Podcast appearances and mentions of Mike Tyson

Speakers Include:Jocco Willinkhttps://www.instagram.com/jockowillink/?hl=enDavid Gogginshttps://www.instagram.com/davidgoggins/Mike Tyson https://www.instagram.com/miketyson/Chris Bumsteadhttps://www.instagram.com/cbum/?hl=enKobe Bryanthttps://www.instagram.com/kobebryant/?hl=enJordan Peterson https://www.instagram.com/jordan.b.peterson/?hl=enChris Williamsonhttps://www.youtube.com/@ChrisWillxAlex Hormozihttps://www.instagram.com/hormozi/Gregg Plitthttps://gregplitt.com/Cole Da Silvahttps://www.youtube.com/@UCEKtrn9iBVgBCqcZg-riztA Marcus Taylorhttps://www.youtube.com/@UCOeIJKncVmnnTIbNdXt7drg Eric Thomashttps://www.youtube.com/@UC1d28mrBqCQliL_N48tZZiw @MotiversitySpeakers YouTube: https://bit.ly/MarcusATaylorChannelInstagram: http://bit.ly/3aLfu3PFacebook: http://bit.ly/2TB9uoiTwitter: https://bit.ly/3xXlFCPBook Marcus to speak at your organization: https://bit.ly/BookMarcusATaylor @WolfMentalityColeDaSilva Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the most you have ever paid for one night of entertainment?Book of Records starts with a real-life ticket negotiation at home: a teenager stuck in the nosebleeds, two $315 tickets, and some painful dad math. Then the phones light up. Renee in Lockhart paid a thousand dollars a seat to sit in row 14 for Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Angie spent $695 on eBay for third-row Backstreet Boys seats, then moved to Orlando for two and a half years so her daughter could meet Nick and AJ, and made a lot of money selling Backstreet Boys pictures on eBay. That is enough to get her crowned in the Book of Records.If you love The JB and Sandy Show, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your concert person.

Actor, fighter, and storyteller Brendan Kelly sits down with Kevin Byrne on the Rocky Road Boxing Podcast for part one of a wide-ranging, raw conversation. Brendan reflects on his early years growing up in a fighting family, stepping into the ring as a 16-year-old at Chino State Prison and his time boxing on the Irish team out of the Drimnagh Boxing Club alongside Joe Egan and Billy Walsh.Brendan shares incredible first-hand stories about what it was really like to spar a prime, terrifying Mike Tyson before the Spinks fight - no headgear, no ref, and no safe spaces. Plus, he discusses his surreal pivot into high fashion modeling for Giorgio Armani in Milan, the tragedy and toughness of 80s boxing legends like Evander Holyfield and Roberto Durán, and how his real-life experiences working security alongside New York's notorious Westies gang shaped his book, Occupation Gangster. Stick with us for Part 2 - when Brendan hits Hollywood to star in movies such as Con Air and The Rock, and HBO drama Oz, before becoming a bounty hunter amd advocate for at-risk kids. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Jai White (Spawn, Black Dynamite, The Dark Knight) joins me this week for the longest conversation I have ever had on this show, and I did not want it to end. Michael opens up about growing up in Brooklyn and Bridgeport where violence was right outside the doorstep, being on his own since 14, and the lunch with a friend who served 30 years in prison that made him realize how close he came. We get into where his anger really came from and the mindset that ended it, his honest feelings about Spawn, what Heath Ledger was like when cameras were not rolling, playing Mike Tyson, and the night he got jumped by five men and walked away. He also breaks down the generational conditioning he caught working on himself, and why he calls poverty a gift. Thank you to our sponsors:

How much money would you have to have before you completely lose the ability to say, “You know what? That's probably a stupid way to spend my money.” This week on the FratChat Podcast, we're diving into The Most Ridiculous Things Celebrities Have Spent Money On, and we're talking about some truly insane shit. We're talking about Paris Hilton building a $325,000 mansion for her dogs, Mike Tyson dropping $2 million on a bathtub, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reportedly spending $750,000 on four gold plated toilets, Barbra Streisand literally building a tiny shopping district underneath her house. And that's just the beginning. Basically, if you've ever felt guilty about spending $200 on something you didn't need, this episode should make you feel a whole lot better. Plus, we've got plenty of FratChat chaos outside the main topic. CMo opens the show by revealing that he's officially back on the market, which leads to a surprisingly honest conversation about breakups, being alone, and why “just go sleep with someone new” might be the worst relationship advice of all time. In Emails From the Listeners, we help a listener decide whether to confess that she was the mystery person who puked inside her boyfriend's closet during a football party, while another listener asks what to do about a coworker's controversial social media posts. Then in the News, we have a Florida man who crashed his truck while applying deodorant behind the wheel, because apparently smelling fresh was more important than keeping his GMC Sierra on the road. And in Not the Drag Queens, we get into the legal case involving Florida state representative Fabian Basabe, including his decision to represent himself in court and the fallout from the jury's verdict. Got a question, comment or topic for us to cover? Let us know! Send us an email at fratchatpodcast@gmail.com or follow us on all social media: Instagram: http://Instagram.com/FratChatPodcast Facebook: http://Facebook.com/FratChatPodcast Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FratChatPodcast YouTube: http://YouTube.com/@fratchatpodcast Follow Carlos and CMO on social media! Carlos:  IG: http://Instagram.com/CarlosDoesTheWorld YouTube: http://YouTube.com/@carlosdoestheworld TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@carlosdoestheworld Twitter: http://Twitter.com/CarlosDoesWorld Threads: http://threads.net/carlosdoestheworld Website: http://carlosgarciacomedy.com Chris ‘CMO' Moore:  IG: http://Instagram.com/Chris.Moore.Comedy TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@chris.moore.comedy Twitter: http://Twitter.com/cmoorecomedy Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The September 27, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated put Ken Norton on the cover under the headline “All Set to Slam in the Rubber Match,” previewing his highly anticipated third and final showdown with Muhammad Ali, set for September 28 at Yankee Stadium—the last fight ever held at the original ballpark. The trilogy stood at a fascinating 1-1 split: Norton had famously broken Ali's jaw to win a decision in their first bout back in 1973, while Ali had claimed a close, disputed decision in their 1975 rematch, setting up a rubber match billed as a true toss-up between two evenly matched heavyweights. Despite most ringside observers and commentators feeling Norton had done enough to win the fight, Ali was awarded a controversial 15-round unanimous decision, retaining his WBA, WBC, and Ring heavyweight titles in what remains one of the most hotly debated verdicts in boxing history—a result so contentious that Ali himself later admitted, “Kenny's style is too difficult for me. I can't beat him, and I sure don't want to fight him again.” This despite the fact that Ali never lost a rematch, going 5-0 against Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Leon Spinks. It was one of the many traits that made Ali the greatest Larry Merchant recalled when we recently chatted us from his home in Southern California. Born in 1931 in New York, Merchant rose from newspaper columns at the Philadelphia Daily News and New York Post to become the definitive voice of boxing on television. Joining HBO in 1978, he spent 35 years as its lead ringside analyst, delivering sharp, fearless commentary and post-fight interviews alongside Jim Lampley and others on countless championship bouts. Known for his poetic insights, skepticism of hype, and memorable confrontations—most famously telling Floyd Mayweather he wished he were 50 years younger so he could kick his ass—Merchant elevated the role of the boxing analyst. A Sam Taub Award winner and inductee into both the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame, he is widely regarded as the greatest television boxing analyst of all time. Larry Merchant steps into the squared circle of the Past Our Prime podcast to lace up and talk the historic fights he witnessed ringside over the decades. He takes us back to 1938, when his old man let him stay up late to listen to the second Joe Louis-Max Schmeling war on the radio—and from that night on, the kid was hooked for life. He reflects on the great Muhammad Ali and how even Nelson Mandela, locked away in a South African prison cell, followed the Champ's every move. Merchant answers the ultimate question: who was the best pound-for-pound fighter he ever laid eyes on. He zeros in on that unforgettable night in Japan when he first knew Iron Mike Tyson was in serious trouble against Buster Douglas, then fast-forwards four years to the night his colleague and friend George Foreman shocked the world by reclaiming the heavyweight crown at age 45. A living boxing historian who covered everyone from Sugar Ray Robinson to Sugar Ray Leonard, Merchant never backed down from firing the toughest questions at the toughest guys in the game. Larry Merchant… all 95 years of him… on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What separates the leaders and businesses that stand out from those that get overlooked? Tune in for an inspiring discussion with Shaan Rais on how top leaders stand out, build authority, and expand their influence in today's competitive world.Moments with Marianne Radio Show airs in the Southern California area on KMET1490AM & 98.1 FM, an ABC Talk News Radio Affiliate! https://www.kmet1490am.comShaan Rais is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, business strategist, and prominent speaker who has shared the stage with some of the world's most influential business leaders. As a speaker he has been featured alongside A-listers such as David Goggins, Kevin O'Leary, Daymond John, Ed Mylett, Grant Cardone, Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tim Storey, John Paul Dejoria, as well as on stages hosted by Tony Robbins and John Maxwell.A proven business leader, Shaan transitioned from having a hard start in Harlem to launching a multiple seven figure company, achieving approximately 400% year-over-year growth. In fact, in just one year, Shaan reached his first million in business, demonstrating that with the right strategies, entrepreneurs can achieve seven-figure growth far faster than the traditional five to seven year timeline. https://shaanrais.comDiscover inspiring conversations with today's leading authors, celebrities, thought leaders, and change makers. To learn more about the Moments with Marianne Radio Show, explore guest interview opportunities, connect with Marianne, and follow her on social media, visit https://www.mariannepestana.comExplore the Moments with Marianne Book Club and find your next great read: https://www.mariannepestana.com/book-club/Listen to the Moments with Marianne Radio Show on KMET 1490AM & 98.1FM, an ABC News Radio Affiliate, weekdays at 8:06 AM PT / 11:06 AM ET and Sundays at 10:06 AM PT / 1:06 PM ET. Learn more at: https://www.kmet1490am.com/moments-with-marianne

Brendan goes LIVE for Big Brown Breakdown Live Chat Ep. 31 to break down the biggest stories in MMA right now, UFC 332, UFC BJJ, Islam Makhachev's all-time ranking, Alex Pereira vs. Mike Tyson comparisons, and more.Brendan reacts to the latest UFC 332 news and matchups, talks about the continued growth of UFC BJJ, discusses a question about Islam Makhachev as one of the top 3 fighters in the world today. He also dives into the comparisons between Alex Pereira and Mike Tyson. Plus, Brendan responds to comparisons between his own early MMA career and Gable Steveson's transition into fighting, answers questions from the live chat, and gives his perspective on the latest UFC and combat sports headlines.Subscribe for Big Brown Breakdown, live chats, UFC reactions, MMA news, fight analysis, predictions, and breakdowns with Brendan Schaub.Topics: UFC 332 • UFC BJJ • Islam Makhachev • Islam Makhachev top 3 • Alex Pereira • Mike Tyson • Alex Pereira vs Mike Tyson • Gable Steveson • Brendan Schaub • Big Brown Breakdown • UFC news • MMA news • UFC analysis • MMA podcast • combat sportsKalshi - Use my Kalshi link https://kalshi.com/r/BigBrown → Trade $25 → Receive $25.BioPro+ Go to http://bioproteintech.com/SCHAUB and you'll get 40% off your first order, free shipping, AND a free bottle of Vitamin D3 + K2. That's http://bioproteintech.com/SCHAUBSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to declassify the 9/11 files; on September 11, 2001, he told New York television the World Trade Center was an “unbelievably powerful” structure and said he could not imagine an aircraft alone penetrating its exterior steel, even questioning whether additional explosions had occurred. Twenty-five years later, Brad Wozny revisits the lives lost, the heroism he witnessed at Ground Zero, his extraordinary journey 18 stories beneath the Pentagon, the Patriot Act and War on Terror that followed, and the unanswered questions still driving Americans to demand full disclosure, truth and justice...on a day Brad also marks as Christ's birthday. .

The Wolfpack is back… and this time, Vegas is looking like the easy part!

A lot can happen in a decade…   If you go back to 2016 and mention the terms “TikTok” or “AI Slop” in casual conversation, nobody will have any idea what you're talking about, mainly because TikTok had just launched and the AI Slop that we've all come to know and loathe was still a few years away from becoming a nightmarish reality.   Released September 18, 2026, CURSUM PERFICIO, the 12th studio album by New York thrash veterans ANTHRAX, represents the band's first new music since 2016's For All Kings and a return to the world of metal with easily the most unusual album title and bizarre album artwork of their entire catalog.   To be fair, one shan't judge an album by its name or its artwork alone. CURSUM PERFICIO has a nice variety of old school “ThrashThrax” moments mixed in with darker, heavier tracks that would sound right at home on Persistence of Time or Among The Living. And just to make your brain numb with wonder, there's one track with such complex time signature changes that it literally sounds as mind boggling as imagining “if math was a color”.    Overall, it's a grower, and while it does contain elements from their entire back catalog in terms of sound, there is a unique sonic quality present that properly defines ANTHRAX here and now, in the mid 2020's. The songs have a deceptively streamlined flow to them that are lean on riffs yet potent in their arrangement and delivery. Basically, if you're an Anthrax fan, you're going to enjoy this album. And if CURSUM PERFICIO is your very first Anthrax experience, then you have a long, enjoyable journey ahead of you to go back through their entire discography to see how everything fits into the content and context of this album.   Hear one of the most appreciated listener appreciation voicemails we've ever received, discover our pick for “album of the decade”, find out how “gray haired loads” can instantly transform any casual conversation into something altogether disgusting, discover our new “Patreon After Dark” that's exclusively available “in the middle of the night”, and just know that Mike Tyson's pronunciation of this album is the proper way to say it when you JOIN US in the Bunkerpoon Center For Metal Excellence as we give a listen to CURSUM PERFICIO. Visit www.metalnerdery.com/podcast for more on this episode Help Support Metal Nerdery https://www.patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast Leave us a Voicemail to be played on a future episode: 980-666-8182 Metal Nerdery Tees and Hoodies – metalnerdery.com/merch and kindly leave us a review and/or rating on your favorite Podcast app Follow us on the Socials: Facebook - Instagram - TikTok Email: metalnerdery@gmail.com Can't be LOUD Enough Playlist on Spotify Metal Nerdery Munchies on YouTube @metalnerderypodcast Show Notes & Time Stamps: (00:01): “I'll try one more Elvis…” /  “Why does my side always look…like I've pee'd in formation?” / “It's like fingerpainting…”/ ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised *** This Episode's Clinky of the Episode, brought to us by Elvis Midnight Snack: peanut, banana, bacon flavored whiskey  ***PATREON US at www.patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast *** “That's extra…that's the Patreon After Dark…that's $20 a month AND a happy ending…” “For $20 a month I meet even show my butthole…in the middle of the night…”/ “We've gotten so much mileage out of that…”/ “There will be a button next time…”   (04:11): ***EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com *** ***SOCIAL MEDIA US at #metalnerderypodcast on #YouTube #Facebook #Instagram #TikTok *** ***CALL US & VOICEMAIL US at 980-666-8182!!!*** #AppreciationCall #ThankYou #BlessYou #CanadianJason / “To be fair…”/ “This is why the Bunkerpoon Center for Metal Excellence is the place to be…it lifts the spirits…” “He lives right in the middle of Letterkennyville…are the women THAT hot!? Is that real or is that fabricated?” / #StrangeBrew #SCTV #TakeOff NOTE: Hoser means “a foolish or uncultivated person”   (11:30): METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: ANTHRAX – CURSUM PERFICIO Latin for “I complete the course” or “I finish the journey” “That's old timey morn right there…” / “(#MarilynMonroe) was a WOMAN, dude…”/  “Isn't “Persistence of Memory” a Salvador Dali painting?” (NOTE: It is, in fact, a Salvador Dali painting) “It's kinda reminiscent of Persistence of Time…”   (15:00): PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY / THE LONG GOODBYE “Very classic metal…I'm getting like an Iron Maiden vibe…” “That's a cool opener…somehow (The Long Goodbye) has more Track 2 energy…” “You think (Mike) spells (his last name) with a ‘TH'?”   (19:12): IT'S FOR THE KIDS “See, THAT should have been the opener, right? It's got more of an opening vibe to it…” “On the last (song) and this one, I was getting the Among The Living sound…”   (21:18): EVERYBODY'S GOT A PLAN “That's almost like Queen (the guitar solo), with the layered guitars back there…” “So, it's gonna be THAT the whole episode?” / “We'll thee…for fuckth thake…”   (24:03): THE EDGE OF PERFECTION “I like how they put some proggy elements into their later stuff…” “You hear the clean guitars back there?” / #victorymetal / #usethoseheadphones “I feel like listening to it now with you guys down here…is a much better experience than listening to it solo…” “You know when you're already in the mode for something? I knew this was coming out, but I haven't been listening to Anthrax lately…”   (29:04): INFECTIOUS “Dancing Days…A heavier Dancing Days…Moshing Days…” “Now it's a #KISS song…KISS? I didn't hear no mention of no street hustlers…” “Did you see Bill's face light up when you said that?” “That's #STP …that sound…maybe that's why it reminded me of Dancing Days…” “It doesn't sound thrashy at all…it's metal, for sure…” /  “To be fair, these guys are in their 60's…they're still making albums…” “You know what, dude…they were in their 20's then…they're all grandfathers…now they shoot grey haired loads and stuff…”   (35:10): NYC 93 “Never forget, btw…that was when they had the bomb in the (WTC) basement…” “Yeah, that could have been on State of Euphoria…the vibe of it.” “This almost sounds like it could have been on Among The Living even…” “It ain't worth doing unless you do it to death…” / “That's my motto when it comes to…poon…I'll do it…til I shoot gray haired loads…”   (38:07): CURSUM PERFICIO “That just sounds like a very slowed down Anthrax song…like from the 80's…” “That (chorus riff) sounds like the John Bush stuff right there…” “I know what it is…with the solo stuff…” #hottake “For some weird reason, the (guitar) solo stuff sounds like it would work better in King Diamond…” / “He's been with them since '14, so he was on the last album, wasn't he?” NOTE: Yes, Jonathan Donais was on For All Kings “It's definitely a heavier Anthrax…it's a heavier, more progressive, and more melodic Anthrax…the songs are pretty streamlined…” “In fairness, that was 10 years ago…that was a whole other era…decade…genre…”   (43:34): T.O.M.B. “The burp was silent…it's silent when it's pronunced…it was spelled silently…”/ “There you go…some meaty bass…it's the best kind of bass.” “Okay, I already like it better on 2nd listen…” “The melody does kill Bill, in fairness…that's Kill Bill 3 from Quentin Tarantino: The Melody Chronicles…” “Some stuff just connects and some doesn't…it's the connection factor.”/ (A brief discussion of singers and/or albums that just don't connect with some of us…) “When (Anthrax) came out, they were the only thrash band with a real singer…” “You know, the whole singer thing…that affects people across the board…” “The funny thing about melody…to me, melodic singers just sound like a melodic singer…you connect with some better than others…it's the (same) way it is with people.”/  “The next one…as soon as I saw that title…I immediately thought of the Pantera 3: Watch It Go home video…” (3 Vulgar Videos From Hell) (52:44): WATCH IT GO “Count this…that's in 9 I think… (the verse riff)” / “(the chorus riff is in…)7!” Two different Pantera references… (Primal Concrete Sledge & Goddamn Electric) /  “When I popped that on last night…all I was seeing was shapes and letters turning into colors and math…I don't know how math works, but I think if you add a shape plus a letter and divide it by some squiggly line, you get a color that nobody's ever seen before…” #markthetime / “It's literally ‘shape + letter = color'…”   (57:11): MY VICTORY “It definitely does have a Persistence of Time heaviness to it…” “I do like it better upon the 2nd listen…” / “I still dug the synth pop ZZ Top…” “I gotta tell you guys real quick…at one point I got on a ZZ Top thing…” / #Deguello /  “Dude, ZZ STOP!” / “Man, it's not getting any funnier the more you talk about it…” /  “Check out the new ThrashThrax…” / “What's your final verdict?” “Is it better than the new #Exodus or the newest #Coroner?” “I don't think anything is gonna be better than the newest Coroner…I'm sorry, I think Coroner gets Album of the Decade…” NOTE: New Coroner EP: Ex Nucleo - The Remastered Extraction THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! #untilthenext #outroreel

“A good divorce is better than a bad marriage, and this is a good divorce.” — Alan Dershowitz The American lawyer Alan Dershowitz says he's been voting Democrat since John F. Kennedy. He even defended Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Alan Cranston in court. But, at 88 years old, Dershowitz has now left — or, as he puts it, been forced out of the Dems, in the same way Ronald Reagan was sixty years ago. His new book Why I Quit the Dems and So Should You is both a history of his souring relations with the Democrats and a confessional of a reluctant Republican. A good divorce, the twice-married Dershowitz promises, is better than a bad marriage. Like many angry spouses, he says he's been forced into the split. Today's Democratic Party, he claims, is closer than any political party in modern American history to what the Nazi Party was in 1932 before it came to power. He names Abdul El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani as antisemites, calls Bernie Sanders a self-hating Jew, and insists Kamala Harris passed over Josh Shapiro because Shapiro is a Jew who wouldn't renounce Zionism. What's his proof on the Harris claim? What other reason could there be? Dershowitz claims. Besides, even if Israel vanished as an issue tomorrow, he says he still couldn't go back to the failed marriage, because the Dems have abandoned what he calls “meritocracy.” At 88, Dershowitz is perhaps a little more self-reflective than he was in his legal pomp. In conclusion, I ask him to summarize himself in a word. “Proudly-Jewish,” he says, before adding “never-boring.” We can all agree on that, if perhaps little else. Five Takeaways •       A Good Divorce. Dershowitz frames his departure as liberation rather than loss: a good divorce is better than a bad marriage, and he was thrown out, he says, much as Ronald Reagan was. The loyalty he is breaking runs deep — he first voted for John F. Kennedy, defended Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Senator Alan Cranston, and campaigned for Democrats for most of his adult life. He describes himself now as a convert, and converts, he notes, are the most fervent. What he wants is not the suffering of Democrats — his wife, children and much of his family remain in the party — but their defeat: he does not want them running the House or the Senate, and names AOC and Abdul El-Sayed as people he does not want chairing committees. He first went independent, then concluded that independence wasn't enough, which is how a lifelong liberal became, in the book's subtitle, a reluctant Republican — or, as Andrew put it, an angry spouse who says he was forced into the split. President Trump, he notes, endorsed the book.•       The Charge. The hour's most incendiary material, and it should be read as his claims rather than as established fact. Dershowitz argues the Democratic Party is closer than any political party in modern American history to what the Nazi Party was in 1932 — specifically 1932, he stresses, not 1935: Jews feeling unsafe at universities, Jews losing jobs, an obsession with the nation-state of the Jewish people. He names El-Sayed and Mamdani as antisemites, says he does not believe Mamdani or his family like Jews, calls Bernie Sanders a self-hating Jew and a hypocrite, and says Elizabeth Warren doesn't like Jews. His central political claim: no Jew perceived as pro-Israel can now win a Democratic primary, and no Jew will be nominated for president — which is why, in his telling, Kamala Harris passed over Josh Shapiro, a choice he says cost her Pennsylvania and possibly the election. Andrew asked how he could know that. “What other reason could there be?” was the answer, and Andrew offered the conventional one: that Harris didn't want to be eclipsed by her running mate.•       Meritocracy. Andrew's sharpest structural question was hypothetical: if the Middle East were solved overnight and Israel vanished as an American political issue, could he return to the Democratic Party? No — because of meritocracy. The Democrats, he argues, have become the party of identity politics, of judging ideas by who said them and candidates by race or gender rather than merit; DEI, in his formulation, means exclusion rather than inclusion. The argument is partly autobiographical. His father did not finish high school, his mother managed half a semester of college, and he rose, he says, on merit alone — as did friends who were Italian, Irish and Black. He does not claim anti-meritocracy is itself antisemitism, but he does argue that Jews have been disproportionate beneficiaries of meritocracy and so suffer disproportionately from its retreat.•       Andrew's Pushback. The spine of the episode. One: has he become single-issue? His answer — that this is like asking a German in 1932 to vote on the economy — concedes the framing and defends it, arguing antisemitism is the only prejudice now moving in the wrong direction. Two: what about the antisemites of the right, Tucker Carlson and JD Vance? Republicans marginalize theirs, he says, while Democrats embrace theirs; he does not regard Vance as an antisemite, and does regard Carlson as one. Three: can a Jew criticize Israel without being an antisemite? Yes — he criticizes Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and Likud; what he calls antisemitism is denying the state's right to exist, and his analogy is New Zealand. On the charge of genocide in Gaza he was categorical, calling those who use the word ignoramuses, liars and bigots — a characterization Andrew put to him twice. Four, and the exchange that lingers: why, in his account, is it always the Jews? “That question itself smacks of antisemitism,” he replied. “But you're the one who's said it,” Andrew answered. “I'm just asking you why.”•       Never Boring. The lawyer's creed, and the personal coda. Dershowitz defends having represented people he despises — the Nazis who marched at Skokie; Palestinian students who wanted to fly their flag in Harvard Yard, an occasion he remembers fondly because he then spoke against Arafat at their own event; Jeffrey Epstein, whom he calls a terrible human being who did terrible things, and whose case he says he has volunteered to testify about before a House panel. His models are John Adams defending the redcoats after the Boston Massacre and Lincoln defending the guilty: the Sixth Amendment doesn't come with a character test. There is family cost — Larry David cut him off over his defence of Trump at the first impeachment, though the two have since made up — and family discipline: no politics at Thanksgiving or the Jewish New Year. Asked for one word he'd want attached to his name, he offered two: proudly Jewish, and American. And his wife's line, which he clearly relishes: the tombstone will say never boring. Andrew's verdict: we can all agree on that, if little else. About the Guest Alan Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School, where he taught for fifty years. His many books include Chutzpah, Reversal of Fortune and The Case for Israel. He has represented clients from Claus von Bülow and Mike Tyson to O. J. Simpson, Julian Assange, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, whom he defended at the first impeachment trial. Why I Quit the Dems and So Should You: Confessions of a Reluctant Re...

What if one line about a microphone tattoo changed hip-hop history forever? In this episode of Hip Hop What Ifs, hosts D and 12Kyle break down the legendary feud between LL Cool J and Canibus. We examine how a subtle line on the posse track "4, 3, 2, 1" sparked one of rap's most notorious battles, leading to Canibus' explosive "Second Round Knockout" featuring Mike Tyson and LL Cool J's relentless response on "The Ripper Strikes Back". In this episode, we unpack how LL Cool J's territorial ego and studio edits created the rift, whether LL "sneaked" Canibus to re-energize his own GOAT-status career, why Can-I-Bus fell flat despite massive battle momentum and Wyclef Jean's production, and broader hip-hop topics including Kendrick Lamar's "Control" verse, MC Hammer's cultural impact, and rap industry conspiracy theories. Chapters: 00:00 - What If Canibus Never Dissed LL Cool J? 04:17 - Exploring Conspiracy Theories & Shift in 90s Rap Music 06:59 - The Impact of MC Hammer on Hip Hop Culture 09:02 - The "4, 3, 2, 1" Studio Edit & Microphone Tattoo Controversy 13:26 - Kendrick Lamar's "Control" Verse & Competitive Rap Dynamics 17:12 - How Lyrical Beefs Reshape Artist Trajectories 22:20 - Master P, Video Edits & Removing Canibus from "4, 3, 2, 1" 28:26 - Respect, Golden Era Standards & Battles for the Crown 36:17 - What If Canibus Never Poked the Bear? 41:29 - Disappointment of Canibus's Debut Album (Can-I-Bus) 43:51 - Production Flaws, Wyclef's Role & LL Cool J's GOAT Resurgence 53:42 - Final Reflections on Hip Hop Alternate Realities   Brand new voicemail: ‪(314) 649-3113‬ Subscribe to the Everyone Needs an Aquarius Patreon https://bit.ly/3tXnnCz  Email the show at straightolc@gmail.com           Follow SOLC Network online Instagram: https://bit.ly/39VL542                                    Twitter: https://bit.ly/39aL395                                     Facebook: https://bit.ly/3sQn7je                            To Listen to the podcast Podbean https://bit.ly/3t7SDJH                                YouTube http://bit.ly/3ouZqJU                                Spotify http://spoti.fi/3pwZZnJ                                Apple http://apple.co/39rwjD1                                                         IHeartRadio http://ihr.fm/2L0A2y 

Jim Norton and Matt Serra recap a loaded UFC 331 card while welcoming two first-time guests to UFC Unfiltered.First, unbeaten UFC middleweight Damian Pinas joins the show ahead of his upcoming UFC 332 fight against Andrey Pulyaev. Representing both his native Suriname and his adopted home of Aruba, “The Baba Yaga” reflects on how watching Mike Tyson helped spark his late entry into combat sports before assessing what he expects from his next opponent in a few weeks.Then, Jim and Matt react to the biggest moments from UFC 331, including Joshua Van's instant-classic title defense against Alexandre Pantoja, Arman Tsarukyan's emphatic first-round elbow KO of Mauricio Ruffy, and Sean Sharaf's 12-second upset of Gable Steveson.Finally, Bilal Hasan makes his UFC Unfiltered debut. Born in Hawaii but proud of his parents' Indonesian roots, the UFC's undefeated flyweight newcomer explains the origin of his “Indoninja” nickname and the backstory behind his celebratory moonwalk inside the Octagon.Before Jim and Matt sign off, the guys circle back to UFC 331 with final takeaways on several other standout performances from Saturday's card in Los Angeles.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailEpisode 231 is here! We kick things off with some weekend fun before diving into a packed week of entertainment and sports.  Netflix's latest Monster season takes on Lizzie Borden... and let's just say we weren't impressed.  Marvel apparently still has plenty cooking for Disney+, Mike Tyson is getting the Netflix documentary treatment, Mark Wahlberg is taking on Pete Rose, and Jelly Roll says he might walk away from music, which somehow we'll find a way to survive. We also tear into a questionable list of the “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,” pay our respects to a musician who helped define the '90s, and then head over to sports. Somehow, some way, the Texas Rangers enter the final six games of the season sitting one game ahead in the division despite spending plenty of this season looking like they wanted absolutely nothing to do with October.  We break down the playoff race, recap NFL Week 2, look ahead to next week's matchups, and preview our next Thursday Night Live Watch Party: Falcons vs. Packers. And finally, Georgia provides us with one of those stories that reminds us why we do this podcast.  A man allegedly trespasses onto someone's property, helps himself to their hot tub, and commits an act against a rubber ducky that no innocent bath toy should ever have to endure. Movies. TV. Music. Sports. Rubber duck trauma. It's The Eskimo Brothers Podcast — Episode 231: Pennant Races, Bad TV & The Rubber Ducky Incident.https://linktr.ee/eskimobrotherspodcast

Call of Duty is done with Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 4 is the "epic conclusion" of the Task Force 141 story. We think it's the smartest call Activision has made in years. It only matters if the next series changes the game as much as jetpacks did, and a new name and new villains won't do that. We also make a prediction: Call of Duty will copy WARDOGS. It happened with PUBG and Warzone, then with Tarkov and DMZ, and now WARDOGS has sold over 2 million copies and peaked at 428,000 concurrent players on Steam. Raz guarantees Infinity Ward is already being told to build it. Also covered: WARDOGS one week into early access, the drill-spam meta, the mortar complaints, why we still think no monetization is a mistake, and the Bulkhead CEO crunch controversy (we don't see the problem). Then GTA 6 Online reportedly landing in 2027, why the PC version probably comes with it, and what GTA 6 does to MW4 and WARDOGS in November. We finish with WoW Forever, Aion 2, and an investigation into whether any elves have round ears. Raz still wins either way. 0:00 - Intro: Big Jacob of Nibiru 2:05 - Patreon hangout & Death by AI 6:01 - WARDOGS one week in: 2M sold, 428K peak 9:24 - Balance complaints & the drill meta 13:40 - There Will Be Blood is overrated 15:01 - Bulkhead devs on Twitter & the loadout fix 17:16 - Mike Tyson's impregnable defense 20:09 - You either love a game or you're good at it 23:29 - No monetization is still a mistake 30:38 - Still in the honeymoon phase 33:07 - WARDOGS CEO crunch controversy 38:26 - Treyarch is done with Black Ops 42:20 - CoD needs a jetpack-level shake-up 46:33 - Future setting vs. grounded CoD 49:24 - Prediction: CoD will copy WARDOGS 57:08 - DMZ2 is going to fail 1:01:41 - CoD fans: don't get excited yet 1:03:53 - Wolverine hand-holding & NICKMERCS on Tarkov 1:06:30 - Why extraction shooters must be hardcore 1:10:22 - Mads Mikkelsen & MW4 1:11:07 - Does Raz come back to CoD? 1:15:53 - GTA 6 Online in 2027 1:21:52 - GTA 6 PC will launch with Online 1:24:15 - What GTA 6 does to MW4 & WARDOGS 1:30:47 - WoW Forever enters beta 1:32:45 - The elf investigation 1:34:49 - Aion 2 1:37:49 - Outro _Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._ The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

Matt DuBoise barely made it out of high school. In 2008, broke and struggling to find work, he pulled scrapped wood out of a construction dumpster to build a small chicken coop for his backyard. On a whim, he listed it on Craigslist for $225—and it sold in 30 minutes. The next one sold for $2,000.Fast forward almost 20 years, Carolina Coops is a 7-figure global manufacturing empire that builds premium enclosures for clients all over the world—including a nearly half-million-dollar custom coop for Mike Tyson.In this incredibly raw and unfiltered episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Matt sits down with Ryan Atkinson to expose the brutal realities of entrepreneurship that nobody else wants to talk about. He opens up about surviving employee sabotage, going to CEO anger management, and why experiencing devastating hardship is the only true indicator that you are pushing hard enough to succeed.If you are tired of fluffy business advice and want the absolute unvarnished truth on how to hire, lead, and scale a massive operation from zero, this episode is a must-listen.

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

On this weeks of Who is Kyle Graham? Podcast. Kanye West's ex-employee seeks over $23 million for alleged discrimination over dreads, Marc Lamont Hill pushes back on Fat Joe defending his use of the N-word. Snoop Dogg praises Nia Long during Hollywood Walk of Fame speech. Mike Tyson says he was "addicted to chaos" in new Netflix documentary. Travis Kelce named victim in multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. And Macklemore speaks out after being dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour over Palestine comments. All of this, plus a whole lot more!Enjoy!

On this weeks of Who is Kyle Graham? Podcast. Kanye West's ex-employee seeks over $23 million for alleged discrimination over dreads, Marc Lamont Hill pushes back on Fat Joe defending his use of the N-word. Snoop Dogg praises Nia Long during Hollywood Walk of Fame speech. Mike Tyson says he was "addicted to chaos" in new Netflix documentary. Travis Kelce named victim in multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. And Macklemore speaks out after being dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour over Palestine comments. All of this, plus a whole lot more!Enjoy!

Speakers Include:Israel Adesanyahttps://www.instagram.com/stylebender/?hl=enDraymond Greenhttps://www.instagram.com/money23green/?hl=enDavina Mccallhttps://www.instagram.com/davinamccall/?hl=enShi Heng Yihttps://shaolin.online/Young Jeezyhttps://www.instagram.com/jeezy/?hl=enJoey Badasshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8R0ZMHBkRzBT1DWK9wT5wAlex Hormozihttps://www.instagram.com/hormozi/Mike Tyson https://www.instagram.com/miketyson/Bugzy Malone https://www.instagram.com/thebugzymalone/?hl=enTory Lanez https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbfUA3UGxAWL3muD004g0WQJon Joneshttps://www.instagram.com/jonnybones/?hl=enCole Da Silvahttps://www.youtube.com/@UCEKtrn9iBVgBCqcZg-riztA Marcus Taylorhttps://www.youtube.com/@UCOeIJKncVmnnTIbNdXt7drg Eric Thomashttps://www.youtube.com/@UC1d28mrBqCQliL_N48tZZiw @MotiversitySpeakers YouTube: https://bit.ly/MarcusATaylorChannelInstagram: http://bit.ly/3aLfu3PFacebook: http://bit.ly/2TB9uoiTwitter: https://bit.ly/3xXlFCPBook Marcus to speak at your organization: https://bit.ly/BookMarcusATaylor @WolfMentalityColeDaSilva Music: Twelve Titans - In Search of Sunrisealixe, antent - wating for youCast of Characters - Mysterious GroveSuccession - Entering the light Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start with NFL Week 2 and Al Dukes calling in over Boomer's missing delivery, before engineer Steve Aprea shares a story from a man retreat. Jerry's final update features sound from the Bills beating the Lions, reaction from Josh Allen, Sean McVay swearing off future games in Australia, and check-ins with Malik Nabers and Cam Ward. We cover Jared Young getting knocked out in a collision at first base and a clip from Netflix's new Mike Tyson documentary, followed by the Moment of the Day as Al hurts his neck in a Jets helmet. We close out the show with our Week 2 NFL picks.

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

TVC 748.4: Ed welcomes Linda Kaplan Thaler, Advertising Hall of Fame executive and the creative genius behind the Aflac Duck, the Toys R Us Kids jingle, Clairol's "Yes! Yes! Yes!" campaign, and many other popular ads that have become permanently engrained in American culture. Linda's memoir, My Life in 30 Seconds, is a very funny, yet often very moving, book that not only looks at creativity, resilience, leadership, failure, reinvention, and the moments that change us forever, but includes many stories about some of the people behind those famous ads, including heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Tony Hassini (the actor who played Magic Burger King), plus encounters with James Patterson, Cynthia Nixon, President Bill Clinton, and many others. My Life in 30 Seconds is available at Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Linda first found her path in advertising; how Mariette Hartley's wry delivery in her famous Polaroid commercials with James Garner had a tremendous impact on Linda as she wrote copy for her own ad campaigns; and how Linda's career in advertising "was not about networking, but 'nice-working.'"

Forget Derek Henry, the real king - aka Iron Mike - is back in the mix, in his Monday morning slot, but this season, we're mixing it up and each week, the broadcast legend will give us his 5 Fave Takes from the week's action. In a wild Week One in the NFL, shootouts galore, including the much hyped game of the week between Houston & Buffalo which didn't disappoint. What went wrong in LA for the all new Chargers? What did SNF tell us about the all new Giants, are Baltimore this week's Overreaction Central Super Bowl faves TM? Plus Mike weighs in on the season opener(s) with his perspective on travel, and pre-season, y'know, practice! ___ Smokin' BBQ, ice-cold beers, and all the NFL action you can handle. What's not to love, people? Check out Hickory's Smokehouse here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hickorys.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ___ Check out the official Nat Coombs Show music playlist: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://open.spotify.com/playlist/0i1nSLaUJWxZMGCe8eJLQY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ___ BONUS CONTENT! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thencshow?si=5vKakKPZZazrOwzx ___ Follow Nat on X or Instagram: X (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/natcoombs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/natcoombs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ___ NC Show socials: X (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/thencshow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/thencshow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thencshow/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Tik Tok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thencshow?lang=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@thencshow⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nothing brings a morning show together quite like football, competition and immediately arguing over whether one member of the team's score should even count.Episode 101 kicks off with the crew sorting through their Seahawks picks and realizing Devon's presence has created a strategic probem in the season-long competition against The Fast Lane. If one team has an extra player, does Devon's score count? Do they add somebody to the other side? Take the best five scores? Pretend nobody thought about this until the season had already started?All excellent questions. Very few useful answers.What we do know is that Rizz is technically sitting in first place, Moon is second, Lern is third, Rafe is behind them, and Devon's zero becomes the center of a debate that feels significantly more serious than the actual stakes deserve. In other words, exactly how a funny podcast should handle sports.Then it's time for Take Five, sponsored by Universal Windows Direct, with listeners trying to match answers with members of the show for a chance at tickets to Candlebox, Violent Femmes, Toadies with Local H, Babymetal with Halestorm and Rush.The concept is simple: one member of the crew goes into isolation while a caller answers three category questions. When the crew member comes back, they get five guesses to match the caller.Simple game. Deeply complicated people.Lern goes first with Tom, who needs her to match an NFL team with an animal mascot, a South American country and a Will Ferrell movie. “Jaguars” takes Lern all the way to her fifth guess, but she gets there. Anchorman proves much easier, and Tom walks away a winner.Then Moon gets paired with Ray, and things immediately begin deteriorating.Ray picks “I Want to Hold Your Hand” for a Beatles song, Big Daddy for an Adam Sandler movie and Deep Purple for a band with a color in its name. Moon responds to the Beatles category by initially offering “Let It Go,” which would have been revolutionary news for both John Lennon and the Walt Disney Company.He recovers with actual Beatles songs, but never finds Ray's answer.Then comes Adam Sandler. Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison. The Wedding Singer. Grown Ups. Punch-Drunk Love. Moon circles practically the entire Sandler cinematic universe without landing on Big Daddy.Deep Purple becomes even more painful. Moon rattles through Blue October, Green Day, Blue Öyster Cult and The White Stripes, at one point getting tantalizingly close with “deep blue something.” Deep Purple was sitting right there, waving at him from across the room.Ray and Moon lose together. Friendship through mutual disappointment.Next up, Victoria is paired with Devon for categories including a famous person named Mike, a microwave food brand and something with a handle. Victoria chooses Mike Tyson, Banquet and a pitcher.Devon immediately says Mike Myers…and then discovers that apparently every other famous Mike has been temporarily deleted from her brain.Fortunately, “TV dinner” is close enough to Banquet for the crew to show mercy, and Devon somehow lands on coffee cup for something with a handle — remarkably close to Victoria's pitcher and enough to prove once again that Devon can be sneakily dangerous in these games even while claiming she knows only one Mike.Finally, Rizz enters isolation for the last round.His caller chooses Dr. Strange for a famous fictional doctor, Frosted Flakes for a breakfast cereal and Lex Luthor for a famous bald person.Rizz tears through Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Seuss, Dr. Feelgood, Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Doctor Octopus without finding Doctor Strange. Then he absolutely crushes Frosted Flakes on his first try, setting up one final category for the win.Name a famous bald person.Vin Diesel.The Rock.Bruce Willis.Howie Mandel.Jason Statham.All extremely bald. All extremely famous. All completely wrong.The answer was Lex Luthor.That leads to the perfectly reasonable postgame argument over whether “famous bald person” should cause a human being to think of an actual celebrity or a fictional supervillain. Technically Lex Luthor is famous. Technically the caller followed the rules. Technically none of this makes Rizz feel any better.Episode 101 is a funny podcast built around exactly the kind of low-stakes chaos The Rizzuto Show somehow turns into a major competitive event: Seahawks strategy, questionable team math, listeners trying to crawl inside the crew's brains, Moon confusing Frozen with The Beatles, Devon forgetting famous Mikes exist and Rizz losing to the most famous bald supervillain on Earth.It's Take Five, except everybody's dignity gets fewer than five chances.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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It's a WILD episode of Enjoying Orange Slices with Jeff & Ian, Jeff Sharps and Ian Bagg welcome Jeff's old teammate and longtime Washington Capitals broadcaster Alan May for a hilarious, completely unfiltered trip through old-school hockey. Alan takes Jeff and Ian for an unforgettable trip down memory lane, sharing wild stories from the old school leagues, playing with Jeff in the ECHL on the Utah Grizzlies, fighting his way through junior hockey, making it to the NHL, and he goes up against Mike Tyson kidna of player. He also pulls back the curtain on his incredible transition into broadcasting with the Washington Capitals, and he gives his brutally honest take on the Metropolitan Division. Funny, unpredictable, brutally honest, and packed with unbelievable hockey stories — this is an episode you do NOT want to miss!

The cost of discipline - real, daily and permanent, and still far cheaper than the price of never finding out what you were capable of.Discipline costs you comfort, convenience and the approval of people who chose the easier road. Skipping it costs you everything you could have become. One bill arrives daily, the other arrives all at once.Featuring words of wisdom from David Goggins, Jocko Willink, Alex Hormozi, Joe Rogan, Chris Williamson, Jordan Peterson, Admiral William H. McRaven, Mike Tyson, DJ Shipley, Dr Mike Israetel, Ray Allen, Kevin Hart, Jay Williams, Andy Frisella, Teddy Atlas, Shi Heng Yi, Jeremy Renner, Bruce Lee, Greg Plitt, Nick Saban, Patrick Bet-David, Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo and many more.Instagram- Daily_motivationsorgFacebook- @daily_motivationsorgSupport us PayPal

Football is back, fantasy drafts are underway, and apparently raccoons have rookie cards worth more than most professional athletes.Michael and Josh kick things off talking fantasy football, including how AI helped Michael win his league last season, before getting into one of the strangest card sales we've seen all year: the Jimothy Gold 1/1 rookie card sold for $21,100 after starting at just 99 cents.Then things somehow get even stranger.Vault X has created numbered chase versions of its binders. Panini is putting autographs and 1/1s into Score-A-Treat packs you're supposed to hand out on Halloween. Karl-Anthony Towns revealed that he spent $900,000 on an Aaron Judge redemption that hasn't even been produced yet. Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman and Jeff Goldblum are fighting Martians in a Christmas card set. And Topps Vault Marvel is putting pieces of production-used Marvel props, including Captain America's shield, into cards.Plus, Josh breaks down what's new at Grand Slam Cards, what's coming next week, and closes the show with a wild Pete Crow-Armstrong stat.In this episode:Fantasy football, AI drafts and the connection between fantasy performance and card valuesJimothy's $21,100 Gold 1/1 rookie cardWhat's new at Grand Slam CardsVault X numbered Chase Edition bindersPanini Score-A-Treat adding autos and 1/1sKarl-Anthony Towns' $900,000 Aaron Judge purchaseAaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani hobby valueTopps Mars Attacks ChristmasTopps Vault Marvel and production-used Marvel relicsPete Crow-Armstrong's crazy stat of the weekBecause every card has a story.#TalkingShopPodcast #SportsCards #CardCollectingNote: Final timestamps should be nudged against the finished video export before publishing.00:00 Fantasy Football Is Back11:04 Welcome to Talking Shop12:35 The $21,100 Jimothy Rookie Card17:46 What's New at Grand Slam Cards23:32 Your Binder Has a Chase Parallel27:30 Would You Give Away a Halloween 1/1?31:31 Karl-Anthony Towns Spends $900K on Aaron Judge39:11 Mike Tyson vs. Martians at Christmas42:36 Topps Is Cutting Up Captain America's Shield46:48 Pete Crow-Armstrong's Crazy StatJimothy Rookie Cardhttps://www.mlb.com/mariners/video/mariners-booth-unveils-jimothy-baseball-cardhttps://mynorthwest.com/local/jimothy-rookie-card-auction/4271045Vault X 30th Anniversary Chase Binderhttps://blog.vaultx.com/2026/09/01/celebrating-30-years-the-anniversary-edition-collection/Panini Score-A-Treathttps://www.paniniamerica.net/2026-panini-score-a-treat-bundleKarl-Anthony Towns / Aaron Judgehttps://www.fanaticscollect.com/premier/2233bea4-9677-11f1-b56d-0a58a9feac02Mars Attacks Christmashttps://www.topps.com/pages/topps-mars-attacks-christmasTopps Vault Marvelhttps://www.topps.com/pages/topps-vault-marvelCHAPTERSSTORY LINKS

I've had a lot of impressive guests on this show, but Khalil Zahar's story genuinely stood out to me. He's the founder and CEO of FightCamp, a company he built from a simple idea, wanting to actually measure his own progress as a boxer, into one of the biggest names in connected fitness, with over $100 million raised and backing from legends like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, and Georges St-Pierre. He's also not married and doesn't have kids, but the lessons he's built his entire career around, discipline, discomfort, and identity, translate directly to fatherhood and marriage. We started with the pivotal moment in his early 20s, a late night watching Sportscenter, that made him realize he didn't have unlimited time to become who he wanted to be. From there we got into his philosophy around seeking discomfort intentionally, why he believes identity has to come before outcome, and what it actually means to become the person who does the things you want to be known for, rather than chasing the result directly. He shared a personal story about training around a serious injury by controlling everything he could, his nutrition and mindset, when he couldn't control his body, and I shared a nearly identical story from my own torn patella tendon recovery. We closed the conversation on what Khalil calls the mindset of a fighter, discipline, craftsmanship, accepting what you can't control, and learning to be genuinely thankful for your losses instead of resentful of them. If you've ever felt too comfortable, stuck in a rut, or unsure how to push yourself toward the version of you that you know is possible, this conversation gives you a real, practical way to start.   Timeline Summary [1:04] Khalil's early 20s awakening: a late night realization that time wasn't unlimited [3:36] His teenage dream of becoming a professional B-Boy and the intimidating scene around it [7:00] The first concrete steps he took once he decided to stop just "trying a little" [9:25] How Khalil's relationship with failure changed once he actually started taking risks [12:20] Larry announces a rare, small-group preview of the Dad Edge Business Boardroom Brotherhood [12:37] Why embracing failure sooner would have changed everything, and Thomas Edison's light bulb story [14:31] Taking the first, smallest possible step instead of trying to see ten miles ahead [16:34] A full introduction to Khalil: FightCamp's founder, backed by Tyson, Mayweather, and Saint-Pierre [18:11] Khalil's controversial philosophy: why seeking discomfort matters more than self-acceptance alone [21:39] Practical advice for a man who feels too comfortable and stuck in a "dad bod" mindset [22:01] The core idea: identity comes first, and outcomes follow from who you decide to become [25:21] Larry announces Roommates to Soulmates cohort three, starting September 16th [27:16] Diving deeper into identity versus tactics, using Khalil's 13 bodybuilding competitions as an example [32:18] Why seeking discomfort is fundamentally about removing fear, not chasing a specific outcome [35:51] Confidence built through keeping your word to yourself, even when you don't feel like it [36:43] What the mindset of a fighter actually looks like, broken into four core principles [38:18] The first principle: discipline as doing what you don't want to do [39:48] The second principle: craftsmanship, applying full care and attention to everything you touch [40:31] The third principle: you can't control your opponent, only how you prepare and react [42:17] The fourth principle: losses and failure are praised in martial arts, not resented [44:10] Larry's own story of controlling what he could control during a torn patella tendon recovery [45:32] Khalil shares a strikingly similar story recovering from a severe hand injury [49:17] Where to find Khalil and FightCamp   Five Key Takeaways Time is not unlimited, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you stop just "trying a little" and start actually pursuing the version of yourself you want to become. Identity comes before outcome. Instead of fixating on the result you want, define who that person would be and start living like them today, and the outcome tends to follow naturally. Confidence isn't built by achieving a goal once, it's built by consistently keeping your word to yourself, especially in the small moments when you don't feel like following through. You cannot control your circumstances, your opponent, or the environment around you. The only thing you control is how you prepare for and respond to what happens, and real peace comes from focusing there instead. Losses and failure should be treated as lessons to be thankful for, not outcomes to resent. A fighter's mindset toward getting knocked down and getting back up applies directly to marriage, parenting, and business.   Links & Resources FightCamp (Khalil's at-home connected boxing and kickboxing fitness platform) — https://joinfightcamp.com FightCamp on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok — @fightcamp Khalil Zahar on Instagram — @khalilzahar Shownotes for this episode: http://thedadedge.com/1526 Roommates to Soulmates (Larry's 8-week marriage coaching cohort; next cohort starts September 16th, with free preview calls): http://thedadedge.com/soulmates Join the boardroom: http://thedadedge.com/guest   Closing What's staying with me from this conversation is Khalil's point that losses are meant to be praised, not resented, because that's exactly the mindset a marriage and a family need too. You're not going to get every season right, and neither is your wife or your kids, but treating a setback as a lesson instead of a verdict on who you are changes everything about how you recover from it. Whatever discomfort you've been avoiding lately, in your body, your business, or your relationships, let this be the nudge to take the smallest next step toward it.  

According to Gartner, 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. That tells us two things. One, personalization is prolific. Many teams are trialing different plays and finding varying degrees of success. Two, personalization is a risky play. Get it wrong, and you might actually do more harm than good. So what does it actually look like to show up in a way that earns a buyer’s attention? Riley Rogers: Welcome to the Win/Win Podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic are Molly Donlon, sales activation manager, and Tommy Dauphin, senior account executive at Paylocity. Thank you so much for joining us, both of you. I’m super excited to dive into all of the fun and unconventional ways that you guys are capturing attention, driving engagement, and tackling the beast that is today’s modern buyer. Could you help me kick things off? Just tell me a little bit about yourself, and Molly, I’ll kick it over to you. Molly Donlon: Tommy would have insisted that I start anyway because he’s a gentleman from the South. So I started out in sales as a business development representative in my corporate career, and I actually used Highspot as a BDR. I stayed in sales for three and a half, almost four years, and then fell in love with the strategy behind sales, and especially personalization. I almost felt like an investigator, where I could go and do the research and find something that told me that this person actually would benefit from what we are providing, and then explain how I made that connection. So I decided to help my teammates and my colleagues within sales, rather than put that into practice with clients. It’s been an amazing company and a great journey. RR: Amazing. Well, I’m super interested to hear more about the buyer engagement private investigator lifestyle. Before we do, Tommy, I’ll kick it over to you. Tommy Dauphin: Excellent. Thank you so much, Riley. And, Molly, you are absolutely correct. I was not going first on that one. You were definitely gonna get the first intro there. So Tommy Dauphin here from South Louisiana. Been at Paylocity, it’ll actually make eight years next month. And then before that, I worked at Cintas for 10 years, primarily on the operations side. Paylocity was my first outside sales job. So not only did I have to learn the world of sales, but also the world of HR tech, and all of the things in between. So it’s been quite the journey, but like Molly said, fantastic place to be, and very excited to be here today. RR: Well, I’m looking forward to learning more about everything happening at Paylocity right now. And Molly, I’d love to start with you. You mentioned that one of the things that you loved was doing your own research, and it sounds like it’s not just sellers that are doing their research, it’s also buyers. So when buyers are learning, researching, Googling before they ever talk to a seller, how do you actually get their attention? MD: In a Forbes article, it said that about six in 10 B2B buyers prefer to go through most of the buying process without a sales rep intervening. And HRIS, human resources information system, what we sell, is very complicated, and it has an impact on the whole company. So I find it hard to believe that sales reps will be completely free of participation in the sales process. But I do think we should be leaning into the behaviors and the desires that we’re hearing from buyers. They want to see all of the information available, and that’s why we’ve had such great success with Digital Rooms, for example. The best way to accommodate this behavior is here are the trustworthy resources, so that we can meet you when you’re ready to talk to someone. RR: Okay, so you mentioned needing to create a place where when buyers are researching, they land in a location where they get everything they need, the right messaging that you want them to have, and that then leads them to an actual person that can then usher them through that back half of the sales cycle, or whatever point they reach you. Tommy, I know that you have more than a handful of creative tactics for those get your foot in the door moments. So how do you make a meaningful impression before the conversation starts? TD: I think the number one piece is providing value in every step of the way. In every interaction, there’s gotta be something that I’m bringing to the table, and me showing up and dropping off a business card or a pamphlet or a brochure or something is not cutting it. You have to do more than that. And it’s also a situation where not every person knows how to go through a buying process, because sometimes I’m talking to people who have evaluated their process every 18 months, every two years. But every once in a while, you run into that person who’s said, “We’ve been with our current provider for the last decade.” Well, a lot has changed in the last decade in the world of HRIS, so not only do you have to learn how to buy this product, but you have to then compare, contrast, and figure out the differences, and it can get confusing. The waters get muddy. Everyone starts to look and sound the same, and we have the phrase internally of the sea of sameness. We don’t wanna fall into that trap. So we really do try to differentiate ourselves right off the bat, and one of the ways that I do it is I like to drop off fudge, chocolate peanut butter fudge. And yes, it is something that I make myself. This is a recipe my mom’s been making for over 40 years, and I’ve been making it for seven and a half years. My tactic has changed over the years, pre-Highspot and post-Highspot, because before I didn’t have a good way of getting the information to the prospect about the recipe. But now I do. So what I have done is I have branded a QR code that takes the prospect to the recipe, and it’s housed in Highspot. So I can see who and when they click it. If I wanted to make it unique URLs, I could do that. But also, I can see when they’re accessing it, and then for how long they looked at it. So when I go to drop it, and number one, I always drop to the receptionist as well as to the prospect, before I get to my truck, I get an email saying that recipe has been scanned. I feel like I’m gonna be getting at least some sort of phone call back or return email for me to be able to have that additional conversation. Not having a tool like Highspot, I couldn’t do that before. It wasn’t nearly as easy. Now it’s a plug-and-play thing, and I’m rocking and rolling with it week in and week out. RR: I still can’t get over that approach. It’s so good, and it is so unique. I can’t imagine that there is anybody else that does that, and that is exactly why you get out to the parking lot, and already you’ve got someone on the line going, “Who is this?” Or, “You know what? I’ll take a call.” So I love that strategy. And I also love the call out to engagement data, of how you’re using that to intuit what’s happening in the mind of your buyer or in the mind of your prospect. So when a buyer engages with something that you’ve sent them, whether that is a fudge recipe or a brochure or whatever the case may be, what does that tell you? And then how do you use that to decide what to do next in a deal? TD: Number one, all I’m looking for is them to engage. Whether they like the fudge, they don’t like the fudge, they’re diabetic, or whatever the case may be, it sparks a conversation, and I’ve actually changed my process with that over the years. I used to drop the fudge, and then I would say, “If you want the recipe, just email me.” Well, no one willingly emails a sales rep. So it is definitely one of those things where I had to adjust. Now I can do my outreach. I can call, I can email, I can even text if I do have a cell phone number or something like that. And number one, I just wanna make sure they got it. Did they enjoy it? And then number two, if I find out too, because I’ve gotten this before, “Oh, sorry, I’m allergic. I can’t have peanuts or anything like that,” well, now I’m coming with one of the other drops that I have that is not food related. It gives me access and ability to have a conversation, be unique from the jump, and then after that, that’s when we bring in Digital Rooms or a brochure that we have tied to Highspot or something like that, where then I can interact with them in a more professional manner, talking about the products and services that we offer. It gives me the ability to adjust on the fly and do it from my phone if I need to, do it from a computer or an iPad, and it gives me the flexibility to build something specific for them. It’s not just the generic everyone gets the same response, and hopefully something sticks. I can have that personalization that you talked about at the beginning of the episode. RR: I love that, and I’m really curious too. So we’ve heard a little bit of the individual approach, of the very unique thing that you do, because I can’t imagine that every single rep at Paylocity is roaming around the continental US with fudge in their truck. Molly, I’d love if you could tell me a little bit about how you’re thinking about doing this at scale. What does your process look like for building something that you think, A, sellers will use, and that, B, buyers will go, “Hmm, maybe I should actually look into that”? MD: And one of the great things about Paylocity is our sales reps are gritty. And like Tommy was hinting at earlier, he tested the fudge approach. It’s the same with the Digital Room templates that we build. We know that when we put a Digital Room template out there, our reps are going to want to test that out. One thing that I always try to keep in mind, and when I first came into the HR and HCM space, it sort of shocked me, and I was confused when I saw all of the AEs, when they were creating their Digital Rooms, they had pictures of their families and their dogs or their pets, but mostly their kids, and a bio about, “Here’s who I am, here’s what I love to do.” Sort of humanizing, because at that point we might not know much about the prospect or the client, but we can start that conversation by opening it up and telling them about ourselves personally and as a company. One common theme I see across all of our sales win stories, when I ask the sales reps, “How did you win? Why did they pick us?” It’s almost always the client comes back and says, “You were the only one who was transparent with me about what you can and can’t do. You were the one who treated me like a human. You had real conversations with me.” So I think finding the wins and the strategies, like what Tommy’s doing, and then finding ways to share that across the broader organization, that’s the best part of my job, and it makes it really easy when you have a vehicle like a Digital Room. RR: You mentioned being in touch with your sales teams and hearing about what works. What are you kind of seeing in addition to that human element of, “I’m showcasing that I’m a person in this world”? What else are you seeing that’s compelling to buyers today? MD: Yeah. It’s in a TikTok world, and as a TikTok girl, I can confirm that videos are in high demand these days. And Paylocity in the past has historically been seen as kind of an underdog. We don’t have a famous actor with our logo promoting our brand. We haven’t had our name on a golf polo. We’ve been investing that money into our product and our people. And so when a prospect sees the platform, they’re shocked, and they learn that we’re all US-based, the customer service and everything. So I think that that’s one of the trends I’ve seen, is we’re leaning really heavily toward video content, showing who we are and painting a picture, telling a story. RR: So it’s almost just a double-down on that human element, of there is a face to a name, to a company, and I can associate all of these things about a brand with somebody who can speak to me, ask me how my day is. That’s super interesting, and I love how much you’re leaning into that. One thing that has been very clear throughout this whole conversation is that sales and enablement have a very strong feedback loop. You guys are having the conversation of what’s working, what’s not, and you’re iterating together to make sure that you can drive the business forward. So Molly, I’d love to hear from you first on how you stay in sync with sales. MD: This is one thing that is easy to lose a grip on. As anyone in enablement knows, you are getting a to-do list from the VPs, from your director, from the sales leaders, from sales reps who are telling you different things. Honestly, I consider myself to be in a good place, in that so many reps especially reach out, because they say, “Well, Molly will help, or at least she’ll try.” And unless I worked the weekends, I don’t think I could do every single thing that they ask. But I try to let them know, “I hear you most of the time. 99% of the time I agree with you, and I want to find a way to make that work.” It can be difficult to remember, “Oh wow, I haven’t checked in on my best friend in sales in a long time, Tommy. I wonder how he’s doing.” It’s sort of just like having a client who you want to go back and ask to be a reference. And I will absolutely help Tommy with something, and I know that when I need feedback on something, Tommy will be there because I have helped him launch his idea, or I’ve told his story across the organization. So to say it’s quid pro quo would be bad, and I’m not accepting bribes, although that would be nice. But the more you can communicate and help the field, the more they are willing to help you. RR: And I really like the idea of reciprocity, of I’m here in service of your work, and in order for me to do my job well, you gotta give me a hand. Because when I perform well, you perform well. It’s a good rule to live by, and I would be curious, Tommy, from the sales perspective, how that kind of plays out for you. TD: So I got two thoughts here. Number one, I think it’s pretty special to be at a place where the days of, “What are the people at corporate thinking? This is not how the real world works,” those have not been here for a very, very long time, if ever at all. I think our enablement team and our sales team do work very closely hand-in-hand to be able to come up with a good game plan that people do enjoy and use, and it makes sense and it works. The second piece to that is, as I think Mike Tyson made this quote famous, “Everyone has a good plan until they get punched in the face.” Enablement can have a great plan, sales can have a great plan to execute it and roll it out, and then something happens, and then it doesn’t work. Well, rather than just saying, “Well, that’s the plan we came up with. Good luck,” we have done a really good job of pivoting and saying, “Well, okay, let’s shift and let’s go this direction,” or whatever the case may be. And I think that only happens when you have an open line of communication from the field to enablement and vice versa, because you have to be able to adjust. You have to be able to pivot, and to be able to say, “Okay, that didn’t work. Let’s go do this now.” In fact, in preparation for this conversation, Molly and I were actually just spitballing, and it had been a few weeks since we had connected, and she mentioned something that we’re gonna be doing in the next quarter, and I’m like, “Oh, wait, I have a solution for that.” So the people doing the actual job of day-to-day stuff and the people who are building things to help, I think, have to have a relatively regular conversation to be able to say, “Let’s make this whole thing work together.” RR: As both of you were answering this question, I think it became very apparent to me why at the very outset the thing that both of you reiterated was that Paylocity is a great company with great people, because it certainly sounds like it, that you have this willingness on both sides of the field to iterate, to collaborate, to figure it out together, and when something isn’t working, to be like, “It’s you and me against a problem.” But back on track. Molly, we heard a little bit about how you’ve built really strong partnerships with field teams. As you’ve driven usage of the materials you’re building, how has that improved or impacted your sellers’ ability to reach buyers, and what impact have you seen that have on those big outcomes? MD: It’s been incredible to see Digital Rooms take off at Paylocity. It’s a culture of collaboration. Word of mouth spreads like none other. It’s wonderful to see the RVPs, the regional VPs, the directors in one region find out about something that a rep over here is doing that’s working really well, especially with Digital Rooms. They bring them onto their calls without any intervention from me, I might add. Sometimes I don’t even know that this is happening because the communication between the leaders is so strong. They’re sharing these stories, and then having a rep come on to the call and talk to other reps and having that credibility as someone in the field is incredibly impactful. When they see how their colleagues are able to break through the noise and use Digital Rooms to re-engage people who kind of fell off, “Sorry, I was busy. I wasn’t able to really engage with you, but now I have more time. This is extremely helpful as a resource,” that kind of thing, we have just seen a great impact. And as a result, I think in the past month, there have been almost 700 Digital Rooms sent in, just in the segment that Tommy and I are in. That, I think, is proof in and of itself that word of mouth has caught on like wildfire. RR: Tommy, curious from your perspective, how has the addition of Digital Rooms changed the way that you engage with buyers, and what has that meant for your results? TD: It has completely changed the way that I run my initial meeting. So years ago, when I started here, we had a PowerPoint presentation that we would typically bring to the first meeting, and it was discussing the story of Paylocity, the background of who we are, walking through what customer service looks like, and then we would get into finding out information that the prospect was willing to share with us and try to uncover what their needs are immediately so then we can figure out what the next steps need to be, whether it’s gonna be a full-on discovery conversation, whether it’s gonna be a demonstration of the product, and so forth and so on to discuss pricing and implementation and all of those things. Now that we have Digital Rooms, one of the things that I’ve been able to do is I have a standard template. So now I have this template that I use in literally every conversation, whether it’s a prospect, whether it’s a partner, center of influence, whatever the case may be, because I built this template based off of templates that Molly had created. I just kinda picked and chose the things that I liked about them, and then I made my own custom one, and now I have something that I can run an entire meeting, and no matter where the prospect wants to go, I have a part of the room that has the information that I need. I don’t have to have a 90-slide PowerPoint that I then remember, “Oh, they asked a 401k question? Well, that’s slide 76. Let me hurry up and click, click, click, click, click to get to where I need to be,” and then now I have… I can show them what I want. This is a page that’s completely customizable and buildable, so now, hey, I kinda let the prospect lead the conversation. At some point, you as a sales professional have to say, “Mr. or Mrs. Prospect, what matters to you? Let’s have that conversation.” But if you don’t have a tool where you can change and navigate in real time, it’s kinda hard to do that. So now that we have Digital Rooms, it opens it up so much to be able to say, “Okay, they wanna talk about X, Y, or Z topic. I know exactly where to go,” click, click, click. Now I’m showing you exactly what you want, and the conversation is much more impactful because you’re cutting through, as y’all said earlier, cutting through the noise to get down to exactly what they wanna talk about, and it allows you to have that conversation with maybe the HR person, but yet the CFO walks into the conversation. I’m still in the same room, and now I’m talking about things that the CFO cares about that the HR person didn’t even ask me about. So I don’t have to create new things after every conversation, and then, oh, by the way, I simply launch the room to them after the meeting. They’ve already seen it. They’re in the room, in the meeting, and now they can just re-access the same information. My click rates have gone through the roof now that I bring the room up at the beginning of the meeting and show them the room, rather than it’s an afterthought. “Oh, hey, by the way, as a recap, I’ll send you this room.” “Okay, cool, thanks, bye,” right? Now that is the meeting. It is the whole thing that we are going through, and it’s completely changed how I do it. RR: It’s super interesting, and I love that you took that in the direction of orienting the meeting, because a lot of what we were talking about initially was how does it allow buyers to do their own research. But then you’re taking it also as once they finally engage with you, it’s still that tool to keep them engaged, informed, in the loop, and then also keeping you in the loop on what they’re looking at, what they’re interested in, so then that next conversation is that much more targeted towards their interests. So again, you don’t necessarily have to ask, “Hey, Mr. or Mrs. Prospect,” because you know what they’re doing. So I love that full life cycle perspective you just gave me there. For any of our listeners that are tuning in and are like, “I wanna do this. How do I build these relationships with my sales team? How do I build a strong buyer engagement program?” What advice would you give? MD: For me, every day I learn something new. Every day I improve as a sales enablement manager, and what my recommendation would be is to start small. Just reach out to one rep, and don’t blast a handful of them. I think it goes back to personalization and customization and reaching out thoughtfully and starting to build those connections and build the trust. The most important thing is to act on the feedback and ideas that they have, because it can be really defeating when a rep brings an idea or feedback to you and you say, “Thanks,” and then it is never reflected in the work. So it really starts on a very small level, helping when you can and building trust. RR: Tommy, I’d be curious your take. TD: Yeah, I echo what Molly said. I think a lot of it has to do with who you start with and how that initial interaction goes. I’m not saying you need to start with the top salesperson in your organization, but start with someone maybe in the top 10 and get feedback from them on a specific thing, and then roll out any changes that can be made or should be made. And then that, like Molly said, that’s gonna spread like wildfire. “Hey, I was part of this pilot program. We came up with this idea. We’re rolling this out. Now it’s a national thing.” Number one, that’s an incredible amount of buy-in that you’re gonna get from those top performers. The reality is a good sales enablement team and sales rep team relationship benefits everybody. So I think there’s a mix there. It will take time, and it will take the ability to gather the feedback and opinions of a few and then roll out to the masses. So I think if you can show from an enablement side that you genuinely care, and you from a sales side genuinely want this to do better, then everyone’s gonna find common ground and find the solution that will work in that moment. RR: One of my favorite things about the podcast and getting to have these conversations with folks like you guys is hearing that it’s just good people doing good work with the best of intentions for each other. I think that’s what you always hope to encounter, the workplace you always want to be in. So I love hearing a little bit about how it’s showing up for you both at Paylocity, and I really appreciate the reminder that just be a person. Go-to-market doesn’t need to be this rigid thing. If you can show up as a human being, that’s gonna be more compelling than anything else you can do. So Molly, Tommy, thank you so much for the great advice, the great reminders. It has been really wonderful to learn from you both. MD: Thank you so much for having us. TD: Thank you, Riley. It’s been wonderful. RR: To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win/Win Podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

If you have kids, or have spent time around someone else's children for any amount of time, it's no secret that they can SUPER SUCK when they are little... which is why a story on today's show about a dad leaving his son behind on Mt. Fuiji actually makes sense. GET UP, NERD! Let's talk about that, getting in real trouble for destroying a fake camera, accidentally punting your toilet paper holder into the wall, dirty talkin' with Mike Tyson, and more on today's episode of Can You Don't?! *** Wanna become part of The Gaggle and access all the extra content on the end of each episode PLUS tons more?! Our Patreon page is LIVE! This is the biggest way you can support the show. It would mean the world to us: http://www.patreon.com/canyoudontpodcast ***New Episodes every Wednesday at 12pm PSTWatch this episode YouTube: https://youtu.be/qEHReya0jNUSend in segment content: heyguys@canyoudontpodcast.comMerch: http://canyoudontpodcast.comMerch Inquires: store@canyoudontpodcast.comFB: http://facebook.com/canyoudontpodcastIG: http://instagram.com/canyoudontpodcastYouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3wyt5rtOfficial Website: http://canyoudontpodcast.comCustom Music Beds by Zach CohenFan Mail:Can You Don't?PO Box 1062Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816Hugs and tugs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You have 4 months left — enough time to change your body, your habits and your standard, or enough time to reach December exactly where you are right now. Four months is not a small amount of time. It's long enough to build a habit that lasts a decade and short enough that starting tomorrow already costs you. The clock runs either way — the only variable is you. It's about building a strong mindset, mastering self-discipline, and pushing forward when motivation fades. No shortcuts. No excuses. Just consistency, resilience, and growth. This episode is for those chasing their goals, working in silence, and choosing long-term success over short-term pleasure. My mission is to inspire personal growth, mental toughness, and a success mindset — helping you unlock your full potential and create a better life through discipline, focus, and commitment. Featuring words of wisdom from David Goggins, Jocko Willink, Alex Hormozi, Joe Rogan, Chris Williamson, Jordan Peterson, Wissam Nabulsi, Louis Farrakhan, Andy Frisella, Georges St-Pierre, Dr Mike Israetel, Chris Bumstead, Steven Bartlett, Greg Plitt, Shi Heng Yi, Louis Farrakhan, Mike Tyson, Kevin Hart, Denzel Washington, John Maxwell, Brian Tracy, Naval Ravikant, Steve Jobs, Jay Shetty, Matthew McConaughey, Conor McGregor, Lewis Hamilton, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Theo Von, Chazz Palminteri and many more.Instagram- Daily_motivationsorgFacebook- @daily_motivationsorgSupport us PayPal

Send us Fan MailThe fight looked like a coronation until it turned into a warning label. We're breaking down Filip Hrgovic vs. Moses Itauma, the night Hrgovic grabs the IBF heavyweight title and the hype train hits a wall when the pace, the body work, and the gas tank finally catch up. We talk about what Hrgovic did right as a veteran, why his chin and composure matter in today's heavyweight boxing, and how one late swing in momentum can rewrite a career.Then we get into the stuff fans argue about all week: coaching decisions, camp preparation, and the danger of believing your own press. We unpack the Ben Davison questions, the “next Mike Tyson” comparisons, and the harsh truth that talent doesn't survive championship rounds without conditioning and a backup plan. From there, we zoom out to the wider heavyweight landscape and what matchups make sense now that the division feels more open.We also hit women's boxing with Mikaela Mayer vs. Chantelle Cameron, why close rounds and no adjustments are a risky strategy on the road, and what Katie Taylor's farewell moment says about a generation that's taken real miles. To close, we preview the Newark, New Jersey card, including Vito Mielnicki Jr. vs. Austin “Ammo” Williams and Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Damian Knyba, plus we introduce our new weekly picks game where missed “locks” mean shots before the next recording.THE SPAR-INN ON YOUTUBE

When Admiral Quinn comes aboard with an attack dog investigator, Remmick puts the crew on edge looking for evidence of a conspiracy. But after Wesley ends up in second place at the Starfleet Entrance Exam, Picard sets his old friend's mind at ease by turning down his offer for a promotion. Who is the Mike Tyson of the Federation? How did Admiral Quinn get so paranoid? What does the acting ensign dress uniform look like? It's the episode that could have used a first alternate.Support the production of our shows Members get benefits including bonus episodes and an ad-free experienceSign up for our mailing list!Get a thing at podshop.biz!The Greatest Generation is hosted by Adam Pranica and Benjamin Ahr Harrison The show is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Instagram | BlueskyAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.socialSupport the production of The Greatest Generation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a weird weekend in combat sports, especially for the big betting favorites. Umar Nurmagomedov cemented his place as the Ziggy Sobotka of his family, getting his plug pulled by Song Ya Dong in their UFC Fight Night main event in Shanghai. The “next Mike Tyson” also lost — as Moses Itauma threatened to rename the Coleman Index after himself, getting more tired than he'd ever been in his life against Filip Hrgovic before his corner threw in the towel. And then there was poor Mike Perry, who dislocated his shoulder early in his fight against replacement opponent Brandon Jenkins (curse you Dillon Danis!) and coughed up his eighth loss in his last 12 MMA fights. Back to BKFC for Platinum Mike, it seems. Plus, earlier in the week, Bella Mir lost her Dana White Contender Series fight (where she was a -6000 favorite). So, that was bad, too. Seriously, you guys, who pissed off the MMA Gods? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Jack Mulqueen joins the show to talk about his atypical path to comics and new series at Vault, Project Perseus. Mulqueen discusses why he started writing comics, his job as a nightlife developer, the community of comics, Mike Tyson experiences, self-publishing comics, being a part of comics, the origins of Project Perseus, the greatness of artist Edison Neo, bringing the book to life, its bananas energy, the characters of the book, working with Vault, whether he wants to keep making comics going forward, his next steps for writing, the New York Knicks' championship, the upcoming NBA season, and more.

Gene Simmons joins Andrew Gold for a completely unfiltered Heretics interview about KISS, celebrity politics, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Israel, fame, sex, money—and the first 29 years of his relationship with Shannon Tweed, which he now sees very differently. The KISS co-founder and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer explains why he believes the public should ignore political advice from entertainers—including himself. He takes aim at celebrity activism, discusses Kylie Jenner, Javier Bardem, Bruce Springsteen and Billie Eilish, reveals why he abandoned the Democratic Party, and warns that Los Angeles and New York are in deep trouble. But the most revealing moments are personal. Gene discusses being abandoned by his father, the terrifying childhood night that taught him to rely on himself, his extraordinary self-belief and why he says fame gave him permission to behave in ways an ordinary man never could. He also addresses the stories about 4,800 women, admits how his behaviour affected Shannon and their children, and responds directly to an explosive accusation involving his late KISS bandmate Ace Frehley. Along the way: Donald Trump, Mike Tyson, Margaret Thatcher, antisemitism, Israel, Islam, capitalism, the nuclear family, Gene's infamous tongue—and how KISS became “Disney without the overhead,” selling everything from condoms to caskets. This is Gene Simmons as few interviews capture him: funny, combative, candid and completely unfiltered. Subscribe to Heretics for more fearless, long-form conversations with the world's most fascinating people. CHAPTERS 0:00 Gene Simmons Arrives—and Asks Why We're in “the Ghetto” 2:20 “Ignore Celebrities”: Kylie Jenner & Javier Bardem 6:34 His Father Abandoned Him: The Poverty That Shaped Gene 10:56 Donald Trump, Democracy & Britain's “Flawed” System 15:09 Why Gene Abandoned the Democrats—LA & New York in Trouble 19:22 Trans Politics, the Nuclear Family & Why Musicians Should Shut Up 23:31 Billie Eilish's “Stolen Land” Claim—Then Religion Gets Explosive 29:07 Hollywood's Israel Problem & 6,000 Years of Antisemitism 33:35 Judaism, Humanism & Why Gene Simmons Loves Himself 37:15 The Childhood Night That Changed Him—and Mike Tyson's Secret 41:31 “Stop Complaining”: Gene's Brutal Formula for Success 46:25 The Infamous Tongue, 4,800 Women & Sex Addiction 52:02 “Didn't It Hurt Shannon?”—His 29-Year Reckoning 57:16 Gene Simmons Answers Ace Frehley's Explosive Accusation 1:01:43 Armie Hammer, Islam, Extremism & Britain's Grooming Gangs 1:05:39 Jesus, Galileo & the Heretics Gene Simmons Admires #GeneSimmons #KISS #Heretics #AndrewGold #RockAndRoll Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[REBROADCAST FROM July 31, 2025] We continue our week spotlighting memoirs and biographies with a look into the life of boxer and Brooklyn native Mike Tyson. Mark Kriegel discusses his new biography, Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson. Cover art courtesy of Penguin Press Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Supreme McGriff Jr. grew up in Queens not fully understanding who his father was until the stories, the attention, and the weight of the name Kenneth Supreme McGriff started shaping everything around him — while his mother worked to keep him away from the path that had defined his father's legacy and the federal prison sentence that followed it. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, he shares what finding out his father is Kenneth Supreme McGriff actually produced in him, what his upbringing in Queens really looked like with that name attached to everything, what his own trouble with scamming and his time on Rikers Island actually involved, what deciding to create an Instagram account with his father's name attached to his own actually set in motion — the celebrities who reached out, the stories with Mike Tyson, the 50 Cent beef, and the complete truth about what carrying one of the most recognized and most feared names in New York street history actually costs the son who never chose it. _____________________________________________  #TrueCrime #RikersIsland #supreme #50Cent #prisonstories _____________________________________________  Thank you to HUNGRYROOT & AG1 for sponsoring this episode: Hungryroot: Explore my Hungryroot Digital Cookbook "The Commissary Upgrade" at https://hungryroot.com/LOCKEDIN _____________________________________________ AG1: For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at https://drinkag1.com/lockedin _____________________________________________ Connect with Supreme McGriff Jr: https://www.instagram.com/supreme_mcgriff/?hl=en _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Growing Up In Queens 01:02 Discovering My Father's Identity 03:13 My Dad's Life And Their Split 05:17 Life Before Knowing The Truth 07:31 Learning About My Dad From The Streets 09:39 The 50 Cent Connection 10:02 Law Enforcement's Perspective 11:21 Meeting My Dad For The First Time 13:41 First Phone Call With Supreme 14:28 Advice And Avoiding The Streets 16:17 Inevitable Pull Of The Streets 17:37 Uncle Comes Home From Prison 18:08 Street Culture Today 19:40 Dad's Fear For My Safety 22:16 Bill Courtney And The Movie 24:29 Sponsor: Hungry Root 27:11 Finding Myself In My Late Teens 29:25 Introduction To Scamming 30:38 Mom Discovers The Truth 32:36 Dad Finds Out I'm Scamming 35:26 Turning Myself In 36:44 Incarceration And Identity 38:23 Why Scamming Over Drugs 39:17 My Rikers Experience 43:28 Keeping My Identity Private In Jail 48:48 Life After Rikers 51:33 Finding My Path 53:17 Going Viral With 50 Cent's Son 55:20 Trolling And Building A Brand 56:04 The Brother Rumor 59:59 First Celebrity Encounters 01:01:31 Interviews And 50 Cent Questions 01:03:06 Biggest Conspiracy Theories 01:04:43 Dad's Take On My Interviews 01:06:47 Supreme Clothing Brand Connection 01:08:13 Mike Tyson Saved My Life 01:13:23 A Movie About My Dad 01:14:48 Thoughts On Meech 01:19:39 Challenging Lil Meech To A Fight 01:25:09 My Current Businesses 01:27:16 Relationship With My Dad Now 01:30:08 Hope For My Dad's Release 01:32:24 My Dad's Legacy 01:33:09 Changing My Last Name 01:33:34 Meeting My Half Sister 01:34:11 My Mom's Thoughts On My Fame 01:35:27 The Hit On My Mom 01:37:28 What If I Never Knew _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka

If you've been a fan of the show for a while, you know how incredibly special this episode is... We are so stoked to bring to you... The WANYE BRADY episode!!! • Get Unrestricted : https://www.dopeasusualpodcast.com/unrestricted • Podcast : https://www.instagram.com/dope_as_usual_podcast • Yola : https://www.instagram.com/dope.as.yola/ • Marty : https://www.instagram.com/marty_made_it • Wayne: https://www.instagram.com/mrbradybaby 00:00 Intro 01:15 Wayne Brady's 10-Year Overnight Success 05:19 Becoming the Most Valuable Person in the Room 07:19 One of the Greatest Improvisers Ever 11:12 ADHD and the Creative Mind 16:13 Sleep, Dreams and a Mind That Never Stops 18:23 Terrifying Recurring Dreams 23:36 Social Media, Young Performers and What AI Can't Replace 26:13 Why Every Performer Needs to Bomb 29:24 Miss Blakk for President and Untold History 38:39 Why Live Theater Feels Like Magic 41:20 Broadway and Performing with Billy Porter 45:27 Authenticity Is an Act of Bravery 48:16 Wayne Brady on Haters and Online Criticism 53:05 What If? with Wayne Brady and Jonathan Mangum 55:43 Wayne Brady's Most Unexpected Fan 56:54 The Truth Behind Wayne's Chappelle's Show Sketch 1:00:44 Being Boxed In Will Kill Your Career 1:02:00 Breaking Out of the “Weed Guy” Box 1:03:36 Does Wayne Brady Smoke Weed? 1:05:15 Mike Tyson, Mushrooms and Psychedelics 1:06:43 Wayne Brady's Accidental Edible Nightmare 1:14:32 DMT, Ketamine Therapy and Trauma 1:17:21 Final Thoughts and Where to Find Wayne Thank you for watching DOPE AS USUAL Podcast #DopeAsUsual #Podcast #Funny Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teddy Atlas breaks down Teofimo Lopez's win over Rolly Romero, Amanda Serrano's scare against Mansour, and looks ahead to Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgovic as the 21-year-old heavyweight chases history and a chance to become the youngest champion since Mike Tyson.Thanks for being with us. The best way to support is to subscribe, share the episode and check out our sponsor: Fiofo.comTeddy10 for 10% offhttps://athleticgreens.com/atlasLa Rocca Coffee Company - There's Always Time for Coffee – Authentic Espresso – Larocca Coffee Company: https://www.laroccacoffeecompany.com/ TEDDY10 for 10% off on website. Plus, a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Teddy Atlas FoundationYou can join Teddy for the first ever community driven and one-of-a-kind subscription platform to get exclusive never seen before access to Teddy Atlas: https://Teddyatlasboxing.com The Ropes with Teddy includes: Teddy's tips and advice Evaluations/ video review feedback / Exclusive Fight Picks /Dedicated livestreams for private Q&A's and livestreams for selected fights with Teddy's commentary / 1 on 1 coaching from Teddy and much more! Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:45 - Lopez vs Romero20:30 - Hernandez vs Veron29:00 - Serrano vs Manzur44:20 - Itauma vs HrgovicTEDDY'S AUDIOBOOKAmazon/Audible: https://amzn.to/32104DRiTunes/Apple: https://apple.co/32y813rTHE FIGHT T-SHIRTShttps://teddyatlas.comTEDDY'S SOCIAL MEDIATwitter - http://twitter.com/teddyatlasrealInstagram - http://instagram.com/teddy_atlasTHE FIGHT WITH TEDDY ATLAS SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram - http://instagram.com/thefightWTATwitter - http://twitter.com/thefightwtaFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheFightwithTeddyAtlasThanks for tuning in. Please be sure to subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Increase Close Rates with consistent, professional in-home sales presentations for home improvement and home services businesses, and Dean Curtis of Ingage shares the principles and tools that help small operators win more deals at the kitchen table. Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/619-dean-curtis-presentarions-close-deals/ SPECIAL OFFER: 10% OFF the Ingage Pro when you use the code "HOWOFBUSINESS". For home services businesses, the sale is often won or lost at the customer's kitchen table and Dean Curtis, CEO of Ingage, joins the show to explain how a more consistent, professional in-home presentation can dramatically improve close rates, with client case studies to back it up. If you sell at the customer's home (roofing, windows, doors, siding, gutters, baths, etc.) then you're trying to convince a homeowner that you're the right person to solve their problem, and that process is highly educational. Too often the materials salespeople bring to present are off-brand, out of order, and different for every salesperson. That inconsistency costs deals. When the content is consistent, on-brand, and matched to a proven sales process, close rates go up. In this episode of The How of Business, Henry Lopez is joined by Dean Curtis to explore why consistency, trust, and preparation drive home services sales and how the right content levels the playing field so even a one-person shop can look and perform like a 100-person company. The discussion opens on consistency. In the replacement remodeling market, the same products are sold over and over, the objections are common, and the more consistent a rep's approach, the higher they close. But consistent doesn't mean rigid. Dean uses a bingo-board analogy to explain why the best sales reps move dynamically to answer whatever the customer raises. As he puts it, borrowing from Mike Tyson: "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." From there the conversation turns to trust, which Dean breaks into three drivers: brand (a homeowner judges you within a fraction of a second), personalization (put the customer's own house and name on the first screen), and education (be the guide who makes the homeowner the hero). "No one cares what you can sell, what you can install if they don't trust you," Dean explains. Dean then shares what separates the teams that win: they train, they practice, and they coach. They don't hand sales teams content and wish them luck. Instead, they build a feedback loop, using analytics to see what's working and coaching reps without it feeling like Big Brother. He also cautions that content is a tool inside the conversation, not a replacement for it. The episode closes with two grounding reminders for any small business owner: do the same thing every time so you can actually learn what works, and remember that technology is never a silver bullet — start with the problem, not the shiny object. Or as Dean sums up trust: little deposits in the trust bank go a long way. This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run, grow and exit your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Alan Dershowitz is in many ways the sort of person that Alicia would describe as a spider in the spiderwebs we indulge in. He's represented Patty Hearst, Mike Tyson, and OJ Simpson - all three TD alums - and has also managed across his career to push boundaries when it comes to legal ethics and attacks on opponents. Unfortunately, Alan's first wife learned what it's like to be against him in a courtroom when they divorced in the mid-1970s, and it was brutal.  You can find all sources at trashydivorces.com, but here is The New Yorker piece Stacie references throughout: Alan Dershowitz, Devil's Advocate | The New Yorker Sponsors Upgrade your every day! Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to ⁠Quince.com/TRASHY⁠. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and UK, too! Vinted. See what's hiding in your closet – you might be surprised how much you can earn with Vinted! Download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees, and for a limited time, enjoy free shipping in the US. For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life, when you head to Smalls.com/TRASHY. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces! Want a personalized message for someone in your life? Check us out on Cameo! To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices