Podcasts about paul how

01:00 LA riots against ICE 28:20 Michael joins to discuss the LA riots, https://x.com/Michaelmvlog 38:00 Trump builds the wall, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=161511 50:00 We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine, https://www.amazon.com/We-Who-Wrestle-God-Perceptions/dp/0593542533 1:13:20 Does Jewish behavior affect how non-Jews react to Jews? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wehJlbfW71E 1:16:00 Cory Booker does the same salute as Elon Musk but the MSM doesn't call Booker a Nazi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ8-Zr1dc-c 1:19:20 Video: Media Insists on Calling El Salvadoran Migrant "Maryland Man", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA7_x5piKcg 1:25:00 Decoding the Trump-Musk blowup 1:30:00 The Lab Leak Goes Mainstream, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-the-lab-leak-goes-mainstream/id1651876897?i=1000711465615 1:50:00 NYT: Misty Copeland on Her Career, Body Shaming, and DEI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9_uRHvcLj4 1:52:00 Why Are There Only Glowing Articles About Misty Copeland?, https://yourmoralleader.blogspot.com/2025/06/why-are-there-only-glowing-articles.html 2:13:20 VIDEO: Mass Immigration Stops People From Having Kids, https://anncoulter.substack.com/p/video-mass-immigration-stops-people 2:14:00 Darel E. Paul: Mass Immigration Lowers Fertility, https://www.compactmag.com/article/mass-immigration-lowers-fertility/ 2:15:40 Darel E. Paul: How the War on Woke Was Won—for Now, https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-the-war-on-woke-was-won-for-now/ 2:17:00 Darel E. Paul: Diversity: A Managerial Ideology, https://quillette.com/2018/02/19/diversity-managerial-ideology/ 2:26:00 Tim Dillon on Trump v Musk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZPXQbcUHeI 2:28:40 My father lashed out when his status was threatened, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Ford 2:32:00 Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, June 6, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa6FU-tOdqk 2:35:00 Re-Parenting - Part 103 - Loneliness: The Silent Struggle We All Feel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tfpj3DhCg0 2:46:00 Video: The trap of understanding: considerations are concessions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3WO95JaNE 2:50:00 KTLA: Heavy military presence seen in downtown Los Angeles after days of immigration protests 3:13:00 Decoding the Gurus, https://www.patreon.com/c/DecodingTheGurus 3:36:00 The Fifth Column: The Second Battle of Batya (w/ Batya Ungar-Sargon), https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/502-the-second-battle-of-batya-w-batya-ungar-sargon/id1097696129?i=1000704820537 3:54:00 Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=161498

(2:03) Bible Study: 2 Pt 3:12-15a, 17-18 Fires of God's love are in purgatory? Find out what that means here Mk 12:13-17 Jesus was more clever than you would think in this passage. Find out how from Father Simon. (21:20) Break 1 (22:17) Letters: Father answers questions about receiving communion, our Blessed Mother, The Saint Jude Novena and are there different levels in heaven?  (35:12) Break 2 (36:24) Word of the Day: Spoude (yes, that's a word) (39:22) Phones: Patricia - My daughter claims LGBTQ as her identity and inviting me to go to the pride parade this weekend.  What to do? Paul - How does a priest determine the penance for confession? Jay - Eucharistic Prayer I, and why is Matthias listed separately from the apostles? Mike - Contradiction b/w the 1st sorrow of Mary in seven sorrows and yet the 4th joyful mystery presentation. Paul - What is all about the red heifers, dating back to sacrifice and Noah Hyde Laws

Have you noticed that the number three seems to be a big deal for the apostle Paul in Ephesians? For example, in the first fourteen verses we read of the three-fold role our Triune God has in our salvation: God the Father chose us before the foundation of the world (1:3-6), Jesus the Son made our redemption possible (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit sealed us for the Day of redemption (vv. 12-13). We see it in the way Paul prays for the Ephesian Church: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (vv. 18-19a). I thought one way to help you see this was to reimagine Pauls series of threes as his answer to a series of questions by Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, a character from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, a book first published in 1678 and is currently listed as the fifth most translated book in the world. If you are not aware of who John Bunyan was, all you know for now is that he wrote Pilgrims Progress while in prison for twelve years for preaching the gospel, his book is an allegory on the Christian life. In Bunyans book, the protagonist, Christian Pilgrim leaves his home, The City of Destruction, to embark on a pilgrimage for the salvation of his soul and to find the Celestial City where he can live for all eternity in the company of God. While on his journey he is helped and guided by other characters such as Evangelist, who is known as a preacher of the Holy Word and is eager to help those who are seriously concerned about the state of their souls. Christian also meets Interpreter who shows Christian many wonders and shows Christian many exhortations on the way he should go. There are others who join Christian on his journey such as Pliant who quits the pilgrimage after facing his first obstacle, and Hopeful, a refugee from Vanity Fair, who proves to be a faithful companion to Christian all the way to the Celestial City. There are others who Christian encounters that try to turn him away from the narrow way to the Celestial City who go by the names of Giant Despair, Apollyon, Flatterer, and Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Bunyan described Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, in this way: not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? Imagine what a conversation might look like if Mr. Worldly Wiseman visited the Apostle Paul in prison during the same time the epistle to the Ephesians was written: Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Paul, tell me how you can be sure that you are Christian since you are now in prison? Paul: Regardless of my circumstance, I am a Christian for these three reasons: I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1:4-6), I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ for sins I am guilty of (vv. 7-12), and I am sealed by the Holy Spirit for a full and future redemption (vv. 13-14). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Why spend your years in prison and suffer when you can be free so long as you dont keep blabbing about Jesus in places people dont want to hear it? You know, you can be a Christian and be compliant too! Paul: How can I be quiet about something so important? Jesus commands me not to be quite about my relationship with Him and how he saved me even though I was, Dead to God (2:1), A slave to sin (vv. 2-3a), and A child of the wrath of God because of the sins I committed against Him (v. 3). What this means, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, is that I was once like you: A friend of the world (2:2a), A child of the devil (v. 2b), and A slave to my own flesh (v. 3). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Im not sure if I should feel insulted or pity for you because you believe such rubbish. So, tell me, what is so different between you and me? Paul: Jesus is the difference between you and me! Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that I could never live; He died a death I deserved on a cross for sins I committed, and He validated all of that by rising from death on the third day. What is true of me is true of every real Christian, and this is why I have chosen to follow Him: I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive in Christ (1:7; 2:4) My nature was bound by my sins, but now I have been raised with Christ (v. 6a) I stood condemned by a holy God, but now I am seated with Christ and am covered by His righteousness (v. 6b). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Come on Paul! I am a religious person and I admire Jesus as a great example to aspire to. We need to do our best and let God do the rest, but you have taken your Christianity too seriously! Paul: No one can do enough for the kind of salvation you and I need! The only thing God required of me was a faith that was only possible because of His grace. It is a grace that I could not, nor ever will earn, by anything I could ever do! I am the recipient of, A rich mercy we did deserve (v. 4a). A great love God was not obligated to give (v. 4b). An all-sufficient grace no one could earn (v. 5) All of which is only possible in and through Jesus Christ alone! So, now we come to Ephesians 2:8-10 and are immediately faced with another set of three words and why it is that God saved us in the first place. If you were asked the same questions or interrogated in the way I had Mr. Worldly-Wiseman interrogate Paul, how would you answer? My two points are in the form of two questions that this passage answers for us in a way that should be deeply discouraging or encouraging to you. How Does God Save? Now, considering all that we have studied together, we find ourselves at the threshold of Ephesians 2:8-9. What I want to do with you this morning is to walk you through these verses in light of the context of Ephesians 1:3-2:7. I want us to look at these verses together against the backdrop of my warning at the beginning of this sermon series which was this: Beware of imposing your view and thoughts of what God should be like, upon the text of His holy Word. You must allow the authority of Gods Word to impose its teaching upon your heart for the purpose of shaping it in a way that the eyes of your heart are able to see God more clearly. Now, before I go any further, let me say first and foremost that I want you to make your own conclusion with these verses based on the evidence of what you see in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. I am not concerned if you end up seeing things differently than the way I see them so long as you do not impose what you think the Bible should say upon what it actually says. My only concern before you this morning is that I preach and teach the Bible in such a manner that I am faithful to the Word of God so when I stand before Him, I will do so knowing that I was faithful with what He has entrusted to me. So, here we go! Buckle up because it is going to be a fun ride. Lets start with verses 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The three words I want you to see in this verse are grace, saved (i.e. salvation), and faith. To answer the question, How does God save? we need figure out what is the gift that He gives so that no one may boast. Is grace the gift given by God, or is salvation the gift given by God, or is a persons faith the gift given by God? Whatever the gift is, it eliminates any notion on our part that we did something to get it, otherwise Paul would never have felt the need to include verse 9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. If I am right about what I see in Ephesians 2:8-9, it will open up verse 10 in a way that will encourage you and blow your mind at the same time. So, what have we seen in Ephesians so far leading up to these verses? Permit me to put what Paul lists concerning our salvation in sequential order from spiritual death to life: We were spiritually dead in our offenses and sins (2:1) We know we were spiritually dead because we were slaves to our sin (2:2a) Because we were slaves to our sin against God, we were by nature children of His wrath (2:3). But God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, did three things (vv. 2:4-5): He made us alive with Christ (2:5b). He raised us up with Christ (2:6a). He seated us with Christ (2:6b). As a Christian, you can know that your salvation involved three acts of God Before the foundation of the earth, God chose to adopt you as His child through Jesus (1:4-6). In order to adopt you as His child, God redeemed you through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of all your wrongdoings (1:7-12). Because God will not lose any who He has redeemed, He has sealed you with His Holy Spirit until your redemption and salvation is complete (1:13-14). So, in light of all that Paul wrote concerning what God has done for the Christian, what does he mean by Ephesians 2:8-9? Let me offer up some fair and legitimate questions: If I am spiritually dead, how can a spiritually dead person respond to God in faith? If I am able to respond to God in faith in order to receive salvation through Jesus, then is my faith exempt from the kinds of works Paul is talking about in verse 9? If faith is a gift God imparts on me on some level, then how is my trust in Jesus for the salvation of my soul legitimate? Does your brain hurt from trying to process these sorts of questions? I have wrestled over these verses for nearly 30 years and have understood them in three different ways that I think may help give you some perspective. In my early years, I was convinced that the gift of God was a salvation that could only be received by faith. Sometime after I started reading guys like Jonathan Edwards and St. Augustine, I leaned towards thinking that it was faith that was the gift of God. To be honest, what makes all of this even more confusing is the Greek allows the person interpreting these verses to make either one of these conclusions. Here is where I sit now, and I believe that how I see it fits best with everything Paul has written leading up to these verses, and it fits with the rest of the Bible. So, what is the gift of God? It is His Grace, our faith, and our salvation in that order! The this is Gods grace, our faith, and our salvation. Think about what grace is for a moment. Biblical grace is Gods unmerited favor; it is favor given to someone who does not deserve it. Do you remember what I said in the second sermon I preached in this series on Ephesians 1:4-6? I told you that at the very least, when it comes to God, what we read in these verses leads to the conclusion that God moved first. We see the very same thing here in Ephesians 2:8! At the very least, it is the sheer grace of almighty God that I had reached a point in my life on July 18, 1991, when all that I heard about Jesus made sense and I surrendered my life to Jesus and was genuinely and categorically saved from the wrath of God and forgiven all my sins! Every step and experience leading up to that moment was also the demonstration of a God who pursued me, found me, and overcame my sin because His mercy was rich, His love was great, and His grace sufficient to do what a 16-year-old teenage boy could not do. God made me alive with Christ, God raised me up with Christ, and God seated me with Christ on that summers day on July 18, 1991, but He did not believe for me; I had to believe to be saved. He did the same thing with you Christian, but He did not believe for you! But my believing in Christ for the salvation of my soul, and your believing in Him for the salvation of your soul is not only a testament of Gods grace, but the proof that miracles happen. For What Purpose Does God Save? So, why did He do it? Why did he save you? Why did He choose you, redeem you, seal you, and made you, who were once dead, the recipient of the, boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:7)? After all, what Jonathan Edwards said concerning what we bring to our salvation is the resounding testimony of all of Scripture: You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. God didnt have to do it! God was not morally obligated to do it! But God did it; He saved you and redeemed you for the forgiveness of all your sin according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon you (1:7). But why? The answer is found in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The first word in verse 10 is the word For, which is telling us something. What it is telling us is that considering Ephesians 2:1-9, the following is true! You who were dead in your sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind as a child of the wrath of God (vv. 1-3), God made you alive in Christ, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in those good works. This is exactly why God choose you, Christian, before the foundation of the world; listen to Ephesians 1:4 again: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. What this means, and this is so important to see with the eyes of your heart: We were not saved to coast until we enter into the presence of God in heaven but were saved so that God could reveal His presence through us because of His resurrection power to change us! It is absolute nonsense to think and believe that you can encounter Jesus on the level Paul describes in Ephesians and remain unchanged! It is like saying that you can remain the same after you walk in front of a bus traveling 65 MPH; the force of the bus will change you permanently. Listen carefully, the God who spoke 300 billion suns into existence is the same God who makes alive the spiritually dead through the power of the Gospel of a resurrected Christ! How is it that a person can remain unchanged by a power greater than 300 billion suns? I will tell you; it is because that person has never truly encountered Christ, whose mercy is richer, love is greater, and grace more sufficient than all of our sins and the sins of 8.1 billion people combined! What we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 is that in light of the resurrection power of God through the redeeming work of Jesus the Son, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit who seals us, it is the grace of God that leads to faith in God, for our salvation by God, for the purpose of a life of good works that glorifies God. The work that God is doing in your life is ongoing. I feel that it is fitting to close with something Sinclair Ferguson wrote concerning these verses: Heaven may be the final showroom; but here on earth God is already showing what he can do.. The church triumphant is an art gallery where God displays reflections of his glory. It is a portrait gallery in which the family likeness is seen in countless different individuals who together display his infinite glory. The church visible, here, and now, is a workshop. The Divine Artist is still painting his likeness on the canvas of our lives, the Divine Potter still has the clay in his hands. The time for final exhibition has not yet come. But one day it will. Then all that God has done in us in secret, invisible to the naked eye, will become visible for all to see. What a day that will be![1] [1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 53.

Have you noticed that the number three seems to be a big deal for the apostle Paul in Ephesians? For example, in the first fourteen verses we read of the three-fold role our Triune God has in our salvation: God the Father chose us before the foundation of the world (1:3-6), Jesus the Son made our redemption possible (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit sealed us for the Day of redemption (vv. 12-13). We see it in the way Paul prays for the Ephesian Church: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (vv. 18-19a). I thought one way to help you see this was to reimagine Pauls series of threes as his answer to a series of questions by Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, a character from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, a book first published in 1678 and is currently listed as the fifth most translated book in the world. If you are not aware of who John Bunyan was, all you know for now is that he wrote Pilgrims Progress while in prison for twelve years for preaching the gospel, his book is an allegory on the Christian life. In Bunyans book, the protagonist, Christian Pilgrim leaves his home, The City of Destruction, to embark on a pilgrimage for the salvation of his soul and to find the Celestial City where he can live for all eternity in the company of God. While on his journey he is helped and guided by other characters such as Evangelist, who is known as a preacher of the Holy Word and is eager to help those who are seriously concerned about the state of their souls. Christian also meets Interpreter who shows Christian many wonders and shows Christian many exhortations on the way he should go. There are others who join Christian on his journey such as Pliant who quits the pilgrimage after facing his first obstacle, and Hopeful, a refugee from Vanity Fair, who proves to be a faithful companion to Christian all the way to the Celestial City. There are others who Christian encounters that try to turn him away from the narrow way to the Celestial City who go by the names of Giant Despair, Apollyon, Flatterer, and Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Bunyan described Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, in this way: not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? Imagine what a conversation might look like if Mr. Worldly Wiseman visited the Apostle Paul in prison during the same time the epistle to the Ephesians was written: Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Paul, tell me how you can be sure that you are Christian since you are now in prison? Paul: Regardless of my circumstance, I am a Christian for these three reasons: I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1:4-6), I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ for sins I am guilty of (vv. 7-12), and I am sealed by the Holy Spirit for a full and future redemption (vv. 13-14). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Why spend your years in prison and suffer when you can be free so long as you dont keep blabbing about Jesus in places people dont want to hear it? You know, you can be a Christian and be compliant too! Paul: How can I be quiet about something so important? Jesus commands me not to be quite about my relationship with Him and how he saved me even though I was, Dead to God (2:1), A slave to sin (vv. 2-3a), and A child of the wrath of God because of the sins I committed against Him (v. 3). What this means, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, is that I was once like you: A friend of the world (2:2a), A child of the devil (v. 2b), and A slave to my own flesh (v. 3). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Im not sure if I should feel insulted or pity for you because you believe such rubbish. So, tell me, what is so different between you and me? Paul: Jesus is the difference between you and me! Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that I could never live; He died a death I deserved on a cross for sins I committed, and He validated all of that by rising from death on the third day. What is true of me is true of every real Christian, and this is why I have chosen to follow Him: I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive in Christ (1:7; 2:4) My nature was bound by my sins, but now I have been raised with Christ (v. 6a) I stood condemned by a holy God, but now I am seated with Christ and am covered by His righteousness (v. 6b). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Come on Paul! I am a religious person and I admire Jesus as a great example to aspire to. We need to do our best and let God do the rest, but you have taken your Christianity too seriously! Paul: No one can do enough for the kind of salvation you and I need! The only thing God required of me was a faith that was only possible because of His grace. It is a grace that I could not, nor ever will earn, by anything I could ever do! I am the recipient of, A rich mercy we did deserve (v. 4a). A great love God was not obligated to give (v. 4b). An all-sufficient grace no one could earn (v. 5) All of which is only possible in and through Jesus Christ alone! So, now we come to Ephesians 2:8-10 and are immediately faced with another set of three words and why it is that God saved us in the first place. If you were asked the same questions or interrogated in the way I had Mr. Worldly-Wiseman interrogate Paul, how would you answer? My two points are in the form of two questions that this passage answers for us in a way that should be deeply discouraging or encouraging to you. How Does God Save? Now, considering all that we have studied together, we find ourselves at the threshold of Ephesians 2:8-9. What I want to do with you this morning is to walk you through these verses in light of the context of Ephesians 1:3-2:7. I want us to look at these verses together against the backdrop of my warning at the beginning of this sermon series which was this: Beware of imposing your view and thoughts of what God should be like, upon the text of His holy Word. You must allow the authority of Gods Word to impose its teaching upon your heart for the purpose of shaping it in a way that the eyes of your heart are able to see God more clearly. Now, before I go any further, let me say first and foremost that I want you to make your own conclusion with these verses based on the evidence of what you see in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. I am not concerned if you end up seeing things differently than the way I see them so long as you do not impose what you think the Bible should say upon what it actually says. My only concern before you this morning is that I preach and teach the Bible in such a manner that I am faithful to the Word of God so when I stand before Him, I will do so knowing that I was faithful with what He has entrusted to me. So, here we go! Buckle up because it is going to be a fun ride. Lets start with verses 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The three words I want you to see in this verse are grace, saved (i.e. salvation), and faith. To answer the question, How does God save? we need figure out what is the gift that He gives so that no one may boast. Is grace the gift given by God, or is salvation the gift given by God, or is a persons faith the gift given by God? Whatever the gift is, it eliminates any notion on our part that we did something to get it, otherwise Paul would never have felt the need to include verse 9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. If I am right about what I see in Ephesians 2:8-9, it will open up verse 10 in a way that will encourage you and blow your mind at the same time. So, what have we seen in Ephesians so far leading up to these verses? Permit me to put what Paul lists concerning our salvation in sequential order from spiritual death to life: We were spiritually dead in our offenses and sins (2:1) We know we were spiritually dead because we were slaves to our sin (2:2a) Because we were slaves to our sin against God, we were by nature children of His wrath (2:3). But God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, did three things (vv. 2:4-5): He made us alive with Christ (2:5b). He raised us up with Christ (2:6a). He seated us with Christ (2:6b). As a Christian, you can know that your salvation involved three acts of God Before the foundation of the earth, God chose to adopt you as His child through Jesus (1:4-6). In order to adopt you as His child, God redeemed you through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of all your wrongdoings (1:7-12). Because God will not lose any who He has redeemed, He has sealed you with His Holy Spirit until your redemption and salvation is complete (1:13-14). So, in light of all that Paul wrote concerning what God has done for the Christian, what does he mean by Ephesians 2:8-9? Let me offer up some fair and legitimate questions: If I am spiritually dead, how can a spiritually dead person respond to God in faith? If I am able to respond to God in faith in order to receive salvation through Jesus, then is my faith exempt from the kinds of works Paul is talking about in verse 9? If faith is a gift God imparts on me on some level, then how is my trust in Jesus for the salvation of my soul legitimate? Does your brain hurt from trying to process these sorts of questions? I have wrestled over these verses for nearly 30 years and have understood them in three different ways that I think may help give you some perspective. In my early years, I was convinced that the gift of God was a salvation that could only be received by faith. Sometime after I started reading guys like Jonathan Edwards and St. Augustine, I leaned towards thinking that it was faith that was the gift of God. To be honest, what makes all of this even more confusing is the Greek allows the person interpreting these verses to make either one of these conclusions. Here is where I sit now, and I believe that how I see it fits best with everything Paul has written leading up to these verses, and it fits with the rest of the Bible. So, what is the gift of God? It is His Grace, our faith, and our salvation in that order! The this is Gods grace, our faith, and our salvation. Think about what grace is for a moment. Biblical grace is Gods unmerited favor; it is favor given to someone who does not deserve it. Do you remember what I said in the second sermon I preached in this series on Ephesians 1:4-6? I told you that at the very least, when it comes to God, what we read in these verses leads to the conclusion that God moved first. We see the very same thing here in Ephesians 2:8! At the very least, it is the sheer grace of almighty God that I had reached a point in my life on July 18, 1991, when all that I heard about Jesus made sense and I surrendered my life to Jesus and was genuinely and categorically saved from the wrath of God and forgiven all my sins! Every step and experience leading up to that moment was also the demonstration of a God who pursued me, found me, and overcame my sin because His mercy was rich, His love was great, and His grace sufficient to do what a 16-year-old teenage boy could not do. God made me alive with Christ, God raised me up with Christ, and God seated me with Christ on that summers day on July 18, 1991, but He did not believe for me; I had to believe to be saved. He did the same thing with you Christian, but He did not believe for you! But my believing in Christ for the salvation of my soul, and your believing in Him for the salvation of your soul is not only a testament of Gods grace, but the proof that miracles happen. For What Purpose Does God Save? So, why did He do it? Why did he save you? Why did He choose you, redeem you, seal you, and made you, who were once dead, the recipient of the, boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:7)? After all, what Jonathan Edwards said concerning what we bring to our salvation is the resounding testimony of all of Scripture: You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. God didnt have to do it! God was not morally obligated to do it! But God did it; He saved you and redeemed you for the forgiveness of all your sin according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon you (1:7). But why? The answer is found in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The first word in verse 10 is the word For, which is telling us something. What it is telling us is that considering Ephesians 2:1-9, the following is true! You who were dead in your sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind as a child of the wrath of God (vv. 1-3), God made you alive in Christ, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in those good works. This is exactly why God choose you, Christian, before the foundation of the world; listen to Ephesians 1:4 again: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. What this means, and this is so important to see with the eyes of your heart: We were not saved to coast until we enter into the presence of God in heaven but were saved so that God could reveal His presence through us because of His resurrection power to change us! It is absolute nonsense to think and believe that you can encounter Jesus on the level Paul describes in Ephesians and remain unchanged! It is like saying that you can remain the same after you walk in front of a bus traveling 65 MPH; the force of the bus will change you permanently. Listen carefully, the God who spoke 300 billion suns into existence is the same God who makes alive the spiritually dead through the power of the Gospel of a resurrected Christ! How is it that a person can remain unchanged by a power greater than 300 billion suns? I will tell you; it is because that person has never truly encountered Christ, whose mercy is richer, love is greater, and grace more sufficient than all of our sins and the sins of 8.1 billion people combined! What we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 is that in light of the resurrection power of God through the redeeming work of Jesus the Son, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit who seals us, it is the grace of God that leads to faith in God, for our salvation by God, for the purpose of a life of good works that glorifies God. The work that God is doing in your life is ongoing. I feel that it is fitting to close with something Sinclair Ferguson wrote concerning these verses: Heaven may be the final showroom; but here on earth God is already showing what he can do.. The church triumphant is an art gallery where God displays reflections of his glory. It is a portrait gallery in which the family likeness is seen in countless different individuals who together display his infinite glory. The church visible, here, and now, is a workshop. The Divine Artist is still painting his likeness on the canvas of our lives, the Divine Potter still has the clay in his hands. The time for final exhibition has not yet come. But one day it will. Then all that God has done in us in secret, invisible to the naked eye, will become visible for all to see. What a day that will be![1] [1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 53.

We delved into the power of prayer and explored its deeply personal and universal aspects. We discussed the significance of praying with sincerity, whether for our own needs or for bigger global issues. The Lord's Prayer served as a guide for understanding prayer's components. We tackled tough topics like the spiritual journey during times of mortal sin and the healing process post-divorce, finding comfort in the Catholic Church's teachings. We even discussed the sacredness of the Mass and the importance of sacraments like baptism and the Eucharist for salvation. Let's carry these reflections into our daily lives and remember to support each other in prayer, always with faith and love. Patrick continues his conversation with Ed from the end of the previous hour taking about mortal sin and confession Bee - I used to be divorced and remarried. I want to encourage a caller yesterday who is going through an annulment. Thank you Patrick for showing me the Catholic faith! Paul – How can I explain salvation through sacraments to a non-believer? (11:06) Anna (email) – Should a priest be allowed to have his dog with him at Mass? (22:07) Jonathon - Can you flesh out why we go to a priest instead of telling God our sins directly? Margaret - Is it selfish to pray for yourself when it comes to little things when there are big things out there? Mike - My son hates my guts. What should I do to help him?

Paul Epstein, leadership expert, organizational culture guru, and Founder of Purpose Labs. With nearly fifteen years of experience in professional sports management and business coaching, Paul shares his transformative journey and insights with our audience. Career Journey: A brief overview of Paul's career, from his roles in multiple NFL and NBA teams to his current mission with Purpose Labs. The life-changing transformation at the San Francisco 49ers that led Paul to discover his 'Why' and inspire purpose in others. Navigating Corporate Challenges: Selling for a "losing" team and playing "offense" in a "defense" environment. Insights into a competitive corporate environment and rising up in a challenging workplace. Engaging with Professional Athletes: Strategies for founders to capture the attention of professional athletes or teams. Best practices for founders partnering with celebrities for endorsements. Transition from Sports to Purpose Labs: Reasons behind Paul's transition from the world of sports to founding Purpose Labs. Insights and lessons for entrepreneurs and business owners. Exploring the Book "Playing Offense": Understanding "Most Valuable Decision" (MVD) and its significance. Green-light life vs. red-light life, the "Head + Heart = Hands" equation, and the challenge of a "yellow light" situation. Decision-Making and Confidence Building: The 4 Cs for making better decisions faster. Building unshakable confidence and the role of a growth mindset. CEO Traits and Future Goals: Traits observed in the best CEOs. Paul's goals for the scalability of impact in the coming years. Connecting with Paul: How to learn more about Paul, Purpose Labs, and his impactful work. Additional Insights (if time permits): Faking it until you make it vs. real authenticity. Understanding "breaking the needle." Being at peak performance in business when needed. Discoveries from Paul's podcast interviews with exceptional individuals. Tune in to gain valuable insights on leadership, decision-making, and building unshakable confidence with Paul Epstein. Connect with Paul: LinkedIn

Paul needs help with the electric brakes on his cattle trailer. Click and Clack have lots of ideas but only one question for Paul: "How do electric brakes work, exactly?" Enlightenment ensues on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. And if you want to listen to more Car Talk, sign up for Car Talk+ Car Talk+ is the easiest way for fans to access more than 800 Car Talk episodes, wherever you listen to podcasts. Find out more at plus.npr.org/cartalk or find the Car Talk channel in Apple Podcasts.

Lana, Adam & Paul - How did the Lana and Adam movie kiss go?Taking the wrong dog home story, Paul's wasp walk, borrowed but broke stories and more laughs here for you

⁠⁠Book a free 30 minute financial coaching session with us!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ We're back for part 2 of our series on creating a Budget! IN this episode we will tackle the next step to creating your budget template: expenses! We're covering: How to categorize and list expenses correctly Why debt payments are essential and non-negotiable and where they get plugged in into the budget The difference between bills and expenses How to plan for common expenses like groceries, gas and personal spending money Listing out all your bills helps identify unnecessary expenses and make adjustments How having a designated pocket money category prevents stealing from other essential categories (Robbing Peter to pay Paul) How to plug in savings buckets for big expenses and future goals. What expenses fall into needs vs wants categories Email us any questions: info@myidealbalance.com Interested in Coaching? We work 1:1 with clients to do everything we talk about in this show. If you're interested, click this link to set up a FREE 30 minute free session with us. We'll chat, get to know one another and see if coaching is a good option for you! There is no obligation whatsoever on this call, but we will give you some quick wins you can implement immediately to level up your money management! ⁠Book a free 30 minute financial coaching session with us!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ Visit Our Website  "I love Shana & Vanessa and this podcast is amazing!"

How does one create their dream job? For Sue Frederick, her profession came to a swift halt as a journalist when she was unexpectedly let go. She decided to listen to the voice of God and form her own unique method of doing numerology readings.    Using her gifts of receiving dream visits, downloads from the other side, and her natural psychic abilities, Sue healed from the loss of her husband, Paul, and was able to align herself with her soul's purpose and become an intuitive coach. Sue has authored eight books including Through a Divine Lens, Bridges to Heaven and I see Your Dream Job.   Join us as we discuss numerology, dream visits from loved ones, living a spiritually fulfilled life and how the world is ready for all of us to step into our dreams and to fulfill our soul's mission.   Topics discussed in this episode:   How Sue got into numerology through the shared death experience with her husband, Paul How the numbers saved her life The download of spiritual information around numbers with George Harrison How Sue launched her career as an author and numerologist as a single mom Sue's story of a deceased loved one and a dream visit with Tess How religion is shifting with the tipping point of consciousness Spiritual experiences of one's and love connections of this universe The dream vision of her child, Sarah How religion is teaching that mediumship is evil and bad Sue's story of her aunt being put in an asylum for using her gifts How to send love and healing through soul connections   About Sue: Sue Frederick, ordained Unity Minister, lifelong intuitive, Past Life & Between Lives Soul Regression Therapist and Master Numerologist, is the author of Through a Divine Lens; Practices to quiet your ego & align with your soul; Bridges to Heaven: True Stories of Loved Ones on the Other Side; I See Your Soul Mate & I See Your Dream Job (St. Martin's Press). As an intuitive coach, she's helped thousands of people realign with their soul's purpose and connect to departed loved ones for healing conversations. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN.com, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Natural Health and Complete Woman Magazines.   Resources: For books, upcoming events and to schedule a private session with Sue, please visit her website: http://www.SueFrederick.com   Become an Inner Eye Member here.   For further information and resources on this topic and more, visit our website here.   Use coupon code SPIRIT10 for 10% off any item at Dimensions of Heaven and Earth! Shop over here: https://www.dimensionsofheavenandearth.com/   To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts!   Connect with Jamie and Maggie: Facebook Instagram YouTube TikTok     Soul Growth Tarot Message Enjoy an audio Tarot Reading with Maggie Clark to help you integrate the levels of the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious for your Soul Growth for only $20. Visit MaggieClark.net

How does one create their dream job? For Sue Frederick, her profession came to a swift halt as a journalist when she was unexpectedly let go. She decided to listen to the voice of God and form her own unique method of doing numerology readings.    Using her gifts of receiving dream visits, downloads from the other side, and her natural psychic abilities, Sue healed from the loss of her husband, Paul, and was able to align herself with her soul's purpose and become an intuitive coach. Sue has authored eight books including Through a Divine Lens, Bridges to Heaven and I see Your Dream Job.   Join us as we discuss numerology, dream visits from loved ones, living a spiritually fulfilled life and how the world is ready for all of us to step into our dreams and to fulfill our soul's mission.   Topics discussed in this episode:   How Sue got into numerology through the shared death experience with her husband, Paul How the numbers saved her life The download of spiritual information around numbers with George Harrison How Sue launched her career as an author and numerologist as a single mom Sue's story of a deceased loved one and a dream visit with Tess How religion is shifting with the tipping point of consciousness Spiritual experiences of one's and love connections of this universe The dream vision of her child, Sarah How religion is teaching that mediumship is evil and bad Sue's story of her aunt being put in an asylum for using her gifts How to send love and healing through soul connections   About Sue: Sue Frederick, ordained Unity Minister, lifelong intuitive, Past Life & Between Lives Soul Regression Therapist and Master Numerologist, is the author of Through a Divine Lens; Practices to quiet your ego & align with your soul; Bridges to Heaven: True Stories of Loved Ones on the Other Side; I See Your Soul Mate & I See Your Dream Job (St. Martin's Press). As an intuitive coach, she's helped thousands of people realign with their soul's purpose and connect to departed loved ones for healing conversations. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN.com, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Natural Health and Complete Woman Magazines.   Resources: For books, upcoming events and to schedule a private session with Sue, please visit her website: http://www.SueFrederick.com   Become an Inner Eye Member here.   For further information and resources on this topic and more, visit our website here.   Use coupon code SPIRIT10 for 10% off any item at Dimensions of Heaven and Earth! Shop over here: https://www.dimensionsofheavenandearth.com/   To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts!   Connect with Jamie and Maggie: Facebook Instagram YouTube TikTok     Soul Growth Tarot Message Enjoy an audio Tarot Reading with Maggie Clark to help you integrate the levels of the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious for your Soul Growth for only $20. Visit MaggieClark.net

Thanks for checking out Episode 4! In this episode you'll hear our interview with Paul Mordheim, as well as how Gage was ripped off by Paul Wall, How we plan to build an empire of dirt, Paul's favorite car, Monkey movies of the 80's and 90s, as well as all things #NEMO23 Check out Paul on IG @wyrdstoned Join the In Rust We Trust discord here: IRWT Discord Join the New England Mordheim Open discord here: NEMO Discord Vendor link for NEMO23: UTD Big Cartel Here are some special links from Paul: How to Get Started with Mordheim Prominus IV Terrain Course Searchable online Mordheim rulebook We also talked a lot about GrimForge before we started, and is worth a look! If you have a submission for the post-podcast Grimdark Story section send us an email at hivescum@gmail.com, we hope to hear your tales! We are on IG Gage: @noclearcoat Steve: @sovthofheaven Terry: @stone.jaw Phil: :*

Mark Three: A Biblical Understanding of the Gospel by William Klock Faithful preaching of God's word is the first mark of a healthy and faithful church.  These last two Sundays we've begun to explore what that looks like.  First, we saw that we must preach the word in such a way that we give it priority and let it be our guide, and that means that we commit ourselves to preaching expositionally.  And last Sunday I talked about the importance of allowing the Bible, as we preach it and immerse ourselves in it, to shape and define our understanding of God.  The Bible is, after all, his revelation of himself to us.  We cannot know him apart from his word.  And that leads us to today's topic: A healthy church will have a Bible-informed understanding of the gospel.  Now, no one ever sets out deliberately to preach an unbiblical gospel, but that doesn't mean such things aren't preached.  Sometimes we unwittingly allow unbiblical cultural ideas, values, and philosophies to colour our gospel.  Sometimes, when the Church is beset by controversy over gospel issues, we can over-react to one error by falling into its opposite.  Sometimes the errors are small, but sometimes they're great—to the point of apostasy.  The antidote, Brothers and Sistes, is to preach God's word faithfully and systematically. So what is the gospel?  Our English word “gospel” is from Old English god spel, literally meaning “good news”.  The Greek word used by the New Testament writers and the ancient Jewish translators of the Old Testament is euangelion.  Originally euangelion was the reward that was given to someone for bringing good news, but by the time the Bible was written it had come to mean the good news itself.  The related verb, euangelizo, means to proclaim this good news.  This is where we get the English word “evangelical”.  We are people of the good news.  This is a good place to start.  The gospel is good news.  For example, think back to the death of Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel.  David mourned their deaths and the messengers came with the news, he said: Tell it not in Geth, and proclaim it not in the exits of Ascalon…lest daughters of the uncircumcised exult. (2 Samuel 1:20 NETS) In the Greek Old Testament, when it says “proclaim”, it's using this word for proclaiming good news.  The Philistines would take the death of Saul as good news.  When the messenger brought this news to David, he thought it was good news, too.  David's enemy had been defeated.  Now, for personal reasons David didn't take it that way.  To him it was bad news, but he knew that to everyone else it was good news—a victory had been won and that victory meant things were about to change.  And, notice, the natural thing to do with good news is to proclaim it.  The heralds were ready to do just that until David told them not to. Or think of Isaiah.  Israel had been defeated, but he saw a vision of Jerusalem as the herald of good news.  The Lord would come and deliver his people from their exile. Go on up to a high mountain,          O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength,          O Jerusalem, herald of good news;          lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah,          “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9) And Isaiah uses this concept as he envisions the messenger, running across the mountains with this good news: How beautiful upon the mountains          are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,          who publishes salvation,          who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (Isaiah 52:7) Something was about to happen.  The Lord was going to act and he would act in such a way that things would never be the same.  God was finally going to take up his throne as King.  This is exactly what Jesus had in mind when we read Mark's account of him saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) The Lord was about to act.  Specifically, he was about to act as King in such a way that everything was about to change.  And Jesus isn't just saying that people in Judea needed to “believe” in the sense of giving their intellectual assent to some new theological truth.  When “good news” happens, it's a world-changing event.  To “believe” means to change one's life in order to take part in what's about to happen and be part of its benefits.  In Jesus, God was becoming king—as he had promised so long before.  To refuse to believe, to refuse to recognise this change and this new reality is, at best, to be left behind and, at worst, well…it wasn't good.  Let's look at how the Greeks and Romans used this term, “gospel”. If you're familiar with Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra or Mankiewicz' 1963 Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, you know something about the aftermath of the Roman civil war.  On the death of Julius Caesar the Empire was plunged into conflict.  On one side was Caesar's heir, Octavian, and on the other his friend, Mark Antony.  Octavian defeated Antony in a great naval battle at Actium.  Antony fled to Egypt, where he eventually committed suicide with Cleopatra.  Octavian was enthroned as Caesar Augustus and euangelion—the good news—was proclaimed throughout the empire.  Augustus had defeated the enemies of Rome.  He had brought peace at last and, with it, prosperity.  He even started using the title “son of God”.  He was the saviour of the empire. Now, what did this good news mean to the people of the empire?  Imagine if you'd been a local official or ruler and you'd been a firm supporter of Mark Antony during the war.  The good news about Caesar Augustus meant that everything had changed and you had to make a choice.  There was no continuing on supporting the losing side.  That was treason and it would lead to only one thing: execution.  This was the choice King Herod faced when this good news reached him.  He'd backed Antony.  He was no dummy.  Hearing the news, he went straight to the new Caesar and pledged his loyalty.  The world had changed and he committed himself to the side where he got to live—and keep his throne. So, now, think about “good news”.  It means that something has happened—or is happening or is about to happen—something that changes everything.  Nothing will ever be the same again and, in light of it, everyone has got to make a choice.  There's no fence sitting.  And there are consequences if you make the wrong choice.  If Herod, for example, had continued to back Antony's forces it would have meant the end of Herod.  In Jesus, Israel's God has become King and he calls for our allegiance—to him, to his kingdom, to everything it stands for.  Sin and death are defeated and everything about the world that was shaped by them is being undone by Jesus and his act of new creation.  The gospel calls us to make a choice, to announce our allegiance.  Do we continue to give our allegiance to—as we say in our baptism—the world, the flesh, and the devil, or to Jesus, his new creation, and the Holy Spirit? And this points to something else important about the gospel.  Good news isn't quietly whispered.  It's always proclaimed.  It's announced with great fanfare.  The announcement that Jesus is Lord, that in him the God of Israel has come as King, that's not some private truth to keep to ourselves or to whisper to our friends.  But that's not far off from how many people treat it.  Something changed in the first half of the Twentieth Century and we started talking about “sharing” the gospel.  Christians had never used that kind of language before.  But it goes along with a shift that slowly took place over the last two hundred years or so.  Instead of seeing the gospel as good news, we started treating it instead like good advice.  We've made this shift subtly in how we do evangelism.  We often present the gospel—the good news about Jesus—as if it's just another offering on the religious or philosophical smorgasbord and suggest that people give Jesus a try. Maybe they'll like him and believe—or maybe they won't, which would be sad, but…whatever.  But, Brothers and Sisters, the gospel is not good advice.  It's not like a stock tip or a life hack or a new recipe.  It's good news.  It's not just a message that will change your life.  It's a message that will change your life, because it's a message that in Jesus the whole world has changed. Consider Peter's sermon on Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2.  He starts out: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. (Acts 2:14) I think we pass over this introduction too quickly in order to get to the meat of his sermon, but notice how he proclaims this good news like the royal herald that he is.  This isn't a good piece of advice.  It's not a pro tip.  It's not something that might be worth giving a shot.  It's good news.  It demands action.  And Peter goes on, reminding the people of the promises the Lord had made to Israel—promises to set things to rights by sending his King.  He tells them: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:22-24) “You killed him,” Peter says, “but God raised him up.”  What does that mean?  Peter, again, looks back to the promises God had made to Israel—particularly through David.  For Peter, Jesus' death was vitally important, but the crucifixion of Jesus wasn't the thing that changed the world.  Ultimately, it was his resurrection from the dead that did that.  In his resurrection, Peter says, God has loosed the pangs of death.  By his resurrection, he says, Jesus has been exalted at the right hand of God and given to his people the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus has fulfilled all the Lord's promises.  But Peter ends with the most powerful note of all in verse 36: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and [Messiah], this Jesus whom you crucified.”   By raising Jesus from the dead, God has declared him to be Lord and Messiah—to be not just any king, but to be the King—the one who will set all to rights—not just his people, but eventually the whole of this broken creation. The crowd, Luke says, were cut to the heart and asked Peter what they should do.  In other words, they knew this good news meant that the world has changed and they wanted to know what they had to do to in response.  And Peter says to them in verses 38-39: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”   Luke says about three thousand were baptised that day.  But what did Peter mean by “repent and be baptised”?  To repent is to turn around.  The good news is the announcement that in Jesus the world has changed, there's a new King, and God's kingdom is breaking in.  The good news calls us to turn aside and to leave behind the old regime, the old order—our rebellion, our sin, our idolatry—and to take hold of the new King and his kingdom in faith.  In Jesus, God has become king.  Peter's sermon is incredibly important, because in it he reminds us of what the Lord had promised to Israel, and then he explains that it has all been fulfilled or is in the process of being fulfilled by Jesus—and those promises point to what the good news is all about.  The promises remind us that what Jesus has done is far bigger and all-encompassing than what we often think.  It's about all of creation being set right and made new.  It's about Jesus binding the devil and triumphing over the powers and principalities that have corrupted this world.  It's about the old gods being cast down and the true God being raised up.  It's about humanity being made right with God to finally live in his presence and to take up our vocation again—the one that Adam and Eve rejected—to be his image-bearers, the priests of his temple, as we steward his creation.  It's about heaven and earth, about God and man finally being reunited. Jews knew that one day God would set things right and that when he did so he would judge—and destroy—everything and everyone who was opposed to him.  They called that day “the day of the Lord”.  Throughout his ministry Jesus warned that it was coming—and soon.  When he warned about the easy way that leads to destruction and urged people to follow him on the hard and narrow way that leads to life, that's what he was talking about.  He was pointing to the events we read about in our study of Revelation when Jerusalem and the temple were thrown down by the Romans as an act of judgement by God on his unbelieving people—much as he'd done six centuries earlier, although that time it had been the Babylonians.  Jesus wasn't warning about some event thousands of years in the future.  He was warning of a judgement that was just around the corner.  That judgement certainly foreshadows that last great day of final judgement when every last enemy of God will be wiped from creation.  But Jesus—and Peter—were focused on Israel and her near future.  Again, Peter's hearers were cut to the heart, because they realised that this is what Peter was talking about too.  They wanted to know how to escape the coming judgement and to be part of God's new people in the age to come. If people thought the victory of Octavian over Antony was a world-shaking event—so much so that King Herod went to grovel before the new emperor that he might have a place in it, imagine how much greater, how all-encompassing this good news about Jesus is.  If the Lord was going to come with both salvation and judgement to set Israel to rights and to deal with the unrepentant in her midst, one day he will surely do the same for the whole world. This ought to put our attention on another aspect of the good news.  Herod could only speculate about where he stood with Octavian.  He could very easily have gone home headless.  By his resurrection Jesus has inaugurated God's new world, and Brothers and Sisters, by his death he has shown his mercy.  We need but repent—to turn aside from the old gods, the old ways, the old systems—to believe—to take hold of him in faith and to give him our allegiance, and we can be sure of where we stand before him.  The first step we take after repentance is to be baptised.  The waters of baptism hold his promise of forgiveness and new life and as we pass through them in faith, he washes us clean and fills us with his Spirit.  He makes us his own.  As St. Paul writes in Romans: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  (Romans 8:15) Jesus' Father becomes our Father and he loves us as he loves his own son. But speaking of Paul…  How do the Gentiles find a place in this good news.  Jesus was Israel's Messiah.  He came in fulfilment of the Lord's promises to Israel.  Even in his death by crucifixion, he died the very death that the unbelieving Jewish rebels would suffer a generation later when God's judgement fell on Jerusalem.  Jesus and the good news are integrally tied to Israel and to Israel's story.  How is it good news for the rest of the world?  We see the struggle in Acts.  The Spirit all but summoned Peter and John to Samaria.  The good news had reached people there and they believed, but—a mystery to the apostles—they did not receive the Spirit.  The apostles had to go and lay hands on these new non-Jewish believers.  It was a not-so-subtle hint from the Spirit that the good news was for everyone.  An angel directed Philip to his meeting with a man from Ethiopia.  The Spirit had to convince Peter, against everything he thought he knew was right, to go to the home of Cornelius, a gentile centurion.  And what was to be done with these gentile converts?  Did they have to become Jews first?  Be circumcised, keep the law, and all of that.  And then along came Paul.  Or, more precisely, along came the risen Messiah to meet Paul on the road to Damascus. Maybe more than anyone else, Paul realised just how much the resurrection of Jesus changes everything.  C. S. Lewis famously wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen.  Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”  The resurrection of Jesus was just like that for Paul.  And Paul realised that if the Lord's promises to Israel were fulfilled in Jesus, in his resurrection, and in the outpouring of the Spirit to create this new people of God called the Church, then all of this was for the gentiles too.  Israel had always been called to be a light to the nations and so too must this new Israel.  Paul thought back to the Lord's deliverance of Israel in the Exodus—something that shaped Israel's identity and is there behind so much of Paul's writing.  The Lord delivered his people from their bondage and in doing so, he made his might and his glory known to the nations—especially to Egypt.  Her king and her gods were exposed for the powerless frauds they were.  And yet there was no mass conversion of the Egyptians in the wake of the Exodus.  The whole thing was an embarrassment that they expunged from their records so that they could continue in the idolatry. But Paul recognized that in Jesus and in this new exodus, there was a new element that had been missing in the old and that was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Paul knew that this good news about a crucified Messiah was, as he writes to the Corinthians “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).  A crucified Messiah was blasphemy to the Jews.  And it was just stupid nonsense to the gentiles.  Paul knew this first hand.  The Jews stoned him for the things he said and the Gentiles threw him in jail.  “But,” he goes on in that same verse, “to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah—the power of God and the wisdom of God.”  That was the key—those who are called, those in whom the Spirit of God is at work. How does the Spirit work?  It seems like it's different for everyone.  For Paul it was the realization that Jesus really had risen from the dead and that that truth changed everything he'd ever known.  He had to go off by himself for a few years to work it all through, but work it through he did.  For others it was simply the realization that in Jesus the God of Israel was truly at work.  This time the Gentiles saw the God of Israel in this mighty act of redemption that proved his faithfulness to his promises and instead of forgetting about it like the Egyptians had so long ago, they recognized the living God and they threw all their idols away.  For others it was the fact that in Jesus, God drew near.  By his Spirit they somehow knew him and experienced him—something that never happened with the pagan gods.  Paul recognized that this good news was for everyone.  As he wrote to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Jesus the Messiah. (Galatians 3:28) This time the gentiles saw the mighty and saving deeds of the God of Israel and they believed—because of the Spirit—and they were welcomed into this new people of God to share in the forgiveness and the new life and the future hope that Jesus had given them. But, in closing, what's the significance?  Where does the good news take us?  What are we supposed to do with it?  If we understand that the death and resurrection of Jesus give us a place in the renewed people of God and that Jesus is setting everything to rights, that itself should point us in the right direction.  The problem is that in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, liberal Protestants largely turned the gospel into a message of good works—and then, gradually, those good works became more and more like the values of secular culture and Leftist politics and Jesus became nothing more than an example.  In response, fundamentalists and evangelicals rightly re-emphasised the personal and spiritual nature of redemption and the forgiveness of sins, but often over-reacted when it came to the good works.  We've made the gospel a message very narrowly of forgiveness of sin and restored fellowship with God.  Salvation should result in a changed life and good works, but we've stressed—wrongly—that those good works are the fruit of the gospel, but not the gospel itself.  So on one side the gospel is proclaimed as a message of public welfare and on the other as a personal or private spirituality.  Then, throw into that mix the misconception that the end goal of all of this is someday to leave this world behind so that we can live a kind of disembodied spiritual existence in heaven, and we make a right mess of the gospel. Brothers and Sisters, this is why we've got to preach the scriptures—so that we remember the big story.  This is what Peter did on Pentecost.  And when we do that we find that this faithful God we spoke about last Sunday has been working all along not to give us a plan to escape this fallen Creation, but rather a means to set this fallen creation to rights and us along with it.  We're creation's stewards—or at least that's what we were created to be—but we rebelled and made a mess of everything.  And so the Lord has called a people through whom he will work, and he's sent his Messiah to set us to rights, to fill us with his Spirit, and to get us back on task: to make him known, to do justice and mercy in this world, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, and to proclaim his King in the knowledge that the same Spirit who is in us, is also working in the hearts of men and women around the world, men and women just waiting to hear our proclamation of the good news about Jesus.  Men and women read to believe, to repent, to be baptised, to join in the life and work of the kingdom—they simply need to hear our proclamation of this good news.  It is a stumbling block and it is foolishness to many, but to those who are called, to those in whom the Spirit is at work, it is the power of God—for our salvation and for the salvation of the whole world. As we've seen recently in Revelation, Jesus has prepared the way.  He has bound the devil and brought low the principalities and powers that once held this world captive.  This is the good news: that Jesus died for our sins and was raised by God, victorious over sin and death.  He is the Messiah—the Lord, the King—and he is making all things new.  This new creation, our hope is summed up in those words of the Lord's prayer: on earth as in heaven.  Those words ought to shape us as gospel people.  Don't just pray them.  Live them.  For the sake of the world, lift the veil and show the world a glimpse of God's new creation.  And while you do it, remember that we are royal heralds of the King, commissioned to proclaim this good news to everyone around us. Let's pray: Merciful Father, we thank you this morning that you have made Jesus your King.  By his death you give a means of forgiveness and reconciliation and by his resurrection you've restored to us the life we had once rejected in our rebellion against you.  We thank you for those in whom you have worked by your word and Spirit who proclaimed this good news to us.  And we pray that your word and Spirit will now be at work in us to make us the gospel people you desire us to be.  Renew our hearts.  Turn them ever more towards you.  Strengthen our allegiance to Jesus and fill our heats with love for you.  Make us a people full of life and of hope, a people of mercy and love and grace, a holy people—an on-earth-as-in-heaven people eager to show the world your kingdom and to proclaim the good news that Jesus is Lord.  Through him we pray.  Amen.

Portland has thousands of men who call themselves pastors. In over 20 years of pastoral evangelistic ministry I've never bumped into one of them obeying the Great Commission at a parade, Saturday market, abortion clinic, college campus or anywhere else preaching the Gospel. I met a few of their congregants this summer. Two sweet, but audacious, young women stepped up to men twice their age, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of Portland, to tell them that they shouldn't be preaching the Gospel to well over a thousand Portlanders because it only offends. They stood their ground zealously contending against the preaching of the Gospel and for friendship, hyper-relational evangelism for over 30 minutes. Here's the kicker. They go to a -reformed- church and profess to believe God is sovereign in salvation. These are the Christians the -Don't Go Therefore-- pastors have filled America and the Western world with...Anti-Great Commission Christians- Their pastors are a curse to them and they are a curse upon our land---Much could be said to refute their Anti-Great Commission arguments, but let's just ask the Apostle Paul what he thinks of their arguments. What say you Paul----How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed- And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard- And how shall they hear without a preacher- And how shall they preach unless they are sent- As it is written- 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things-' -So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.- -Romans 10-14-17

Portland has thousands of men who call themselves pastors. In over 20 years of pastoral evangelistic ministry I've never bumped into one of them obeying the Great Commission at a parade, Saturday market, abortion clinic, college campus or anywhere else preaching the Gospel. I met a few of their congregants this summer. Two sweet, but audacious, young women stepped up to men twice their age, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of Portland, to tell them that they shouldn't be preaching the Gospel to well over a thousand Portlanders because it only offends. They stood their ground zealously contending against the preaching of the Gospel and for friendship, hyper-relational evangelism for over 30 minutes. Here's the kicker. They go to a -reformed- church and profess to believe God is sovereign in salvation. These are the Christians the -Don't Go Therefore-- pastors have filled America and the Western world with...Anti-Great Commission Christians- Their pastors are a curse to them and they are a curse upon our land---Much could be said to refute their Anti-Great Commission arguments, but let's just ask the Apostle Paul what he thinks of their arguments. What say you Paul-----How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed-- And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard-- And how shall they hear without a preacher-- And how shall they preach unless they are sent-- As it is written- 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things-' -So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.- -Romans 10-14-17

Portland has thousands of men who call themselves pastors. In over 20 years of pastoral evangelistic ministry I've never bumped into one of them obeying the Great Commission at a parade, Saturday market, abortion clinic, college campus or anywhere else preaching the Gospel. I met a few of their congregants this summer. Two sweet, but audacious, young women stepped up to men twice their age, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of Portland, to tell them that they shouldn't be preaching the Gospel to well over a thousand Portlanders because it only offends. They stood their ground zealously contending against the preaching of the Gospel and for friendship, hyper-relational evangelism for over 30 minutes. Here's the kicker. They go to a -reformed- church and profess to believe God is sovereign in salvation. These are the Christians the -Don't Go Therefore-- pastors have filled America and the Western world with...Anti-Great Commission Christians- Their pastors are a curse to them and they are a curse upon our land---Much could be said to refute their Anti-Great Commission arguments, but let's just ask the Apostle Paul what he thinks of their arguments. What say you Paul-----How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed-- And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard-- And how shall they hear without a preacher-- And how shall they preach unless they are sent-- As it is written- 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things-' -So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.- -Romans 10-14-17

Intro to Paul -How do you program intensity (zones one to five?How do you program fasted cardio?How long does a session need to be for V02 max to improvement?What do you have clients do on days they're not doing resistance training?How do you manage training monotony (especially with endurance athletes who are training for an event)Measuring recovery and the biometric methodWorking with athletes who have autoimmune issuesViolent consistency and the basicsFind Paul on IG or on his websiteThis podcast is brought to you by the Physiologic Flexibility Certification course. In the course, I talk about the body's homeostatic regulators and how you can train them. The benefit is enhanced recovery and greater robustness. We cover breathing techniques, CWI, sauna, HIIT, diet, and more.

Paul Barbeau is the Senior Global Director at Dow, a material science company that provides innovative and sustainable solutions for consumer care, infrastructure, and packaging businesses. Paul collaborates with various business leaders to improve existing workplace strategies with employee experience, asset optimization, and sustainability in mind. He is also the Director at 1st State Bank, a banking company that focuses on helping businesses grow in the Great Lakes Bay area.   Paul joins me to explain the importance of establishing a company culture where every voice is represented. He shares his experience with being part of the family business and where his entrepreneurial passion started. He describes his love for baseball and what it was like to serve as the President of the Michigan Baseball Foundation. He discusses how Dow impressed him the most from a cultural perspective. Paul also explains how businesses will shift beyond the pandemic, especially regarding flexible work setups.   "When you're starting, every voice has an impact on the culture." - Paul Barbeau   This week on Executive Decisions:   What Paul learned from the family business from an entrepreneurial perspective Why Paul avoided the traditional career route How vital the culture was in Paul's career choices Paul's passion for both baseball and business Navigating the risks of moving locations for your career Getting the team to be part of the culture you want to grow What Paul believes is a good sign to choose a new career Why Dow's culture impressed Paul How our working environments will shift in the future The cultural bedrocks Dow cultivates Paul's passion and hobbies outside of baseball   Resources Mentioned:   The Michigan Baseball Foundation   Our Favorite Quotes:   "The freedom to learn and grow is important and formative." - Paul Barbeau "Anytime you find a good culture, you just want to bottle it and never let it go." - Sarah Delahanty "It's exciting to have a blank slate and build something from the ground up." - Sarah Delahanty   Connect with Paul Barbeau:   Dow 1st State Bank Great Lakes Bay Paul Barbeau on LinkedIn     About SYM Financial and Executive Decisions Podcast   Executive Decisions is a show for business leaders. In each episode, host and financial advisor Sarah Delahanty sits down with executives and local experts who serve them. Together, they tackle some of the harder questions that business leaders face today. From inspiring creativity in the workplace to managing company politics to making the best choices with executive compensation, taxes, and lifestyle — our show delivers stories and lessons learned across many industries and lifetimes.    Email Sarah at sdelahanty@sym.com with questions, comments, and to schedule a one-on-one conversation.    Follow Sarah on LinkedIn Follow SYM Financial on Facebook   Subscribe here:   Apple Podcasts  Amazon Music/Audible Spotify Stitcher   And, if you enjoy the show, please leave a review to help others discover the podcast.   Disclosure: The information contained in this message (including any attachments) is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended only for the recipient(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify SYM Financial Advisors (“SYM”) immediately and destroy the material in its entirety. All communications requiring immediate attention or action, such as trade requests or other time-sensitive matters should not be sent to SYM via email. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information may arrive later than intended, be intercepted, be corrupted, or contain viruses. This material is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any product. The opinions expressed herein are those of SYM and are subject to change without notice. To the extent that performance information is contained in this email, past performance is not indicative of future results. SYM is an independent registered investment adviser. More information about SYM including our investment strategies, fees, and objectives can be found in our Form ADV Part 2, which is available upon request.

Edie - If someone is civilly married and then divorced, can he marry Catholic inside the Church or would he need an annulment first? Kevin - What about those who leave mass right after communion and those in the pews who are pro-abortion. should they be denied it as well? Paul - How does this ban with Pelosi work? Can she go to other places to receive communion? Melanie - Thank you for bringing me back to the church, Patrick. Thanks to you, I am back. Helen - They are accusing the Bishops of Weaponizing the Eucharist, but the politicians are weaponizing their Catholic Faith. Patrick shares some of the Morning Air interview with Archbishop Cordileone where he describes that he didn't come to this decision lightly and how he is concerned for Nancy Pelosi's soul Patrick responds to an email about Pope Francis and his support of Russia Rose - When we go to the Eucharist, we are excepting the grace of God which allows us to change. So could the Eucharist help Nancy and anyone else? Also, are you aware of an organization called Catholics for Choice and what do you think of them? Philip - Did president Biden's bishop support the Archbishop? Helen - I heard that the pope did okay Biden going to confession and communion. Is that true?

Patrick responds to an email from Morning Air regular guest Jim Schroeder in regards to transgenderism  https://james-schroeder.com/transgender/ Will – My Catholic Wife wants to be baptized again in Pentecostal church. What should I do? Clark - Went to confession but couldn't understand my penance. What do I do? Michelle - Why do Byzantine's make sign of cross from right to left? Paul - How do I expand a ministry from small time to bigger operation? Margaret – Why is God sometimes pluralized at Mass? Nora – My aunt cheated on my uncle and we are keeping this a secret. Is it my responsibility to share? Michael - What is the source of divine revelation? Is it scripture and the creed or more? Elaine - Going to a primitive Baptist funeral. Is it okay to wear my crucifix? I want to be sensitive to them.

Patrick shares Ed Peters article explaining what the Church means my “Marriage” Deanna - My Mom is dating a divorced Mormon. Is that considered adultery? Joanne - At a funeral, the priest said that the person who died is praying for us. Is this true? Joe - I work for a company that has me directly involved with helping Planned Parenthood. I'm I putting my soul in danger? Paul - How did people in the Old Testament understand the Holy Spirit? Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana gives an impassioned speech about what is happening in her home country Arthur - Regarding the consecration of Russia. Does Putin need to request this? Adam – I had a job that supported Planned Parenthood. I couldn't do it anymore and found work somewhere else. Michael - Need clarification on your response to the person whose mother is dating a divorced Mormon. The purpose of dating is for marriage.

Episode 363 – The most powerful pharmacy in the world   Today we have Brian. He is 48 years old and from Ohio. His last drink was on March 31, 2019.   For more information about our Denver event, please go here.   Exact Nature www.exactnature.com Code: RE20   Highlights from Paul: How do you leverage the brain to work in your favor?   Acknowledge there is a problem.  Make sure your mental energies match your goal. Use the thinking mind to pull up a good memory (vacation, significant accomplishment). The cycle: The more the nervous system is in check, the more you want to do things that bring you joy. The more you do something that brings you joy, the more your nervous system calms down.   Listen to the nature sounds playlist. We forget that we come from nature; we evolved with crickets and blue jays. All you need to do is listen to nature sounds and allow them to calm the nervous system.   BetterHelp: www.betterhelp.com/elevator   [11:19] Odette introduces Brian   Brian has been sober for 1000 days.  He is from Cleveland, Ohio, likes mountain biking, the outdoors, art museums, and travel.    Drinking became an issue for Brian after high school.  He experimented with drinking, pot, and methamphetamines.  He was an addict for a year and eventually went to rehab.  He dropped illicit drugs and continued drinking.  His family drank, so they wanted him to quit drugs but continue drinking.  Brian did everything to excess.  He had two failed marriages, and his drinking always led to bad situations.  He believed he could control his drinking.   In 2018, Brian started a new job.  He blacked out at the end of a training event, and he knew he had to quit.  He stopped on April 1 but was a dry drunk.  He was always angry.  He didn't know what to do because drinking was always a reward.   Today, Brian listens to podcasts and finds the similarities.  He meditates.  Regulating his emotions has been a struggle, but it's getting better.  Café Re drove his recovery.  His goal is not to be an embarrassment anymore.  Brian removed himself from all his prior activities to avoid triggers.  Now he follows the 7 Habits, s, lives his values, and sobriety is his number one priority.  He appreciates his wife's support, and they have a solid partnership.  After a year of firsts (holidays, anniversaries), he felt stronger in his recovery.  He is a better husband, a better stepdad, and his career has progressed.               You may have to say adios to booze if...    If you find yourself crying in the shower, not knowing how you got to your room.   Odette's final thoughts:   Getting through a year of firsts is a legitimate challenge.   Don't let the images of sobriety being easy or perfect discourage you.  Sobriety takes time.  It is uncomfortable; it is normal to feel angry; it's not always fun.  Focus on doing the next right thing.  It gets better.   Upcoming events, retreats, and courses:   You can find more information about our events    Sponsors:   Exact Nature www.exactnature.com Code: RE20 BetterHelp: www.betterhelp.com/elevator   Affiliate Link for Amazon: Shop via Amazon using this link.   The book, Alcohol is SH!T, is out. Pick up your paperback copy on Amazon here! You can get the Audible version here!     Resources:  Connect with Cafe RE - Use the promo code OPPORTUNITY to waive the set-up fee. Recovery Elevator YouTube - Subscribe here! Sobriety Tracker iTunes    “Recovery Elevator –we took the elevator down; we need to take the stairs back up - I love you guys.”

Mother Miriam Live - June 30, 2021 Mother tackles the issues of the Catholic perspective on: More reading on Peter and Paul How did Mary maintain her virginity? Catholic Baptism and its effects

Ecommerce has come a long way from its early days as a separate part of the company that you set up and just hope to see returns on. Now, ecommerce is pivotal for just about every organization — but there is one faction of businesses that still lags behind. There are $17 trillion dollars worth of B2B payments made every year. Yes, trillion with a T. And half of those payments are still being made manually. Clearly, there is a massive shift that still needs to happen in the B2B space, and Deloitte Digital is helping make those digital transformations a reality.Paul do Forno is the Managing Director at Deloitte Digital, and on this episode of Up Next in Commerce, he helped us understand the struggles B2B brands are facing and how moving them into the digital space could spell a massive change in the ecommerce industry. Paul also dives into some of the major trends he’s keeping an eye on in the ecommerce world, including how ecommerce continues to scale around the globe, most notably in Latin America. Plus, he shares some tips for businesses who are overwhelmed by the amount of channels and platforms they suddenly have to play in. Spoiler: he says do less. Tune in to hear more!Main Takeaways:Massive Call And Response: Bigger brands are struggling to stay connected to their consumers in a way that scales. Today, customers are looking to have a more authentic relationship and connection with the brands they engage with and support. For enterprises, connecting one-to-one is nearly impossible, so they are investing in tools like A.I. and conversational platforms to keep up with this newer generation of customers who crave connection.Dinosaurs Still Exist: So much B2B activity is still done manually, which means that there are trillions of dollars of transactions that could be moving online if/when B2B companies finally shift their activities to the digital space. The problem is that many B2B companies are miles behind their B2C peers in terms of optimizing the digital space for their many personas. It will take a lot of tools and transformation to bring those traditional B2B companies into 2021, but it will be necessary because the next generation is not interested in manually doing business and would much rather work with companies that have effective digital tools.Do Less: Brands can get caught up in the hype and the attempts to keep up with the Joneses. Instead, they should focus on being great at one platform or marketing activity. Plus, it’s critical to never forget the basics — like making sure your email list is generating the leads and engagement it should be to power your business.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone and welcome back to Up Next in Commerce. I'm your host, Stephanie Postles, CEO at Mission.org. Today on the show we have Paul de Forno, the managing direction at Deloitte Digital. Paul, welcome.Paul:Thanks. Excited to be here.Stephanie:I'm excited to have you. I was looking through your background and I saw you were on a list of the hundred most influential people in ecommerce and I was like, we need him. We need Paul. Why do you think you got on that list?Paul:I think first of all, in some ways I'm the old guy who's been around carrying the ecommerce flag for a long time, so I've been doing ecommerce for 20 years. When you've been around that long, 20 years ago it was, trust me, ecommerce is going to be big, honest. Most of the big companies just looked at me and said, "Yeah, it's just a tiny percentage. We don't have the time to focus on it." I've gone through the whole lifecycle from, "Yeah, I don't think ecommerce is going to be big," to, "Oh my god. What are we going to do? Everything is ecommerce."Stephanie:Yep, what did your journey look like? What have you worked on over the years, and then what does your role at Deloitte Digital look like now?Paul:Yeah, I've had some pretty interesting projects all along. We help customers at Deloitte, we're one of the largest implementers and SIs all the way from strategy, studio design, implementation, and run ecommerce and digital platforms. Kind of soup to nuts, end to end for some of the largest Internet retailers both B2C and B2B. My background, I've worked with some of the largest retailers and brands in the world, getting them online, selling, and also supply chain and connecting up all of those things.Paul:I've had the great experience of 20 years ago working with some of the earliest big retail brands of them ... It's kind of funny, when they first started, they treated ecommerce like a store because at the size that they were, on some of them, they were like ... And literally, they would call it store number 1099 and that's the way they treated it almost like a completely separate channel over the to the side. Yeah, let's put some money over there and grow and then see what happens. That from over time, then it became more of a challenge of omnichannel.Paul:How do we make sure that the channels aren't fighting against each other because we dealt with some retailers that literally would ... They wouldn't want returns to come in to the store because those sales and we're not getting them credit, right? That came back and if they exchanged for something else, and so they would be internal fighting because the bonuses of the executives weren't aligned. We've gone kind of like it's off to the side, it's big enough to challenge, to now it's almost the reverse. Retail wants to get more love from the ecommerce side.Stephanie:Yeah, it's a funny and an interesting flip that we see. We've had some guests on the show who said the same thing, like when I started out in ecommerce, they had us in a different building, like on the campus that they were at, they're like, that's the ecommerce team, they're doing their own thing. We've had a couple people say how siloed they were and now, like you said, interesting how retail is like, come on, come give us a little love now.Paul:Yeah, exactly.Stephanie:When you're looking through all these trends that are happening right now, I know that back in the day you were going to a lot of conferences, you were flying all over the world probably, and now I see and follow you on Clubhouse. Tell me a bit about how you're staying on top of the trends and what kind of things are you discussing now on Clubhouse or wherever else you're doing these virtual events?Paul:Yeah, I'll maybe separate ... Definitely right now as we're speaking it's almost a year to the day that I haven't been on a plane. In the last 20 years, over a 100,000 to 150,000 miles a year that I've been flying around.Stephanie:Oh my gosh.Paul:One, my wife has gotten to know me.Stephanie:Hi, Paul, nice to meet you.Paul:But, it's given me a lot of opportunity to connect digitally and do more research and some of the new tools, like you talked about, Clubhouse, and I'll come back to that. I think what this has just done is accelerated ecommerce and how important that is and commerce everywhere and brought it forward, and there's a lot of interesting trends that have popped out. Some of the things that may not be as evident, so in the past year, one of the biggest growth areas just for convenience has been around the growth of commerce around groceries, because we had to, right? You got a lot of the biggest stores growing and anywhere from 70% to over a 100%, and so a lot of the innovation has happened in groceries because it needed to, right? The companies that invested more have done well.Paul:For example, if you look at how Target has done, right? They were able to stay open because they had groceries and so they actually grew and were more profitable and a lot of that why they grew was their investments in shipped, a number of different way they pick from their stores, and so it's amazing that not only did they grow that much but their profitability on the ecommerce channel went up which is almost unheard of in a time like this. They executed unbelievably well.Paul:Then on the other side, another interesting related to the grocery which kind of because it forced people to try something new, the largest growing segment on online grocery was actually baby boomers, and it's because they never were forced to do it. They were always used to going to the store, and so we really see that as a watershed moment of hey, to get over the hump, hey, this isn't as bad. Then as soon as you try something and you do it a couple times, it's going to change how people behave.Paul:we expect the adoption rate going forward for boomers, for example, and older will continue. It won't necessarily be at the same rate, but is an important threshold that they'll continue to embrace it.Stephanie:Yeah, I agree. All right, so when thinking about these new consumers who are online who weren't thinking this way before, how are you advising brands to communicate and talk and do things differently? Because it is such a different generation coming online. We've had quite a few people mention you have to think very differently when it comes to customer service or even the whole unboxing experience. People want different things. What are you seeing among your biggest brands right now around what's working to connect with this brand new group of users who are not online before?Paul:Yeah, there's a whole bunch of battling trends that are in here. In fact, on Clubhouse we had a discussion around the eco considerations of delivery, and that got into we brought in a packaging expert and one of the interesting thing that we talked about is that, hey, everybody has all these cardboard boxes, right? People would love to find out opportunities to minimize what kind of packaging and we all probably had the experience of getting a huge package and having one little item in it. I think the whole consideration around eco and environmental is something that I just saw some research, that's at the top of the list of considerations.Paul:Things such as that and packaging and reducing it is a factor of when you're designing for stuff. Looking for opportunities that you can batch up or minimizing the packaging or making it recyclable and also balancing having a great opening unboxing experience, and so you have to balance those things, right? The environmental side and also the brand side, which is hey, the expectations of brands such as Apple put on, on this hey, you want this great experience in opening. There's a lot of non ... Things that you didn't have to worry about even 10 years ago because if you look at some of the studies of what gen Z and beyond are looking for, those considerations are much higher up than they were for other generations.Stephanie:It definitely seems like it can set up some of the newer based for failure though because it seems like you always have to stay ahead and be trying something new where it could kind of take you off your path of building a great product and a great company when you get too focused on some of that stuff. How do you think about the trade-off to stay focused but then also stay on top of consumer expectations that seem to have very rapidly changed in the last year where I wasn't really hearing a lot of consumers talking about eco-friendly packaging and really caring about that, and now it seems like that's a huge thing that we're hearing time and time again about this is a new expectation that you have to keep up with now.Paul:I think a little bit about it is around just the how do you be authentic brand? In many ways, some of the trends that we've been seeing is around less production, right? Some of the advertisement or even things that are helping to actually convert much higher are actually user-generated content that people in authentic ... You want to see how real people act, real people and real products, as opposed to a runway model or a runway person showing off this great ... Because of that, first thing we would say is try and be authentic to your brand and especially right now the over-production is actually a hindrance on many brands.Stephanie:For some of the larger brands you work with, I mean, I could see that being hard for them to want to keep up with the times but then also staying authentic to your brand. Like you said, I know it has gotten some companies in trouble for trying to do the cool thing, keep up with whatever that trend is, try and jump on something. When these big brands are coming to you, what are they struggling with right now and how are you working with them around this new UGC kind of content that a lot of these smaller D2C companies are like, yeah, of course, that's what we're going to do, but when it's a large company, they're like, I don't even know how to do that and how do you flag it and how do you think about the content coming in. Can I even trust it? How are you guys guiding them down that path?Paul:I think that for many larger companies in many ways it's kind of a how do you manage dealing with this on scale? Because in some of the smaller brands, dealing with a few interactions, it's somewhat easier, but when you have thousands and thousands of followers, how do you manage that on scale? What they mostly get concerned of, they want to be closer to the consumer and listen to them and interact, but being able to scale that in both a combination of AI related tools and responses, but also people responses that can do it in scale that are tailored to the brand voice, that's the challenge. We kind of work through different strategies to help them get through that.Stephanie:What are some other things that these brands are struggling with? What are you hearing right now that they're trying to work with you on?Paul:Yeah, and we work with brands both from B2C to B2B, and so I'll actually give two examples just to get a broad spectrum. On the B2C side, I think the ... And depending on the different segment. The B2C side on CPG we're seeing massive spikes because of all the purchases that we've seen especially going through stores, and that's a lot of the food, CPGs are just spiking. They're trying to figure out, okay, great. This is a great opportunity to scale. How do we now embrace and engage and maybe put out some direct to consumer feelers to learn?Paul:In many ways, a lot of the CPGs are going way more direct. Some of the largest scale CPG companies are doing record numbers of doing ecommerce, but they also partner with massive retail chains. They're trying to balance of not stepping on their channel conflicts, and so many are using ecommerce as a mechanism to explore, do special arrangements, special formulations, and learn and get data. As we see, for example, in that area is just there's been so much innovation going on, they're trying to keep up to the pace. They struggle with, well, what do I do first? How do I prioritize on some of these? Most of it is around helping to prioritize and segment some of the ideas to get them into marketplace faster.Stephanie:Trying to keep up with what's happening really quickly, I've seen a lot of them acquiring these smaller D2C companies and kind of putting them in a mini innovation hub where it's like we don't want to disrupt your process but we want to learn from you. Do you see that as a successful strategy for some of these more legacy brands to be able to learn while also keeping their brand identity or is that not really working?Paul:Yeah, I've seen some awesome acquisitions and unbelievable great talent that some of the large ... Just to stick to the CPG space, that's been probably the most aggressive of picking up new brands and learning, right? I think it's actually a brilliant ... That's why some of the premiums are getting paid. It's not just necessarily for the product and what margins, it's also from the know-how, because what ends up happening if you look, and this is something that that's probably the area that Club CPG on Clubhouse is probably one of the largest clubs and they have an amazing talent there, and there's been a number of acquisitions and they're on there talking about their story.Paul:What's really good about doing some of those acquisitions is these people have been very close to the customer, right? They've really interacted, as opposed to you're getting perhaps a new executive who's rotated around, right? These people understand the customer and had that relationship, had to build up the D2C. They really know all the different channels. They're able to provide that voice to the customer and how to go direct so much more. I've seen it be really successful and understand especially some of the early purchases that they've made. It's actually worked out really well, more from the people experience than even the product.Stephanie:It does seem like you can lose sight of that the larger you get, especially the more data you're getting. It's hard to get as informed and be able to actually find trends or themes. When you're working with a lot of these companies, what is your measurement of success when you're like, okay, we are going to transform this company. We're going to bring you guys to 2021 and what's relevant now. How do you look back and see if a digital transformation was successful?Paul:First of all, it's important that we judge success by the way companies measure their success. When we work with different companies, we try and understand what are their outcomes of success and their success can be ... The first thing you think, how much revenue did you grow? But some might not be. If it's a new brand and they want to get out there and they're trying to change their positioning, their goal might be a number of stories that got out, building brand awareness, changing the perspective, and so we always start with making sure that we understand what are their key outcomes and then provide some guidance on how do you get to those key goals.Paul:Looking at from a digital perspective, kind of like as I was saying before, it's also important to have an understanding of the voice of the customer and the sentiment. It's one thing to say what people might ... When you interview them. It's almost more important to see what they actually do, right? And using different tracking NPS scores, using different ... Looking at the data of actual purchase stories and mapping it onto example profiles. That then provides much more of a richer ... Even from compared to people say what they do is different than what they actually do and looking for actual intent in what they've done, and so making sure we're getting the right data is really important as well.Stephanie:Even if they have a lot of different outcomes, it seems like the solutions that you could bring to them could be kind of similar though. From what I've heard, there's a lot of decentralized processes going on, so you need to figure out a way to pull them all in and reduce your crazy marketing tech stack. Have you seen that on your side too that people might have very different outcomes but right now a lot of people have similar solutions or the solutions that you're presenting to them are kind of the same things?Paul:Yeah, in many ways some of our ... What we do to help customers in some ways is to help ... There's probably so many voices in the room and so many stakeholders is how do we help them bring them together and help to prioritize and to facilitate that conversation? Because that's the real hard part when you're dealing ... If you just have your own one product and your own single [sheet] you can make a decision and go.Paul:When you have hundreds of product lines and executives around the world and how do you facilitate the discussion, that's really what we help to do. Be it similar strategy to other companies or not, you need to help bring the internal alignment, and that's sometimes the hardest part because once you get to execute, many companies can do that. The harder part is how do you get agreement and prioritization with the different stakeholders.Stephanie:What kind of advice do you give for anyone who's struggling with that right now? What do you guys do to gain that alignment and have a go forward plan?Paul:Number one thing is start small and try something. You could spend forever talking about it and don't be afraid to fail. Get something in the market. We try and do agile sprints, and so from a development perspective we've been doing agile for a long time but we're also pushing into doing agile marketing so that we get into the same kind of feeding into that, so that okay, let's get something out there, let's try it, learn, and then from there go through the experiment, prove it, or make the changes and then scale, and keep that on an ongoing basis and trying to institutionalize that that it's an ongoing, you need to keep ...Paul:That's the business and how do you keep rolling that, because before when ecommerce was quote unquote more of a side business, it was more of a set it and forget it. Well, let's set it up. We'll set up the implementation, then we'll look at it, we'll make some changes every once in a while where now your core commerce business is your lifeline and some businesses it's over getting to 50, 60% of your overall business. You need to continue to change the priorities and especially as all of the changes that have come down the line from Facebook, from Google, is changing your whole marketing strategies.Stephanie:What about from a B2B perspective? I know earlier you said, okay, we got these two different viewpoints. What do you see in the B2B world? Which sometimes gets forgotten. We don't have many B2B people on the podcast very often and it'd be interesting to hear what does that side of the world look like.Paul:I've been focused more on that in the last year or two because it's such a big growing area. Just to lay the land, to understand how big B2B is, from a B2B perspective, just in the U.S. there's $17 trillion dollars of B2B payments done.Stephanie:Wow.Paul:That's just in the U.S. Right now-Stephanie:That's massive.Paul:It's completely massive and half of that is done manually. Meaning, if somebody writes a check, they send the check off, it's wired. It's not done digitally, and so when we talk about B2B commerce, again, people right away think B2C, it's just about the order, but actually when we talk about ... Or, the other myth or misconception that frustrates B2B people is, well, if just make it a cooler screen and easier to use on the web, then you'll be better, right? Then those are the myths and putting lipstick on problems.Paul:if you actually look into what the B2B challenges are, number one, many B2B purchases are very complex and there's many personas. It's not like, hey, I like this shirt, got it, they converted well, I've optimized, I buy it. Some of these deals are million dollars, half a million, and you need to go to procurement, you've got the business, you've got the people using it. It has to go through an RFP process, you have to buy versus ... Right? It's so much more complex on the number of personas, that's an important thing. There's no quick, easy, CX solution. Not to say that CX isn't important, but it's not like B2B. The first thing, if you start from that premise, that helps.Paul:Then the bigger pieces is traditionally how B2B sold was handshake over lunch, right? Traditionally, middle age guys shaking hands and "Hey, let's do this deal. There we go," and the last thing I want to do is look at the damn website, right? Well, obviously we know that's all changing and last year was the big thing in the workforce, millennials are now the largest part of the workforce. Guess what? Many of those, it's not all men. They're retiring at a very fast rate. Your expectation of your sales people are hey, where are my digital tools? When you talk about B2B commerce, it's about what are all the digital ways to interact, to be easier to do business with as you sell?Paul:In fact, what ends up happening is the top three things that people like for B2B commerce is order status, product information, and just doing a quick re-order. When you look at that, it's more about, hey, how do I make my life easier interacting with my customers? That's just important to understand the difference between B2C and traditionally on B2B side.Stephanie:What kind of opportunities do you see in the B2B world then? Do you see any new innovations coming about? Obviously having a platform that can meet the needs of the customers and to me it seems like it has to be personalized depending on what the business is and how your customers order, but what do you see right now that could be coming in the next couple years to help B2B?Paul:Well, kind of seeing where B2B is in their lifecycle, and so in many retailers, they're now onto their third iteration of a platform from B2C, and for most B2B, they're on maybe their first or they haven't really, right? Many of the B2B clients we're dealing with, oh, we put something up in 2004 and we've just been living with it and we still have to use IE to access it, and so we're dealing with web 1.0. They can't get it on their phone, and so a lot of it is just we need to make it easier for them and looking for ways to make the sales person's life easier.Paul:In the analogy of how B2C commerce is trying to be omnichannel, on the B2B side, it's helping your sales person and CRM. The lines between CRM and B2B commerce have blended together and it's really a tool to help the next generation business person to, hey, all my follow-ups, my data, you might get leads. Did you know your customers are looking at your products? You'll get that lead information, and so that you can follow-up with them or hey, have you deferred ... How many times has the business guy gotten a call? Hey, where's my order? I haven't got it.Paul:They end up spending half their time, and so the other big learning that we've got because it involves sales people so much is that you have to include them early and often during the process. For example, we had this happen one time. We had a customer come to us and say, "Man, we just spent all this money on this great new ecommerce platform for B2B, and we're just not getting the adoption." A couple lessons learned and they asked us to come in and do an assessment. We went in, we started talking to the customers and the customer said ... We ended up hearing this three different ways.Paul:The customer is like, "Oh, man. I love Joe. He's my best salesman, but he told me that if I put my sale through the B2B commerce, he's not going to get a bonus so I just called him to make sure he got his bonus." It's like, oh my god, of course you need to get the sales persons incentives align such that they don't get penalized for using the website, and that was like, oh yeah, that makes sense.Paul:Also, you want the sales people to be ... You want them to evangelize and get them to embrace leveraging it. That's such a key ... That change management in B2B and getting your sales people involved is super key for success.Stephanie:Yeah, which seems like it's a big training aspect to it too, make sure that they fully understand it to where then they can essentially sell the customers on using it and can act as customer service as well, because I'm sure their customers can be like, "I don't know how to order it on here," and if the sales person is like, "I don't know either," that's a big red flag. Are there any other hiccups like that that you've seen either in B2B or B2C where companies are like, oh, this isn't working. This new platform that we're using isn't working and you're like, well, let's talk a little bit about how you guys even thought about implementing it and you left out a big piece like this. Any other stories around that?Paul:Yeah, and number one it's always about ... It's so important getting the voice of the customer and getting representative people early on to provide input and feedback, because what ends up happening is if you don't listen to ... And we've had examples of rolling out systems trying to solve for what we thought was the problem but it wasn't really the problem. The way you bundled orders or the way products were bundled and you prioritized that and you didn't get the adoption, when actually they're focused on another set of problems or departments. That whole piece about getting user input early and often is so critical. The number one thing as you roll that out, you need the voice of the customer.Stephanie:In times like this that are changing so quickly, how do you think about separating the signal from the noise? I can see just so many companies try to keep up with other smaller brands and there's so many new things to try right now. It seems like it's hard to know what's actually going to be a lasting trend where you actually should put that as part of your processes or your platform. There's just so many tools and plugins and things. How do you all think about separating the two and being like, this one's a longer term trend and this is just something short that we see dying off in a year or two?Paul:Yeah, a couple of things that we do and obviously there's things that you want to lay out and over long-term and shorter term, but number one, look for ways ... First of all, understand what your brand promise is. Depending on your brand promise, you might prioritize things different, right? If you're a luxury item versus if you're an item at the dollar store. You have different brand promises and you want to be consistent to your brand promise, and so that's the first thing.Paul:The second thing as far as in general on commerce is continuously look for friction points. Do your tests with your customers and see what are things that are causing them to stop. As you go through all the different steps of the purchasing journey, if you're seeing friction points, how can you reduce that friction? Meaning, hey, this page seems really slow. I don't know why. Let's reduce that. Hey, this content is not connecting well. How can we use other ... For example, and I mentioned it before, hey, getting authentic content of the real users' pictures. That will help people convert higher.Paul:It's an ongoing iterative, so I think what you have is this ... And you're always plotting this, like how can you reduce friction and bang for the buck in a short-term that you can do versus a longer term investment that might then pay back, because it's easy to be like, okay great, we need a 3D VR AR strategy. We're like, well, how is that going to help your $10 item? Obviously that's an extreme example, but if you have a brand promise and you look for ways to reduce the friction to make your life easier, and similarly on the B2B side, that's why I always stress when I define B2B commerce, I like to say it's not about the purchase. It's about making your business easier to do business with, reduce the friction.Stephanie:I love that. What kind of longer term investments are you seeing being made right now that they might not see a payoff for a couple years? Because I know that Deloitte and I think Salesforce partnered on coming up with scenarios for the next three to five years, and so it'd be interesting to hear what you're seeing being implemented based on maybe the scenarios that these companies so all you get is put out there, which ranged to me from happy to very sad scenarios. I'm like, I guess it just depends how you're feeling that day which one you go with. I went with the happy ones.Paul:Especially for companies such as CPG that aren't used to having direct relationship with their customer, for example, big investments that take a while to really understand is the data, right? Getting real data direct from your customers that you then can build on. Those are things that it's not like, okay, a couple weeks, a couple months and you got it. It's something that over time you build up and you start to learn from, and so that's probably one of the biggest areas of especially getting your first party data, and especially since as you might have heard here recently, Facebook is reducing some of the data that they're sharing and how you're able to market and so is Google. Building up your first party data as a brand or building up your email list is so critical, and the benefits that you'll build definitely increase over time.Stephanie:It seems like it's an easy thing to say, yeah, obviously build up on that one-on-one connection with your customers, build up your email list, but it also seems like it's going to be very competitive because every brand is trying to do that now. It seems like every commerce company is turning to a media company that are all trying to have their blogs and newsletters and be on Tik Tok and Clubhouse and everywhere. How do you think brands can compete and build up content that actually pulls people into their community so they can have access to that first party data?Paul:Yeah, so I think the tactics on some of those platforms on core data and getting some of that primary, that's onto ... I think once you get into content and being outward brand, outward bound, I think the focus is and kind of the things that we've talked to our clients about is try and be good on one platform first. It's easy to be like, oh my god, we're so behind. We got to have a Tik Tok. We got to have Facebook, we have to have all the platforms all at once. We kind of guide them on, okay, start with one that's as close to your authentic brand as you can find, and then try and build it and iterate on it and master one before you really try and go after another because, again, there's limited resources and limited people. Trying to spread across all is a lot worse than trying to be good at least on one.Stephanie:Where do you normally find yourself suggesting brands start out at? It seems like Instagram is always a good bet for any company that has product pictures and things like that, but is that usually where you send them to or is it always very varied?Paul:Yeah, it just depends on where they're at. Some brands have ... Again, some of this stuff isn't cool, but SEO and email marketing have some of the best returns and they're super still unbelievably effective. Focusing on those and making sure those are solid, you get some of the best brand for the buck ... You get your bang for the buck. Sorry. Because it's easy to go the shiny happy route, but the core of understanding kind of the SEO and how it's connecting on all your different content and how you're coming up in search results all across and mobile related, that's still ... And again, email marketing on ecommerce, we did a study here recently and saw that some of the most successful brands are their leads are coming from up to 40 to 50% of their net new sales are coming from email related.Paul:We make sure that you have your core fundamentals ready before ... And you might do this like a portfolio, right? Like hey, maybe you're dipping your toe into ... Get a few Tik Tok videos out there and explore with a couple people, and know that you're not going hard on that but making sure that you get your fundamentals down first.Stephanie:Yeah, that's such a good reminder I think just for business in general but to stay focused and make sure that you're not getting caught up in the craziness and everything new. Make sure you have your email list good and that you actually own that and you're sending out good stuff. I don't know if this question could get you in trouble, but I'm going to ask it anyways. What is something you believe around ecommerce that many don't agree with you on?Paul:Huh. I'll have to think about that one. It's kind of funny in some ways because I've come through the whole ... I'm the old guy in ecommerce, and so I've been the one being like, ecommerce is going to be bigger than it is. I feel like in the last six months that now I'm the hey guys, retail is not going away. Retail has been here for hundreds of thousands of years. It's not going away. There's a lot of proponents out there, I won't name any names, but ecommerce is everything, and I'm the ecommerce guy and I'm like, no it's not. Understand it's too easy to say things are black or white for clicks, as opposed to understanding the nuance.Paul:If you look at in China, they just met a massive milestone. They're now over 50% of retail is via ecommerce. If you look at the states, relatively speaking, depending on which calculation you're looking at is anywhere from 17% or 22%, let's say it's somewhere in between that. Less than half of the penetration in China, and so I don't think over the long-term retail won't be 100% ecommerce, right?Paul:Over time, it might get in the U.S., because of the way we're distributed and the ease of buying at retail, you might get up to 50, 60% in the next 10 years but you're never going to get to a hundred and ecommerce is not everything and more the conversation should be retail has just many forms. I'm now pivoted to make sure that we don't forget the importance of these great real life experiences and then how you can balance and leverage commerce online.Stephanie:That's great that you've had to flip now to defend the other side. I'm assuming you think that retail is going to be changing though in some way or shape or form.Paul:Of course.Stephanie:How do you see that playing out?Paul:I talked about the grocery and that's a great example. They are now changing the way they see their line ... Because one of the biggest growth areas in this past year has been about BOPIS, buy online, pick-up in store. You probably saw, like you might have gone to a store and there's all these pickers. If you go, like half of the people in the store were employees picking for pick-ups. Just recently Walmart announced how they're going to re-jigger and automate so that parts of their stores are add-ons will be automated specifically targeted towards BOPIS.Stephanie:Wow, interesting.Paul:They're looking at maybe rolling that out over the next year or two over 200 stores. It's pretty significant. Then if you look at Kroger, they bought Ocado which is one of the largest robot ... Being able to bring together delivery in stage and they're looking for closer to the store to provide support for BOPIS as well. What you're going to see is this the way real estate is leveraged very differently than the big huge aisles with the big cart. It may be optimized slightly differently.Stephanie:Yeah, that's something I've been thinking about optimizing retail locations, and when I think about having someone go and buy my groceries, all the dry goods just get what I need, but when it comes to my fruits and veggies and things like that, I still think people sometimes they have a certain kind of avocado they want, they have a certain color banana they want. It seems like there's a way to segment the store and the stuff can just be picked out for you because you know what you want, and then there's another part of the store that you can still go in and interact with and grab the things that you want because there's actually preferences around them. I don't know what that looks like but it seems like an interesting thing to think about.Paul:Exactly. It's just going to change.Stephanie:Yep. Just a minute before we hop into the lightening round, I did have a question around Internet or ecommerce penetration. You were mentioning that and it does seem like there's a lot of opportunities all around the globe because certain areas have very lower ecommerce penetration because of a lot of reasons. Are there any regions that you're betting on right now or that Deloitte's looking into of there's some opportunities coming up here once X, Y, and Z is solved?Paul:Yeah, the area that has the biggest potential for growth right now that is behind ... If you look at just relatively speaking, to give everybody a perspective, from an ecommerce adoption, China is number one, Europe and the UK are generally a little bit ahead, and a lot of that has to do with they're smaller and it's easier from some of the delivery. The biggest growth area that we see right now in the next short-term is around Latin America.Stephanie:I was just going to say Latin America. I've heard a lot of VCs that you probably follow mentioned how they're going to be up and coming with them.Paul:Mercado Libre based out of Brazil is one of the fastest growing and there's also another shop app that's just skyrocketed out of Brazil, and so they see Latin America, because again they've been behind on the retail penetration and they've been behind, but this whole COVID just pushed that all along. I think that's the next big massive growth compared to everywhere else.Stephanie:I was just looking at them yesterday so it's funny you mentioned that. All right, well let's move over to the lightening round. The lightening round is brought you by our friends at Salesforce Commerce Cloud is our awesome sponsor. This is where I ask a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Paul? All right. First one. What one thing will have the biggest impact on ecommerce in the next year?Paul:It might actually be how this shipper container problem right now, all the ports are behind and not clear when some of the massive packaging and shipping issues around the world get sorted out. That might be the determinant, because if you can't get the products around the world, you might not be able to deliver what you want.Stephanie:That's a good one. Do you see any resolution with that? I don't understand what the problems are there. I've not looked into the shipping container world, so what's happening there and what could solve that?Paul:It's kind of a combo of stuff, and this has happened in a number of industries. It's kind of fascinating because it also kind of effected the way we planned. When you went back to a year ago into the spring and when you went back to all the historical of what happened when you had a large change and potential recession and what the impact was, you went back to, well, the shipping container industry went back and said, well, all our historical ... We got to pull back. They pulled back. What ends up happening, because of the ecommerce shift and spike, their demand very quickly ... They pulled back and it's hard to then build it back up when you're dealing with massive ships and containers around the world.Paul:By late summer, they realized oh crap, we're way behind and we need to catch up. That was part of it. Then you have a bunch of issues of hey, people on the essential front lines are just getting COVID and they can't deliver it, right? You have a combination of conservative planning, COVID actually effecting people, to geopolitical problems of hey, we don't want to receive packages and you're looking at different areas in the world that actually impact that. That's just another part of it that contributed to it. There was an article in Detail just this past weekend in New York Times that went into a little bit more detail.Stephanie:That's an interesting one and that's a lot at play. That'd be a good field or area to watch. Next question. If you had a podcast, what would it be about and who would your first guest be?Paul:Oh, man. I've actually been kicking around potentially doing ... This might be a little bit of what are the slow ways to be successful at ecommerce, right? Because it's funny because I've been on Clubhouse now for six months and you've got all of these entrepeneurs that hey, make seven figures, eight figures in a month or two, but the thing ... ecommerce seems overly easy to get into, but to scale and be successful is very hard because there's so many factors that play a part of it that you don't have full control of it. If I had a podcast that I would do, I would say the slow way to success to ecommerce.Stephanie:I like that. I've seen a lot of those people on Clubhouse, their bios of I'll scale you to a million. I'm like, nah.Paul:Yeah, right away it's like, next.Stephanie:Yeah, I just don't trust it, not for a second. What's up next on your reading list specifically around ecommerce trends? What are you reading every day to stay on top of the latest?Paul:It's something that I probably spend a couple hours a day reading lots of stuff. I actually use Feedly, I have all these keywords that kind of feed in, and I follow a lot of ... There's a lot of great podcasts out here. Of course, I got to plug my friend, even though he works at a competing company, he used to work for me, Jason Goldberg. The Jason and Scott Show is probably the best ecommerce podcast out there.Stephanie:Yep, I like theirs too.Paul:He's also a personal friend. I've known him for a long time. There's a whole crew of people out there that are passionate about it, and so I'm kind of geeky about it. It's funny, Jason as the retail geek but in some ways I'm more the ecommerce geek.Stephanie:Yep, I like it. That is a good one to stay on top of. I like that. Then the last one, what one thing do you not understand that you wish you did?Paul:Oh, man. I've come more from ... I'm more on the strategy and the technical side and the implementation. While I understand the marketing side okay, I really don't have the in-depth digital marketing side of it and I'd love to be able to spend more time and really focus around that area of how to really effectively connect. That's almost like another side of the brain that I have not spent the time on there.Stephanie:Yep. That's a good one. All right. Well, Paul, thanks so much for coming on the show and giving us a glimpse into what you're working on at Deloitte Digital. Where can people find out more about you or where can they follow you at?Paul:The easiest ... I'm quite active on Twitter, on deFornoP, you can follow me, and I try and share a couple articles a day of ... I curate good stories on both B2C and B2B commerce and people can also reach out to me at Deloittedigital.com or on LinkedIn.Stephanie:Amazing. Thanks so much, Paul.Paul:Awesome. Thank you.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hi, Amy.Amy: Hi.Paul: How are you?Amy: I'm all right. Thanks. How are you?Paul: Yeah, pretty good. I was thinking the other day about routine. I mean, do you follow like a strict routine?Amy: Not really. I'm pretty laid-back, I think.Paul: I see.Amy: Workdays, you have to follow a routine, I guess because you have to get ready, you have to get out the door. But on days off, I just do what I feel like pretty much. Pretty relaxed.Paul: Well, that I think is important isn't it, to relax on your days off. But like on a workday, so what do you do first in the morning?Amy: I think probably what everybody does first. I have to go to the bathroom.Paul: Okay. I mean, what do you do after that? Do you make yourself a hot drink?Amy: I wash my face and brush teeth, pretty much, and then cajole my daughter into getting on with her morning routine as well, making sure she's ready.Paul: I see. So you've got to get two people ready.Amy: Yes, I do. How about you?Paul: I just need to worry about myself really. I think that's enough, you know.Amy: Is that a big task?Paul: Yeah. Well, I always have a cup of tea in the morning. First thing, I always put the kettle on and make a hot drink. And I usually try to eat like a good breakfast, not just a piece of toast or something but maybe some eggs, scrambled eggs and maybe some bacon and some toast. Yeah, I try to leave the house with a full stomach.Amy: Yeah, that's good. I try to do that as well. Sometimes, we're pretty　rushed and breakfast is sometimes eaten in the car. But we do get full stomachs eventually.Paul: Right, right.Amy: Do you ever have fruit with your breakfast?Paul: I don't. I know some people eat like a grapefruit. Actually, occasionally, I have a banana.Amy: Hmm.Paul: Yeah, because I just find it's really easy, and convenient, and quick.Amy: I agree.Paul: But stuff like, you know, grapefruits and oranges, you have to peel them. Yeah, I just don't have the time really in the morning.Amy: Too much like hard work?Paul: Yeah. But if I stay in like if I'm on a holiday in a hotel and they have like a nice breakfast, I always try to eat fruit. So I always try to eat a bit of everything actually.Amy: When it's there in front of you, ready.Paul: When it's made for you, yeah.Amy: I do that, too, definitely.Paul: Yeah.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hi, Amy.Amy: Hi.Paul: How are you?Amy: I'm all right. Thanks. How are you?Paul: Yeah, pretty good. I was thinking the other day about routine. I mean, do you follow like a strict routine?Amy: Not really. I'm pretty laid-back, I think.Paul: I see.Amy: Workdays, you have to follow a routine, I guess because you have to get ready, you have to get out the door. But on days off, I just do what I feel like pretty much. Pretty relaxed.Paul: Well, that I think is important isn't it, to relax on your days off. But like on a workday, so what do you do first in the morning?Amy: I think probably what everybody does first. I have to go to the bathroom.Paul: Okay. I mean, what do you do after that? Do you make yourself a hot drink?Amy: I wash my face and brush teeth, pretty much, and then cajole my daughter into getting on with her morning routine as well, making sure she's ready.Paul: I see. So you've got to get two people ready.Amy: Yes, I do. How about you?Paul: I just need to worry about myself really. I think that's enough, you know.Amy: Is that a big task?Paul: Yeah. Well, I always have a cup of tea in the morning. First thing, I always put the kettle on and make a hot drink. And I usually try to eat like a good breakfast, not just a piece of toast or something but maybe some eggs, scrambled eggs and maybe some bacon and some toast. Yeah, I try to leave the house with a full stomach.Amy: Yeah, that's good. I try to do that as well. Sometimes, we're pretty　rushed and breakfast is sometimes eaten in the car. But we do get full stomachs eventually.Paul: Right, right.Amy: Do you ever have fruit with your breakfast?Paul: I don't. I know some people eat like a grapefruit. Actually, occasionally, I have a banana.Amy: Hmm.Paul: Yeah, because I just find it's really easy, and convenient, and quick.Amy: I agree.Paul: But stuff like, you know, grapefruits and oranges, you have to peel them. Yeah, I just don't have the time really in the morning.Amy: Too much like hard work?Paul: Yeah. But if I stay in like if I'm on a holiday in a hotel and they have like a nice breakfast, I always try to eat fruit. So I always try to eat a bit of everything actually.Amy: When it's there in front of you, ready.Paul: When it's made for you, yeah.Amy: I do that, too, definitely.Paul: Yeah.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hi, Amy.Amy: Hi.Paul: How are you?Amy: I'm all right. Thanks. How are you?Paul: Yeah, pretty good. I was thinking the other day about routine. I mean, do you follow like a strict routine?Amy: Not really. I'm pretty laid-back, I think.Paul: I see.Amy: Workdays, you have to follow a routine, I guess because you have to get ready, you have to get out the door. But on days off, I just do what I feel like pretty much. Pretty relaxed.Paul: Well, that I think is important isn't it, to relax on your days off. But like on a workday, so what do you do first in the morning?Amy: I think probably what everybody does first. I have to go to the bathroom.Paul: Okay. I mean, what do you do after that? Do you make yourself a hot drink?Amy: I wash my face and brush teeth, pretty much, and then cajole my daughter into getting on with her morning routine as well, making sure she's ready.Paul: I see. So you've got to get two people ready.Amy: Yes, I do. How about you?Paul: I just need to worry about myself really. I think that's enough, you know.Amy: Is that a big task?Paul: Yeah. Well, I always have a cup of tea in the morning. First thing, I always put the kettle on and make a hot drink. And I usually try to eat like a good breakfast, not just a piece of toast or something but maybe some eggs, scrambled eggs and maybe some bacon and some toast. Yeah, I try to leave the house with a full stomach.Amy: Yeah, that's good. I try to do that as well. Sometimes, we're pretty　rushed and breakfast is sometimes eaten in the car. But we do get full stomachs eventually.Paul: Right, right.Amy: Do you ever have fruit with your breakfast?Paul: I don't. I know some people eat like a grapefruit. Actually, occasionally, I have a banana.Amy: Hmm.Paul: Yeah, because I just find it's really easy, and convenient, and quick.Amy: I agree.Paul: But stuff like, you know, grapefruits and oranges, you have to peel them. Yeah, I just don't have the time really in the morning.Amy: Too much like hard work?Paul: Yeah. But if I stay in like if I'm on a holiday in a hotel and they have like a nice breakfast, I always try to eat fruit. So I always try to eat a bit of everything actually.Amy: When it's there in front of you, ready.Paul: When it's made for you, yeah.Amy: I do that, too, definitely.Paul: Yeah.

How can we better memorize this “creedal” passage from Paul? How can we use this important passage to help make a case for the deity of Jesus? J. Warner offers tips to help you memorize and use scripture to share the Gospel with others in this episode of the NRBtv Cold-Case Christianity Broadcast.

Its post anniversary bliss as the Savage FINcast crew; Craig, Jim & Raven are joined by the man himself Erik Larsen to discuss the titanic events of Savage Dragon 250 and 251! What’s the deal with Paul? How did the 250 back-ups come about? What is Larsen’s favorite kind of music? All this in the … Continue reading

Agrippa Consulting president and TEDx speaker Paul Rulkens is on the Cold Star Project to talk about high performance culture. What does it take to achieve, and how can space founders create one? Host Jason Kanigan asks Paul: How has your education and experience as a process engineer affected your views on business and company culture/change? Other than Jay Abraham, who has a different take on the concept than you, you’re the only other person I’ve seen strongly promoting the strategy of Preeminence. What does Preeminence mean to you? How do you encourage others to use Preeminence as a positioning strategy? What does it mean for execution/fulfillment/delivery? How does Preeminence impact operations? You’ve developed the concept of Strategic Quitting. What is this and how do you apply it? Are there any circumstances where it would be a BAD idea? Let’s dig into “High performance culture”: What do you mean by the phrase? Is it actually achievable by organizations, or a pipe dream sold by management consultants? How do you recommend leaders start on the development of a high performance culture? Or should it somehow “organically develop”? How dependent on hiring great people is a high performance culture? Managing change seems to be a big part of what you help organizations with. BUT: Is that even a term you use? What kind of process do you use to go about it, even if under another name or conceptual framework? Can you share some horror stories and successes in the field? What should leaders be looking for as red or green flags? Agrippa Consulting, Paul Rulkens High Performance Mastermind, Keynote Speaker website: https://paulrulkens.com/ Sign up for to receive new episodes: https://www.coldstartech.com/msb Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Oh, to talk with the animals, to laugh and cry and move to Mexico with the animals - we all love animals in the multiple definitions of all of those words, but what happens when someone does away with the meaning of words altogether, pushing Robert Downey Jr. aside in the face to rely only on Kumail Nanjiani delivering one liners via the medium of annoying CGI character? It worked for MIB International, but how does he do that without words, Paul? HOW?! HOOOOOOO The one good thing about Dolittle! Featuring: Trailer Mistake Example, a new segment regarding how much we suck, some great jokes, English whimsy and the rage that inspires, Dread Pirate David Mitchell (not that one) and Willem Dafoe yelling at the ocean.   https://open.spotify.com/show/3rBG7cpLYwIr4ujEZE4R2K https://ogtpod.podbean.com https://facebook.com/ogtpod https://twitter.com/ogtpod   We have a Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ogtpod - sign up for exclusive content for as little as $1 a month. Check out Paul Salt's reviews on Screen Mayhem HERE! But mainly, here: https://screenmayhem.com/author/paul-salt/ My soundtracks for Role To Cast's Cyberpunk 2020 and Vampire the Masquerade campaigns can be found on Soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/lovetraitor http://alottagreen.com.au

Who was Paul? How might we understand him as a Jew? What type of Jew was he? How do our answers impact our interpretation of Paul’s theology of justification, Christology, the death of Christ, and more besides? In this episode, Matthew Bates and Chris Tilling talk to two of the co-authors of the new book, Paul, a New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology, by Brant Pitre, Michael P. Barber and John A. Kincaid (Eerdmans, 2019). After presenting a case for thinking about Paul as a new covenant Jew, the authors discuss Paul and apocalyptic, Pauline Christology, the cross and atonement theology, justification through divine sonship and the Lord’s Supper. Sparkling with fresh insights, this book contributes to numerous debates in exciting ways. This is, as one reviewer put it, “Paul the pop-up book”!

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hey, Todd. I saw your pictures with you and some tigers. Where's that from?Todd: That was at a place in Southeast Asia. It was in Thailand, actually.Paul: All right.Todd: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I was a bit dubious of it. I mean, I saw the little advertisement of Tiger World and Tiger Zoo, or whatever it was. I went and took a tuk-tuk out there and checked it out, and it was pretty cool.Paul: How are the tigers treated within the zoo, the Tiger Land?Todd: Well, it's actually quite weird, in that it was like a zoo but you can go in and like touch the tigers -Paul: Oh, wow!Todd: --and be around the tigers. And so, they seem to have a pretty big area to roam around, and I guess they have a pretty good life. I guess the deal is that they were all raised in captivity, so they kind of give you a little spiel when you go in, and they explain that the tigers are raised in captivity, just like you would raise cows or pigs or horses or anything like that. So they're bred for the farm, and even though they're still really deadly, basically, you know, that's why they're there, because they were bred to be there.Paul: Bred to entertain.Todd: Yeah, kind of. It's a bit odd. You do feel a little strange, because you figure that they're tigers, and they should be out in the wild. But then again, you know, it's an opportunity for people to actually see these beautiful things.Paul: Yeah, it's an opportunity. I guess it's an opportunity also to learn about these creatures, which would are found in the wild.Todd: Right.Paul: Okay, wow, I mean, you're really close to those tigers, Todd. I mean, how did you feel? Were you scared?Todd: Actually, yeah. I mean, it's a little unsetting. Even with the little babies, you figure, - Wow! you know, or the young ones, that they are still quite big, you know. When they lie down on the ground, the full length of their body, even for a young tiger, is about the size of a human.Paul: Wow.Todd: And you realize that, you know, they could eat anything, so it's a bit scary.Paul: Yeah, you could have been eaten at any point.Todd: Well, it definitely crosses your mind. And you ask them about that, because naturally, everybody's worried about security, safety. And they say that, you know, their deal is that they know the tigers' behavior down cold, and that they know that as long as you feed the tigers early in the morning, and then they feed them again at night, then during the day, they just want to lay and sleep. They have no desire to go hunting or anything like that. So that's why they're actually safe to be around in the afternoon hours.Paul: Ah, they're very like placid by that point.Todd: Right. And they also say that because the tigers are born in captivity that they're used to being around humans from birth. So ever since they're little cubs, you know, they've had human handlers. They've had humans around them, so they're highly familiar and comfortable with humans touching them, being around them. So that's how they can, you know, allow people to be around them and keep it safe. But it still does cross your mind.Paul: Yeah, I'm sure it does, especially if you're a parent with a child, because obviously, you know, children will be a quite nice meal for a tiger.Todd: Actually, you know what? I think, looking back, you couldn't take children in the cage.Paul: Ah.Todd: I think it was almost like an amusement park; you had to be a certain height. So they didn't want you to be---they didn't want anything small that would just be too tempting for the tiger.Paul: Yeah.Todd: Although that seems kind of strange, because there were really small, petite women that were going in the cage.Paul: I see.Todd: So there's not that much of a difference there.Paul: No, I don't suppose so. I guess, if it's based on height.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hey, Todd. I saw your pictures with you and some tigers. Where's that from?Todd: That was at a place in Southeast Asia. It was in Thailand, actually.Paul: All right.Todd: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I was a bit dubious of it. I mean, I saw the little advertisement of Tiger World and Tiger Zoo, or whatever it was. I went and took a tuk-tuk out there and checked it out, and it was pretty cool.Paul: How are the tigers treated within the zoo, the Tiger Land?Todd: Well, it's actually quite weird, in that it was like a zoo but you can go in and like touch the tigers -Paul: Oh, wow!Todd: --and be around the tigers. And so, they seem to have a pretty big area to roam around, and I guess they have a pretty good life. I guess the deal is that they were all raised in captivity, so they kind of give you a little spiel when you go in, and they explain that the tigers are raised in captivity, just like you would raise cows or pigs or horses or anything like that. So they're bred for the farm, and even though they're still really deadly, basically, you know, that's why they're there, because they were bred to be there.Paul: Bred to entertain.Todd: Yeah, kind of. It's a bit odd. You do feel a little strange, because you figure that they're tigers, and they should be out in the wild. But then again, you know, it's an opportunity for people to actually see these beautiful things.Paul: Yeah, it's an opportunity. I guess it's an opportunity also to learn about these creatures, which would are found in the wild.Todd: Right.Paul: Okay, wow, I mean, you're really close to those tigers, Todd. I mean, how did you feel? Were you scared?Todd: Actually, yeah. I mean, it's a little unsetting. Even with the little babies, you figure, - Wow! you know, or the young ones, that they are still quite big, you know. When they lie down on the ground, the full length of their body, even for a young tiger, is about the size of a human.Paul: Wow.Todd: And you realize that, you know, they could eat anything, so it's a bit scary.Paul: Yeah, you could have been eaten at any point.Todd: Well, it definitely crosses your mind. And you ask them about that, because naturally, everybody's worried about security, safety. And they say that, you know, their deal is that they know the tigers' behavior down cold, and that they know that as long as you feed the tigers early in the morning, and then they feed them again at night, then during the day, they just want to lay and sleep. They have no desire to go hunting or anything like that. So that's why they're actually safe to be around in the afternoon hours.Paul: Ah, they're very like placid by that point.Todd: Right. And they also say that because the tigers are born in captivity that they're used to being around humans from birth. So ever since they're little cubs, you know, they've had human handlers. They've had humans around them, so they're highly familiar and comfortable with humans touching them, being around them. So that's how they can, you know, allow people to be around them and keep it safe. But it still does cross your mind.Paul: Yeah, I'm sure it does, especially if you're a parent with a child, because obviously, you know, children will be a quite nice meal for a tiger.Todd: Actually, you know what? I think, looking back, you couldn't take children in the cage.Paul: Ah.Todd: I think it was almost like an amusement park; you had to be a certain height. So they didn't want you to be---they didn't want anything small that would just be too tempting for the tiger.Paul: Yeah.Todd: Although that seems kind of strange, because there were really small, petite women that were going in the cage.Paul: I see.Todd: So there's not that much of a difference there.Paul: No, I don't suppose so. I guess, if it's based on height.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号: VOA英语每日一听 Paul: Hey, Todd. I saw your pictures with you and some tigers. Where's that from?Todd: That was at a place in Southeast Asia. It was in Thailand, actually.Paul: All right.Todd: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I was a bit dubious of it. I mean, I saw the little advertisement of Tiger World and Tiger Zoo, or whatever it was. I went and took a tuk-tuk out there and checked it out, and it was pretty cool.Paul: How are the tigers treated within the zoo, the Tiger Land?Todd: Well, it's actually quite weird, in that it was like a zoo but you can go in and like touch the tigers -Paul: Oh, wow!Todd: --and be around the tigers. And so, they seem to have a pretty big area to roam around, and I guess they have a pretty good life. I guess the deal is that they were all raised in captivity, so they kind of give you a little spiel when you go in, and they explain that the tigers are raised in captivity, just like you would raise cows or pigs or horses or anything like that. So they're bred for the farm, and even though they're still really deadly, basically, you know, that's why they're there, because they were bred to be there.Paul: Bred to entertain.Todd: Yeah, kind of. It's a bit odd. You do feel a little strange, because you figure that they're tigers, and they should be out in the wild. But then again, you know, it's an opportunity for people to actually see these beautiful things.Paul: Yeah, it's an opportunity. I guess it's an opportunity also to learn about these creatures, which would are found in the wild.Todd: Right.Paul: Okay, wow, I mean, you're really close to those tigers, Todd. I mean, how did you feel? Were you scared?Todd: Actually, yeah. I mean, it's a little unsetting. Even with the little babies, you figure, - Wow! you know, or the young ones, that they are still quite big, you know. When they lie down on the ground, the full length of their body, even for a young tiger, is about the size of a human.Paul: Wow.Todd: And you realize that, you know, they could eat anything, so it's a bit scary.Paul: Yeah, you could have been eaten at any point.Todd: Well, it definitely crosses your mind. And you ask them about that, because naturally, everybody's worried about security, safety. And they say that, you know, their deal is that they know the tigers' behavior down cold, and that they know that as long as you feed the tigers early in the morning, and then they feed them again at night, then during the day, they just want to lay and sleep. They have no desire to go hunting or anything like that. So that's why they're actually safe to be around in the afternoon hours.Paul: Ah, they're very like placid by that point.Todd: Right. And they also say that because the tigers are born in captivity that they're used to being around humans from birth. So ever since they're little cubs, you know, they've had human handlers. They've had humans around them, so they're highly familiar and comfortable with humans touching them, being around them. So that's how they can, you know, allow people to be around them and keep it safe. But it still does cross your mind.Paul: Yeah, I'm sure it does, especially if you're a parent with a child, because obviously, you know, children will be a quite nice meal for a tiger.Todd: Actually, you know what? I think, looking back, you couldn't take children in the cage.Paul: Ah.Todd: I think it was almost like an amusement park; you had to be a certain height. So they didn't want you to be---they didn't want anything small that would just be too tempting for the tiger.Paul: Yeah.Todd: Although that seems kind of strange, because there were really small, petite women that were going in the cage.Paul: I see.Todd: So there's not that much of a difference there.Paul: No, I don't suppose so. I guess, if it's based on height.

Happy Friday, Faithful Friends. Today's Big Bible Word is Alliteration. Oh wait, it is actually peace-making. Everybody knows that Jesus said that the peacemakers are blessed (for they will be called children of God), but many may not know what it actually means or looks like to be a peacemaker. Today we read Numbers chapter 1, Psalms 35, Ecclesiastes 11 and Titus 3, which is one of the best and most practical chapters on peacemaking in the entire Bible - even if it doesn't use the actual word peace-maker. Follow the commands in the chapter, and you will be a bringer of peace to almost any situation. I love how Spurgeon closed a sermon on the Beatitudes many years ago, commending the life of peacemaking to his congregation: Are any suffering? Let us weep with them. Do we know one who has less love than others? then let us have more, so as to make up the deficiency. Do we perceive faults in a brother? let us admonish him in love and affection. I pray you be peacemakers, everyone. Let the Church go on as it has done for the last eleven years, in holy concord and blessed unity. Let us remember that we cannot keep the unity of the Spirit unless we all believe the truth of God. Let us search our Bibles, therefore, and conform our views and sentiments to the teaching of God’s Word. I have already told you that unity in error is unity in ruin. We want unity in the truth of God through the Spirit of God. This let us seek after; let us live near to Christ, for this is the best way of promoting unity. Divisions in Churches never begin with those full of love to the Saviour. Cold hearts, unholy lives, inconsistent actions, neglected [prayer] closets; these are the seeds which sow schisms in the body; but he who lives near to Jesus, wears his likeness and copies his example, will be, wherever he goes, a sacred bond, a holy link to bind the Church more closely than ever together. May God give us this, and henceforth let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. C. H. Spurgeon, “True Unity Promoted,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 11 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865), 11. Spurgeon is absolutely right - disunity and peace-breaking almost never begin with those who are full of love for Jesus. If you love the body of Christ - the people of God - you will be unwilling to do anything that could harm them. Christians should do everything possible to maintain unity in the church! That said, we need to see that this passage in Titus concerns our conduct and treatment of people in the church AND outside of the church. Sometimes I have seen Christians that are overeager to fight, quarrel, argue and otherwise stir up trouble online, and with non-believers. I believe Titus 3 - and many other Bible chapters - steer us away from such behavior. Is your social media a sounding board for complaints or disagreements? Do you regularly ignite arguments with your strong opinions? Are you prone to getting into quarrels with people who just don't get it, and need to be set straight? Well, I think Titus 3 might have something to say to us - let's read it! Remember that Titus is part of the pastoral epistles - letters written by Paul to Timothy and Titus to help them know how to pastor/shepherd and teach Christians in these young churches. It is very clear that the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, is urging peace and unity to be critically important facets of any church. Remember these passages back in Timothy:  23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. 2 Timothy 2:23-25 The Lord's servant - you and I! is not allowed to quarrel with people. Instead, we must be gentle and patient. Consider all of the peace-making passages we've just read in Titus - it is very clear that Paul is ending this letter with a hope that the church would abound in peace and avoid fighting and controversy and division: Titus 3:2-3 "to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people 3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another." Titus 3:9, "But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless." Titus 3:10-11 " 10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning. 11 For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned." The advice is crystal clear: No fighting. No slander. Avoid debates, quarrels, and disputes. Reject divisive people. Be kind. Show gentleness to everybody. As a reminder, this applies to our behavior in church and out of church - with Christians and with everybody. Christians are the last people that should be looking to argue or quarrel online (or anywhere!) - about politics, theology, religions, etc. We are to be a peace-seeking and -peace-loving people. The world has enough debates, quarrels and disputes, says Paul, let's not add to it, but, rather let us be gentle and, rather than fuss, fight, debate and quarrel, rather "Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful." (Titus 3:14) Forbearance is a great word that is not used very frequently anymore, except in debt relief. It is almost an archaic word. Are you familiar with it? It means to refrain from exercising a legal right - especially to refrain from enforcing a debt owed. So, in a Christian sense, when we practice forbearance with each other, we are being graceful, overlooking offenses and the need for somebody to pay us back if they have slighted us somehow. Pastor John Piper tells in this little snippet, which we will close with, how the practice of forbearance is helpful for the practice of peace-making and unity building: He pleads with the church to walk worthy of our calling. Specifically, the way he wants to emphasize is that we be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 3). We walk unworthily of our calling in Christ if we disregard the unity of the body and don’t expend any effort to safeguard what Christ died to obtain. “Be diligent,” Paul says, “Be eager, be earnest” to keep the unity given by the Spirit of God and obtained with the blood of Christ (2:16). This is Paul’s prison burden for the church at Ephesus. If we have any empathy for a suffering saint, it should make us say, Yes, that is utterly crucial. How, brother Paul? How shall we do this? His answer is found in verse 2. The character traits that will preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace are humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. So he says that a life worthy of our calling and leading to unity of Spirit is “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.” If you are humble, you will be gentle, and if you are patient, you will be forbearing or enduring. And if you are gentle and forbearing in love, you will be a peacemaker and a unity preserver. So be diligent and eager to be a humble and patient person by the power of Christ. John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

Happy Friday, Faithful Friends. Today's Big Bible Word is Alliteration. Oh wait, it is actually peace-making. Everybody knows that Jesus said that the peacemakers are blessed (for they will be called children of God), but many may not know what it actually means or looks like to be a peacemaker. Today we read Numbers chapter 1, Psalms 35, Ecclesiastes 11 and Titus 3, which is one of the best and most practical chapters on peacemaking in the entire Bible - even if it doesn't use the actual word peace-maker. Follow the commands in the chapter, and you will be a bringer of peace to almost any situation. I love how Spurgeon closed a sermon on the Beatitudes many years ago, commending the life of peacemaking to his congregation: Are any suffering? Let us weep with them. Do we know one who has less love than others? then let us have more, so as to make up the deficiency. Do we perceive faults in a brother? let us admonish him in love and affection. I pray you be peacemakers, everyone. Let the Church go on as it has done for the last eleven years, in holy concord and blessed unity. Let us remember that we cannot keep the unity of the Spirit unless we all believe the truth of God. Let us search our Bibles, therefore, and conform our views and sentiments to the teaching of God’s Word. I have already told you that unity in error is unity in ruin. We want unity in the truth of God through the Spirit of God. This let us seek after; let us live near to Christ, for this is the best way of promoting unity. Divisions in Churches never begin with those full of love to the Saviour. Cold hearts, unholy lives, inconsistent actions, neglected [prayer] closets; these are the seeds which sow schisms in the body; but he who lives near to Jesus, wears his likeness and copies his example, will be, wherever he goes, a sacred bond, a holy link to bind the Church more closely than ever together. May God give us this, and henceforth let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. C. H. Spurgeon, “True Unity Promoted,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 11 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1865), 11. Spurgeon is absolutely right - disunity and peace-breaking almost never begin with those who are full of love for Jesus. If you love the body of Christ - the people of God - you will be unwilling to do anything that could harm them. Christians should do everything possible to maintain unity in the church! That said, we need to see that this passage in Titus concerns our conduct and treatment of people in the church AND outside of the church. Sometimes I have seen Christians that are overeager to fight, quarrel, argue and otherwise stir up trouble online, and with non-believers. I believe Titus 3 - and many other Bible chapters - steer us away from such behavior. Is your social media a sounding board for complaints or disagreements? Do you regularly ignite arguments with your strong opinions? Are you prone to getting into quarrels with people who just don't get it, and need to be set straight? Well, I think Titus 3 might have something to say to us - let's read it! Remember that Titus is part of the pastoral epistles - letters written by Paul to Timothy and Titus to help them know how to pastor/shepherd and teach Christians in these young churches. It is very clear that the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, is urging peace and unity to be critically important facets of any church. Remember these passages back in Timothy:  23 But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. 2 Timothy 2:23-25 The Lord's servant - you and I! is not allowed to quarrel with people. Instead, we must be gentle and patient. Consider all of the peace-making passages we've just read in Titus - it is very clear that Paul is ending this letter with a hope that the church would abound in peace and avoid fighting and controversy and division: Titus 3:2-3 "to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people 3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another." Titus 3:9, "But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless." Titus 3:10-11 " 10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning. 11 For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned." The advice is crystal clear: No fighting. No slander. Avoid debates, quarrels, and disputes. Reject divisive people. Be kind. Show gentleness to everybody. As a reminder, this applies to our behavior in church and out of church - with Christians and with everybody. Christians are the last people that should be looking to argue or quarrel online (or anywhere!) - about politics, theology, religions, etc. We are to be a peace-seeking and -peace-loving people. The world has enough debates, quarrels and disputes, says Paul, let's not add to it, but, rather let us be gentle and, rather than fuss, fight, debate and quarrel, rather "Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful." (Titus 3:14) Forbearance is a great word that is not used very frequently anymore, except in debt relief. It is almost an archaic word. Are you familiar with it? It means to refrain from exercising a legal right - especially to refrain from enforcing a debt owed. So, in a Christian sense, when we practice forbearance with each other, we are being graceful, overlooking offenses and the need for somebody to pay us back if they have slighted us somehow. Pastor John Piper tells in this little snippet, which we will close with, how the practice of forbearance is helpful for the practice of peace-making and unity building: He pleads with the church to walk worthy of our calling. Specifically, the way he wants to emphasize is that we be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 3). We walk unworthily of our calling in Christ if we disregard the unity of the body and don’t expend any effort to safeguard what Christ died to obtain. “Be diligent,” Paul says, “Be eager, be earnest” to keep the unity given by the Spirit of God and obtained with the blood of Christ (2:16). This is Paul’s prison burden for the church at Ephesus. If we have any empathy for a suffering saint, it should make us say, Yes, that is utterly crucial. How, brother Paul? How shall we do this? His answer is found in verse 2. The character traits that will preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace are humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. So he says that a life worthy of our calling and leading to unity of Spirit is “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love.” If you are humble, you will be gentle, and if you are patient, you will be forbearing or enduring. And if you are gentle and forbearing in love, you will be a peacemaker and a unity preserver. So be diligent and eager to be a humble and patient person by the power of Christ. John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

I had the pleasure of speaking with Bradley Metrock, CEO of Score Publishing. Bradley is many things, and most certainly all things voice. Bradley has been in the voice space for several years and culminated the Project Voice event, the number one event for voice technology and AI in America. During the podcast, I had the opportunity to learn more about what Bradley does and his vision for the future of voice. He talks in depth about how businesses need to understand the importance of incorporating voice technology within small to medium size companies. If they don’t do it soon, they will quickly fall behind. Bradley is also the Keynote Speaker at Nashville Voice Conference 2020, coming up on August 7 at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. The event will focus on how all businesses can become more efficient and effective through the creation of Alexa Skills and Google Actions. Paul: How familiar do you believe businesses currently are with voice apps, Alexa skills and Google actions? Bradley: I think it varies, but in general it's pretty low. I view it as defensive in nature rather than offensive in nature. I think a business, including mom and pop gas stations, and as you get into the enterprise space, needs to be working with voice or working with groups like Data Driven Design who are working with voice on their behalf so that they are accumulating knowledge and they're getting acclimated to the space. But the bottom line is that if you're not delving into those waters, you're falling behind, and you're not understanding. Paul: Do you think businesses know that they can build custom applications for Alexa and Google assistant just like they can with websites or mobile apps and how those can actually help them be more efficient and effective? Bradley: I think some of that knowledge is there. They want to turn to professionals, and do it right. I don't think it's part of the mental calculus for a lot of companies. Like do the tools exist? Paul: You wrote a book more than just weather and music, 200 ways to use Alexa. Tell us about that. Tell us about some of those use cases that you've found. Bradley: It's profound. All the things that you can do with Alexa’s ecosystem. I always joke, you could line up a hundred Amazon employees and even they wouldn't know 70% or 80% of some of these things that are in the book. And I'll give you a couple of examples. It's called “Alexa, What am I Holding?” So four Alexa devices that have a front facing camera, like the Echo Show, and The Echo Spot. They have a feature called “Alexa, what am I holding?” Paul: If you had to come up with an idea of big or small to help any kind of business, including your own, with operations or marketing, creating a voice app, an Alexa skill or a Google action, what would it be? Bradley: We just went through that with Project Voice. We wanted to create a voice experience that you don't want to regurgitate the web. So with Project Voice, we thought, what is it that a voice experience for a conference ought to do? And what is it it can do, that's above and beyond regurgitating the web? And one of the things that we came up with that we used to great effect was having speakers talk about their sessions in their own voice. Paul: The goal of the Nashville Voice Conferences is to help people make things happen with their businesses with voice. And, you are the keynote speaker at Nashville Voice Conference 2020, and I'm very proud of that. Can you give us a little preview of what you're thinking will be valuable to the attendees on August 7th, 2020 at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center? Bradley: Sure! I'm thrilled that there is a Nashville Voice Conference, number one. I'm thrilled that it's growing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/paulhickey/support

Message Notes February 9, 2020| Teacher: Shane WanamakerMessage slides - Click here Unhindered:The Gospel to the Ends of the EarthPlot: Protected by ProvidenceActs 23:12-22 The Plot of the PersecutorsIntensity to silence the gospel might increase as you remain faithful to His plan.(23:12-15) Relative as a ResourceGod enlists unexpected people to further His plan.(23:16-17) The Confidence of a CommanderGod is always working to move forward His plan.(23:18-22) Lessons for WitnessesWitnesses trust God in the good and the bad, knowing God works in both to advance the Gospel.Next StepsI will not be silent in my witness of the gospel.I will trust God’s perfect plan and His provision in the good times and badThis Week’s Growth GuideGod’s Word is both central and critical to your spiritual growth. We invite you to utilize the Growth Guide during the week to further your application of the Truth from the message.Monday - Genesis 45:1-8Tuesday - Daniel 3:8-27Wednesday - Esther 3:13-4:14Thursday - Acts 5:29-42Friday - Acts 23:13-35Home Church Questions • Read Acts 23:12-22. • What stood out to you from the passage? • Why is it so urgent for the 40+ oath takers to kill Paul? How does God use people planning to murder Paul to advance the gospel? • Did you face any opposition this past week for sharing the gospel with someone? If so, share what happened and pray for those you shared with. If not, was the lack of opposition due to a lack of witness? • Who is one person you will pray for an opportunity to share the gospel with this week? • Share a difficult time in your life that when you look back you see God working behind the scenes to advance the gospel or grow your faith. • God being in control over everything doesn’t mean rescue will always come when we want it, or at all. Have you experienced or at least wrestled with that truth? What conclusions did you come to? • What will you do different this week because of this passage? Father/Daughter Dance | March 7 Dads who have daughters between 5th - 12th grade mark your calendar for Saturday, March 7. That evening take your daughter out for dinner on your own (or with a group of other father/daughters), then join us for a dance afterward at Renewal Ranch’s event room. No dance experience or skill needed - just a desire to have fun with your daughter! AT FELLOWSHIP Get Equipped - For all equipping opportunities go to fellowshipconway.org/equipping • The Core (6 weeks) February 9, 9:00 am • Bible Study Methods (6 weeks) February 9, 9:00 am Fellowhip Kids VolunteersDo you have what it takes to join our team? We have the BEST volunteers in Fellowship Kids! God has blessed us with lots of children requiring us to open an additional room. We are in need of more hands and feet to help us show them Jesus on Sunday mornings. Contact Heather Fulmer at hfulmer@fellowshipconway.org or Heather McKinney at hmckinney@fellowshipconway.org to discuss where you would like to serve.Alive Retreat | FEbruary 21-23 | Camp SolgohachiaAll 5th-7th graders are invited for an incredible weekend focusing on their relationship with Christ, fellowship with one another, and a whole lot of fun at Camp Solgohachia, located just 30 minutes away from the church. The $90 cost covers all expenses. Rest assured, your child will be shepherded closely all weekend by their wonderful small group leaders. Register at https://tinyurl.com/uoer4ya until February 12th. FELLOWSHIP KIDS BAPTISM CLASS | February 16, 23, March 1, 8 | 10:45 a.m. | Room 2101If your child has placed their faith in Christ, we would love for you to join us for this four week class. This is a class for you and your child to attend together as we discuss the character of God, salvation, baptism, and spiritual disciplines. If you are interested, please email Heather Mckinney at hmckinney@fellowshipconway.org.Dinner and Silent auction | February 26 | 6-8:30 p.m.Join us to support our Next and Youth mission teams at our annual Dinner and Silent Auction, February 26. Tacos4Life is providing a free dinner so you can focus on bidding for some exciting items and services provided by team members raising support for our three mission trips - one team to Arlington, TX and two teams to the Czech Republic. Dinner served from 6-7 p.m. with silent auction following. Men’s Muster | April 17-19 | Shepherd of the OzarksTake a weekend in the Ozarks with men from Fellowship to be refreshed in God’s Word, challenged in your walk, and encouraged by others on the journey with you. Early Bird registration ends February 16, so sign up today at the Connection Center or online at https://tinyurl.com/wgelanq.Fall Luncheon | February 14 A Valentine’s Luncheon to honor our widows and ladies living alone will be held Friday, February 14, 12:00 p.m. at 3680 Gresham Drive (home of Ambra Austin). Join us for a time of fun and fellowship. RSVP to Ambra, 501-730-6795.FinancesWeekly Budget 25,650Giving For 01/26 26,165Giving For 02/02 27,359YTD Budget 820,801YTD Giving 826,030Over (under) 3,520Generations CampaignTotal Pledge 1,583,361Received-to-date 1,317,082Click Here if you would like to give a gift.To make a gift or a commitment to Generations, you can click Here.

How do you become a costume illustrator? How do you film Tom Cruise on the side of a plane? How do you create the Vader corridor sequence? How do you make Olivia Coleman look like a badger? How do you create an alien called Paul? How do you co-manage the creature/ droid department on the Star Wars trilogy? Why would you replace George Clooney's eyes for your own in a blockbuster movie?  What does a sock full of vegetables have to do with a xenomorph alien? You guessed it, all answers lie within this episode.

Have you ever been a house band? If so, or if not, what does that concept mean to you? Listen as Paul and Dave talk through the whole idea of what a house band could be, and how different folks are iterating on that idea. What can you adopt from the house band concept for your shows? But first, none of these gigs happen without learning the songs first. Paul grills Dave on the process of prepping for his gigs using this past week's Mad Haus as a guide. But don't worry, these are universal lessons that Dave, Paul, and even you can apply to any gig for which you don't already know the tunes. That, plus a couple of geeky gear items as Cool Stuff Found make up this week's show. Enjoy... and always be performing! 00:00:00 Gig Gab 237- Wednesday, December 18, 2019 00:01:17 Feedback@GigGabPodcast.com 00:01:38 JH Audio Jodi-Vac 00:04:14 JH Audio Ambient FR Jerry Harvey on Gig Gab 00:07:16 SPONSOR: Circle Home Plus makes it easy to take childhood offline when needed, so they can focus on homework, chores, or bedtime. 00:09:00 Mad Haus Background 00:16:47 Mad Haus Prep Get specific rehearsal tracks (everyone on same page) Background listening for days, making loose notes as things come up, but generally just grokking Sit down with script and listen intentionally to each song, pausing, making notes Who starts the tune? How fast? What’s the feel (what does it remind you of instantly)? Mark cuts based upon lyrics. Describe end (or leave question mark for rehearsal/discussion) 00:24:34 Mad Haus Performance It’s all about trust and communication 00:29:05 Paul-How does a House Band work? House bands for open mic Bluegrass night Blues Jam (or other Jam) Live Band Karaoke The Wheel of Awesome 00:44:29 Always Be a House Band 00:48:18 Gig Gab 237 Outtro

  What does it take for people to believe in you and your product or service? In today's episode, Nate talks about his experience starting out as a YouTube Producer, and how he eventually became successful in it!   Today, I have a great track record of success. I get clients by word of mouth. People pay me 6 figures for my services. People actually pay me a thousand dollars per hour which I still think is crazy. So, I don't like to provide consulting. It's real taxing on the brain. So, I raise my prices to a thousand dollars per hour. And yet people still hire me for that amount. But it wasn't always this way. In fact, just a few years ago, I couldn't sell my service at cost. I was basically giving it away without any profit and I couldn't get any takers. In this episode, I'm going to share with you what I did to make that change. How I went from not being able to sell it to being able to sell it for 6 figures and having a great track record of success. To turn things around, I did something very intentionally, very specific and strategic. So, I'm going to share the story of what I did including how I needed to build a track record and how I needed a portfolio and what I did to get that because no one would buy my services. And I'll talk about how I was able to actually quadruple my pricing. And when I mentioned that pricing to people, they they just say, "Yes, sounds good to me." Today, I have a huge track record of success on YouTube. But going back 7 years ago, I didn't have it. In fact, I had proven my strategy in small-scale. So, I knew that it would work but no one else could see it and no one else had experienced it. I started putting on three-day retreats. And I'd get 15 or 20 people that would come to those and after the 3 days, they would say, "Wow, this was so valuable. When's your next one?" So, they told me that they liked it but that they implement what I taught? No, they didn't. There were people that hired me for coaching and consulting. I would coach them and give them feedback. I'd even put on one time filming events where they'd come and they'd film a few episodes at a time. But nobody really ever stuck with it. And I was really frustrating to me because I knew my strategy would work. What I really wanted was to hold somebody's hand and take them from start to finish and help them be consistent for a long time. But I really wanted to sell some type of comprehensive package where I could do that and I even offered it at cost where I wasn't gonna make any profit because I really wanted a portfolio. When I had a my web design service, I had a whole portfolio and people could look at all the different websites that I had designed and they knew what their investment was going to get them. And for my video production services where I created speaker videos, I could show them samples of things. But for this large comprehensive approach on YouTube, yeah, I could show him a single video here and there. But when I said, "Yeah, we're going to film 260 episodes in a year. And this is the dollar amount." They just... They wouldn't bite. They wouldn't do it. You know, I remembered that like, "Okay, a portfolio or a track record of success. People need to see that. They need to see results." So, I came up with an idea. 5 years ago, I approached 6 different people with this idea that was form a partnership with them. Basically they get my services for free because I wanted to have a proof of concept. I wanted to build a portfolio and Kris Krohn was one of these people. He was the one of the 6 that said, 'Yeah, let's do it." And kind of a funny story. I sent him a half-hour long video explaining my idea. And knowing Kris now, I know how painful that is for him to just sit there and watch something for 30 minutes. So, he actually messaged me back. He was very kind. And he said, "Can you summarize what this video says?" And I'm intrigued. But I don't know if I have 30 minutes. My response to him was, "You've got to watch it just to see the whole picture." Well, he did watch it. He said, "His wife Kalenn watched a video with him. And that they were interested." So, we entered into a partnership and we started the channel from scratch. Fast-forward to today, we're almost at 500,000 subscribers and the channel is bringing in between 5 and 6 hundred thousand dollars per month. You can tell that that's a statistic that I like to drop all the time. But what did that do for me? This channel has given me a huge track record of success. I mean, it started giving me the credibility and the proof of concept. Long before now and so there's actually several channels that I produce that work as this proof of concept or work as this portfolio. Now, when I talk to people and I teach them the same strategy, they implement it. They take action on it. There are people now that are actually not my clients who have gotten results just from watching my videos on YouTube. As soon as I had this credibility and I had this track record of success, I mean I noticed people were coming to me saying, "Hey, how did you do that for Kris? Or how did you do that for Paul? How did you do that with the Duncans?" Not only did I have people now interested in buying my services but actually quadrupled my pricing. I thought it would be a good idea to actually include profit in there. I was trying to give away my services at cost before I like no one would want it. Now, I had a track record of success, I had credibility. People now knew that my strategy was sound and now they're willing to pay a premium price for it. And the cool thing is I don't really market or have a sales campaign to get new clients. All my clients come to me through word-of-mouth and I get invited to speak places people that hear me. They go and they do research on me on these that I've created and they approached me and asked me if I have room to help them as well. When I look back, I guess the one thing that I really had going for me is I really have a strong entrepreneurial Drive and just a commitment to not give up. Because I believed in my strategy. I knew... I proved it in small scale and I saw what it could do. And I just knew on big scale it would really work. And I was so committed to that and I was willing to give it away for free and prove it for a couple of years before it really turned profitable. So, do you believe in your service enough to give it away for free? Seriously, if you're struggling to make sales or struggling to sell it at the price point that you'd like, consider trying that. Get yourself a track record of success, build yourself a portfolio and on that note, the video that I want you to watch next, I'll link to it right up here is how to make money on YouTube fast. I think combining that video of how to make money on YouTube with how to sell your product. I think these two videos will go really well and will help you succeed in your business.  

How to Enhance Work Productivity Today's question is about enhancing your work productivity. What are some recommended tools and systems for a more effective and compressed workflow? Our caller, Desi has come up with another great question today. Desi is a busy drone pilot who is looking for some effective ways to get more done in less time. Specifically, she has a long work commute and is wondering how she can utilize this time in the best possible manner. As a drone business owner, you will have to find time for business activities like sales & marketing and general admin tasks. With so much on your plate, it is important that you finish your daily tasks in the most efficient manner. So, should you go old school and jot down a daily to-do list in a book? Or, should you rely on the latest productivity tools to stay on top of things? We discuss the pros and cons of each approach. Other topics discussed include time blocking techniques, how to implement systems and processes, and the benefits of staying healthy. For all this and so much more, tune in to our latest show now. Thanks for the great question, Desi. Fly Safe! If you found this show interesting, you might want to check out our comprehensive Drone Business Course. The Biggest Sale of The Year, the Drone U Black Friday Sale is LIVE. Do not miss out! Limited Time Offer! Do you wish to learn from world-class pilots with real-world experience? This could be your chance. The Drone U Fly-in Challenge will be held from April 4-5 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. These unique drone games are designed to test your flying ability as you will be asked to complete carefully designed flight missions that mimic real-world scenarios. Don't miss the chance to participate in the BIGGEST and BEST drone event of the year. Limited Spots Available! Book Now! Recently crashed your drone? Unable to find trained technicians who can repair your drone quickly and at a reasonable rate? Don’t fret. The cool folks at Fortress UAV can help you get your drone back up in the air in as little as 7 days! Use Promo Code “DroneU” to get 25% off. Drone U Members get an extra 5% off on total repair costs. Check them out now! Make sure to get yourself the all-new Drone U landing pad! Get your questions answered: https://thedroneu.com/. If you enjoy the show, the #1 thing you can do to help us out is to subscribe to it on iTunes. Can we ask you to do that for us real quick? While you're there, leave us a 5-star review, if you're inclined to do so. Thanks! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-drone-u/id967352832. Become a Drone U Member. Access to over 30 courses, great resources, and our incredible community. Looking for simple, fast, and transparent coverage that gives you peace of mind? Our friends at Skywatch are offering affordable on-demand drone insurance that rewards YOU for flying safely. Check them out NOW! Both hourly and monthly options available. Follow us: Site - https://thedroneu.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/droneu Instagram - https://instagram.com/thedroneu/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/thedroneu YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/droneu Get your copy of “Livin’ the Drone Life” – http://amzn.to/2nalUDH Get your copy of our Part 107 Study Guide – https://amzn.to/2omQatT/ Check out our upcoming Mapping Classes – https://thedroneu.clickfunnels.com/drone-u-mapping-classes-2019 Timestamps The Drone U Black Friday Sale Announced! Do not miss out! Today's question is about enhancing your work productivity Does your choice of productivity tool depend on your personality? Does staying healthy help you enhance your productivity? Which is the best tool for Desi? Why is it important to differentiate between Tasks and Projects? Does time-blocking work for Rob and Paul? How to use geofenced notifications for your day-to-day tasks Is GSuite a good productivity tool for your small business?

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号:VOA英语每日一听Paul: Hi, this is Paul from England speaking with Katia from Mexico. First question is do you give money to charity?Katia: Well, Paul, it's a difficult question because you really want to help people, but I always question myself where if the money really gets to where it's supposed to go, so personally I rarely do give money to charities. I'd rather give my time, so I know if it's actually something happening. What about you?Paul: Yeah, I guess that makes sense. If it's a registered charity then I don't see there's a problem really with giving a donation.Katia: Yeah, I guess so, but really I wonder. There are so many charities in the world, and you wonder really how much money do the people actually get, so it's difficult to really know.Paul: How about if you're walking down the street and you see a homeless person asking for money?Katia: Homeless people! That's also difficult because you can see they need money or they need food. Sometimes I feel if you give money, you are supporting their way of life so I would rather give some food so they can eat, but maybe if it's a disabled person, I am more willing to give, rather than just the homeless.Paul: Yeah, I'd agree with you. It's difficult to know what they're gonna use the money for, so usually I never give money to men but if it's like an elderly woman, I'm happy to give a small donation.Katia: Why not men and only women?Paul: Well, going back to what you said about supporting their way of life, I mean, not in every case, but I think that often it can just be man's choice to be homeless on the street and he does have a chance to get a job I think.Katia: So you think the woman really doesn't have a choice, and the man...Paul: I think it's more difficult for a woman.Katia: Possibly. Possibly. That's a difficult question.Paul: For sure. Do you give money if you see children on the street?Katia: Well, it depends, because that's also giving money to children so they can continue asking for money, so I avoid it. I also avoid it. What about you?Paul: I'm a little bit reluctant to give money. I heard in a lot of poor countries that it can actually even be a business, like parents will send their children onto the street.Katia: Unfortunately, that's true.Paul: OK, so maybe you like what you said before: it's better to donate your time than to donate money.Katia: Possibly. And hopefully things will change.

更多英语知识，请关注微信公众号:VOA英语每日一听Paul: Hi, this is Paul from England speaking with Katia from Mexico. First question is do you give money to charity?Katia: Well, Paul, it's a difficult question because you really want to help people, but I always question myself where if the money really gets to where it's supposed to go, so personally I rarely do give money to charities. I'd rather give my time, so I know if it's actually something happening. What about you?Paul: Yeah, I guess that makes sense. If it's a registered charity then I don't see there's a problem really with giving a donation.Katia: Yeah, I guess so, but really I wonder. There are so many charities in the world, and you wonder really how much money do the people actually get, so it's difficult to really know.Paul: How about if you're walking down the street and you see a homeless person asking for money?Katia: Homeless people! That's also difficult because you can see they need money or they need food. Sometimes I feel if you give money, you are supporting their way of life so I would rather give some food so they can eat, but maybe if it's a disabled person, I am more willing to give, rather than just the homeless.Paul: Yeah, I'd agree with you. It's difficult to know what they're gonna use the money for, so usually I never give money to men but if it's like an elderly woman, I'm happy to give a small donation.Katia: Why not men and only women?Paul: Well, going back to what you said about supporting their way of life, I mean, not in every case, but I think that often it can just be man's choice to be homeless on the street and he does have a chance to get a job I think.Katia: So you think the woman really doesn't have a choice, and the man...Paul: I think it's more difficult for a woman.Katia: Possibly. Possibly. That's a difficult question.Paul: For sure. Do you give money if you see children on the street?Katia: Well, it depends, because that's also giving money to children so they can continue asking for money, so I avoid it. I also avoid it. What about you?Paul: I'm a little bit reluctant to give money. I heard in a lot of poor countries that it can actually even be a business, like parents will send their children onto the street.Katia: Unfortunately, that's true.Paul: OK, so maybe you like what you said before: it's better to donate your time than to donate money.Katia: Possibly. And hopefully things will change.

​The Apostle Paul, at times, seems to be a larger than life character. His boldness, his conversion, his intellect, his unwavering commitment to the Gospel. What is it about Paul that makes him so captivating? Maybe it's just that we know so much more about him than the other apostles...we have a more extensive biography of his travels and teachings. We have more of his writings. Whatever it is, he really is, in many ways, larger than life. In this episode we'll talk about Paul in a more general sense... and I've got a few questions about Paul for you to ask yourself and discuss with your family and friends. Questions: 1. What is your favorite event in Paul's life? Why? 2. What attribute do you admire most about Paul? How can you develop that attribute within yourself? Get all the resources mentioned in this episode at https://www.everydayconversion.com/098 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/everydayconversion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/everydayconversion/support

Deeper Dive Theme: Reggie C and Wydnyr Richardson discuss God's willingness to forgive us, use us and His love for us. Episode Title: Still My Child Host: Reggie C Guests: Wydnyr Richardson Key text: https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1JN.1.9.ESV Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/223085 Date: June 5, 2019 Wydnyr's Sermon Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/plantationsda/still-my-child Subscribe for more YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/c/PlantationSDAChurchTV Reggie C's Deeper Dive Questions to Wydnyr: What potential did God see in Saul before he became Paul? How is Saul's story relevant to today's 21st century Christians? Are we like Annias and question if God understands what He's asking? Why do we like to see bad people suffer? Are there some people that don't deserve salvation? How did the church feel when they had to work with someone who persecuted them? Did Pastor Jen steal your idea to use Rahab in her sermon? Why did you pick the depth of the ocean illustration in your sermon? What are the two types of people that need to understand the sins at the bottom of the ocean illustration? How difficult is it not to be a scuba diver for past sins? How do you avoid wallowing in self-guilt? Tags: #psdatv #psdapodcast #podcast #AdventistPodcast #ChristianPodcast #AdventistPodcasts #iTunes #GooglePlay #RSS #SoundCloud #Spotify #convict #convert #forgive #sin #sinner #saul #paul #forgiven #vessel #angry #mercy #ocean #depth #blood #life #donor #ImStillHisChild Support the show.

1 Cor. 14:26-40 has been understood as Paul prohibiting women speaking in church. Have we misunderstood Paul? How can we reconcile this section with Paul’s empowering statements about women elsewhere?

In the last episode of Build, Paul Jarvis who is the author of Company of One and I, challenged the commonly held myth that that you need to you need to keep growing and scaling your company, otherwise you’re not innovating and you’ll soon start to stagnate.   We also debunked myths related to it such as falling prey to a big competitor and needing to be a leader who cannot fail.   The big takeaway was to question growth for growth’s sake.   The episode might also have brought up a number of questions for you like, “What about me? I work in a BIG company! Does that mean I’m not innovative? Do I need to run a one-person business? Do I have to be ant-growth?”   Absolutely not!   The Company of One doesn’t mean to be prescriptive or claim that there is only one way of doing business. Rather it’s building awareness for what is changing, and how those changes could help you. For example, if you are looking for more flexibility and freedom, you could work remotely or you could build a lifestyle business.   And if you’re still wondering, “How Poornima and Paul? How do I do these things?”  Well, tune into today’s episode. In it, we share some of Paul’s proven best practices.   As you tune in to this episode you’ll learn the following from Paul:   Why studies of companies often deviate from best practices, and what really happens when companies grow too quickly Why Paul killed off profitable products and lines of business The “gotcha” moments Paul went through as he was building his company—how they have served as proof for his best practices How you can apply the Company of One mindset to a big company   “A company of one isn’t just a one-person business. It’s not anti-growth or anti-revenue. It’s just a business that questions whether growth is right for founders, employees, and customers, and for the long term success of the business.” — Paul Jarvis   Want  to receive a copy of Paul’s upcoming book Company of One?   If you become a patron of Build on Patreon at the Silver or Gold tiers, I’ll make sure you receive an e-book copy of Paul’s book as well books from other authors I feature on the show. And if you’re one of those who loves a signed copy of a hardcover, then consider being a Platinum Patron. To become a patron visit Build’s Patreon page here.   -- Build is brought to you by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/). --  Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit: https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/ --  Enjoyed this episode and want to support the show? To become a patron of the show visit: https://www.patreon.com/build

Happy new year! I hope your 2019 is off to a great start :) If you’re curious what I’ve been up to and what I have in store for 2019, I’ll tell you right off the bat, I do not set goals or resolutions at the start of the year. Instead, I review my progress every quarter to see what I want to keep doing, what experiments I want to run, and what I am going to cut or put on the back burner! Taking a broad approach has served me well in running my business, balancing it with the ever-growing demands on my time as a new mom, and most importantly, managing overwhelm. So I won’t be sharing my goals for 2019 or if I’ve resolved to exercise more or less. And I certainly won’t be telling you to do more ;) But I get that there may be other people in your life who are going to be bombarding you with messages around setting resolutions and goals as it relates to your career and personal life. Don’t get me wrong, resolutions and goals serve as great guardrails, but there’s no need to artificially set them at the start of the year. So is it OK to not always be growing personally and in business? Well, if you’ve been tuning into Build for a while, you know I love to bust myths and misconceptions on it, as they relate to building products, companies, and your career in tech. To kick things off for the show’s fifth year, I thought we’d start with one of the biggest myths around building a company: you need to keep growing and scaling, otherwise you’re not innovating and you’ll soon start to stagnate. This is a BIG myth that permeates company culture in tech, but, as it turns out, you don’t always need to grow, and continual growth isn’t always desirable. In today’s Build episode, we’re going to be debunking this myth, and to help us out, I’ve invited Paul Jarvis, writer, entrepreneur, podcaster, designer and online course teacher. Paul is the author of the new book Company of One: Why Staying Small Is The Next  Big Thing For Business. As you tune into today’s episode you’ll learn the following from Paul: How you went from being a designer to an entrepreneur How he started a service-based business and slowly transitioned to offering products Why he decided to not build a BIG business and the concerns he had around his decision 4 myths around building a big company Why it’s OK to stay small  In next week’s episode, Paul will share some best practices around building a company of one. -- Build is brought to you by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/). --  Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit: https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/ --  Enjoyed this episode and want to support the show? To become a patron of the show visit: https://www.patreon.com/build

In today’s episode of the Mastering Life Podcast, your host Paul Lowe interviews internationally-recognised leader, coach and mentor and author of 13 best-selling books, Jim Britt. Jim share tips from a lifetime worth of experience in the field of peak performance and personal empowerment; with Paul bringing you lessons from his own journey from Pain to Philanthropy. Paul and Jim discuss the difference between mentoring, coaching and therapy and how you too, can learn how to break your habitual cycle and overcome the ways you’ve set yourself in, to make a change and be a success. KEY TAKEAWAYS Paul: Who’s the most inspiring person you’ve ever met? Jim: One of my very close friends was Jim Rohn, he is one of the most influential people I’ve ever met. We were together in business for ten years and he helped me to get involved in the personal development world, and even Jim’s mentor Bill Bailey who I learnt a lot from at the age of 22. Paul: How did you end up on the road to becoming a peak performance and personal empowerment practitioner? Jim: I learnt that working hard, was not going to get me ahead in life. After several jobs entered into a business opportunity and loaned $4,000 from the bank. I lost everything. The only thing I didn’t lose is my determination, my willingness to succeed. I then got educated and someone helped me understand what to do, and how to do it. In my second year, I earnt almost $1million. That's when I met Jim Rohn, he invited me to join the seminar business, which evolved into speaking myself, I then developed my own philosophy and over a ten-year period Jim and I put nearly 10 million people through seminars, mainly in California. BEST MOMENTS “The one thing I got good at was talking to people, I just had to do it correctly” “Coaching is helping people to get breakthroughs in their life and holding them accountable on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to ensure they are successful” “We’re all set in our ways but our ways aren’t getting us to where we need to go. People are addicted to their ways and need to breakthrough” “Even when people can see the change they need to make they don’t do it, it involves pain” VALUABLE RESOURCES Speaking From Our HEARTS (Paul's Book): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaking-our-Hearts-Mastering-game/dp/1781332819 Emerging From The Forest (Paul's Book): Paul Lowe - ‘Emerging From The Forest’ http://www.paullowehearts.com/ THE CHANGE: insights into Self Empowerment:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Change-Insights-into-Self-Empowerment/dp/0966217160 https://jimbritt.com/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rings-Truth-Jim-Britt/dp/1558747249 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Magic-Words-Uell-Andersen/dp/1466311681 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autobiography-Yogi-Paramahansa-Yogananda/dp/0876120796 ABOUT THE HOST Something that’s never been attached to Paul is the label ‘normal’ – for which he is immensely proud.  He definitely subscribes to being one of those mentioned – in the Steve Jobs quote: “Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Paul Lowe is the founder of PaulLoweHEARTS – which has a three-fold purpose.  Firstly, to help you make the transition from Pain to Purpose; secondly, to get your inspirational messages and stories out into the world and thirdly, to support charitable organisations in their development & fund-raising. We achieve this by: Delivering our empowering Mindset For Success programmes Sharing your true-life inspirational messages and stories through our Mastering Life Podcast and our Speaking From Our HEARTS book series Utilising our significant charitable knowledge and experience. Find Your Purpose – Make  A Difference! Paul is totally committed to his HEARTS brand vision (an acronym) of: ‘Helping Everyone Achieve Results Towards Success’. He has a long and distinguished track-record of raising significant funds for a multitude of good causes; positively changing the lives of many disadvantaged children within the UK and globally – drawing on his colourful and wide-ranging life’s experiences to help others do the same and achieve success in the game of life. “Remember – Mastering Life Starts, By Embracing Our HEARTS!” CONTACT METHOD E-mail: paul@paul-lowe.org Web: www.PaulLoweHEARTS.com Facebook: PaulLoweHEARTS Twitter: @paullowehearts Instagram: paullowehearts YouTube: PaulLoweHEARTS Mobile: +44 (0) 7958 042 155 ABOUT THE GUEST - Jim Britt:  Originally from Oklahoma, USA, Jim now resides in California and is an internationally-recognised leader in the field of peak performance and personal empowerment training; and an author of 13 best-selling books. Additionally, Jim was Anthony Robbins’s coach and mentor for five years; as well as Jim Rohn’s business partner for ten years.  During his extremely successful career, Jim has hosted over one million seminar attendees. He has served as a success counsellor to over 300 corporations and has been named as one of the world’s top 20 success coaches; also being presented with ‘The Best of the Best’ award out of the top 100 contributors of all-time, to the direct selling industry.  Jimbritt.com  Jimbrittbook.com

Mike and Dan talk with Mike Swartzentruber of Hunter's Blend Coffee about what they are all about along with some of their hunts! Located in Mid-Ohio How Mike got started in the outdoors How Hunter's Blend got started with Mike, Ken and Paul How the coffee industry works Marketing coffee to hunters How the coffee industry thinks about hunting, 2nd amendment, etc... How Hunter's Blend Coffee makes a difference in the outdoors. How to buy Hunter's Blend Coffee How Hunter's Blend Coffee is changing lives in the farmer's lives that grow coffee. Diego's documentary Paul's "Spider" Buck! Ken's Iowa Buck! Using scrapes and licking branches Ken's New Mexico Elk! How Mike started hunting Mike's first buck! Mike's small hunting spot Mike's licking branches and scrape set up Mike and Dan talk about the FITA Field shoot at Adams Conservation Club in Toledo, Ohio. Shooting the tournament What we thought about the course Shooting uphill with a steep incline! 1st day was at unknown distances up to 45 meters 2nd day was at known distances up to 60 meters How we dealt with converting meters to yards on the fly Danny's Robinhood shot Pin gaping to hit your shots Scoring Mental fatigue and concentration on day two Great people at Adams Conservation Club Gun ranges were open when we were shooting.  We got to try using the Atl Atl from Carbon Express

Mike and Dan talk with Mike Swartzentruber of Hunter's Blend Coffee about what they are all about along with some of their hunts! Located in Mid-Ohio How Mike got started in the outdoors How Hunter's Blend got started with Mike, Ken and Paul How the coffee industry works Marketing coffee to hunters How the coffee industry thinks about hunting, 2nd amendment, etc... How Hunter's Blend Coffee makes a difference in the outdoors. How to buy Hunter's Blend Coffee How Hunter's Blend Coffee is changing lives in the farmer's lives that grow coffee. Diego's documentary Paul's "Spider" Buck! Ken's Iowa Buck! Using scrapes and licking branches Ken's New Mexico Elk! How Mike started hunting Mike's first buck! Mike's small hunting spot Mike's licking branches and scrape set up Mike and Dan talk about the FITA Field shoot at Adams Conservation Club in Toledo, Ohio. Shooting the tournament What we thought about the course Shooting uphill with a steep incline! 1st day was at unknown distances up to 45 meters 2nd day was at known distances up to 60 meters How we dealt with converting meters to yards on the fly Danny's Robinhood shot Pin gaping to hit your shots Scoring Mental fatigue and concentration on day two Great people at Adams Conservation Club Gun ranges were open when we were shooting.  We got to try using the Atl Atl from Carbon Express

Paul English is the Co-Founder of both Lola and Kayak. Starting on Lola, the company brings joy to business travelers by finding the best flights for busy schedules and perfect hotels that suit personal preferences. To date, Paul has raised over $44m with Lola from the likes of CRV, Accel, General Catalyst and GV just to name a few. Prior to Lola, Paul co-founded Kayak, the incredible success story that helps millions of travelers make confident travel decisions. Prior to their IPO, Paul raised over $229m in VC funding from Sequoia, Accel, IVP and General Catalyst before their reported $1.8Bn acquisition by Priceline. Paul is also a prolific philanthropist and due to his success has had much press attention including the Tracy Kidder book, A Truck Full of Money. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Paul made his way into the world of startups from having his first taste of entrepreneurship buying and refurbishing air conditioning units? 2.) Paul is behind many groundbreaking ideas of the last decade, so what does the idea generation process look like for Paul? How does Paul determine between a good and a great idea? How has this process changed over time? How does Paul pull other individuals into validating ideas or not? 3.) Paul's VCs stated "Paul is the best founder in the world for hiring", how does Paul approach team building? What does Paul think is required to attract truly world calls talent? Can this skill be taught? Where does Paul believe so many founders go wrong in recruitment? What does Paul mean when he says you want to see "arrogant humility" 4.) Having raised from Sequoia, GV, General Catalyst and more, what has Paul found to really encapsulate the truly special VCs? What are Paul's lessons on raising the highest quality capital possible? When is the right time to optimize for valuation and when is it not? What made Mike Moritz and Joel Cutler so special to work with on Kayak? 5.) How does Paul approach the aspect of board management? How has this changed over time for him? What relationship should founders desire with their VCs and then between the VCs themselves? How does one look to optimise for efficiency in board conversations? How does Paul look to handle board disputes? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Paul’s Fave Book: The Trumpet of Conscience As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Paul on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Highfive makes meetings better for thousands of organizations with insanely simple video conferencing designed for meeting rooms. It’s the easiest-to-use solution, with all-in-one hardware and intuitive cloud software. Plus, it’s a high-quality experience with industry-leading audio powered by Dolby Voice. It’s so easy to use, that there’s no pin codes or app downloads. Just click a link in your browser, and you’re in the meeting. With customers in over 100 countries, Highfive is already trusted by the likes of Warby Parker, Evernote, Expensify, and Betterment and you can learn more by simply heading over to highfive.com. Culture Amp is the platform that makes it easy to collect, understand and act on employee feedback. From onboarding surveys to company-wide engagement, individual effectiveness and more, the platform manages multiple sources of feedback and connects the dots for you and that is why companies like Slack, Nike, Oracle and Lyft all trust CultureAmp. So put your people and culture first and find out more on cultureamp.com.

From 2016 to today, two of the top ten buzzwords in Digitial Marketing have been Native Advertising and Artificial Intelligence. They are very important topics and will help drive the future of Digital Marketing as we know it. However, for most marketers, and those who are attempting to reach marketers with online content, these two topics are misunderstood. In this episode of Marketer-to-Marketer, Chad Pollit, Author of the Native Advertising Manifesto, and Paul Roetzer, CEO of PR 20/20, dive deeper into these topics and give us a State of the Field for each Native Advertising and AI. The conversation does a great job and driving insights and connecting these topics together in the context of Content Marketing.Full Show: https://enterprisemarketer.com/podcasts/m2m/season-01-show-11/Transcript:- Yeah, you got me doubled up. You got me doubled up. So we've been in this space a long time, we've dealt with lots of different companies from SNBS to enterprise companies and we've seen the evolution of marketing and digital marketing, content marketing, so on so forth. What's the hottest thing on the horizon that's here today that's going to be even bigger tomorrow?- It's so fascinating when I was actually, Travis Wright, we both know Travis. Travis was just talking to me about Blockchain which I still just don't comprehend. And in three years we can come back and watch this and laugh that I have no comprehension of it right now. But that's one of those things that I just don't get. And I've tried now to get into that space. I think that one's still a ways off. Like I think from a marketer perspective and really caring about it and seeing it effect our daily lives, that one's really out on the horizon. Artificial intelligence to me is the one that's kind of here now. It's where I've been spending most of my time and you and I have talked a little bit about this with your work at the Native Advertising Institute and we had launched the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, so our focus there was really just trying to figure out what is going on. Because you start looking around even here at the exhibit hall, you see AI over here on Acrolinx, and you go running and see artificial intelligence now being promoted on a lot of these companies, but as the average marketer, people one, don't really know what that means, and two, even if they do, it's hard to know how intelligent the software really is becoming. Like is it still a human telling the software what to do? Or is the software actually starting to learn and get better on its own? And eight months ago or so when we launched the Institute, that was the thing I didn't know. Like we would look at 100 companies that all said they did AI, and I had no way of knowing whether they truly did or not. And now we're at the point we're trying to actually start help marketers filter through that. Figure out what is AI actually capable of doing today to make your job easier, more efficient, more productive, and where is it gonna take us in the future? That's my talk on Thursday's machine assisted narrative. It's in terms of creating and promoting content how can artificial intelligence today make your job as a marketer more efficient? Which tools do you need? What should you be looking for? So that's where we're spending the majority of time now. So we still have our core agency but most of my time's in the AI space tryin' to learn about that.- So would you say that for something to be truly AI, it has to have machine learning? Or is it more than that?- Yeah, so the basic on, AI is the umbrella. It's like the collective of technologies and processes that machines become smarter basically. So Watson is the one everybody knows or everybody's like familiar with Watson. Machine learning and deep learning are kind of the two main subsets within artificial intelligence. And the basic way to look at what is machine learning is does the software get smarter on its own? So an example would be, if you use a software to tell you when to schedule your social media shares. If there's some tools here that'll do it, say, "Hey send it at 3 p.m." Jay mentioned in his talk this morning, send it at 3 p.m. Well that's a data scientist. They just looked at a data set and said, "Okay the optimal time to send it is this." And until that data scientist or the programmer updates that rule, it will continue to be a human based rule that said when the best time is. In machine learning, the algorithms actually in real time monitor when that optimal time to share changes and what the optimal share time may be for your specific company. And it would, so today it might say 3 p.m. tomorrow it might say 1:44. That's machine learning. It's actually the machine with no human guidance getting smarter and updating what it recommends you to do. That is very rare to find in marketing software today. So there are marketing tools that are using types of artificial intelligence, very few of them are actually getting smarter on their own and thereby changing what they would guide a marketer to do. So that's the machine learning thing I thought a year ago was much further along than it really is in the marketing space. There are lots of really interesting things being done with AI and really interesting companies, but not much in the way of machine learning.- Gotcha. So what do you think of Salesforce's Einstein?- Salesforce is interesting they've made massive bets, so they I think bought about nine AI companies, couple billion dollars worth and then they mashed them together into Einstein and it's basically a layer over the core CRM product. So that's the other thing in AI's. There's no platform. There are narrowly built use cases. There's software built for narrow use cases and in Salesforce's case they try to mash these all together. Early feedback I've heard is it's really interesting it probably helps a lot with efficiency, but it's not fully baked yet and it's, like a lot of software companies it was probably announced before was truly what it's capable of doing, so I think, I wouldn't they're by no means in a beta form, but they're in very early stages of realizing AI's potential and actually integrating it into the software.- Gotcha. Very interesting.- [Paul] How bout you? What's the thing you're focused on?- Well, so I took, I felt very European this summer. I took a--- [Paul] Were you in Europe?- No, well I did spend a little bit of time in Europe, but no, I actually took a lot of time off. Spent it with my kids. In fact for over a month I didn't touch my desktop, which is where I do all of my work, so, I lied actually I think I touched it four, three or four times. But I, that's the first time I've done that in 17 years in the business.- [Paul] And that's from agency world--- Yeah.- [Paul] to the academic world to--- Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Because as you know I teach at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and the summer is my real time off where I don't have to deal with students, and not that that's a bad thing, but I don't have to grade papers, lecture, things like that. So if I wanna take a significant amount of time off, I have to do it in the summer, so I did. Which by the way, if you haven't taken three to four weeks off in a long time, I recommend trying.- [Paul] Not since college.- So yeah, I'm still tryin' to lead the way in thought leadership when it comes to content promotion and distribution, both paid and earned. I feel like a lot of people have sort of hogged up that influence or marketing earned side, of earned content promotion through influencer marketing. So I focus most of my attention on the paid side. So earlier in the year I spent nearly a month just researching the native advertising tech landscape. And what I discovered was there's over 272 companies that are involved in native advertising, someway on the technology side.- [Paul] And define native advertising for me, like what do you--- So native advertising is content that matches the form, feel, and function of the media that surrounds it. Okay, so a good way to think about it and to get clarity around native advertising is anything in feed that looks like it's supposed to be there. It can say sponsored. So Facebook's a perfect example. You see sponsored posts there, but it's in feed and it looks just like everything else, it just annotated as sponsored.- So sponsored content, native advertising, same thing or are they, is there distinctions?- So this is a big problem in native advertising. You also have something called long-form native advertising. And the most famous example of that is Netflix's Orange is the New Black in the New York Times.- [Paul] I met the lady last night that wrote that article--- Melanie. Melanie wrote that article, she's here. So that's native advertising too.- So the reason I bring that up is because to your average person that Facebook ad and that entire article in the New York Times, are totally different things. But they're not. They're both sponsored, they're both in feed, in the natural feed of the website, and they're both paid for. Okay so there's really, there's four categories, there's long-form, programmatic, non-programmatic, the fourth one is social media.- Okay.- Those are not the IAB categories, those are the categories that I've come up with because I don't like the IAB's categories.- [Paul] Interactive Advertising?...

Paul summarizes Step 3 from the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous.   “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” Step three in a nutshell means we are asking for help.  A God of our understanding can be anything.  We must be convinced that a life run on self will can hardly be a success. Jenna, with over 3 years since her last drink, shares her story   SHOW NOTES   [8:39] Paul Introduces Jenna.  I live in Colorado, I work in IT, and I’m 38 and have a 10-year-old daughter.  I love hiking, running, and skiing.  I love to cook.    [12:38] Paul- When did you start drinking?   Jenna- I actually didn’t start drinking until I was in college.  I didn’t drink in High School.  The first time I drank I was 12.  I discovered a bottle of alcohol, and poured it into a coke.    [21:25] Paul-  What was it that led you to quit drinking?   Jenna- I had several bottoms before September of 2014.  I knew alcohol wasn’t working for me, but no one knew that alcohol was the cause of my anxiety and depressing and feeling horrible.    [28:42] Paul- How liberating was it to be in that environment where your mom with nothing to hide?   Jenna-  She cooked me lots of healthy food.  It took me days to be able to eat.  That love and being cared for was huge.  She was there for me for whatever I needed.   [34:15] Paul- Talk to me about the timeline, and the patience.  What do you have to say on that?  It does keep getting better.   Jenna- That first year was amazing and hard at the same time.  I had to learn how to do everything without alcohol in a culture where everything revolves around alcohol.  Having accountability with my sponsor and my husband was huge in all of those times.     [43:21] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? That would be when we were in Vegas for my Grandma’s 90th birthday party, and I took my daughter to the bathroom, and I got lost.  I didn’t know how to get back to the restaurant and I was drunk.   Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? Labor Day weekend of 2014.  We were going camping.  It was always my job to pack up the camper. I decided to drink before doing that, by the time we got out to the campsite 90% of what we needed was not in the camper. What’s your plan moving forward? I plan to keep growing personally and learning. What’s your favorite resource in recovery? What works for me is going to meetings, and connecting with other people.  What’s the best advice you’ve ever received (on sobriety)? Surrender, and ask my higher power for help. What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking?  You can find your bottom at any time, just put down the shovel and quit digging (drinking). You might be an alcoholic if... when you are going through airport security your Ziploc bags of liquid shampoo bottles are filled with vodka.   Resources mentioned in this episode: Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book" PDF Step 3 Pages 34-41 Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Opportunity to waive the set up fee. Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Different pickup choices are what make electric bass exciting. How do they affect your sound? Do you have a favorite pickup configuration? Dave I lean toward Precision but mostly prefer having the options of a P/J combo Paul How do pickups work, anyway? They’re transducers, meaning they change one kind …

Anxiety as it relates to drinking is discussed.  Alcohol suppresses the nervous system.  It is a depressant.  If we depress the nerves for long periods through binge drinking, our body reacts once the alcohol is gone by releasing adrenaline to compensate.  This gives us severe anxiety in return.  Which totally unbearable, and creates a fear that grabs you right in the chest. Aaron, with 16 days since his last drink, shares his story   SHOW NOTES   [11:12] Paul Introduces Aaron.  I’m 38; I live in Albuquerque NM, I work at a print shop.  I’m separated, I used to like to fish, and want to get back into that.  I like to be out in nature.  I have a miniature pincher named Packer.      [13:29] Paul- How is it different this time?   Explain that feeling that something clicked.   Aaron-  My body was telling me with the anxiety and the insomnia.  It wasn’t fun anymore.  I was drinking miniatures while I was at work, and tried to hide all the time.  Tired of being tired.  I’m 38 years old, the party is over already.   [26:13] Paul- Talk about your experience with Opioids.   Aaron- I started off with the pills.  Hydrocodone etc.  Then I started doing oxy, and for a few years I was doing that.  I was going through withdrawals because I couldn’t get them.  I started going to the clinic and got on methadone.    [30:28] Paul- 16 days ago you were sick and tired of being sick and tired.  What happened, and how did you do it?   Aaron- I started downloading and listening to podcasts.  I was trying to figure out what this was, and how to stop.  I jumped into it with both feet.   I went through the tough first few days of detox.  I stopped doing things that were triggering me.   [37:00] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? Waking up in a Virginia jail, and couldn’t bond out because I was considered a flight risk.  Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? The time I was in San Diego and hit that show and ended up in jail in another state. What’s your plan moving forward? I’m going to hit the podcast circuit.  I’m going to create a program that will work for me.    What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking?  Stop beating yourself up.  Don’t try to think ahead too far.   You might be an alcoholic if get pulled over in your work car going the wrong direction down a one way road and you didn’t know until you read the police report the next day.   Resources mentioned in this episode:  Anatomy of an Epidemic- By Robert Whitaker Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Elevator for your first month free Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Paul reads posts from members of Café RE answering the question: “What are some things that helped you in early sobriety?  There are some emerging common themes from these responses.  Change, you don’t have to change much, you just have to change everything.  Accountability is the key, you can’t do this alone.  Alcoholism is a thinking disease.  You can’t think your way out of it.  Knowledge is not power unless you use it. Marybeth, with 8 months since her last drink, shares her story   SHOW NOTES   [8:40] Paul Introduces Marybeth.  I’m 51; I live in southern New Hampshire.  I am married with 4 children, 2 of which have special needs so that takes up some time.  I like to visit with friends and family, downhill ski, and exercise.   [13:39] Paul- Tell us about your drinking habits, how much did you drink prior to November 26th, 2016? Marybeth-  I was a big red wine drinker.  I did a sugar cleanse, and then I ended up sipping Tequila neat.  Then I switched back to wine.  I knew I would never be a morning drinker, or drink before 5:00.  I typically had 2 glasses of wine a night for years.    [17:45] Paul- Was there a bottom moment, or were you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Marybeth- I attribute my sobriety to an accident.  I broke my ankle while I was walking and texting.  It was difficult to be on crutches, and drink at the same time.  I came upon the 30-day sober solution while I was in my cast.   [21:48] Paul- How important do you think accountability has been these past 8 months? Marybeth- It’s been really great.  I couldn’t handle my alcohol, and was passing out early.  Now I can stay up late and have fun.  I was asleep and numbing my self with alcohol.  I was snared by it socially, and numbed by it unintentionally.  I wasn’t seeking to numb anything.   [29:05] Paul- What does your sobriety portfolio consist of?  Walk us through a typical day of sobriety. Marybeth- I wake up everyday and meditate for 30 minutes.  I use the headspace app.  It is like exercising a muscle.  I connect with friends, and do things, which interest me.     [30:16] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? I was separated from my husband, and got into a car.  I put the car in drive instead of reverse and ran over the curb. Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? When I broke my ankle.  I had a bloody Mary on board when that happened. What’s your plan moving forward? I am going to continue with meditation, my wellness, helping others, and reading books.  Possibly attending an AA meeting. What’s your favorite resource in recovery? The Recovery Elevator Podcast.  I love listening in the car on the way to work. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received (on sobriety)? My dad was a recovering alcoholic.  He would always say don’t sweat the small stuff. What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking? Just do it.  You can always go back to drinking if sobriety doesn’t work for you. You might an alcoholic if you are at a weight watcher meeting and all you are concerned about is if you have enough points left for wine at the end of the day.   Resources mentioned in this episode:  Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Elevator for your first month free Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Paul summarizes a talk by Tara Brach named “Healing Addiction: De-Conditioning the Hungry Ghosts”  Addiction is addiction, it doesn’t matter what it is, it is applicable.  Tara talks about the “hungry ghosts” of addiction.  There is a sense that something is missing.  A feeling that this moment does not contain enough happiness.  How you live today is how you live the rest of your life.  When we don’t have basic needs met, we reach out for a substitute.  We must find a way to love ourselves. Peri, with 81 days since her last drink, shares her story.   SHOW NOTES   [11:11] Paul Introduces Peri.  I have been sober since May 8, 2016.  I am a bartender, I live in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I am a poet, and have been writing more in sobriety.     [12:58] Paul-  Describe your drinking habits, how much did you used to drink?  Peri-  I think by the end I was drinking 20-30 shots of whiskey a day, and 5 beers.  I tried all types of rules with most of them meant to be broken.  I think I started to derail when I was 17 years old.  I knew by the time I was 21, I had a problem.    [16:13] Paul- Talk to us about some of the things you have had to change? Peri- A big thing for me is friendships.  Almost everyone I associated with drank like I did.  I had to cut almost everyone out of my life.  I had to start fresh like I knew no one in the city.   [20:19] Paul- You quit smoking and drinking at the same time, tell us about that? Peri-  I quit soda at the same time too.  5 aspirin and a large Coke used to get me through the hangovers.  I had massive blood clots, so I had to quit both to avoid the health consequences.   [25:11] Paul- What’s on your bucket list in sobriety, what do you hope to accomplish? Peri- Some days it is One Day at a time, others it is the moon.  I am saving up for a truck, I would like to travel more.  I would like to get off my blood thinners.  Healing my body would be a huge moment for me.   [29:45] Paul- What do you do when you have the cravings? Peri- I eat a lot of ice cream.  Either Pistachio, or Peanut butter ice cream, sometimes Raspberry.    [35:27] Paul- How is it today?  How are you on day 81? Peri- I feel really great, doing an interview right now.  Meeting up with my friends, having some dinner.  I legitimately haven’t experienced a sober birthday in 10 years.  I am looking forward to remembering it.  I have been trying the meditation.  I have been researching alcoholism.  I have been pretty active in Café RE.  Occasionally, I will go to AA, but only when I need an extra boost.     [37:30] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? I don’t know, there were a lot.  I was hanging out with a shady group of people who had alcohol.  I fell, and these people left me on a curb with a big gash on my head. Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? My last job I got fired from, because I was taking shots of alcohol in the bathroom before my shift. What’s your plan moving forward? I’m going to keep digging in; reading, writing, and it will all figure itself out. What’s your favorite resource in recovery? Café RE.  I listen to the podcasts, but the Facebook group is great to describe what I am feeling, and have the communication with the group. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received (on sobriety)? Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.  What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking?  Anything in your life that is a toxic influence, get rid of it.  It is not conducive to your sobriety. You might be an alcoholic if you wake up on the sidewalk.    Resources mentioned in this episode: Healing Addiction: De-Conditioning the Hungry Ghosts Recovery Elevator Retreat Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Elevator for your first month free Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Paul discusses the webinar, which took place in Café Re, and focused on why taking action is so hard.  It’s much better to focus on the action and not the results.  We are definitely in a results oriented society.  Focus on the journey and not the destination.  Success can follow a flawed effort, and failure can follow a flawless effort.  If your happiness is predicated on your success, and if your success is predicated on a specific outcome, then you are setting yourself up for a high likelihood of frustration and disappointment.  If you instead let go the need for any particular outcome, you increase your chances for success and contentment.  View each attempt as practice for the next attempt.  Dawn with a sobriety date of November 27th 2016, shares her story.   SHOW NOTES   [8:09] Paul Introduces Dawn.  I’m single, 42, and I’m from Poole in the U.K.   In the daytime I work in accounts, in the evening I’m generally working on my blog. I love going out to dinner with friends, and walking to work.  Set myself a challenge to do 10,000 steps a day.   [10:10] Paul- Tell us more about this experiment to live you life without alcohol.   Dawn- The plan was to give up alcohol for a year.  I was struck down with flu, and I gave up alcohol then, instead of waiting until the New Year.  I decided to write down my journey, and document it on my blog.  It’s been filled with positivity.    [13:35] Paul- The way I’ve made it this far in sobriety, and been successful, is that I looking at it as an opportunity instead of a sacrifice.  Is that something that you are experiencing as well?  You’re looking at this as an opportunity instead of a sacrifice?   Dawn- Yeah, definitely.  I don’t think I realized how unhappy I was drinking.  I was more of a binge drinker than a drink everyday, drink in the morning type person.  My weekend would be properly drinking from Friday through Sunday.  Drinking copious amounts of alcohol to the point that I was sick the next day.  I don’t see that as a sacrifice, giving that up that kind of mentality, since it was so much binging and purging.   [14:53] Paul- When did you first realize that perhaps that you wanted to quit drinking?  Was it something that happened?   Dawn- I was conscience that I was drinking too much in one sitting, not remembering how I got home, kind of dangerous drinking really.  If I drove somewhere I would have nothing, instead of a single glass of wine.  Because if I had one, it wouldn’t stay at one.  Once I started, it was difficult to stop.   [18:06] Paul- Can you tell me about a time when you started drinking and you found the “off switch” a little difficult to find?  Was that progressive for you?  Did it become harder and harder to stop?   Dawn- Yeah, I was born without an “off switch”.  The first time I really remember getting drunk I was probably about 15 or 16.  Early twenties living with friends, drinking was a massive part of our lives together.  The men that I met were a massive part of that as well.  It didn’t spiral rapidly.    [22:16] Paul- How are you staying sober now?      Dawn- It’s a matter of changing everything.  I thought life would carry on the same.  Everything has changed.  I write a post for my blog at least once a week.  Trying to keep other people encouraged to carry on.  I used to always have a special drink as a reward for hard work.  I no longer do that.  I have a drink when I am thirsty.   [26:31] Paul- There’s a quote in recovery- You don’t have to change much, you just gotta change everything.  Is that how it went down for you?   Dawn- I still struggle with the social side of things.  I was the party animal.  It’s difficult to go from that to- it’s dark and I’ve got to get home.  I find it hard to socialize without alcohol.  I’m not good with big crowds.  I’ve come to terms that I won’t be that person again.   [28:40] Paul- What have you learned most about yourself in these past 6 months of sobriety?    Dawn- I’ve never really believed in loving yourself.  Now I keep saying to people you have to love yourself.  I haven’t loved myself for 40 years.  I realized I’m not the person I thought I was.  In my previous job I wasn’t really helping people and I didn’t think I could. It’s being confident in myself, rather than what other people think.   [31:31] Paul-  How do you feel about alcohol being an addictive substance, and perhaps there is no void?   Dawn- For me, the feeling is what was addictive.  I was the crier.  Alcohol gave me an emotional release.  For me it gave me an emotional release, woe is me!  For a window of 15 minutes I would feel amazing, then I would go over the top.  Then you’re miserable.  I think really it was the way it made me feel for 15 minutes before the crying would start.   [33:27] Paul- What are your goals in sobriety?   Dawn- I’ve always wanted to go to Thailand.  Stop waiting around for something to happen.  I was too tired, and lazy, and in bed.  Now I’m full of energy, and I’m going to make it happen on my own in January.   [35:18] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? Getting home, and waking up the next day at 4:00, and not remembering getting home in a taxi. Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? I was a drunk texter.  Sometimes I couldn’t even touch my phone.  They were my worst moments really working out who I had contacted the night before. What’s your plan moving forward? Keep the blog going beyond being sober.  Maybe the hope rehab center in January.  Listening to podcasts more than music, listening to other people’s journeys. What’s your favorite resource in recovery? I love the online forums.  Club soda, team sober UK, and listening to Podcasts.  It is amazing listening to other peoples journeys What’s the best advice you’ve ever received (on sobriety)? The best thing to do is go for each day at a time.  Breaking it into chunks can work.  Un-break the habit. What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking?  Never give up.  I admire those who never give up.  I recommend writing down how you’re feeling.  I literally flooded my mind with sobriety. You might be an alcoholic if you find yourself questioning that you might be an alcoholic, then you probably are.   Resources mentioned in this episode:   dawn@soberfish.co.uk   http://www.soberfish.co.uk http://www.hope-rehab-center-thailand.com/ http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.com/ Recovery Elevator Retreat Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Elevator for your first month free Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Paul Kirch is the President and CEO of sales management consulting firm Actus Sales Intelligence and founder of BOSS Academy and host of BOSS Academy radio. He has a passion for entrepreneurship, sales and sales coaching and a proven track record of success. The BOSS Academy is the ultimate resource for anyone who is trying to grow their business or if you’re looking to get started on your entrepreneurial journey. They’re truly raising the bar for excellence through Business Ownership Success Strategies (BOSS) by bringing you some of the best tools, tips and techniques from industry leading experts. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Paul’s journey How Paul has scaled his business without bringing in employees What Paul does so that he focuses on the tasks that move the needle The importance of empathy in leadership What motivates your team? What Paul learned from an incredible mentor on his second sales job The impact Paul’s divorce had on his business and how he came back from that low point What “A Players” look like to Paul How to find the right employees and/or partners Why new entrepreneurs need to get clear on what they want How to overcome the overwhelm How to stay motivated Ways to contact Paul: Website: www.bossacademy.com Twitter: @paulkirch Twitter: @yourbossacademy

How does a global technology company that powers billions of transactions – physical and digital make use of social selling? To find out, I had a great chat with Paul Lewis of Pitney Bowes. Questions for Paul: How did you implement social selling within the organisation? Can you talk us through the steps? When you rolled out this program, did you have strategy, training and other steps in place? How is social selling embedded in every salesperson’s daily workload? What were some of the challenges of this implementation and how did you address them? If we look at social channels, which ones work best for Pitney Bowes? Do you use video for social selling? Do you use a technology for employee advocacy? How do you measure success from social selling, and how can you track it back to the exact action of a salesperson? Your social selling leaderboard, does that correlate to the actual sales leaderboard? If we look into your crystal ball there, what do you think is the next big thing in this space? Who inspires you on social media? Answers all inside! Connect with Paul Lewis on Twitter https://twitter.com/paul_a_lewis & LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/paullewis100 Our tip of the week is Haiku Deck http://haikudeck.com Our big shout goes out to Lisa Cervenka http://twitter.com/BrandNRD Read the show notes article: http://linkhumans.com/podcast/social-selling-pitney-bowes All podcast articles: http://linkhumans.com/podcast Subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/smknowhow Finally, do join us at our new office warming party on Thursday 16 June 2016 from 6pm! We're at work.life, 13 Hawley Crescent, NW1 8NP, Camden Town. Catch you next week! Jorgen

"Kingdom Work Requires Patience"This past week I happened to be watching the NBA Finals. During the course of game 6, there was a moment when the announcers began talking about the graphic laid out across the screen - “Time since their last Championship.” What it amounted to is that it has been a really long time since the Cavaliers, or Indians or Browns have won a championship. It would certainly be fair to say, Cleveland sports fans have learned a great deal of patience over the years – as they wait for their team to return to the World Series.But let’s say you are a New York Yankees fan, you also think about the last time your team went to the World Series and won. But you know that your team, with 27 championships, has won more than any other team in MLB. When you look back in history, you only have to go back a few years to 2009 to the last time your team won it all. You wonder not about if your team is going to the Series, but how sweet it will be to win championship #28. And if you don’t reach the World Series and win it all, or if there is a drought of any kind, maybe you’re thinking that something must be wrong and want to proceed in firing the entire team, manager and all.Regardless of what team you’re a fan of, or if you simply look on in amazement at the fans of any team, all of us have been given various amounts of patience through the circumstances of life. If patience is a virtue – on a scale of 1 to 10 – how much patience do you have? A little; a lot; or not nearly enough? Our patience is often easily tested when things don’t go according to plan – when the economy bottoms out and you lose your job, when you’re waiting in the doctor’s office for the test results, or your patience of a father or mother is tested raising children. The thing that we’ll always want to remember is that the Lord is in control of everything in life, including the Cleveland sports teams and the Yankees.Before we look at our gospel lesson, let’s think of a few biblical examples of patience or lack thereof. Jonah was so adamant that he did not want to accept the Lord’s call to preach to the wicked people of Nineveh that he ran away to the opposite end of the earth. But God had patience with Jonah and with the people of Nineveh. In the end all the people of that great city put on sackcloth and fasted and repented of their sins.When talking about patience as we wait for the end of the world, the apostle Peter was inspired to write – 2 Peter 3:8-9 – 8 …with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”The apostle Paul understood God’s patience. The man formerly known as Saul – the great persecutor of the early Christian Church. He was a zealous Jew who persecuted Christianity b/c he thought he was doing God a favor. God struck him down and worked in his heart through the Word. And after his conversion, he became one of the greatest missionaries Christianity has ever seen. How much patience did the Lord have with Paul? How much patience does he have with your and me?In our gospel lesson this morning, Jesus used two parables to teach about patience as God goes about his work. God tells us in His Word that the Holy Spirit is actively working by creating and strengthening faith in human hearts through the power of His Word. He asks us to have patience in trusting that God’s Word works in a miraculous way – and that we have patience while we wait for growth.

Today’s episode: What it means to live a truly wealthy life. Told by a man who’s job it is to report on the country’s ultra rich, how they think, act, save, spend and invest. Paul Sullivan writes the Wealth Matters column for The New York Times and is the author of the new book The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy. The thin green line is an interesting phrase…implies that there may not be such a huge barrier between the haves from have nots. We’re going to dive into that. Paul, himself, is admittedly a part of the 1% but in writing this book he discovered his financial weak spots …that it’s not how much you make but how you manage it, how you protect it..that ultimately puts you in control of your money…and not the other way around. A few takeaways from our time with Paul: -- How most people regardless of their income can get on the right side of the ‘Thin Green Line‘ if they really want it to. -- Paul’s financial philosophy of “fierce mental accounting.” -- How to spend smart…lessons from people who have a lot of money to spend.

Who was Timothy? What was his cultural context when he came to faith and as he entered into ministry alongside the apostle Paul? How does knowing him and his context benefit us in ours?

Every Evangelical Christian knows Ephesians 2:8-9 perhaps even "by heart." It is a major guidepost of our faith. We are saved by grace through faith. It is not about what we have done but it is about what Christ has done for us. The First Century church also had this understanding, but where the confusion lay was "What about after salvation? Doesn't the believer have to behave in certain ways in order to please God? Doesn't the OT law prescribe that behavior?" The Apostle Paul spent a good deal of ink discussing this dilemma. He concludes from his own experience with God, and from the OT, and from the words of Jesus himself; it is all by grace. After all, Abraham was justified before the law existed. Paul goes so far as to argue that observance of the law after salvation can become an impediment to following the life of the Spirit. Out text this week is one of Paul's theological arguments to prove that what began as a work of the Spirit in us must be completed in that same vein. Some were advocating that the law was necessary to somehow complete the work of transformation begun at salvation. Paul is adamantly opposed to the idea and states emphatically that what was begun by the Spirit must be completed by the Spirit. To please God is to live by the Spirit and not by the law. To live by the law would only prove ourselves to be lawbreakers. How deeply does grace penetrate our lives? Do we get a pass into heaven by grace but need to follow the law in order to please the Lord? Do we make it into heaven on a technicality but with God holding his nose as we walk by? What does the transformation that is pleasing to God look like? What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? These are all questions prompted by our text. Questions for Discussion: 1. Discuss "heart reasons" and "head reasons" for following Jesus. What convinced you to become a follower of Jesus? Did your mind follow your heart? Not everybody is wired the same way. 2. Why is it so tempting to follow the rules in order to be a "good Christian?" Why does this not work according to Paul? How does the Church perpetuate this kind of thinking? What is the cure? 3. How do we change? How do we become fit for heaven? To put it another way: how do we become the kind of people that belong in heaven? 4. How do we stay tuned to the Spirit? What practical things can you put in place that help you tune in to His presence and power? 5. How will you know when your behavior is out of step with the Spirit?

Every Evangelical Christian knows Ephesians 2:8-9 perhaps even "by heart." It is a major guidepost of our faith. We are saved by grace through faith. It is not about what we have done but it is about what Christ has done for us. The First Century church also had this understanding, but where the confusion lay was "What about after salvation? Doesn't the believer have to behave in certain ways in order to please God? Doesn't the OT law prescribe that behavior?" The Apostle Paul spent a good deal of ink discussing this dilemma. He concludes from his own experience with God, and from the OT, and from the words of Jesus himself; it is all by grace. After all, Abraham was justified before the law existed. Paul goes so far as to argue that observance of the law after salvation can become an impediment to following the life of the Spirit. Out text this week is one of Paul's theological arguments to prove that what began as a work of the Spirit in us must be completed in that same vein. Some were advocating that the law was necessary to somehow complete the work of transformation begun at salvation. Paul is adamantly opposed to the idea and states emphatically that what was begun by the Spirit must be completed by the Spirit. To please God is to live by the Spirit and not by the law. To live by the law would only prove ourselves to be lawbreakers. How deeply does grace penetrate our lives? Do we get a pass into heaven by grace but need to follow the law in order to please the Lord? Do we make it into heaven on a technicality but with God holding his nose as we walk by? What does the transformation that is pleasing to God look like? What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? These are all questions prompted by our text. Questions for Discussion: 1. Discuss "heart reasons" and "head reasons" for following Jesus. What convinced you to become a follower of Jesus? Did your mind follow your heart? Not everybody is wired the same way. 2. Why is it so tempting to follow the rules in order to be a "good Christian?" Why does this not work according to Paul? How does the Church perpetuate this kind of thinking? What is the cure? 3. How do we change? How do we become fit for heaven? To put it another way: how do we become the kind of people that belong in heaven? 4. How do we stay tuned to the Spirit? What practical things can you put in place that help you tune in to His presence and power? 5. How will you know when your behavior is out of step with the Spirit?

The apostle Paul is upset with the Corinthian church, and is afraid that when he comes to the church he will be grieved by the congregation. What is the issue that will grieve the apostle Paul? Is it that they have slandered him? Is it that they have turned from Paul? How can Paul be […] The post What's So Grievous? (2 Cor. 12:11-21) appeared first on Covenant United Reformed Church.

Who is the Ascended Master Hilarion? What does he have to do with the apostle Paul? How is he involved in the search for Truth? What is the real meaning of "conversion"? Why do agnostics deny God? What is a mantra used to discover Truth for yourself? "Jesus has taught us, "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." This conversion is a scientific process. Hilarion has explained it in a dictation: It is the arcing of that ray of light from the heart of Jesus to one's own that is so powerful "that it reverses the downward spiral of death and disintegration, causes the involuting of that spiral in the upward, commanding presence of life, of the ascension and of immortality." Link to transcript More from Inner Perspectives: A Guidebook for the Spiritual Journey: Table of Contents List of Interview Questions Glossary of Ascended Master Terminology Buy the Inner Perspectives book Hilarion the Healer: The Apostle Paul Reborn (Meet the Master series) by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. 208 pages. Buy The Masters and Their Retreats by Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. 506 pages Buy Lords of the Seven Rays by Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. 602 pages. See us on YouTube About The Summit Lighthouse For more than 50 years, The Summit Lighthouse has been publishing the Teachings of the Ascended Masters--the mystics and sages of East and West who graduated from earth’s schoolroom and attained union with God. Created to meet the needs of spiritual seekers for the Aquarian Age, it provides opportunities and support for a unique spiritual path which embraces all faiths and nationalities. It offers opportunities to share with like-minded friends at various levels of affiliation. The Teachings of the Ascended Masters are available in 27 languages. Contact us for a catalog of books, audios, videos, CDs and DVDs, and information about workshops, seminars, conferences, online courses, book study groups and local centers. TSLinfo@SummitLighthouse.org USA: 1-800-245-5445 International: 406-848-9500 The Summit Lighthouse 63 Summit Way Gardiner, MT USA 59030-9314

The Condemnation of a Righteous Man: John Wycliffe Now, those of you who've been following along, we've been traveling through the Book of Romans, and this morning we're going to continue to some degree in Romans, but I want you to look also with me this morning at the Book of James. So if you would, open to Romans chapter 4, and perhaps put something in it and then look over at James chapter 2. This morning we're going to be looking at these two different texts and we're going to be seeing the issue of whether God, in His word, speaks two different words through both James and Paul on the issue of justification. Do James and Paul understand justification the same way? Or do they contradict one another? And as we begin our journey, I'm going to start back in the year of 1422. From that year, Roman Catholic authorities condemned an Englishman for heresy and they ordered that his body be burned and the ashes scattered over the Swift River in England. His name was John Wycliffe and his crime was simple. He had the temerity, the boldness to translate the scriptures into the common language of the people. Catholic bishops said this about Wycliffe's crime. This is a quote, "That pestilent and most wretched John Wycliffe of damnable memory, a child of the old devil and himself a child or a pupil of anti-Christ who while he lived walking in the vanity of his mind, crowned his wickedness by translating the scriptures into the mother tongue." That was his crime. Well, the sentence was indeed carried out. Wycliffe's body was burned and his ashes were spread over the Swift River. The most amazing aspect about this, though, is that he had been dead for 44 years. They dug his bones up and they burned his bones and scattered the ashes over the Swift River. Now, why did they do that? Because of their opposition to his practice of translating the scripture into the common language. Now, exactly 100 years later, 1522, Martin Luther published his edition of the New Testament in the German language, the language of the common people. The Catholic church hadn't changed much in a hundred years, Roman Catholics condemned his effort, they condemned his work and ordered that his bible be burned wherever it could be found. And any booksellers that sold the German bible would also be subject and liable to penalties and to persecution. Now, why did the Catholics dig up a dead man, may have been dead for 44 years, and burned his bones, and why did they order that the pages of holy scripture be burned? Because they were convinced that the bible was so complicated that people like you and me could not understand it, we'd just get into trouble with it, and so we needed to leave that to the priests and to the clerics who would explain it all for us. And so they forbid that the scripture be translated into the common language. Now, these days, we probably have over 20 good solid translations in English. The problem has been solved. The Reformation solved it. And we have the English bible. It's hard for us to understand just the issues at stake there and what was struggled over and what was fought over. Now, Martin Luther, when he translated the New Testament into German and published the New Testament in the common language, understood that there were complexities in scripture that could not easily be explained, and so he published an introduction to each book of the New Testament so that people reading it would understand its message. I. Martin Luther’s Struggle with James He gave special attention to one book of the Bible, and that's the Book of James. For when he came to the Book of James, he struggles. I would say he stumbles. Because of his discovery of the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works, he could not understand James chapter 2. Now, we've been studying in Romans and we've seen what it is that Paul's been saying in Romans and how Paul seeks to expound the gospel. That gospel is the only message of salvation for a sinful world. Any of us who are in this room today, who expect to stand before God, blameless and holy on Judgment Day will do so on the basis of the gospel that Paul wrote, as shown clearly in the Book of Romans. We will stand before God holy and blameless because of faith in Christ and what He accomplished on the cross alone. And in Romans 1:17, Luther's great freedom verse, for Luther was not a free man before he understood this message. Luther was a medieval Catholic trying to work out his salvation through prayer, through fasting, through alms-giving, through good deeds, and he could never do enough to satisfy his conscience. What is enough? What is enough before the holiness of the throne of God? What is enough? There was no answer. He could never be free. Until he came to Romans 1:17 and there it says, in Romans 1:16 it says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, for the Jew first then for the Gentile." Verse 17, "For in the gospel, the righteousness from God is revealed. A righteousness that is from faith to faith just as it is written. The righteous will live by faith." And then the gates of heaven opened up for him. And he saw it was by faith alone that he could be just. It was a righteousness which God gave as a gift. And so when he came, as we saw in Romans 3:28, which we read in the NIV, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law." He inserted a single word. He inserted the word "alone." "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law." I believe his doctrine was right. I believe his example was wrong. We should never add a single word to the scripture. But his doctrine was right. We are justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. And Luther speaking of those works and he knew well about those works. In a treatise he wrote in 1520 on the freedom of a Christian man, he wrote this. Speaking of good works, he said, "Unless a man is already a believer and a Christian, his works have no value at all. They are foolish, idle, damnable sins. Because when good works are brought forward as a ground for justification, they are no longer good." In other words, if you stand before God on Judgment Day with a handful of your best deeds, and hope because of them to be cleansed of all your sin, you will be lost. And it's good to know that now. It's good to know that now, so you empty your hands and then with empty hands of faith look up to Jesus alone for your righteousness. Luther discovered that, and he was right. Fasting and prayers and alms-giving, and all the good deeds you could muster will do nothing for you in terms of the payment of your sins, nothing at all. And he discovered that correctly. And so there was a key Reformation slogan, "justification by faith alone, apart from works." But that little error, that little attitude that Luther had to add a single word in the translation came to full flower when he addressed the Book of James. And in the introduction in the New Testament, in the Book of James, he called it an epistle of straw. And he gets it out of 1 Corinthians 3, which says that on Judgment Day, there'll be a pile of works, and there'll be wood and there'll be hay, and there'll be straw, and then gold, silver, costly stones. He said it's going to burn up on Judgment Day. What a tragedy, because James is the inspired word of God, and Heaven and Earth will disappear, but God's word will never disappear. And that includes the Book of James, he just didn't understand it properly. Now, in order to explain to you the basis of the controversy, you kind of have to look at specific verses. Look at Romans 4:1. In Romans 4:1, Paul in his argument gets to this point where Abraham's going to be an example of faith, and it says, "What then shall we say, that Abraham, our forefather discovered in this matter," verse 2, "If in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God." So here, he's clearly repudiating justification by works. Now, look over at James 2:24. And after a development, which we're going to get into, James 2:24, it says, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." Well, there it is. There is a contradiction in the Bible. Or is there? And that's the purpose of my sermon today, that we may understand justification, and along with that, that we may understand the perfection of scripture. There is no contradiction in the Bible. And there's never going to be a contradiction in the Bible, but we still need to understand these things. Is there a disagreement between Paul and James on the issue of justification? This is not a minor question, is it? Isn't the doctrine of justification a thing we're clinging to on whether we're going to get to Heaven or go to Hell? Isn't this the very thing? What about my sins? How can I be forgiven? The issue of justification is huge. And so if there's a disagreement between Paul and James on this, the whole Bible falls apart, we don't have anything. We have nothing to stand on. And so, therefore, we need to return to our doctrine of scripture. And the doctrine of scripture teaches very plainly that every word of scripture's from the mouth of God. II. The Nature and Purpose of Scripture The church itself is built, it says in Ephesians chapter 2:19-20, on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. What does that mean, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets? Well, what is your access to the apostles and prophets? Here it is. Apostles: New Testament. Prophets: Old Testament. Here's the scripture. Scripture provides a solid foundation for the church with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. And Jesus Himself said, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a man who built his house on the rock. Rains came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock." What's the difference between rock and sand? Permanence. Permanence stands firm. The doctrine of scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God breathed." I like to think of it as exhaled by God. All scripture comes from His heart, and it's exhaled. And it goes into the mind of the prophet, and the prophet just writes, according to the wind of the spirit. He's just led by it. 2 Peter 1:21, "Prophesy never had its origin in the will of man." A man never got up and said, "I'm going to write this prophesy today. It's a good day for writing prophesy. I'm going to write prophesy today." No, but the Holy Spirit came into him and he wrote words from God as directed by the Holy Spirit. It's the doctrine of scripture. And so Saint Augustine put it this way, "What scripture says, God says." Can you say it any better than that? What scripture says, God says. The scriptures are perfect. They're unbreakable, and they are permanent. They are perfect. Psalm 12:6 says, "The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver, refined in a fire, purified seven times over." There's nothing on Earth that you can find that's perfect, so the Psalmist chooses the silver that's been gone over seven times. But even that's not as perfect as the scripture. Absolutely perfect. The scripture's unbreakable. Jesus said so in John 10:35. He said, "The word of God cannot be broken." The scripture cannot be broken. And so it still remains, two millennia later, and it will remain when all of us are dead and gone, if the Lord doesn't tarry. For the scriptures are permanent, and Jesus said it this way, "Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words, my words will never pass away." Not just "my word," a sense of God's communication vaguely. No, "my words," the record of which we have right here in the scripture. My words will never pass away. You'll still be reading them a thousand years from now if the Word doesn't return. Still here and they will be here, that He will make sure that they're here. Now, what is the purpose of scripture? Why is the scripture here, this book that we've all kind of stumbled upon in our lives? We've moved along and then here it is. Why is it here? 2 Timothy 3:15 tells us that all scripture is given to make us "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." It's given to lead us to salvation in Christ and it testifies to that. And therefore, the scripture cannot contradict itself. You remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Let your yes be yes and your no no." Don't contradict yourself. Don't say one thing and do something else. Well, in 2 Corinthians 1:18, Paul writes this, "As surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not yes and no." Do you know what he is saying there? God never says yes and no to the same thing. It's a principle of non-contradiction. He does not contradict Himself. We contradict ourselves all the time because we're of a divided mind, but God's not like us. And so He never speaks yes and no to us. III. The Challenge of Language For God is one and speaks one message to us. The fascinating thing, though, about the scripture is that God has taken the messages of salvation and encoded it. Put it into verbs, nouns, adjectives, sentences, paragraphs, which must be read and understood. And that's when you get into difficulties. Words are tough things, aren't they? Any of you who are married, have you ever had words with your spouse? And when you're having words with one another, have you ever noticed that there's a kind of a problem with the words? A person is saying something, the other person doesn't understand what you mean, back and forth. Just missing one another. And the problem is this slippery things called words. I looked up in the Webster Unabridged Dictionary, and I knew there was a certain word I was looking for and I found it. It's the word "set." Do you know that there's 114 different uses or definitions of the word "set" in the English language? That is a tricky word. You have to look in context all the time to try to understand what it means. 114 different uses, 57 of them are verbs, 16 of them are adjectives, the rest are nouns. And then we get a bunch of idioms, like "set out" or "set apart," or "set back," just for the word "set." And then this one, I was looking for this, and I didn't have to work too hard to find it. This is a contest from Pepperidge Farm, I don't know if any of you saw this in the Sunday morning paper… You enter to win prize packages and all that, what is all this stuff alongside? See this little stuff here? Does it look little to you? It looks little to me. If it looks little to me, it must look little to you. 1,295 words describing the rules of the contest. The lawyers got hold of it. And when the lawyers get hold of it, you've got 1,295 words to try to describe a simple thing like a contest. And what is it they say? Well, I chose one sentence, a representative sentence here. This is one sentence now, "Neither sponsor, Pepperidge Farm, their respective parent companies, management companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, nor their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, or agents, nor any telephone network, service providers are responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate transcription of entry information or for any interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any telephone network or problems relating to computer equipment, hardware or software, inability to access any website or online service or any other human or technical or printing error or malfunction or for lost, late, illegible, misdirected, mutilated, stolen or postage due entries or mail." What are they saying? They're saying, "If you don't get it in on time, it's your fault, not ours. So don't come and bother us." But they to say it will all these words. That's just the nature of words. But God was willing to do this. He entrusted the message of our salvation to words. He's the first one that did it. You remember, He inscribed the ten commandments with His own finger and gave it to Moses. He started the writing thing. Moses picked it up and started writing the first five books of the Bible, and on we go. He put the words, His words in Jeremiah's mouth and then commanded him, that he write them down on a scroll. And so He bequeathed words to us, and we have to read them and we have to understand them and work with them. And it's not easy, is it? In the new covenant, praise God, He gave us the indwelling Holy Spirit to illuminate his Words, so that the words, which were dead words on a page, come alive for us. They come alive for us. Praise God for the indwelling Holy Spirit to teach us and to guide us into all truth. But we know that even that Luther understood that we could give the scripture to the common man and woman, and they would read it and they would get the basic message. Does that mean that they would understand everything in scripture? No. There is still need for teaching and the reason is that there are two different kinds of truths in scripture. There are milk truths and there are meat truths. The milk truths are so simple. The child, children at VBS can understand them. God is, exists, He is big and powerful. He created all things. He loves us. He provides for us and gives us food. Our mommies and daddies are part of God's provision for us. People do bad things. God sent His Son. These are basic milk truths. But not everything in scripture is like that. Some things are, some things are high and lofty, as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. And Paul says in Romans 11, "O, the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?" See, the scripture is high as the heavens or high above the earth and it's deeper than the deepest ocean. This is the nature of scripture. IV. The Central Issue in Paul: How can a Sinner Be Right with God? And so it shouldn't surprise us when we come to something like this in scripture where we've got something in Romans and something in James and there seems to be a contradiction, but we have to dig a little deeper to find out what's going on. But God's message to us is not and never will be yes and no. Now, Paul's central message, as Luther understood, is that we cannot stand before God on the basis of our works. We are not justified by works. God is not going to look at your works and assess them and declare you to be righteous on the basis of how good your works were. No, we're waiting for a righteousness that comes from God by faith through Jesus Christ, and that alone, and we look to that by faith. Simple faith, childlike faith. We just trust in Jesus. V. The Central Issue in James: What Kind of Faith Justifies? And James comes along and says, "I agree. I agree, Paul, we're justified by faith, but what kind of faith is it that justifies?" And that's the issue that he's dealing with. Look down. Look with me at James chapter 2. In verse 14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such a faith save him?" So he's dealing with the issue of salvation, isn't he? Can such a faith save him? When he uses the phrase "such a faith" he's talking about what kind of faith saves. So he's dealing with the issue of what kind of faith is it that justifies us. In this case, there's a man who claims to have faith but has no deeds that come from the faith. And James asked the pointed question, "Can that kind of faith save him?" The answer is clearly no. So we're dealing with the claim of faith. There's an underlying problem here, a discrepancy between life. The life and the claim. There's a claim of faith in Christ but the life doesn't live up to the claim. This is a significant issue. Jesus again addressed this in the Sermon on the Mount, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only he who does the will of my Father in Heaven." Boil it down, not those who say, but those who do. Not those who say, but those who do. Isn't that what James is getting at? If you understand that, you understand James too. It's not those who say but those who do, that comes from true, saving faith. Well, this is a problem for the church today, isn't it? We have lots of these claims without the doing. Lots of claims without the doing. So many issues the church is just like the world, on entertainment, how we spend our money, spend our time, issues of marriage and divorce, how we raise our children, no different whatsoever from the world, so the statistics say. So we have this claim problem without the deeds backing it up. And so James, we need to hear James, James is important for us today. Because James is asking, going right to the heart of the matter, saying, "What kind of faith is it that saves? What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds." Now, James gives us a negative answer in terms of faith. We're talking about what kind of faith is it that truly will save us. And he says negatively, "It is not dead faith, it is not demon faith, and it is not useless faith." Those three things. So in this sense he's holding up the counterfeits so that you can look at the counterfeits. Now, Paul does the opposite thing. In Romans 4 we're going to bring up Abraham and he's going to hold up the true thing, the genuine article, so that we get to know what true, saving faith is like. Abraham received a promise from God, believed it and then acted on it based on his faith. Abraham looked at the obstacles, he saw that his body was as good as 100, dead, since he was about 100 years old. Sara's womb was also dead, but he believed that God would give him a child. And it didn't matter the obstacles because God can keep His promises. That's true faith. Then God tested that faith. He called sometime later after Isaac was born. He said, "Now that you've got your son, the child that I promised, I want you to bring him to a certain mountain." Genesis 22, "And I want you to sacrifice him. Will you obey me?" And he did. And he brought Isaac up to that mountain, bound him up like a sacrifice, took that knife, just about to stick it into his son, in obedience to the command of God. Trusting by faith that God would raise him from the dead, he knew He would, that's what enabled him to obey. Just about to do it and God said, "Stop. Now I know that you fear God." Now, what does that mean, "Now I know"? "God, didn't you know me before? Oh, I knew it but I want to see it lived out. I want to see it in life." Now I know that you believe in Christ because you have done these things." That's what James is getting at. And so, Paul holds up that genuine article, does the same thing in Galatians 5:6. He says, "Neither circumcision or uncircumcision means anything, counts for anything. What counts is faith working through love." Isn't that the message of James? Faith which works through love is genuine faith, and that's what counts. That's James chapter 2. Alright, let's look at these counterfeits. Faith Counterfeit # 1: Dead Faith First is dead faith, verses 15-17. Look at what he says, "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food? If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by deeds is dead." Nothing comes out of it. It's dead faith. It's a hypocritical faith, it's the kind of thing that says, "Oh, go, I wish you well, I hope everything's fine for you." It's all words; word, words, words. But there's no action, there's no life behind it. It's dead. Dead faith. Paul had just said in Galatians 5:6, "What counts is faith that works through love." When you see a brother or sister in need, love just wells up inside you, and you say, "I want to meet that need. I just want to love him, I want to care for him." That's genuine faith. A faith which never moves into an outward show, into works is dead. Faith Counterfeit # 2: Demon Faith The second thing he says in verse 19 is demon faith. You believe that there is one God? Good, even the demons believe that and they shudder, they shudder. Oh, they've got the spiritual facts right, those demons. As a matter of fact, demons, which perhaps surround us all the time, just like the angels, they may be more orthodox in terms of doctrinal facts than many of the people sitting in this room today. They've got the facts straight. You remember that Satan quoted scripture from memory to Jesus in the desert? Psalm 91. He knows the scripture, got the facts right. Good evidence of this was in Luke 4:33-34. "In the synagogue, it says there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. And he cried out at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The holy one of God.'" That's orthodox. He called him Jesus of Nazareth, fully man, and he says, "I know who you are. The holy one of God." He's fully God. He's got it right. But he shudders. "Have you come here to torture me before the appointed time?" So what is demon faith? Having the orthodox, right answers on a test, but there's no love for God. There's no yearning to please God. It's demon faith. Faith Counterfeit # 3: Useless Faith And the final is useless faith. Verse 20, "You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did or justified for what he did when he offered his son, Isaac, on the altar. You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did." You see, useless faith is the opposite of Abraham's faith. True, saving faith is effective. It produces an effect. In this case it produces obedience. There is an obedience that comes from faith. And so God testified about Abraham's faith, said it's genuine, "Now I know that you fear God because your faith has led you to obey me." As I look at this issue, as I look at the relationship between James and Paul on justification, I get an image of the Empire State Building. I don't know if any of you have been there, but there's an observation, at least there used to be an observation platform on the top of the Empire State Building. And if you were to walk in one direction as far as you could go on that platform, you would meet with a fence. And the fence is there for your protection, or perhaps the protection of the people walking down below. But they're thinking first of you. And the fence prevents you from going too far in that direction. And Paul erects a fence and he says, "Don't believe for a minute that your energetic obedience to your reading of scripture will pay for your sins because it won't." What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And so he puts up that fence. Now, you turn and you walk the other direction on the Empire State Building, as far as you can go, and you get a different view and it's beautiful, and it's majestic, and you meet with another fence, and the fence is there also for your protection. And this is James, and he says, "Don't think for a minute that you can kick back and be lazy and self-indulgent in your Christian life and think that your works mean nothing in your salvation, because your works are evidence that your faith is genuine." You see the protection that God has put up in James and in Paul so that we understand justification properly? The faith which justifies always produces good fruit. God is going to bring you back in salvation to the spiritual law that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and you will love your neighbor as yourself. True faith works itself out through love. VI. Luther’s Take Let's let Martin Luther finish up for us today. Luther resolved this with this phrase, "We are truly justified by faith alone, apart from works, but the faith which justifies is never alone, it always results in works." Well, how do we apply the scripture to ourselves? We're about to come to the Lord's Supper, and Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5, a verse that I would like all of you to take into your hearts now as we prepare. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says that we should examine ourselves before we go to the Lord's Supper, we should test ourselves. He says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 13:5. This is what the verse says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Don't you know that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test." Modern evangelicalism hates this verse. They say that we should never ask this kind of question, that we should never look inward and say, "Is there fruit coming from my faith? Is something coming out of it? Is there obedience, is there love, is there a change in me?" We should do that and we should do it now.