to talk about things that in other places He tells us to love. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” You need to understand what Jesus is saying there. He's saying by comparison, the gap between your love for Christ and everything else should be so dramatic that everything else is like hatred on the number line of affections. That's how I perceive love. It is to be having my heart genuinely attracted to God and the things of God. To love them, be drawn to them. We are told in scripture, using the same kind of language, that naturally we are repulsed from these things. The mind of the flesh is enmity against God [Romans 8]. It hates God and his things naturally. We are repulsed from them. "By comparison, the gap between your love for Christ and everything else should be so dramatic that everything else is like hatred on the number line of affections. " Now look at the text. Look at the words that Jesus used. "You are to love the Lord your God with everything you are." What does that mean? Well, with all your heart. What is the heart? The heart biblically is the core of your being and we understand the heart by the functions ascribed to it in the Bible. What does the heart do? There's a number of functions ascribed to the heart in the Bible. For example, it thinks. Proverbs 23:7 says, "As one thinks in his heart, so he is." The heart thinks, the heart feels. In Romans 9:2 Paul says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." So there's passion in the heart. It feels emotions. It decides. The heart makes decisions. Second Corinthians 9:7, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart." That's about Christian giving. It decides, it makes decisions. It makes plans. Proverbs 16:1, "To man belong the plans of the heart." The heart makes plans. The heart desires or yearns. Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." To some degree, if you look at that list of five things, it seems there's nothing left for anything else to do. The heart seems to do everything. And yet there are two more internal words. We're also to love God with all of our soul and with all of our mind. As I've meditated on heart, soul, mind and tried to discern a distinction, I just to some degree can't. I just honor and respect the fact that the Bible uses different words for these different inner attributes of the complex organ of inner self that He has made. We honor heart, soul, mind and then try to understand strength as well. What does it mean to love God with all of your soul? What is the soul? Sometimes the two phrases go together, with all your heart and all your soul. They just link together frequently in Deuteronomy. When Jonathan wanted to go The soul could be said to be the immaterial part of you, the nonphysical part of you that is attracted to God, let's say, that relates to God. It is with your soul that you have a love relationship with God. But keep in mind, we're told to love God with all of our hearts, so, so much for that. It's hard to distinguish between them. The Hebrew word “nephesh” seems to refer to the animating principle, the principle of life. That which gives us life. We are alive by the soul, the “nephesh”. In Genesis 1:21 it says, "God created great whales and every living creature." All these “nepheshes”, to mix up Hebrew and English. He created all of these nephesh, these creatures, but especially the human being. The word “nephesh”, translated “soul”, is mostly used for humans in the Bible. Genesis 2:7, "Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living soul, a living creature.” I don't know how to take a difference between the heart and soul, but those are different words, and they have different aspects that we can only perhaps know fully in heaven the difference. But it's all of your internal self, your heart, your soul together, loving God. It's like with every fiber of your living being, with all the parts that make you alive, the mystery of life with the core of your life, love God. That's what this command is. Then it adds the mind. The mind is to think and understand. It's the part of you that thinks, it reasons, it meditates. As I just said a moment ago, it understands. Christ is commanding that you use that intellect of yours, that mind of yours to love him. To think thoughts, good thoughts about him. Your intellect given fully to loving God, to delighting in the depths of God's word and the complexities of this book, trying to understand it. Loving God with all of your mind. Studying it. Your imagination. Using your imagination to worship and admire God. Your mental powers, your science, your philosophy, your logic, your deductive skills, your reasoning powers, powers of observation and argumentation. All that the mind can do, with all of that, love God. I like even the concept of inventing ways of loving God. Sinners invent ways of doing evil. They use their inventiveness in doing evil. Let's invent. I'm not saying invent religion. Let's do what God says. But it's just every day it's like, "How can I love you, God? How can I serve you today?" and you're thinking of different patterns. Then finally it says with all your strength. Now, home base in this for me is just your body. That you're going to use your muscles and you're going to exert them in your love relationship with God until you're tired, until you're even exhausted. You're going to love God with all your strength. You have no strength left because you have loved God so much. I think that's fine, but I think it's okay to use the word “strong”, going back to those other inner attributes like a strong mind or a strong will or a strong love. There's a strength aspect which I think is fine as well. Everything that you have, you're going to give it all to God. I like the image of being poured out like a drink offering that Paul uses for himself. Second Timothy 4:6, "I'm already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come from my departure." The ultimate picture of this is Jesus on the cross. As they gamble for his clothing and his articles, whatever little he had in life physically, it's gone to fulfill prophecy. His life blood poured out. Everything He had to give, He gave to God and to us. This a picture of loving God with all your strength, hold nothing back, wholehearted devotion. I will praise you. Psalm 9:1, "I will praise you O Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders." Or when David, when the ark was being brought in, it says, "He danced before the Lord with all his might.” He was really exhausted after it was over. Focus. Psalm 27:4, "One thing I ask of the Lord," David wrote, "this is what I seek. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." We have the tendency, don't we, to spare ourselves, to hold back. We often think we've done the best we can. We never do the best we can. We always have some reserve we held back a little bit. But you think about athletes. There are some pictures of athletes that really gave everything. I read a number of years ago about a woman that was competing in the Iron Man triathlon in Hawaii, which is just amazing. A 2.4 mile swim. Think about that. Swimming for 2.4 miles, then riding a bike for 112 miles and then you do a regulation marathon. At the end of that whole race, she had nothing left to give, but she wasn't at the finish line. She was leading, but she had her muscle cramp. There was no strength left, and she literally crawled on bloody hands and knees to finish third. That's a picture of giving everything. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength III. What Should We Love About God? What should we love about God? Well, everything of course. But I think these are some ways of understanding it. Love God's works, love God's word, love God's perfections, love God's son, God's purposes. It all starts with creation. Think of all the beauties of nature. It all starts with the beauties of nature. I'll never forget the first time that my daughter Carolyn saw the ocean in Nauset Beach on Cape Cod. She was quite young and she was born in a landlocked country called Kentucky. We brought her to see my mom on Cape Cod, and I knew what was going to happen. I had the foresight to look at her face as we crested the sand dune at Nauset Beach and then looked down at the pounding surf. There'd been a storm the day before so it was big. I watched her face and her eyes were as big as saucers. Wordlessly, for she had no words, she just kept, like saying, "Don't look at me, dad. Look at that. That's big." She had no words but big and awesome and dramatic. So it starts with creation. But then beyond that, at some point, faith enters and you stop looking just at the creation and you realize there is a creator behind it. Hebrews 11:3 says, "By faith we understand the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen came from what was invisible." We know that by faith. So behind everything physical, we see there's a beautiful, awesome, wise, powerful creator who made all of these things. Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory." We study like scientists who want to find God's glory everywhere, even the little things. Jesus said, "Consider the lilies of the field. They don't labor or spin. Yet I tell thee that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." That's how God clothes the grass of the field. God made it. Who made you? God. What else did God make? God made all things. God made that flower. So we love it. We also see God's mighty works throughout history and there's an interaction between God's works and and God's Word. We start to interpret and we see God's mighty works in history. Psalm 111:2-4, ”Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful." So we study his mighty works in history and we do it through God's Word. We love his Word. "Oh, how I love your law." Psalm 119:97. "I meditate on it all day long.” Jeremiah 15:16, "When your words came, I ate them. They were my for and my heart’s delight , for I bear your name Lord God almighty." We see God through the Word. We see his works in history. We see with the Jews, with Israel, how He called out a people for himself and He rescued them with a mighty hand and outstretched arm with the 10 plagues, dreadful plagues and the Red Sea crossing. The might and the power of God, the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire, and how He did awesome things and how He made the Jordan River stand up at flood stage so they crossed on dry ground. He made the walls of Jericho fall down of themselves. There's nothing that God cannot do. He cared for them in the desert before that with the feeding of man and water from the rock. Then throughout their history, centuries of history, God showed incredible patience with them and tenderness and mercy, but also sometimes judgment and wrath as He would bring in Gentile raiders or conquerors. We see the wisdom of God in all of that. We also talk about God's perfections, God's attributes. Then answer the question, what is God like? One of my favorite parts of new member weekend is we go through the doctrine of God. I made a list a number of years ago of the 26 attributes of God through a bunch of systematic theologies I read, and I think it's a comprehensive list. There's not going to be another 30 attributes that haven't been discovered yet. These are the ones that are revealed in scripture, and there are lots of supporting scriptures. They're just magnificent. Like God's self existence. That's what makes God different than everything else in the universe. God doesn't need a creator. He is the self existent one. He gets his existence from himself, not from the creature. We get our existence from God and sustained by food and water and air. God's immutability, the fact that He never changes. “I the Lord do not change.” He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. He can't improve or get worse. The perfections of God. We love these things. We love studying these things. The eternity of God. Psalm 90:2, "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God." He's an ancient God, the ancient of days. Immensity, which may be the same as omnipresence. "Even the highest heavens cannot contain you," Solomon said. "How much less this temple I built." The immensity of God or the omnipresence of God, the omniscience of God. Great is the Lord and mighty in his understanding. There is nothing He can learn from you. Who has ever been God's counselor? Do you have any advice to give God? Would you like to teach God something? Remember that whole thing with Job? “Where were you when I made the universe? I wasn't asking your advice.” The infinite wisdom and the knowledge of God. His omnipotence, the fact that there is nothing He cannot do. We could go through the whole list and it would be delightful. But these are the perfections. If you love God, you love them. You love the God that's revealed in these words. But ultimately you love God's son, Jesus Christ. Because He's the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After He had, by his blood, provided purification for sin, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. We love Jesus, especially the cross and the resurrection. Which when the Holy Spirit convicts you and converts you, He gives you a whole new vision of this disgusting, horrific bloody death. Suddenly it turns, and becomes glorious. Does it not? Does it not display the justice of God? Romans 3:26, "Because in his forbearance, he left the sins committed beforehand unpunished." God needed to display his justice so He could be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus, but it's also the display of his love. God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we're still sinners, Christ died for us. So the cross is a display of justice and love. But it's also in 1st Corinthians 1, a display of wisdom and power. The cross of Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God. Power how? He saves a multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation of all of their myriad sins in one afternoon. In one day, He takes away the sins of the world. That's power, friends, and we love it. IV. Applications What applications can we take from this? I was praying and thinking about this yesterday and sometime ago, recently, I was bit with the alliteration bug ,and I just haven't been able to get healed yet. So I'm going to give you five A's, and we'll close the sermon with these five A's. Awareness, approval, amazement, ardor, and action. That's what it means to love God. First, awareness. We learn about God from his Word and his world. We study and see, and we are aware of God, who He is according to his Word. Secondly, approval. We approve of what we learn. We are delighted in it. This makes us different than the demons. They're aware, but they hate him. We love him. We approve of what God does. One of the words that's used for approval is “amen". When you hear our brother or sister pray, we say amen. Meaning “I stand with that.” It comes from the Hebrew word “to stand.” Let it stand or I stand with it. I agree. So let it be. That kind of thing. Psalm 106:48, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say Amen.” Let God be praised. Everyone says amen that we agree. Second Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are all yes in Christ. Through him, we speak the amen to the glory of God." That's an amazing verse. It's like we agree that the promises are glorious and we want them to happen. We're in with it, we agree. Or then the second to last verse of the Bible. Revelation 22:20, "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I'm coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.'" So what's John saying? I want that to happen. I approve of that. I agree with that. Thirdly, amazement. We marvel at the greatness of God's works. Like the single Greek word, “the omega.” Oh in the doxology in Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depths of the riches, the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?” What's going on in Paul as he's writing that? He's filled with amazement at the gospel. This is 11 chapters of deep theology. Oh, this is deep. Well, you're going to spend eternity in heaven saying, oh and oh and oh. God's going to be revealing his greatness to you again and again. You're going to be overwhelmed. Amazement is part of our love for God. We're amazed at who He is. Fourthly, ardor. I've used the word a number of times in the sermon. It means “fire, zeal." Nothing God hates more than lukewarmness. He'll spit it out of his mouth. If you're lukewarm, he'll spew you out like the Laodiceans. We are not lukewarm. He wants our hearts on fire. As the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened the scriptures to us." There's a fire, an ardor, a zeal. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving lord. Psalm 63:1 captures it. "Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I am hungry for you, God. I am thirsty for you. I need you. I want you." Then finally, action. Simply put, you love God by doing what He tells you to do. You love God by obeying his commands. This is love for God, to obey his commands. In 1st John Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." So action. What is he telling you to do? Do it. That will enhance your love for God. It will demonstrate love for God. That's what love for God is. So are you in Christ? Do you know him? Have you received the forgiveness of sins? You cannot love him without first faith in Christ. Trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then if you are a Christian, how is your love relationship with God? Next week we're going to talk about that and we're talking about how to remedy it and how to grow. We come now to a time for the Lord's supper. Time for us to celebrate this ordinance. I'm going to close our time in the word in prayer, and then I'm going to invite the deacons to come. Father, thank you for what we've learned today about what it means to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now as we turn to the Lord's supper, we pray for your blessing. In Jesus name, amen.

Talk 5   Mark 1:29-45 Miracles of healing in Capernaum and beyond   Welcome to Talk 5 in our series on Mark's Gospel. Today we'll be looking at Mark 1:29-45. We'll begin by reading verses 29-31.   29. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30.  Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.   As we saw last time, Jesus has just cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue. He and his disciples now leave the synagogue and go to the home of Simon and Andrew. This passage gives us an interesting insight into family life at the time. Although Simon was married, his brother Andrew was living with them, and so was his wife's mother. For the extended family all to live under the same roof was normal at the time and is not uncommon in some parts of the world today. This may well account for the fact that, later in his ministry, Simon Peter, also known as Cephas, was able to take his wife with him on his apostolic travels, as did some of the other apostles (1 Corinthians 9:5).   However, more important than the social conditions prevailing at that time, is the miracle of healing so briefly described in the verses. Simon's mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. They tell Jesus. He responds immediately, goes to her, takes her hand, and helps her up. She is healed straightaway and is able to wait on them. So Jesus' response to the need is immediate and so is the healing.   Interestingly, in Matthew's account of this miracle, Jesus simply touches her hand (Matthew 8:15), and in Luke we're told that he bent over her and rebuked the fever and it left her (Luke 4:39). Of course, the differences in these accounts are not contradictions. They complement each other and give us the full picture. They all show his willingness and power to heal. Sometimes Jesus healed with a touch, at others with a word of command. In this case he does both. I have often preached about his miracle, usually from the passage in Matthew, and have commented that in many ways his word is synonymous with his touch. He touches us with his word.   On one such occasion, in March 2009, on a visit to Portugal where I was teaching for a week in Mount Hope Bible College near Lisbon, I was asked to do a weekend of teaching in a place called Tomar. On the Sunday morning I was preaching about the power of Jesus and how He healed people just by touching them. I explained that today He often ‘touches' us through the message that is preached and that He could touch and heal people now, even while I was preaching. While I was saying this, I noticed a woman in the second row who was quietly crying.     As soon as the service ended, this woman came to me and spoke to me. She did so through an interpreter as I don't speak Portuguese.  She insisted on showing me the lower part of her leg which for some time had been very swollen, had caused her great pain, and which had been greatly discoloured. Her friend, who interpreted for her confirmed that this was true. However, during my preaching the swelling had gone down completely, the discolouration had disappeared, and she was no longer in pain. Her tears were tears of joy! She pulled up her trouser leg and revealed a perfectly normal ankle. There was no evidence that she'd ever had a problem.   32. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33. The whole town gathered at the door, 34. and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.   We saw last time that in verse 28, after Jesus had driven out the demon in the synagogue, the news spread quickly throughout Galilee. This is demonstrated by the immediate effect on the people of the town. In fact, the whole town gathered at the door. It's understandable that people who are suffering will flock to someone who is able to meet their need, but sadly this does not always lead to genuine conversion, as the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19 makes clear. And, as we saw last time, the miracles Jesus performed in Capernaum did not bring the people to genuine repentance.   In the New Testament, miracles almost invariably attracted the attention of the crowds, and the same is generally true today, though their effect seems to vary in different cultures. For example, in Africa multitudes used to gather at the evangelistic and divine healing crusades conducted by Reinhard Bonnke, but I know from personal experience and acquaintance with him that the effects of his ministry were considerably less in Europe. Rather as in the ministry of Jesus, the Lord could do no mighty work because of the scepticism and even cynicism in the region, although he did lay his hands upon a few sick people and heal them (Mark 6:5).   Despite this, Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons. We're told in verse 41 and elsewhere that he did this because of his compassion (Matthew 14:14, 20:34, Mark 1:41, 5:19, 9:22, Luke 7:13). In healing the sick he demonstrated the love of God, even for those who were ungrateful, just as later he died for the sins of the whole world even though he knew that many would reject him.   In verse 34 Mark tells us that Jesus drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. We have already seen one example of this with the demon-possessed man in the synagogue (vv24-25). Jesus tells the demon to be quiet because it knew who Jesus was – the holy one of God.  James 2:19 shows us that even the demons believe – and shudder. They believe, but they do so grudgingly. Jesus silences all such testimony. He looks for a voluntary and glad acceptance of who he is, as the truth is revealed by the Spirit of God to those who repent and come to faith in him as their Saviour.   Finally, in Matthew's account of these miracles (8:17), he says that Jesus performed his healings   …to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."   This is one of the ‘proof-texts' used by those who believe that Jesus died for our sicknesses in just the same way that he died for our sins. However, as I have argued in detail in my PhD thesis, and in a more simplified way in my book, Just a Taste of Heaven, whenever Matthew quotes the Old Testament he does so in connection with the events in Jesus' life and ministry that he is there and then recording, not to something that will take place later. And in Matthew 8:16-17 he uses the quote from Isaiah in connection with Jesus' healing ministry in Galilee, not in the context of his atoning work on the cross, which took place three years later. So, as we've already seen, Jesus' miracles are best understood as signs of the kingdom of God. They confirm the truth of the gospel message as they demonstrate God's power and his loving compassion for those who are sick.   35. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36. Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37. and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 38. Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39. So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.   Verse 35 undoubtedly reveals the key to Jesus' power. Although he was the Son of God (v1), and although he had been baptised in the Spirit (v10), he still needed to spend time alone in communion with God. He got up very early, he found somewhere to be alone, and he prayed. It was surely on these occasions that he received revelation from God about everything he was to do. In John 5:19, after he has healed the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day, he says:    I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.   This surely makes it clear that even Jesus could not tell God what to do. And we, as his disciples are to follow his example. We are God's servants. He dictates the agenda. If we are to be used in healing, as Jesus was, we must first hear what God is saying. The level of our authority is directly related to the extent to which we are hearing what God has to say.   But these verses also give us an insight into two other aspects of public ministry:   (1)  the external pressure of both the disciples and the general public demanding attention (36-37), and (2)  the inward pressure of one's personal conviction of God's call and purpose for our lives (38-39. Cf. also v45).   God's call to serve him is what should motivate all we do, but if we are to be effective in his service we must find the right balance between spending time with him and responding to the inevitable demands made by our fellow Christians and the desperate need of those who do not yet know Jesus. This is probably the most important reason why we need to follow closely the example of Jesus in seeking to win others for him.   And finally in verses 40-45 we have the account of the healing of the leper.   40. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." 41. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.   There are several points of interest here. First is the fact that the leper came to Jesus. This was unusual in that lepers were required to keep their distance due to the highly contagious nature of the disease. Perhaps his boldness in doing so can be accounted for by the fact that he had presumably heard of the miracles Jesus had already performed and that, like the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, he felt he had nothing to lose.   Secondly, what he says makes it clear that he did not doubt Jesus' ability to heal him, but that he was unsure of Jesus' willingness to do so. I've often heard it said that to be healed we must not only have faith that God can heal us, but also that he will. But that is clearly not the case. Jesus healed the leper despite his lack of faith in his willingness to do so. But Jesus' words of reassurance – I am willing – are surely an encouragement to us all. This is the only case in the Bible where someone prays in effect, Lord, heal me if it is your will. And Jesus replied, I am willing. In the light of this, and the fact that Jesus never refused healing to anyone who came to him, we should surely continue to expect healing, at least until he shows us that there is a reason for his not doing so (as in the case of Paul's thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 11 where the apostle was told that God's grace would be sufficient for him).   Thirdly, Jesus' motive for healing the leper was compassion. Ignoring social convention and the danger both of catching the disease and of being made ceremonially unclean, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man – because he loved him. And we're reminded, as we saw in an earlier talk, of Jesus' willingness to be baptised even though it made him look as though he was a sinner who needed to repent. These things all foreshadow – they are a prophetic picture – of all that Jesus was to do on the cross. Although he never sinned, he was willing for God to treat him as a sinner so that he could make us acceptable to God (2 Corinthians 5:21 CEV). And he did so because he loves us.   Fourthly, please notice that the healing was immediate. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured (v42). In the Gospels Jesus' healings were almost always immediate. There is little evidence for miracles of gradual healing. Admittedly, in Mark 8:22-26 the healing of the blind man was not instantaneous, and the ten lepers who came to Jesus for healing were all healed, but it was only as they set off to see the priest as Jesus commanded them that on their way they were healed (Luke 17:14). However, it's clear from the context that these healings occurred almost immediately or at least very soon after Jesus had ministered to those who were suffering. This does not mean of course that God may not sometimes have a purpose in gradual healing today, but healings really need to be immediate if they are to fulfil their purpose as manifestations of the kingdom of God and as signs confirming the truth of the good news of the gospel.   43. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44. "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45. Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.   Why did Jesus tell him not to tell anyone about his healing? Because he didn't want people to come to him simply for the physical benefits they could get. He had compassion on the sick and never refused healing to anyone who asked for it, but he didn't go looking for the sick and the demon possessed. He didn't advertise his healings – nor did the apostles in the book of Acts – his miracles advertised him! His priority, as we have seen was to take time to hear what his heavenly Father was saying.   So he tells the man he has healed to obey the Law of Moses in Leviticus 14 for the priest to examine him and confirm the healing. We might have thought that the man would have gladly obeyed Jesus' instructions out of sheer gratitude, but instead he does the opposite! We're not told why, but whatever the reason, his enthusiasm to tell his story didn't help the cause of the kingdom of God. The proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God is demonstrated with miraculous signs and wonders, but his kingship does not take away our freedom of choice or our responsibility to obey him. And surely the greatest evidence that Jesus is Lord is in the obedient lives of those who profess to follow him. If we want Christ's kingdom to be extended, we must do things his way.   And finally, seven key points to summarise what we've been saying: (1)  Jesus' authority to heal sprang from the time he spent in communion with God and his obedience to what God revealed to him. (2)  The purpose of Jesus' healings was to confirm the good news of the kingdom of God and to show his compassion for suffering humanity. (3)  His healings, as signs of the kingdom, were immediate rather than gradual. (4)  Jesus healed by a word of command, or by a touch, or by both. (5)  While his healings brought multitudes under the sound of his teaching, relatively few became true disciples. (6)  Despite this, his willingness to be identified with suffering and sinful humanity foreshadowed what was to happen at Calvary. (7)  His willingness and power to heal all who came to him, like his willingness and power to save all who come to him, were no guarantee that all would come. But he heals and he saves anyway, because he loves us. The choice is ours, whether we come to him or not.

Learn how to permanently reduce your tax burden. The greatest tax breaks for real estate investors are revealed. But first, home prices are permanently elevated because they're larger and with more amenities than they had in the 1970s.  Today's homes have vaulted ceilings, multiple fireplaces, granite countertops and more square footage. I describe. John Hyre, the Tax Reduction Lawyer, joins us for the first time. The top federal income tax rate is 37%. Learn where it's headed next. On your short-term rentals (like Airbnbs), sometimes you can reduce your taxes by legally stating that it's a “hotel”. Your rent income is taxed at less than your day job (W-2) income. Rent income is not burdened with social security and self-employment tax. Learn exactly how tax depreciation lowers taxable income for real estate investors. You'll legally never pay any capital gains tax with a 1031 Exchange. We review how. Will the 1031 Exchange go away? John tells us how to get $100K tax-free out of your property—without doing an exchange. Timestamps: The direction of the marginal income tax rate [00:08:19] Discussion about the current marginal income tax rate and the potential for changes in the future. Tax changes under the Trump administration [00:09:22] Explanation of the Trump tax changes and the potential impact of those changes on real estate investors. Taxation of rental income [00:10:08] Explanation of how rental income is taxed differently from regular job income, specifically regarding self-employment and social security taxes. Opportunity and traps of Airbnb rentals [00:10:25] Discussion on the potential to convert Airbnb income into losses and the tax implications of Airbnb rentals. Making an Airbnb an active trade or business [00:11:41] Exploring the distinction between treating an Airbnb as rental income or hotel income for self-employment purposes. Accelerating depreciation with cost segregation study [00:14:17] Explanation of cost segregation study and how it can help real estate investors lower their taxable income by depreciating certain assets more aggressively. Tax Depreciation and its Benefits [00:21:34] Explanation of how tax depreciation works in real estate investing and its value in reducing taxable income. The Basics of 1031 Exchange [00:26:13] Overview of the 1031 exchange, a tax-deferred exchange that allows real estate investors to swap properties without paying capital gains tax. The Long-Term Benefits of 1031 Exchange [00:28:37] Discussion on the strategy of using 1031 exchanges until death to maximize tax deferral and potentially convert it into tax-free gains for heirs. The 1031 Exchange Trick [00:30:36] Speaker 3 explains a trick to maximize the benefits of a 1031 exchange by utilizing passive activity losses. The Pass-Through Deduction [00:33:21] Speaker 3 discusses the concept of the pass-through deduction and its application to rentals, providing insights on how to maximize the deduction. Future Tax Policies [00:36:15] The potential tax policies of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are discussed, with an emphasis on their stance towards real estate and taxes. The 1031 tax deferred exchange [00:40:03] Explanation of the 1031 tax deferred exchange and its potential benefits for real estate investors. Disclaimer and advice [00:40:36] Disclaimer about the show not providing specific personal or professional advice, and the need to consult appropriate professionals for individualized advice. Sponsorship message [00:41:04] Acknowledgment of the show's sponsor, getricheducation.com, as a platform for wealth building. Resources mentioned: Show Notes: www.GetRichEducation.com/469 Learn more about John Hyre: www.TaxReductionLawyer.com If you'd like help with one of  GRE's Investment Coaches (free), start here: GREmarketplace.com/Coach Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments. You get paid first: Text ‘FAMILY' to 66866 Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search “how to leave an Apple Podcasts review”  Top Properties & Providers: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREmarketplace.com/Coach Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Keith's personal Instagram: @keithweinhold   Complete episode transcript:   Speaker 1 (00:00:01) - Welcome to. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Real estate investors get tax breaks like you'll find absolutely nowhere else in the entire tax code that can help you legally work the tax system like you're a billionaire and actually work your way toward becoming a billionaire. Today on Get Rich Education.   Speaker 2 (00:00:22) - You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get rich education.   Speaker 1 (00:00:38) - Welcome from Belgrade, Serbia, to Bellingham, Washington, and across 188 nations worldwide with 5.2 million listener downloads. I'm your host Keith Weinhold and this is Get Rich education. Yeah, you're back at that abundant place and you gotta be because the scarcity mentality is abundant in the abundance mentality is scarce so be frugal with your time, not your money. You can afford to be because you live by the mantra that financially free beats debt free. Throughout our nine years of weekly shows here, Waiting in the Wings is just the third ever expert tax guest we've had on the show. The other two are Tom Wheelwright and Kristen Tate.   Speaker 1 (00:01:18) - You meet the third one in a few minutes. Here I am sitting the first half of this month in Denver, Omaha and then Chicago checking out real estate markets and more. Before we talk taxes. All prices have risen this year, just like they do most years, and they expect to stay elevated. I've talked before about all those reasons why demographic and supply demand and all of that, but why else are houses permanently more expensive today than they were decades ago, even when adjusted for inflation in some cases? Well, it's not all the dollars given to people during Covid or anything like that. It's just the fact that houses are bigger and more complicated than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. I mean, they used to build houses that were just 1000 or 1500 square feet. I mean, often it would be like a three bed, one bath house with a one car garage that used to be sort of the suburban staple. Well, today it'll often be four bed, three bath, three car garage with things that didn't exist in yesteryear.   Speaker 1 (00:02:26) - I mean, today you have things like multiple fireplaces and vaulted ceilings and more overall size and more amenities that would have just been considered a luxury home like 50 years ago. So the home quality is better and you also have more strict building codes that leads to things like more insulation or egress windows or different roofs or wiring or Hvac and plumbing in that courts are going to countertops, even in rentals. That was an unthinkable luxury 50 plus years ago. And also today, it's just more expensive to develop land. It takes years to get approvals for drainage and utilities and roads and environmental requirements. And after all that, all those factors that make us real estate more expensive. The US still has some of the most affordable property prices in the entire world. Now those changes that I talked about aren't bad. It just makes real estate more expensive. And a lot of times those changes are actually good. It means we have a higher and better standard of living now and now seemingly everyone from Warren Buffett, with his big investment in home builders to shark tanks, Barbara Corcoran's bullishness, I mean, all these people have made either bullish bets or bullish remarks on real estate, all these prominent figures.   Speaker 1 (00:03:52) - And we are to, in future episodes of the show here, someone who admits that he's a gloomier guest. He and I are going to produce a fascinating episode on the collapse of American cities, what's happening in some of our inner cities, How bad is it and how bad will it get? Yeah, we're talking about the collapse of American cities in that episode. And also in a few weeks, I will be in the Keystone state of Pennsylvania for a different, fascinating episode. That's what I'm going to sit down with. The Honorable Secretary of Banking and Securities for the great state of Pennsylvania. He's in that role from 2020 to 2023. That's a cabinet level agency there in the state capital of Harrisburg. And my guest for that show there, yes, he was appointed to that position by Pennsylvania's governor. And he also sits on the board of trustees for an Ivy League university. That is Penn there in Philadelphia. And I'll be sure that the secretary of banking and securities for Pennsylvania that he understands some core principles here and get his opinion on those.   Speaker 1 (00:04:58) - So, again, that's the secretary of banking and securities for the great state of Pennsylvania appointed by the governor. Coming up here on Gray. Now, when we look down the road into the more distant future here on the show in, well, I guess, 31 weeks on Monday, May 6th, 2024, do you have any idea what that day is? That day is episode 500 of the Get Rich Education podcast, and I'm going to take you on an abundance mindset journey then that I hope you'll never forget for episode 500. That's on May 6th of next year. So many other great episodes are in the works here for the show. The housing market has momentum. I have a lot of great material that I want to share directly with you, and we really have some of the top guests in the industry. And I guess they're attracted here because they know that they'll reach a large, passionate, actionable audience and that's what you are. So if you're new here to the podcast, I invite you come along with me.   Speaker 1 (00:06:01) - I think you'll find it valuable. If you immerse yourself, you'll find it life changing and everything that we do and offer here is free. This show reliably recurs in your life every single week without any exceptions, just like it has since 2014. And we have never replayed an old show. I am here for you. I'm inviting you. Be sure to subscribe or follow in your favorite pod catcher. And the reason that I tell you about the Get Rich Education mobile app is that if you have someone in your life whose life would like to be changed by real estate investing or could be changed by real estate investing but doesn't know about podcasts that way. For iOS and Android, you can just have them grab the Get Rich Education mobile app. We are in Q4 and it is time to think about your taxes before the year ends. Today's expert tax guest is brilliant and understands nuances about the tax code that I sure don't. This centers on the US tax code. But you know what? If you're outside the United States, many nations provide similar incentives to the United States.   Speaker 1 (00:07:08) - Now, I don't know about you, but in my opinion, tax talk, you know, if one isn't careful, it can quickly feel like an abstraction which can make it hard to understand. We are get rich education. I'm here to help you understand things. So what I'd like to do to help aid in your comprehension is jump in and use concrete examples during our interview here. And then after the interview, I'm also going to review what you learned. Hey, today's guest is making his debut. He's a tax reduction professional. He caters real estate investors and small businesses. In fact, he is pretty well known as the tax reduction lawyer. Hey, welcome on to John Hiatt. Thanks for having me.   Speaker 3 (00:07:57) - Glad to be here from Argentina.   Speaker 1 (00:08:00) - Yeah, you're joining me from a most interesting place today, a place with high inflation and tasty steaks and a lot of other things going on in Argentina today. But back here in the United States, where so much of our listenership is, I want to get into the real estate part and how real estate investors can lower their tax burden shortly.   Speaker 1 (00:08:19) - But first of all, just in general, John, every one of us that has an income pays an income tax. Now, Obama had the highest marginal income tax rate of 39.6% under the Trump administration. That was soon lowered from 39.6 down to 37 when the Biden administration came into power. A lot of people felt like that 37% rate was going to be raised back up to 39.6, but it was not, and it's still at 37%. So with that context, can you talk to us more about the direction of the marginal income tax rate?   Speaker 3 (00:08:55) - Gridlock, glorious, wonderful gridlock, when those people in DC are unable to, quote unquote do anything mean? I'm happy in one sense. I get a lot of opportunities to make content when the law changes. But in terms of the good of the country, when very little is changing in DC, yeah, usually I'm a happy camper and right now with the gridlock and they're not agreeing on things, I would say the most that's likely to happen, I don't think marginal tax rates will change.   Speaker 3 (00:09:22) - There is some negotiation on some of the Trump tax changes, which were almost all very positive, are fading out. For example, bonus depreciation is dropping by 20% per year. Right? So the Republicans are trying to keep it at 100%. The Democrats want more spending. That's the polite term. Let's leave it at spending. And so there is some discussion going. We'll see if they can agree or not. But I don't see any massive changes coming given the gridlock.   Speaker 1 (00:09:51) - Now as real estate investors and we think about the income tax, one often wonders, even when someone's been a real estate investor for a little while, John, I don't quite think they understand how the rent income is taxed differently than their daily job income. Can you tell us about that?   Speaker 3 (00:10:08) - Yeah, really important in two contexts. I'm going to give you the straight rentals on straight rentals. The rental income had schedule E instead of schedule C or some other schedule. So like W-2 income, the extent it's tax, there's no self-employment or Social Security.   Speaker 3 (00:10:25) - So that is a positive. Also, with things like depreciation, you have a lot greater opportunity to zero out the income or even convert it into losses. Now, if you manage to convert it into losses, we have a separate struggle which is making those losses useful. In other words, they're not being passive losses which we can have a discussion on. Another up and coming area is short term rentals. I'll just call it Airbnbs generically, even though there are a lot of other systems, it's really important to understand there's opportunity here, but there also traps. Airbnbs can be taxed as rental income or hotel income. And which one do you want? Well, the lawyer answer, of course, is always it depends. Usually we want it taxed as rental income for self-employment purposes. In other words, your Airbnb normally belongs on schedule E, not schedule C, which is good because you avoid self-employment tax. Most CPAs don't understand that. Second, from a passive loss standpoint, in other words, converting these passive bad losses into good losses that might offset your W-2.   Speaker 3 (00:11:36) - You want the Airbnb treated from that standpoint as a hotel.   Speaker 1 (00:11:41) - And when John's using the word hotel, he's using his fingers to make little, quote, signs around the word hotel.   Speaker 3 (00:11:48) - Yes, because hotels are considered not rentals. It's an active trade or business. And the definition is different. So we have the code might take the same word and define it 15 different ways depending on which part of the code you're playing with here. That helps us real brief one your audience, A lot of them have a day job. A lot of them would have a hard time becoming real estate professionals, which would allow them to take passive losses on rentals. Right. Well, for those who happen to be in Airbnbs or even just temporarily want to get into Airbnbs to get a loss, here's a classic strategy for people who have a W-2 job or otherwise have too much work time outside of real estate. They cannot ever be a real estate professional. It's just not going to happen. And again, the impact of that means passive rental losses stay passive.   Speaker 3 (00:12:40) - They. On the return. They don't help you in the present. A way to wake up those losses and make them active is the first year you have a rental for passive loss purposes. Make it an Airbnb and be personally involved with it. So let's talk about that. How do you make it an Airbnb for passive loss purposes? There are a number of ways because I can talk for hours and you don't want that. The most common way to make something into an Airbnb for passive loss purposes is on average rented for seven days or less. If you rent it for seven days or less, it still goes on schedule. E No social security tax. But instead of rental passive loss rules, you deal with the normal ones. What does that mean If you spend 100 hours or more and by the way, you means you and your spouse, if you're filing married, filing jointly, your hours both count so you can split the burden. If your hands on renting the Airbnb, let's say you buy it late in the year so you don't have to run it all year and you spend 100 or more hours on it between the two of you and no other human spends more time than you, then it is considered active.   Speaker 3 (00:13:51) - People will want to rewind and listen to that because it's a great strategy for in the first year you own something going to be a rental, maybe buy it towards the end of the year, run it as an Airbnb for the end of the year. Not a big time commitment. 100 plus hours. Take the cost segregation study, write that all off and use it. It's actually will lower your W-2 income. It's useful. And then in year two, if you want to go back to it being a normal rent.   Speaker 1 (00:14:17) - So we're talking about accelerating your depreciation and therefore decreasing the amount of your taxable income with this strategy.   Speaker 3 (00:14:27) - Yep. So the cost segregation study where the basics of cost segregation, when you hear the term, first of all, you only use it if you can use the loss. But if the loss is going to be passive, don't add cost, it's going to cost you money and get you not. But if you can use the law, what is cost? Segregation? We depreciate more aggressively.   Speaker 3 (00:14:46) - A very brief description. Everything outdoors that God did not put there. Fences, sidewalks, decks, landscaping. It was put there by builders like the oak tree that the squirrel put there. We give God credit for that one. But if the builder actually planted a row of trees, they get the credit. All these things that God did not put outdoors can be depreciated very rapidly and get you a much larger write off. And then all personal property which we define as anything a tenant can steal without using power tools. So furniture, some of the carpeting, maybe some of the cupboards, window treatments, etcetera. That's a cost seg study that will draw your income. Usually it produces a loss. And then we have to ask, can you use the loss?   Speaker 1 (00:15:33) - We hit on a very specific and valuable strategy there for reducing you, the real estate investors, taxable income. But just pulling back to something more basic, you said something important in the beginning there when asked about how rental income is taxed differently than the bank.   Speaker 1 (00:15:50) - You did let us know that rental income is not subject to self-employment tax and Social Security tax. And I know it's difficult to do 1 to 1 because certainly it depends. But oh, if one is in the 24% tax bracket, so therefore they're $1 from their job, that really only resulted in them getting $0.76 if they get $1 from rental income, just roughly or perhaps give us a range as to how much after tax income they get from that dollar of rent income.   Speaker 3 (00:16:19) - Classic Lawyer Answer It depends. Here's a rough rule of thumb. So self-employment and Social Security tax are pretty much the same thing.   Speaker 1 (00:16:26) - And how much percentage are they alone?   Speaker 3 (00:16:28) - So here's how the bracket work. That's the reverse of the normal bracket. It gets lower. The more you make. Roughly speaking, I'm just rounding here. If you have 150 gram of Social Security or self-employment taxable income, for example, your W-2, this is per person, not per couple. If you have 150 up to 150, your Social Security tax bracket is roughly 15%.   Speaker 3 (00:16:52) - Then it drops after that 150 grand to right around 3 to 5%, depending on factors you don't want to know. So it depends on your total income. For example, if you have a $200,000 W-2 and you run out and have a side business that generates self-employment tax, your self-employment tax is probably only 3 to 5%. So it depends on how much you're making that is self-employment taxable.   Speaker 1 (00:17:18) - Right. So we're talking about how you will have a chance to keep more of your $1 of rent income than you would from your $1 of day job income. And that's interesting with the Social Security tax, I actually didn't realize that, therefore, Social Security tax is a regressive tax policy. With increasing income, you pay a lower tax rate where generally overall in the United States, we would have with the income tax what's called a progressive tax policy, where you pay a higher tax rate with increasing income.   Speaker 3 (00:17:47) - Correct. And here's the theory to make it pass politically. Back when they did this in the 30s, they had to sell it as it's insurance and we're going to cap out your insurance, but we're also going to cap out your benefits.   Speaker 3 (00:17:59) - And so if you look in that regard, it's not really regressive because your benefits are also capped out. Now, what's one of the proposals? Let's make it flat so that people who make more subsidizing, those who make less, making it functionally progressive because you don't get any more benefits past a certain level.   Speaker 1 (00:18:17) - You're listening to get raises occasionally. We're talking with the tax reduction lawyer, John. Here we come back, we're going to talk about some more of those real estate tax advantages and get into the nuances of some things that people don't understand that well, like tax depreciation and the 1031 exchange. More with John. I'm your host, Keith Reinhold. Jerry listeners can't stop talking about their service from Ridge Lending Group and MLS 42056. They have provided our tribe with more loans than anyone there truly a top lender for beginners and veterans. It's where I go to get my own loans for single family rental property up to four Plex's. So start your pre-qualification and you can chat with President Charlie Ridge personally, though, even deliver your custom plan for growing your real estate portfolio.   Speaker 1 (00:19:04) - Start at Ridge Lending Group. You know, I'll just tell you for the most passive part of my real estate investing personally, I put my own dollars with Freedom family Investments because their funds pay me a stream of regular cash flow in. Returns are better than a bank savings account up to 12%. Their minimums are as low as 25. K. You don't even need to be accredited. For some of them, it's all backed by real estate and I kind of love how the tax benefit of doing this can offset capital gains in your W-2, jobs, income. And they've always given me exactly their stated return paid on time. So it's steady income, no surprises while I'm sleeping or just doing the things I love. For a little insider tip, I've invested in their power fund to get going on that text family to 668660. And this isn't a solicitation If you want to invest where I do, just go ahead and text family to 66866.   Speaker 4 (00:20:15) - This is author Kristen Tait. Listen to Get Rich Education with Keith Reinhold and don't Quit Your Day dream.   Speaker 1 (00:20:32) - Welcome back to Get Rich. Okay. So we're talking with John here. The tax reduction lawyer is how he's known. You can learn more about him at tax reduction, lawyer John's real estate investors. We get some of the very best tax breaks anywhere. In fact, they're so generous that I consider it to be a profit source. And I don't know that you can really say that about taxes in all contexts. I talk about how real estate actually pays you five way simultaneously appreciation cash flow, loan pay down made by the tenant. Fourthly, is that generous basket of tax benefits that we'll discuss. And then fifthly, is the inflation profiting benefit that you get on the long term fixed interest rate debt? But coming back to the fourth one, the tax advantages, really the two big ones that I predominantly think of, the quickly come to mind for a lot of us are tax depreciation, which is a deduction that reduces the investor's taxable income and the 1031 exchange, meaning that we can defer all of our capital gains tax all of our lives, which is incredible.   Speaker 1 (00:21:34) - But do you want to touch on the tax depreciation portion first, John, and tell us why that's so integral and valuable to real estate investors? Sure. When you buy stock.   Speaker 3 (00:21:43) - For example, on the market, it does not produce any paper deductions. Basically, you get the stock, whatever you paid for, it is your tax cost, your basis, and when you sell it, you just look, what did I sell it for, minus the tax cost. That's my gain. There are no benefits in the intervening time. You just sit and hold it. Nothing really happens. Real estate is different and that you get a paper deduction. Why Congress said so. You get something called depreciation and it's formulaic. You take the cost that you have in the property, what you have invested, and you multiply it by some number. Now that's where the cost segregation gets interesting because we debate which number. But for the moment, let's just pick a number. The most typical one is 3.6%. Multiply the building by 0.036 of what you have invested in it.   Speaker 3 (00:22:33) - And annually that's a deduction you get because and so that goes a long way when you add it to other expenses to reducing your income to zero. So the so if you have the income tax rate is much lower.   Speaker 1 (00:22:45) - So if you have a $1 million building, we're not talking about the value of the land with the building, just a $1 million building. Therefore you'd have about $36,000 each year that you do not get taxed on. That $36,000 is deducted from your rent income.   Speaker 3 (00:23:03) - Exactly. Try that with stock or mean you can. So that was a hypothetical non suggestion. Yeah, but that's one of the big benefits of depreciation. Now what's the downside? Because there's always strings attached. It drops your tax calls. So if I bought for a million, I took 36,000. Now my tax cost is 964,000. And so when I sell, if I sell will get into that, I have a larger gain. So there's a trade off. Now, in fairness, one of the other benefits of rental real estate is if you do sell for cash and you choose to pay taxes, we're going to talk about an alternative.   Speaker 3 (00:23:39) - If you choose to pay taxes, the tax rate on selling real estate are almost always 98% of the time lower than your normal tax bracket. So even if you sell after getting this depreciation benefit, the bracket is almost always considerably lower than your normal income, which is nice.   Speaker 1 (00:23:59) - I don't want this point to be lost on people. With that example I give of the $1 million building that you buy and the fact that say you get $100,000 of rent income from that, you'd only be taxed on $64,000 worth because you're able to deduct 3.6% of the value of the million dollar building against your rent income. And that $36,000 deduction typically with a lot of other investments, in order to get that deduction, you would have to make a $36,000 expense, like, for example, buying a new heating system for the building. But no, you don't have to buy a new $36,000 heating system for the building where you might qualify for that deduction. It's just the magic of appreciation. You can just take this $36,000 deduction out of thin air because the tax code says that you can.   Speaker 3 (00:24:47) - Yep, it's pretty much automatic. In fact, the code says you have to take it.   Speaker 1 (00:24:51) - That's right. I have learned that the tax code actually says you must take this benefit. And who wouldn't want to do that? Would there be any situation in which someone would not want to do that job?   Speaker 3 (00:25:02) - Yes. If they're going to sell later on or if they're going to sell in the comparatively near future, let's say they're going to buy and hold rent for three years and they're going to sell after three years taking the depreciation if it did not help them, let's say, created a passive loss, raises their bracket a little bit when they sell in three years. Now it's still lower than your normal bracket. It's just not as. Much lower as you would like. So yeah, there are a few spots where people resisting depreciation. It's pretty rare, but it happens.   Speaker 1 (00:25:32) - So you must take that depreciation, which is going to be a benefit to most investors in most cases down the road when it comes time to sell this million dollar building, oh, say ten years later, you wanted to sell this million dollar building for $2 million.   Speaker 1 (00:25:47) - Oh, I'm certainly oversimplifying here, but say that gave you $1 million gain because you bought it for 1 million and you're selling it for $2 million down the road. We have something known as the 1031 exchange. It's called the light kind exchange. It's also known as a tax deferred exchange. Tell us more about the 1031 exchange when it comes to selling this example, building ten years down the road for $1 million more than what you bought it for.   Speaker 3 (00:26:13) - You want to avoid paying tax. Here's the basics and then we'll get into a little bit of the process. The basics are you're swapping one house for another, but you don't have to direct swap. It's not barter. You don't have to go find someone who wants your house and you happen to want their house. That's just not practical. Rather, you sell your house, the money goes into the hands. This is really important of what's called a qualified intermediary. There are tons of them and that's pretty much a commodity at this point. So they're not that expensive.   Speaker 3 (00:26:39) - The money has to go in their hands. If you touch the money with your hands, it becomes dirty money and it's taxable, which sells. It goes straight from closing to the qualified intermediary. And you have certain deadlines, 45 days to find properties that you want and 180 days total from the sale date close, which kind of can help you time, especially if you have a cooperative buyer helps you. You need a time. For example, maybe I want to find the property I want sooner and then get out and sell the one I've got and you can do it in reverse order. You can go buy a property and then sell something afterwards and say to the government, Listen, I want the funds from this later sale to apply to this prior purchase. A reverse reverse fixture. Yeah, reverse exchange. And there are some creative games we can play with reverse exchanges. They're looser rule wise than the normal ones. I enjoy those 1031 exchange.   Speaker 1 (00:27:36) - Such a benefit where you can defer your capital gains tax.   Speaker 1 (00:27:40) - Hey, in this example you had $1 million then that would be subject to the capital gains tax, which is going to be a rate of 15% or more. And if you don't do a 1031 exchange, you have to pay back to the government all at once that tax depreciation that we discussed earlier. So there are actually consequences. It's going to feel like there are consequences to not doing a 1031 exchange. So you kind of get your money trapped in this real estate game. It might be the best place to have it, but that's something that I think investors need to understand for the long term.   Speaker 3 (00:28:12) - And it's the classic strategy. 1031 Until you die. Now, what typically occurs with investors and then life cycle, they want a little more time, so they start 1030, letting in some more passive type investments, whether it's with a management company or a property that by its nature tends to be a little bit more passive, but the object is to die and not sell. I'm not suggesting everyone go out and die right away.   Speaker 3 (00:28:37) - That's great tax planning. But in terms of reality, it's not so great. But if you. 1031 let's give an example. You bought for a million, many years later it's worth 10 million. Your basis in the property is 100,000. You've depreciated it. So if you sell, there's a huge gain, you die. Whoever inherits is going to love you. At least we hope they will, because when they inherit the property that's worth 10 million, their tax cost, their basis at law is 10 million. They can sell the next day with no gain. That's the infamous step up in basis. And the object is to convert the deferral into tax free. If you defer long enough, it becomes tax free. That's the goal.   Speaker 1 (00:29:18) - And John touched on it. There is no limit to the number of times that you can do the 1031 tax deferred exchange. As a real estate investor, you can trade up from a $1 million property to a $2 million property. Ten more years go by to a $4 million property.   Speaker 1 (00:29:33) - Ten more years go by to an $8 million property. Now I'm certainly oversimplifying this, but at each step you don't owe any capital gains tax. So because you can defer it endlessly, you really never have to pay it and effectively becomes tax free with that step up and basis to your heirs like John just described. John, I'd like to know your thoughts. You know, it seems a few different presidents lately. I know Biden, at least he threatened to do away with the 1031 exchange. I just wonder if the 1031 exchange is ever going to get precarious. I think some people, though, don't understand that the 1031 tax deferred exchange has been around for more than a hundred years.   Speaker 3 (00:30:12) - They've been talking about getting rid of the 1031 since the 1930, and Democratic administrations have threatened to do it since the 1930. They've never had the supermajority they need to actually get away with it. And even then they've come close to it. And even then, some of the lobbyists on the Democratic side said, listen, this is not a good idea, freezes up capital.   Speaker 3 (00:30:36) - We want people to be able to buy and sell and not be frozen into a property because of tax reasons. So, look, could it happen? Sure. We live in a crazy world, but the probability of the 1031 going away I think is pretty darn low. Let me give one real quick trick that's going to help. Some people won't help very many, but the ones that helps it help big time for you. 1031 A property. Ask your accountant. Do I have any passive losses tied up in the property? They're going to know there's going to be a form on your larger tax return. There are different versions of your return. The big thick one is not. The one that goes to the government. Ask them how much passive activity loss you have in the building. Whatever that is in a 1031. Take out the cash. It's tax free and in fact, it's tax arbitrage. To give you an example. We are selling a property. You had a million and you're selling for 2 million.   Speaker 3 (00:31:29) - Let's say you had 100,000 of passive losses tied up in it. Go ahead and take out 100,000 cash from the exchange. Go ahead, ask double check with the 1031 intermediary because they know the rules. But go ahead and take out the 100,000. What happens? You get the 100,000 tax free because your passive losses that were hibernating on the return are now activated and wipe out. Normally when you pull cash out of a 1031, there's gains. Normally we don't do that. But here the losses are activated. They not only offset the 100 you pulled out, they drop your tax bracket because you're getting a capital gains tax bracket offset by a normal loss that was now brought out of hibernation. So just a little trick for those of you always before 1031, always ask your CPA, what's my passive activity loss? And think about taking out exactly that amount of cash, tax rate, tax arbitrage.   Speaker 1 (00:32:28) - I just learned something as well. I've got a number of 1031 exchanges in my life and that's one tip that I sure didn't know about.   Speaker 1 (00:32:35) - So thanks for that. And if you, the listener, if you want to learn the nuances of the 1031 exchange, which John and I aren't going to do here, because that really goes a mile deep with the three properties rule and the 200% rule and all of that. You can listen to episode 143 where that entire episode is dedicated to the 1031 tax deferred exchange and just how you can best pull it off for maximum tax efficiency so that you can then go ahead and re leverage those dollars into a larger property later. Well, John, that was very helpful on both tax depreciation and the 1031 exchange. Do you have any last things to share with us? Any last strategies so that a real estate investor can pay less in tax or anything that's particularly helpful?   Speaker 3 (00:33:21) - Yes. There's this concept of the Trump tax law called the pass through deduction or qualified business income tax code, Section 199 Capital A First of all, it applies to all rentals. Unless they're triple net least. A lot of accountants still don't get that.   Speaker 3 (00:33:38) - You have to have a trade or business that's tax term trade or business rentals that are not triple net leased are a trade or business, which is a good thing under the code. So there's this deduction. It's large. If you're showing that income even after depreciation and everything you buy is typically 20% of the net income. So if I'm showing 100 grand of net income, I get a $20,000 deduction because Congress said so. Protect that. In particular, if you make roughly I'm rounding here 164 grand total taxable income on your 1040 single and roughly 370 filing joint, there are special things you need to do to maximize the QBI and you need to do it before the end of the year. Nothing pains me more than to see high income people who benefit the most from this deduction because of their high bracket and they're in these high brackets. And if they would have done a little bit of talking to their CPA, hey, I think I'm going to make married filing jointly 370 or more for the year. It's going to cut my QBI based on the mechanical rules.   Speaker 3 (00:34:41) - What can I do to preserve my qualified business? Income tax deduction might pass their tax deduction. To do that, you need a really good set of books and returns. You have to have good books in the knowledge of your income so your accountant can look and say, Hey, here's how much we think you're going to make. B Here's what we can do to preserve this deduction. That is the number one easy pick up by C in tax returns. I review for planning purposes that people missed in prior years and we tell them going forward, please, please towards the end of the year, start thinking about if you're going to show gain. Doesn't matter if you're showing a loss, but if you're going to show gain in any business, not just rentals, please look at the deduction. Please make sure you're getting the full 20%.   Speaker 1 (00:35:25) - John is an expert at looking at your recent tax returns and pointing it to one area and saying, hey, there's a quick ROI for you if we change this. And right over there is another quick ROI for you if we change this.   Speaker 1 (00:35:37) - Well, John, that's been great with what we can do with the existing tax code to help optimize our situation. But wrapping up here, a lot of people are interested in what's coming down the road in the future. It can be a little bit speculative, but it also can be a proxy for how people and politicians are thinking. And that's. Is there anything that the presidential candidates are offering tax wise? It's very interesting whether that be an RFK Jr or a Ron DeSantis or a Vivek Ramaswamy or Nikki Haley or anyone else with this potential future direction of where an influential candidate wants to take taxes.   Speaker 3 (00:36:15) - I think the parties are pretty consistent regardless of candidate. Now they each have their subgenre of flavor, right? Do you like your chocolate? Dark or milk chocolate or with or without salt, but it's still milk chocolate. So likewise, the Democratic presidential candidates are going to be looking to increase taxes, get rid of what they view as loopholes, and they are aware of real estate having a lot of special benefits and they don't care for it.   Speaker 3 (00:36:41) - The Republicans, by contrast, are going to be more for lowering taxes. They are not hostile to real estate. They're generally pro-business, especially pro small business. And I think that's consistent across the board. I don't think there's a lot of deviation there with either party. The specific proposals will vary. For example, the Kennedy candidate strikes me as less hardcore left wing and a little more common sensical than maybe some of the more progressive sorts and might not be as harsh in that regard.   Speaker 1 (00:37:13) - Well, that's helpful in knowing what future policy might be and that might affect the way that you want to vote. This has been really helpful, particularly to real estate investors and small business owners. You are the tax reduction lawyer, so if our audience wants to connect with you and learn more about what you can do for them, what's the best way for them to do that?   Speaker 3 (00:37:33) - Not coincidentally, tax reduction lawyer.com and I put out a ton of content. I take a few clients but it's really getting more and more content based.   Speaker 3 (00:37:43) - So if you like what you heard, you might hear more.   Speaker 1 (00:37:47) - Sometimes in the video, hear you and the audio only might not be able to see that. For example, when John was using the word loopholes, he was using his fingers as air quotes. He understands that these are intentional incentives that help direct behavior because the government knows that society is generally better off when the private sector and the mom and pop investor are the ones providing good housing for society. A lot of public housing projects really haven't fared so well. So that's what John is here to help you do provide clean, safe, affordable, functional housing for others and get all the tax benefits that come along with that. Hey, John. Hi. It's been great having you here on the show.   Speaker 3 (00:38:26) - It has been an absolute pleasure. Thanks for having me.   Speaker 1 (00:38:35) - Oh, yeah. Nice clear breakdowns from the tax reduction lawyer John Heyer. I was talking with John Moore outside of our show. He read the entire some 1000 page long inflation reduction act that was passed last year.   Speaker 1 (00:38:51) - He did that to try to help understand its tax implications for his clients and was kind of impressed that he had the endurance, I suppose, to read all of it. And I asked him how many members of Congress he thinks read it and we both answer the question at the same time. Zero To achieve one looks like the top 1%. You must act like the top 1% does. And that might include tapping the expertise of a pro like John to review what you've learned today with our expert guest John. No changes to federal income tax rates are expected. There are ways to lighten the tax burden on your short term rentals, which you might not be aware of. Your dollar of day job income that's taxed at a higher rate than your dollar of rent income. Because on your day job income, you must pay Social Security and self-employment tax. You don't pay those tax types on your rent income. Real estate tax depreciation is kind of like magic. It means that you can write off a portion of your rent income each year, meaning that you can make it non-taxable even if you don't have a real expense associated with doing that.   Speaker 1 (00:40:03) - You learn more about the 1031 tax deferred exchange and the fact that it will persist as a benefit for real estate investors is highly likely. Again, if you like what you learn each week on the Gerry podcast, I invite you to subscribe or follow within your favorite podcasting device. For those non podcast listener friends you might have, they can try the Get Rich Education mobile app. Everything that we do is free until next week. We'll all be back to help you build your wealth. I'm your host, Keith Wild. Don't quit your day dream.   Speaker 5 (00:40:36) - Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.   Speaker 1 (00:41:04) - The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building Get rich education.com.

The actual outbreak of the sexual revolution occurred when significant numbers of young women began acting on the new utopian plan. This seems to have occurred on many college campuses in the nineteen-sixties. Women who took birth-control pills and committed fornication with any man who caught their fancy claimed they were liberating themselves from the slavery of marriage. The men, urged by their youthful hormones, frequently went along with this, but were not as happy about it as they are sometimes represented. Columnist Paul Craig Roberts recalls: I was a young professor when it all started and watched a campus turn into a brothel. The male students were perplexed, even the left-wing ones who had been taught to regard female chastity as oppression. I still remember the resident Marxist who, high on peyote, came to me to complain that “nice girls are ruining themselves.”   This should not be surprising. Most men prefer a virgin bride; this is a genuine aspect of male erotic desire favoring monogamy, and hence in constant tension with the impulse to seek sexual variety. ... while both sexes were supposed to practice monogamy, it was considered especially important for women to do so. Why is this?  In the first place, they tend to be better at it. This is not due to any moral superiority of the female, as many men are pleased to believe, but to their lower levels of testosterone and their slower sexual cycle: ovulation at the rate of one gamete per month.  Secondly, if women are all monogamous, the men will perforce be monogamous anyway: it is arithmetically impossible for polygamy to be the norm for men throughout a society because of the human sex ratio at birth.  Thirdly, the private nature of the sexual act and the nine month human gestation period mean that, while there is not normally doubt as to who the mother of a particular baby is, there may well be doubt regarding the father. Female fidelity is necessary to assure the husband that his wife's children are also his.  Fourthly, women are, next to children, the main beneficiaries of marriage. Most men work their lives away at jobs they do not much care for in order to support wife and family. For women, marriage coincides with economic rationality; for a man, going to a prostitute is a better deal. Accordingly, chastity before marriage and fidelity within it are the very least a woman owes her husband. Indeed, on the traditional view, she owes him a great deal more. She is to make a home for him, return gratitude and loyalty for his support of her, and accept his position as head of the family. 

The profound demographic changes underway in countries around the world will require innovative, socially focused solutions in sectors including health care, finance and infrastructure.----- Transcript -----Stephen Bryd: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Stephen Bryd, Morgan Stanley's Global Head of Sustainability Research. Mike Camfield: And I'm Mike Camfield, Head of EMEA Sustainability Research. Stephen Bryd: On this special episode of the podcast, we'll discuss the social factors within the environmental, social and governance framework, or ESG, as a source of compelling opportunities for investors. It's Tuesday, August 8th, at 10 a.m. in New York. Mike Camfield: And 3 p.m. in London. Stephen Bryd: At Morgan Stanley Research. We believe that investing in social impact is critical to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing our world today, such as inequality, poverty, lack of access to health care and education, and the repercussions of climate change. Traditional methods like philanthropy and government aid are a piece of the puzzle, but alone they can't address with the breadth and scale of these issues. So, Mike, looking back over the last couple of decades, investors have sometimes struggled with the social component of ESG investing. Some of the main challenges have been around data availability, the potential for social washing and the capacity to influence systemic change. How are market views on social investing changing right now, and what's driving this shift? Mike Camfield: It has historically been quite easy for investors to dismiss social, it's too subjective, too hard to measure, overly qualitative, and perhaps not even material in moving share prices. Increasingly, we do find investors recognize the vast and intractable social problems we face, whether that's structural shifts in workforces with countries like Korea, Japan and large parts of Europe projecting working age population decline by double digit percentage in the next 15 to 20 years, significant growth in urbanization or growing middle class populations in countries around the world. Investors also increasingly understand the interconnectivity of stakeholders across society, be that supranational organizations or governments or the corporate world, or even citizens themselves. Concurrently, it's becoming clear that corporate purpose and culture are critical considerations for prospective and current employees, as well as end customers themselves who are prepared to vote with both their wallets and their feet. All that said, we do note the overall impact at EM has garnered in 18% kagger over the last five years to nearly $213 billion with the Global Impact Investing Network pointing out that over 60% of impact investors are targeting some of the UN's socially focused SDGs. Notably goal eight around decent growth, goal five, around gender equality, goal ten around reduced inequalities broadly and goal three good health and well-being. In terms of drivers, we're seeing the realization rapidly dawning amongst investors that the profound changes underway in society and the climate will drive the need for innovative, socially focused solutions in a number of sectors, from health care to finance to infrastructure, as well as significant challenges to resilience and adaptation for industries around the world. With huge shifts in demographics coming whether through urbanization or migration, aging populations in some countries or declining fertility rates, the investing landscape is set to change dramatically across sectors, with change manifesting in anything from shifting consumer preferences to education access and outcomes to greater need for assistive technologies, to substantial food production issues, to financial system access and inclusion, or even simply addressing rapidly increasing demand for basic services and clean energy. Stephen Bryd: Thanks, Mike. So what are some of the core themes in social investing? Mike Camfield: Yeah in our recent social skills notes, we did identify five truly global, fast growing and compelling investment themes you can focus on under the broad umbrella of what we would call social investing. Firstly, access to health care, which includes but obviously not limited to pharmaceuticals, vaccines, orthopedics, medical devices, elderly care, sanitation and hygiene, women's health and sexual health. Secondly, nutrition and fitness, which encompasses things like infant nutrition, healthy or healthier food and beverage options, alternative proteins, food safety and food packaging. Thirdly, social infrastructure, which includes mobility, digital and communication systems, connectivity, health care and education facilities, community and affordable housing and access to clean energy. Fourthly, education and reskilling, which includes everything from pre-K, K-12, higher education, corporate and lifelong learning. Our colleague Brenda recently wrote on the potential $8 trillion opportunity in these markets. And finally, right inclusive finance, which encompasses microfinance, financial infrastructure, mobile digital banking, banking for underserved communities, fintech solutions and provision of financial services to SMEs. So Stephen, do you think any industries or regions stand out as leaders or laggards perhaps when it comes to social investing? Stephen Bryd: You know, Mike, when I think about industries leading, I do think education really stands out. And I think we all recognize that education is really one of the pillars of a productive, well-functioning society, but it does face an array of challenges. A quality education can promote democracy, help communities elevate their social and economic status, and drive innovation in the economy, and yet, over the past few years, multiple issues in education, which were really exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic, have hampered equitable progress in society across markets, regions and communities. In our note this past May on education innovators, we really focus on these issues as fields of opportunity for investment in innovation. An example would be improving the quality of the learning experience. The pandemic was an especially disruptive period for K-12 education, leaving a learning deficit that could linger for an entire generation, especially for groups that were already disadvantaged. The pandemic also highlighted the need for more robust lifelong learning opportunities beyond the traditional classroom. We expect to see players that are able to service these needs, best meet market demand. And Mike, in terms of reasons that stand out. A key issue that you highlighted before is data availability. And I would note that really Europe has led the way in terms of best in class disclosure. So Mike, social considerations have historically been viewed as overly qualitative rather than quantitative, but our research has shown a variety of ways in which the S-pillar can closely link to company fundamentals. Could you walk through some of these? Mike Camfield: Yeah, absolutely, Stephen, I think the starting point for our research was this notion that you can both do good and do well. The values in value based investing can be combined to deliver alpha and positive social impact at the same time. So one of the ways we think to approach this is to assess the corporate culture and its that that forms the first pillar of our forces social investing framework. At its heart, company culture pertains to the shared values, attitudes, practices and standards that shape a work environment and the strategy for business. In our analysis, we want to establish a holistic view of why a company exists, what it's doing to contribute positively towards society, how it's managed, and where its most material social related opportunities and risks lie. In doing that, we've established a data driven, objective process to evaluate culture using eight core components across five performance linked indicators, which are Glassdoor ratings, shareholder voting against management or proprietary, her school employee turnover and board gender diversity. And three engagement focus indicators. The trend in employee diversity, whether the company has a supplier code of conduct in place, and violations of the UN's Global Compact. These data sets are readily available and repeatable, giving a clear view of companies relationship with both its internal and its external stakeholders. Steven, How do you think investors can think about social investing more systematically, can you elaborate a little more on the 4 C's framework? Stephen Bryd: Yeah happy to Mike, I think you really touched on culture in a very comprehensive way. I really do think it's important that the performance related KPIs that you laid out really do show very clear performance differential between top and bottom quartiles. I want to move on to the second of the C's. This is Cultivate. And here we really focus on three so-called AIM lenses. The first is additionality. This is really the notion of generating positive social outcomes or impacts that otherwise would not have materialized. So finally, Mike, how does A.I play into social investing? Mike Camfield: Everyone's favorite acronym at the moment, clearly something that we can't ignore. We do believe there's a very real potential for us to be at the start of another economic revolution, driven by rapid technological evolution in AI. The so-called third industrial revolution, otherwise known as the digital revolution, brought with it transformational technologies in cell phones and the Internet, increased interconnectivity, greater industrial productivity and vastly greater accessibility of information. AI looks to play a central role in the fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, popularized that term back in 2015 when he suggested that AI and advanced robotics could herald a substantial shift in industrial capitalism and the so-called knowledge economy. This evolution could fundamentally change employment and geopolitical landscapes. Just as in the early 19th century, when Luddites found machines left weaving skills obsolete. AI could well prove just as disruptive, but technology on a grander scale, across everything from manufacturing to search engines to media content creation. We do see significant AI opportunities in areas like drug development, in education outcomes and access and significant benefits across efficiencies and resource management, whether that's in power grid optimization or in weather prediction, for example. We do suggest a three pronged approach to evaluating AI driven opportunities which focus on areas including reducing harm to the environment, enhancing people's lives through biotech, cybersecurity and life sciences, for example, and enabling technological advancements. Simultaneously, given a relative lack of regulation for the industry at the moment, we do think consistent investor engagement is key to driving responsible A.I practices. Stephen Bryd: Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk. Mike Camfield: Great to speak to you, Stephen. Stephen Bryd: And thanks for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

Nurse Doza addresses the topic of autoimmune diseases and the immune response targeting healthy organs. He stresses the importance of understanding that compromised immune systems directly affect the organs. Various types of autoimmune disorders are mentioned, and the fact that they can be managed well is highlighted. Nurse Doza shares his own experiences with multiple autoimmune disorders and mentions that the NIH reports over 20 million people in the US are affected by these diseases. The first lifestyle change recommended is finding a supportive community, as it can greatly impact mental and emotional well-being.   TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 START 03:01 Lifestyle changes for autoimmune diseases. 05:37 Finding support in your community. 08:41 Finding Supportive Communities for Healing. 11:54 Sleep disorders and autoimmune disorders. 16:23 Reversing Multiple Sclerosis through Lifestyle Changes. 19:23 The FODMAP diet. 24:06 Anti-inflammatory lifestyle and weight loss. 25:32 Sunlight and autoimmune disorders. 29:33 Supporting your liver.       In this episode, we'll be diving deep into autoimmune diseases, the lifestyle changes that can help manage them, and the importance of a supportive community, good sleep, an anti-inflammatory diet, sun exposure, and liver support. We've partnered with MSW and their product "Boost" to bring you a multivitamin supplement loaded with essential electrolytes and liver detox ingredients designed to complement your healthy lifestyle changes. Click the link in the description to check out Boost and fortify your wellness journey. https://www.mswnutrition.com/collections/supplements/products/boost --- SHOW NOTES Today, we are discussing lifestyle changes crucial for those with autoimmune diseases. These conditions, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to psoriasis, affect over 20 million individuals in the US[^2^]. The majority of affected individuals report debilitating fatigue[^2^]. Our first recommended lifestyle change: find a supportive community. Stress, seen in social paradigms like the Trier Social Stress Test, induces a physiological response affecting heart rate, anxiety levels, and even influences HPA axis activity[^1^][^2^]. This stress can lead to the development of psychopathologies and is often co-morbid with immune-related conditions[^2^][^3^]. Social support can help mitigate these impacts[^1^]. The second change: improve your sleep. Sleep disorders are prevalent in autoimmune conditions, with around 40% of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients experiencing them[^1^]. Chronic insomnia is associated with an increased incidence of autoimmune disease[^2^]. Next, an anti-inflammatory diet can make a difference. Following a Low FODMAP diet, for instance, can alleviate digestive distress in some people[^1^]. Fourthly, sun exposure is vital, especially for its role in vitamin D production. Vitamin D supplementation has been linked to a significantly lower rate of autoimmune diseases[^1^][^2^]. Lastly, support your liver. Substances such as NAC have been shown to inhibit inflammation and improve cognitive function[^2^][^3^][^4^][^5^]. **REFERENCES** [^1^]: [Sleep and neurological autoimmune diseases](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6879573/) [^2^]: [Fatigue, Sleep, and Autoimmune and Related Disorders](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6691096/) [^3^]: [The role of the immune system in posttraumatic stress disorder](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-022-02094-7) [^4^]: [Effects of N-acetylcysteine supplementation on disease activity, oxidative stress, and inflammatory and metabolic parameters in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-022-03134-8) [^5^]: [N-acetylcysteine (NAC) ameliorates Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 induced chronic inflammation](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0189167) ---   That's all for this episode, folks. Remember, while dealing with autoimmune diseases, having the right community, sleep habits, diet, sun exposure, and liver support can make a significant difference. As you make these changes, consider adding Boost to your routine. Boost is a multivitamin supplement packed with essential electrolytes and liver detox ingredients, specially designed to support your wellness journey. Click on the link below to learn more and make a purchase that will boost your health journey. Stay healthy and catch you in the next episode!   https://www.mswnutrition.com/collections/supplements/products/boost    

In this episode, we explore five essential tips to maximize attendance in group visits, addressing the challenges faced by many healthcare professionals. The significance of group visits becomes evident when we recognize the limitations of scaling one-on-one patient care. Dr. Lara Salyer, your host, shares valuable insights on how to make these visits more effective and impactful.   First, set realistic expectations, emphasizing the significance of group visits as part of the treatment plan. Secondly, utilize reminders with specific topics to increase attendance and create a safe environment for participants. Thirdly, gather valuable feedback by polling patients and the community to understand their needs and preferences. Fourthly, mind your language and use inviting terms to describe group visits. Finally, consider open or closed enrollment options, offering flexibility or fostering a sense of community. By implementing these tips, healthcare professionals can enhance group visit effectiveness and promote better patient outcomes and community engagement.   By implementing these five tips, healthcare professionals can enhance attendance and effectiveness in group visits, thereby fostering better patient outcomes and community engagement. Remember, group visits offer valuable opportunities for patients to connect, learn from one another, and receive support throughout their healing journey.   Quotes • "Functional, holistic, integrative medicine is simply not scalable. The math does not work. You can't serve your patients or population one-on-one. We don't have enough physicians, providers, practitioners. We need to be clever and innovative with growing this kind of education and lifestyle support." (Dr. Lara Salyer | 01:30) • "Group visits are a key part of this. Group visits help patients see they're not alone. They help patients learn from other patients. They also help promote your services because as you have newer people in the fold, you might have people that have been through your methods or systems that reassure and tell those newer people, Hey, I've been there too." (Dr. Lara Salyer | 03:20) • "Reminding your patients with a topic can really help increase that attendance and help them get used to what is going on." (Dr. Lara Salyer | 05:47) • "Tip one was set expectations. Tip two, remind them. Tip three, pull your members. Tip four, look at the words you're using when you're describing these groups." (Dr. Lara Salyer | 10:22)   Links Connect with Lara:  Symposium: https://drlarasalyer.com/symposium/ Catalyst Compass: https://3nb09zv7070.typeform.com/to/r0OoKwkS?typeform-source=drlarasalyer.com Website: https://drlarasalyer.com Instagram: @drlarasalyer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Gratitude plays a pivotal role in our lives, impacting various aspects of our well-being. Firstly, it enhances our mental health by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, promoting a positive outlook. Secondly, expressing gratitude strengthens our relationships, fostering deeper connections and a supportive environment. Thirdly, it boosts resilience, enabling us to cope better with challenges and find meaning in difficult experiences. Fourthly, gratitude is linked to improved physical health, better sleep, a stronger immune system, and a healthier heart. Fifthly, it enhances empathy and compassion, as we recognize and appreciate the kindness of others. Sixthly, having a grateful mindset leads to greater life satisfaction and contentment. Seventhly, it improves decision-making, making us more considerate and thoughtful in our choices. Eighthly, gratitude inspires generosity and a willingness to give back to our communities. Ninthly, it encourages mindfulness and being present, noticing the abundance around us. Lastly, the ripple effect of expressing gratitude spreads positivity, influencing others to adopt a thankful outlook as well.

In this episode of ASCO Educational podcasts, we'll explore how we interpret and integrate recently reported clinical research into practice. Part One involved a 72-year old man with high-risk, localized prostate cancer progressing to hormone-sensitive metastatic disease. Today's scenario focuses on de novo metastatic prostate cancer. Our guests are Dr. Kriti Mittal (UMass Chan Medical School) and Dr. Jorge Garcia (Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine). Together they present the patient scenario (1:13), going beyond the one-size-fits-all approach (4:54), and thinking about the patient as a whole (13:39). Speaker Disclosures Dr. Kriti Mittal:  Honoraria – IntrinsiQ; Targeted Oncology; Medpage; Aptitude Health; Cardinal Health  Consulting or Advisory Role – Bayer; Aveo; Dendreon; Myovant; Fletcher; Curio Science; AVEO; Janssen; Dedham Group  Research Funding - Pfizer Dr. Jorge Garcia:  Honoraria - MJH Associates: Aptitude Health; Janssen Consulting or Advisor – Eisai; Targeted Oncology Research Funding – Merck; Pfizer; Orion Pharma GmbH; Janssen Oncology;  Genentech/Roche; Lilly  Other Relationship - FDA Resources  ASCO Article: Implementation of Germline Testing for Prostate Cancer: Philadelphia Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2019 ASCO Course: How Do I Integrate Metastasis-directed Therapy in Patients with Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer? (Free to Full and Allied ASCO Members) If you liked this episode, please follow the show. To explore other educational content, including courses, visit education.asco.org. Contact us at education@asco.org. TRANSCRIPT Disclosures for this podcast are listed on the podcast page.  Dr. Kriti Mittal: Hello and welcome to this episode of the ASCO Education Podcast. Today, we'll explore how we interpret and integrate recently reported clinical research into practice. In a previous episode, we explored the clinical scenario of localized prostate cancer progressing to metastatic hormone-sensitive disease. Today, our focus will be on de novo metastatic prostate cancer. My name is Kriti Mittal and I am the Medical Director of GU Oncology at the University of Massachusetts. I am delighted to co-host today's discussion with my colleague, Dr. Jorge Garcia.  Dr. Garcia is a Professor of Medicine and Urology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is also the George and Edith Richmond Distinguished Scientist Chair and the current Chair of the Solid Tumor Oncology Division at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.  Here are the details of the patient case we will be exploring: The patient also notes intermittent difficulty in emptying his bladder with poor stream for the last six months. A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis demonstrates enlarged prostate gland with bladder distension, pathologically enlarged internal and external iliac lymph nodes, and multiple osteolytic lesions in the lumbar sacral, spine, and pelvic bones. A CT chest also reveals supraclavicular lymphadenopathy and sclerotic foci in three ribs. So this patient meets the criteria for high-volume disease and also has axial and appendicular lesions.  The patient was admitted for further evaluation. A bone scan confirmed uptake in multiple areas identified on the CT, and a PSA was found to be greater than 1500. Biopsy of a pelvic lymph node confirmed the diagnosis of prostate cancer. This patient is somewhat different from the first case we presented in terms of timing of presentation; this patient presents with de novo metastatic high-volume disease, in contrast to the first patient who then became metastatic after undergoing treatment for high-risk localized disease.  Would you consider these two cases different for the purposes of dosing docetaxel therapy when you offer upfront triplet therapy combinations?  Dr. Jorge Garcia: That's a great question. I actually do not. The natural history of someone with localized disease receiving local definitive therapy progressing over time is different than someone walking in with de novo metastatic disease. But now, with the challenges that we have seen with prostate cancer screening, maybe even COVID, to be honest with you, in North America, with the late care and access to testing, we do see quite a bit of patients actually walking in the office with de novo metastatic disease. So, to me, what defines the need for this patient to get chemotherapy is the volume of his disease, the symptoms of his disease – to be honest with you – and the fact that, number one, he is clinically impaired. He has symptomatic disease, and he does have a fair amount of disease, even though he may not have visceral metastasis. Then his diseases give him significant pain.  Oral agents are very good for pain control. I'm not disputing the fact that that is something that actually these agents can do. But I also believe I'm senior enough and old enough to remember that chemotherapy, when it works, can actually really alleviate pain quite drastically. So for me, I think that the way that I would probably counsel this patient is to say, "Listen, we can give you ADT plus an oral agent, but I really believe your symptomatic progression really talks about the importance of rapid control of your disease.” And based upon the charted data from the United States, and equally important, PEACE-1, which is the French version of ADT, followed by abiraterone, if you will, and certainly ARASENS is the standard of care for me for a patient like this will be triple therapy with ADT and docetaxel.  What I think is important for us to remember is that, in ARASENS, it was triple therapy together. I am worried sometimes about the fatigue that patients can have during the first six cycles of docetaxel. So oftentimes, I tell them if they're super fit, I may just do triple therapy up front, but if they I think they're going to struggle, what I tell them is, "Hey, we're going to put you on ADT chemotherapy. Right after you're about to complete chemo, we'll actually add on the darolutamide." So I do it in a sequence, and I think that's part of the data; we just still don't know if it should be given three at front or ADT chemo, followed by immediately, followed by an ARI. So I love to hear if that's how you practice or you perhaps have a different thought process. Dr. Kriti Mittal: So I usually start the process of prior authorization for darolutamide the day I meet them for the first time. I think getting access to giving docetaxel at the infusion center is usually much faster than the few weeks it takes for the prior authorization team to get copay assistance for darolutamide. So, in general, most of my patients start that darolutamide either with cycle two or, depending on their frailty, I do tend to start a few cycles in like you suggested. I've had a few patients that I've used the layered-in approach, completing six cycles of chemotherapy first and then layering in with darolutamide.  I think conceptually the role of intensifying treatment with an androgen receptor inhibitor is not just to get a response. We know ADT will get us a PSA response. I think the role of an androgen receptor inhibitor is to prevent the development of resistance. So, delaying the development of resistance will be pertinent to whether we started with cycle one, cycle six, or after. So, we really have to make decisions looking at the patient in front of us, looking at their ECOG performance status, their comorbidities, and frailty, and we cannot use a one-size-fits-all approach.  Dr. Jorge Garcia: Yeah, I like that and I concur with that. Thank you for that discussion. I think that you may recall some of our discussions in different venues. When I counsel patients, I tell the patients that really the goal of their care is on the concept of the three Ps, P as in Peter. The first P is we want to prolong your life. That's the hallmark of this regimen, the hallmark of the data that we have. That's the goal, the primary goal of these three indications is survival improvement. So we want to prolong your life so you don't die anytime soon from prostate cancer.  The second P, as in Peter, is to prevent, and the question is preventing what? We want to prevent your cancer from growing, from growing clinically, from growing radiographically, and from growing serologically, which is PSA and blood work. Now, you and I know and the audience probably realize that the natural history of prostate cancer is such that traditionally your PSA will rise first. There is a lead time bias between the rise and the scan changes and another gap in time between scans and symptoms. So it's often not the case when we see symptomatic disease preceding scans or PSAs, but sometimes in this case, it's at the same time. So that is the number one. And as you indicated, it's prevention of resistance as well, which obviously we can delay rPFS, which is a composite endpoint of radiographic progression, symptomatic progression, and death of any cause.  But the third P is I called it the P and M, which is protecting and maintaining, and that is we want to protect your quality of life while we treat you. And we want to maintain your quality of life while we treat you. So to me, it's critically important that in addition of aiming for an efficacy endpoint, we don't lose sight of the importance of quality of life and the protection of that patient in front of us. Because, undoubtedly, where you get chemo or where you get an oral agent, anything that we offer our patients has the potential of causing harm. And I think it is a balance between that benefit and side effect profile that is so critically important for us to elucidate and review with the patient.  And as you know, with the charted data, Dr. Alicia Morgans now at Dana-Farber, published a very elegant paper in JCO looking at the impact of docetaxel-based chemotherapy as part of the charted data in the North American trial and into quality of life. And we clearly define that your quality of life may go down a bit in the first few months of therapy, predictably because you're getting chemotherapy. But at the end of the six months, nine months, and certainly at the end of a year mark, the quality of life data for those who receive ADT and chemotherapy was far better than those who actually got ADT alone.  Now, if you look at the quality of data for RSNs, a similar pattern will appear that although chemotherapy is tied to misconceptions of significant toxicity, in our hands, in good hands, and I think our community of oncology in North America are pretty familiar with the side effects and how to manage and minimize side effects on chemotherapy, I think it still requires a balance and a thoughtful discussion to make sure that we're not moving forward chasing a PSA reduction at the expense of the quality of life of the patient. So I think orchestrating that together with the patient as a team is critically important as well.  Dr. Kriti Mittal: Thank you, Dr. Garcia. Moving on to the next concept we'd like to discuss in today's podcast the role of PARP inhibitors. Case Two was treated with androgen deprivation docetaxel and darolutamide. Consistent with current guidelines, the patient was also referred to germline testing and was found to be BRCA 2-positive. The patient's disease remained stable for 24 months, at which time he demonstrated disease progression, radiographically and clinically, and his disease was termed castration-resistant. There has been a lot published in the last few years regarding the role of PARP inhibitors in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC.  The PROfound trial led to the approval of olaparib in patients with deleterious mutations in HRR genes for those who had been treated previously with AR-directed therapy. The TRITON2 trial led to the approval of rucaparib in the same month for mCRPC patients with BRCA mutation for those patients who had previously been treated with AR inhibitors and taxine-based chemotherapy. More recently, we saw data from the TRITON3 trial exploring the role of rucaparib versus physicians' choice of docetaxel versus AR-inhibitor therapy in the mCRPC space for patients harboring BRCA 1, BRCA 2, or ATM mutation. Based on these data, it would be very tempting to offer a PARP inhibitor to the patient in case two. While regulatory authorities are still reviewing those data for approval, how would you consider treating this newly castrate-resistant patient in the frontline setting? Would you consider a PARP inhibitor in the frontline treatment of mCRPC in this patient with a BRCA 2 mutation? Dr. Jorge Garcia: So that's a loaded question, to be honest with you. We have compelling data, but controversial data, as you know as well. So I think that since we have a genomic profile on this patient and we know he had high volume disease, then the first thought to me is not a genetic or a genomic question or a sequence. It's actually a clinical question, to be honest with you. And that is: How are you progressing? Because I think that if you're progressing serologically, you and I may think of that patient differently. If you're progressing radiographically with alone plus minus PSA production but no symptoms, you may also tilt your scale into this life-prolonging agents in a different way. Whereas if you have true symptomatic disease, knowing what you know, prior therapy, CrPC with a BRCA 2 alteration, then you may actually go for something different.   So if it's a rising PSA, if it is radiographic, but the patient is stable clinically, is not basically compromised by symptomatic disease, I do feel that a PARP inhibitor as a single agent would be a very reasonable choice. In this case, you can use, obviously, rucaparib. You can use olaparib. I don't have a vested interest in either/or. I think either/or is fine. The subtleties and side effects, as you know, the olaparib data was probably the data that you and I probably are more accustomed to, used to the most just by virtue of how the agents got registered in the United States. But either/or, I think a PARP inhibitor would be a reasonable approach.   I think the question perhaps, and I pitch that back to you, is what are you looking for with a PARP inhibitor? Because, as you know, all DNA repair deficiencies are not biologically the same. They do not respond the same way to PARP inhibitors. And even BRCA 2, where we think it's monoallelic or biallelic, may have subtleties in how those patients respond to PARP therapy. But the answer is yes, obviously, you have a biomarker, the patient has it, you can use it. I think the question is, how are you going to follow the patient? And what is going to be the endpoint that you're going to pay attention to in this case to find that the patient has a benefit or not granted, that could be PSA driven, but I think that perhaps I'm pushing you to think beyond PSA.  Dr. Kriti Mittal: I agree, Dr. Garcia. I think we need to think about the patient as a whole. PSA-based changes in treatment are not generally part of our practice. I think evaluating the patient for symptoms and also thinking about the sites of progression, sites of disease they've had in the past, preventing development of cord compression, because some of these patients progress very rapidly and present with cord compression at the time of progression. Those are the things we are trying to predict and prevent. I think in a patient with BRCA 2 mutation, in this situation, I would feel compelled to offer rucaparib, given that even in the intention-to-treat analysis, the hazard ratio was 0.6 in terms of median progression-free survival. I think what was quite impressive was the subset analysis comparing rucaparib versus docetaxel. And that was something surprising. And I think we'll have to wait for long-term outcomes. But certainly, for a BRACA 2-mutated patient, this could be a reasonable consideration provided the drug is available and approved.  Dr. Jorge Garcia: As you know, the three most common DNA repair deficiencies that we see are BRCA1, BRCA2, and ATM. BRCA2 is probably the one that we see the most. But we also recognize that with the limited data we have for ATMs, that patients with an ATM abnormality do not tend to benefit the most. And then yet we have also another series of DNA repair deficiencies, deficiencies, PALB2, CHEK2, CDK12 and so forth. And yet we have some exquisite responses to some of those patients.   So I can tell you that I have a patient of mine who had an ATM mutation, a germline ATM mutation, and I predicted that initially that the likelihood of benefit to a PARP inhibitor would be low. He was placed on a PARP inhibitor and surprise, surprise, he was on a PARP inhibitor for almost a couple of years. What I want to convey to the audience is that if you have the appropriate biomarker, you certainly should consider a PARP inhibitor in this scenario.   I think the bigger question is also understanding that not every DNA repair would benefit the same way. So being very thoughtful and very structured as to how you're going to manage the patient, it cannot be PSA only, the patient has to be followed radiographically and clinically because I would argue that if this patient had just a serologic progression, I would put the patient on a PARP inhibitor and the PSA kinetics change north, but slowly, what is the urgency of you switching the patient to something else?   And also the misconception that if you look at PROfound, that olaparib for that matter has to always be given after docetaxel. That's not the case. The makeup of PROfound is different than this patient, obviously, because this patient got triple therapy upfront, whereas most patients on the PROfound were CRPC who receive chemotherapy in the CRPC space. But yet undoubtedly, I think that your case illustrates the importance of next-generation sequencing and the importance of understanding the access to two oral PARP inhibitors that are super solid.  I think that perhaps the bigger question is going to be should you do a PARP inhibitor alone or should we use a combination of a PARP inhibitor plus an oral agent, such as in this case, maybe abiraterone acetate plus olaparib. Or maybe even thinking of TALAPRO, maybe enza plus a PARP inhibitor. So I don't know where you sit on those thoughts, Doctor-. Dr. Kriti Mittal: I change toxicity considerations, temper my enthusiasm for offering PARP inhibitors in combination with AR inhibitors or abiraterone at this time. I think I would certainly consider monotherapy with rucaparib for a patient in this situation. I am not entirely convinced that putting a patient through dual treatment in the mCRPC setting in the frontline, I don't think we are there yet. Dr. Jorge Garcia: There are two very important trials that are looking at the combination of an adrenal biosynthesis inhibitor plus olaparib in this context, and one is PROpel and the other one is MAGNITUDE. And both trials have very different results in many ways because they look at patients with a biomarker, meaning DNA repair, and patients without the biomarker. And I think the bigger question is, should this patient who was an abiraterone– Let's say this patient hypothetically was on a PEACE-1-like style. So the patient got ADT or triple therapy but was an abiraterone or an adrenal biosynthesis inhibitor instead of chemotherapy. And the patient was progressing slowly on abiraterone, you knew that the patient had a DNA repair deficiency. How comfortable with the PROpel and MAGNITUDE data would you and I feel to add on or layer, if you allow me to express it like that, a PARP inhibitor into this regime? Dr. Kriti Mittal: My personal interpretation of the currently available data is that at this point, combination therapy is not something I would use in my clinical practice. I think there are two camps in the GU oncology community of how people interpret the PROpel, MAGNITUDE, TRITON, and TALAPRO data in full. I think each of these trials had very different patient populations. I think in a biomarker unselected population, I would certainly not advocate for combination therapy. But even in the biomarker-selected population, I think how the biomarkers were tested and how the populations were defined may not always match what we are doing in clinical practice. And so I would, at this time, advocate for monotherapy over combination therapy. Dr. Jorge Garcia: I'm sure the audience will have probably read or heard about PROpel and MAGNITUDE and the data in patients without a biomarker positivity disease. So I'd love to hear your thoughts as to if you had no biomarker. By that I mean if you had a patient with CRPC, with metastatic CRPC without a DNA repair deficiency, would you consider using an adrenal biosynthesis inhibitor and a PARP inhibitor together based upon the potential synergistic of additive benefits and some of the data to suggest that you can delay rPFS when you combine therapy, but in the absence of biomarker positivity. Dr. Kriti Mittal: In the absence of biomarker positivity, I think the preclinical data are stronger than the clinical results we are seeing in trials. So while I think we should continue researching further into this because there certainly is preclinical rationale, looking at the clinical outcomes from these several trials, I would not offer PARP inhibitor to an unselected patient. Dr. Jorge Garcia: Great. Dr. Kriti Mittal: Moving on to second-line treatment for castration-resistant prostate cancer. I think talking of access issues and talking about the current treatment paradigms in the United States, there is still not widespread availability of lutetium. The listeners would love to hear your thoughts, Dr. Garcia, on practical management tips, safety issues, and the multidisciplinary nature of the management of lutetium therapy.  Dr. Kriti Mittal: So I think the challenges with lutetium are multiple. Number one is the correct identification of the patient, the ideal patient for lutetium. Secondly is who manages the patient and as you indicated, the importance of a team approach in that. Thirdly is how do we follow that patient during therapy? So it's beyond the technical aspects of who infuses the patient. Fourthly is what are the true goals of lutetium for that patient population and the side effects that those patients may embark on that some people may not be fully aware of and creates complexity. And lastly, perhaps, is how the movement, how we develop lutetium in CRPC and how we're going to move lutetium or have started to move lutetium and alike, meaning radiopharmaceuticals, radioligand-based therapies outside lutetium opinion and others as you know, earlier into the natural history of prostate cancer, maybe even in the locally advanced disease in combination with radiation or for patients with N1 positive disease. So it's a lot of movement in that space. I think that this is just the beginning of radiopharmaceutical entering diagnostics. But let me just address this succinctly, if I may. Number one, you do need a PET PSMA in order for you to select the patient because we're talking about a potential biomarker. But this is what I call an imaging biomarker. If you see it, you treat it.  So the standard of care right now for lutetium is very simple: you need to have men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Two, you need to have failed a prior oral agent, in this case, a novel hormonal agent, independent of which agent you have seen, independent of the timing when you have seen an oral agent at the front, the middle, the end. And lastly, you have to have progress through chemotherapy. Yet again, it depends on when you see chemo.  So if you have someone who has high volume metastatic disease from the beginning, de novo disease, and you got ADT, daro, and docetaxel, and the patient progresses, that patient can go on. If that patient has a positive PSMA PET, that patient can go on to get lutetium. Similarly, if you have someone who got ADT alone in the adjuvant space for radiation therapy, progress, got an oral agent, progress, got a PARP or not, or got docetaxel, that patient could also be a candidate for lutetium. It's dependent on how you run the patient through therapy.  Secondly is who gives lutetium? So I do believe, and I may be biased, I certainly believe in the importance of a team approach with radiation oncology and nuclear medicine. But the reality of it is, I believe these patients are so advanced in their stage of their disease, then the idea of quarterback, in my personal opinion, resides in medical oncology. And I think the bigger question is going to be if nuclear medicine at your given institution is going to be delivering lutetium, or is it going to be radiation oncology? And I think, as you know, in places in America, it's RadOnC, in other places is NucMed, in our institution right now it is NucMed. Having said that, I do predict that for those places where nuclear medicine is heavily involved in delivering lutetium or partnering with MedOnc to deliver lutetium, radiation oncology in the future will have a bigger role as well because we are moving lutetium earlier in settings where radiation oncology is commonly used, such as high-risk prostate cancer patients, or even in the salvage setting, or even in patients with metastatic disease, where we want to combine radiation and lutetium, which are part of clinical trials as we think through for the future. But either/or, I think the quarterback should be really MedOnc in this case.  Thirdly is how do we do it? So clearly, at least in my practice, and I think it's probably standard across the United States, MedOnc will see the patient, determine viability and feasibility of therapy, determine who's the ideal candidate, discusses the pros and the cons, and then works along with RadOnc or NucMed to start the process. As you know, it is once every six weeks. So here in my practice, we will see the patient every time before treatment. Sometimes we see them the day off, sometimes we see them a few days before. Patients will get blood work. Specifically, we're interested in seeing everything CMPs, but certainly blood counts, red cell counts, platelets, and white cell counts, just to make sure that patients do not start with impaired bone marrow that can increase the risk for myelosuppression and therefore significant challenges with side effects, hematologic side effects, specifically. And we do that.   Sometimes we see them, sometimes our nurse practitioners would do so. And then the patient will basically follow through and complete up to six cycles of treatments. Six times six, that's actually 36 weeks or so. That's a long time on therapy for those who can get six cycles. I think the question becomes how do you follow those patients? And if we pay attention to the VISION data, as you know, those patients were actually followed serially quite closely on trial every eight weeks for the first 24 weeks, and then they stretch the scans out. But the scans that we're using in the trial are conventional imaging.  And I think the bigger question that you and I will have is if we get a PET PSMA to use to make that decision to get on lutetium PSMA, should I go back and use a CT or so to stage the patient? I think we're moving more toward PET follow-up, but we also don't know fully the impact of lutetium PSMA on PSMA metabolically during treatment. I think that we all recognize anecdotally and at least with some of the emerging data and we have the SUV may change, that PSA reductions also appear to be important as to define who is likely to benefit or not. But those are questions that remain to be seen, to be honest with you. We follow the patients serologically, clinically, and radiographically. And at least in my group, we tend to do PSMA PETs in between therapy to ascertain the impact of therapy in radiographic and also metabolic changes. And lastly is how we manage side effects. So I think that I'm pretty OCD about these patients because I have seen in my practice patients having outstanding responses to therapy but unfortunately become transfusion dependent, either transiently or permanently, just by virtue of side effects. And I think the importance of understanding the most common side effects of lutetium, in this case fatigue, myelosuppression, xerostomia, are really, really important. And that is the importance of having a multi-team effort approach so everybody is fully aware of the baseline characteristics of that patient or how the patient is enduring therapy and how the therapy is impacting the quality of life and impacting bone marrow production for those patients.  I think I remind the audience that the vast majority of our patients do have bone metastases. In fact, in the VISION trial it was around what, over 85, 90% of patients are so with bone metastases. So their marrow has already been impacted not only by disease but equally importantly by the prior chemotherapy that they may have seen. And some of the patients that we have in the first bubble effect is they have seen probably docetaxel, some may even have seen dual therapy with cabazitaxel as a second-line chemotherapy. So I think the understanding as to how you manage the side effects is critically important for our patients as well.  Dr. Kriti Mittal: Those are very relevant, practical life issues. Thank you Dr. Garcia for a terrific discussion on the application of recent advances in prostate cancer to clinical practice. [28:54] The ASCO Education podcast is where we explore topics ranging from implementing new cancer treatments and improving patient care to oncologists' well-being and professional development. If you have an idea for a topic or a guest you'd like to see on the ASCO Education Podcast, please email us at education@asco.org. To stay up to date with the latest episodes and explore other educational content, please visit education.asco.org. Dr. Jorge Garcia: Thank you, Kriti. It's great to see you and thanks again to ASCO for the amazing opportunity to be here with you guys today. I hope the audience can see the benefit of understanding how the many changes we have seen have impacted our patients in a positive way. So thank you again for the opportunity. Dr. Kriti Mittal: Thank you, Dr. Garcia, and thank you so much to the ASCO team for inviting me. This was a great experience.  Thank you Dr. Garcia for sharing your perspective on incorporating recent research advances into the management of patients with de novo metastatic prostate cancer. The ASCO Education Podcast is where we explore topics ranging from implementing new cancer treatments and improving patient care to oncologists' well-being and professional development. If you have an idea for a topic or a guest you'd like to see on the ASCO Education Podcast, please email us at education@asco.org. To stay up to date with the latest episodes and explore other educational content, please visit education.asco.org. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions.   Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experiences, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.    

The Morning Worship Service at Plainfield Christian Church in Comstock Park, MI Preacher: Bruce Wilson Youth Minister: Brady Jester Children's Minister: Wade Harrier Worship Leader: Katie Winstanley Learn more at https://www.pccmi.org/ Songs: CCLI #2228009 Sermon: The Chronological Life of Christ #150 The Final Week Judgement Day Surprises Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 John 1:11 Notes: First, There's The Judgment. Verse 31. When He came the first time, there was little glory to be seen. Over His first coming, write the world HUMILITY Over His Second Coming write the word GLORY When He finally returns, every eye will see Him Secondly, The Surprising Separation Verses 32-33. We sort all types of things. Laundry, boys and girls, candy, weeds from vegetables, money. Sheep to the right, goats to the left. This judgment is a public separation of the two groups of people Thirdly, The Surprising Standard. The blessed are where they are because of what they had done for Jesus. There is real judgment for those who reject God and His ways. This verse conclusively refutes two contemporary heresies, universalism and annihilationism. Universalism is the belief that in the end everyone, everywhere will be saved. Annihilationism, as its name suggests, is the belief that the unsaved do not suffer eternal punishment but are simply destroyed by God. Fourthly, there is one more surprise in the parable. Neither the sheep nor the goats, the blessed on the right nor the cursed on the left, had any idea that what they had being doing had eternal consequences.

The Morning Worship Service at Plainfield Christian Church in Comstock Park, MI Preacher: Bruce Wilson Youth Minister: Brady Jester Children's Minister: Wade Harrier Worship Leader: Katie Winstanley Learn more at https://www.pccmi.org/ Songs: CCLI #2228009 Sermon: The Chronological Life of Christ #150 The Final Week Judgement Day Surprises Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 John 1:11 Notes: First, There's The Judgment. Verse 31. When He came the first time, there was little glory to be seen. Over His first coming, write the world HUMILITY Over His Second Coming write the word GLORY When He finally returns, every eye will see Him Secondly, The Surprising Separation Verses 32-33. We sort all types of things. Laundry, boys and girls, candy, weeds from vegetables, money. Sheep to the right, goats to the left. This judgment is a public separation of the two groups of people Thirdly, The Surprising Standard. The blessed are where they are because of what they had done for Jesus. There is real judgment for those who reject God and His ways. This verse conclusively refutes two contemporary heresies, universalism and annihilationism. Universalism is the belief that in the end everyone, everywhere will be saved. Annihilationism, as its name suggests, is the belief that the unsaved do not suffer eternal punishment but are simply destroyed by God. Fourthly, there is one more surprise in the parable. Neither the sheep nor the goats, the blessed on the right nor the cursed on the left, had any idea that what they had being doing had eternal consequences.

To prepare the Twelve Apostles for what was to come, Jesus instructed them in detail what was about to happen to him. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Let's turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 10. As we continue our marvelous journey through this gospel, the Gospel of Mark, we are looking today at Mark 10:32-34. One of the most pernicious lies told about Jesus of Nazareth by unbelieving scholars is that his death came about because Jesus miscalculated the reaction to his message, got in over his head, and was arrested against his will. Surprised by it, in fact. He was swept along by political forces beyond his control and tragically killed, thus ending his dreams of a better world. In such a wicked revision of history, these scholars make Jesus out to be well-meaning, but politically naive, like a beautiful cut flower that's thrown into a raging river at flood stage. Whitewater seizing it and causing it to churn and tumble around despite its beauty, hurdling it to a massive waterfall and then over. It was pulled irrevocably to its own destruction. Nice Jesus, naive Jesus, overwhelmed Jesus, dead Jesus. Well, dear friends, nothing could be further from the truth. The central message of this marvelous Gospel of Mark comes right from the beginning. Mark 1:1, the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This gospel was written to give clear evidence of the deity of Christ that by reading it we might have faith in Christ for the salvation of our souls. But the betrayal, the rest, the various trials, the condemnation, the mocking, scourging, and death of Jesus was a severe trial to the faith of his disciples. Jesus looked anything but like almighty God in his weakness, humiliation, torture and death. Jesus knew that his disciples needed special preparation for these terrible events. He wanted them to understand a central fact that He declared in John's Gospel, John 10:18, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it back up again.This command I received from my father." Jesus was never a victim. He willingly laid down his life for us, for his people, to save us from God's just wrath against us for our sins. In order to establish this fact all the more, He predicted his death in detail ahead of time. In fact, He did it over and over again. "Jesus was never a victim. He willingly laid down his life for us, for his people, to save us from God's just wrath against us for our sins" Now the obvious question that must come to us is this, why did He do it? And beyond that, we could ask how could Jesus precisely know what would come to pass concerning himself? The fact of the matter is no one really knows the future, but God alone; the book of James makes this plain. James 4:14 says, "You do not even know what will happen tomorrow." But Jesus is unique in human history. His entire life was lived under the shadow of the cross. Being God in the flesh, He had detailed knowledge of his immediate future as well as his eternal future. He had a unique role to play in the history of the world, to suffer and die on the cross as the savior of the world. From the moment He was born into that stable in Bethlehem, He lived under the shadow of the cross. His mother Mary had been prophetically warned by a man named Simeon at the time of his birth that a sword would pierce her soul also. Also? Yes, in addition to Jesus. By the time Jesus was 12 years old, a 12-year-old boy, He understood his special identity as the Son of God, that He had been sent into the world by God, his father, to do his will. You remember when his parents were anxiously searching for him in the city of Jerusalem and found him, and Jesus said to them in Luke 2:49, "Did you not know that I had to be in that of my father?" Is what the Greek says. In other words, "Immersed in my father's plan, immersed in my father's work and my father's will, didn't you know that that's what I had to do?" Certainly by the time He began his public ministry, being about 30 years old, He understood completely what He had come to do. So when John the Baptist pointed at him and said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," we can't imagine that John the forerunner knew more of Jesus's mission than Jesus did. Jesus knew very well what He had come to do. Therefore Jesus walked every step of his life under the shadow of the cross. What amazing love and what supernatural courage. I. God’s Zeal to Fulfill His Word We're going to walk through that today, and I'm going to begin in this sermon with God's zeal to fulfill his word, God's zeal to fulfill his word. It is by the word of God that the universe was made. Psalm 33:6 says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." God's word precedes the reality, God speaks and it is. God says, “let there be light” and then there's light. The word precedes the reality. Romans 4:17 says, "God gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." There is creative power to his word. God, therefore highly exalts his word. Psalm 138:2, "You have exalted above all things your name and your word." God is therefore zealous to uphold his word, his predictive words. He is zealous. He says to the prophet, Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:12, "I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." Three times in Ezekiel He says the same thing, Ezekiel 17:24, "I, the Lord have spoken and I will do it.” Ezekiel 22:14, "I, the Lord have spoken and I will do it." Ezekiel 36:36, "I, the Lord has spoken and I will do it." The people in the times of the prophets tended to disparage the prophetic word. In Ezekiel 12:22 -25 it says, "What is this proverb you have in the land of Israel? The days go by and every vision comes to nothing. Say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says, I'm going to put an end to that proverb, but I the Lord will speak what I will and it shall be fulfilled without delay. … For in your days you rebellious house I will fulfill whatever I say declares the sovereign Lord." That's God's zeal to fulfill his prophetic word. Now, why is that? Why is God so zealous concerning his Word? He knows and He has ordained that it is by faith in the Word of God that his people will be forgiven of their sins. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ." We are justified by faith in the Word, the Word of God. There is a perfect and absolute and a mystical link between the Word of God and Jesus, the savior of the world. Is it a strong link so much so that the Apostle John begins his Gospel with the Word, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Verse 14, "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Jesus is called the Word. That's the strong link there is between the written word and Jesus at his first coming. Then at his Second Coming as stated in Revelation 19:11-13, "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true. He is dressed in a robe, dipped in blood and his name is the word of God." His name is the Word of God, and at that point, all of the prophetic visions will be fulfilled. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” But why do I say all this? Because Jesus wants his disciples and every generation to trust his words perfectly, especially those words that focus on his death on the cross and his resurrection, especially those words. So He predicts it in detail. Look at the texts we're walking through today. Verse 32, "They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way and the disciples were astonished while those who followed were afraid. Again, He took the twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 'We're going up to Jerusalem,' he said, 'And the son of man will be betrayed to the chief priest and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.' Three days later he will rise." Let's understand the text. They're on their way to Jerusalem, up to Jerusalem having crossed the Jordan River near Jericho. They're moving now through Judea, ascending, going higher because Jerusalem's built up on Mount Zion up to Jerusalem. Jesus is leading the way. He's always surrounded by tons of people, but He's out in front of the entourage here, and we see the astonishing courage of Jesus. The whole point of this sermon is that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem, and yet there He is strongly, powerfully striding ahead of the whole crowd toward the death He describes in these verses. Jesus was willingly laying down his life even by making that journey up to Jerusalem. He was not trapped, He was not a naive victim who got in over his head and didn't know what was coming. Not at all. He was carrying out his father's eternal plan to save his people. The twelve were amazed, and the rest of the people were afraid. They were amazed at Jesus's determination to immerse himself in a seething cauldron of hatred and murder, amazed. The twelve by now had heard again and again from Jesus what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem. They had seen the visible rage on the face of his enemies. Multiple times they wanted to kill him, sometimes picking up stones ready to stone him right there. There was no doubt in their minds that He has bitter enemies. As a matter of fact, Thomas, typical of doubting Thomas, spoke all of their fears in John 11:16, "Let us also go with him that we may die with him.” He knew exactly what was going to happen. To prepare the twelve apostles for what was to come Jesus then took them aside and instructed them in detail what was about to happen to him. II. Why Jesus Predicted His Sufferings Why did Jesus predicted his sufferings? First of all, to establish his office as a prophet, to establish him in his office as prophet. In the Old Testament, Moses opened up the office of prophet, “God will raise up a prophet like me,” and so it was an office, it was a series of prophets. The question would come, how can we know if an individual who comes is a prophet or not, a true or false prophet? How can we know? Deuteronomy 18:21-22, “You may say to yourselves, how can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet claims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.The ability to predict the future and have it come true validates a prophet. Only a true mouthpiece of God can do that, can know the future. Secondly, Jesus has predicted his sufferings to establish, as I've said, his own power over death. Here again, John 10:17-18, "The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it up again, this command I receive from the Father. I have absolute power over life and death." After his resurrection from the dead, He appeared in glory to the apostle John on the island of Patmos. In Revelation 1:18, He said, "I am the living one. I was dead and behold, I'm alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades." What does that mean, “I hold the keys?” I'm in charge. I'm in charge of death in the grave. I triumphed over them. He predicted his sufferings. Thirdly, to protect the faith of his disciples, to protect their faith. This was going to be a massive trial. Jesus says in John 13:19 and again in 14:29, connected to other details but always having to do with suffering and things you didn't want to have happen. He said this, "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am he or I am.” In other words, to protect your faith, I'm giving you warnings ahead of time of these things that are happening. Fourthly, to establish the faith of subsequent generations. That's where we come in. To establish our faith because the Holy Spirit knew that He'd be writing all this down in Mark's Gospel and other passages as well. It was written down for us who would come later and read these things and have our own faith strengthened. Jesus always had in mind subsequent generations. He prayed for us in John 17:20-21, "My prayer is not for them alone. I also pray for those who will believe in me through their word that all of them may be one." Jesus wanted to protect our faith as well and give us reasons to believe. Now fundamental to our salvation is faith in the cross of Christ, in Jesus's bloody death on the cross. It says in Romans 3:23-25, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." God presented him as a propitiation or a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. By faith in the blood of Jesus are our sins forgiven. Every individual sinner needs to see Christ as the willing substitute before the justice of God on their behalf for their sin. So that Jesus' death on the cross was God's plan for our individual salvation. And not ours only, but for the sins of the world. We need to see that. Therefore, you cannot believe that Jesus was naively trapped into death and be saved. You can't think he was naively sucked in by Jewish Roman politics, in over his head, overpowered against his will and died, not by his own choice but by the plan of God. You have to have faith in the blood of Jesus shed on your behalf intentionally by God as part of his plan. As Peter preached in his great Pentecost sermon. Acts chapter 2:22-24, "Men of Israel, listen to this, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. And you, with the help of wicked men put him to death, nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Now, that's the preaching of the gospel right there, and at the center of it is Jesus was handed over by God's set purpose and foreknowledge known from the foundation of the world. Therefore, in our texts, we must see Jesus boldly, knowingly, intentionally, willingly, courageously walking up to Jerusalem to die as the fulfillment of the plan God had made from before the creation of the world for our salvation. Jesus was not trapped. He's not naive. "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself." So Jesus told them exactly what would happen to him. "We must see Jesus boldly, knowingly, intentionally, willingly, courageously walking up to Jerusalem to die as the fulfillment of the plan God had made from before the creation of the world for our salvation." III. How Jesus Knew About His Sufferings: Prophetic Scripture How did He know? Fundamentally, two answers. First of all, He knew it by prophetic scripture. And second of all, he knew it because He was God, divine foreknowledge. First of all, prophetic scripture. Long before Jesus was born, God progressively revealed his plan through the prophets. The Bible reveals very plainly God knows the future, He decrees the future, He predicts the future, and then He makes his predictions come true. That's what we know about God. Before Jesus was ever born, God had laid out the plan in the 39 books of the Old Testament. Romans 16:25-27 puts it this way, "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God so that all nations might believe and obey him. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ." In other words, God had a mystery hidden up in himself and then He paid it out progressively in the prophetic writings, little by little, now fulfilled in Jesus, Paul writes in Romans 16. It is a clear statement by Christ. He says this again and again. Luke 18:31-33, "Jesus took the twelve aside and told them, 'We are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the son of man will be fulfilled.’" This is even before He goes up, He's saying, "Look, all this thing is, it's all predicted, prophesied, and it's going to be fulfilled.” He'll be handed over to the Gentiles, they'll mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day, He'll rise again. Now, after his arrest in Gethsemane, after He prays in Gethsemane, He goes out and gives himself up to those that are there to arrest him. At that moment, Peter thought it best to fight for Jesus. Remember that whole thing? I mean, what's up with Peter? I mean, he’s just missing this whole thing. He pulls out his little fisherman dagger thing, and he is going to take on 600 Roman soldiers. What a moment in redemptive history. Thank God he failed. Imagine if he'd enabled Jesus to get away. I mean, what was he thinking? He just wasn't listening. But Jesus deals with Peter. You remember how Peter swung wildly and cut off Malchus's ear, the high priest servant's ear. He told them, "Put your sword away for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my father and he would at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scripture be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" I tell you, no human being in history has ever had a higher view of scripture than Jesus. Effectively, He says that He would rather die than let the prophetic scriptures not be fulfilled. He also said at that point in Mark 14:48-49, “'Am I leading a rebellion,’ said, Jesus, ‘that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you teaching in the temple courts and you did not arrest me. But the scriptures must be fulfilled.’” After his resurrection, however, Jesus was even more zealous to point his overwhelmed and somewhat unbelieving disciples to the fulfillment of scripture. First, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Remember, they were all depressed, “we had hoped he was going to be the one.” Remember that? They're so depressed, so downcast, so Jesus deals with them. “'How foolish you are,’he said, ‘And how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not that Christ have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.” Again, that same day in the upper room to the eleven apostles. He said to them, “'This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me and the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.’" Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures.” He told them, "This is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." So it is obvious that Jesus knew the details of his suffering and his death from prophetic scriptures. Well, what scriptures are we talking about? From the very beginning of the fall, God began predicting the coming of Christ. You remember the curse on the serpent? He said, "I'll put enmity between you and the woman. Between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you'll strike his heel." The prediction of the death of Christ by which Satan's kingdom will be crushed. Then right away the establishment of the animal sacrificial system. Remember how they had covered themselves with fig leaves, where God killed some animals and covered them with animal skins? Then in the very next chapter, we've got Abel offering a blood sacrifice, an animal sacrifice. Cane inventing his own religion and God rebuking him saying, "If you do what is right, will you not prosper?" So animal sacrifice, Noah comes off the ark and offers clean animals as a burn offering to God. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all did animal sacrifice. Abraham was stopped from killing his son, own son Isaac, and a substitute was provided. "God," he said, "God will provide the lamb." As substitute, the ram in a thicket was caught. Animal sacrifice was essential to that religion that God would provide eventually to that land. Then Moses taught the Israelites animal sacrifice and made animal sacrifice the centerpiece of their religion, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the Levitical priesthood, all of that set up. They had already seen it in the tenth plague, the Passover land, the blood of the lamb shed, and the blood painted on the doorpost and lintels with the angel of the Lord passing over when he saw the blood. In the old covenant ,animal sacrifices were at the center. But all of those animal sacrifices were just a type and a shadow of Christ, not the reality. The details got ready for substitutionary atonement. Leviticus 17:11 says, "The life of a creature is in the blood. And I've given it to you, the blood to you make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for your life." It’s very clear. Essential to that is the transfer of guilt without which we cannot be saved. If guilt cannot be transferred to a substitute, we cannot be saved. We're still guilty. In Leviticus 16, we have this gesture of a priest laying hands on the scapegoat and confessing the sins of the people and putting them on the head of the animal, transferring guilt onto the head of the animal. That's what that symbol means, the putting of the hands on the animal, the transfer of guilt. This is how we have the lessons therefore of the animal sacrificial system. All sin deserves the death penalty. The death penalty can be paid by a substitute, but the substitute cannot be an animal. It's just symbolic. The book of Hebrews makes all this plain. The whole thing was just a type and a shadow of the reality. The reality is in Christ. And why is this? Because the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. It's just a picture, a type, and a shadow. Hebrews 8:5 says, "They serve at a sanctuary as a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven." The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. Those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because the blood of animals can never take away sin. Then we have Isaiah's clear prophecy of substitutionary atonement. Isaiah 53, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed." Four straight statements of substitutionary atonement, the clearest in the entire Bible. “We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Nowhere in the whole Bible is it clearer why Jesus had to die than Isaiah 53. Then Psalm 22, the actual manner of his death predicted; He had to die a Gentile death, a death at the hands of the Gentiles. The Jews stoned to death, Romans crucified. Crucifixion was predicted in Psalm 22, 1000 years before Jesus was born. It begins famously with the words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But then it says, "I am a worm and not a man scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in the Lord,’ they say. ‘Let the Lord rescue him. Let him delight him since he or deliver him since he delights in him.’” And then he describes crucifixion clearly, "I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax.It has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me. A band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet." Stop right there. What is that talking about? A death by which your hands and feet are pierced? “I can count all my bones. People stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” But then in that same Psalm, not just the sufferings of the Christ, but the subsequent glories, the glories that would come in the same Psalm. Psalm 22:27, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of nations will bow down before him. The spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth." Right there in Psalm 22, a thousand years before Jesus was born. Then there's the bronze serpent, which Jesus alluded to in the most famous verse in the whole Bible. People I think misunderstand it. Go back one verse you get the whole context. John 3:14-16,"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” The bronze serpent lifted up for in the same way God loved the world, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." All these prophecies together speak of a death in which Jesus is lifted up and his hands and feet pierced. His blood is poured out and the message is preached to the ends of the earth for the forgiveness of sins.That's how he knew what was going to happen to him. IV. How Jesus Knew About His Sufferings: Divine Omniscience Secondly, Jesus knew what would happen to him because of his divine omniscience. He's God, He's the son of God. He knows things that we don't know. He had supernatural insight in ways that we don't. He knew peoples’ character. In John 1, He looks at Nathaniel and says, "Here is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile. 'How do you know me?' Nathaniel asked, 'I saw you while you are under the fig tree, while you're, I looked at you and I know your heart.'" Or again, in Mark 2, remember the friends who are lowering the man down through the roof by the ropes? “Jesus saw their faith and said, ’Your sins are forgiven.’" The people were thinking in their minds, "That's blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Mark 2:8, "Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts. And he said to them, 'Why are you thinking these things?'" He could read people's minds and hearts. He knew remote events, things that were happening somewhere else. Remember the driving out of the demon of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter? He told her, “'For such a reply, you may go, the demon has left your daughter.’ She went home and found the daughter lying in bed, the demon gone.” How did he know? He knows. He just knows. He knows future events. He predicted the destruction of the temple that wouldn't happen until 70 AD. "Not one stone will be left on another, every one will be thrown down." A massive, massive temple totally destroyed by the Romans, Jesus predicted it. He also knew specific immediate events of his own life. Mark 11:1-6, "As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, Jesus has sent two of his disciples saying to them, 'Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you'll find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, what are you doing? Tell them the Lord needs it and we'll send it back here shortly.' They went and found the colt outside in the street, tied up at the doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there ask, 'What are you doing untying that colt?' They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go." That's amazing. But even more amazing as this one is Mark 14:12-16, “Jesus disciples asked him, ‘Where do you want us to go to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples telling them, ‘Go into the city.’”This is my favorite one of all. “'A man carrying a jar of water will meet you.’" There’s got to be 300,000 people in the city. "Go to New York and there'll be an orange car driving on exit 139B that pulls off to the side with it's hazards on. Pull over and talk to that person.” It's like, what in the world? The guy carrying the jar of water, follow him. He's going to enter a house, talk to the owner of the house. That's the place. Go up there and prepare. He'll have an upper room ready for you. The guy carrying the jar of water. How does he know? Because he knows everything. Detailed, meticulous foreknowledge. So Jesus knew the exact circumstances of his death. Again, that's what makes his bold, courageous march up to Jerusalem even more amazing. V. Lessons What lessons can we take from this? First of all, understand the centerpiece of this sermon. Jesus was not an unwitting unwilling victim. He willingly laid down his life for sinners like you and me. "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down freely." This is a measure of his love. Greater love is no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. "You are my friends, if you do what I command you." Or again, John 10:14-15, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.” It's not an accident. So therefore, put your trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." I have given you a river of evidence of the truth of the gospel here today. You have everything you need for the simple faith that it will take for the forgiveness of your sins. Trust in him. Why would you walk out of this place still guilty before God for your sins? Just trust in him like the bronze serpent. All you have to do is look, just look to Christ with the look of faith and you'll be forgiven. See the power of prophecy. See how God makes certain his Word gets fulfilled. Jeremiah 1:12, "I am watching to be certain my word is fulfilled." That's how zealous God is concerning his Word. So fulfilled prophecies is one of the greatest evidences of the truth, not just of Jesus, but of the Bible generally. This is not just any book. This book is a literal miracle because of its predictive prophecies. There's no other book like this in the world. So see that, and the more you study prophecy, the more powerful apologetic you can give to your unbelieving pagan coworkers. When they ask you, "Why are you a Christian?" Say, "Fulfilled prophecy." They'll be intrigued, but then you need to know what to say. Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, start there. There's many others, but those are some of the keys. Rely therefore on this word. God's Word is a solid foundation on which you can build your life. I thank you for Ian's testimony at his baptism, reminded me of what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon of the Mount. Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rains came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall because it had its foundation on something that will never move, and that's the Word of God. Then finally, like Jesus, be willing to suffer for the salvation of other people. We're not the savior, but Jesus said, we have to be willing to lay down our lives like He laid down his life, a similar pattern. John 12, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The man who loves his life will lose it. While the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me." Friends, we're called on to reach this region with the gospel. Unbelievers are pouring in here at record numbers. Most of them are unchurched, most of those folks that are pouring in are unchurched. It is our task to reach them with the gospel. I guarantee we cannot do it unless we're willing to suffer, unless we're willing to be courageous. Let's follow Jesus in that kind of boldness that He displayed here in Mark 10. Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time we've had today to gather for worship, to sing together, pray together, to watch two young men be baptized and testify to their faith in Christ. We thank you Lord for the experience of new member candidates that want to partner with us. And we thank you more than anything for the display of Jesus's knowledge and courage in going to the cross. Help us, oh Lord, to be strengthened in our faith, to be faithful as we run the race with endurance. And to be bold in our proclamation, even this week of the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen.

Welcome to this episode where we explore the top 5 reasons why Siri is better than ChatGPT. As much as we love ChatGPT, let's face it, Siri has some impressive advantages that make it stand out. Firstly, Apple has integrated Siri into their products, giving it access to your data and making your life easier. Siri can be seamlessly integrated into your daily life, from setting reminders to controlling your smart home devices. Secondly, Siri's voice recognition technology is unparalleled, making it a more natural choice for users who prefer voice commands over typing. You can simply talk to Siri and get instant responses. Thirdly, Siri has accessibility features like VoiceOver, which assists users with disabilities, including those with visual impairments, by reading out information displayed on the screen. Fourthly, Siri allows users to customize voice commands and shortcuts, making it more flexible than ChatGPT. You can create personalized shortcuts to perform routine tasks more efficiently. Lastly, Siri's user-friendly interface makes it easy to use for everyone, regardless of age or technical expertise. With a simple interface and a wide range of features, Siri is the perfect virtual assistant for anyone. So there you have it, folks, the top 5 reasons why Siri is better than ChatGPT. While both virtual assistants are excellent, Siri has some unique features that set it apart. Thanks for listening!

In today's episode, we prepare our hearts for Holy Week by contemplating Aquinas and asking whether or not their will be stretch marks in Heaven. Mentioned in today's episode:St. Thomas Aquinas: Whether Christ's body ought to have risen with its scars?1) He kept His scars not from inability to heal them, "but to wear them as an everlasting trophy of His victory.2) Secondly, to confirm the hearts of the disciples as to "the faith in His Resurrection"3) Thirdly, "that when He pleads for us with the Father, He may always show the manner of death He endured for us"4) Fourthly, "that He may convince those redeemed in His blood, how mercifully they have been helped, as He exposes before them the traces of the same death"5) Lastly, "Christ knew why He kept the scars in His body. For, as He showed them to Thomas who would not believe except he handled and saw them, so will He show His wounds to His enemies, so that He who is the Truth may convict them, saying: 'Behold the man whom you crucified; see the wounds you inflicted; recognize the side you pierced, since it was opened by you and for you, yet you would not enter.'" The Two Thieves Short FilmThe Preparation of the Gifts By  Breaking the HabitSUPPORT OUR MINISTRYThank you all for your ongoing support. We love what we do, and we pray that it is a blessing to you and your families. If you are benefitting in some way from what we're doing, here are some ways you can support our show:  Support us on Patreon!This Episodes SponsorInito Fertility MonitorUsed code MON15 at checkout for 15% off your starter kit.Our BooksGo To Joseph: 10 Day Consecration to St. JosephGo To Joseph For ChildrenFREE RESOURCESFertility Awareness Cheat SheetRelationship Check-UpOur MinistryAbout UsConnect with us and send us a message on InstagramYouTube ChannelEpisode Music by Alex_MakeMusic from PixabaySupport the show

Ephesians 6:10-13 — This great appeal comes to Christian people: “Stand therefore.” In this sermon on Ephesians 6:10–13 titled “Stand Therefore,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains about the power God gives His people to remain faithful. First of all, he says that Christians must not feel disappointed or unhappy because this causes a conflict. Christians should never feel sorry for themselves. The moment they do, they've already lost the battle. Secondly, they must recognize the power of what they are up against but not be frightened. Because of the power of God in them, they can resist the devil. Thirdly, they are not to be half-hearted. When they doubt, they are already defeated. Fourthly, do not consider retreat. Thinking or talking too much about personal weaknesses (or those of others) is depressing and an enemy tactic to sap the Christian of strength. Fifthly, always be ready. Spiritually, Christians are to be well balanced and not carried about by every wind of doctrine. Sixthly, realize the privilege of being in this great battle. Consider the captain and leader — Jesus Christ Himself. Lastly, think of the glory that is coming. Paul said, “There is henceforth a crown of righteousness laid up for me [.…] And not to me only, but to all who have loved his appearing."

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston,or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Today, we are continuing our sermon series committed talking about the essential habits of an abundant life. I think we are eight weeks into this series and we got about three weeks left to go and then that's going to bring us up to Easter Sunday already. And so looking forward to that. And this week we are tackling what is probably the most ambitious topic in this entire sermon series. I sat down to prepare the sermon this week and I realized this really could have been like three separate sermons and so tons of editing to get it down into one. And I promise I'll talk fast. If you listen fast, we'll try to get through all of it. But this is not going to be an exhaustive sermon on this topic. But hopefully it's at least a good introduction into our topic today because our topic today is the topic of calling. And the question before us is what is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life? What is more specifically your purpose in life? Why are you here? I think one of the most frightening and dreadful feelings that a person can have is the sober consideration of a meaningless existence. It's contemplating the possibility that your life might have no purpose. Or even worse that it does, but you are failing to find that or to fulfill that purpose. We live in a world where we have so many options of what we could spend our lives doing, that we are oftentimes paralyzed by all of the possibilities before us. And rather than helping us come to a decision, all of the options actually seem to make the problem even more complex of finding out what is our purpose. Because now in addition to figuring that out, we have the pressure of making sure that of all of these options before us that we choose the right thing. And what if we get that wrong? I think about the opportunity cost of getting something like that wrong. We only have one life to live. How are we supposed to live it? And that can be terrifying. Like what if we are to reach the end of our lives only to look back and see that we never truly lived, that we never truly figured out why we were here, what we were supposed to be doing. And that's a very real fear that most of us have experienced at one time or another. And the only real solution to this is something that Christians have often referred to as calling. And John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he wrote this. He said that, "The Lord bids each one of us in all of life's actions to look to his calling. For, he knows with what great restlessness human nature flames, with what fickleness it is born hither and thither, how its ambition longs to embrace various things at once, therefore less through our stupidity and rashness everything be turned topsy-turvy, he has appointed duties to every man in his particular way of life. And that no one may thoughtlessly transgress his limits, he has named those various kind of livings, callings. Therefore, each individual has his own kind of living assigned to him by the Lord as a sort of century post so that he may not heedlessly wander about throughout life." As Christians, we believe that God has a plan, he has a purpose for every one of his children. And that this purpose is something that we can know, that we have a calling that we need to discern and to answer. And my hope today is that we will look to God's word together and as we do learn to discern what God is calling us to do throughout the various seasons of our life. And so if you have your Bible open, up the Colossians chapter three. We're going to go through this entire chapter actually all the way through chapter four verse one. And I'm not going to read the entire text up here up front because it's a little bit longer. We're going to take it just section by section and work through it together. And as we do, I want us to focus on helping you to discern and to commit to four things. Number one, to commit to your general calling. That's going to be the first 17 verses. Second, commit to your seasonal calling. That's the next few. And then commit to your particular calling. And then at the end we'll look at this idea of commit to receiving an inheritance in heaven and leaving a legacy here on earth. And so I'm going to start just by reading the first 17 verses. This is Colossians chapter three, beginning in verse one. And the Apostle Paul writes this. He says, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality and purity, passion, evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry and account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you two once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jews circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians and slave free. But Christ is all and in all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord is forgiving you, so also you must forgive. And above all of these, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. In whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." This is the reading of God's word for us this morning. Would you please join me in prayer for our sermon today? Lord, we thank you that you are a God who knows each of us individually, that you care for each of us individually and you have gifted and equipped each of us individually according to your purposes and plan. Lord, help us today to know how each of our lives can bring you the most glory, can do the most good according to the unique gifts, opportunities, and personality that you have given us both together as a church and individually as your people. Lord, help our words, our deeds, whatever we do to be done for your glory and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and out of thankfulness in our hearts to you our God and Father. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, point number one today is to commit to your general calling. Before we get into the topic of discerning and committing to or your specific or your particular calling, we need to understand that God has given a general calling to all Christians, to everyone who is a follower of Christ that we need to answer. And we know that first of all, we are called to Christ, that through the call of the gospel we are called to become followers of Jesus. But then Paul shows us that in Christ we are also called to a few different things. We are called as we see in this text to live with a new identity, to live as part of a new family, the household of God, and to live in a new way, a new manner of living as well. And so first of all, we say that we're called to live with a new identity. Verse two, Paul says, "Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God." And in verse nine he says, "Don't lie to one another saying that you've put off the old self with its practices and if you've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." And he says here, "There's not Greek or Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. But Christ is in all." And the big idea here is that he wants us to see is that when you are called to Christ, that you're not just given a better life, that you are given a new life, that the old you dies and that you become a new creation in Christ. And Christ then becomes the centering principle of your life. That this is your identity. And so your past, your reputation, your ethnicity, your job, your bank account, your education, your pedigree, none of that matters. That Christ is all and is in all, that you become a Christian period with no adjective to qualify that statement. We stand before the cross of Christ, all of us from our various backgrounds, we all come, we stand before level ground and we are all then unified, made one body in Jesus Christ. And this is our new identity that we are called to live in, to walk in. And this new identity, it leads directly to the second thing that we're called to do, which is to live and to love a new family. That we're saved out of the world and into the body of Christ, into the church. And Paul gives us instructions of how we are to behave as children in this family, as members of this body. And in verse 12 he says, "And so therefore put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord is forgiven, you also must forgive. And above all these things put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you are called in one body and be thankful with the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and an admonishing one another with all wisdom and singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts." To God, this is how you are to behave and relate to one another in the church. The Jesus saved you out of the world and into this family, the God the Father, he finds us as orphans lost in our sin and he adopts us into his family by the blood of his son Jesus Christ. And this is important because one of the reasons that I think a lot of Christians struggle with discerning God's will or sensing what he is calling them to do and perhaps therefore feel like they're lost, like they're wandering throughout life. Well, it starts because they have failed to answer this first calling, to join themselves to a local body of believers, to surround themselves by the body of Christ because scripture tells us plainly that when Christians fail to do this, that a Christian without the church, it's like a leaf being blown about in the wind or it's like a child that is stunted in its growth, that is suspended in a state of adolescence, not growing, not maturing. And Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter four. He's describing the church and the purpose of the church and God's vision for the church. And he says that God gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers in order to equip the saints, all of us, the church, the members of the body to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and by craftiness and deceitful schemes, rather speaking the truth and love or to grow up into every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joint and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. And so before we can begin to discern our particular callings in life, we need to understand before anything else that this is God's will for you, for me, for us. His will is for us to understand, to live in this new identity that we have in Christ and in this new family to become members of a local church, to commit ourselves to a group of believers who are going to know us and can encourage us and hold us accountable and support us throughout this life of following Jesus. Because the third thing that we're going to see as we follow Jesus, as we're called to Christ, is that we're also called to learn a whole new way of life, a whole new manner of living. And we're going to need people around to help us do this. This is not going to be easy. Verse five, he says, "And so therefore put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passions, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." He says, "The wrath of God is coming and these you two once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth and do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator." Says, "Jesus calls us to a whole new way of life, a whole new manner of living, a new morality with new purpose, new identity, new family." And we need a proper understanding of this general calling that we all have because this is going to be like the prerequisite foundation to everything else that we're going to talk about this morning, that we can't begin building the rest of our lives and answering the rest of our callings until we have this solid foundation. If you want to know what God is calling you to do specifically, you always need to begin with what he has already called you to do clearly and generally in his word. That God is never going to call you to do something that contradicts his will, that contradicts his word revealed to us in scripture. And so commit to your general calling. And then number two, commit to your seasonal calling. Verse 17, Paul says, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." And then he shifts. He just got done saying, this is how you're going to need to live and behave. This is how you're called to be in the household of God and now this is how you're going to be called to be in your household. And so he begins giving instructions for the household. He begins with wives. Verse 18, "Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. And fathers do not provoke your children less they become discouraged." So he shows us how to relate to one another. In God's household, here He shows us how to relate to one another in our households. And obviously this is not an exhaustive teaching, like scripture has a lot more to say about these familial relationships than what we see here. But for our purposes today, I just want us to begin by seeing this, that God is going to call you, he's going to assign to you certain responsibilities throughout different seasons of your life and those things are going to change and evolve over time. And your responsibilities as a child are going to look a lot different than the responsibilities that the Lord assigns to you as an adult. You're going to have certain things that God calls you to do when you're single that are going to be different than the things he calls you to do if and when you get married or if and when you have children. And we don't think about this here in Boston very often because we're a very young city, but someday you're going to have the responsibilities as a child again. And if you haven't experienced this yet, the day is coming where you're going to be not under your parents' care. Your parents in some ways are going to come under your care. If they get sick or as they're aging, as they're approaching the end of life. And eventually they're going to need you to be there in that season. Eventually you're going to be in that season yourself needing the help of others as you approach that season of life. And so like our general calling, these seasonal callings, they are prerequisite considerations as we try to discern our particular callings. And we're going to get to the particular calling here in a little bit. But first I want us to take a closer look at some of these seasonal callings that Paul talks about in the text. He begins with instructions for the wives. Verse 18, it says, "Wives submit to your husband's as is fitting in the Lord." Pretty short verse, but probably one of the most famous and detailed teachings, descriptions of God's vision for a godly wife in scripture comes from Proverbs 31. You're probably familiar with Proverbs 31, the Proverbs 31:10 says, "An excellent wife who can find. She's far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands. She's like the ships of the merchant bringing her food from afar. She rises while it's yet night and provides food for her household in portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hand to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She's not afraid of snow for her household, for all of her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself and clothing. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them. She delivers sashes to the merchant. Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praises her. Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates." Long passage. And obviously this is a very idealized vision of what a wife, what mother can be in God's eyes, but that's what God does. He calls us to pursue these ideals of perfection and then he gives us grace for what's real as we work our way towards those ideals. But the point here is if you're in the season of being a wife, of being a mother, and you're trying to figure out what is God calling me to do right now, this is a great place to start. Proverbs 31, it shows us a wife who supports her husband and she cultivates peace and order and beauty in her home. It shows us a mother who loves her children. She's strong, she's hardworking, she's selfless. She's nurturing and wise. It shows us a business woman who is savvy and charitable and resourceful. Most of all, what Proverbs 31 shows us is it shows us a godly woman, a woman who is known at the city gates, not for her beauty, not for her charm. She's known for her kindness, her humility, her generosity, her wisdom. She is known for fearing the Lord. And I pray that God would raise up more strong women like this, but I also just praise God because I know that we have so many strong women like this here at Mosaic. And the big idea here as it relates to our calling is that what scripture shows us is the primary calling of the wife, of the mother, is to create order, to create beauty, to create shalom in her home. And then as she commits herself to this good calling, we see that if God gives her the margin and the opportunity to do so, she may also be called to expand that shalom outside of the home, into the community, into the marketplace. And so the home comes first, it takes priority, but as we see the Proverbs 31 woman, she's selling in the marketplace. She's purchasing real estate, she's planting a vineyard, she's caring for the poor. She's not doing these things to build up herself or her ego or her career. She's not doing these things to escape her home, but she's doing these things to bless her home and to make her home a blessing to others. And this is not easy. This takes hard work, humility, wisdom. And this is going to look different in every household in some ways, right? Husbands and wives need to work together, pursue the Lord together, to discern and to determine where they need to draw those boundaries, where they draw those lines and keep those priorities straight. It takes a lot of wisdom. But verse 26 says that she opens her mouth with wisdom and that the teaching of kindness is on her tongue, that she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. And as a result, her children call her blessed, her husband praises her. And in the creation story, God's first observation of something less than good, less than perfect is the absence of Eve. That it was not good for Adam to be alone, that he needed help, he needed a support. He needed a help made to come along and to help him fulfill his calling and purpose. And that God said creation was not good without her. He creates Eve and then he gives them the commandment for the two to become one flesh, for them to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth and subdue it. And God establishes this family unit as the means of fulfilling his cultural mandate. And I say all this to say that motherhood is one of the highest, most vital and most noble callings that a person can have. And it's also one of the hardest. And that's why we as Christians, we need to support the mothers in our lives. Our culture has been degrading marriage, has been degrading motherhood for generations and it is tearing our world apart. And Proverbs 31 tells us that a godly wife, a godly mother, is far more precious than jewels. It's a high calling to be a wife and a mother. And as Christians, we must value and honor the mothers among us even and especially when the culture around us refuses to do so. And so Paul addresses the wives and the mothers. And then he addresses the husbands as well. It says verse 19, he says, "Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them." Again, he doesn't give us a lot here. Just one little sentence. If Proverbs 31 is the most famous and detailed description of a godly wife, then I would I'd say that Ephesians chapter five is the most famous and detailed description of a godly husband. And this is the parallel passage that Paul gives us in Ephesians chapter five, verse 25. He starts out the same way. He says, husbands love your wives, but then he continues. He says, "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the words so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. And then he quotes Genesis, "Therefore, man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I'm saying it refers to Christ in the church, however, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. If Proverbs 31 asks us an excellent woman who can find, I think what Ephesians five is telling us is this, that bro, if you find her, she's out of your league. You're not going to find the perfect, excellent Proverbs 31 woman. And if you do, she's probably not going to be interested in you. Your job is not to find the perfect wife. Your job is to build the perfect life, to build the perfect marriage, to find a woman who fears the Lord and commit to her. To commit your life, to laying yourself down, to loving her, to cherishing her, to nourishing her with the word of God so that then the two of you can grow old and excellent together, where you're both through this relationship being sanctified into the people that God is calling you to be. Scripture calls moms to cultivate and care for the home. He calls husbands to cultivate the marriage. Husband, God is going to hold us responsible for the health of our marriages and the health of our marriages are going to dictate the health of our families. It's a high calling. Just like Proverbs 31 seems almost unattainable, Ephesians 5, I mean, you're literally being called to love your wife the way Christ loved the church. It's an impossible calling, but God gives us grace where we fail and then he gives us more grace to get up and to keep pursuing that goal, that standard as husbands. And so your wife's calling is to cultivate shalom in the home. And she can only do this as you commit to your primary calling. And husbands your primary calling, your responsibility is that God has called you to provide, to protect, and most importantly, to pastor your wives and children well so that they are loved, so that they are led, so that they are cherished and treasured so that as you do so that they can flourish to do all that God has called them to do. So practically husbands, as you seek to discern your more particular calling, if this is the season of life that you're in, understand that God is going to call you to sacrifice a lot of things for the sake of your marriage and for the sake of your children. He's not going to call you to sacrifice your marriage and your children for anything else that this world has to offer. Not your job, not your ambitions, not your hobbies, not your friends that you as a husband, if this is the season of life that you're in, this is your highest and most important calling. Second only to your calling to be a disciple of Jesus and to be a child of God yourself. And so he gives instructions for husbands and wives and then he begins to talk to children and parents. Verse 20, he says, "Children obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. And fathers do not provoke your children less they become discouraged." So we're all children and we will always be children. And this command, this calling as children, it's going to look different throughout our lives. But the one thing that continues is the calling that we will always be called to honor our fathers and our mothers. And as a young child, you do this through your obedience to your mother and father. As you're an adult, you grow older, you honor your father and mother through the honorable life that you build and live. And then as your parents' age, you may find yourself in a season again where you now need to honor them by sacrificially caring for them the way they sacrificially cared for you. First Timothy 5:3 says, "Honor the widows who are truly widows, but if a widow has children or grandchildren," he says, "Let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and it makes some return to their parents. For this is pleasing in the sight of God." And then in verse eight he says, "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for the members of his own household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." We live in a culture that has devalued motherhood and marriage and children. That's also a culture that devalues the aging and the elderly. And as Christians, this should not be the case. And we should honor our father and mother. And whatever season of life you're in, Paul says that it pleases the Lord when we do this and it doesn't end the day that we turn 18 and go off to college. Actually, some of you college students, you probably need to work a little harder on making sure that your Honor and mom and dad now that you're out on your own and getting that taste of freedom, but it's a commandment that stays with us. And then parents, likewise your relationship to your children, it's going to change throughout the seasons of your life. But the greatest season of influence and responsibility that you have is obviously going to be when your children are young, when they're growing up, when they're under your roof. And so throughout scripture we see Proverbs 22:6 is parents need to train up a child in the way that they should go so that when they're old, they will not depart from it. Deuteronomy 6:4 through seven says here, "Oh, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all of your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart and you shall teach them diligently to your children." Talk with them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. Just throughout the course of everyday life, you're constantly teaching, discipling your children. Colossians 3, the parallel passage to this is Ephesians 6. And again, Paul expands on it a little bit more there. And he says, "Honor your father and mother for this is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." And then he says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord." I think one of the things that we wrestle with a lot of times as parents is how do we do this? How do we strike this balance between discipline and instruction on the one hand and not provoking our children to anger? On the other hand, this is something that I've personally been trying to get better at as a father, as a dad. And what I've been learning is one of the most important things you need to do is you need to know what kind of situation you're in and what you're dealing with at every given moment. Because getting the situation wrong is often what leads you to provoking your children to anger rather than giving them the discipline and instruction that they need. And so for example, is the situation that you're dealing with sin. Because if it's sin, then you need discipleship, right? Sin is the child has sinned against the commandment of God, and yeah, they might need discipline and correction, but with that you need to talk about the gospel. We need to talk about how God is holy and God is just and he has instructed us how we ought to live, and that when we sin against him, we need to repent and we need to confess our sins. And that when we do this and come to him, he forgives our sins, he cleanses us of unrighteousness. He takes away our guilt and shame. And he does this because Jesus Christ died on the cross and our place and we need to talk about this with them and pray about that with them. And then when we as parents, I mean I've never done this, but maybe some of you have, when we sin, we have to go to our kids too. If we sin against our kids, say, ask for your forgiveness. I need to pray. I need to repent and model that for our kids. Sin needs discipleship, and disobedience needs discipline. And what's the difference there? Well, sin is you've sinned against God. Disobedience is you've sinned against mom and dad. So the Bible never says, thou shall not run out into the street or play in the parking lot or jump on the furniture or anything like that. But mom and dad say that. We need rules in our household to keep things orderly and peaceful, but we shouldn't confuse those rules with God's rules. And so if there's disobedience, a dishonoring of father and mother, there needs to be correction and discipline, but it's a little bit different situation than if they've sinned against God. Is the situation ignorance? Sometimes kids are just... They're foolish. They're ignorant. They don't know what they don't know. And as parents, it's tempting in those situations to get frustrated and want to correct with discipline where actually what the child in that time needs is instruction. They need guidance. They need help seeing what they can't see. Fourthly, it could be weakness. It's not that they're ignorant, they know the right thing to do, they just aren't quite mature enough to do it or they're having... They're struggling. And again, in those situations, they need encouragement from their parents. It could be mistakes. Somebody's always going to spill the milk. Someone's always going to knock over the lamp. And as parents, it's easy for us to get frustrated and want to lash out in discipline where actually everyone makes some mistakes. And in those times as parents, we got to show sympathy. We got to show compassion. Mistakes need compassion. Six, are they just being annoying? Because if you have kids, you understand this, sometimes they're just like, oh, you're driving me nuts. And it's not that you're doing anything naughty or wrong, it's just that you're a kid. And sometimes kids drive us nuts. They're annoying, they're loud, they're crazy, they're rambunctious. And in those times as parents, sometimes we just need to show patience. We just got to let the kids be kids. And then finally is the situation success? Because let's not forget that too often we get really focused on correcting what's wrong, we forget to celebrate what's right. And success needs celebration. When your kid does something well, they should know that you're pleased that you celebrate that with him. So Paul covers all of these seasons in life, husbands, wives, parents, children. But there is one season that he doesn't cover, and ironically, it's the season that he himself is in. And it's a season that many here in this room today are in as well. So I feel like I should say something about this. The season of singleness in adulthood. We live in a very young city with a lot of young single adults. And so the question is how do we live? What does God call us to in that season? I think Jesus kind of anticipated this because in Matthew 19, he was teaching his disciples about God's high standard for marriage. That marriage is a covenant that is foreign between one man, one woman for a lifetime, that you are committing to one another through thick and thin, till death do you part. And he says to them in verse nine, Matthew 19:9, "Whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery." And his disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it's better to not marry." They thought this seems like an impossible standard. And he said to them, "Not everyone can receive the same, but only those to whom it is given. For, there are eunuchs who have been made so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this, receive it." Now, obviously Jesus isn't talking literally here, but I think what he's getting at is that there's going to be some people who for a variety of reasons, either can't get married or won't get married, not due to no fault of their own, perhaps they even have the desire to be married, but it just doesn't happen. But then he also says there's going to be some people who choose for themselves to forego marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Well, Paul was one such person. In First Corinthians 7, he talks about this. First Corinthians 7:6, he says, "Now, as a concession, not a command, as a concession, I say this, that I wish that all were as I myself am speaking of his singleness, but each has his own gift from God, one of one kind, one of another." So Paul says, "I'm giving this as a concession." This is not necessarily the ideal situation, but in a fallen world, what he's saying is that while it might be ideal, it might not be ideal for a person to remain single. In a fallen world, singleness is redeemable by God's grace. And in God's grace, this concession, as Paul describes, it can also be described as a gift. And it might not be a gift that you wanted, might not be a gift that you asked for, but he goes on in verse 32 to explain why it should be viewed in that manner. Verse 32, he says, "Because I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife." And then verse 35, just to make it clear, he says, "I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." And so if that is the season that you're in, you're an adult and you're in the season of singleness, just a couple of things I want you to know. First, it's a unique calling and Paul says, it can be viewed as a gift and it's one that you share with the apostle Paul himself. Secondly, if you are single and you find in yourself a strong desire for a godly marriage, don't feel guilty about that. That is a very good desire. And if you have that desire and it hasn't been fulfilled, you should persistently pray and prepare and pursue yourself for marriage unless God has made it abundantly clear to you that he is calling you to remain unmarried. And along the way, if you have that desire and there are factors outside of your control keeping you from being married as you desire to be, don't lose heart. Ultimately, no, marriage is not going to give you the ultimate satisfaction in life that you're looking for. It's not going to scratch that itch, that ultimately you can only find that in Jesus Christ and in your relationship with him. And then thirdly, in your singleness, know that you are not being sidelined. That on the one hand, God has a very good purpose in marriage and we should not undermine that. Obviously our culture is, and even some spheres of Christianity, it feels like that's being undermined and that should not be the case. God has a very good purpose in marriage that it is a picture of the gospel and it is the means by which he ordained the cultural mandate to be fulfilled. But as we see here, God has a good redeeming purpose in singleness too. And so Paul says, what is that? He says, you're free from the anxieties of marriage and parenthood. And there there's a lot of anxieties, a lot of responsibilities that come with marriage and with parenthood. He says, you're free from those anxieties in order to be anxious about the things of the Lord, that in your singleness you have a greater bandwidth and capacity for ministry, for serving others, for building friendships in the church, for blessing and building up the household of God. And so to summarize, like unless God has clearly called you to remain single, you should pray and you should pursue marriage. And while you're single, make sure that you steward that gift well. And then through all of it, you need to rest and find your ultimate satisfaction in Jesus Christ. So these are the seasonal callings, and these callings are going to affect the way that we approached the final calling that we're talking about today, which is point number three, committing to our particular calling because in verse 22, Paul shifts. Again, he's talked about God's household, he's talked about our household, and now he begins to talk about what we might call like the workplace career, vocation, things like that. In verse 22, he says, "Bond servants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye surface as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work hardily as for the Lord and not for men. Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrong doer will be paid back for the wrong he's done. And there is no partiality. Masters treat your bond servants justly and fairly knowing that you also have a master in heaven." And so the general principle is in the workplace, whether you are an employee, an employer, you're the boss, the manager, whatever you are, that you need to first of all be treating the people that you work with, with dignity, with honor, with respect, and you need to be working hard. You need to be working as if Jesus Christ were your boss. And Paul says actually that is the truth that you are serving the Lord when you are at work. And with this, one of the reasons that I think many Christians struggle when it comes to sensing God's calling for discerning God's will for them in this area, they get anxious about what is God's will for my life in this area. Well, I think one of the reasons is that too often we as Christians, we start in the wrong place. We tend to want to start with this, with what is my particular specific calling in life? And then we kind of try to build our faith, our family, our church, things like that around that. And scripture tells us, you got to do the opposite. You need to seek first the kingdom of heaven and then all of these other things will be added unto you as well. And the point is not that God is unconcerned with our careers or our vocations, the point is that God is just... He is far less concerned with your career that he is with your character and with your holiness. And so before we kind of complete this discernment of our particular callings, scripture makes it very clear what God's will is for us. First Thessalonians 4 tells us this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. Not in the passions of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrongs his brother in this manner because the Lord is an adventure of all these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly warns you, for God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man but God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. And he goes on in verse nine, he says, "Now, concerning brotherly love, we have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God, how to love one another for that indeed is what you're doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. It's a very simple view of God's will for us to just live quiet, godly lives. And we need to understand that more than anything, this is God's desire for us, is our holiness, is our sanctification. And so I picture this process, it's kind of like looking through the lenses of a telescope. And so the first lens, you begin looking through the lens of the general calling that we talked about that before anything that I know that I have been called to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, strength, that I've been called to commit myself to the body of Christ, to the local church, to live a holy life, to grow in sanctification. Anything that God calls me to do in life, it needs to pass through that lens first. And then the second lens is that seasonal calling that we talked about, that I need to ask myself, what are my commitments? What responsibilities has God assigned to me in this seasonal life? Because again, anything else that he's calling me to do, it needs to pass through that lens as well. And when you bring those two together, that's when you begin to kind of be a frame and focus God's particular calling on your life right now. And so how do you take that last step of framing, of focusing God's particular calling? What is he calling you to do right now? Well, I don't think there there's any one right thus sayeth the Lord way to do this. There's no chapter in the Bible that clearly says this is how you discern God's will. But I do think that there's many principles throughout scripture that you can bring together that are helpful. And so I'm going to share just something that I know many people have used, that I myself have used for many years at many times to help me discern God's will, to help me discern what God has been calling me to do in particular seasons of life. Because never in my life have I heard the audible voice of God come down and say, "This is what I want you to do." But I have used this filter on several occasions to help me discern what God's been calling me to do. And it has in the past it's never let me down. I call this the diagram of discernment. So my wife made this cool graphic for us. We all love our Venn diagrams here in Boston. You get the idea. You got the five circles, and what you're looking for is that sweet spot in the middle where they all overlap and come together in agreement. And so you see the first one there is you got to consider your convictions. You got to consider your gifting, your opportunities, your character wise counsel. And when all of those come together, well, that's what you're looking for. So first of all, consider your convictions. What has God put on your heart? Is there something that you're passionate about, something that you're burdened for, something that you feel like you ought to do, that you need to do to be faithful to the Lord? This is a good place to start. It's a good indication of God's calling. It's a good place to start. It's not a great place to finish though because scripture tells us that our hearts are deceitful and wicked, and our feelings often lead us astray. And so we can't just say, well, this is what I feel, and so this is what God's calling me to do, but our convictions, they're a good place to start. We need to go beyond that though. So we also need to consider our gifting. If you're passionate about something, if you feel God's put something on your heart, are you skilled and equipped to do something about it? If God is calling you to sing on the praise team and you're tone deaf and you have no rhythm, well, I'm sorry, but I don't think that's the voice of the Lord. You might be called to serve in a variety of other ways. It just might not be that. And that's okay. You got to consider though, am I gifted? Is this what God's wired and gifted and equipped me to do? Maybe I can't do this. Maybe there's another way that I can find to support this thing, but consider your gifting. Third, consider your opportunities. Something you're passionate about, you feel skilled, equipped to do something about it. The next thing you need to ask is there a legitimate need for this? Are there opportunities for me to use my gifts in a way that's going to be helpful, that's going to glorify God, that's going to help others consider your opportunities. Fourth, consider your character. Understand that God is never going to call you. He's never going to call for your ambitions or your influence to outgrow your integrity, to outgrow your character. That you might have big, big plans to do great, great things, but if your life is all tangled up in sin and you're living this double secret life of hypocrisy, well, God's going to call you to work on your heart before he calls you to go and work on anything else. And then fifth is to consider wise counsel. You're passionate about something, you're skilled and you're equipped to do something about it. You've got opportunities. You feel like your character, your heart are in the right place. The final, and probably I'd say this is the most important step, is to bring that sense of calling. Present it to other spirit-filled godly brothers and sisters in Christ. Say, hey, what do you think about this? God's put this on my heart. This is something I've been sensing. Do you agree? Right? Does it seem good to you and to the Holy Spirit that this is what God... And if all of these things line up, well, that's a pretty good indication that this is what God is calling you to do in your life right now. If they don't, there's red flags that come up along the way. Well, maybe you need to take some more time, spend some more time considering, discerning to figure out what's next. But just that's a helpful resource that I've used. I think it'll be helpful for you as well as you commit to your particular calling. And once you figure it out, commit to it, work hardily at it with all of your might in a way that glorifies God. Finally, point number four today is commit to receive inheritance in heaven and leave a legacy on earth. Just one more quick reminder before we wrap out. Whatever season of life you're in right now, whatever particular calling that God has placed on your life, whatever that is, whatever you do, verse 23 says, work hardily as for the Lord and not for men. Knowing that from the Lord, you'll receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. First Corinthians 7:17 says, "Only that each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all of the churches." And so my hope and my prayer is that whatever it is that God has assigned you to do, whatever he is calling you to do, that he would make that clear. That as that becomes clear, that you would commit to do that with all of your mights, so that as you approach that day, when you're coming to the end of your life, you can do so with just a fearless confidence and hope that your life has not been wasted, that it has not been meaningless, that you have fulfilled your purpose in life, that you have done what God created and called you to do. And so that as you reach that goal, you do so, and you're able to just look back on the legacy that you are about to leave and look forward to the inheritance that you are about to receive. And this is not just my prayer for you, it's my hope for you, but this is God's will for you as well. So I'm going to close by reading the benediction, the closing verses from the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 through 21 say this. This is now. "May the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will. Working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Let's pray. Father, the we thank you that you have not left us to wander aimlessly through this life like sheep without a shepherd, but you have sent your son Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, to bring us into your fold, to love us, to lead us into good pastures of abundant life. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see your good purposes and plans for us, and to give our lives to those things with all of our might. Lord, if any of us lacks discernment, if any of us are uncertain of what you're calling us to do, I pray that you would fill them with wisdom, with your Holy Spirit, surround them by wise council and help them come to know your good, your pleasing, your perfect will. And Lord, if there's anyone here today that still feels lost and wandering outside of your fold, Jesus, I pray our good shepherd, that you would lead them home, that you would seek them, that you would save them today and bring them back into the fold of God. And for all of us, Lord, we pray that you would help us to live lives that bring your name the most glory, that do others the most good, and that leave a legacy of faithfulness and godliness that will impact generations to come for the sake of your kingdom and glory. Lord, we love you, we worship you, and we just want to sing your praises together right now. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

Are you looking for ways to increase the lifetime value of your P&C clients? If so, you're in luck! In this video, we offer 8 tips that can help you do just that. From providing great customer service to keeping in touch regularly, we share a range of tips that will help you retain your clients and boost your bottom line.Introducing these 8 tips to your business can redefine your business metrics.First things first learn about your client. Know what they require. Knowing what your client wants is the ultimate way to make them happy. Second, Educate your client, most clients come from a non-marketing background. Educating clients rightly can help them to navigate their decisions. Thirdly, Stay in touch. Clients are more prone to choose people who catch up with them from time to time and are genuinely concerned about them.Fourthly, Offering discounts, Studies have shown that giving discounts, has changed the dimensions of sales. Having a more effective discount strategy can shape your numbers.Fifth, Reward Loyalty. Humans are prone to reciprocity if you send a gift appreciating their loyalty. This would create a ripple effect making the client turn back to you.Sixth, Give back to your community. A Community can create a sense of belonging. It would expand your network resulting in more clients.Seventh, Maintain an active social media presence; Not having a social media presence can impact your numbers. This tool is efficient and resourceful to gain traffic.Eighth, Keep up with the industry. Living in such uncertainty, industries are constantly changing and introducing new models and strategies. To excel you have to know your grounds.The Insurance Dudes are on a mission to find the best insurance agents around the country to find out how they are creating some of the top agencies. But they do not stop there, they also bring professionals from other industries for insights that can help agents take their agencies to the next level. The Insurance Dudes focus on your agency's four pillars: Hiring, Training, Marketing and Motivation! We have to keep the sword sharp if we want our agencies to thrive. Insurance Dudes are leaders in their home, at their office and in their community. This podcast will keep you on track with like minded high performing agents while keeping entertained!About Jason and Craig:Both agents themselves, they both have scaled to around $10 million in premium.  After searching for years for a system to create predictability in their agencies, they developed the Telefunnel after their interviews with so many agents and business leaders.  Taking several years, tons of trial and error, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on lead spend, they've optimized their agencies and teams to write tons of premium, consistently, and nearly on autopilot!LEARN MORE BY Registering for TUESDAY's LIVE CALL With The Insurance Dudes!

We're watching the Pride and Prejudice mini series! First of all a PSA: Don't run with fire. Secondly, WTF are those hats? Thirdly, an excellent dance has clapping as part of the choreography. Fourthly, Bingley hates Mr. Hurst. Fifth, I can't. I can't with the mutton chops. We hope you enjoy. (We'll be back next time with Northanger Chapters 6-8) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The parable of the Great Banquet shows us that God's kingdom is a feast, but it's not the kind of feast you'd think. Instead of the feast for the rich and the proud, it's a feast for the humble. How can we humble ourselves so we can enter the kingdom? First, Jesus shows that you must be humbled under the slowness of the kingdom. Secondly, under the freeness of the kingdom. Thirdly, under the commonness of the kingdom. Fourthly, under the priority of the kingdom. his sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 30, 1992. Series: The Parables of Jesus (1992). Scripture: Luke 14:7-24. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

I'll share with you why I started a Catholic lofi channel. We'll also look at what St Thomas Aquinas says are 4 characteristics of joy.