Podcasts about picture it

Are you stuck in self-pity? Discover how to embrace God's vision for your life and reclaim your power!In this message of the "Picture It!" sermon series, Pastor Verna DeHart of Soul Harvest Worship Center Church challenges you to break free from the chains of self-pity and redefine your narrative. Drawing from the story of Abraham in Genesis, she explores how God's promises often seem impossible before they come to fruition. Learn how to identify the self-destructive patterns that hold you back and replace them with a victorious mindset.Join us as we uncover the power of faith, gratitude, and God's picture for your life. Are you ready to step into the extraordinary? Tune in now!

Dive into Part 2 of our transformative "PICTURE IT" series with Pastor Verna DeHart from Soul Harvest Worship Center Church. In this powerful episode, Pastor DeHart unveils how the images we hold in our minds shape our reality. Drawing from profound insights and Scripture, including 1 Corinthians 2:16 and Joshua 1:8, she explores the dynamic interplay between our thoughts, words, and the images they create.Discover why "a picture is worth a thousand words" and how God's vision for us should dominate over any negative imagery. Pastor Verna emphasizes the importance of focusing on divine promises and the impact of maintaining a clear, God-centered vision for every area of life. Tune in to learn how to cultivate a spiritually enriched mindset that manifests God's promises in your life.Listen now to transform your thoughts and words into a powerful force for divine change!

What picture do you hold in your heart for your future? Does it align with God's promises or the enemy's lies? Pastor Verna DeHart challenges us to change our perspective and declare, "I only see what God said!"Description:In the first installment of the Picture It series, Pastor Verna DeHart delivers a powerful and transformative message that will inspire you to reimagine your life through the lens of faith. Drawing from the story of Abraham and key scriptures like 2 Corinthians 5:7 and Hebrews 11:1, Pastor Verna guides us to see beyond our current circumstances and embrace the divine vision God has for our lives.In this message, you'll discover how to hold on to the faith picture God places in your heart, even when it's tested by trials. Pastor Verna emphasizes the importance of aligning our vision with God's promises and rejecting the negative pictures the enemy tries to paint. Through prophetic words and powerful declarations, you'll be encouraged to see yourself as God sees you—victorious, strong, and full of purpose.Tune in to renew your vision and declare, “I only see what God said!”

This week Sarah Taylor (Lebanese Burger Mafia, Picture It, Push) stops by to talk about her work on the new mockumentary Hey, Viktor!

Friends call him "Rozay" others know him as the “Biggest Boss” Miami rapper Rick Ross meets in Miami for a special First Smoke of the Day. Ross, a Florida native who grew up in Carol City, Florida. Rick Ross lights up and talks about living his businesses, living his brands and making music. Picture It's 2006, and Ross drops the “Port of Miami" album and BOOM it hits No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 albums chart and makes "Hustlin'" a Huge breakout hit. Fast forward to now Seventeen plus + years after he hit the Billboard charts, Ross stands atop a growing business empire, a true entrepreneur and self made Boss with a vast reach and knowledge. Ross says he learned much of his business acumen from his mother. We talk about his collaboration on his luxury cannabis line with High Tolerance, a collection of classic cars, two restaurant chains, a high quality “slippery soap” company for cars, or a huge estate in Georgia. Ross likes to invest in tangibles. When Ross moved to Georgia years back, he bought world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield's famed 54,000-square-foot Fayetteville estate. Years later has added countless acres to the property expanding business acumen and building generational wealth. In this Episode we really get to smoke one, talk and hang out with the Biggest Boss Rozay and the High Tolerance crew !! Talking Strains like Collins Ave, From Box Chevy's to Collins Ave.Connect with Rick RossIG - Rick RossIG - High ToleranceIGFSOTD SponsorsDr. Dabber | IGGrow Generation | IGDrip Hydro | IGMood Trays | IGFSOTD LinksWebsite | Patreon | YouTubeMake sure to tell all your friends and family to subscribe! Go register on the website or Patreon for all the exclusive ad-free content, BTS, tutorials, and more! Please leave a 5-Star review! We appreciate your support, First Smoke Family! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PICTURE IT, LAS VEGAS, 2006, it was the craziest thing ever to happen to me.....but it happened at the expense of one TOM JONES (no Jones were hurt during this visit, just my pride). thesaint14@hotmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thesaintsays/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thesaintsays/support

In this episode we're talking with Maya Bhola, All-America John Parr Youth Award winner out of the city of Miramar, Florida. This award recognizes extraordinary civic engagement and leadership on the part of a young person in their community. Maya is the Founder of “Let's Picture It”. An inclusive mental health group that allows community members to openly discuss emotions and life challenges. As part of the group discussions they create illustrations that reflect their feelings and help share their stories. Maya sees the need to create places where we can come together and understands that the choices we make today -- around ocean clean-up, new builds, and green spaces -- will become the starting point for future generations. Explore More: City of Miramar Named National Winner of the All-America City Awards 2021 (https://www.miramarfl.gov/1922/Miramar-Wins-All-America-City-Award) Miramar, Florida Named 2021 All-America City Award Winner (https://communitynewspapers.com/featured/miramar-fl-named-2021-all-america-city-award-winner/) National Civic League All-America Finalists Presentations (https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/america-city-award/participant-presentations/) The All-America City Award (https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/america-city-award/)

Today's episode is all about Aphantasia, also known as mind's eye blindness. Those with Aphantasia can't visualize scenes, people, experiences, objects, and memories, and it can impact other senses as well. This lack of mental imagery was described as early as the late 1800s, yet it has remained a relatively unstudied phenomenon until 2015, when a study first introduced the term, Aphantasia. Since then, the amount of research about Aphantasia has continued to grow. Our two guests today, who both experience Aphantasia, include Tom Ebeyer who is the founder of the Aphantasia Network, and Jana O'Connor, writer of the upcoming feature film, PICTURE IT, probably the first long-form film highlighting the experience of having Aphantasia! Contact us: BraaainsPodcast.com Follow: @BraaainsPodcast Music: @_Deppisch_ Design: Perpetualnotion.ca Mixing/ Mastering: Tony Bao Support this show: Patreon.com/BraaainsPodcast

Picture It. Rock Island. 2018. I'm sharing a room in cast housing with someone I've just met and our first interaction is this: "I'm pregnant and nobody knows." That roommate at the time was the incredibly kind and gracious Brooke Myers. Brooke is an actress based in NYC and is currently making her Off-Broadway debut as Rachel in Friends the musical. I am in complete awe of her passion and work ethic. She says: "If I'm not doing what I love, than I'm not doing anything." If you're in the New York area, please stop by The Jerry Orbach Theatre at The Theatre Center and support FRIENDS: THE MUSICAL PARODY! Thank you so much for listening and continuing to support the podcast! 

Today we are talking about tip #2 to keep you moving toward your goals, which is to Picture It. What does reaching your goal look like? More and more, visualization is vital for achieving goals. While you don't have to break out glue or clippings for a vision board, having a clear image in your mind is crucial to jumpstart your motivation. Taking some quality time to look inward and imagine reaching your goal can hone your focus and keep you feeling inspired to follow through. Visualizing can be the tools or methods that help you maintain motivation. Tools like calendars, Gantt charts, or spreadsheets can give you a literal vision of a goal and your progress. This also keeps your motivation burning strong. Tune in tomorrow for tip #3 to keep you moving toward your goals. If you get value from these Podcasts, please take a minute to leave me a short rating and review. I would really appreciate it and always love to hear from you. Subscribe to my high-value business success tips and resources Blog (https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/blog/) Want more from The Accountability Coach™, subscribe to more high-value content by looking for me on https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/my-podcast/ and on most podcast platforms and in most English-speaking countries, or by going to https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/accountabilitycoach.com/id290547573. Subscribe to my YouTube channel with business success principles (https://www.youtube.com/annebachrach) Connect with me on Linked-In (https://www.linkedin.com/in/annebachrach) Connect with me on Pinterest (https://pinterest.com/resultsrule/) Connect with me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/annebachrach/) Connect with me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TheAccountabilityCoach) Go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com to check out for yourself how I, as your Accountability Coach™, can help you get and stay focused on you highest payoff activities that put you in the highest probability position to achieve your professional and personal goals, so you can enjoy the kind of business and life you truly want and deserve. As an experienced accountability coach and author of 5 books, I help business professionals make more money, work less, and enjoy even better work life balance. Check out my proven business accelerator resources by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/. Aim for what you want each and every day! Anne Bachrach The Accountability Coach™ Business professionals and Advisors who utilize Anne Bachrach's proven business-success systems make more money, work less, and enjoy better work life balance. Author of Excuses Don't Count; Results Rule, Live Life with No Regrets, No Excuses, the Work Life Balance Emergency Kit and more. Get your audio copies today.

Imagine it, Conceive it, Think About It and Picture It  

Disciple Up # 162 Peace Thru Meditating On Scripture By Louie Marsh 6-3-2020   How To Meditate On God's Word   But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.  Psalm 1:2-3   Meditation is THINKING / PONDERING about a Bible verse(s) in order to discover how I can apply its truth to my own life.   WHY Meditate On Scripture?   1) It is the key to becoming like Christ.   Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.  Proverbs 4:23   Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2   And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. NRS 2Co 3:18   2) It is the key to a more fruitful prayer life.   If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  John 15:7   3) It is the key to successful living.   Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  Joshua 1:8   Six Ways To Meditate On A Verse   Picture It! Visualize the scene in your mind. Pronounce it! Say the verse aloud, each time emphasizing a different word. Paraphrase it! Rewrite the verse in your own words. Personalize it! Replace the pronouns or people in the verse with your own name. Pray it! Turn the verse into a prayer and say it back to God. Probe it! Ask the following nine questions…   S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S. Questions Sin to _CONFESS_? Promise to _____CLAIM_ Attitude to _CHANGE_? Command to _OBEY_? Example to __FOLLOW_? Prayer to _PRAY_? Error to AVOID_? Truth to _BELIEVE_? Something to __DO_?   Links to pages talked about in this episode:   https://unlockingthebible.org/2015/10/five-steps-to-meditating-on-the-bible/   https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/17-ways-to-meditate-on-scripture/   https://ourdailybread.org/resources/how-to-meditate-on-scripture/

As Sophia would say PICTURE IT.... New Orleans early 1900's. The city is lively and full of Italian grocers, and one man has a vendetta....In this episode Regina takes us back to the days of yellow journalism, racist incompetence, and jazz with the telling of the tale of the New Orleans Axeman. That's right she's breaking down the true story behind the sordid tale.Find us at www.disturbinginterests.comFacebook The Disturbing Interests PodcastTwitter @podcast_di, @EvileQueen, @RatsnHatsEmail us at disturbinginterests@gmail.comInstagram @NekoThePodcat, @DIPodcast, @LynnTheArtDork Support the show (http://patreon.com/disturbinginterests)

We remember the saints, but we do not invoke them.  This Bible study examines article twenty-one of the Augsburg Confession. Quiz #10 (tan sheet): Quiz-10-for-Nov-24-Augsburg-Confession-Art-20-21.pdf Handout 1: Handout-Articles-of-the-Augsburg-Confession-Overview-Nov-3.pdf Overhead: AC-articles-18-21.pdf (Picture: It is never too early to begin studying God's Word.)

Picture It. Sicily. 2003. Goli Gummies: code xavierdleau5Purchase D'Leau: http://waft.com/xavier.dleauThe Dopest Dinner Party: Atlanta December 13thCashapp: $SantanaCaressVenmo: @Santana-BenitezThe Dopest Dinner Party: DC 12/22Cashapp: $jadeofalljadesVenmo: @Jade-Verette———————————————http://jadeandxd.comhttp://patreon.com/jadeandxdemail us: jadeandxd@gmail.comfollow us @jadeandxdcall us: 917-727-1445--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jadeandxd/message

Picture It. Sicily. 2003. Goli Gummies: code xavierdleau5Purchase D'Leau: http://waft.com/xavier.dleauThe Dopest Dinner Party: Atlanta December 13thCashapp: $SantanaCaressVenmo: @Santana-BenitezThe Dopest Dinner Party: DC 12/22Cashapp: $jadeofalljadesVenmo: @Jade-Verette———————————————http://jadeandxd.comhttp://patreon.com/jadeandxdemail us: jadeandxd@gmail.comfollow us @jadeandxdcall us: 917-727-1445

Priscilla and Aquila model a beautiful marriage in Acts 18. Speaking of marriage, what is the big deal with that? Here is Pastor Kevin's message, PICTURE IT:

Episode 38: Picture It. For this podcast Othello talks about imagining and picturing positive circumstances as a way to enhance your life.

Teach Us to Number Our Days This Wednesday, Andy Wynn and Wes Treadway and I were meeting in my office around 10 o'clock to discuss some aspects of our new member process, and Wes felt the ground shake. I didn't feel it but he did and went like, "What is that?" And we received some communication from someone that was near the scene of the gas explosion that something had happened, and actually the communication we received was that Kaffeinate is gone. So it was a coffee shop that Andy went to that very morning, that very morning. And so we went right up this aisle, through those doors, down the... And we could see smoke billowing up. There were helicopters over North Duke Street at that point. No sirens though, I thought that was strange how the helicopters were there first, and then as we walked past McDonalds, then the sirens started. We got as close as we could. We were over at West Village and there was already a tape barrier there, and we were just looking at the smoke billowing in the air and just praying. Saw a man there whose was flecked with blood, his ear was bloody, very, very minor injuries. But he was somewhat stunned, not really conversational. I told him that I was a pastor, and he wasn't opposed to talking, but it was, it was just, wasn't there. Just a lot of disorientation, a lot of sadness already. And then things as they developed, come to find out the one person who died, Mr. Lee, was good friends with Andy Wynn and others have communicated with him. His shop is gone. I looked at the photos this morning of North Duke Street. Google Earth had a before picture and then there's some pictures after. And that whole building right in the middle of the block is gone, like a tooth that was knocked out, it's just a gap there. And for me, as I get up to preach today and I look at the text, I realize just how sovereign and perfect God orchestrates things. I wrote this sermon weeks ago, weeks ago. Paul wrote the text centuries ago, millennia ago. But look what he says. In verse 29, he says that time is short. Time is short. Verse 31, he says that the form of this world is passing away. And so for me, I think about Psalm 90 where Moses, the man of God, says, "Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." In that same Psalm, Psalm 90, he said, "You turn men back to dust saying, 'Return to dust, o sons of man.'" In 1734, Jonathan Edwards presided at the funeral of a young man, a teenager who had died in two days from pleurisy, from a sudden fever that seized him. It was shocking to the young people of that church or that community. And he went to Psalm 90:5-6, and there in those verses, it talks about grass that flourishes in the morning, but in the evening it's gone. And he invited them to look on the dead face of this young man who just two days before that was flourishing with the beauty of youth and now he's dead. And he zeroed in on the brevity of life, and the young people in that particular community who were just wailing with grief at their friend, but also at the shock of it, quickly turned with renewed zeal to the gospel and to Christ and to the Bible and began one of the greatest awakenings that's ever happened in history there in Northampton, 1734. And Jonathan Edwards wrote down about these incredible occurrences. It was published in England, George Whitfield and others read about it, and the revival spread over there in amazing ways. It became what some people argue is the greatest awakening, the Great Awakening, that's ever happened. It all started, in some ways started with the death of that youth, that untimely death, and people realizing again that we're all going to die, that time is short. Time is short. And so all I can do as a minister the gospel here is to remind you of that so that you can look at what Jesus called the signs of the times. Should be enough evidence already. We didn't need another blast or another sudden removal of buildings like happened in 9/11. We don't need another reminder, we have had plenty to know that it's appointed for each one of us to die, and after that, to face judgment. And so what we need to do is remind ourselves of the joy that next week Christians are going to be celebrating. We don't have to wait for Easter. We don't have to wait for next week. We can focus right now on the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead as our only hope, and that we can get ready to die by trusting in Christ. We can be aware of the fact that our time is short and that God has made provision for sinners like you and me by sending His only begotten son. He has made provision for this sinful world by His son being born of the Virgin Mary, living a sinless life, doing signs and wonders, giving amazing teachings. There was a current event in Jesus' day in which a massive tower fell over and killed some people, and people were shocked. And in the theology of the day, there was an assumption that they were worse sinners than the people that survived. Jesus said that was not so, "but unless you repent, you too will all perish." Jesus would say the same thing to all of us, if we do not repent of our sins and find forgiveness in Christ, we will likewise perish. Now when we say likewise, we need to realize the death of the body is as nothing. Jesus said, "Don't worry about those who kill the body and after that can do nothing. I'll tell you who to fear, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Yes, I tell you fear him." So the physical destruction of the body is a picture of the real death that's coming, what the Bible calls the second death. And Jesus is the deliverer, the savior from the second death. And so all I can do for me as a minister of the gospel is say, current events continually remind us of the fragility and the brevity of life. We've seen it, you don't have to live in that or the other city where there's a terrorist attack or some other natural disaster. We're wired in, we're tuned in, we know. It happened in our community so we can see it with our own eyes, but we have evidence every day. II. Don’t Let Your Heart Be Entangled in this Fleeting World (vs. 29-31) And so as we come to 1 Corinthians 7:29-40, we come to a really timely word, don't we? And Paul's been talking about marriage, and the message he gives here is you should see your marriage from an eternal perspective, or your singleness from an eternal perspective. That's what he's saying. We should look at everything from an eternal perspective. And we will do so if God gives us faith. Faith is the eyesight of the soul, I've been saying this for years, by which we can see invisible spiritual realities, past, present, and future. But you know, faith is also the eyesight of the soul, where we can see physical realities properly. We can see the physical world from a faith perspective, and that's exactly what Paul wants us to do. Look at marriage, look at singleness, look at your earthly situation from a spiritual or eternal perspective. The Present Crisis Alright, so let's look at the flow of argument here, what Paul is doing. Alright, in verses 26 through 29 he's talking to single people and to married people and he's talking about how they should see their marital status. He says, "Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife, but if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life and I want to spare you this." Verse 29, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short." So that's the run-up into the text we're looking at today. So in these verses, in verses 17 through 24, Paul advocates that as much as possible people should remain in the life situation they were in when they were called to become Christians. Don't try always to be improving your earthly situation. How can I make my earthly life better? Don't think like that. Be content in the situation you're in. We saw that last week. Now in verses 25 through 28, he applies this general rule to the case of unmarried people, virgins, people who have never been married. He says to them to stay single if you can. If you're able to control your desires, if you're able to control and not burn with passion, as he said earlier in this chapter, then stay single if you can. That's what he's advocating. In verse 26, he says, "In light of the present crisis," is one of the translations, meaning there are different ways to look at that, but first start with the persecution that Christians undergo as Christians in this world. That's a crisis. Or it could just mean what life is like in this present world. This chapter is a timeless chapter, so we shouldn't just think there's some unique thing going on there in Corinth, and therefore Paul is giving very time-bound instructions, but once that little crisis is over then all bets are off. He's not saying that, there is a timeless word the Holy Spirit is speaking to us here. So there seems to be a timeless present crisis. So that would be a persecuted setting or just the general struggles of this present life, this present world, that might be a way to understand this present crisis. Alright, Paul himself understood very much of persecution. He's in prison continually, again and again. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit had warned him that prison and hardships would face him every city he went to. So he was very aware of what that present crisis looked like. Imagine how much grief his calling would have caused him if he had a wife and young children to look after, how difficult that would be. How would he provide for their needs from prison? Paul says concerning himself, he has the single-minded devotion to the calling of the Lord and the present crisis, the persecution, is not going to stop him at all. He said that he is ready not only to be bound but to die for Jesus, he's ready for that. But he's speaking as a single man, he's got that kind of freedom, that's what he's saying. If he were married, he says, "I would have a deeply divided mind." The Troubles in This World Well, even beyond the present crisis, married people, Paul says, face many troubles in this world, and Paul says compassionately and wisely that he wants to spare them of those troubles. Well, what kind of troubles does he mean? Well, start with simple physical provision, food, clothing, shelter, other basic necessities, medical care, the different things of the physical worlds. Marriage frequently implies, usually implies children. And when women are pregnant and then they give birth to newborns, they need care, they need a shelter of protection and provision. The newborn clearly needs care that he or she cannot care for himself/herself. And so there needs to be a bubble of protection, and in ordinary patterns God has provided that through a godly husband and godly father. From the very beginning in Genesis 2:15, He put out Adam in the garden to serve and protect. And so that is extended how much more, not just the garden, but the family, wife and children, serve and protect. So a godly husband would be called on to do that. Jacob was very aware of that. You remember when Esau came to meet Jacob, and he was talking together and he wanted to escort Jacob back into the promised land, and he said he didn't want to do that, but this is the reason he gave, Genesis 33:13, Jacob said to Esau, "The children are tender and I must care for the ewes and the cows that are nursing the young. If they're driven hard for just one day, they will die." So he's very aware of the weak in his family and his flock and the need to take a slower pace for them. Paul says concerning the care for your family, for the elder, your aging parents, in 1 Timothy 5:8, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." So that provision is very physical, the need to care for their ongoing needs. So once you have a family, you begin to have practical issues of, let's say, housing. So home ownership brings you into many issues that take a ton of time to address. You who are homeowners know exactly what I'm talking about. It seems almost limitless what you can do for your house. So the metaphor of putting a roof over your head, it becomes actually not metaphorical but physical, you need to be sure that the roof doesn't leak, and so every period of time, you need to replace the roof, and so you thank God for a hailstorm because then the insurance company will pay for much of it. And so when our inspection happened, we were grateful for the damage done to our roof. Do you see the kind of thinking you start doing? I'm going to put a roof over their heads, but we need to be sure that it doesn't leak. So you've got upkeep, you've got preventive maintenance, you've got car repairs, budgets, long-range financial planning, college for the kids, planning for your own retirement, all of these kind of things. And everything you own is being broken down every moment by existence in this hostile world. Jesus talked about moth and rust destroying. And so that's true, things just break down. They get destroyed, they become decayed, they rot. Fire is a fast destroyer, water is a slow and patient destroyer. And so these things are going on all the time. And you don't want to be the Proverbs sluggard who someone goes by and looks at your property, and it's overgrown with weeds and it's ramshackle. That would be a poor witness. And so just being a good steward you're going to be thinking about these things all the time, considering them. Beyond that, you've got the medical needs of your family, your wife and children, if they're sick or they have some kind of chronic medical issue, it's going to dominate a portion of your time, energy, and money. So these are just the realities of a settled normal family life. These are the kinds of troubles Paul said, "I would spare you." A single person, Paul advocates, is much more free to move around in the world, not so tied down with these levels of concern. You remember in Matthew 10 when Jesus sent out the apostles two by two, He sent them free, physically free from things. Remember He said, "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts, take no bag for the journey or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for a worker is worth his keep." Now, we'll talk about that later in 1 Corinthians 9, how those who preach the gospel should make their living from the gospel. But He's saying, "Don't go encumbered, find some place and just stay there as a base of operations. And don't think you're going to be lavishly provided for, but you'll get enough, and just preach the gospel." So there's that kind of freedom Jesus was giving the messengers of the gospel. Christians Need an Eternal Perspective Well, in any case, Christians need an eternal perspective. If we look at verse 29, He says, "What I mean brothers, is that the time is short." Again, verse 31, "The world in its present form is passing away." What a powerful expression, this present form. There is a future form of this world coming. I believe not on an entirely new Earth, but in a resurrected Earth with some continuity, free from decay and death. But this present decaying, dying world is passing away. And he says in verse 29, "The time is short," literally, "It has been shortened or compressed." There's an intentionality here. Have you ever noticed that time isn't linear? Have you ever had some experiences where the time just drags out? It seems to have slowed down to a stop. I was in some lectures at MIT I'll never forget. This two-hour lecture, I think... Yeah, I don't remember the topic. It was on medieval history, I think, and the lecture had this monotone...And it was a long two hours. And then there are other times it's like you've been looking forward to this thing and it's just gone, time flies when you're having fun, this kind of thing, it's not linear. I don't know what this means, but there's a sense that the time has been compressed, it's been shortened. And so Paul says the present sufferings aren't even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in the future world because the time is just so brief. Hebrews 1:2 calls it "these last days." We're in the last days. Been in the last days for 2000 years. 1 John 2:18 shortens it even more and says, "This is the last hour." So there's this sense of urgency, a brevity of life. Very soon Jesus will come. Three times in the final chapter of the final book of the Bible he says, "Behold, I am coming soon," Revelation 22. This is going to end very, very soon. That's what we're saying. We with the faith perspective, we know that. We know it in ways non-Christians don't. We have a sense of a vivid reality of the brevity of life. So James says in James 4:14. "What is your life? It is a mist, a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live one more day and do this or that.'" So we've got a faith perspective. We're trained by the Word of God to see our lives in this world differently than unbelievers. They act like life will go on as it always has. It's kind of essential to the perspective of an unbeliever is to think things are always going to go on like this, and to forget Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed to each one of us to die once and after that to face judgment." Every Christmas time, my family and I, some of my family, watch the musical Scrooge with Albert Finney, the 1970 version of Christmas Carol. And in that the Ghost of Christmas Future brings Scrooge to a grave. And there's a headstone on the grave and he's just kind of stunned. And then he gets brought around and sees his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge, on the headstone, and he staggered, he's stunned, "Oh no, may it never be." It's like what world are you living in? You don't know where this is all heading? You're an old man. This is coming soon. But we Christians, even if we're young men and young women, even if we're teenagers, we need to know it's all going to end very soon. It's a mist and a vapor. Don't be shocked to think in the future, if the Lord doesn't return in our lifetime, that there will be a grave and perhaps a headstone with your name on it. Picture It. Jonathan Edwards had the young people look at the dead face of their teenage friend. Look at the face. Look death in the face and be ready. That's what the Christian faith tells us to do. This Will All Soon End So we are prepared for the brevity of our own lives, and we're going to die. And we're going to die at a time the Lord ordains. All the days ordained for us were written in His book before one of them came to be. And our Christian faith prepares us for the future end of not just our lives, but actually of the entire world. It's all coming to an end. Not just one building on 115 North Duke Street, not just one of the... All of the buildings, all of them. All of the businesses with their buying and selling, all of the empires with their rising and falling, all of the inventors and the composers and the authors and the creators with their creativity. It's all going to come to an end, and the Bible says soon. It's all coming to an end soon. We need to be ready. Verse 31, "This world in its present form is passing away." Paul’s Rather Shocking Applications Alright, so Paul makes these applications. Look at verses 29-31, "So from now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none, those who mourn as if they did not, those who are happy as if they were not, those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep, those who use the things of this world as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." So there's almost a rhythm to this, like a poem. Let me reread it and insert a phrase that I think will line up with Paul's meaning. "From now on, those who have wives, let them live as if they had no wives. And those who weep, let them live as if they did not weep. And those who rejoice, let them live as if they did not rejoice. And those who buy, let them live as if they did not really possess it. And those who use the things of the world, let them live as if they didn't use them at all." So Paul is teaching an eternal perspective on all of these temporary conditions, even marriage. Now, these words could be taken out of context and twisted to mean something Paul didn't really intend, especially when it comes to marriage. I'm going to say something to you husbands. Do not quote this verse to your wife because you want to watch the Masters Tournament when you get home from church and she wants you to do something else. It says right here, "From now on, those who have wives should live as if they had no wives." Don't do that. That's not what Paul's saying. Ignore your wife, especially when she tells you to do something you don't want to do, that's not what he's saying. What he is saying is even if you are married, even if you are in the covenant relationship that is the most significant human relationship there is on earth, the most lasting human relationship there is on earth, still live like what it really is, temporary, because it is. It is, it's temporary. Live that way. You will both die some day, if the Lord doesn't return in our lifetime, you're both going to die, and your marriage will end when the first of you dies. Your present physical relationship is temporary, but if you're both Christians, your spiritual relationship is eternal. You will spend infinite time as brothers and sisters in Christ and a short amount of time as husbands and wives. You will spend an infinity of time, both of you as part of the bride of Christ, married in a spiritual mystical way to Christ. That's what you're going to spend eternity doing. This physical marriage now is a blessing from God, it serves certain purposes on earth, but it's temporary. That's what he means. See it that way. So it is vital for couples to hold on to each other loosely, as in God's hand. If your spouse dies and you continue to live, your life on earth is still valuable. You are still valuable. Your life is hidden in Christ, not in your spouse. Christ is your life, and when he appears, you will appear with him in glory, not your spouse. I've seen some godly people grieve with a healthy grief when their godly spouse dies, with a healthy grief. And I've seen them recover from that grief and then live fruitful lives in the years that follow the death of their godly spouse. I've seen it happen, but I've seen the opposite too. I've seen godly couples, one of them lose a spouse, and then that remaining person shrivels and dies soon thereafter, literally within a year. I've seen it happen. So when Paul says, "Those who have wives should live as if they if they had none," he's saying, "Have an eternal and wise perspective on your brief life together. Even if you're married for six decades, if you're both Christians, you're going to spend infinitely more time together in heaven than you'll ever spend on earth. Just keep that in mind." Paul then extends that to every area of life in this physical world. Hold onto everything loosely. If you weep, don't act like your weeping is eternal and permanent, it isn't. Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Paul says when you come to a Christian funeral, don't weep like those who have no hope. It's a temporary weeping that you're doing. We should always remember the place to which we're going. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. That's where we're all heading. In the same way, those who rejoice in some earthly things should act as if they did not. It's too easy for us to get wrapped up in earthly successes and be too elevated. I'm a big sports fan, it's easy to see the emptiness of sports championships when in the locker room, they're interviewing the newly crowned champions to see if they can repeat next year. It's like, "What? Let us enjoy just this evening." Anyway. I wonder about those who go out on the Super Bowl field to clean up the confetti. What a job that is. Do they use snow shovels and big barrels? What do they do to get rid of the confetti? Or pity the individual that goes into the locker room to scrub the dried sticky champagne off the lockers. But the moment's passed. It's over, it's nothing, it's just nothing. For a long time, FBC had a collection of old softball trophies. Some of you have been here long enough to know exactly what I'm talking about. Third place trophies. Third place in the city softball tournament 1981. Why did we keep it? There was a while that some of the staff were starting to do pranks with a particular trophy. It was a garish trophy for second place, I guess, had three levels with a Triumphant wreath holder at the top. And it kept showing up on people's doorsteps on Christmas Eve or whatever. Jason Duesing, my secretary, sat up there while I was preaching with his arm around the trophy. So that was mine. I'm glad it wasn't up here. I think they've been cleared out. I don't know, I think they're gone. We were ruthless with those, we weren't worried about any residual team members from 1981 remembering the glory days when we finished third in the Durham Softball tournament. Honestly, most of the things that we celebrate in this life are so clearly temporary, like the tinkling glasses on New Year's Eve and then it's just over. Honestly, even good wholesome Christian joys should be tempered by the realization that our lives here on earth will soon pass away. The birth of a child, the happiness of a wedding should be celebrated in light of eternity. Those who rejoice should do it knowing that the real joy comes from something else. Honestly, you can enjoy those things better if you think that way. It's the best way you can enjoy the birth of a child and your wedding day. The best way. And Paul says, those who buy something, don't act like it's really yours to keep. It looked at best in the store, and then from then on it's downhill. Everything you own, you don't really own it. God is loaning it to you, and He has a very clear intentionality to why He gives it to you. There's a clear kingdom purpose for the money and the things you buy. Think that way. Don't think like, "I really possess this thing," Because honestly, if you think that way, the reverse is true, it really possesses you. That's really what's going on. It has become an idol, it's something you can't live without, and any created thing you can't live without is by definition an idol. So why is this? Because this world in its present form will soon pass away. You are an alien and a stranger here, you're just passing through. And in this context, that includes how you should think about marriage. II. The Practical/Spiritual Advantages of Singleness (vs. 32-35) Now, in verses 32-35, Paul then transitions to give his clearest defense for the practical and spiritual advantages of singleness. He's already established the temporariness of this life, and then he advocate singleness in light of that. Look at verse 32 and following, "I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs, how he can please the Lord, but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife, and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs. Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband. I am saying this to you for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." So Paul is not some killjoy, he's not some strict ascetic. He's not anti-marriage, not at all. His argument here is amazingly practical/spiritual, it's a combination of practical spiritual thinking here on singleness. He wants to free Christians from the inevitable practical issues that are going to dominate daily life as a married couple, especially as parents. The concern, some translations say anxious, that you're anxious about the things of this world. It reminds me of the story of Martha and Mary, remember that? Where they had Jesus over, and Martha was distracted by much serving, it said. It's the same Greek word. Her focus is on getting as many different varied dishes to the table hot and ready to eat for the honored guest and for that time, and so she's spending zero time with Jesus. But Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet drinking in his wisdom. And so there is that same idea, you're going to be distracted from what's really going on here. And we can look at that every moment we could have an encounter with Jesus, and if your interests are distracted by making your earthly situation the maximal best it can be... There is a reasonable serving that Martha and Mary could have done, getting a meal on the table, but it doesn't need to be the best it was ever... because you only have Jesus for a short time. So he says, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 4but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Really, if Martha heard that properly, it's not like she's excluded. "Just stop. Sit down, sit down, listen to me." And so I wonder if there's some of that where as a single person, you can just do that better. You're free, you're able to focus on the Lord and concern for Him. So he wants to free both men and women from the earthly physical concerns so they can be more devoted to the Lord. So a single man can be much more single-minded on pleasing the Lord than a married man. The married man to some degree is serving two masters, Jesus Christ and his family's bodily needs, not just his wife, but the kids too. So he's serving two concerns; his mind is divided, Paul is saying. Got to be. When you think about the Apostle Paul, and I'm going through 2 Corinthians with my men's Bible study on Thursdays, and Paul gives his litany of sufferings and its staggering what this man went through. No one went through more suffering than the Apostle Paul for the gospel. I mean in 20th century church history. There's nobody even close, nobody. And as he lists his physical sufferings he gets to this one point, listen to this, 2 Corinthians 11:27, "I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked." Wow. Now, for Paul as a single man, as an apostle, a frontier trailblazing church planner to the unreached Gentiles, that is heroic. But if you hear a story about a married man with little kids, toddlers, often hungry, thirsty, cold and naked, we almost wonder if it might be abusive. You feel like his job, among other things, is to be certain that their bodies, their little bodies, are provided for. It just makes sense. And so Paul is arguing for a certain level of freedom in the Gospel of which he is the ultimate display. Paul Also Addresses a Godly Single Woman He also addresses godly single women, verse 34: "An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs. Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord both in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband." There are many throughout church history, especially the history of missions, many godly women that have forsaken marriage so they can give themselves fully with undivided devotion to their calling. Think clearly about Lottie Moon, who is... The IMB's annual Christmas offering is named for her. She was I think engaged to Crawford Toy at Southern Seminary. But she was called to mission, she was called to China. Sadly, he was called to false doctrine, and so she wisely turned away from him and just went on as a single woman heroically serving the Lord. You got the same with Amy Carmichael who lived as a single woman, and who served in India and was hugely instrumental in issues of child trafficking, this amazing heroine. When she realized, Amy Carmichael realized that God was calling her to singleness, she had significant fears about that life, and she wrote of those fears in a letter to one of her adopted children. This is what Amy Carmichael wrote, "The devil kept on whispering, 'It's all right now, but what about afterwards? You're going to be very lonely.' And he painted pictures of loneliness. I can see them still. I turned to my God in a kind of desperation and said, 'Lord, what can I do? How can I go on to the end?' And He said, 'None of them that trust in me shall ever be desolate.' That promise has been with me ever since. It has been fulfilled to me and it will be fulfilled to you." So these great women of God were freed from fears and lived lives for the Lord without the responsibilities of marriage. But a godly wife spends much of her time meeting the bodily needs of her husband and children. Think about the Proverbs 31 woman, she's a hard worker, and she gets up, Proverbs 31:15, while it's still dark, so that she can provide food for her family and portions for her servant girls. Verse 27, She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. A busy life, hard working life. Paul's talking about exactly that. So Paul's concern here is for eternal fruitfulness for how this is all going to look on Judgement Day, not for restriction. He's not trying to restrict people. Look in Verse 35: "I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint on you, but to promote good order and secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." So the Greek word is a noose or a harness. "I'm not trying to put a noose on you or a harness on you. I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to set a certain category of you free, so that when you see this instruction and you have the gift of singleness, you're set free and you'll be able to serve the Lord. Again, friends, this is not for everyone. I was raised Roman Catholic. Roman Catholic priests, it's required that they take a vow of celibacy. They have forbidden marriage for their clergy. Paul calls the forbidding of marriage the doctrine of demons, and it's led to all kinds of terrible excesses throughout centuries of Roman Catholic history of forced celibacy on men and women who clearly did not have the gift of singleness by how they lived their lives. Even worse, in the medieval Catholic system there's a hierarchy of holiness, and the single people that took vows of celibacy and vows of poverty and all that were at the highest level, and then your average married couple very low on the pecking order. Now, listen, I believe that some of the greatest heroes and heroines have taken Paul's advice and been single, but the overwhelming majority of the redeemed in Heaven will have been raised in godly Christian homes where you have a Christian marriage, a godly husband and wife raising the children in the nurture and admonition Lord. That's the normal mechanism by which the elect get to heaven. Two-thirds, as many as two-thirds of the redeemed in heaven will have had at least one godly parent who poured into their lives. It's normal. So even missionaries that go and set up among unreached people groups, they're hoping, if the Lord doesn't return in their lifetime, to set up a healthy church with healthy families, with husbands that follow Ephesians 5, they'll love their wives as Christ loved the church, the wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord, the two of them raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, that's the normal way. But there are some people that are called to singleness and Paul's advocated. III. “So... Should We Get Married or Not?” (vs. 36-38) Alright, so verses 36-38, should we get married or not? Answer, I don't know. [chuckle] You have to decide that for yourself. I'm sorry, let me read the verses. "If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she's getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning, they should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, who's made up his mind not to marry the virgin, this man also does the right thing." Verse 38, "So then he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better." So Paul turns to address, if we could say, couples in the pipeline. Maybe they're already betrothed in the pattern of the ancient near east. They're already betrothed together, but they're not actually gotten married yet, or maybe they're not even betrothed yet. They're just single. So what should we do about it all? What about us? And you can imagine a man saying, "My betrothed is eager to get married. What should I do?" And Paul says, "If you think you're behaving improperly toward her... " So I don't know exactly what that means, but it could be that maybe you've made certain pledges verbally and talked about how excited you are to get married. And her heart is kindled and she doesn't have any gift of singleness. She's excited. And for yourself, you don't know what to do; if you feel like you're doing her injustice then get married. That's what he's saying. Even more, however, if your conscience is telling you that you have the gift of singleness, and you're solidly under control and you have no obligations restraining you, your conscience is free, then if you can, stay single. So in the spirit of the chapter, he says, "If you marry, you do well, but if you can stay single for you, you do even better." It's the only way to understand the better, that he's not setting up a hierarchy. For that person with the gift of singleness, they will do better if they stay single. IV. Should the Widow Remarry or Not? (vs. 39-40) Then finally he addresses widows. "A woman," verse 39:40, "is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord." He must be in the Lord. Must be a Christian marriage. Verse 40, "In my judgement, she's happier if she stays as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God." So just the same advice he's been giving, stay in your condition now if you can. V. Applications Alright, so applications. I gave the central application at the beginning of the sermon. Life is short, time is brief. I'm amazed... Are you okay? Here we go. We'll find out in heaven what that was all about. Anyway, let's keep going. I am amazed, I say this with all reverence, that more people weren't killed on Wednesday. And apparently the reason was there was a smell of gas that enabled people to take warning and get out of there. So if I can just say, take warning and get out of there. Flee the wrath to come. Flee to Christ. Years ago in the early 90s, I was pastor up in Massachusetts, and there was a hurricane that was coming. And everyone heard about it, they heard the forecast, they believed it, and they went and put these big Xs with duct tape on their windows, I'll never forget it, because you could still see the adhesive years later, but they took warning and they were trying to protect from glass shards being everywhere. And I thought to myself, "Why can't you take warning concerning your soul and the fact that you're going to die and flee to Christ?" But it's because it's spiritually discerned. Now, if God gives you the gift of faith and flee to Christ while there's time, flee to Christ. Now if you've already fled to Christ as a Christian, then just understand the wisdom of this chapter. What he's saying is look at everything in your life from an eternal perspective. Look at your marriage, say, "How can we be a married couple for eternity, with a perspective toward eternity? We know our marriage is temporary. How can we best make the most of the brief time we have together?" And so it is with every condition. "I'm buying this thing Lord. How can I make best use of this thing I'm buying for eternity? Because I know some day it's going to be destroyed. What can I do with my life so I can live best maximally for eternity?" Close with me in prayer.

Nate and Jon continue to play Council of Verona, and give their reports from playtesting Picture It and Creature Feature. They also discuss the finale of Better Call Saul, and share thoughts on Netflix's Big Mouth, and their appreciation of Tom Hanks. Finally, Nate shares a very personal story about his confusion over what is or is not a circumcised penis, complete with illustrations (SFW): https://imgur.com/a/kGXQ17p --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/making-the-dough-show/support

James talks with Columbus Ohio based Certified Liberator and Franchisee of Major Organizers, Melanie Woods! 1st Franchise of this brand! Picture It, Plan It, Proceed with S.T.E.P.S.

(Recorded May 10th, 2017) Brooke, Dan, Kova and Steven break down and review Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2! Send us your emails to sceneitcast@gmail.comLike us on facebook.com/sceneitcast and on twitter @sceneitcast.You can find Kova on twitter @kovanova10Find Steve on facebook.com/spoilersteve and on twitter @TheSpoilerSteveFind Brooke on the Picture It podcast, Jessica Jones, LOLA and also on instagram @Brookita37

(Recorded May 10th, 2017) Brooke, Dan, Kova and Steven break down and review Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2! Send us your emails to sceneitcast@gmail.comLike us on facebook.com/sceneitcast and on twitter @sceneitcast.You can find Kova on twitter @kovanova10Find Steve on facebook.com/spoilersteve and on twitter @TheSpoilerSteveFind Brooke on the Picture It podcast, Jessica Jones, LOLA and also on instagram @Brookita37

Picture It...The Boiler Room Studio, 2016 Our heroes keep it simple this week as George presents Plumbing 2: Electric Boogaloo, Tony provides some Golden Girls trivia, and the boys talk about some movies. George and Tony - always hip to what's trending. Ask your friends to give the show a try and please consider leaving us those much appreciated five-star reviews on iTunes.  And, yes, that's rain you hear during certain parts of the show. You have been warned!

Host Deardra Shuler talks with author Christopher B. Pearman about his book,"Dream So Big: A Parent's Guide to Helping Your Child Believe & Achieve," on Sunday, November 8th at 2PM Pacific Time, 5:00 PM EST, on the BlakeRadio Network. Recently Mr. Pearman put out a CD of 25 Intentional Subliminal Self-Esteem Affirmations.  Via his CD and book he seeks to inspire individuals to reach their highest potential.  Having applied certain methodologies to his life, Christopher sought to instill those same values in his daughter, Raven Symone as a child.  He guided her career until she became an adult. He now shares the 8 principles he calls Dreamcatchers with a wider audience.  The Principles are:  Pay Attention, Believe It, Picture It, Aim Straight, Get Real, Kill Fear, Do Good, and Be You. A Health and Wellness Coach, Certified Personal Trainer, health proponent and motivational speaker, Pearman talks about how he has applied these guidelines/affirmations in paving a road map to success.  He encourages interested parties to achieve with their children what he was able to achieve with his own family and to use the affirmations he has applied in his own life.  Stay Tuned and Learn how to "Dream So Big" and affirm your positive values. To obtain the book and CD visit www.dream-so-big.com  

Episode 1: Brooke and Cindy introduce both the pilot episodes of The Golden Girls and Picture It...

Episode 1: Brooke and Cindy introduce both the pilot episodes of The Golden Girls and Picture It...

Host Deardra Shuler talks with author Christopher B. Pearman about his book,"Dream So Big: A Parent's Guide to Helping Your Child Believe & Achieve," on Wednesday, June 24th at 2PM on the BlakeRadio Network. A positive man, Christopher seeks to inspire individuals to reach their highest potential.  Pearman applied certain methodologies to his life and sought to instill those same values in his daughter, Raven Symone, in order to help her achieve her dreams at a young age.  He did this by applying the 8 principles he calls Dreamcatchers.  The Principles are:  Pay Attention, Believe It, Picture It, Aim Straight, Get Real, Kill Fear, Do Good, and Be You. A Health and Wellness Coach, Certified Personal Trainer, health proponent and motivational speaker, Pearman talks about how he has applied these guidelines that have served as a road map to success.  He encourages interested parties to achieve with their children what he was able to achieve with his own family. Christopher's book is a practical guide to help parents to not only help their children achieve their dreams, but to help anyone willing to apply the principles to achieve the succes they seek.   Stay Tuned and Learn how to "Dream So Big." www.dream-so-big.com  

40 Days in the Word #3 Probe It 10-28-12 Pastor Tim Bales Faith Community Church Good morning to all of you. You may have noticed I'm not Pastor Jeff. He is giving me the opportunity to share with all of you, not only from God's Word but about God's Word. We are continuing our 40 Days in the Word Campaign and we are on week 3 if you are joining us for the first time. A couple of weeks ago we talked about “Pronouncing It” where we look at each word individually and dig deeper that way. Last week Pastor Jeff shared with us about “Picture It” where you would look at a historical narrative or story from scripture and look at the different characters; focus in on one character and see how it comes to life and what they were thinking and how that situation would have impacted them; then, look at each different character and their roles in the scripture. Picture It – put yourself in their shoes. This week we are going to look at “Probe It”—digging deeper into God's Word. If you have your outline I encourage you to pull it out. On the back side you may have noticed an image. No, this isn't the board of trustees' idea of a new stained glass window, it's not their solution. This is called a stereogram. Maybe you're familiar with it; it's something that was popular back…there it is up on the screen. It kind of looks like a stained glass window but that's not what it is. There's actually an image in this image. If you stare at it long enough and if you take time and focus until your head starts to hurt you're going to see another image in this picture. (Laughter) I've been telling people if you were to focus about 100 feet behind the picture, let your eyes get out of focus, it's going to help you see what's in the picture. I can remember the first time seeing one of these. My parents got one to bring home and put on the wall. They put it in a nicely lit room. They told me, “This is so cool. You've got to check this out. If you stare at this, a 3D image is going to pop out at you.” They described it to me: there's this whale and a baby whale, there's fish over here and rocks over here, there's a whole underwater scene. I stared and stared at it and thought this has got to be some kind of joke. I just couldn't see it. It just wasn't there. Now, how many of you see an image up on the screen, a second image? Okay! What do you guys see? (Some people call out, “a cross.”) Oh, there's a churchy answer. How many of you think this is a joke? (Laughter) I'll tell you what, the first time I saw this I actually thought it was some kind of elaborate joke. There actually is a cross on here and if you can't see it now you can take home your notes and stare at it all you want. We also posted it on Facebook, I encourage you to check out the church's Facebook page. There is also another stereogram that we made just for our church that you might want to check out. Post there (on Facebook) what you see and see if anyone else sees the same thing or thinks it's a joke. But, there really is an image there. I can remember one day staring at the wall at my parent's house thinking to myself, I'm kind of a creative guy and I've got a lot of pride, I like to do artsy things…I should be able to do this. I'm staring at this wall trying to figure this out and finally it happened. I saw exactly all the things they had been talking about and it came to life. I was like, “Wow! I can see it!” I wanted to show everybody. Can you see it? No I can't see it. Can't you see it? It's right there. You can see it. It's right over here. But, they could not see it. It was an embarrassing amount of time, but finally when I did see it, it was crystal clear. This is a beautiful picture of how we see the bible because the truth has been there all along. But the reality is, not everybody sees it. Some people come along and they read the bible and say, “I just don't get it.” Some people say they read the bible and they find all this truth and it changes their lives and they're these happy, joyful people. I read it and I just don't get it. I don't see it. I don't see the picture. James 1:25 says, “The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.” If we look intently into the Word of God it will come into focus in ways you never dreamed possible. This week we're going to “Probe it.” That's the title of our sermon for today. If you probe something you're doing an investigation, an exploration. You're digging deeper to find out more information. Maybe you're thinking “a probe” and the idea comes to mind that we send a probe into orbit to do some space exploration or landing on a planet to take pictures. Maybe you're thinking of a medical or surgical probe to diagnose an illness or come up with a cure. There are electrical probes that test electrical circuitry to see if it's all working properly. A lot of it has to do with scientific research to understand things better that we do not completely understand. Now, in our small groups around town we're going to be looking at some helpful ideas to dig deeper into the Word. But right now we are looking at an important aspect of the probing process that we are not going to be discussing in the small groups. It has to deal with the role of the Holy Spirit as we study the Word of God. We can read the bible as just words on a page like any other book. We can pronounce it and picture it and probe it all we want, but unless we incorporate the role of the Holy Spirit, they're just stories, merely history and religious traditions of the past. Without the Holy Spirit it's just information. That's why most of us as some point have read the bible and found it to be dry, boring or irrelevant. If that's you, I want to encourage you to see this book as more than just a book this morning. This book itself claims to be the very Word of God to us. It's trustworthy, dependable and true. It's God's gift to us. It shows us our purpose for life, God's plan for creation. You might think that God doesn't speak to you, well, read this book because God is not silent. Maybe it's just that we haven't been listening. I know at times in my past I've asked God for a sign to show me direction in my life, it's in here too. It gives us the answers to life's challenges, hope for a brighter tomorrow, healing from emotional and spiritual pain. God is not silent; he speaks to us through his Word. Today we're looking at the idea of illumination because unless God opens our eyes, the bible will not make sense. Like the image we saw on the screen, it's not going to come into focus. Illumination—God revealing his Word to us through divine insight given by the Holy Spirit. When the words jump off the page and change our lives--that's what we're looking at this morning and to do that we're going to probe into God's Word to find a deeper understanding of the concept of light. Obviously, when we open up the Word of God it doesn't literally light up so we need to understand what we're talking about here. The concept of light has been universal. It transcends time and across cultures throughout mankind, doesn't it? The idea of light vs dark. If you go to the movie theatre and you watch this scary movie the villain is portrayed as somebody with dark hair, dark clothing or the grim reaper's all dressed in dark or monsters loom and lurk in the darkness. If there's an angel or personification of God, they're wearing a white suit or white robes and light colors or blond hair. We get this contrast; we get this understanding of light vs dark. Well, the same is true in scripture, we see a contrast between light vs dark, good vs evil where light represents good and righteousness and holiness and dark represents mystery or evil, things that are hidden. My kids are now 5 years old and they're getting to an age where their imaginations are very active. Up to this point they haven't really been scared of the dark. Recently, I sent one of my kids upstairs to go get something or do something and they said, “Daddy, I want you to go with me.” It was clear they were scared of what they might find lurking around the corner hiding in the darkness when they were up there because darkness hides things. Those things are generally not good; they're scary because they're unknown. But light reveals things. It helps us to see things clearly and the more light that we have the more clear we are able to see. In fact, light actually has a lot of power, quite a bit of power. We'll talk about that, too. Now, I'm a visual person so I like picture illustrations. I brought along a visual for us and I'm not sure what you'd call this, it's not really a toy. It's more of a trinket or a knickknack. You set it on your windowsill and it's a smiley face sunflower. Maybe if you like the word chachkey, it's something that exists simply to make us happy, right? A smiley face sunflower. Now, there's something very interesting about this sunflower—if you put it in light and it does things. You're going to want to stand back if you're in the first row, watch out, here we go. There it is, that's what it does, back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth. This is going to be our picture illustration and we're going to be looking at four aspects of light from God's Word. As we seek to understand light from a biblical understand we'll see a lot of similarities between our lives and this little flower here. To do that I want to draw your attention to a passage in 1st John Chapter 1 and you can turn in your bibles or follow along on the screen. Keep in mind that the passage we're looking at comes from the apostle John who is an eye witness. This is a firsthand account. He was there with Jesus he witnessed the love and the life of Jesus Christ and his ministry here on earth. And John testifies in 1st John Chapter 1 verses 5-7 he says, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness we lie and do not live by the truth but if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus the son purifies us from all sin.” If you're filling out your notes this morning, the first point we're looking at is that the light comes from God. The light comes from God. John says God is light. In him there is no darkness at all, he is the epitome of everything good and holy, there is no hint or trace of evil in him at all. He is the source of light and we need to walk in the light if we want to fellowship with him. When we read the bible and discover truth it comes from God. God is the light. Now in our picture illustration over here you'll notice that in our room there is light all around and it falls on everything in the room. Maybe not evenly, there are some shadows in our room and some dark areas, but generally speaking the light is available to all and it is recognized when it lands on something and is reflected back to our eyes. God's light is also available to all and though some people may feel that God is distant or disconnected the reality is, God's not the problem. He is everywhere and always available and we can see his light because it lands on us. It lands on the people around us and it affects us. We see God at work in our lives. God's light comes to us in the form of his love, his wisdom and his blessing. We see light in God's love first and foremost through the gift of salvation, eternal life in Jesus Christ, that he sent his son to die on the cross in our place so that we wouldn't have to suffer his wrath. That's God love at work and though we repeatedly turn our hearts away, he gives us grace instead of what we truly deserve. That's God's love, his light coming into our lives. God's light also comes to us through his wisdom. He gives us wisdom to make good choices so that we don't get into trouble. He gives us a plan for marriage, what it ought to look like, or what the family should look like. He gives us a plan for joy, how to live a full and abundant life. That comes from his wisdom if we live according to his way, his will as it's laid out in scripture. God's light also comes to us in the form of blessing. Out of no merit of our own, he blesses us and it comes in many forms. It might be encouragement, the encouragement that comes from the fellowship of a small group; or times of worship and teaching on a Sunday morning; of friends who listen to you and pray with you; or hopefully a family that loves you unconditionally; when God gives you healing from physical pain or emotional pain that's his blessing in your life. It may be provision of food on your table or a job to make money to pay for your bills or maybe a little bit of extra money to go on a well needed vacation. That is God's blessing in your life, not something that we merit or deserve, but because he is good and generous. If we want to walk in his light as he is in the light that means that we also ought to act with love and wisdom and seek to bless other people and build them up. That's what it means to walk in the light. God is light and there's nothing evil in him at all. He illuminates our lives with his love. Now there's one more very important way I want to point out that loves comes from God. That is that light comes through the Word. You know, it may seem that very little of God's light is shining in your life right now. I don't know where you're at, what's going on in your life. Maybe the economy's got you down and you've been struggling to find a job or you've lost your job. Maybe you've lost your home. Your marriage, maybe there's a strain and you feel like the light isn't really shining down upon you. Maybe your job is causing stress in your family. You're struggling with some addictions that are choking out God's light in your life, they're dragging you down. Now if that seems to be true of you, you're having a hard time seeing God's light in your life there is one thing you can always count on, that you will find God's light in his Word. You will always be able to find God's light in his Word; the light comes through the Word. I want to share another passage with you from the apostle John again, but this time in the gospel of John chapter 1. Again, this is an eyewitness, a firsthand account of someone who was with Jesus, and this is a familiar passage you're going to recognize, I'm sure. But we're going to look at a different aspect of this passage that you may not have focused in on before. As we read John 1:1-9, we're going to try to identify the light. John testifies again, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was the life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God, his name was John (this was John the Baptist). He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” Now, there's a definite progression in this passage that continues on through the rest of the chapter. In the beginning of this passage we see that we have the wWord, the Word was with the God and the Word was God. The Word was divine. We read a little bit further and we find that this Word is also the light, the light of men. And if we were to read down farther we'd see that this light, this Word, becomes flesh and it dwells among us. If we had any question at all about who this is talking about, John clarifies in verse that this is none other than Jesus Christ, the son of God. Jesus Christ is the Word, he is God, he is the light to men. The light comes through the Word to us. This is the testimony of John and even more importantly, is that Jesus claims the same thing about himself. In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever comes to me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” He is the Word, his is the light, and his words are recorded for us in this book. When you open up this book to discover new truth, it is divine. When you open up this book and discover new truth about God, its illumination, God speaking to you, when God shines his light into your life. When you are reading God's Word and you realize that you struggle with pride and the bible says that you ought to be humble in spirit. When you read God's Word and you're reminded that you're holding a grudge against somebody and that God teaches you to forgive, that's illumination. Or, you see that you want to hurt someone back for hurting you and God says that we ought to love our enemies and return love for evil, or God calls someone to your mind that you need to apologize to, that's God's spirit speaking to you, convicting your heart because of his light in your life. Shining his light on something that is unright, unholy. God shines his light in your life when you come to church and you hear Pastor Jeff speak from the Word of God and you think, now I get it, that's the spirit of God speaking to you. Listen to him. Ask questions. Dig deeper and then follow through by doing what God asks you to do. Ask questions. Find answers. It is such a blessing to read the Word of God and have God give you just the right words at just the right time. It's not a magic lamp that will predict the future for you or tell you the name of the person you're supposed to marry. But, God's Word gives you wisdom to answer any question that life might throw at you. I really enjoy reading the bible, but I have to confess to you that there are times when I pick up God's Word, I read it, find it's good, I put it back down and I don't really get a whole lot out of it. But, when I really enjoy reading God's Word is when I'm digging into it and probing deeper, trying to get at the heart of God, saying God what do you really want me to learn today, what do I need to grow in? That's when I find a connection with God, when I have this “Aha” kind of moment, the light comes on in my mind and I think, you know, I've never thought of it that way before, that's really significant. It never gets old. I'm inspired by Pastor Jerry last year, if you don't know Pastor Jerry, he's the lead pastor at our Faith Evansville Church, last year about a year ago he shared that, he's celebrating his 50th time having gone through the Word of God. I think that's awesome. It's awesome not just that he's gotten through the bible 50 times, he's a walking testimony that you can read the bible just as much as you want and there's always more to learn. If you know Pastor Jerry you know that he loves the word and lives it because he has searched intently into the law of God and he has been blessed for it. In our illustration of our happy little sunflower here there's a little photo receptor that you can't see that defines the purpose of this little contraption. Without this sensor there's no way to connect this flower to the light. It bridges the gap. It defines the purpose. It channels the energy. That's what God's Word does for us. It takes God's light into our hearts. It bridges the gap. We desperately need the bible because it shows us the way to God because his light comes through it. Illumination comes when we see things in the Word as God sees them. And, you know that's wonderful but there's something more about the light that I want to share with you than just lighting up the room and lighting up your life. If you channel the energy of the light into something that is created to function on light, it does things. It makes our little flower here go back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth. I think it even has the power to hypnotize you guys in the front row, it's just back ‘n forth constantly because it's receiving that light. Light has power and that's the next point we're looking at in your outline. The light has power from the Holy Spirit. The light has power from the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” God's light brings us power. Natural light also has power, we call it solar energy. If you have enough sunlight you can power a car to drive or if you have solar panels on top of your roof you can provide electricity to your house or you can heat water. The sun also generates wind which gives us another form of power. The sun also has power to change the color of the leaves in the fall. The light has power to change things. And maybe more importantly, it makes our little flower go back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth, back ‘n forth. Light has power when it's challenged into something that's caused to function with a purpose. Being omnipresent, God's spirit is everywhere at all times and he has infinite power. Unless the energy is received by something created to function on God's sunlight, that power is never realized. You were created to bring glory and pleasure to God just like this is created to bring happiness to us as it sits in the windowsill. You were created to bring pleasure to God. This can only be done when you give up your life to live for him just as he did for you. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon an individual for a purpose and a time when God called an individual whether it be a prophet or a king or a judge to do God's will for a time. The spirit would come upon them, they would do God's will and then the spirit would leave at times. But when God sent his son, Jesus Christ who died, rose again and went back up to heaven, he left for us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to take up permanent residence. If you are truly and genuinely a follower of Christ, yielded to the will of God, then you can be sure the Holy Spirit is at work in you. It's a promise from Ephesians chapter 1, Romans chapter 8, First Corinthians chapter 12, the Holy Spirit is the seal of our eternal salvation that we belong to God. I may not feel very holy at times. Maybe at times you don't feel very holy, but God promises he will never leave us. His spirit dwells within us. The sad reality is that even many Christians never tap into the power of the Holy Spirit. We just try to go through life in our own power; we think we can take care of it ourselves. We're skeptical at times about the Holy Spirit because it seems like it's something radical, something that we don't fully understand. It's somewhat scary because it's unfamiliar. The bible says that the Holy Spirit gives us comfort when we hurt, counsel when we need wisdom, illuminates our mind when we read the bible, convicts our hearts of sin that gets us into trouble, he gives us spiritual gifts to use for the kingdom of God, he helps us to bear fruit with our lives by giving us power to live out the incredible plan that God has for each and every one of us. But, unless we tap into that power it cannot change or transform us. This brings us to our final points about light from scripture. When you read the bible, the light must be received. It must be allowed in. It must be absorbed. I have one more passage I want to share with you from the gospel of Luke chapter eleven. This passage is not so much about God's light shining on us but it's how we reflect God's light in our own lives as a testimony to the power of God at work in us. Looking at Luke 11:33-36 Jesus says, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden or under a bowl, instead he puts it on a stand so that those who come in may see the light. You're eye is the lamp of your body when your eyes are good then your whole body is also full of light. But, when they are bad you body is also full of darkness. See to it then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted as when the light of a lamp shines on you.” See to it that the light in you is not darkness. See to it. That means that it's a choice that you allow. It doesn't just happen. See to it that the light in you is not darkness. The reality is in John 3:19, this is the verdict, light has come into the world but men love darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Our natural tendency is to drift away from God toward selfish gratification, evil desires, greed, and lust. That's because of our sinful nature within us. That's our natural tendency. We must allow God's light in, must allow it in. I mentioned on our little flower here that there's a photo receptive sensor and if we were to block that photo sensitive receptor then the flower would lose its liveliness, it would stop going back ‘n forth. It no longer is able to function as it was created to function. Sometimes we block out God's light in our lives because we know what the Word of God says and I know what God wants me to do but we choose something else because it's more appealing to me at the time. We block God's light coming into our lives and then we can't reflect it to others. Sometimes life blocks out God's light if we allow it to, if our attitude is wrong because if our attitude is right the world can throw anything at us and we have the power to overcome because of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But if our attitude is wrong, it will affect the amount of light that comes into our lives when life gets in the way. We are also affected by our attitude when we read the Word of God. If you don't expect to learn anything when you sit down and read from God's Word, then you probably won't. We need to read God's Word with an expectant heart. Read it with a humble heart. You know, our heart must be ready to receive God's light like seed that lands on good soil. We need to have a right relationship with God and if you want to learn something from the bible you can't be in an argument with your spouse or your child or something like that, to sit down and read the Word and expect God to illuminate your mind when your heart is cold and filled with darkness. We can't be harboring sin and pride and unforgiveness and bitterness in our hearts. And like Pastor Jeff said a couple weeks ago, you can't rush God's illumination in your life, you need to read the words and let them digest. Chew slowly. If you don't allow that process to happen, then God's not going to be able to illuminate your life with his truth. I like how Pastor Rick Warren describes this, he says, “It's not how much you get through the bible, it's how much of God's Word gets through to you.” When God's light starts to reflect back because you are full of light. If you feel that the bible is boring or dry or irrelevant than you are not allowing God's light into your life. If you know God's will but are continuing to live in sin, you are not allowing God's light into your life because in order to allow the light in you must be willing to act upon it. We must choose to act upon it. So when we sit down to receive God's light, to read the bible, we should be willing to commit to doing whatever God says even before he asks us. You sit down and say, “Yes Lord I want to do your will. Just let me know what it is and I'll do it.” Only then can we truly fulfill our purpose because you were created to serve God with your life, your abilities, your finances, and your time. Like this little sunflower here, we are powerless to do anything of eternal significance without God's power because we are not the light nor do we create our own light. God's light comes to us through the Word and gives us power. It's not magical but it's very real. It's his love that transforms and we receive light when God illuminates his character to us as we read the bible and as we respond to his will. Now, as we draw this all together, talking about illumination from God's Word, we've mentioned that the light comes from God, it is his perfect holiness, his perfect will, the light comes to us through his Word, in the bible itself and the words of Christ, it has power to transform us by the Holy Spirit, power to change you for the better but it must be received if we expect God to change our lives. The question that we're asking this morning is, “Are you spending time in the light?” Reading the bible is not just a good idea for those who need a crutch to lean on; we desperately need God's light because unless you are in the light, you are tampering with darkness. Darkness is where evil dwells. Darkness is what separates us from God. When we aren't regularly reading God's Word, our hearts begin to grow cold and darkness takes root. It starts out subtle, barely even noticed, but as God's light in your life begins to fade the darkness begins to grow. It's like something that glows in the dark, if it's regularly in the light it's going to shine brightly. But, if you take the light away it slowly begins to fade. Your heart, your love begins to fade like plants without light we slowly begin to die. Are you spending time in the light? I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in darkness. I don't want to be separated from God's blessings. I want to be fruitful for the kingdom. I want to live with God's power and I want to be in the light as he is in the light, to benefit from his love, his wisdom, and his blessing. Are you spending time in the light? I have one more illustration I want to share with you that comes from Rick Warren and I think it's very good and clear and worthwhile. He describes the Word of God, the bible, as God's last will and testament. Now, not that God has died but when God sent Jesus to the cross, died, was resurrected—he left behind a last will and testament, an inheritance. Let's suppose for a second that you were a child or an heir to Warren Buffet. If you don't know who Warren Buffet is, he's a multi-billionaire; he's one of the richest people in the world. Let's say that Warren Buffet was to tragically pass away. Would you want to read the will? Would you want to know the words of wisdom he left for you? Or the wealth that he bestowed upon you? I know I would. I'd want to open that will as soon as I could. The reality is that the Word of God is immensely, infinitely more valuable to us, more precious to us. It contains the riches of God that he wants to give to us, if only we will read it. The sad truth is, oftentimes we leave it on the shelf, or we simply just glean from the pastor's sermon instead of digging into God's Word, finding out the riches that he wants us to have now in this life. Are you spending time in the light? Let's pray…Heavenly Father we thank you so much for your Word. I want to pray for those people in our congregation this morning who feel like your light has been choked out of their life because of life circumstances. Lord, it's difficult to deal with some of those things that life throws our way and it's difficult to see your light beyond them. But, I pray Lord for those people who are struggling to see your light that they would recognize that anytime they open up your Word looking for truth then they will see you light, your love, your hope, your wisdom shining through. And Lord, for those in our congregation who want a deeper understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit and how it can change our lives, I pray Lord that you would help us to be a congregation that understands that the Holy Spirit is real and active and gives us power to overcome whatever happens in this world and in our lives. Gives us power to bring your message of love to the world. I pray, Lord, that we would take hold of that power, that we would study it, understand it, and grasp it and that we might receive your light and use its power for your glory. Lord I pray that you would give a hunger in our hearts that we would yearn to read your word because we desperately need it Lord. We know that if we don't spend time in your life then darkness can creep in and the light is choked out. Might we be students of your Word and receive your light and when we receive your light let it soak in and reflect in our own lives. Lord we thank you for the 40 Days in the Word Campaign and we pray that it would continue to change and transform our lives, not because this campaign has any power but you have power to shine your light into our lives because of what we're learning, the truth that is being revealed in scripture as we study your Word and are faithful to read it, to dig into it, and to reflect upon it. Lord, we ask that you will shine your light into our lives that we might receive your love, live with your wisdom, and enjoy your blessings. We ask this Lord in Jesus' name, Amen.

Picture: It takes more than a couple of matches... Part 1 of 3 in an expansion of the School Sucks: The American Way You Tube Video. Topic: The American way... What is this way? Where does it come from? And where does it lead? In this show: Philosophy In school we are led to believe that we are all living in an ideal vision of what society should be... But who's vision is it? And what were their ideals? -Objectivism vs. German Idealism -Immanuel Kant -George Hegel -Johann Fichte -Friedrich Nietzsche Look Closer: INTRODUCING OBJECTIVISM http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro Kant made simple http://soler7.com/IFAQ/Kant.htmll Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/analytic-synthetic_dichotomy.htmll Objectivism, Hitler, and Kant, by David Gordon http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon13.html Fichte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichte A People's History Of The United States by Howard Zinn http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html Identity And Causality, And The Use Of Logic http://www.logicallearning.net/libidentitycausa.html Quantum Shift TV: The underground history of North American education http://www.quantumshift.tv/v/1198046178/ Hitler's War Against the Jews: A Young Reader's Version of The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, by Lucy S. Dawidowicz http://books.google.com/books?id=nKl2Vv8HoDwC John Gatto Prussian Education http://youtu.be/o_CeWip5BpU

• Comment On The Action. You're always responding to something on-screen. You're never just existing as a disembodied head in a vacuum...you always have an opinion and point-of-view on the situation. You are reacting to it in real time. We don't get to SEE you in VO, so we have to HEAR your opinion and point-of-view. Go TOO far . . . we'd rather pull you back. Give me the COMPARE-AND-CONTRAST on "the LEADING spray mop." • You can "shrug" without actually walking your pitch up every time . . . that can get a little too singsongy when EVERY line in the spot is a shrug (The REAL VO on this spot falls down that trap.) • "Hairpin turns" or "U-turns" in the copy often happen in the first beat, or transition from first to second beat, when we go from Problem to Solution, and hear the product for the first time. The product/solution line is often a non sequitur...something pretty darn random and unrelated. Instead of being fed that Solution off a teleprompter, let's hear you think of it for yourself. (If you need to pause for a beat, think and PICTURE IT, I can always shorten the pause later in editing...that's what's great about VO. You're not playing to a metronome click, you can go at your own pace.) Give yourself time to think of the product/solution. You can't choreograph it ahead of time--it's got to sound like spontaneous thought. "Come to think of it...this idea just occurred to me..." is always so much more compelling than someone reading a pre-determined script. Put another way: Who's more interesting, A) the guy in the bar who feeds you the same pick-up line you've heard 10 times or B) a guy who makes a wry observation that just popped into his head? Probably B! Now with voiceover, you don't have to be a writer and come up with wry observations on your own...but you get to breathe life and energy into a flat-on-the-page script. Make it your own by making it spontaneous.VO: Every time you clean with the leading spray mop, it costs you. So try Reveal from Rubbermaid. The bottle's refillable – you use whatever cleaner you like. The reuseable microfiber pad cleans deeply – then just toss it in your regular wash. So why waste money on costly refills? Reveal saves you $50 dollars per year. Try Reveal. Only from Rubbermaid.