Honorebu member for Mazabuka. Mr. Speaker, the president was compelled by the constitutional provision to come and give us the progress that this country has made in terms of morality, ethics, patriotism, national unity, democracy, constitutionalism, human dignity, equality, social justice and also non-discrimination of citizens. Mr. Speaker, the president on section number two, I quoted what he said, he said that these values and principles provide the moral compass for our country. They guide every decision that we make, policy that we formulate and every law that we enact. From my end, I would like to say the following that every decision that any government makes or takes determines the progress that that country makes in terms of the above. The president made a few comments and outlined a few problems that this country is facing and at page seven he talked about GBV, he talked about rape, he talked about defilement. At page 11 he talked about child marriages, he spoke about alcohol on page 13 and abuse of it, he spoke about mental disease and depression as well as suicide. The president also spoke about non-protection of the image of the country or the nation, he spoke about the breakdown of the rule of law. I want to now put my comments around these things that there are things that are manmade and also things that are natural that determine how people behave and I will outline a few things that I think PF is responsible for the degradation of the values, the morals, the ethics of this country. Charity begins at home. Take us leaders of this country and I want you to know that in the midst of poverty, poverty that has been induced by PF systematically, by borrowing indiscriminately, by making sure that what Dr Musokotwani was speaking about yesterday in terms of every one kwacha that is spent on the budget, 90 kwacha of it goes to debt service. As well as recurrent expenditure in terms of paying of civil servants, leaving only 10%, that is the definition of induced poverty, Mr. Speaker. And now when you induce poverty, what creeps in, it's the vices that the president was speaking about here. In terms of child marriages, PF can be squarely responsible for this because where do parents get any income when there's no disposable income in the country? How in the world can you have a country with leaders living, thriving on political gimmicks of dishing out money everywhere they go in the midst of poverty? We have seen members of parliament, one of them is a mover of this motion, MP for Chilanga, distributing cash. Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order. We have seen members of parliament distributing cash. I want to take this now. Point of order. I want to give an affordable window to some kudos. I want to give our colleagues to Mr. Lumine. Honorable member debating, take your time. I think I guided that we are going to reduce on points of order because when you look at what we have, when you look at what we have, we have a lot of work. Nonetheless, the honorable member debating should prove to this house that allegations. Thank you. I'll do that immediately as I finish a video of some MPs of this budget of order distributing cash when they are poor themselves. Honorable member or take your seat. Both of you honorable members. Mr. Speaker, is he in order to debate without the mask? Honorable member, I have not allowed you to do that. Honorable member, can you take your seat? Take your seat. I have guided. There is an allegation that the honorable member was distributing money and I have also guided that let's speak to the truth. And I have requested the honorable member to submit that so that it becomes the evidence to qualify his debate. And I have guided as the person who is presiding the house. And we are going to move in that manner. I will not allow any points of order on this because I have guided and the honorable member will lay whatever evidence he has on the table and move forward without referring to it. That's enough. Honorable member. The truth has not disguised, the truth also has. In the midst of poverty, PF has been known to distribute money, had cash. Some members, sir, when they came here, they had even ever had sandals. Why do you get money in bundles distributing to citizens? I want to say this, I take my heart off for honorable given Lubinda because given honorable Lubinda gave council to his colleagues. And I also have that evidence where he said it is not appropriate for any leader to use poverty and amusing my own words in order to thrive. It is true that PF have been distributing money. Where are they finding this money from? Sir, it is true that leaders in PF have been moving around naked. I have also that evidence. And the president who was busy telling us about morose is quiet. The minister of this guidance, whatever it's called, is quiet. It's called hypocrisy. Some ministers have been quoted and they can reduce evidence using tribal and head speech. Who is pulling on here? The truth heads. It's time to do some introspection, ladies and gentlemen, through you Mr. Speaker. That shows you work the talk. Thank you.


All right, I am honored to have as our guest today, Rashad Phillips. What's happening, brother? Thanks for having me, Chris. Wonderful platform you got here. Man, look, you doing some great things. You have your own college basketball show called Sports Talk 2319. People can subscribe on YouTube. I've checked it out. I've heard you break down some players and you do a fabulous job. That's why we wanted you here in the zone as we had obviously into the 2018 draft.  But you know what you're talking about, not only from an analytical standpoint and a scouting standpoint, but you also played at a very high level. Absolutely. So Sports Talk 2319, the 2319 is 2,319 points that you scored at the University of Detroit Mercy. Let them know what two NCAA tournament appearances, player of the year in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, two-time player of the year, okay? And played for what, 10 years pro? Eight years overseas. Eight years pro overseas in the Middle East and Europe. Everywhere. Kobe Bryant, none other than Kobe Bryant said you were the best player that never got drafted. And that means a lot. That's saying a lot. You played with him in the Magic Groundball Classic in 1996, when y'all were both coming out of high school. They used to call you baby Iverson. You had the cornrows, you shade them out. You need to get the memo to Kawhi. Like, yo, the cornrows is kind of played out. Yeah, you gotta play it out. But so you, and here's the topper. Here's the clincher. You're only five, eight, right? Five, nine. Five, nine.  I don't know, I'm only five, ten. And I got you, I think, by a couple inches. You got dress shoes on, man. All right, so we'll give you five, nine. But that's incredible, man. I mean, you had a great career. I didn't see you much back then. But reading about you, looking at some of the highlights on YouTube, I mean, for you to do that at five, nine, it's incredible. So you must have been a heck of a baller. Let me, I gotta ask you this. I think I know the answer. You could dunk, right? Yes. Okay, did you dunk in games? No, in high school I did. Once I got to college, man, I'm two, three hour practices in college, man. I started wearing down on my knees, man. No, uh-uh. Okay, did you have a nice package, or you were just dunking? I had a little backwards. I'd catch a little oop, but I was a joint shooter. You weren't spelled well. No, no, no, no. I was a skilled guy. I like to dance with the ball like Zeke. Okay, okay, ain't nothing wrong with that. Ain't nothing wrong with that. So let's get to it, man. I'm excited about this, because the draft is one of the big moments of the year for the NBA and for basketball fans. And like I said, you're an expert in it. So let's get right down to it. First, I want you to tell me, how do you go about scouting players, analyzing players? What all goes into you determining whether or not it's a great prospect, a mediocre prospect, or a poor prospect? Yeah, well, what I do is during the college season, I like to scan the whole landscape first. And I'm usually attracted to great players. So once I see that, I can just watch any type of game. And once I'm attracted to a player in regards to how they play, then I start to hone in on that particular player. I start to scout him. I start to look at him on film. I start looking at the stats. And then I break him down from there. It's almost like a car. So I feel like I'm more of a basketball engineer. A lot of times you see people wash cars, but I like to get under the hood and get everything done that way. So I break players all the way down. Okay, okay. And I know you talk to a lot of coaches too. So let's just get to it. How would you rate this draft? Great, bad, poor? Or great, good, or poor? I think this is a good draft. Not great, good. I won't say great, but I think it's really good. There are some players that you can get later on in the first round that I believe that will be major contributors on some teams. And you got some guys on the top side that I believe that has the it factor. Okay. Yeah. How many guys have the it factor? Only two guys when I look. Only two. So when you, the it factor is future superstar. Yeah. Future number one guy on a great team. Can change your organization. Okay. And I see two guys when I look at this year's list, I see two guys that have the it. That's not taken away from anybody else on that list because there are other good players on that list, but two it guys. Because people have said there is seven or eight at the top, right, in the first tier. Yeah. But you see two that are separated. All right, so give me the two. The two guys, when I look on paper, it guys that can change your franchise is Trey Young out of Oklahoma and Mo Bamba out of Texas. Those are the two guys that I believe that if you get them on your team, they can change your franchise. Mo Bamba has a lot of Anthony Davis upside. And a lot of people don't look at it like this, but Anthony Davis and Mo Bamba has similar college careers. They wasn't really expected to be great offensively at the pro level. But once they got to the pro level, well, once Anthony got to the pro level, he was able to show people how good he was offensively. But defensively, he got my highest grade. Mo Bamba has that same type of skill set and that same type of selling. Wow. So there's so much to unpack from there. But first, the guy that is everyone is saying Phoenix is going to take number one, DeAndre, eight and seven foot center out of Arizona, he's not a guy with the it factor. So you wouldn't take him number one, obviously. If you were Phoenix. If I'm Phoenix, I'll be juggling between taking Mo Bamba, Trey or DeAndre. Like those two guys have to be in that conversation. So tell me why you don't see the it factor in him. Well, I just see a traditional big. He has a little bit of splash of that new evolution type of play. He reminds me a lot of Ralph Samson back in 83. He has some Ralph Samson. And Ralph wanted to play on a perimeter. I remember that. They thought he was soft back then. Yeah, he a three time ACC player of the year. So he has those type of characteristics, but not the it factor for number one. You drive Trey Young number one, changes your franchise. Now, are you counting charisma and fan appeal in the it? Everything in the it factor. Because I take a dude that can hoop but don't have the charisma in the fan appeal. I understand that. I get that, but Trey Young has the it in regards to he's dynamic. He is the new evolution of point guard play. And we cannot ignore that. The common denominator of great NBA teams is a dynamic point guard. Period. All right.  He liked the little dudes. He's a point guard. He was, you know. Of course. So, you know, you've heard the negatives about trade. The people that think he might not be that good. And obviously the price. So why do you love him so much? Why you convince? Cause I think he could be Steph Curry or close or he could be a career backup. So what convinces you that he's gonna be closer to a Steph Curry?  Okay. Well, when I look at Trey Young, it's something that we've never seen before. We've never seen a player come in and lead the nation in scoring and assists. Okay. So Trey's a UFO. I like to call him a UFO. And the rest of the point guards in college basketball are like planes. When we're driving on a freeway, there's a plane that goes past us. And we ignore it. It's a plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if a UFO passes us. Are we stopping? We're gonna stop and analyze it. So Trey Young has been under a microscope because he's something that we've never seen before. No matter how you try to chop this up, this is a kid that led the nation in scoring and assists in the toughest conference in college basketball. That's a game-changing point guard. That's a game-changing point guard. So you, like, I was, to your point, I was talking to an executive whose team is in the lottery. They're too low, I think, to get Trey Young. He's the same way as you. Loves him. And he said, when you really, everybody's pointing to, he didn't shoot that high, as high as Steph percentage from three. He said, when you break down, the NBA distance threes he took, not the 30-footers, take out the 30-footers. The NBA distance three pointers. And take away the ones when he was double-teamed. His shooting percentage is off the charts. Absolutely, absolutely. He said, he's going, so you're thinking this guy is a superstar, obviously second half of the season, he wasn't as impressive as the first half, why? There's a reason, well, when he came into college basketball, nobody knew how great he was going to be. Now, this is a guy that I pointed out in October, on my Sports Talk 2319 show. In October, I said, Trey Young will light up college basketball. Here's a kid that averaged 40 points a game in high school. Okay, he wasn't no slouch. I think Trey took the hard route, which I give him more credit for. He could have went to Kentucky. He could have went to Kansas and went to the final four, and averaged 16 points and five assists. And we'll be raving about him then. He took the hard route. He went to Oklahoma, they had 11 wins previously. So he took that long route, so his name began to be first on the scouting report in the second half of the season. They started to wear him down as a point guard. I'm telling you as a former point guard, when you're coming off those ball screens at the second half of the season, those big stars sticking those knees out, when he come through on the screen, chop him a little bit, catch him in the ribs. He started to face that and at 19 years old, that's tough to swallow. His worst game was against West Virginia. A lot of people said, but to me, I watched the tape, it was his best game. Really? Because he fought. Okay, wow. He fought Javon Carter. He fought him, and I was impressed. I was so after the West Virginia game, when everybody else said that was his worst game I've ever seen him play. I thought it was his best game. Wow.  Yeah, you gotta get a little bit stronger. See, when I look at Trey, he's 19. So this kid has the chance to be the best point guard in the NBA and the face of the NBA in the next six years. And let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. Because all the premier point guards in the NBA right now are in their thirties. Yup. In six years, Steph Curry- Well, Kyrie- Kyrie's 27, 28. In six years, he'll be 34. Steph Curry will be 36. Damian Lillard will be 35. Trey Young will be 25. He has a chance to be the face of the NBA if he goes about his business right. So you think he's gonna be, whether he's that good or not, but of Steph Curry. There's no question. Yeah, I think he has a little bit more, their games are different.  No. Tell me about how their games are different. Totally different games. Really? Yeah, totally different games. When you look at Trey, this is a guy that's a ball dominator. So when he has the ball in his hands, what Trey does is he undresses the whole defense. So he has the ball, he's undressing one, two, three, four, five. When Steph has the ball, he's only undressing the guy that's guarding him. See, see, when Trey has it, he'll undress five guys and he'll zip it. How does he do that? How does he undress five? Well, it's like a cyborg, man. It sounds funny, but as point guards, we can see, we pre-read stuff. Steph doesn't pre-read defenses. You think he's more of a true point despite the score and everything. He's more of a Mike Bibby. He's more in a Mike Bibby range. Chris Paul with a sprinkle of Damian Lillard. With a sprinkle. What he and Steph Curry do share is magnetism. Everybody wants to play with Steph Curry. I believe if you draft Trey Young, then everybody will want to play whatever organization drafts him. He will attract free agents that want to get some of those passes. Yeah, he's a great passer. And Steph is a great passer, too. They don't utilize it as much as you can with a shooting. So do you think, because Steph, before Steve Kerr went in there and put in this new offensive system, Steph was an all-star. His numbers actually went down the first year with Kerr. So he can play and, you know, they would run a lot of high-picking roles. He can shine in that system. But he didn't become what, you know, a two-time MVP type player until the system. So I've heard a lot of people say, if you draft a Trey Young, you have to put in the type of system you have for Steph Curry. You obviously don't feel that way. No, I don't believe in that. I believe that Steph Curry is such a skilled player. You don't have to cater our offense around him. You just find the right players, find the right players, and you let him play. That's what Lion Kruger did this year. He just gave Trey the ball and allowed him to play the NBA. Wait, you know, Lion Kruger coached in the NBA. So he knew he had an NBA player. So when you have an NBA player, you allow them to be great. And Trey will not change. He averaged 40 points in high school. They said he was too small. He went to Oklahoma, led the nation. He's getting the same narrative. When are we gonna get rid of the narrative? Cause he's already, he's kicking those narratives out each time. Wow. Cause look, him, Trey Young, and Devin Booker, you talk about the Splash Brothers 2.0, that's what it could be. It could be that with Trey and Devin Booker. I mean, so that's what you would do. I know that's what you would do. I would take Trey number one because of that factor, the markability, the excitement, and pairing them with Devin Booker. What have, cause I know you talked to NBA scouts, GE executives, like when you've said that, cause there are some that are skeptical. Yes. What have they said? I've talked to a few that said, ah, nah, I wouldn't go number one. I wouldn't take them after seven or eight. But there's been a few guys that agree with me. Yeah, yeah, I know that's something for sure. You're dead on with this. You're dead on with the comparison of Mike Bibby. Mike Bibby went number two in the draft. Let's think about the dynamic guards in the NBA right now. Kyrie Irvin was a, he's a dynamic guard. He went one. Damien Lillard, he went like six. Chris, he was out of nowhere. So that was for him. Yeah, but he was dynamic. Doesn't matter. He still was dynamic. Chris Paul went four. Kimba Walker, like all these dynamic guards go in the top six, seven in the draft. So me wanting to pick Trey Young at number one is not far-fetched. He's a dynamic guard. This is like college football when you have a superstar quarterback. When you're in NFL draft, you don't pass on superstar quarterbacks. We watched the Cleveland Browns draft Baker Mayfield because they feel he's a superstar quarterback. So why are we gonna change the narrative for NBA? All right. And the one thing I've said is look, you have to take into account that he was the total show at Oklahoma and everything was focused on him defensively. So for him, even though his numbers and his production went down a little bit, the fact that they were throwing the kitchen sink at him should make you say, hey, he did. He's not gonna have that in the NBA. He's not gonna be the only guy. And so it should open up. That's good. Man, look, I would like nothing more than Trey Young to become another Steph Curry type player. I love that. I love that. Let's get to a few more. Michael Porter Jr. I'm hearing a lot about him. Obviously he had the back injury. He has the hip now. I don't know if that's a problem. What are your thoughts on that, on Michael Porter Jr.? Before the injury, I was really high on this kid. When I watched him on tape, I saw a Jason Tatum type of style, not as skilled as Jason Tatum, but in that same prototype. But once the injuries hit, I think that kind of derailed him as being the consensus number one pick. He sat out the college season. And when he tried to come back and to turn him again, he just kind of was out of rhythm. He was a little winded there. So he has a lot to prove and he canceled a workout last week.  So is he, because I agree, I think the reward could be great because I agree I saw the Jason Tatum. Maybe even at this stage, might even be a better shooter than Tatum was. Yeah, can shoot it. Yeah, absolutely. But you think there's a good possibility that he just becomes a decent or average player. I'm scared and I really hope I'm wrong here. I want to be wrong here because that back is something else. So mainly it's the injury that scares me. It's the injury, it's not anything else. Nothing about his game, guy has great ability, versatility. He's the new positionless type of basketball player. So without the injury, he's a consensus number one pick. And you're Phoenix and my reporter. No injury he would be. Absolutely. Really? I think so, yeah, he's a positionless player. He's positionless. Okay, so if the medical records pan out though, he's- If he's 100% healthy, that's a guy you don't pass up on. Okay, okay. Marvin Bagley. Oh. A few months ago, everybody's talking like he's the definite number one, right? Yeah, people were talking that. Not me. Okay, so give me the why not you at that time and why do you think people have cooled on you? Well, I think they've seen Mo Bamba. So the measurables of Mo Bamba, those measurables have kind of erased all of the post players in this draft. Bagley had a lot of hype going in and he obviously reclassified, came to Duke, one of the top scorers in the ACC, led the ACC in rebounding. So he has a terrific motor. He can score the ball, little tight in the hips, little tight in the hips on the defensive end. Well, that's a big concern like getting out on the perimeter and guard. Yeah, because he's gonna have to guard. He got tight hips. He got tight hips. Is he a four or five? He's definitely not a five. Okay, so he's a four. He's a four. He's a four. Okay, so he had, let me ask you this, is there any comparison to Carl Anthony Towns? No, absolutely not. Not at all. Totally different players. Carl Anthony is a back to the basket scorer. He's starting to come out a little bit. He's starting to evolve on the offensive end a little bit. But Bagley is, he got some Chris Bosch in him, and he got some Michael Beasley in him. Now Michael Beasley, no, no. Michael Beasley at Kansas State was a deal.  I see Michael Beasley with this kid. Beasley's not a great defender either, but he's instant offense. So I believe Marvin Bagley is gonna always be a player that you can count on where you can find baskets. He played in the post at Kentucky, but what a, you know, obviously, I'm sorry, Duke. He's not gonna do that in the NBA just in the post. So does he have the perimeter game? I think that can, yeah, I think that can come along. He has a really quick burst. He has good bursts on the offensive end. It's funny because on the defensive end, he's tight, but offensively he's loose. So you think it's a matter of just want to? It's a want, it's a want to. He has a great motor. He gets up on the ball. Obviously he's a great offensive player. I don't think he has any problems offensively in the NBA. It's gonna be on the defensive end. Does he really want to get in the stance and lockdown? There are guys though that have been in the NBA and are in the NBA. When I think of the past, Glenn Robinson from Purdue, I'm trying to think off the top of my head, a guy, but guys that score, they give you 24 points a game, but aren't, you know, they're not superstars. Whether it's the defense or what, they just don't really change the game. Is that what you see? A guy to put up the numbers, but it won't be like he's dominating the game. Yeah, I just see him as a really great offensive player and that's no slight to him. I just think he's a great offensive player, but it doesn't have the superstar tag or anything like that. But if I'm a GM and I'm in that range, obviously I'll draft him if I'm struggling from the offensive standpoint, but if I need a guy that's going to stop somebody, I won't be looking in Bagley's direction for that. Now let me get back to Aten. Cause I've heard comparisons to Joe L.M.B. who I love. I get the whole, you know, we don't need a back to the basket center in today's NBA, but M.B. can go out and guard on the perimeter a little bit and stretch the floor. I think his three point shot will get even better. So is that a, that's not a fair, an accurate comparison with M.B.? No, he doesn't have the skill set Joe has. Joe has a real tool kit. Aten has great footwork. He runs the floor well. He's strong, he's more powerful, but he doesn't have the set or the plethora of post moves in the post.  So he doesn't have that yet, but he can evolve and get that. But just watching him on tape, he has a little bit of a jab step pull. He has the basic post player moves, like the starter kit, the NBA post player starter kit, but he hasn't, he hasn't gotten this bag yet. Who, who, what NBA player do you compare him to right now? I like Ralph Samson. I mean, I know that's an old school player. It's hard to picture what Ralph would be like. What would be, Ralph was a unicorn. He was a unicorn. And Ralph was great. I mean, in that era, I mean, if he hadn't gotten hurt, he was obviously. Yeah, the knees went out, but he was, he was playing number one pick in 83. Yeah, yeah, he was spectacular. So guys go to YouTube and look up Ralph Samson, but that's who he kind of reminds me of. I've heard David Robinson, no, he doesn't score like David. Okay. Doesn't have David's motor. He won't beat, won't. No. Okay, he ain't gonna be dropping. He's not gonna be a 20 point score. 1711 guy. 1711 guy. Aiden will be a really good pro. Okay. He won't be a superstar, but he's gonna be a really good pro. He's gonna be a 1711 guy. He won't be a 25-13 guy. I don't see that. Well, I don't mind 17 and 11. Me neither. Me neither. I just, I don't see that, you know? All right, there's a mystery man in the draft, Luca Dantje. Do you know a lot about, I know you focus on the NCAA. How much you know about Luca? Tons. Okay, tell me now. Tons, here's a guy that I- Let me, before you say this, I'm gonna throw this out. Cause I've heard both things too. You know, positive, negative. And this has to be an overstatement. But a long time NBA scout that I respect, I know nosy stuff, he said he's a cross between Larry Bird and Steve Nash. I said, if that's the case, then this dude's gonna like the legal fire. Tell me about Luca Dantje. Okay, well, when you look at Luca, here's a kid that I respect. Okay, 19 years old, dominating the Euro league. This kid is a European sensation, first of all. Okay, when you look at him, here's a guy that has high IQ, great craft, can handle the ball, can play on the ball screen, can shoot a little bit and can get in the lane. But on a defensive end is where he's gonna struggle. His feet is floored, his feet is slower than rush hour traffic. Okay, really slow feet. Really, that's a problem. Really slow feet. And he's gonna have to guard the Jason Tatum's, you know. Well, that is, cause I've heard people talk about him, like he's gonna be bringing the ball up the court. Like he's a point. No. Like he's great in the pick and roll and all that. He can play the pick and roll, but he's not a point guard. There's a difference between being point guard and being able to go off the ball. And he is a great passer.  So when I look at him on tape, he struggled with quick defenders. Okay. Guys defending him. Oh yeah, guys getting in his pocket, getting after him. Not a great after. You don't see that obviously. Every night. So his NBA comparison is Hidu Terkalu. Okay. Bigger, bigger guard. Hidu. He had a little playmaker in him. He was a little kid. Orlando, he was the playmaker. He was the playmaker. You're right. So when I say Hidu Terkalu, there's no slight to Luca D'Ancius. He shoots it like Hidu? No, he don't shoot it like that. Okay, cause Hidu can shoot. Hidu can come off and knock it down, but he's 19. So that can happen over time, but I don't see Steve Nash and I definitely don't see Larry Bird. So he has, you know, slow feet can see the floor, but at the European level, this is what we gotta understand. We tend to over-sensation a lot of European basketball, okay? There's restrictions that cater to him. You can't have nine Americans on the floor in Europe. There's gonna be nine Brad Americans on the floor with you 95% of the time in the NBA. That changes the dynamics of the game, okay? So I believe Luca should go to a good team. I don't believe he's a lottery pick. Not a lottery pick, wow. I think he should, he fall right outside the lottery, but for his benefit. Cause everybody, you heard a couple of weeks ago, people saying number two. Yeah, but for his benefit, okay? Just drafting a guy in a lottery doesn't mean that he's gonna turn out to be a great player. Donovan Mitchell, we have to understand like, I'm all about fit for players. I think dockets will fit better with a San Antonio Spurs. How about the Clippers and San Antonio trade one of them picks, San Antonio moves up in the draft, grabs a guy like Luca Doncic, who can play under Greg Popovich, who's had success with European superstars. The defensive system's already in play. I believe Luca will be a good pro on a good team. He won't be a good pro on a bad team. Wow. So I'm not loving what I'm hearing about Luca then. The athleticism, that's the lack of athleticism. Yeah, it doesn't have it.  Obviously lack of athleticism, but he's so big he gets it done. Is this guy anything like a smaller Yolkich? Well, he's six, eight. Yeah, he has the vision. He does have that type of vision. Because Yolkich is seven foot me. Yeah, but he got vision. Yeah, yeah. Yolkich is more like our Venusabonus. Remember our Venusabonus? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the Nuggets run a lot of pinch posts for him.  With Luca Doncic, he's more of a ball hammer. So the Hidu Turcaloo just continues to pop up. My eyes, my eyes don't deceive me. Hidu Turcaloo, and that's no slight to Luca. Hidu was a great playmaker, man. So, but I get what you're saying. It sounds like you're saying Luca will not be like a perennial all-star type player, but if he's rid of a couple great players, he can be that great number three guy or something like that. Absolutely, that's what he will be great at. But he's gotta work on the shot, I guess, because that was a big part of Hidu. Yeah. Does that scare you that, because a lot, obviously in Europe, you got a lot of guys that can shoot it well? Yes. Does that bother you that he can't? Because Ricky Rubio couldn't shoot. Couldn't shoot it. Everybody was like, that's the problem. He's okay now to shoot him, but he's not. That's been a problem with him. Does that bother you that all those years in Europe, he still is not much of a shooter? No, it doesn't bother me. I think Luca is young enough, and he's crafty enough, and he's big enough to create space to get his own shot. He does a good job. He has a nice little snatch crossover. So he has a couple combinations to get his shot off. That just has to improve. Rubio just didn't have the mechanics to be a good shooter. Yeah, okay. But Luca got really good mechanics. Who is the sleeper, I guess? The dark horse, like the Donovan Mitchell in this draft. Jerome Robison, Boston College. This kid led the ACC in scoring six, five and a half, can score without the ball, can score with the ball. Great playmaker, plays with great pace. He reminds me of Devin Booker. I watched a ton of tape on Jerome Robison, lit Duke up, he lit the ACC up, but this kid allows the game to come to him. Great footwork, effortless score, great trajectory on his jump shot. He has some Devin Booker-ish. Okay, okay. Yeah, this kid is going to surprise them people. The Bulls have the 20, I think the 22nd pick. I think the Bulls should move up and try to get him, because the Bulls were 26 in the NBA in scoring last year. They struggle with manufacturing points. Jerome Robison is an instant offense type of guy, so I believe he's a guy that will be a sleeper coming into this draft. When I look at the field, I love Philadelphia. I love Ben Simmons and Joel Enby. I hope that they can, I think both of those guys would be superstars, and that they can be a great team. It pains me that they didn't take nothing against Markel Fulls, but that they didn't take Jason Tatum. Because he, to me, I think he'd just be the perfect fit for those two. So they got the number 10 pick. I assume they're looking for that type of guy. Who do you think they should take at 10? Well, two guys I have in mind. Kevin Knox from Kentucky, and McKell Bridges. I think McKell probably will be going by 10. Philly really needs a point guard at 10. So you don't like Simmons at the point? Because I don't like him off the ball. I don't like him at the point. So what you gonna do, he can't shoot? Play him in a pinch post. Play him in a pinch post, and use them how Dan Tony used Sean Marion. Because Ben Simmons is not a... Marion could shoot the three though. Yeah, yeah, he could shoot. I mean, it was funny looking, but he could shoot it, yeah. But you have to find a way, like Philadelphia was better with T.J. McConnell playing the point. Well, they did. That's statistically... And that showed you he could play, now I don't know if that was for the whole season. It certainly was for that Boston series. That's, yeah. And that did give you hope that Simmons can play off the ball. He could play off the ball. But I see, I like him as a point. You're right. He's got a lot to learn. He a lot to learn. Decision making and all that, but... He doesn't possess the natural point guard instincts. Those are instincts. It's almost like... He's got vision and passing, but instincts. It's like having Gronkowski play quarterback. Gronkowski is 6'6". He's big. He probably can throw the ball, but he doesn't possess quarterback instincts. Ben Simmons doesn't have point guard instincts. People were telling me on Twitter, well, Rondo can't shoot. Rondo has instincts. He was born with point guard instincts, and that's what Ben Simmons lacks. And I believe they should take a point guard at 10. They probably won't, because Colin Sexton and Trey will be gone. So if those guys were there, obviously you take Trey. If... Or Sexton. It would be, you would think about, like as much as you like Trey. I'll take Sexton. If both of them were there for affiliate 10. Sexton. He fits Philly better. He fits Philly better. Philly has to, they have to stop the guy in Boston at the point guard position. That's Kyrie Irvin. Colin Sexton's strength is on that side of the ball. This is a shut down corner. See, when you look at Trey and you look at Colin Sexton, you're looking at a superstar quarterback or a derail revist type, a shut down corner. That's what you're looking at. So with Colin Sexton, I need him on the defensive side of the ball and Philly. How's he gonna be offensively? He'll manage. He'll manage.  No. Great defender, but I need a little office too. I know what you're saying. No, he's a little better in transition. He's better in transition. He's a better scorer than Marcus Smart. What type of numbers does he, four years from now, what type of numbers does Colin Sexton have? He's a 12 to 15 point scorer. 15 is gonna be his high. And how many is this? Seven. He's a 15, seven guy. I can't take that over Trey Young. No, I can't. Trey, Trey, Trey's gonna be... Even if I'm Philly. I understand, but I just think he blends better with that unit. You know, Trey's more exciting. He's gonna give you more offense, obviously. I'm just thinking, we vibe and I like this. Yeah. I get what you say about Trey Young and Philly, but picture this, if Trey Young, now he's not gonna be there at 10, I don't think. He'll be gone. But if Trey Young is in Philly, based off what you said about Simmons, you could theoretically, Trey could be that staff guy that stretches the defense. Oh, man, absolutely. Right, so now you gotta pick us up at 30, 35 feet. Absolutely. Ben Simmons could then be in the hoop. Dre mine green roll. Yeah, I like that. So, you know what I'm saying? No, no, I see, I like that. I like, and I think Philly goes to a championship with a guy like Trey Young. But I just think Sexton fits the city. He fits the mentality. He's a more of a hard nose type of guy. So I like Sexton with Philadelphia. I really do. But if they don't take a point, you think it's Knox or Bridges, I know you like Bridges a little better. I love McKell Bridges. So tell me why you love it. McKell Bridges to me is the most polished player in this draft. And I can tell you why. This is the kid that red shirted. Wasn't a McDonald's All-American, so he came up the hard way. Red shirted, two-time national champion, and he comes from Jay Wright's tree. Every kid that comes from Villanova, they come in as college players and they leave out professionals. McKell Bridges epitomizes development. So he's ready to play NBA basketball right now. He could have helped the Cleveland Cavaliers this series. Wow. Like, he's ready to play. Okay, okay. There's some other guys that's gonna need a learning curve. I don't think McKell Bridges needs a learning curve. Who's the comparison in the NBA that he's seen? Kauai Leonard, Paul George. He's a two-way guy that doesn't waste a lot of dribbles to get his shot off. And defensively, he can guard one through four. So he's viewed as kind of that mid, lottery guy? How high should he go, in your opinion? He shouldn't go past 10. Okay, so I was wondering if you were gonna say he should be in the top five or something like that. No, he shouldn't go past 10. I think Cleveland should take him, but depending on what LeBron's gonna do, Cleveland's gonna end up taking a point guard, but if LeBron was gonna stay, I would take McKell Bridges because he's missing that guy that can defend and take some pressure off him while LeBron can rest on defense.  Like, McKell can guard one through four, literally. Like, he's that type of defender. I've watched tons of tape on him. Man, yo, I'm excited. I'm more excited than I was 40 minutes ago or whatever because no, this was great stuff, man. You did an excellent job breaking it down. I'm gonna be watching. I'm gonna remember everything you said. I'm gonna be watching. Okay, how did anything out? He gonna shoot me a text. Like, yes, no doubt. You were wrong on this one. But I loved the breakdown. I thought you did a great job. And yeah, man, this is interesting. Anything else that you didn't get to say about this draft that you think is important? No, I think it's gonna be a fun draft. I'm excited about Thursday. I'll be live streaming it as well on my YouTube station, Sports Talk 2319. I'll be live streaming it. So going over some stuff with that, but I'm excited for these. I just love to see kids reach their dreams, whether it's the number one pick or the 60th pick. I'm all for these kids. I never want people to think that I'm against one kid and I'm for all the kids and I'm just evaluating them from a basketball standpoint. Let me ask you this, because you obviously had that dream of getting to the NBA and didn't quite get there. What would you say to the players out there who are really good and have reason to think they will be in the NBA one day? What would you say to them though? You know, because everybody's not gonna make it.  Study the landscape of how draft picks go. Like I used to use tape, these VCR tape and I used to write how many point guards went in the first round. How many shooting guards went in the second round. Because I wanted to know when my turn came up would I be one of the 11 point guards drafted in the first round. So do your homework and make sure that you're prepared but be prepared for the unexpected. Because there's a lot of things that go on behind a curtain that you can't control. The other thing too, I mean now you're making a career in basketball. And I tell this to guys, cause I wasn't as good as you obviously, but I had dreams one day to be a pro athlete and never made it, but now I have a career in sports. So I tell guys, you can have a career in sports even if you don't make it as an athlete, but what are the things you did to prepare yourself in case you didn't make it to the pros? Well, I got the right major going into college. Communications was my major and I took that very seriously because as a kid growing up with my father, I was always commentating games as a kid, watching my father do it as well. So it became something natural to me to actually watch the game and commentate it and do scouting reports. My father used to give me papers of players in high school. We would go to high school games and he'll say write a scouting report on his point guard. So that would be my homework. So I would get home and I would write a scouting report and give it to my dad. I was doing it at eight, nine years old. So when I got to college, I knew what my passion was outside of basketball and that was evaluating and studying the game. So pick the right major. Don't just pick anything that you can't use when you're done playing. Pick the right major and communication was mine and here I am sitting next to you. I feel big time today. You are big time, man. And we, you know, I'm gonna be in touch with you. I want to get you back in the zone. But man, great job. And check him out, Sports Talk 2319. You can download, subscribe to it on YouTube and he'll be streaming during the draft. So definitely want to check him out. Man, great, great stuff. Appreciate you. And thanks for being in the zone. Absolutely.


Good afternoon Mr. Park. Yes. I'm Mr. Park. Good afternoon. Pleased to meet you. I'm Mrs. Nelson, the manager here at Pleasant Banking. Please come in and have a seat. Thank you So tell me about yourself, Mr. Park. I grew up in Korea and studied accounting. I worked in an accounting firm for two years. I enjoy being around different types of people, work well with others. I like to challenge myself and improve at everything I do. What are your strengths or special skills? I believe my strength is my intention to detail. The skills help me a lot in this field of work. Also, after working for a couple of years, I realized my strength is accomplishing a large amount of work in a short period of time. I get things done. Even when I'm under pressure. What are your weaknesses? Maybe the weakest skill I have is asking for help. I don't ask co-workers who might know the answer. Asking for help would save me time. The personal goal of mine is to ask for more help. Also, might feel like my English ability is a weakness. I know this is only a temporary problem. I'm starting hard to communicate more. Well, I appreciate your honesty. What about your goals? What are your goals? I have two goals. My first goal is to learn everything about making. I want to have a real-life experience. I believe the next couple of years are very important to me. My other goal is to always work my hardest. Those are great goals. What about working under pressure? Do you work well under pressure? Yes, I work well under pressure because I don't panic. I always enjoy the experience. I work well under pressure because I use the pressure to help me work faster. Well, that's all the questions I have for you. Do you have any questions for me? Yes, just one question. When would you want me to start working? Good question. We'll call you within a week and let you know. It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Park. I'll meet you too. Thank you for your time.


In this training video, we're going to look at modifying links and changing the structure of a project. So, I've got a project here of 59 days, which I'm trying to change the structure to look like another project I've got, which has got a bit more detail in it. It's got an advertising section here, it's got an interviewing section here, it's got some different links going on, but you know, it's only a one-day difference. There's quite a lot of changes that need to be made, and the duration is only going to go up one day. So, when you make these kind of changes, it's something you've got to be careful of when you are modifying project and changing links and linking and moving tasks around. You've got to do it in quite a structured way. So, I'm going to give a demonstration here of how to do this kind of thing and move tasks around and modify links and then try and keep it as safe as possible so the structure of the project is maintained. So, we know it's a one-day duration difference. The first one I'm going to go for is the bottom one. Inform Applicant and HR Induction have been corrected in this project. In the initial one, Inform Applicant is below HR Induction, which would never happen. So, I'm going to go to that one first. So, if I'm doing this kind of project, I tend to go from top to bottom, but if there's an easy one to do first, I'll tend to go down the bottom and then work from top to bottom. So, I'm going to select all three tasks here because I want all three to be broken away from the second interview so I can move them around.  So, when I'm doing this kind of thing, the first thing I isolate in, then make a change. Well, the change in this example is just moving the task into a new position. And then the last one I think of is reconnect. So, I'm now going to reconnect what I've done to the rest of the project. So, these are the words I think of isolate, change, reconnect whenever I'm doing this kind of change. So, the next one I'm going to look at now is go back to the one I'm trying to do. So, I've done the bottom part now. I'm now going to look at advertising. So, it's got market research in here. There's a link change here, start to start. So, advertising has got four tasks all together. With market research in, it's four days. Then plan advertising, then design job parks, then organize advertising. So, four tasks, and we've got to finish the start and then a start to start. Okay, so, let me go with this one. So, here now I'm going to isolate advertising away from the top. So, I want it broken away from HL handover. So, I'm going to break it. And I want it broken away from the bottom. So, advertising by itself now is all by itself. I tend to go further than this. I tend to be out to see if I'm doing this kind of thing. So, I tend to even get rid of the semi-task. So, I'm going to out-dent. And now, I'm going to put the new task in. I'm going to right-click, insert task. And that's going to be called market research. And that's a four-day task. And I want those two to be finished to start. So, I can either double-click on plan advertising and break the finished start link or I can just click on the chain. So, when I'm doing it two tasks together, I tend to click on the chain. But I also want plan advertising and design job packs to be start to start. So, this one I'm going to double-click on design job packs. I'm going to go to predecessors and I want to start to start. And now that's advertising done. So, I've got the finished start, start to start. I can now join all that back together. And that should give me eight days. And we'll check on the other project now. So, I'm going to join all that back together. There's the eight days. And I've now finished the advertising section and summary. So, I'm going to join it back to HR handover to make sure that's reconnected. And I'm also going to reconnected advertising, organ's advertising to advertise roles. So, that's reconnected. Okay. So, we've actually got the end result now, 60 days. So, I'll just check on the other project now. So, here's the 60 days of the completed one. So, all I've got to do now, I know that the interview selection, the 27 days for book and plan interview room and the rest of the changes mustn't affect the structure of the project. So, there's a 27-day summary going to go in, which is not going to affect the 60 days because we've already hit 60 days. So, the first thing I'm going to do is insert two new tasks after I've isolated. So, the new tasks will be interview and selection and book and plan interview room when I've isolated and broken the summary task. So, I'm going to go back now. Okay. So, I want the closing date and job summary, job shortlisting to be isolated because the interview selection is going to go under closing date. But I also want the inform applicant and select applicant to be broken because the summary task is going to include select applicant. So, I'm going to break at the bottom as well. Now, I'll start the work. So, I'm going to insert two new tasks. So, I can go insert task and another one. Put a type in now. So, this is interview and selection. And when you're putting the summary task at date or entry, a zero day duration is entered. So, zero day. The next task is going to go in as book and plan interview room. And that is a three day duration task. And that needs to be linked with job shortlisting as a start to start. So, I'm going to double click on job shortlisting and make that a start to start with task 12. So, 12. And I want that to be a start to start. Okay. Everything's now set up in place. I'm now going to produce the summary task down to here. And this should give me now 27 days, which is what it does. So, I can now highlight interview and selection. Just give it a little bit of yellow before Martin. And it hasn't gone across the 27 days because there's a blue shading here. If I can get rid of this blue shading by making another change to the next change, I make the blue shading will go somewhere else. And you'll see the yellow shading go right across. So, I've now got the 27 days I want. I'm going to reconnect closing date and job shortlisting. And I'm also going to reconnect, select applicant and inform applicant. And there's the 60 days. And there's the interview and selection of the yellow going across the duration as well. So, I look at the activity that I've just completed. 60 days, advertising eight days, interview and selection 27 days, project is 60 days. Let me go to one that's trying to achieve, which is the completed one. And they're exactly the same. 60 days, they're completed, advertising eight days, interview and selection 27 days. And HR induction at the bottom. I'll go back and use the training video for the challenge activity. And you can now see that that's exactly the same. So, when you're doing this kind of work and you're modifying links and modifying a structure within a project, it does need a little bit of thought, a little bit of thinking how to manipulate it without in effect really ruining the structure of the project because in project, undo is not very forgiving. Pressing undo when you make a mistake is something that should be avoided at all costs because undo is not very helpful in project. It's better to work out the issue and then make the change yourself. And as we've done here, we've changed the structure. The challenge activity matches the challenge activity completed, which was the one we were trying to achieve. Here's the completed one. And we now know that it takes a little bit of work to actually change a structure. And this is not too many tasks. This is only... We've got a project summary task at the top. So really, it's only 17 tasks. If you've got a big project, it takes a lot of care and attention to make these kind of changes. But this is the kind of where you go about modifying a project and restructuring a project. So this involves modifying links here, breaking links, removing summary tasks, inserting summary tasks, inserting tasks. So there's quite a bit to this restructure. But this now completes the training video on modifying links and restructuring a project. If you enjoyed this video, make sure you like and subscribe to our channel. Hope to see you for the next tutorial and thanks for watching.


The title of our sermon this morning is creation proclaims the Creator. Creation proclaims the Creator. On your outline, if you've got one there, we're looking at 1.3, God's general revelation. We're going to work through this series on the essentials. Creation proclaims the Creator. Our text this morning is Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. The Bible describes the idols of the nations, the pagan idols of this world, the false gods of this world, as nothing more than the work of men's hands. Psalm 115, verse 5, these false idols have mouths, but they do not speak. Ears they have, but they do not, or eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them, the psalmist says, are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them. In other words, those who make them, those who trust in them, also have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Now we see that ignorance on display with the prophets of Baal, for example, on Mount Carmel. If you remember that story with Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18. You remember the account. They prepared the sacrifice there for their dead idol, Baal. They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. Oh Baal, hear us, right? Crying out to Baal, but there was no voice. No one answered. At noon, after having done this for hours, Elijah began to mock them saying, maybe he's meditating. Maybe Baal is asleep. Maybe he's gone on a journey. He's gone on a trip. Maybe he's in the bathroom, essentially, right? But there was no voice. No one answered. So what do the prophets of Baal do? They cry out even more. They shout aloud to Baal. They cut themselves until the blood gushed out on them, showing their sincerity, right? Demonstrating how sincere they were. But the Bible records there was no voice. No one answered them. No one paid attention. And if you remember that story from 1 Kings 18, what happens? God shows up, right? God shows up.  In great contrast to the dead and voiceless idols of this world, the true and living God speaks. We worship today because God has spoken. We study theology because God has spoken. There is Christianity because God has spoken. We're here today to read and to hear and to heed God's word because God has spoken. All Scripture is breathed out by God. The Word of God never returns void. As long as we're in the Bible, in this church, God speaks. Amen. He communicates. He decrees. He promises. He commands and He reveals Himself to us. He reveals Himself in a gracious and loving voluntary act of self-disclosure for the benefit of His own people and for the glory due His name. That gracious condescension, that gracious self-revelation begins at creation, begins at creation. John begins his gospel with this very truth in John chapter 1, verse 1, where John says, in the beginning was the Word. And before he created the world, the Word, the Word, the exact representation of His nature, the very self-communication of His being, the brightness of His glory, the expressed image of His person, His only begotten Son, that Word, the Word, was with God and the Word was God. God mediating His gracious self-revelation, mediating His gracious self-disclosure through the Word. So then, through the agency of the Word, our communicating, communing and revealing God first speaks to us in creation. In John chapter 1, verse 3, all things were made through Him, through the Word. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Verse 9, for He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. Commanded spoke everything into being out of nothing, ex nihilo. And now, sustaining all things by the Word of His power. Creation, then, is considered the first revelation of God. Herman Baving says at the beginning, it is the beginning and foundation of all His subsequent self-revelation. And that creation by the agency of His divine and eternal Word. Now creation, creation is no whispering witness. In Psalm 19, David couldn't look up at the sky without proclaiming. In verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utter speech. Night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth. Their words to the end of the world. In them, He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of His chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. In other words, creation proclaims a Creator. Creation proclaims the Creator. Now this revelation, this self-disclosure of God, is called the Book of Nature. It's called General Revelation. General Revelation. Even for those without the Book of Divine Revelation, the Bible, God makes Himself known through that which He has created and through that which He has done. To quote Spurgeon, it's therein that our fingers feel and our nostrils smell. Our palates taste His virtues that excel. He shows Himself to our eyes and He talks to our ears in the ordered motions of the spangled spheres. I love that from Spurgeon said in only the way that Spurgeon can. You and I can't see God, but through His creation we can taste and see that the Lord is good. We can't comprehend Him fully through our senses. Right? But it's through our senses that we experience His glory through the things that He has made and through the works that He has done. God purposefully, intentionally, willfully and with great wisdom designed creation with the purpose that we would know Him. And it's through creation that He reveals Himself. For the psalmist, one said that His sight was full of God. It was God who sent springs into the valleys which run among the hills. When the thunderstorm passed before Him, it was God's voice in the heavens, His lightnings that lighted the world. When He heard the bellowings and saw the smoke of the volcano, it was God who looked upon the earth and it trembled. He touched the hills and they smoke. That's from the book of nature or general revelation that we are to see a revelation of the glory of God. The crowning achievement of God's creation, the crown of God's creative work, is man. And immediately upon creating man, what does God do? God begins to speak to Him. He creates man in His own image and with the capacity and with the desire to know Him with a heart that delights in Him. He creates man with a heart and a mind to seek after God, to delight in God, to pursue God, to take joy in God. And then God reveals Himself to man, bringing man in communion with Himself. You think about that as an act of grace, right? A condescension, in immeasurable love with infinite kindness, with infinite compassion, with infinite condescension and for His own glory, our proclaiming, speaking, revealing, disclosing God chose to create the heavens and the earth and all that is in them for the purpose of creating us in communion with Himself. It's an amazing truth and a staggering thought when you stop to think about that, right? The God of all the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, would create man to be in communion with Himself. And listen, all our communion with Him is only possible through a communication of Himself to us. Our communion with Him comes through His gracious condescending communication of Himself to us. Theologians over the centuries have thought of this revelation in three ways. First, through general revelation, general revelation, or the revelation of God through His works in creation. General revelation is referred to as general because it's revealed to everyone without exception. It's general to everyone without exception. The first is through general revelation. But God reveals Himself also through special revelation. Special revelation is God's own speech, revealed in His word, the Bible. It's God's own speech. It's referred to as special revelation because it's not revealed to everyone through natural means, but has been given to some people through supernatural means. And those people who receive it through supernatural means, the very word of God written in the Bible, those people then are to proclaim it. They have a responsibility to preach it to everyone else, right? They've received that Bible, that word. God's own speech comes through special revelation. The third way to think about revelation is through the operations of God's Spirit in the soul of man. It's called applied revelation. Applied revelation. It's where the Spirit of God works through the revealed word of God to transform the heart. It's not new revelation. It's the Spirit of God working through that special revelation that God has already revealed to transform the heart. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6, right? God who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In that first form of revelation, it's that form, general revelation, that's the concern of our study this morning. And for that, we turn to Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. Now considering our subject, general revelation, I want you to see three points from our text this morning. First, I want you to see God's general revelation. Second, I want you to see man's universal rejection. Man's universal rejection. And then third, we want to look at God's righteous retribution. God's general revelation, man's universal rejection, and God's righteous retribution from Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. And here's the premise of our text. Here's the premise of our text. Through the clear and general revelation of Himself in creation to all mankind made in His image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice. And that on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of His own unrighteousness. I want to repeat that. I want to think about this premise as we work through the text, right? Through the clear and general revelation of Himself in creation to all mankind made in His image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of His own unrighteousness. If you didn't get all that, it'll be on the lesson, okay? Point one, God's general revelation. Point one, God's general revelation. Look at verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. And notice first with me the general revelation of God's wrath in verse 18. Notice in verse 18, it's the wrath of God, the wrath that belongs to God, the wrath that is revealed by God, the wrath that finds its source in God, it's the wrath that has its origin in God. It's revealed from heaven where God resides. In other words, this is wrath, righteous wrath, just wrath that comes from God. The source of that wrath that is being revealed is Almighty God Himself, perfect in holiness and full of divine power in His judgment on Assyria. Isaiah describes this wrath of God in chapter 30, verse 27 as burning with anger, as a burden that is heavy. That's that word we looked at in Sunday school this morning, right? His burden is heavy.  His tongue like a devouring fire. His breath is like an overflowing stream which reaches up to the neck to sift the nations with a sieve of futility. All right, again and again in the Bible, the wrath of God has spoken of as a devouring fire, a devouring fire. The fire of God's wrath fell from heaven and consumed Nadav and Avihu when they offered strange fire before the altar of God, right? The fire of God consumed the 250 men among the company of Korah who burned incense in Numbers chapter 16, the fire of God fell. The fire of God's judgment fell and consumed those wicked men. Speaking of eventual judgment, eventual judgment, the Lord said in Luke chapter 12, verse 49, I came to send fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. The word Jesus Christ said those words. The judgment of God, the wrath of God often referred to as the fire of God.  And even though the Bible speaks of a coming future fire that will be poured out on the earth and a future punishment by eternal fire for all the ungodly dead, everyone outside of Christ will face that fire. Romans chapter 1, verse 18, speaks of this particular wrath of God as being presently and actively revealed by God. It is actively being revealed even now. God's wrath, the wrath that is mentioned in verse 18 is currently being revealed now. There is a very real, very obvious, very evident sense, overtly obvious to anyone. That's why it's general revelation. It's a very real, obvious and evident sense in which God is currently pouring out his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It's amazing to me that it doesn't get preached today when it is so obviously and so evidently happening all around us. That wrath is being revealed. It's being revealed. And it's to point us to a future eschatological wrath and end times wrath that is coming. You will face that wrath apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Ungodliness is that which is irreverent. It's that which fails to hallow the name of God. It's that which is against or fails to uphold the holiness and majesty and character and nature of God. It's that which is opposed to God. That which contradicts God's plans, God's purposes, God's law, God's character. It's that which is not like him. That which is not like God is ungodly. God who is perfect in holiness, anything that is unholy is ungodly. Anything that is not like him is ungodly to the degree that it is not like him. That which does not reflect his glory in his creation is ungodly. Unrighteousness is that which violates his will. Unrighteousness violates his commands, his law, his precepts, his statutes, his judgments. It is unlawful conduct described as lawless. Those who practice lawlessness or immorality, those given over to iniquity. It is that which transgresses his statutes and his judgments and his order and his authority. It's that which transgresses God's right to rule and reign in the affairs of men over your life. That is unrighteousness. Now these two words taken together are meant to communicate in total the sum of man's wickedness. The sum total of man's depravity and the pervasiveness of man's rebellion is seen in their separation from the God who made him. The degree of man's ungodliness, the degree of his unrighteousness is seen or understood in relief, if you will. Now think about it with me. His ungodliness, his unrighteousness is seen in relief in the sense that his wickedness, his depravity, his ungodliness, his unrighteousness is seen in its fullness against the perfectly pure white backdrop of divine holiness. It's seen against the backdrop of that which it offends. That make sense? The more that you understand the holiness of God, the more you see sin as exceedingly sinful. The more that you see your sin against the backdrop of God's perfect, infinitely perfect holiness, the more sinful sin becomes, right? The more wicked, the more depraved that it is. And it's that perfect holiness that fuels God's wrath. Think with me. The degree to which God is holy reveals the degree to which his wrath is just and righteous, powerful and full. The degree to which God is holy reveals the degree of his wrath. In other words, no holiness, no wrath. If God weren't holy, why would God be enraged over sin? Why would God pour out or reveal his wrath from heaven? So with a view then to an end times eschatological judgment, that day of the Lord with a view to that day, with a view to that fire by which God will devour his adversaries and as a prelude to that ultimate and eternal outpouring of divine and powerful and just and righteous wrath, even now with an eye to that day, God is revealing his just and righteous wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In other words, in other words, God is not indifferent toward you. God is not indifferent toward your sin. God is not indifferent toward the myriad ways in which you offend his holiness. God is not indifferent toward you. God is not a passive stoic. God did not create the world, set it spinning and then walk off and leave you to do as you please. God created man for his own glory, communicates a gracious condescending self-disclosure of himself to man to bring man into communion with himself and what does man do? Man runs off in ungodliness and unrighteousness and so the wrath of God then is revealed from heaven. And because just because this truth of the revelation of God's righteous wrath against sinners may be suppressed in your sin-stained heart and mine, may be suppressed by my own ungodliness, by my own unrighteousness. Even though that truth may be suppressed, may be suppressed in the self-justifying deceits of your own darkened heart, does not mean that God is not angry with you and angry with the wicked every day.  The Bible has something different to say. God is holy and you are not. That's the problem, isn't it? We see the evidence of this revealed wrath in the world all around us every day. It is a part of God's general revelation, death.  That doesn't mean necessarily that there's a one-for-one correlation between your sin and an outpouring of God's wrath and judgment. God is pouring out his wrath in a general way that we can all see, right? There may be temporal consequences for your sin and you may think to yourself, I think I got away with it. It doesn't change the fact that God is holy and that he is pouring out his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Death, disease, disaster, despair. It should be no wonder to us when we see a disease directly attached to a sin by and large, right? God pouring out revealing his wrath from heaven. The world, this world was created by God and declared to be very good. God created all things and it very good. That now testifies of his righteous wrath and indignation. The effects of God's curse in Genesis chapter three, right? Daily experienced. We daily experience the effects of God's curse against sin in Genesis chapter three and somehow men suppress that truth. The doctrine of God's providence teaches us that physical disasters and calamities are the temporal foreshadowing of his future judgment, right? That tower that fell on those men at Siloam, killed all those men. If you don't repent, you'll likewise perish. That is an outpouring, a revealing of God's righteous wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Matthew chapter 24 describing this age in which we're now in wars and rumors of wars. Nations rising against nations, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right? More specifically, more specifically, we see this wrath poured out in our text. Look at verse 24. We see it poured out in verse 24 as divine abandonment. This is the general revelation, the general revealing of God's wrath against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Verse 24, therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Look at verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up. Look at verse 28. God gave them over to a debased mind. Do you see? The wrath, the divine wrath of God's abandonment. This is the general revelation of the wrath of God. God, even now revealing presently, actively, his righteous wrath against sin by turning men over to the abominations of their own depraved heart. When I say men, I mean women also. We're not politically correct here. Where they ride a tidal wave of sin towards ultimate judgment and ultimate wrath in that day of the Lord.  We see that all around us, don't we? We see that all around us. In all its filthy dishonor, we see it. In all its disgusting shame, we see it. Women who shout their abortions. It's appalling, almost unbelievable. It is, you could say, rising to the level of a supernatural blindness. Shouting their abortion, pride parades. Celebrating iniquity, celebrating sin. The violence or the hostility that comes out when you attempt to address that with the truth. They've labored really hard, labored really diligently, fervently, zealously to suppress the truth of God in their ungodliness, in their unrighteousness. So when you come with the truth of God, that which they have suppressed, and you try to bring that to the forefront in their thoughts, in their mind, they respond with the defensive, cornered animal attitude of that one who has lost, that one who has worked hard to suppress that truth. They respond with hostility, they respond with violence. That's why there can be no public discourse today about these things. Men have suppressed the truth of God in their unrighteousness, and you can't chip away at that. The Lord can praise God, and the Lord does it through the gospel. If they've suppressed His truth, they will suppress your voice. They've suppressed His truth, they will suppress the preaching of the gospel. They will suppress the word of God. They labor to do that. There's a progression associated with this. Those who do not turn from sin to trust in Christ are described then further in Romans chapter two, verse five. Look at verse five in Romans chapter two. They are in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart. You are, you could say day by day by day, treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each one according to His deeds. You will be judged according to your works. Eternal life in verse seven. To those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking, those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, what waits for you is indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek. We're dealing with the limits of human language when we talk about these things, right? Think about the holiness of God. Ultimately, ultimately God most evidently displayed His righteous wrath against ungodliness, against unrighteousness at the cross where He poured it out on His only begotten Son for the sins of His own people. And if God did that to His own Son, do you think that you're going to escape the fires of hell? You think that you're going to escape judgment for your sin? Not going to happen. We see here the general revelation of God's wrath, and that is commensurate with the holiness of Almighty God, right? Notice also now the general revelation of God's nature in verse 19. The general revelation of God's nature in verse 19 through creation, right? Verse 19. Because what may be known of God is manifest. It's made clear. It's evident in them. That word in can be translated in or among. It's far better translated here among, right? He made it manifest or clear among them, among the peoples of this world. Because, or for, God has shown it, revealed it to them, to all men, okay? This is the general revelation of God's nature through creation. Now, how has He communicated this general revelation of Himself to all mankind? Look at verse 20. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. That's interesting, isn't it? Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now, this refers to God making Himself known among the people of this world through His manifold works of creation, right? His manifold work in creation. It speaks of what we may know of God by observing creation. It applies to everyone on the planet. It applies to everyone on the planet. Now, notice the interesting contrast here between His invisible attributes and those things that are clearly seen. By seeing or by observing visible things, invisible things are perceived or understood. Do you see? That's general revelation. By seeing or observing visible things, invisible things are perceived or understood. Now, how is that possible? How is that possible? Because God has made it clear. God has shown it to us. He's revealed it. He's made it clear, manifest. At the end of the day, at the end of the day, there's simply no such thing as an atheist. There is no such thing as an atheist. There's only aggressive truth suppressors. That's what they are, okay? This general revelation of God's divine nature, think with me now, is not merely a consequence of creation. It's not a coincidence of creation. God created, no one, by the way, we can see God in creation. And no, by the way, if we don't see Him in creation, we're without excuse. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. God, listen, deliberately, purposefully, intentionally manifested His divine glory in creation for all to see. God was deliberate about it, purposeful in it, intentionally displayed His divine glory in creation. Creation is a deliberately revelatory act meant to reveal God to man. It is the theater in which God's glory is displayed for man to see. What are His invisible attributes that we are to understand through the visible creation? What are those attributes? Even, namely, His eternal power and Godhead. His eternal power and Godhead. Look around at the things that you can see. Experience His creation, and you can't walk away without thinking to yourself, God is awesome in power. And the more that we can see, the more powerfully He is revealed. Staggering, unimaginable scope. Staggering and unimaginable complexity. Staggering and unimaginable simplicity. It's amazing, right? It's amazing. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day unto day unto day. Utters that speech. Night unto night unto night. Reveals that knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. It is everywhere around us, right? Their line has gone out through all the earth. It is a general revelation of Him and their words to the end of the world. And listen, David, when he wrote that, didn't have a telescope and he didn't have a microscope. It's amazing, right? God's infinite, transcendent omnipotence and omniscience, His wisdom and His power, creation shouts aloud to the glory of God. Only one who is absolutely deaf can't hear it. The one who is brain dead is the one who can't see it or understand it, right? But that's the only one. It shouts aloud to the glory of God. And it is the fool, the fool who is set in His heart, there is no God. You can look at a leaf and see the handiwork of God, right? Absolutely stunning. Absolutely amazing. Look at a snowflake. Not here. It would be miraculous. Even more so if we saw a snowflake here, but trust me, look at the humidity in the air. We can see that, right? The humidity in the air declares the glory of God. God is amazing in power, amazing in wisdom, amazing in strength, amazing creation. We're to see, brothers and sisters, listen, we're to see birds, four-footed animals and creeping things and stand in awe and wonder at our Creator, God, who also, by the way, created us. We're to stand in wonder and in awe of Him, not turn and worship those things and think, wow, that amazing bird. How amazing is evolution that that came from, right? Absolutely absurd. That's another indication of how aggressively lost ungodly, unrighteous men suppress the truth of God in their unrighteousness. That is entirely, the entire argument, start to finish, is entirely irrational. And there are those evolutionists who are lost people who see that. We'll say, yeah, I'm not believing that nonsense anymore. Day unto day, utter speech. Look to the stars of the heavens. Night unto night reveals knowledge and understanding. What is man's response then to God's general revelation? What is man's response to this wonder? It's the fruit of the fall that we don't see it, right? It's the fruit of fallen man's corrupt heart, corrupt nature that it isn't seen in all its technicolor splendor that it has created in. You've heard the argument before, witnessing to someone, and well, if he's God, why doesn't he just write his name across the sky, right? He has written his name across the sky. His handwriting, his handwriting is in the heavens and done in such a way that is gloriously and majestically pointing to his revelation and also to his hiddenness. And there's a reason that God does that. That'll be a sermon for another day. A reason that God maintains a holy transcendence from man. He is altogether not like we are. What is man's response to these things? Second point on your notes, man's universal rejection. Man's universal rejection. Man looks to creation, finds there a revelation of the invisible God, and he says to himself, I'll not have that one to rule over me. And he suppresses that truth in his own unrighteousness. By the means of his own sin, by the means, the instrumentality, that's what that means in the text, by the instrumentality, the means of his own sin, man suppresses the truth of what may be known of God from his creation, he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. Why? Why does he do that?  You are not your own to do as you please. You are created.  You are not the captain of your soul. And yes, there are punishments found in the scroll. Our suppression of this evident and observable reality is actually a heightened indication of our hostility against him. It's not an indifferent suppression. It's not a forgetful indifference or a neglectful suppression. It is a willful hostility against him. Our sin is an assault against God's truth. Our sin is an assault against his created order, his divine right to rule and reign over us. We suppress the truth by saying that it's not his. We suppress that truth by saying I'm not his. I'm mine.  I can live for myself. I'm the one who's ruling and reigning on the throne of my life. I'm the captain of my fate, right? And the truth, and the truth comes.    And so then I busy myself frantically to silence that revelation in my ear. Busy myself in sin to suppress that truth. It's interesting, but that truth is often pressed upon our consciences by the third form of general revelation to all men. There's the general revelation of the wrath of God. There's general revelation through the creation of God. And there's also general revelation through the image of God in man. That revelation is manifested largely through our conscience. God has revealed himself in man, his crowning creation. We know something of the divine nature because we are moral creatures created in the image of God. Romans chapter two, verse 15. We who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. So what do we do then to silence that witness? What do we do to suppress that truth? How do we offload the guilt? How do we offload the shame by saying that God doesn't exist? By saying that there is no law that governs me. We drown our conscience in alcohol. We drown our conscience in sex, in drugs. We drown our conscience in pleasure, in leisure, in entertainment. However, all of our efforts are vain and futile. What's the end of all this general revelation? What's the end of it? Look at verse 20. It is so that, for the purpose that, designed so that they are without excuse. In other words, God has made the universe in such a way that unrighteous and ungodly men are guilty and culpable and responsible if they reject the light that has been graciously given to them. This universe has been designed, creation designed, you designed in such a way that you are guilty, culpable, responsible if you reject the light, the revelation God has made of himself to you. No one, no one in that day will be able to say, I didn't know, I didn't know. What about that one, the outback, right? That didn't have a Bible in his hand. No one will be able to say, I didn't know. What about that one who's never heard the gospel? Who's never heard the gospel? No one, that's general revelation, folks. No one will be able to say, I didn't know. General or natural revelation, the book of nature, isn't sufficient to save someone from sin. It's not sufficient to save someone from the wrath of God, but general revelation is certainly sufficient to remove any excuse from those guilty of sin and under the wrath of God. General revelation leaves you with absolutely no excuse. Verse 21, because although they knew God, presupposes that they all know him, presupposes that. It's interesting that when you open your Bible and you turn to Genesis chapter one, verse one, the Bible doesn't make a case for the existence of God. The Bible presupposes the existence of God. In the beginning, God, right? Because verse 21, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. And listen, just because someone over the course of their life sins in so many what the world might consider seemingly small or insignificant ways and yet renders themselves through their suppression of truth in their own righteousness, renders themselves unable to see it, unable to understand it, unable to recognize it, unable to acknowledge him, that doesn't excuse them from judgment, that exacerbates their judgment. That makes them more guilty, more worthy of God's retributive justice against them, right? It makes it worse, not better, that they don't see it. Professing to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, birds, forfeited animals, creeping things. So what does God do? Point three on your notes. God's righteous retribution. God's righteous retribution. What does he do in verse 24? Therefore, God also gave them up, there it is again, divine abandonment. He gave them up to uncleanness, gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. They've made the exchange, they've made the exchange. They've said their hearts and minds, this is what I want. I'm suppressing this truth of God in my unrighteousness and what does God do? God gives it to them, gives them to it, abandons them, turns them over, those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen.  Then God says, you can have those lusts. You can have that lie, I give you over to it, and you are without excuse on the day of judgment, without excuse on the day of judgment, without excuse. When you stand before God on the day of judgment, what was our premise? Through the clear and general revelation of himself in creation, to all mankind made in his image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of his own unrighteousness, right? Through the clear and general revelation of himself in creation, to all mankind made in his image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice, and he does that on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of man's own unrighteousness. You know, what should be the response of men made in the image of God? He reveals himself. What should be the response? What should be the delighted response of the heart to abide with him in adoration and in worship? Even now, what should be the response of sinful men made in the image of God, right, who fell in Adam and now sinned because they are by nature sinners? What should their response be to the general revelation of God? You should put your face in your hands and weep over the ways that you've offended him and cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy that you've sinned against the one who made you for his glory and you've lived in offense against him. You've lived in rebellion against him. You should repent and put your faith and trust in him that he is merciful, that he is forgiving, and that he will pour out grace and mercy upon you in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will turn and put your trust in him alone.   What a free offer of his grace. You'd be a fool to keep living life the way you are now. An absolute fool to turn a blind eye to it.  And there is an accounting coming, a day of reckoning coming. There's hope for you in Christ. There's hope for you in the Gospel. That paragraph began in verse 18 with that little word, four. In verse 18, that little word, four. That means that our paragraph is explaining or flowing from that which came before. Four connects it to what came before. What came before is this in verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. It's the power of God to salvation. Salvation from sin. Salvation from the righteous and the holy wrath of Almighty God. Salvation. It is the power of God, the Gospel, is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Everyone who puts their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Jew first, also for the Greek. For in it, in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Why is the righteousness, the perfection, the holiness, the righteousness of God, why is that righteousness of God which can be received by faith, a free gift from God, can be received by you in faith, putting your faith in Christ, that righteousness can be yours. Why is that free offer of His grace revealed in the Gospel in verse 17? Why? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men. That's why the Gospel is there. Because God has revealed His righteous wrath.  If you're not clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You could die today. God has made provision in His only begotten Son that we may be saved from sin and saved from His wrath. General Revelation has rendered you without excuse. You are anything but a good person. You are anything but a good person.  God will not be mocked.  You've exchanged the truth of God for the lie. You don't need the Gospel because you're lonely. You don't need the Gospel because you're poor or because you're unhappy. You need the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is revealed in the Gospel because you are unrighteous.  His gift of righteousness can be yours by faith. Will you trust Him now? Don't wait. Don't put it off. Do it now. Do it now. Turn from your sin now. Don't trust Him now, brothers and sisters. We have a new heart created in us by the Spirit of God applying the work, the benefits, the blessings of Jesus Christ our Savior. And it's in that new creation then that we can look to God's creation and praise and adore and worship Him. Amen? Don't take that grace of God in vain. Worship the Lord, heart, soul, mind, and strength. All praise, honor, and glory to the one who has graciously revealed Himself to us through His Son. Let's pray. Father in heaven, our great Almighty God. Lord, we look to the heavens, look around us. We see the work of your hands.  But, Lord, it's when we look within, at the sin of our own heart, the corrupt nature, this other law in our members. Lord, we look to you in wonder and awe, in gratitude and thanks and amazement, Lord, that you would in grace save sinners through Jesus Christ. You would change us, save us from the presence of sin, save us from the power of sin, save us from the penalty of sin. We're grateful for this work that you do. And it is wondrous in our sight. We're grateful. Lord, I pray that you would do that work for sinners here today, for the glory of your name. You would save them, cause them to worship you as is right. And that, Lord, for your people here, that you would cause us, Lord, to see with fresh sight, see with eyes of faith, wondrous works of our God, and you would exalt in you, magnify the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and worship you in spirit and in truth. May you be honored in these things. May you be glorified in them. May your will be done. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.


beautiful day here on the Lungo Piat Doors. I caught lots of humorous moods. The Platt River Trail. As you can see, it's flowing high. It's flowing fast and flowing with the color of I like creamer but not coffee. Summer's finally here in Casper.