Good morning. I'm Mary Ellen and today I'm going to talk about my Favorites and then I want to announce the 11 winners from my giveaway And of course there's going to be some chit chat and I will just label that chit chat when you know you do those little Things that you can move around the video Yeah, I've been doing good doing that Jim's Successful surgery is top of my list. He's doing great But because he had surgery I was able to work on my Ancestry comm because I had a lot of time just to kind of sit there and That's kind of unusual and I love ancestry comm and I've been a member since 2004 And it it's just I enjoy it. I know some people think hey You're just looking up dead people that I love seeing where my Ancestors came from and trying to figure it all out Well, they have something that is new to me and it may not be new to you, but it's called through lines THRU LI NES and I had noticed him But I never even took the time to look it up So I looked it up and it is very very cool You have to have a DNA test through Ancestry comm and I did that as soon as it was possible and you have to have and I can't think what it's called Where you list your ancestors you have to have one available. That's the way they can find it But it is so cool because you can you can click on a name and you can follow the through lines And I tell you what I'm kind of interested on my dad's side My great-great-grandfather may not be my great-great-grandfather because there's people Anyway, it's just so interesting So I have to really delve into that but I've enjoyed that a whole lot and something else I did which was interesting for $20 you can do like Ancestry traits and it would go anywhere I mean I there were probably 30 plus things that they could tell you if you are more likely to have or you're More likely not to have but it'll tell you anything from personality and on the appearance That on the appearances right now There are 16 and 14 of them were applicable to me the facial hair and there was something else beards You know that wasn't but I was surprised how many things were spot-on Two things that weren't right is I don't have my ear lobes are not affixed to my head You know how some some people their ear lobe just goes straight into their face Well, I have an ear lobe that hangs down and it said that I was more likely than not to have the one That's kind of attached to my face. It said that I was most likely a brunette But if I had children they could easily have red hair Well, I was born a strawberry blonde with the emphasis on strawberry and I've had red in my natural hair all my life It's it's not really it was kind of like a light auburn. It was never really dark But it always had red in it. It also said like I don't have right freckles. I don't and that my ring finger is Longer than my pointer, which it was to anyway It was really interesting and I am somebody that if there's a little cilantro just a small amount I can deal with it But if it has more I do not like the taste at all and it knew that I think that's so cool It was wrong on my personality It said I am more likely to be an extrovert than an introvert and really like if there's 16 hours in the day in the Social day if you have a social day I'm an extrovert for two hours, but the other 14 hours I'm definitely an introvert and I always have been so that wasn't right and I am supposed to Remember my dreams and I'm excellent at remember my dreams I dream in color and I have very vivid dreams But it was just interesting and I know as things evolve that they'll have more things But what made me interested is if there is somebody that they're searching for that They broke the law and they can't find them and they can use their DNA They can get pretty close to what that person should look like On Ancestry DNA they've also broadened where you're from And I'll put a screenshot here of the regions that I come from And I'm definitely more Scottish than anything They used to have Scotland, England, Wales Several of them grouped together and I was like 58% But now they've broken it down But I think that's really interesting and I've done that for like I said years But it sure was a favorite through the month of May Something else, this is something that makes me happy I realized you know I love my microfiber bath towels They're just so light, they're easy And I like my microfiber cleaning claws But you can't use fabric softener Well I have been and I'm not kidding you If I'm addicted to anything it has been April Fresh Downey I don't know how many refill bottles that I usually keep stocked up Because my washing machine is front loading And I would put it all the way to full every single time No matter what I was washing So what I do with my microfiber towels I put my laundry detergent in And where I put fabric softener I put white vinegar And I usually put about a quarter of a cup of white vinegar in the load I'm not kidding you, they come out great They don't smell like vinegar Well I thought well I'm going to try that on my regular towels and wash claws Because you know I use a lot of kitchen towels I use a lot of hand towels And they did great So I bet, and even on my clothing I have cut it down to just a scant amount And I fill it up to below minimum Just so I can have a little of it But I do love the smell And I have for as long as I can remember As being an adult But it has to be April Fresh It can't be anything else I did buy two new tops on Amazon I bought one and I wash everything before I wear it So it's said to hand wash But I thought I put it in my zippered mesh bag Because it has buttons on it And I washed it in the washing machine And I hung it dry And I'll put a picture of somebody wearing it up here But it did up beautifully It's 95% polyester and 5% spandex I normally would order an extra large But I don't know where these were made So I ordered an extra extra large I could have easily ordered an extra large But I did not know it when I ordered my second one Because I ordered the second one After I washed it in the washer Before I even tried it on I washed it in the washer And then I hung it up to dry And I thought, hey, that's wonderful Because you know I'm a slacker And I don't want to iron So I ordered another one And this one is in the animal print I went ahead and did the extra extra large Which is okay I don't know if I'm going to order anymore I really don't need any new ones But every year I like to get a couple of new tops Believe it or not And I have to retire So I have until I can have my hangers But I would definitely order in an extra large But I like them I went and got one of my laundry bags to show you I got these in a set of five And I think they were about $8 And they're wonderful I've shown them before They're big Nice zipper I can put two blouses in it And still have plenty of room Anything that has buttons Or any fabric like this kind of a fabric I don't want it rubbing up against anything I usually if I buy something I like it And I want to take good care of it So I usually use laundry bags Everything that I order from Amazon I have Amazon Prime I like it I've had it for years I've only had two things that I have ordered And that had both to do with the couch That I kind of made up for Jim For his healing bed But the rest of it I get free shipping And I have never liked to shop I have never liked to... Except for back in the day I used to like to go to nice department stores And go to their cosmetic counters And I enjoyed that But I just wanted to go there Maybe go buy shoes But that's the degree of shopping That I like to do I was catalog and anyway With Amazon Prime I also get Amazon Prime TV I get like two million free songs And any song I ever put in I can find I don't have any trouble And also I get a free ebook every month So I like it I bought this because of Angie Hot and flashy But before I show it to you I want to point something out on my face This is some kind of a bite And I've had it for about nine days And I haven't been putting anything on it I haven't been putting foundation I haven't been... I haven't even put skincare around it I've just let it alone I haven't put any ointment And it is getting better But it was really large A few days ago So anyway I'm just watching it It's going to be fine It's better But it was really, really large Okay, now what I bought because of Angie I bought a new mirror And I have ordered three of them for gifts And I will warn you When Angie mentioned something I think they go out of stock Because I don't get these until July But I ordered like I said Three as gifts And they're going to be a Christmas gift So that's okay But I've had this light on The whole time I've been talking I'll be able to see if it helps or not Because I'm going to turn it off in just a second And show it to you But like today it's not very sunny out And these two windows I'm getting quite a bit of light I'm not getting very much light over here So I put this down To see if I can get some light on my face So let's see I think it did help This is the size of the mirror It's rechargeable It has a stand And now I'm going to show you the front of it It has a 10-time magnification mirror That will go anywhere You can put it anywhere on this That you want And it stays And then you just turn it on in the back And here is the light And it's adjustable, the light is And for me it's perfect for two things It's perfect for traveling Because I wasn't traveling I've given my travel what travel mirrors I had I sent them on with family To different places So I didn't really have one And it comes in a nice carrying case And I'm thinking it was around $25 I'm more than happy with this And I think I'm going to put it right here On my table Because I do think it kind of Evened out the lighting When I edit this I will see But I didn't put it on anything on my face I just put on lipstick and mascara And then the navy eyeliner Some kind of nuts about When I found out They made reader sunglasses It literally changed my world And that was probably I'm not kidding Maybe five or six years ago And I've had the same glasses So for Mother's Day I got two pair One of them is in my car And one I might put on for you And here they are And you can see my mirror You can see this little square mirror Right here I really really like them I don't have to worry about taking my glasses Back and forth to my car I have a pair of my old ones in the van So I can always have my sunglasses And be able to read Which is a wonderful thing I am still really pleased About the hair thickening products I'm using in my scalp So I'm using one brand here And one brand here But I told you I said I was going to start using The Revita Lash every other day In May Well, I didn't And I'll tell you why I was brushing through my hair I usually when I brush my hair Through the day or something I go like this You know, brush it from back And I had hair in my hairbrush And it was more than usual And I thought this may be the time of year That my hair naturally sheds So it's not time for me to quit Using that pump right there Because that's what I was going to do Every other day But I can share with you something From January 30th, 2022 To March 15th, 2020 Use 2022 I use two pumps every day Right here and right here So that's, I think it was 44 days So that's like 88 pumps For that amount of time And then on March 16th I started just using one pump And I'll show you what one pump looks like I'll go like this I hold it back I do one pump And then I just work it in And I work it in really well And it doesn't make my hair greasy But anyway, that's what I've been doing I'm going to continue rubbing it So, so far I've had 100 And I think 73, 78 pumps And I still have a lot left And I'll let you know when it's finished I was kind of hoping that I could use one pump every day for a year And that would help me with the price Because it is expensive But it is worth it for me to have a thicker part And I don't put it right there But anyway, this has been a winner I wanted you to know that I'm still doing it Every day And I just do it every morning when I get up And I don't think I've missed any days Okay, and then I'm going to show you a floor lamp I don't like it as much as what I had before Jim, I love halogen lighting And I know it's dangerous To keep it away from curtains But I have used a halogen What I call a floor lamp For at least 20 years I don't know if Jim had a bad dream on the couch But when I walked through that I heard something and it was on the floor The halogen lamp was on the floor And halogen just puts off such a nice light And there's not a lot of shadows That's why I like halogen But I could not find a halogen floor lamp anywhere I looked everywhere but I knew how to look So I had to have it because I've got a lot of light through the day But I only have two lamps in there Because I don't like ceiling lights And I don't have can lights And I'm probably never going to have can lights It's not as good as what I had But I'm very happy with it It has a remote control That you can turn it off or on And then if you just touch it with your finger It'll go off and on And I'll put a picture of what it looks like So that was a favorite because it provided light Even though it wasn't my favorite If I can find my favorite That will be moved to a different room And I'll find it So if anybody knows let me know And to my built bar friends And yes I have a code for built bars I ate them for a year before I got my own code And I want to talk about something That I think is delicious It may not be your favorite But this has been my favorite of all so far And it is the birthday cake puff bar It is so soft and it is so chewy And to me it tastes like I mean it tastes like it's really Really calorie laden I mean and it still has The 17 grams of protein The sugars that I watch You know I watch the net sugars And it's really good And they have quite a few puffs on their side And when I got notification I ordered more of the I think these are called the yellow chirps And they're a little bit limited And they're the puffs But what they're doing as things are being Brought out and people like them They're putting them in their permanent line I think it's always going to be something That changes up but I want to Talk to you about a few things Before I announce the winners Of my 11 winners of my last giveaway First of all there are men That are coming in and commenting Under your comments I try to get those whenever I see them But what happens they go back to older videos And it doesn't come to me So I don't get notification of them I can see them on a current video That I'm opening up and looking And I delete them because they're just People that say the same thing Over and over I mark them as spam And somebody else comes up and does it So I'm really sorry about that The other thing are there are people Looking like it's me with my picture I talked about it several months ago The first time I saw it It was telling you that you were a winner And had to contact me Anytime I have a giveaway I announce the giveaway on my channel And then I will have you leave a comment below And then I'll tell you where to email me And what I've been doing is When I get that email I tell the winner To go back on and leave a new comment And I tell them what to say That way I know that I'm communicating With the right person So I don't get scammed like I did A few months ago and I'll put that video Right there And this is a video that I did the giveaway And I did a comparison of the before and after When I was talking Something that I noticed after I had done that video is how much Thicker and darker My eyebrows are in 2022 than they were In 2014 I can contribute that to two things Because I do not put anything on my eyebrows With the exception of Sometimes I put something clear Hairspray, a brow freeze Or something like that And I could not believe the difference in them I also derma roll my eyebrows I never had any luck Derma rolling The thicker part toward the middle And I didn't ever see anything with that But I did see a difference in the tails But I thought that was kind of interesting So now I want to announce the 11 winners Of my giveaway And I'm going to announce it alphabetically By company I enjoyed reading all of your comments And the first name that came up Was Terry O'Malley And she did not Say the magic words Derm, skin, or Time And so she didn't want to be in the giveaway But I wanted to let her know she was number one The first group of winners Dermatology Tinted Moisturizer With an SPF of 46 The first winner was Nicola Or Nicola Bray Congratulations to you Nicola The second winner was Emily Morris Congratulations Emily The third winner was Lori Abercrombie And I want to congratulate you Lori The next winner of the Dermatology Is Eva Bothwell Congratulations Eva And the last winner of the Dermatology Is Michelle Moore The next group of winners Will win the 20% are Garelline with Hyaluronic Acid And Metrixal 3000 And that is from Skin Diva The first winner is Mary Ann Folk Congratulations Mary Ann The second winner is Cindy K Congratulations Cindy And the last winner of the Skin Diva is Gloria P The last group I have five winners For the Timeless Glowy Kit And in that kit is Timeless Dark Eye Circle Cream Squalane Hyaluronic Acid Vitamin C plus E plus Ferulic Acid 3000 Cucumber Spray And the first winner is Gabby S Congratulations Gabby And the second winner is Teresa Congratulations Teresa The next winner is Joe Salmon Or Salmon I'm not sure how you pronounce it Congratulations Joe The next winner is Missy C Congratulations Missy And the last winner is Ziggy's Bookshop Congratulations Congratulations to all my winners First thing you need to do Is leave a comment below Saying hey I won And then I will reply to you And let you know how to Get in touch with me And we'll go from there I'm excited for all of you Thank you all for watching And I appreciate you All I know to say I appreciate you It is all good And I'll see you in my next video Take care Good morning From the month of Of course Jim's Successful My great grandmother Is how they can If there's a


Okay, this is a sculptural set that's in the Prado, that famous museum in Spain, not the one in Galboa Park. That depicts Seneca advising Nero. You can see the Skulking insolent Nero sitting there barely paying attention, and then Seneca's got a very long scroll of advice for him, which seems to be going unheeded. This work is addressed directly to Nero, a known and in fact famous person. He was Emperor of Rome. Can I borrow your book for a second? I broke my own rule and didn't bring my book, but I want to quote the very opening of it, where he says, I have assumed the task, Nero Caesar, of writing about mercy so that in some sense I might fulfill the purpose of a mirror and reveal you to yourself as one who is destined to gain the greatest of all pleasures. So first of all, I explained to you before how there's a kind of genre of letter writing known as mirror of princes, and what that means is that the letter writer holds up a mirror which reveals what the person, usually a prince or a king or somebody that a philosopher thinks needs advice, reveals who they are to themselves. And you can tell by this rhetoric, reveal to yourself as one who is destined to gain the greatest of all pleasures. And you find this what I call diplomatic rhetoric. Diplomatic rhetoric basically works like this. You want to convince somebody to do something. They're more powerful than you are.  What you have to do is say, I see that you are inclined to do such and such, and that is a very good thing, whether they're inclined to do it or not. Or you say, I see that you're not doing such and such, and that's very good. It would be a bad thing and one would be a bad person to do that. That thing that they're supposedly not doing is in fact what they are actually doing. But you have to wrap it in this diplomatic rhetoric or it won't be received well and won't have the intended effect. So I don't know how much you know about Nero but he's one of the great bad guys of history, playing a fiddle while Rome burned and so forth. He considered himself a great artist and he made people sit there and listen to him doing performances and people like, ah, this is terrible but you can't say that. You criticize him and then you wake up dead the next day or something, right? And he's sort of an insufferable, horrible guy. After huge parts of Rome burned down, lots of people died and so forth, he built the biggest palace of all time devoted to himself. The colossal statue of himself and so forth. And so there's a bit of awkwardness in the fact that this stoic philosopher is advising this horrible tyrant and it really creates for us this crisis of interpreting everything in Seneca as I thought was really brought home when I read the first page of James Rome's biography of Seneca called Dying Every Day where he says, look you can look at it like this, yes he's an earnest philosopher doing his best under hard circumstances or he's this really cynical manipulator who's using a stoic philosophy to mask this his own extremely wealthy powerful status and covering over crimes that he's engaged in like usury to people in Britain and things like that. So it is, you know, the biggest problem with this work on mercy is this part at the very beginning that says to the emperor Nero. I mean that already causes a big enormous problem of interpretation here and what's going on here.  I mean why would you be praising somebody we actually know from historical sources to be bad and the answer to that is diplomatic rhetoric. Okay, sort of a lost art nowadays because we don't really do diplomacy anymore. We just show up and say look we're going to bomb you if this doesn't happen. But there used to be this way of doing things where you sort of, you know, oh I see that you're inclined to pull your troops out of there and that would be a very good thing because you know we cause a world war if you didn't. And so on. So there's diplomatic rhetoric in here. Now we know that the thing was written between 55 and 56 AD and there's a sort of, there's a set of facts external to this text about who Nero was, what he did and so forth. And to some extent we can criticize what's going on here by reference to that and we can understand why this diplomatic rhetoric is involved because we know he actually was a powerful person. One way then to read it. I have a Kindle on my Kindle. Okay, very good. I'll borrow your book as it were. And if you need to borrow anything, let me know. So one way to read this is, again, Ernest Cicero, real stoic philosopher trying to improve the world. He's got a difficult situation. Would it make it a better world if he just abandoned his post and went on and did something else? No, you've got to try to rein these people in. Like the anonymous guy who wrote a New York Times op-ed saying, we've got this crazy guy in office but I'm going to stay here and keep doing things to make sure it's like kept under control.  That's one way you might look at what's happening with Seneca here is that he's the same guy in the room and he's doing everything he can to maintain stability and order and that if you've got somebody who really is cruel and really is tyrannical then you need to use this diplomatic language in order to moderate him and improve things. But of course the other way to look at it is that what this is is a big published open letter coming from this famous guy, Seneca, and he's a credible philosopher and what it is is a piece of propaganda to make it look like Nero's actually a good guy who listens to philosophers and is being refined and so forth. And so we get all this stuff about how a king behaves versus a tyrant and combined with the mode of diplomatic rhetoric where I was telling you about yes, I see you're doing this and that's a good thing or I see you're not inclined to do such and such and I'm glad you're not doing that then makes it appear like he's basically saying that Nero is not a tyrant. He isn't a bad guy.  And in particular it makes him look good relative to these other examples of bad guys like Nero's immediate imperial predecessors, Claudius and Caligula, true monsters in their own right. But what we do is we sort of make Nero look good by contrast by showing he's following the advice of philosophers, he's inclined to be merciful and so on. And so this whole thing is not an earnest philosopher trying to improve things but is Seneca the propagandist using the mass of stoic philosophy to cover up monstrous crimes and so forth. How do we figure out which one is actually the case? Well, we don't have the means to resolve that but one thing because we don't have access to the documentary materials and the historical facts that would be relevant to resolving that dispute. So we have to look at the internal literary coherence and philosophical value of this work. So I give you a couple of different modes of how to criticize it and criticism here means interpret it and figure out if it's a good or a bad thing. It doesn't just mean treating it negatively and it means treating it critically. So first thing is that it's practical philosophy. If it's practical philosophy then it needs to have outcomes because empty are the words of a philosopher that relieve no suffering and so forth. And practical philosophy, we don't want to know about health, we want to be healthy. We don't want to know what wealth is, we want to have a lot of it. And mainly we don't want to know what living well or happiness is. We want to actually be happy and live well. And so a practical philosophy that doesn't actually produce these things is as worthless as an institution like a business school that supposedly teaches people about business but then they go on bankrupt or just as broke as everybody else studying some other field. Totally worthless thing to have because the entire point of it is to be practical and produce some effect. We're economics. We don't want to just know about the economy. We want to be able to predict when it's going to collapse and when there's going to be problems with the economy. So if we have a field that supposedly tells us we have perfect economic theories here, yes we didn't predict the biggest economic crisis since 1929 but that's how it goes. We're a theoretical, not a practical thing. You might say, no, that's flawed and it's whole reason for existing is called into question. There is no point in having a merely theoretical approach to practical philosophy. So in that sense, if this work didn't actually make Nero a merciful person and improve him and so forth, then it's a worthless piece of garbage that nobody should read or consider and from a philosophical perspective it's a spectacular example of a failed piece of philosophy because the success condition of a piece of practical philosophy is that it actually improves someone's life or something not that it merely produces some kind of knowledge or definition or whatever. So in that case, this is one of the worst pieces of philosophy to ever have been written because we know the fact of the matter is that this is one of the least merciful people of all time and so it did not have its intended consequences or effect but that is the success condition of a piece of practical philosophy. Now on the other hand, we could look at it as actually being a kind of piece of theoretical philosophy examining whether mercy is a good thing. How mercy does relate to justice whether it's a virtue or a vice and there is some theoretical fact of the matter here like it either conflicts with justice or it does help with justice or it's equivalent to pity or it's not or it's a good alternative to cruelty or it's not the wise person will practice mercy or she will not and in that sense it doesn't matter how Nero reacted to it the success condition is, is the thing coherent? Does it make internally coherent arguments? And does it edify us? Does it tell us something about virtue and about government and about justice and that sort of thing so that we could use it for other people? We could give this to Donald Trump and say this is how you should act and maybe he'll take it better than Nero did I wouldn't hold my breath on that but maybe something like that will happen and it doesn't matter if it's succeeded in its local context what matters is whether it's true or not and whether it's true or not first of all depends on whether it's coherent and makes a coherent argument. So again since we don't really have the historical facts that would let us really figure out the situation with respect to it being a piece of practical philosophy we will focus on the theoretical issues it raises and primarily the issue of whether Seneca makes a coherent argument or not. Okay so here's the structure of the work the work as it stands is incomplete it ends with three dots which means that our manuscripts did not report the complete work in fact an entire book seems to be missing so we have two books but the description that Seneca gives of what he's going to do is in three parts as described in section three of book one the first part will deal with the remission of punishment the second will attempt to show the nature and appearance of mercy for since there are certain vices that simulate virtues they cannot be distinguished without the stamp of marks that enable you to tell them apart in the third place I shall look into the question of how the mind is led to adopt this virtue how it establishes it and through use makes it its own so that third part is missing so we're not going to be able to say much about that and this first part which is actually the majority of what we have essentially goes into explaining why one ought to think mercy to be a good thing okay but first of all we're probably all inclined to accept those arguments anyway and if we aren't it's probably because we don't understand what mercy actually is and therefore the second part is crucial to the project of resolving the theoretical value of the work and whether it's coherent we need to examine the definitions given of mercy figure out if it is a virtue and if so how it relates to and can be cohere with the other virtues identified by Stoics okay but I'll give you a sampling of some of the stuff in the first section and the initial question raised is mercy a virtue and you might think it's not for the reason given in section 2 mercy sustains the worst kind of people it has no purpose unless a crime's been committed and the only virtue it's the only virtue that seems to define no employment among those who are guiltless so it only happens when somebody's done something wrong and they need to be punished and then you sort of refrain from giving that punishment or at least giving the full punishment so it's strange because it's not a virtue doesn't seem much like a virtue like justice or temperance or courage or something where it's its own thing it's in relation to other people and in relation to bad people and if you have a world where nobody's doing anything bad and nobody's committing any crime kind of Stoic cosmopolitan utopia or something this wouldn't even exist it wouldn't arise as an issue so how can it be a virtue how can it be something that we inculcate as a habit in practice constantly so Seneca gives several responses first he says well by that argument medicine wouldn't be any good after all medicine only treats the sick so suppose I tried to discourage you from going into medical school and said what value does medicine have it only works if you're treating somebody who's diseased and sick that's not a good thing okay that's a lame argument with respect to medicine and so by analogy it's lame with respect to this yes maybe it only deals with people who are flawed who are mentally ill or something in some way but there can be a sort of virtuous activity in connection with that furthermore it doesn't only benefit the guilty it can benefit the innocent because often innocent people are accused wrongly or even convicted wrongly in which case mercy restores justice to those people and this is if you want to focus your mind on the most vivid case of this think about capital punishment where the state kills people and it turns out the state kills people that were totally innocent of the crime sometimes it just happens they got convicted by a jury that was led on by their emotions or by skilled attorneys or whatever and ends up executing innocent people in irreversible things so if mercy was employed by judges in those cases or by legislators in getting rid of the death penalty or that sort of thing then it could be good you actually would be saving those innocent people who were wrongly accused and finally it can return people to virtue assuming we have a rehabilitative model of punishment merciful punishment might be more effective in encouraging the bad to return to virtue return to justice return to moderation return to courage and so forth in which case you really are working on an attempt to morally develop someone question? so what would be the difference between simply punishing someone and punishing someone the rest of the jury doesn't put on any well we'll see that when we get to the definitions but it has to do with withholding something from justified punishment not giving the full punishment so for example using discretion if the sentence is that they should be sentenced from 20 years to life you give something more like 20 years instead of life in prison and that's merciful compared to throw the book at them and just give them life in prison or execute them so it withholds something from what is in theory a just punishment and as we'll see that's what actually creates the problem of whether it can cohere with other virtues especially justice but Seneca certainly implies that it is in fact he launches into one of his rhetorical tirades no virtue is more human it must be generally accepted that no other is more appropriate for a human a belief to be held not just by those of us i.e. Stoics who regard humans as social creatures born for the good of all but also for those like the Epicureans who consign humans to pleasure whose words and actions all look to their own advantage for if repose and quiet are what we're seeking he finds this virtue which loves peace and holds back the hand constant with its own nature but of all mercy becomes none so well that is fitting for none so well as a king or an emperor that is you Nero so in this passage Seneca seems to say definitely a virtue for Stoics definitely a virtue for Epicureans every person is either a Stoic or an Epicurean and therefore it's a virtue for everyone it's fitting for everyone each of you individuals in this room and especially you Nero I don't know whether you're an Epicurean or a Stoic but in any case it's the most human virtue okay we have to talk about who mercy applies to so in one sense there's a strict sense in which it applies to somebody issuing a sentence to a criminal okay that's where the paradigm case is sentencing okay in a criminal justice system but by extension it applies to any relation where there's a power differential so you could be merciful towards your animals right if my cat won't get off of the table while I'm trying to eat dinner I can either coax it off with a snack or I can get off the table and if I'm a merciful person I'll do something more like the former instead of the latter or how parents treat children right they put their hand in the cookie jar they can either get spanked or they can have to go without having dessert the next night or something and that's merciful masters can either be cruel towards their slaves nice towards them he goes into many many examples about that it applies to bosses and employees it applies to generals and soldiers it applies to kings or emperors and their subjects and that's the immediate prima facie target of this particular one I thought you might have found it interesting that it applies to the relation between teachers and their students so quoting from section 16 of book one which teacher worthily represents liberal studies the one who flays his pupil's backs if their memory fails or if the eye is not quick and falters in reading or the one who prefers to use gentle criticism and a sense of shame to impart correction and instruction okay so ask yourself which of those you would prefer and notice that there's no other options there's nothing like just letting them off or something you either play on your sense of shame or I have to whip you and use corporal punishment so you could think of Monty Johnson as being a very merciful person because he merely embarrasses and shames you and does not actually beat you like some people who don't buy into this virtue of mercy would do okay and as we've become accustomed there's all this soul searching about am I being a real stoic here or not you notice from the list of virtues that I gave you that mercy didn't seem to appear on that official list of virtues is that because I'm slack and just left it off no it's because you know hardcore Greek stoics didn't seem to mention this one and Seneca is sort of innovating or introducing it as a notion and so the question arises how orthodox does the stoicism remain and of course stoicism has this reputation for being a really unforgiving and strict and stern kind of philosophy so as he says I'm aware that the stoic school is regarded unfavorably by the ill informed as excessively harsh and quite unsuited to giving advice to princes and kings it's criticized for maintaining that the wise man does not show pity or forgiveness such a position is hateful if formulated in the abstract for it appears to leave no hope for human error but rather to consign all offenses to punishment okay now that's Seneca describing the way you would think stoics handle punishment okay you read their philosophy and it doesn't look like there's much room to cut people slack you're either a sage or you're a fool you're either entirely virtuous or you're entirely vicious all vices equal and equally bad and so on but he says if this is the case what kind of philosophy is it that tells us to forget the lessons of our own humanity and to close up the surest haven against misfortune that of helping one another but no school is more kind and gentle none more loving of mankind and more devoted to the common good so that its guiding principle is to be is be useful and helpful and to consider not merely self-interest but that of each and every person on earth so this is Seneca's kind of warm fuzzy version of stoicism if you will that stoicism is really about recognizing our common humanity and cultivating that being concerned with other people not just wanting to get my vengeance or something when I'm punishing somebody but really caring about how can I improve that person hurt me yes but how can I actually help them improve and become a better person because we're all in this human boat together and so on so I think this is interesting because he acknowledges it's not in line with the perception the prima facia perception one has of stoicism but there is a way of thinking of stoicism in which something like mercy has its place so the definitions of mercy finally come in the third chapter of the second book that you might think is a very disorderly thing come on we're philosophers here definitions ought to come in the first chapter of the first book that's everything unless you have definitions that's how it is in Euclid you open up Euclid and there's a set of definitions and then it moves on to everything else so but we have to read through an entire book talking about how great mercy is before we get to an account of what it is and as I said this is what we need to concentrate on he introduces it by saying I'm going to say what mercy is what its nature is and what are its limitations and I've put into bold the subsequent four different definitions of it that are given the first one mercy consists in controlling the mind when one has the power to take revenge or in the forbearance of a superior towards an inferior in determining punishment so that looks like a fine definition but Seneca says it would be safer to put forth more definitions and in case a single one doesn't sufficiently cover the subject and so to speak loses its case therefore mercy can also be described as the inclination of the mind towards mildness in exacting punishment and that actually seems to be the closest formulation to the concept of virtue that he had been employing in book one and that he employs in the rest of book two but while we're piling on definitions the next definition we'll find objections despite coming very close to the truth so pay attention to this one and we describe mercy as the moderation that removes something from the due and merited punishment ok in a way this is the key definition as he explains in effect trying to preempt the criticism the protest that will be raised that no virtue bestows on a man less than he deserves ok but here is a definition of a putative virtue as a kind of moderation well that's virtue talk moderation temperance self control but moderation that removes something from due and merited punishment and then he lines up this litany of definitions however everyone understands the fact that mercy consists in stopping short of the penalty that might have been deservedly fixed ok that one is also similar to the third definition and that it acknowledges a due and merited or deserved punishment and then defines mercy as the withholding or stopping short of that which is due yeah just so I understand it seems that mercy is like a cross between temperance and justice that seems worship well it certainly the term moderation could have the relevant Latin term but easily have been translated temperance as well so temperance is coming in here the idea of being temperate like not being flying off the handle not not being excessive and so forth so certainly it looks like temperance is relevant now justice is relevant but this seems to be instead of embodying our idea of justice to be conflicting with it in a way ok so what is our definition of justice well here's the definitions I gave you on that crucial handout ok justice knowledge of the distribution of proper value to each person according to Cicero a disposition of mind preserved for the common good attributing to each person his worth or a disposition of mind to assign to each person his share according to his worth as opposed to injustice the antithesis of this ignorance of the distribution of proper value to each person ok so if we inter-translate this idea of proper value as corresponding to do deserved fitting and so forth punishment then what justice is is that if you deserve a certain form of punishment then justice requires I give you that form of punishment ok so if death is the deserved form of punishment for a mass murderer or something then if I put you to death I'm doing what's just why even though judges kill people by giving them capital punishment we don't then imprison them or execute them for doing it we say they're just people they get to wear these robes and stuff because they are they're actually doing what's just and what's good that's a virtuous thing they're doing if they sentence a man to life in prison who did these really bad things then we don't think that's bad or cruel or harsh we think that person is doing what is just and it's hard to do what's just it'd be nice to be able to be slack towards people let students slack off and not actually do their research and stuff that's a lot easier to do it's very hard to to punish them and shame them and make them do the things that you want but good teachers do that because that's the just thing that's what the these people deserve and what they they merit be easy to just give everyone an A but not everybody actually merits or deserves that kind of grade and justice is giving each person the grade they actually deserve no less and no more okay so if we take these technical definitions of justice now all of these are external to the text we're dealing with as far as I know there isn't a definition of justice in this text okay but I don't think that Seneca has in mind any other definition than these standard stoic ones and therefore we have a problem between his definition of mercy and of justice and I try to spell this problem out here okay so take the definition that justice is an inclination of the mind to give each person what is due and merited to them if that's the case and if mercy is an inclination of mind towards moderation and removing something from due and merited punishment then justice and mercy will conflict and be mutually exclusive justice will require giving the due and merited punishment mercy will require stopping short and withholding the due and merited punishment but of course virtues can't conflict with one another a wise person has to be able to manifest all virtues consistently and wisdom has to tell has to be a virtue that applies to the right action being taken but if the action could be just if I give the full punishment or don't give it then wisdom can't can't be the description of the right train of mind for making the decision so either justice or mercy will not be able to be a virtue now of course we can't get rid of justice we can get rid of practically every other virtue but we need justice so therefore mercy can't really be a virtue and this is why he's concerned in addressing these people who say it can't be a virtue because it doesn't look like it fits now there is my concept of the problem that's going on with this essay do we any questions or comments about that problem before I try to show you how he how I think he resolves it any difficulty grasping what the problem is though I went through it so quickly what is the wise wise so a wise person will know what's due and merited because a wise person is necessarily just and justice just is a disposition of the mind to give the due and merited thing and so they must apprehend what is due and merited yeah if a wise person knows what's due and merited and they also have mercy so the amount of funds that they give shouldn't that be the due and merited? well that's the problem they know what's due and merited but supposedly there's a virtue that says not giving what's due and merited is a virtue right? I mean the virtue has been defined as withholding what is due and merited whereas justice is defined as giving what is due and merited and you can't both give what is due and merited at the same time and yet the just person has to act, has to give a sentence or whatever so it looks like a definitional problem ah ok but then that would be like saying some people need to be unjust in order to be just now is the stoic really going to be able to say that? yes this is unjust but he's so cruel and so evil that if he just thinks unjustly then it's like the stick is bent so far this direction that we have to bend it all the way this direction in order to make it straight and right and so if we just get him to do something really unjust like not punishing withholding due punishment then maybe it'll end up somewhere in the middle and he'll actually end up doing the right thing ok but then there is no way for the wise person then to be consistent to and so on I mean then that's a sort of consequentialist approach to this ok question if it's not a virtue why do I want it but he's claiming he wants people to be merciful so he's claiming it's a virtue but the problem is we have to ask is it coherent for a stoic to say mercy is a virtue yes we want to rein in this horrible tyrant who is giving excessive punishments and punishing people that don't deserve it and stuff and we have this really bad situation we need to rein that in should we do what Michael says and convince him oh just don't punish anyone we know that's not just but at least that would be better or something doesn't seem like that that avenue is available to stoics so here's the the solution that he seems to pursue first of all is distinguish mercy from pity a closely aligned notion second is characterize the opposite of mercy as not being justice withholding the due punishment or giving the due punishment but that mercy is the opposite of cruelty and define cruelty as some kind of obvious vice and compare mercy instead with sternness sternness is always giving the maximum punishment that's due and merited and then argue something like that well sometimes sternness is appropriate but sometimes mercy is appropriate it depends on the circumstances you have an absolutely horrible monster yes give them the full thing but you have somebody that sort of misguided and made some bad decisions and they had a bad upbringing and so on cut them some slack okay the problem with that is that then we would be making mercy and sternness into a kind of indifferent matter and then we choose the appropriate one in order to arrive at the virtuous condition like we do with things that are indifferent and maybe we call mercy the preferred indifferent and sternness the dispreferred or maybe we use the opposite but anyway it's an indifferent but if that's the case then mercy would not be a virtue because indifference aren't virtues that's exactly what they aren't okay so let's compare let's look at the definitions of cruelty you know only in philosophy do we actually need to give definitions of cruelty you think you know what it means but then you start talking to a philosopher nothing other than harshness of mind and punishment cruelty is an inclination of the mind to harsh thoughts and especially when in the context of punishment what about pity the other side sort of the opposite of cruelty what is pity? pity in his definition a mental sorrow caused by the sight of other people's wretchedness you see a really pathetic horrible situation and that makes you sad pity is that feeling of sadness that like look at what a horrible world we live in this is the condition if you don't feel pity there must be something wrong with you if you look at how horribly screwed up our world is right now sadness induced by the suffering of others which they seem not to deserve something is happening these people they don't deserve to go hungry they don't deserve to have their country being bombed they don't deserve to have their children kidnapped whatever and so one feels sadness for them okay the problem is that on the stoic view a wise person cannot possibly have pity because then if it was true that pity is a mental sorrow caused by the sight of others wretchedness then the wise person would be the most miserable person in the world because they would have the greatest apprehension of the sufferings of others and thus they would have the greatest mental sorrow that accompanies that so you'd look at a you'd look at a stoic sage and it would be somebody just like Heraclitus weeping at everything they see but the stoic sage is supposed to be more like the democratine character who looks at all this absurd stuff and laughs at it okay it maintains their tranquility okay not because it's all a joke or it's funny that bad things are happening to people but because this is all a result of folly and lack of wisdom and it can be corrected and improved and addressed with wisdom and calm cultivation of virtues and so forth so the wise cannot possibly extend pity pity cannot be a virtue or else the wise will be the most miserable people so he sets up something like a continuum here between pity mercy sternness or strictness and cruelty so pity inclination of the mind towards sorrow calls the sight of another's wretchedness is a kind of vice think of it as an emotion it's a bad pathological emotion to be put into a sad state whenever you see suffering and pitiful people you go into a sad state that itself is a character vice okay and it's the opposite at the opposite end is something like cruelty inclination of the mind towards harshness and exacting punishment so I have a chance to punish this person and so I exact the most harsh thing oh they handed in something they fail right cat jumped on the table kicked the cat out of the house it no longer gets fed the child didn't learn their ABCs okay they never get to eat dessert again and have to stay in their room and so forth so that's cruelty and in between we have this putatively virtuous condition so then we set mercy up as a virtue which is inclination of the mind towards mildness and exacting punishment as opposed to being harsh and certainly we can differentiate it from inclining towards sadness where does that mean sternness or strictness suppose somebody has an inclination not towards harshness and exacting punishment but towards firmness when exacting punishment and giving the maximum serve these people are are this person is a criminal they get this punishment now this plays out in the real world of law and order in the issue about to what extent should judges be given discretion in sentencing okay so some people think judges should be given no discretion in sentencing if such and such punishment is committed then such and such a punishment must be imposed and California had this law that said this three strikes you're outlaw you commit three crimes in a row you go to prison for life and we had a situation where you know okay when the guy was 18 he shop lifted from 7-11 and then later and he was convicted for that later he did a drug deal and then and then he stole somebody's car now stealing somebody's car he served punishments for those other two stealing somebody's car is normally you spend a year in prison but three strikes you're out you spend life in prison if that happens okay now we got rid of that law essentially because it's cruel it's too much punishment it's too harsh it goes way too far or you think of even cruel punishments you steal we cut off your hands right um the uh we clearly want to get away from those but sternness in punishment giving the maximum of a punishment that somebody deserves that's not a vice that's not cruel in fact that looks just like the definition of justice giving each person what they are do and this nice colorful picture I've constructed here has got one enormous problem which is that virtues and vices can't lie on a continuum for the stoics you either are virtuous or you're not we don't have a thing where oh he's pretty virtuous he's usually he's usually strict but he's merciful in some situations sometimes he actually gives into pity right or sometimes he's cruel no these have to be categorically different and they have to represent firm established habits of mind so do we want people to have a firm established habit of mind so that they are always giving the exact punishment that would be the view that judges should not have discretion in sentencing and we have that situation where for certain crimes there is no judicial discretion for sentencing we have other crimes however where there is discretion and this is when you see sentences that are 5 years 5 to 10 years or you know committing robbery 5 to 10 years committing robbery with a weapon 10 to 30 years there's still latitude there


Hey, good morning and welcome online class students. I see you guys here Just want to read a couple of scriptures One is from Colossians 3 and Verse 16. Okay. It says let the word of Christ Dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord Okay, and whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Giving thanks to the to God the Father through him. So right that was Colossians chapter 3 Was a 16 17 and maybe we can just look at verse 15. Also, it says let the peace of God rule in your hearts To whom you were called in one body and be thankful like so that the peace of God rule in your hearts Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and then it talks about the overflow, right? teaching Admonishing in hymns and you know and one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs Singing grace in your heart to the Lord. Okay, and we took a little scripture, which is efficient step of five Efficient set of fire and versus 18 onwards And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation But be filled with the spirit Speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things to God the Father In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting to one another in the fear of God, right?  And then we hear we see being filled with the spirit of God being filled with the Holy Spirit so we see that We are actually called to live life in an overflow right peace of God Overflows Does something to us in us and does a lot of things To others the word of God dwell in us richly like rich deposit of the word of God So I've got those things to us, you know increases faith There's conviction. There's a standard for living, etc. That's something to us and and then there is a overflow like you're singing in Psalms and singing hymns and Admonition and all that same with the Spirit of God we're filled with the Spirit of God and and then Because of the Spirit of God, you know what we've been studying all that happens to us and there is a overflow, okay So we see that we are called to live life in the in an overflow overflow of peace overflow of the word of God overflow of the Holy Spirit, okay But first we need to receive and then we will overflow, okay, but we are invited to this We are called to this. Okay, so let's pray and let's pray God. Let me overflow. I Want to overflow With the peace that surpasses all understanding. I want to overflow with your word Which you write upon my heart. I want to overflow with the work of your spirit So fill me oh God, you know, so just ask the Lord and we'll let's receive from him, right? In your own words in your heart just pray and ask the Lord You fill me Lord.  Yes Your supernatural peace Lord we receive God Thank you. Thank you Lord And we also see that the fruit of the Holy Spirit One of the things that we see is peace Right the supernatural peace. It's a supernatural work of God The Holy Spirit in our heart which produces this kind of peace an overcoming peace a victorious peace Father we thank you. We thank you Lord we receive God and let's also ask the Lord Lord I want a rich deficit of your word a rich deficit of Reema God You speak to me you open my eyes Lord to see wonderful things from your word Lord.  We thank you for revelation. We thank you for understanding Lord, we thank you God. We we just want to yield God to your writing your word upon our hearts God Yes, Father God Spirit of God write your word upon our hearts Thank you master. Thank you Lord. Yes Lord. Maybe make every Opportunity maybe take every opportunity. Maybe make use of this time God to position ourselves To receive your word Father God Lord We don't want to be stumbling blocks to others from receiving and we don't want to be bad as ourselves God don't want to put any barriers ourselves God For us receiving Everything of the flesh everything that hinders God. We put it away. We push it away from us God and Lord we ask for the infilling of your Holy Spirit fill us to overflowing God fill us God Yes master, thank you Thank you Lord and maybe overflow with all this God maybe overflow with your goodness Maybe overflow Lord with the work of your spirit So that it will be a blessing that we might be our lives will be a blessing to others. We thank you in Jesus name We pray Amen And then Okay, so today Let's talk about Again, let's continue to talk about the gifts that gifts of the spirit So we'll we'll start with them, you know just looking at When we when we look at the gifts of the spirit, of course We're going to look at one corgis 12 and we're going to look at each of those gifts How many gifts are lifted? I mean listed there One can then nine gifts, right? So we're going to look at each one of them Of course, we have already studied the gift of tongues, so we won't go into that But we're going to look at each one of those right but before that Let's look at You know the context, right? Why are we studying? You know about the gifts of the spirit. Why are we even considering this right? So if you look at the ministry of the Lord Okay, if you look at the ministry of the Lord, we see that it was a supernatural ministry We see all these things in operation We don't see gift of tongues and interpretation, but we see all the other Like, you know word of knowledge, word of wisdom We see healings, miracles, all those things in operation in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, right? And we are called to walk in His footsteps Okay, so We should not shy away From knowing and from pursuing, desiring And having these operate in our lives because that's God's will for us Yeah, sometimes, you know, when you think about it, it's like His desire for us to walk in these gifts Is more than our desire sometimes our desire Right for the gifts themselves Okay Let's look at a few scriptures some 105 Okay, some 105 Versus one to four Okay, some 105 versus one to four Okay, if you have the other the the book gifts of the spirit, you can follow that um I think um, yeah online students you have the You can download it's already there uploaded in resources. Um the resources tab um And all of you I think have it on your whatsapp, right? The soft copy the PDF gifts of the spirit um I think when you initially Um, I think the first week of the class or something Classes it was whatsapp. Okay, just check that out. So if you have probably if you have a class WhatsApp group you can forward it Yeah, gifts of the spirit, right if you have the PDF you can put it on the group Okay, so let's look at some 105 versus one to four says oh give thanks to the Lord call upon His name Make known His deeds among the people. Okay, so Give thanks to the Lord call upon His name seeking Him pursuing Him worshiping Him What does it say make known His deeds among the people like reaching out to people sharing About what good things he has done who he is etc. Sing to him sing psalms to him verse two talk of all his wondrous works Glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord Okay, seek the Lord and his strength Seek his face evermore. Okay, so that's the exhortation. Okay seek the Lord presence of God Seek his face seek his face literally means the presence of God right who he is the character nature And his strength which talks about the power of God the expression of the power of God So we cannot You know, we cannot separate The presence of God Or the character the nature of God from the power of God Okay, many times we say that right Like even some songs actually say, you know, I don't seek your I only seek your face. I don't seek your hand I think there's a Popular song, you know in which that one line is there You don't seek your Hand we seek your face. I just want to know you which is which is good. Okay, the singer the song writer is just saying that You know, it's very sincerely saying I I really want you God really want your presence God But the fact is you cannot separate You know, you cannot separate the power of God from the presence of God is one in the same It's it's part of him who he is right Okay, so that's something that we see here. We are exhorted to seek him. Seek his face and his strength Okay, another scripture Psalm 111 Okay, if you want to go to Psalm 111 Versus one two three you can turn your bibles there Psalm 111 verse one Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation Okay, look at verse two the works of the Lord are great Studied by all who have pleasure in them. Okay, so what does it talk about talks about the works of the Lord? Okay Immediately Talks about it just flows into that the works of the Lord are great studied by all. What does it mean to study? To investigate to research to to examine. What do you say Rinshin? Observe To so to research to observe to examine with the intent of continuing in it Right with the intent of putting that into practice, you know that word there That is what it means. So the works of the Lord are great Studied by all who have pleasure in them His work is honorable and glorious And his righteousness endures forever. So his work Is it could be a work of creation? It could be his work of you know, all that you can say are his works Works of power works of creation works of transformation his works are great Right, and it says it's honorable and glorious and his righteousness endures forever. So everything that proceeds from the Lord the works of the Lord It's honorable It's gracious. I mean, it's glorious Right, so we can talk about everything when you when you look at the gifts of the spirit These are expressions of the Holy Spirit. These are the expressions of God Okay, so this is not just you know, sometimes it's Represented or misrepresented By sincere believers Right, so we say oh that that man of God that woman of God We we tend to put our focus on the person and miss out on actually the work of God And miss out in the sense, uh, we we put the focus there Right rather than the actual works of God themselves rather than God who needs to get the glory Yes, he uses us as human vessel. So so what happens is if that person You know makes a mistake if that person You know abuses the gifts Right, and then the thing is it causes a lot of damage. So people say, okay I don't want anything to do with this because it's if this is what the gift does or this is what The objective is I don't want anything to do with it. And so people stay away Stay away from the power of God thinking that okay, this is you know, this is not of God But whereas we see that this is what it is works of God are honorable They are glorious. I mean we look at all the gifts. Yes, this is what they are They are the expression of the Holy Spirit. They are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit Okay, so it's very very important. Okay, when we look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus We are we again see that the Lord taught some amazing things Right what he taught people said hey, where does this person get the wisdom? Where does this man get the wisdom? But he didn't just speak some wonderful things for them to hear He did some amazing things right people looked at the compassion people looked at the way he reached out and touched lepers You know people who were untouchable Of considered untouchable of those times he he reached out touched and and he you know, there's so much of compassion From coming from him. So people say, okay, this is a great life You know, so wonderful. It's so much of love so much forgiveness so much of compassion He's believe it all by the wisdom all by his character But it doesn't stop there Right, it goes on scripture goes on to say that he ministered in power He ministered in power because that's who God is his presence comes with the power. It's a whole package Right, so let's look at a few scriptures which talk about that look chapter 4 and verse 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee in the power of the spirit to Galilee look for was 14 And news of him went out throughout all the surrounding region now question Why did the news of him spread to all the surrounding region? Because of Okay, that's partly partly, right is sorry because of the Miracle, yeah, so his power was actually expressed right his power was expressed how In his ministry the way he reached out the way he touched people the way he All his miracles and supernatural things It was very plain for people to see so they could not help but talk about it Right, and we are talking about a time when there was no instant communication. There was no Direct messaging. There's no we're talking about a time when news of him spread Which means with word of mouth People would travel probably and go and say something's happening there Because this person is teaching wonderful things. This person is living a great life. This person is doing amazing things Right, okay, then when you look at acts chapter 10 and verse 38 again talks about the power of the spirit, okay Just want to remind us we're talking about we are learning about the gifts of the spirit and so we're looking at that context, okay um The background Acts chapter 10 verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power Who went about doing? good Right who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him Right, so he was anointed The the Lord was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power Okay, who went about doing good. So all that he did comes under the category of good So it's not okay. Maybe some are good. Maybe some are I don't know questionable No, it comes under the category of good all the things that he did So if you list down, okay, everything his teachings his miracles, it comes as good and approved Good and this is the purpose for which he was anointed. Okay So we see that the Lord did this We see right in the Psalms. We see that character the nature of God and and we as people who study him Who worship him? You know, we are supposed to take pleasure in actually studying The works of God. Okay, so we see that then another interesting thing in the teachings of the Lord Jesus the Lord You come So the Lord John chapter 14 and verse 12 the Lord turning around And telling his church selling telling his disciples Right. What did he say? John chapter 14 and verse 12. Let's read that verse John 14 and verse 12 most assuredly I say to you He who believes in me the works that I do he will do also And greater works than these he will do because I go to my Father Okay, so the Lord is telling his disciples say I know you've watched me do this do these things But this is my will Okay, this is my desire Okay, what is it That you who follow me you who believe in me in my words in my teachings in my life This is what this is what I want for you. Those who believe in me will do the works that I Do and he says because I go to my father and the reason is this because he goes to the father Who's he sending? The Holy Spirit Who is the helper? Right. He says that's what we see in the next verse, right? Or if you Yeah, verse 17 16 and 17 and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever The spirit of truth whom the world cannot see so he's just saying okay this is what I'm go to the father and I will send the helper he will abide with you just like he abides with me and Do those good things Do those good things, right? Okay, so the Lord Jesus turn to the disciples Turn to those who are there right then and then this is what will happen And the church we see after the the Lord was you know, Lord ascended we see the church walking the same way he did Right. Yes or no. Yeah. So we see the apostles, you know, the It says in Acts chapter 4 verse 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness To the resurrection of the Lord Jesus So think about it with great power What does it mean? Yeah, so they gave witness to the resurrection. They said with their words they testified saying Jesus is alive Jesus is Lord You know, and we need to come to that place of repentance and we'll see new life. You must be born again So they're saying that with their words, but also they are giving witness with Another thing, you know, which which accompanies the words which is great power expression of great power, right? It's so it's not something that is Putting them glorifying them putting them on a pedestal but is actually glorifying God because it comes from God It is from him. It is it is very much part of him integral part of who he is And so we need to get that perspective and and say, God, this is from you and forget about, you know, all those abuses and maybe all those things that are going wrong with You know, maybe what we've seen in church and all that and and really embrace it and say, oh God, this is from you Jesus if this is from you then I want it help me to Walk in it because that's your plan that you will that you desire right, okay So we see the apostles Now this is about the apostles. It just says they gave witness to the resurrection with great power. Then we read about Stephen Acts chapter six and Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and signs among the people Then we read about Philip Acts after eight Right unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lain were healed Right now at the verse before that says and the multitudes with one accord He did the things spoken by Philip or heard Listen obey the things that he taught hearing and seeing the miracles which he did Okay, and it also talks about others Their names are not written there, but they it says, you know, this particular verse um verse 20 of acts 11 acts chapter 11 and verse 20 um Even verse 19 now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen Traveled as far as Phoenicia Cyprus and Antioch. You know talks about those people who just scattered so many were there Okay, uh, so Philip was also one of them. So many who was news names were not written Right, so these were believers just like you and I They they were scattered. They went to all these different places And it says in verse 21 and the hand of the lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the lord hand of the Lord the presence of the lord when you put your hand on someone and it's your Your presence your physical presence, you know, you're you're just Letting that person know you are there You're letting the person know about your presence like when you put your hand on someone, right? So the hand of the lord was upon them that that manifest tangible Presence of the lord was upon them and may believe and turn to the lord So we see that this is how they live the normal Christian life Okay, the normal christian life. So for us today It is the same thing It is the same thing that well when it comes to the supernatural, you know god the lord did not say, okay It is only going to be the early church and and anytime after that, you know, it's it's not going to be Some arguments are like this, you know, it's from 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, okay It says that for we know in part and we prophesy in part. Okay, let's look at that verse 1 corinthians 13 and verse 9 Okay, 1 corinthians 13 and verse 9 It says for we know in part and we prophesy in part one of the lists is there so we know something we all prophesy No, we can't know everything. But yes As we receive we prophesy we know in part we prophesy in part The next verse but when that which is perfect has come Then that which is in part will be done away with so what it means is that There's going to come a time when this prophesying in part will stop That that is what it means, right that which is in part will be done away with Meaning it is it's going to stop When when does it stop when that which is perfect has come so the popular thing? Or you know, I wouldn't say popular, you know, many believe that okay, it's talking about the word of god It's talking about the bible so during that time Well, it was all that a testament scriptures and then the bible was, you know the word of god just coming together and As paul and the other apostles wrote god used them to write the scriptures and And so here, you know people say that okay the word of god the bible has come we have the full bible Therefore, we don't need prophesying we don't need gifts So it time has come there was a time for that Yes, we believe in that But we believe that the time is not now. It's not with us. You know, it's not for us It's for that time or that age Now if you look at You know the verses following that we understand what is this Uh, you know that which is not or that which is perfect has come. What is it? What is paul actually talking about? Okay, let's look at verse 11 when I was a child. I spoke as a child understood as a child I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face Now I know in part But then I shall know just as I also am known Okay, so he's saying he's contrasting between What is in part? What is incomplete? Or what does not reach the fullness and You know something else when when that was which is completely there. So he's saying okay now I know in part, but then I shall know fully That's what he means fully. I will know What is he saying? Now I see in a mirror, but then face to face. What is he talking about? You know, who is he talking about? He's talking about He's talking about the lord He's talking about meeting with the lord spending time with the lord and he's he's saying now and then face to face Now I just it's a glimpse now, you know as in a mirror I see something faint, but then I shall see face to face Right, so he's saying okay. This is what is happening now now I know in part and I prophesied part but when that happens, there's no need for prophesying There's no need for praying in tongues There's no need for word of knowledge word of wisdom because in the presence of the lord, right?  So he's saying okay. This is what will happen. So So that argument really doesn't hold good if we actually go through it, right? So there's no expiry date on the gifts Right And especially when we when we see that The eternal word the lord jesus Right, what does john chapter 1 say the word became Flesh and dwelt among us right the eternal word who became flesh And dwelt among us. How did he minister? He ministered as anointed by the holy spirit And he was anointed by the holy spirit. He and he went out doing good and healing all who were Who are you know oppressed by the enemy by satan by the enemy by the devil Because god was with him. So he talks about the anointing Of the holy spirit the presence and power of the holy spirit under which the lord ministered So if the eternal word which became flesh and dwelt among us Did those things that he did by the power of the holy spirit? How much more For us, you know the deep need for us to be Anointed by the spirit of god the need for us to minister The way he ministered the way he went Okay, so so those are some things that That those are some arguments, you know against the gifts or You know the power of god working through people's lives. The other thing is also The common thing is like, okay, what if we are deceived? Okay, so there is the counterfeit there is the you know, there is the authentic the real And also the counterfeit now, what if I You know get deceived and I go in these what what is called as the You know false works or counterfeit works The works of the enemy and you know, I'm just deceiving myself So that is another thing. So let's not let me not get into that Area at all. Let me just stay You know with the teaching and with the word and you not get into that aspect, okay You know, but but the thing is if you look at common wisdom And and the scriptures they use is this you know second those lunions two and verse nine The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan with all power signs and lying wonders Hey, the coming of the lawless one. So is saying say hey the church is walking in it. These are all lying wonders Because that's the coming of the lawless one That's it's all lying wonders second those lunions Sorry second the salonians two and verse nine Okay, and second confidence 11 also talks about the false apostles the deceitful workers Who transform themselves into, you know workers of Christ because Satan himself is like an angel of light He transforms himself into an angel of light. So therefore his ministers also do that So the thing is this We look at, you know, these two verses scriptures like this and say, okay, these are all counterfeit things. These are lying Works is the lying signs and wonders. So I don't want anything to do with that. Okay um But the thing is this, you know, if we if there is a counterfeit first of all It means that there is something Real or authentic If you're calling something as counterfeit, okay, this is all lying wonders This is duplicate, you know, when you say, okay, it is this watch. It's a duplicate watch. It's not Original. So what does it mean when you say something is a duplicate something is not You're actually saying there is something that is real Right, you say it's a counterfeit, uh, 500 rupees. No It's a duplicate one. It's not real. You're saying that there is an authentic Okay, so that's one thing the second thing is because There's something counterfeit. Would you throw out the authentic? Okay, just because people say, okay, you know, there is a counterfeit 500 rupees No, in circulation Does that mean that you will never use final rupees note at all in your life? You will not receive 500 rupees Right, so the counterfeit points to the fact that there's an authentic And there's no reason to throw out No, uh, the real just because there is the counterfeit Okay, and the third thing is this At yeah, we need to be discerning. We need to be wise but the fact is that We just continue with what is real what is authentic Okay, we see we see lying signs and wonders And you know the the miraculous as energized by the powers of darkness When we look at, you know, how moses Goes and he has his interaction in pharaoh in the in the king's court, right? So pharaoh's court so he goes there And he says okay The you know, this is why I calm god I am has sent me and you need to set the people free Right. I come to take my people so he The pharaoh calls his magicians and he's also there. He he throws the the you know, that's right. So he's throws the staff It becomes a snake And the court magicians also do the same thing Okay, so a couple of other things also, you know, they do the same thing but then beyond that they are not able to replicate like the river turns into Blood and all that they're not able to replicate and say and this is what they say, you know, if you if you look at um Yeah, if you look at exodus chapter eight Okay, exodus eight versus 18 to 19 okay Exodus eight 18 now the magicians so worked with their enchantments To bring forth lies They that insect but they could not so there were lies on man and beast Then the magicians said to pharaoh This is the finger of God But pharaoh's heart grew hard And he did not he just said the lord has said okay, so this is the thing Okay, so he put the staff down it turned into a snake the magicians put the staff down their rods He also turned to the snake. So did morse's stop? I think he must have been surprised, right? Oh, I didn't expect that I didn't think that these guys would also do it, right So Did he say okay now? Let's back up and go And then say okay lord different strategy lord. Maybe I should try something else now this signs and wonders is not working Right. They are also doing the same thing Moses continued Aaron and Moses and Aaron were there they continued on they did not stop As the lord actually was with them and led them They did not stop with the first and the second and the third they went beyond the third And then we see that The power of god was no match No comparison So much so it turned around to be a testimony where the magicians said to the king This is the finger of god This is the power of god Right and the lord jesus uses the same usage, you know Like the finger of god if I cast out Beelzebub by the finger of god Know that the kingdom of god has come upon you Referring to the work of the holy spirit the power of god. So we see that well There will be counterfeits There will be counterfeits. It just points to the original there will be counterfeits There's no reason to throw out the original because of the counterfeit there will be counterfeits, but The example that we see in scripture is to persist keep going Keep going because it's off the lord. It's from the lord And it glorifies him. So go for that Okay, so let's um So so this is a context and we see that everything is When you look at the power of god, first of all, we saw that yes We cannot just separate its part and parcel of him of who he is as a person Okay, um, you know, it'll be very insulting, you know, if people yeah people do that, right, you know people Let's say you are admired or appreciated for some quality Okay, some ability that you have okay, um, but if If he will continue to do that and not really Appreciate you as a person You know, it just takes after some time, you know, you you feel a little I don't know used Yes or no, you know You you know, you're just appreciated. You're just as a for your ability, you know, okay Oh this guy can I don't know this person can run fast Okay, so everybody and that's what happens in the world Okay, I one one day You know, they were all writing negative things about Virat Kohli. He's lost his farm. I mean anybody who watches cricket Or interested in cricket Okay, otherwise we'll change the story Only one, no Okay Vimal and Mikhil No Francis, okay, okay So, okay, let's say some other sport We'll forget cricket for now. Okay, some other sports You know people actually when you're not doing well when you're not informed when you're not The paper writes a lot of things, you know People write not of negative things. That's it. Is it the end of the career? You know, he used to be so good. This is over Suddenly you do do well and then it's like You Did it, you know king Virat, that's what the papers are saying All the memes are king Virat, did it again But you remember, you know in the t20 the The other series You're all writing things. You know, this is he's not informed. He's not he's probably preoccupied. He's kept a lot of things, right? So that's what happens People just focus on the ability and not on the other thing. So so sometimes we tend to do that you know, that's You know as as believers as the church And we tend to focus on the gifts. Yes, that is great. We need to do that Right, but I will in fact commands us pursue Love and desire spiritual gifts, right? But we need to understand that The gifts are the gifts belong to the holy spirit These are called the gifts of the spirit Right, so our responsibility is to have fellowship with the giver Right have communion with the the giver of these gifts while at the same time pursuing the power Or you know, desiring the manifestation of the gifts two things Right, we need to not lose that It's the same thing both sides of the same coin and that's why paul writes pursue love She's the character of god. No, you just talked about in one current in 13 the whole chapter about the agape The love of god the unconditional love of god and he says pursue love and desire spiritual gifts So our fellowship, you know, we need to pursue our fellowship with The holy spirit the person of the holy spirit right And and because he is the helper He is the our comforter. So we need to Now pursue our fellowship. What does fellowship mean? Anyone spend time fellowship What is the greek word for fellowship? It's a word called koinonia Right koinonia and greek word koinonia which refers to the communion, right? So it means fellowship It means friendship It also means partnership Okay so friendship Okay, so which means that you are friends. You're getting to know the heart of god. What likes what he likes what he dislikes Yeah, so there is in in developing that friendship. There's a lot of You know transparency openness a lot of communication a lot of spending time Okay Then fellowship which means this, you know, this it's much more than a casual friendship, but deep things Deep things are exchanged And also it is partnership which means That now working together. He's already doing something, but you're working together And we're not resisting the work. We're not quenching the work, but we are learning to work together Like when you look at koinonia, it's it's all that it's friendship. It's fellowship and it is partnership with the holy spirit. Okay, so so we we need to develop that we need to Intentionally pursue that right If we are to be believers who want to manifest the gifts of the spirit and pursue fellowship with the holy spirit He is a person like not just an abstract power Right. He is a person. We learned that in the very first chapter first few chapters that he is a person He has feelings is you know, he is god It's super see fellowship with the holy spirit. Okay, so waggle says that he's a helper He's so first you fellowship with the helper So, you know receive help. He gives grace. He gives strength So, you know, you receive that from him. He's also called a comforter received comfort. He brings encouragement He brings renewing He lives receive that he's the advocate Defense that god defend you let the holy spirit defend you Right. Um, and he's the intercessor. He enables us to pray. He's interceding for us He helps us on our weakness and so on. So he's the counselor. He has wisdom So many things that we see that he is That the holy spirit is Right, so we need to deepen our communion with the holy spirit Now there's a reason why we are spending time, you know talking about this Because we will get into the nuts and bolts of the gifts Okay, we will get into why this works how this works how to function in it and it'll be very very You know for use of a better word for want of a better word. I'm saying it'll be very technical So sometimes we think okay. Oh, it's like a formula. It's like a scientific method Well, the thing is it starts with fellowship It starts with intimacy And that is the foundation for the whole thing. You never forget that Like even when we look at okay, this is how you know, sometimes we talk about it, right when we perceive Like doing the supernatural hour. We talk about it. Okay. How you know, sometimes we heard, you know, many questions like Um, okay, what did you sense? right You say when you say, okay, god spoke Sometimes the question asked is what did you sense? How did you know? How did you receive? Was it a picture? What is it? Was it something impression? Was it a you know, something, you know, some questions are asked now and we get technical but the foundation is Friendship and fellowship and intimacy with god. Okay, that is always the foundation. Okay So that's the reason we are we're just reiterating over and over again. Well, it's it's it's the presence of god It is the because of fellowship with him that we need to pursue and that's foundational. That's um, you know, that's Yeah, that's foundational While we get into the details, right of the gifts and so develop our relationship. So how do I do that? I talk to him Talk to him. Enjoy his presence Yeah Let's talk to him. Enjoy his presence. Okay, many times we Yeah, we we go read the bible because we want to prepare we read the bible because we want to we have to study um For something maybe we read the bible because we and as students I'm saying, you know, we Uh, maybe there's an assignment that you need to complete There's a paper that you need to write and you know We read the bible for all quiz that you need to prepare for we read the bible for all that but You know, can we talk to him? Can we enjoy his presence? right, so there's no agenda, you know when you meet with friends and uh, you know, I remember um, you know talking to some friends and There's no agenda. It's like, okay first We're going to talk about this talk about this. No We're just, you know, this is a free-wheeling chat in and before you before long you realize I'm two hours three hours I've gone and you know, that's what happens, right? Like I don't know. I was just having lunch with some friends So you're just talking or we finished service and everything locked everything Bent had lunch. So we're talking talking talking till the food arrived food arrived. We're talking still talking And then food, you know, everything we paid the bill. We went down We went to our vehicles and then we are standing there and we are talking Okay, and then and I'm still talking and then people got into the car and said, okay I think we need to let them, you know, we'll send one signal at least by then now they will stop At least now they'll stop talking and then you know, we'll send them some so they got into the car They took my they took the key got into the car. They were sitting and then we are still talking Right. So you lose track of time Right. So So we are invited to that To that aspect of friendship Right. So, um, I think today is just reminded that god is inviting us to that place of friendship Yes, he's a holy god. Yes. He's a consuming fire. Yes.  Okay, so we'll stop here And and then we'll continue. We'll take a break and then we'll go