Podcasts about introduction there

The Failure of Justification by Law Galatians 5:13-26 Introduction: There is a question that has intrigued me that comes out of our study of the Galatian letter. Some commentators have had the same question. Maybe you have noticed it. Paul is addressing Christians who have fallen prey to false teachers who insist on following the … The Failure of Justification by the Law, Galatians 5:13-26 Read More » The post The Failure of Justification by the Law, Galatians 5:13-26 appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.

Introduction There’s two things you’re not supposed to talk about, and this morning, we’re going to cover both — politics and religion! Not because we’re coming up on an election, but because it’s where Peter goes next in his first letter that we’ve been studying together. But his take on the topic may seem radical […]

Introduction “There are three types of preachers: those to whom you cannot listen; those to whom you can listen; and those to whom you must listen. During the introduction the congregation usually decides the kind of speaker addressing them that morning.” Expository Preaching, Haddon W Robinson, page 167 Tuesday Teaching Tip 9 - "Interesting Introductions (https://youtu.be/kEbnbivR4xI) "  Usually written last - because by now we know what we are trying to achieve!  Do you want people to listen carefully? Then prepare introduction well 1. Context Formal/Informal Church members only/Guests Jargon! Long/short - usually short 2. Create tension Boring intro leads to assumption of boring lesson. Random introduction leads to assumption of incoherent lesson. Ask yourself: “Why should these people listen to me today?” Put that into words Questions - that you then answer Surprise statements - that you then unpack Tell a story 3. Connect With main point & summary statement With audience - relevant to them; make them realise you are talking to them and about them 4. Conduct Confident walk to podium Prepare Bible/Papers Look up and smile Prepare first few words Conclusion Question: What makes for an interesting introduction? Next time: How to end your lesson “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4 NIV11) This video is part of the series: “They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might” (Psalm 145:11) Basic preaching and teaching course for men and women In this course we will cover some of the basics of the preparation and presentation of biblical lessons. The aim is to provide helpful examples and teaching for both the older and younger Christian. One a week We will cover the following topics: Extra class: An introduction to the privilege of speaking God’s word How to choose what to speak on. How to explore the passage for yourself. How to use other resources like commentaries. How to select your point. How to choose a structure for your lesson. How to start your lesson. How to end your lesson. How to make your lesson memorable. How to make the most of congregational involvement. How to prepare yourself to speak. Extra class: A summary of the course and suggestions for ongoing learning. Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.  Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: malcolm@malcolmcox.org. If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org. Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John mccx, Malcolm Cox, Watford, Croxley Green, teaching, preaching, spiritual disciplines, public speaking, corporate worship, Sunday Sample, Corporate Worship Matters, Tuesday Teaching Tips, Quiet Time Coaching, coaching, coaching near me, coach, online coaching, savior, quiet time, devotion, God, Jesus, Pray, prayer, malcolm’s, cox, 

The Art of Opportunity: Know Your WhyHave you ever thought about an organization as a living entity? Think about it. Much like our bodies’ organizations, as Parker Lee describes, are “living, breathing networks with integrated holistic systems that will thrive in a networked fashion” and can build the necessary defenses to fight off any type of invasion or, in their case, innovation—making it challenging to enact even the slightest change.Parker Lee, Global Managing Partner at Territory Global, says it’s essential that companies are clear about their WHY: the reason(s) they want to enact change. He joins Paul for a conversation about the Work Forward movement and how Territory helps companies structure a plan of action (the HOW), and provides insight on how the future of work can be embraced today.Connect with Parker:LinkedInThe Art of Opportunity: How to Build Growth and Ventures Through Strategic Innovation and Visual Thinking (by Marc Sniukas, Parker Lee, Matt Morasky)Learning Done Right & Done RemotelyContact TerritoryWork Forward: Get InvolvedTranscript of this episodeParker Lee:I'm so tired of people talking about the future of work because the future can be achieved right now. It's not about the let's look way out there and maybe we'll get there, or what new shiny little toys are there. It's about taking advantage of all the different tools, and approaches, and resources, et cetera that exist today.Introduction:There's a revolution taking place right now. Talent and intelligence are equally distributed throughout the world, but opportunity is not. The talent economy: the idea that at the center of work is the talent, is the individual.Paul Estes:Companies today face a global war for talent. High-skilled talent is demanding flexibility around the way they work and the way they live. This podcast brings together thought leaders, staffing experts, and top freelancers to talk about the evolving nature of work and how companies can navigate these changes to remain competitive, drive innovation, and ensure success. Welcome to The Talent Economy Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Estes.Today, my guest is Parker Lee, managing partner at Territory Global. Parker joins us today to discuss a new way of working and the impact that a collaborative, co-creative working environment can have on both talent and the organization.Parker Lee:As you said, I'm managing director at Territory. I love speaking about working forward transformation, about helping people and teams achieve better outcomes and results.Paul Estes:Now, before we get into your organizational behavior background, long-range planning, your journey to Territory Global is quite an interesting one, to say the least. Tell me a little bit about your love for music and how that took you to Caesars Palace.Parker Lee:I had been in music and passionate about it since a little boy and played piano and trumpet. And then all through school, drum major of the Cal Aggie Marching Band when I was at UC Davis. Formed my own little madrigal group, had a barbershop quartet, did a lot of singing, and that. Upon getting out of UC Davis, broke my parents' heart when I told them instead of being president of the United States, I was going to sing on the streets of San Francisco and I was a busker.That led to getting a night in a club, and then multiple nights, then quitting my job and doing that. We became the number one club act, did five national tours, got on MTV. It was a remarkable experience.I figured at that point in your life, if... You can't do that when you have a family and later, so I said, "Now's the time." It was remarkable. It was a very different time than it is right now.Paul Estes:It was back when MTV actually played music on television, right?Parker Lee:That's the only way we got the video on the... They needed content, and it was all they do. It was a running video, quote, "show." So it was their very beginning, and it was a blast. This was in '80, '81, somewhere in there.I did find the love of my life, got married, had our first child. I went out on tour at three months. Came back at six months, and my daughter rolled over in the crib when I walked into the room and started crying. I said, "That's it. I'm out."The next day, I got a phone call from a friend of mine from UC Davis who had gotten a job at Caesars Palace. He had engineered a transition there to be in charge of advertising, entertainment, and PR, and he needed somebody he could trust. He picked up the phone and called me and said, "Would you come down and run the entertainment department of Caesars Palace?" I interviewed, said, "There's no way," and then he said, "You don't get it, Parker. It's the same thing you've been doing. You just need to put butts in the seats. That's the goal. Just a few more zeros after the contracts from what you've been doing." I went, "Okay, I'm in."It was amazing. I was able to take advantage of my passion for arts, and performing, and entertainment. I met Frank Sinatra on my first day on the job, and Diana Ross, Rodney Dangerfield, Tom Jones, Wayne Newton, Crosby, Stills & Nash, James Brown, et cetera. Some are still alive, some aren't. But it was great. Then I did the special events. Grand Prix auto racing in the parking lot, boxing matches. It was insane.Paul Estes:How did you get from that to really understanding organizations and how collaboration and co-creative working environments unlock innovation?Parker Lee:My passion when I was in school was... and I wrote my own major because that's what I wanted to understand better... was in organizational development, long-range planning, and organizational design. I started studying it. Because there wasn't a program there, UC Davis had a way where you could write your own major. So I was just researching on my own.I said the form of education is actually flawed greatly because it has just rote learning and you just regurgitate back stuff that you're passed passively. I said, "There is a better..." You have to be engaged. Learning is lifelong. Learning is not passive, it's active.I had an idea for a research center on campus run by students that would enable students to get grants for doing independent learning and to do programs that would enhance education and their community and have engagement. I got a grant, one of only two student grants from the federal government, and that program was started. So my passion started in school. I just took a little detour in music.Now, that said, while in music and then I went into sports marketing, I still was studying and watching how do organizations improve, find engagement, do planning, do transformation, change management, build innovative programs. I left that life when... Just like Jerry Maguire, I was a sports agent briefly. I got fired, came back to the Bay Area at the beginning of technology, and started getting into how do you grow small businesses, entrepreneurial businesses. How do you start them, grow them, manage them, do the sales and marketing, do the business development, and do the innovation programs? I've been doing that for now 25 years.Paul Estes:Now, when you look at organizations and the rise of technology and distributed teams, I mean, one of the things we talk about on this podcast often is sort of anti the construct of an organization. Not completely, but it starts to push against this idea of a hierarchical organization. How do you see the evolution of organizations in the work that you do today or from when you first started studying this in college up to today?Parker Lee:Well, it's funny. In college, and you've got to keep in mind, I was in school in the '70s, which brands me right there for the use of alternative ways of getting enlightenment. However, while there, one of the things that came into my brain was organizations are living. They are organisms. They're alive so that they... They have systems, they have processes, they have a life cycle, and they have to have everything moving in an integrated fashion for health and growth. I think that still holds true. There are in fact books now called The Living Organization and other things.So it is seeing them as not hierarchical, as linear, but seeing them as integrated holistic systems-based groups that will thrive in a networked fashion. The infusing of technology in that is what has put it on steroids, where there is the capability of doing this even more effectively now, I believe.Paul Estes:What are some examples where you think in your studies, in the journey that organizations have gotten this concept right? Where they've looked at an organization not as an org chart per se, but sort of a living, breathing network.Parker Lee:I sadly can think of a few on a huge multinational basis that have done it well. There are bright lights of that and pockets of it where they'll start innovation programs, or teams of people operate in a Holacracy or in an integrated team-based approach that is flat, that relishes and encourages experimentation, that uses remote working to its advantage.But I don't know any organizations of the large ones that are doing it. There are many startups that do this. Part of that is scale. It's hard. The larger you get, the more you are building rigor mortis into the organization, just because like a body, it naturally fights innovation, because innovation is like an invasion coming into the well-oiled parts of your body that's invading it. It's finding a way to not make that so it's a negative disruption, but it's a positive disruption, I think.Paul Estes:In your work, what are some of the things that you coach organizations on as they aspire to have a more innovative or co-collaborative environment? Because I've experienced companies saying, "I want innovation. I want all of these things," and then when you actually go to put the program in place, I think to the point you made earlier, it's like an invasion. It is so foreign to the living body of the large organization, that they didn't know what they were getting into.Parker Lee:Yeah, you're exactly right. This comes into our transformation practice, change management, et cetera. It is destined to fail if there is not. There are a few key things that have to happen. Support from the top. If there is no full endorsement and backing and understanding at the very top leadership, executive leadership, it'll fail, because you'll be creating something below it, and it starts to rise and it gets squashed. Either budgets pulled away, people get moved to other areas, and it falls apart. I've seen that half a dozen times. That's number one.Number two, it can't be done by a consultant. The consultant can be the Sherpa or the guide and help, but it has to be organically bred, and developed, and nurtured internally, which means there has to be... And there's another part of it. There needs to be a shared vision. Where are we going? Why do we want to get there? There has to be an understanding of what are the resources required internally and externally to get there. There has to be an understanding of what are the things that are going to prevent us from getting there. Which can be anything from systems, process, technology, talent, any of that. And there has to be a plan. It takes resources to do this. It takes focus and resources. It's like running a campaign that has... It should have a start and a stop. There have to be measures. How do we know when we're going to get there? What does it look like when we get there? How do we know as we're progressing, and measure that?Those are some of the key elements, but most organizations will look at that academically but then can't put it into practice. That's where it will fail.Paul Estes:Sometimes, companies don't know why. When you talk to companies and you outline all of the items that you just mentioned, how many of them actually know the why behind what they're aspiring to do?Parker Lee:The five whys, as we say. Very few. Usually, that needs to be established obviously right at the get-go, because there has to be a case for change. There's a compelling reason. Sometimes, it's external factors. Sometimes, it's internal. More commonly, it's a combination of the two. But that needs to be understood, otherwise, you can't garner the champions or the advocates. That's another thing that has to happen.When you're breeding this internally within the organization, again, it can't be done by a consultant. There have to be people that have the passion, have the understanding, and have the "This is why we have to do this." There has to be a reason to do it. It’s oftentimes our culture, it’s toxic, or it has to be competition coming in, or the world around us is changing way too rapidly, and if we don't, we're going to be ostriches with our heads in the sand. It's usually a combination of all of those, and then clearly seen, so that now build a plan, design a plan.But it's designed by the people in the org. They have to get it. Because it's the context of the organization that drives how you're going to accomplish it.Paul Estes:Now, you talked about the high-level management buying it. So the main leader who's going to give permission for a team to do maybe work differently. Maybe say, "Hey, look, this team's going to work in a distributed fashion. We're going to bring on-demand people into the organization so we can get the expertise that we need to accomplish this goal." How do you educate those middle managers that are going to be impacted? Because now you're asking them to do something new and, to your comment earlier, to do something risky. There's an old saying that no one was ever fired for hiring IBM, right? I mean, just that-Parker Lee:Amen. There you go.Paul Estes:... general idea. So middle managers are not, in many cases, incented to embrace new ideas. What do you tell those groups when you actually go and implement an innovation program from Territory?Parker Lee:That's one of the rocks, one of the barriers that has to be gotten around as you look at the culture of the organization and the decision-making process and governance understanding. There needs to be an acknowledgment from upper management, middle management, and the people that are actually doing all the work that that situation exists. Then you create tools and processes, and endorsements, and systems that will give them an alternative path, and reinforce that, and reward it.It will be different with every organization. Sometimes, it's literally in the compensation system. Sometimes, it's in the technology that's used. Sometimes, it's in the way that they conduct meetings. Sometimes, it's in the actual workflow and governance of how work is approved, and executed, and delivered. All of that is... Again, it comes back to this holistic look at it with the organization determining what those are.What we found, though, it's very few organizations that have the knowledge and understanding. So how do you do that? The how is the most important part. That's where you usually do bring in somebody like Territory or otherwise, that says, "We've done this in lots of places. Here are the best practices. Now, which ones are going to work for you? You decide you embrace it. We'll help you build some of the tools, but you're the ones that are going to have to pick up that hammer and start putting together that new house. It's not us." Otherwise, it doesn't stick.Paul Estes:I want to plug your book because when we first met, I got a copy of it, The Art of Opportunity. If people have not seen the book, it's more of a practitioner's guide to finding opportunities than it is a textbook that I would read. One of the things that stuck out to me is how visual it was.When I was going through the book, it explains to me how to think about driving transformation and change, but in a very visual language. I know you're also passionate about design thinking. Tell me a little bit about what inspired the book and how you think of innovation as it relates to visual thinking.Parker Lee:It's crucial. Humans are visual creatures since cave people. It's how we... You drive, you may find you do everything. Storytelling is one of our core areas. We believe you'll accelerate understanding, clarity, action by having visualization in there.In the book, we have five key principles. One of them is visualization and storytelling. So we practice what we preach in saying, "It will help you get to that goal, or objective, or outcome faster, better." And it brings people along because storytelling is very emotional. It gets to a different place in your brain. Because we believe in that as a core principle, we said, "We have to have the book emulate that." That's why we designed it in a visual way. The table of contents is a reader's journey, so you see what you're going to experience, what you're going to use, and get there.We use that in everything that we do: in how we engage with our customers and our clients from the very first conversation to the end of it, to the deliverables. It's because it's what we believe is more effective and impactful.Paul Estes:It was also a very approachable book, the topics in the book around opportunity and business model. I mean, there were some meaty topics in the book, but the book itself was approachable. Like you said, it took me through a journey that says, "Hey, problem-solving." It was a visual journey on problem-solving, which I found very interesting and very engaging. So if there's anyone who is thinking about innovation and thinking about transformation, The Art of Opportunity is a good starting point.I also found myself jumping into different places and being equally as engaged no matter where I landed. So it was kind of an interesting experience as compared to sort of a standard business book.Parker Lee:By intent, designed that way. It's funny, even one of our senior facilitators just picked it up recently and used it for one of the engagements he had, where he cherry-picked three or four of the activities that are in there. Because he was able to put them together in a very different pattern, but use them to get the outcomes that he needed to achieve. So it's fun that you're able to let people kind of use it in their own context. That was another intent, it's saying, "You may be a startup, you may be a huge multinational. There isn't a prescriptive path. Here are lots of jewels, and gems, and ideas. Put them together in your own pattern."Paul Estes:Yeah, the patterns in the book were, I think, one of the things that resonated with me because I've been in both large companies and small companies. There were a lot of commonalities and like you said, brain food in the book… that made me think… so it's a great workbook.On Territory's LinkedIn page, it states that Territory helps you break free of well-worn yet ineffective or unsatisfying approaches to problem-solving. Help me be specific. What are the ones today or this year or last year that you see next year that are the main challenges blocking organizations from really taking advantage of opportunity?Parker Lee:I believe it's in conducting business in the same way and thinking it will give you the same outcomes. We've had a lot of strategy sessions where they have us do, an offsite or otherwise, and we attack that even in the practice what we preach, where we say, "We are basically facilitating their ability to observe and see the obstacles, the barriers, and the context of the world as it's working, both in the organization and outside them, to then lay a path for what are the critical initiatives we have to undertake for us to succeed." So it is in a combination of strategy.I think the other thing that we're all seeing right now is, with coronavirus, et cetera, a lot of heat and spotlight on remote working. It's how do we weave that into the way of having teams be more effective? One of our core principles is about diversity, and not just in diversity of race or other, it's the diversity of thought and diversity of personality in ways of thinking. That implies team-based. With a more diverse team, you have better outcomes, because it makes the ideas... They become battle-tested, and new ideas will surface. That's some of the other stuff that we try to put forward is bring in a group. Our approach, in what you were describing and what Territory says, is much of it workshop-based, whether it's remote or in person, it's visual-based, and it's taking a different tact on going after the problem that you're addressing so that you'll have a different outcome.Paul Estes:You do both in-person consulting and remote consulting. Tell me the difference between the two.Parker Lee:Radically and significantly different. We are huge proponents of remove the technology and eyeball to eyeball because we as humans thrive on the kind of social aspects of creating ideas and building off of each other, et cetera. You don't always have that luxury. With climate change and with now coronavirus, et cetera, you can't always be in the same place and take advantage of that. So the design of the experience has to change dramatically.When you can be in one place, and I think there are times when it's mandated otherwise, you take advantage of that. When you can't, you can either do the hybrid of a few pockets of people, or one group is in one place and then others dial in, or you have everybody 100% remotely. In each one of those scenarios, you design and architect the meeting differently. There are different roles that are required. Sometimes, for example, when there are more remote working, you need to ensure that there is a scribe, there's a digital manager of the technology that's going on that keeps things going, there's somebody that's taking care of questions and how to order that, there's the facilitation or lead of what's going to happen with the experience, there's the preplanning and how that's done either as a group or independently, and there's the communication of what happens in and then outside of the session. You try to get the same outcome. It's just the process has to be different and designed.Paul Estes:I think you said something really important. Actually, I experienced this earlier this week here in... We live in Seattle. My wife works at Microsoft, and everybody's working from home. For the first two days, she was getting... She's got a team. They work in Azure, the cloud. They were working in the same way that they would work at the office. You could see her coming down, getting kind of frustrated, and then she started to realize, "I need to change the way I work. I can't be in back-to-back meetings from 9:00 to 5:00," and she needed time to get up and do different things. She needed time to write things down.There's a different way of working when you're working with distributed teams. I think many organizations try to apply the way they work when they're all located in the same hallway to a distributed working environment. To your point, you have to adapt the way you work to who you're working with and the modality by which you're working.Parker Lee:Completely right. I just did a post. I'm working in our Work Forward site on writing an article about working remotely and the barriers and the challenges and how to overcome those and get there. It takes a different way of working.Paul Estes:Yeah, and we'll make, we’ll post that in the show notes. Tell me a little bit about the Work Forward Summit.Parker Lee:It came from an... I met with Jim Kalbach from MURAL. We were having a beer in New York about a year ago. I said, "I'm so tired of people talking about the future of work because the future can be achieved right now. It's not about the let's look way out there and maybe we'll get there, or what new shiny little toys are there. It's about taking advantage of all the different tools, and approaches, and resources, and time-shifting, et cetera that exist today."The other thing that I brought up is that you talk with any company, you bring up Microsoft. They say, "The future of work is Teams, and is Surface Hubs, and are in our SharePoint platform." Okay, you're smart. Then MURAL would say, "Well, it's asynchronous, synchronous creative platforms that are in the cloud." Steelcase would say, "You have to have the right physical situation." WeWork says, "Well, it's being able to be flexible and get in when you want. Sometimes together and sometimes apart." You're all pretty children. The answer is it's all of that.Paul Estes:That's right.Parker Lee:That's when we said, "Okay, so how do we tackle that and talk about it?" I said, "Well, Jim, let's bring together a group of smart people that can go through a day of trying to articulate: So what are we talking about here? What does it look like? How might we address it? And how do we maybe create the tools or the ways people can become and activate the conversation at their own organizations for what they might do about it?" That was the genesis of the Work Forward Summit. We held it last... I think it was in October. And came out with, "What does work look like? What are the work activities? What is it today? What can it be? And then what can we do about it to try to make it better?"We now have a site and we're trying to, quote, "build a movement." The people that all showed up, we finished the summit and said, "What's next? What do we do?" They all said, "There's a 'there' there. This is big. We're signing up for being a part of the founders of the movement. Let's make this thing viral and go." So there's a Work Forward site now. Go to workforward.co. That's where it is.We're just starting. I, we, Territory doesn't plan on doing all the work. It is people. Sign up on a Slack channel. We're trying to get new events, and create assessments, and build other tools, and have further delineation of what does Work Forward look like. I'm really excited about it, obviously. You can tell that, right?Paul Estes:I can.Parker Lee:Yeah. But I think there's something there for us because it is making the business of work better. That's what it is. It's not that there's a single answer. You have a passion about the gig economy, which is part of working forward, but it's the sole answer. It's a critical answer, but it's not the only part. We all have a place to play in this.Paul Estes:That's one of the things that I've liked about your work is bringing together both the physical, and the remote, and the various technologies that are all trying to give a value proposition. I like to say often the future of work is here. It's just not evenly distributed. That's how I think about it. Because I run into people that are way ahead of me, and then I run into people that are way behind me, and then I run into a lot of people who are kind of in the same ballpark that I'm in as it relates to adopting technology and really pushing against the standard ways that work gets done.Parker, thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today. If somebody wants to learn more about you, The Art of Opportunity, Work Forward, or anything else at Territory, what's the best way to get in touch?Parker Lee:We have a contact form on the Work Forward site, on Territory's site. Reach out to me on LinkedIn. Any of those would be great.Paul Estes:Sounds great. We'll keep all that information in the show notes. Thanks again.Parker Lee:It's been great. I appreciate your candor, your honesty, and your curiosity. Keep doing the work that you're doing.Paul Estes:I'm your host, Paul Estes. Thank you for listening to The Talent Economy Podcast. Learn more about the future of work and the transformation of the staffing industry from those leading the conversation at staffing.com, where you can hear from experts, sign up for our weekly newsletter, and get access to the best industry research on the future of staffing. If you've enjoyed the conversation, we'd appreciate you rating us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, or just tell a friend about the show. Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of the Talent Economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Mind of Christ Part 2 – Philippians 2:5-11 Nick Esch, Cornerstone Baptist Church 5/31/2020 Introduction There is one true God who is triune… God is three persons, one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the triune God of the universe is infinitely perfect, glorious, and sufficient in […]

Episode 89 of The Teaching Space Podcast explores the use of mind maps for teachers, trainers and students. Introduction There’s a lot of buzz about graphic organisers at the moment (also known as concept maps and knowledge organisers). And rightly so, they are an amazing way for students and teachers alike to chunk up aspects of a subject and make connections between themes and ideas. If you Google ‘graphic organisers’ you’ll find a range of templates from simple to complex. Oliver Caviglioli has some great templates and examples. I’d like to go back to basics on this particular theme and focus on the one graphic organiser layout I know you will have used at one point before: the mind map. What is a Mind Map? It’s a map of information. You start with a central topic or theme and then you branch out into a map that looks like a cross between a spider’s web and a train map. I have planned this podcast episode using a mind map - check out the show notes to see it. A mind map is a visual or graphic way of ‘chunking up’ and organising information, ideas and/or knowledge for a variety of different reasons. It is like an outline, but not linear; with a mind map can make connections between ideas. Tony Buzan refers to this approach as ‘radiant thinking’. Why Use a Mind Map? There are lots of different reasons. I tend to use them for planning (for example, this podcast episode, see the mind map below) but they can do so much more. Mind maps are a great way for students to take notes in a lesson or plan a project or assignment. Teachers can use mind maps in the same way for professional learning and development. Mind maps can be used for event planning, goal setting and making notes on books you read. How do I Make a Mind Map? I’ll use the example of planning this podcast episode. I started by putting my main theme in the centre of the page: ‘mind map podcast episode’. I then created several branches out from that theme to cover the main sections of the topic, these were: What is a mind map? Why use a mind map? How do I make a mind map? What tools do I need? Why does mind mapping work? Writing these first level sections (known as nodes or parent nodes) worked well as questions for this episode as I am trying to solve a problem. I then created branches from each parent node (these are known as child nodes, and those on the same level are sibling nodes) to break down the answer to each question. You’ll see in the show notes that the node called ‘why use a mind map?’ has two child nodes and then each child node has further child nodes. Let’s talk tools. What Tools do I Need? There are a variety of different ways to make a mind map, the most obvious being pen and paper or a whiteboard. While I am normally a tech gal, I can certainly see the advantages of being hands on when mind mapping. That being said, if, like me, you love an app, then I can recommend Coggle and Mind Node; both have freemium pricing models. At the moment, I am using Mind Node. Why Does Mind Mapping Work? Mind mapping helps you make connections between ideas - in a learning environment this will hopefully be the creation of connections between existing knowledge and new knowledge. Also, mind mapping allows you to break complex ideas down into smaller chunks, this makes things easier to understand. Wrap Up And that’s it. If you have any questions about this episode or comments you’d like to share please join The Teaching Space Community: community.theteachingspace.com. The show notes for this episode include any links I’ve mentioned; you can find them at theteachingspace.com. If you have enjoyed this episode please consider supporting the show by making a small donation towards the running costs on my Ko-fi page which you can find at ko-fi.com/theteachingspace. Alternatively, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or whether you listen to the show. Thank you. Thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join me for the next episode.

Text:Psalm 16:11 and Philippians 4:13 Introduction:There is fullness of joy and continual pleasures for those who dwell in His presence in heaven.  Ephesians 2:6 we are seated with God in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.  Regardless of the circumstances in our lives if we are Christians we are seated with Him in joy and… Read more

Watch video in our Youtube channel Centro Cristiano Dios de Pactos (Spanish audio only)INTRODUCTION:There are 3 types of adversities: physical, emotional and spiritual.Living a full life in God allows me to correctly face spiritual adversities, and to facephysical and emotional adversities I must consider some principles.FACING ADVERSITYToday's Word aims to embrace the correct attitude to overcome a past crisis, afuture one, or the current one “The coronavirus and its economic consequences”And in this time of coronavirus it is crucial to equip ourselves with the necessaryweapons to “face adversity”The following texts teaches us about 2 men who faced spiritual, physical andemotional adversities.This happened in the Philippi region, Macedonia province.Acts 16:22-35 “22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and themagistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.23And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,commanding the jailer to keep them securely.24Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastenedtheir feet in the stocks.25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, andthe prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prisonwere shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chainswere loosed.27And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doorsopen, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to killhimself.28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are allhere.”29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul andSilas.230And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you andyour household.”32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. Andimmediately he and all his family were baptized.34Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; andhe rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.35And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those mengo.”FACING ADVERSITYAttitude towards physical adversityAttitude towards emotional adversitySupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=TU4ST3G79LFDE&source=url)

Text:Genesis 3:8-9 and Exodus 33:7-11 Introduction: There is no substitute for face-to-face presence in a person’s life.  As a Christian Christ must be present in your body through His Holy Spirit.  You must also be present in His life.  We also need to be fully present in other people’s lives.  Point 1: The Power of… Read more

Colossians 4:2-6 Introduction There is a lot of work that goes into sending military troops on deployment. There is more to it than just providing transportation and supplies. Rules of engagement must also be developed. What are rules of engagement? They are very specific rules on how the troops are to respond during a conflict.… Read more

Text:1 Peter 2:13-20  and  Romans 13:1-7 Introduction:There is a huge difference between internal and external motivation.  There is also a big difference between our love for God and His purpose and the fear of the Law and its punishments.  Once again the lesson will be about doing the right thing for conscience sake in the… Read more

Joel 2:28-32 Introduction There are many things that I appreciate about Canadian society but one of them is definitely democracy. I wouldn’t want to live in a country where only one person or only a small group of people had all of the say. While we may sometimes complain when election time comes and we… Read more

Do you have an intro packet for your design business? An intro packet is a tool you use to land new clients and facilitate the client onboarding process. It can either be a dedicated page on your website, a detailed PDF or better yet, a well designed and nicely printed piece to hand out to potential clients. An intro packet is a great way to create a good first impression of who you are and what you do. It answers basic questions, sets expectations and gives clients a first look at what it will be like working with you. It’s also a good tool to filter out clients that are not a good fit for your business. In the last episode of the podcast, I told you all about the client onboarding processand how having a good onboarding process is crucial to landing new design clients. A good intro packet is the foundation of that important onboarding process. What’s in an intro packet? Think of your intro packet as well designed piece containing all the introductory information you normally give to potential clients. Not detailed information like what goes into your proposals and contracts. Instead, the intro packet contains an outline of what you do and what it will be like working with you. Your payment policies Time frames How you work What you expect from your clients etc. It answers those basic initial questions a client needs to know before they start discussing their project with you. The intro packet should be the very first thing you present to a client before agreeing to talk to them about their proposed project. Its purpose is to outline the big picture of what working with you will be like. It also saves you time by providing clients with answers to the most asked questions you receive saving you having to answer them personally. When should you send an intro packet? The intro packet should be one of the first steps in the client onboarding process right after the initial client inquiry. Your onboarding process should look like this: Client contacts you Send them your intro packet Meet the client to discuss their design project Proposal and contracts are sent Send the client a welcome packet (more on this in a future episode in this series) Start the project. Whenever a client emails you, fills out a form on your website or contacts you by phone, your first response should be to send them your intro packet and ask them to look it over before you schedule a meeting with them. This will accomplish one of two things. 1.It will ensure the client they’ve made a good choice in reaching out to you and strengthen their resolve to work with you. 2.It let the client know that you are not a good fit and save you both a lot of time and possible headaches. The purpose of an intro packet. An intro packet serves multiple purposes. It introduces clients to who you are and sets expectations as to what they can expect when working with you. This helps alleviate fears or anxieties they may have and make them more confident in working with you. It saves you both time. Presenting your process in a well-organized manner makes future communications between you and your client both faster an smoother. It establishes you as an expert and authority in your field. It also helps strengthen the brand image you are developing for your design business. It creates a great first impression that shows clients you are organized, thorough, capable and professional. It helps you screen potential clients before having to talk to them. After reading your policies and learning how you work a client may decide not to work with you, which saves you the time involved in figuring that out yourself, or worse not figuring it out until it’s too late. It gives you a chance to show off your skills because your introductory packet isn’t just a sheet of paper with info on it. It should be a well-designed piece to wow potential clients with your skills as a designer. Imagine this scenario. A client needs help developing a brand for a new restaurant he's opening. He chooses three different local designers and emails them in order to get a feel for each one before deciding on who to hire. Designer #1replies to the email saying they would love to sit down and talk with him about his project. When could they meet? Designer #2calls the client and tells him all about his design services before trying to schedule an in-person meeting with the client. While on the phone he explains his work process, how payments work and anything else he thinks the client should know. The designer thinks he did a thorough job and feels good about his chances of landing the client. However, the client can’t remember half the details after hanging up the phone. Plus now he's committed to a meeting a designer he's still unsure about. Designer #3Calls the client and thanks him for considering her for his project. The designer expresses an interest in working with the client and offers to send him her intro packet. The designer explains to the client that the intro packet contains all the information he needs in order to make an informed decision of whether he would like to work with her on his project. She suggests he look it over, and if he has any questions he can call her back and she would be happy to answer them. If the client thinks they’ll be a good fit he can set up a meeting with her to discuss the project more thoroughly. Which one of these scenarios do you think leaves the best impression on the client? The first designer barely deserves a second thought. Designer #2 sounded good, but the client is a little overwhelmed and is starting to forget most of what they talked about. Designer #3 however, conducted themselves in the most professional manner, provided the client with all the information they required in the form of a well-designed info packet showcasing her design skills. This gives the client the chance to review her information on his own terms, letting him decide without any pressure if he wants to set up a meeting with her to discuss his project further. If the client decides to move forward with designer #3, he does so with the knowledge of what he's getting into. Should he decide to use a different designer, then designer #3 only lost a few minutes of her time in the initial communication. They say it costs five times more in time and effort to acquire a new client than to simply keep an existing client. The best way to retain clients is to properly set expectations from the beginning and then meet, or exceed them. An intro packet is a perfect tool to help with this. It makes sure you are not wasting time and energy on bad clients and helps you make favourable impressions on good clients. By setting high standards from the first contact and following through with great service, you are sure to keep your clients coming back for more. How to create your intro packet. When creating your intro packet you want it to be thorough enough to inform your clients and answer their basic questions, but you also want it to be generic enough to work for all clients regardless of their project. The same intro packet could be used regardless of who the client is. A mom and pop looking for a logo for their corner store, or a 5 partner law firm opening up downtown will both receive the same intro package. However, if you offer multiple design services such as web and print design, you may want to create different intro packets for each one. There will be a lot of crossover for the common areas such as how and when clients can contact you. Your intro packet should include: Cover:This is your chance to show off your design skills. Make the cover interesting and professional looking but not too wild. Introduction:There’s a good chance the client already knows who you are and what you do, but an intro packet is a good place to showcase your skills and talents to round out their impression of you. Contact info and contact policies:Set the rules of how you communicate with clients and when it’s OK for them to contact you. What is your process:In this section, you explain how you work and what the client will receive from you at the completion of a project. List special features you may include. List the steps that take place before, during and after a project. You can also use this section to explain what is not included in your process. Make it clear to the client what it is you do AND what you don’t do. What is expected of the client:This section tells the client what is expected of them. Make it very clear that if the project requires the client to supply content such as images or copy, that it is expected in a timely manner. Timeline:Explain how you work and how long certain processes take. If you need three weeks for discovery to research target markets and competition, let the client know so they don’t expect to see results in a week. Payment:This section explains your pricing policy. Do you require partial or full payment up front? When is the balance due? Do you have a minimum price the client should know about? This section is very useful for weeding out clients below your required budget. Cancellation policy:This section explains what happens should the client cancel a project once started, or should the client go dormant for a certain period of time. FAQ:Use this section to answer frequent questions you receive from clients that don't fit in any of the other sections. Conclusion:Use this section to thank the potential client for their interest in working with you. Encourage them to contact you if they have any questions or concerns and let them know what steps are required if they want to proceed and hire you. Remember, the client onboarding process is your opportunity to convert potential new clients into paying clients. Your intro packet is the first step in that process. Keep your wording compelling enough, but don’t presume you will be working with the client because you might not. Be vague, but use a language inclusive to building a relationship with them. The intro packet is a vital part of the client onboarding process. Make sure yours is up to par. Do you have an intro packet? Let me know how your intro packet is working for you by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week’s question comes from John Do you have any clients that listen to your podcast and if they do are you worried that they will get upset if you mention your business with them? To find out what I told John you’ll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Palettte.app Palettte.app is an interesting way to explore and create colour palettes for use in your design projects. Check it out and let me know what you think. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Android Listen on Stitcher Listen on iHeartRadio Contact me I would love to hear from you. You can send me questions and feedback using my feedback form. Follow me on Twitter, Facebookand Instagram I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Introduction: There are many biblical metaphors that illustrate our relationship with God: a temple, a body, a family, an army, a Kingdom ... Big Idea: A wedding is a beautiful metaphor for the partnership that Father God has planned for our future. The Easter story is the pivotal chapter in the big story of God’s plan to prepare a bride for King Jesus. Message by Pastor Barry

Luke 2:41-52 Introduction There is part of me that wants to preach on this passage specifically about Jesus’ experience in the Temple. For one reason, it is interesting because it is the only story we have of Jesus as a young boy. The other reason is that as a parent it blows my mind that… Read more

Christmas 2018 - Light of the World  8. Mary’s Song Luke 2:39-56 - 39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” 46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. Introduction There is much to be said about this time of year we call Christmas. Worldwide there are about 250 babies born every minute. Yet, the birth we celebrate at Christmas, is like the celebration of no other birth of a human in human history. That birth of the man Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, caused the world to change. The birth of Jesus Christ causes more of the world today to pause amidst the busy-ness of life, take a breath amidst the noise of daily life and celebrate in many different ways and fashions - regardless of the person's religious belief or none. John Calvin - “Now follows a remarkable and interesting song of the holy virgin, which plainly shows how eminent were her attainments in the grace of the Spirit.” Isn’t that a beautiful thing for him to say about Mary? Martin Luther - “In order properly to understand this sacred hymn of praise, we need to bear in mind that the most blessed Virgin Mary is speaking out of her own experience, in which she was enlightened and instructed by the Holy Spirit.” Download the audio using the link below to hear the rest of this PodCast. Thank you… Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Core Practice: Giving Away My Faith - I give away my faith to fulfill God's purposes.Ephesians 6:19, 20 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."I give away my faith to fulfill God's purposes" means "I walk it" and "I talk it"–my faith that is. People who "walk it" but don't explain their way of life are seen as enigmas at best and fanatics at worst. People who "talk it" but don't live up to their words are seen as hypocrites. Neither is very flattering. I give away my faith to fulfill God's purposes means "I tell other people about Jesus" and "I live so that others might see Christ in me.Introduction: There is a twofold concern for Jesus in this passage: to be in the presence of His Father, and to be present with His disciples in their time of need.Scripture: Matthew 14:22-36 22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” 34 And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.The Message of this Passage: Having dismissed the multitude, Jesus sent the disciples away by boat. Not sure what the disciples were thinking or how they would meet up with Jesus again, but it’s obvious by the text that they didn’t expect what happened next. On their departure He went up on the mountain slope to pray. As evening arrived He was alone with God in prayer, while the disciples in the boat were caught in a storm and driven with the wind. However, Jesus didn’t act at once, but continued in prayer until the predawn hours. He came to them on the 4th watch of the night. Having no clue it was actually Jesus coming to them in their need, the disciples cried out in fear. And it was into that fear that Jesus spoke. It is I; do not be afraid.” Seeing Jesus, Peter, cries out, “Lord, if it is You command me to come to You!” And Jesus said, “Come.” Peter had his answer, and now it was a question of faith! It was Peter’s move next. All that Peter had upon which to act was the word “come.” This is the ultimate test of faith, to move on Jesus’ word alone. And Peter stepped over the side of the boat to go to Jesus. Faith focuses its attention solely on the Master who says “Come.” We know what happens next, but after that Jesus and Peter get back into the boat and the wind ceased and the waves became calm. Witnessing to the reality of the event that had just happened, the disciples fell before Him in worship, exclaiming, “Truly You are the Son of God”. The confession by the disciples was a step toward the great confession made later by Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt.16:16 kjv).Answering Interpretive Questions:Define trust? Define fear? How do you see both of these words in the story?What will help you remember to keep your faith focused on Jesus and your eyes off your fears?Jesus “made” his disciples get in the boat. What does it say about Jesus that he led them into the storm?How do you feel knowing that God may lead you into a storm?What are some things that God has taught you during a storm that he couldn’t teach you any other way?What truth do you learn about God in this story?What truth do you learn about yourself after reading this story?What will you DO in response to this scripture? Specifically, how will you apply this passage to your life this week?How is making time to spend with the Father a discipline we ought to make happen in our lives?In the Bible we find 365 commands from God not to be afraid. These are not empty, wishful- thinking commands; they are backed by the power, character and love of God.The world sees committed Christians and churches, but very little activity that can only be explained in terms of God’s activity.

Sermon: PastorBryon Sermon Series: Committed to Church Sermon: Be the Church 1 Corinthians 3:5-15 Introduction There have been times throughout my life that I worked for corporations that required me …

Sermon by John Boylan, Authorised Lay Preacher at All Saints Church Wokingham. Bible reading: Mark 2.23-3.6 Introduction: There’s a story about an American tourist driving through a remote part of Southern Ireland. It was a very hot day and he was pleased, having not passed anyone in over 30 minutes, to find a little pub albeit in the middle of nowhere where he could stop for lunch and ask directions. On entering the pub, he found it completely empty apart from the Landlord, who greeted him with a big smile and welcome. “Gee this is wonderful” he said, “I’m dying for a cold beer.”

Introduction: There are two extremes we need to avoid as we investigate the biblical teaching on our relationship to the government.  We can call these overrealised and underrealised views of the kingdom.  The overrealised view of the kingdom totally confuses the governments of this world with the rule of Christ.  That rule which will one day rule over the new creation is attempted to be installed now.  This results in conflating the work of the church and the state.  This spiritualises the work of political activism as kingdom activity. It tends to be a liberal tendency and attaches to liberation theology, and the social gospel.  Historically the Roman Catholic Church which viewed the Pope having power over the kings of the earth is a case of an overrealised view of the kingdom.  On the extreme, we have underrealised views of the kingdom.  There are those that view the whole notion of government as a necessary evil that has come about after the fall.  Traditionally Anabaptists have had an antithetical relationship with government.  Separatism that seeks to isolate itself from the influences of government as if they are somehow dirty do not recognise the fact that God has made the institution of government. We have already laid the foundation that Christians can submit to the government without compromising the rule of Christ, and that they can have a relationship with the church that does not demand that the state become an arm of the church.  Today as we continue looking at Romans 13:1 we want to establish that God has created government as a good thing, and will look at this sphere of authority along with the others appointed by God. Source

Introduction: There are many New Year’s resolutions relating to food. Eating less, eating right, eating clever, we change our eating habits to improve our lives whether it is for our weight, our blood pressure, our performance, etc. Today I want to share some eating tips in relation to spiritual health. In the book of proverbs there are many texts that talk about food and eating, I would like to point you to just three. We will be considering ‘eating’ texts as they relate to sin, suffering and satisfaction. These are three areas we all need instruction in for 2018. Source

VRCC Notes ET Tapper Christmas Series: Can you see what I See? December 10, 2017 Matthew 2:1-12 INTRODUCTION: There are so many amazing aspects of the events surrounding Christ’s birth, but one that has especially made its way into our decorations, cards, carols and nativity scenes is the Star of Bethlehem. The account of the star has fascinated Bible students and astronomers for centuries. Some claim it was a conjunction of planets, some say a comet, others a supernova in the sky. So what was this star, and why is it important? What was God’s purpose behind the Star of Bethlehem? Those are some of the questions we will seek to answer through this morning’s message. What are the qualifications for the Star.  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod,— Magi from the east came to Jerusalem— MATTHEW 2:1 Who are these magi? Herod asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?— MATTHEW 2:2A The Magis’ question gives us three points for our list of qualifications for the Star. Whatever happened in the sky indicated: 1) birth, 2) kingship and 3) Jews. It also gives us a clue about the Magi. They were interested in things Jewish. …We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”— MATTHEW 2:2B 4) it must rise in the east like most other stars. When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.— MATTHEW 2:3 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'”— MATTHEW 2:4-6 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.— MATTHEW 2:7 5) It appeared at an exact time. 6) Herod didn’t know when it appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.— MATTHEW 2:8-9 7) It endured over a considerable period of time. 8) It went ahead of them as they traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. 9) The Star stopped!  Can a star do that? Yes, it can, as we shall see. What was the star in the sky? Video: The Bethlehem Star Conclusion: Just like this “Star” led the Wise Men to Christ, Jesus, the Star of the Morning, leads us to eternal life.

Outline Absalom’s plot David’s retreat Introduction There are certain times in your life that you reveal who you really are. We are often able to wear a mask, but there are times when that mask is stripped away and the real us is revealed. When we are alone with no one to act for or impress we are ourselves as we really are. When things are going well and we have everything we want, is God still our priority or was He merely a means to an end? But the most revealing times are times of difficulty. When everything is against us and we refer to our core characters and our muscle memories it is then who we are reveals itself. This is such a time in David’s life and in the midst of His trial we see the faith of David shining through. In this chapter Absalom is going to steal the throne. This chapter is just another round in the match between good and evil where the teams are still the same, the seed of the serpent trying to wipe out the seed of the woman. In one sense David has a target on his back, God told him that the promised Saviour would sit on his throne. David’s is the bloodline where the ruler of the world would come. Satan is trying to destroy David and insert his man into the position. Absalom is a typical arch-villain, and we will be noting the predictable steps he takes to usurp power. But our focus is really upon David, he like us is a child of God, he is in God’s school of discipline, and he is a focal point for attack. David is an important focal point for us as we consider our own reactions to our trials,... Read More Source

Outline Preparations for sin Anatomy of sin Multiplication of sin Introduction There are only a handful of very famous sins in the bible, the fall of Adam and Eve, the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, and right up there is David and Bathsheba. I feel like I cannot emphasise the importance of this chapter. David is one of the great saints of the bible, the man who earned the accolade, ‘a man after God’s own heart.’ Of all the authors of the bible, it is David’s prayers and praise that are recorded more than any other for a model for God’s people. He is the benchmark king by which all other kings are judged, the best king Israel ever had, and a type for Christ. But for all of that he is a sinner like us. It is very important for us to see the great heroes of the bible as sinners. We can often hero worship and put ourselves under false impressions. But these men and women of the bible are recorded for our instruction. We should approach this chapter with a quiet humility as we observe that sin is able to take the very best of us. As we observe this episode with David and Bathsheba we will want to make a study of sin. The text lays out the sin before us in three main parts. Firstly, there is the preamble and preparation that leads to sin; secondly, we note the nature of the sin itself, and then thirdly we see how sin is not content to stay small and quiet but it grows and multiplies. Source

Outline Family love Family respect Introduction There are four words in the ancient Greek language for love. These words are agape; storge; philos and eros. Agape is usually used of God’s love, a love we are called to imitate in 12:9. Storge usually has to do with family affection. Philos is often used of the love of friendship. Eros over time came to be associated with lust. The bible only uses agape, storge and philos, but avoids eros, probably because of the associations it collected. In fact in Romans 12:9-10 all three of the Greek words used in the NT are used. ‘Let agape be genuine…; philos one another with storge.’ We return then in Romans 12:10 to the notion of loving one another. As you look at v10-13 it gives a long list of Christian duties. V10 has two exhortations to love one another. V11 has exhortations with regard to our service. V12 has 3 exhortations with regard to suffering. And v13 has two exhortations about meeting one another’s physical needs. So today we want to focus on loving each other, but the text directs us to a particular flavour of love – family love. As we do this we want to look at the nature of family love and then at the honour we are to have for each other. Source

Introduction: There is a multitude of assays for the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) but a very limited number of studies comparing the clinical relevance of results obtained with different test methods. The DETECT trial for metastatic breast cancer patients was designed to directly compare the prognostic impact of two commercially available CTC assays that are prominent representatives of immunocytochemical and RT-PCR based technologies. Methods: In total, 254 metastatic breast cancer patients were enrolled in this prospective multicenter trial. CTCs were assessed using both the AdnaTest Breast Cancer and the CellSearch system according to the manufacturers' instructions. Results: With the CellSearch system, 116 of 221 (50%) evaluable patients were CTC-positive based on a cut-off level at 5 or more CTCs. The median overall survival (OS) was 18.1 months in CTC-positive patients. (95%-CI: 15.1-22.1 months) compared to 27 months in CTC-negative patients (23.5-30.7 months; p<0.001). This prognostic impact for OS was also significant in the subgroups of patients with triple negative, HER2-positive and hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative primary tumors. The progression free survival (PFS) was not correlated with CTC status in our cohort receiving different types and lines of systemic treatment (p = 0.197). In multivariate analysis, the presence of CTCs was an independent predictor for OS (HR: 2.7, 95%-CI: 1.6-4.2). When the AdnaTest Breast was performed, 88 of 221 (40%) patients were CTC-positive. CTC-positivity assessed by the AdnaTest Breast had no association with PFS or OS. Conclusions: The prognostic relevance of CTC detection in metastatic breast cancer patients depends on the test method. The present results indicate that the CellSearch system is superior to the AdnaTest Breast Cancer in predicting clinical outcome in advanced breast cancer.

Advent (01) Malcolm Duncan teaching from Psalms 42 and 43 on "The God of Yearning". Introduction: There is a God-shaped hole in each of us that only Christ can fill (Augustine). Point 1 - We yearn for God. Point 2 - God yearns for us far more than we yearn for Him. Conclusion: Advent reminds us of the invitation to come to God - will we come? (Isaiah 55 v1ff)