Volunteered Geographic Information, VGI, is a subset of crowdsourced data, CSD, which has recently increased in popularity and is used in disaster management, but quality issues such as credibility, reliability, and relevance limit its advantages. A naive Bayesian network approach based on spam email detection systems was used to assess the credibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Usher Heidi crowd map dataset during the 2011 Australian floods, resulting in an accuracy of over 90% using a forced classification methodology. This article was authored by Salman Kosswat, Kevin McDougal, and Shia Yehlu.


Shoot down a temperature like this to keep your distance. Yes, sir Let's stay focused watch your sectors There's the communications outpost The missing troopers, let's check it out So let's go six. All right noble team spread out watch the approach Looks clear from this angle the stress beacons coming from just south of your commander. We're close Roger that ice peel found a beacon make out any ID Negative, but it's military Why are we not seeing explosives residue? Noble three. Can you confirm any EX residue in the area? Negative sir. There's a lot of blood on the ground All right, noble looks like there's nothing here. Let's move on Next structure boss circle west and check it out noble team you have permission to engage but be selective We don't need a telegrapher presence.   We've got military casualties two of the missing troopers Looks like they were interrogated It's messy got something you want to tell me you see anything Negative There we go lower level


For the first couple months of the season Nuggets fans had to watch their team Stumble around with a bubble hangover Desperately treading water to keep their head above the play-in tournament pool all while Jeremy Grant Ran out to most improved player of the year status with his new team in Detroit It became apparent real quick that while Nikola Yolkic and Jamal Murray were the best players on the team Grant may have been the most important The same way Dremont Green was for the champion warriors while not necessarily being the most talented Jeremy's ability to guard positions one through five and contain the other team's stars is Undeniable the exodus of Grant and Craig combined with Gary Harris's injury and father time catching up to Paul Milsap this Nuggets team just couldn't guard their own shadow before the trade deadline their 113.3 defensive rating put them in almost the absolute bottom of the league at one point And for what felt like an eternity Denver needed MVP performances from Yolkic every night Early this season just to scratch out wins against mediocre teams because they just couldn't stop giving up easy buckets To Yolkic's credit. He did it and the fort was held down But as we return to conversations about whether this team could actually win a championship We have to consider whether the moves they made at the deadline Will be enough the answer Surprisingly might be a yes. Aaron Gordon has been awesome He's been awesome because they don't need him to have the ball in his hands to make an impact in six games Gordon is averaging only two points less per game as he was in Orlando while his usage percentage has plummeted from 23.8 to 17 This means he's giving you the same production with better efficiency It's not just scoring either since being traded the Nuggets are undefeated their best starter Using plus minus on the court off the court as the standard is Aaron Gordon at plus 71 The Murray Barton Gordon MPJ Yolkic lineup is not only the best in the NBA at a plus 34 net rating It's nearly 10 full points better than second place Who maybe you've heard of them is on the best record in the league Utah Jazz To illustrate just how good these nuggets have been because of Aaron Gordon's impact I'm gonna kick it to coach Nick from V-ball breakdown for the X's and O's What's up sports fans? It's coach Nick here and Rob I've got a crazy stat for you of the 31 buckets Aaron Gordon has made as a nugget 16 of them have been assisted by Nicola Yolkic The whole Nuggets offense is about getting Yolkic the ball at the elbow and Gordon cuts from all over the court This time in the strong side corner He gets the slice screen for the nifty over the head reverse Check this one Yolkic dribbles to the elbow triggering the backdoor cut from the wing and the floater of a pass Finds him under the hoop for the finger roll Don't look now, but they've got Gordon as the point guard in the double high post horn set Check the back screen the free throw line and it's over before it began Of course, they also feed Yolkic on the low block watch Gordon wander over the screen for Jamal Murray But breaks that off and boy was that reverse a nice surprise on defense He's been solid and active making life a bit miserable on some of these Kawhi possessions He's big. He's mobile. He's explosive and these plays lead me to believe The Nuggets are going to be able to count on him in the playoffs against the other team's best player If you're in the market, you'd better be buying all the Nuggetstock you can it'll definitely be worth something Take it away Rob. This offseason Denver thought they could put a band-aid on a gash replacing Jeremy Grant with your Michael Green and as they bled out through the first half of the 2021 campaign little did they know it would be a blessing in disguise because it brought them here To that one piece Nuggets fans have always thought they needed to get over the hump Only time will tell if Aaron Gordon is worthy of that distinction But one thing is for sure They are as close as they've ever been


Welcome to Monet Cafe. I'm artist Susan Jenkins. I think a lot of you are gonna enjoy this lesson today on creating light with soft pastel How do we do that with an opaque medium? Oh, this is gonna be lots of fun So come on in the studio with me and let's get started I'd also really appreciate it if you would take a moment right now to like Subscribe and hit that little bell icon to be notified of future videos And I'm able to keep these free lessons coming because of the support from my patrons on my patreon page If you would like to consider becoming a patron, it's only five dollars a month and you get extra goodies and extra content Let's talk about the supplies used. I used a reference image from unsplash.com I'll have the link to that reference image in the description of this video. Also, I'm using a homemade surface I have another video showing exactly how I made these boards and I'll have a clickable link for that video in The description of this video. It's really an economical way for you to paint with pastels and make your own DIY Surfaces. I thought this surface was perfect for the reference image because the color was already very similar To the lightest part of those lemons where the light was shining through it I'll get back to the sketching in just a minute But I wanted to share with you the primary pastels that I used for this were the Jack Richardson hand rolled pastels It's the 40 landscape set. I recently did an Amazon product review video on these pastels I'll provide a clickable link to that video as well And obviously many people are loving it because since sharing my video review They've sold out so you may have to try to find these pastels on Dickblick.com or some other soft pastel retailer But as I always say use what you have you don't have to have this set of pastels And I know a lot of you first getting started you don't have that many pastels So I'll give you lots of options and talk a lot about that as I'm painting I'm simply using a charcoal pencil to sketch in just the basic shapes Nothing is to be too complicated at this point I find that when I focus on the big shapes and a sketchy type of quality It's going to help to enhance that painterly feel and as I sketch here I want to talk a little bit more about the topic of this video, which is capturing light and One of the reasons that I chose this particular board of the homemade boards. I had made I made various different colors I often I'll do this. I'll look at my reference image usually the way it works with me I just want to get some inspiration and Often I don't really have a theme or a subject matter in mind unless I'm doing a particular tutorial on it And often an image will inspire me, which was the case when I saw these lemons I thought wow capturing that light. What a focal point, right? And I let the reference image kind of guide the process Even with picking out my surface and my pastels So I thought this particular almost lemony lime green color would be perfect to capture that translucent feel of the lemon slices and with an opaque medium like soft pastel or acrylic or oil We can if we're not careful we can lose that translucent Feeling and I thought it would be really great to let a lot of this surface show through now The board that I created this lemony lime color on was a white board Actually a piece of matte board and I used the smooth side So let me just pop in a little clip of how I made it here This is something called golden fine pumice gel It has a little bit of grit or sand to it which soft pastels work really well with a gritty surface And I used golden open acrylics that color is green gold You can kind of see it up there in the top left corner And it has a little paint swatch on the top of the tube that shows you how Translucent it is and this green gold is very Translucent so when I apply it to the white board a lot of the white board is going to show through You will see that right now. So it gives me a very light and translucent feel Now if you actually I think the golden fine pumice gel is a little hard to find right now at least on Dick Blick I ordered it it was on back order, but you can do the same thing with the the bottle That's right above my hand there says liquid Tex clear gesso also is a product that has little granular kind of sandy elements to it and it'll create a sanded surface So this is such a neat way to make your own pastel surfaces and I like them being on boards like this They're a little more sturdy and I have control over what colors I choose to make them So there's many advantages to do it yourself pastel surfaces. I have so many videos on this channel I have a playlist actually on Homemade surfaces if you want to look at all the different ways that I do that So I thought that would be neat for you to see how I do that because that is what I think is going to keep This lemon slice looking so Translucent now one medium that has Translucency kind of inherent to the medium is watercolor watercolor. It would be a lot easier to actually Capture that so the trick here is using an opaque medium one that's not see-through to create that see-through feel so I'll talk more about my strategy and You saw I just erased a little bit of that charcoal with a kneaded eraser just to kind of soften it up I didn't need all those black lines showing through and now I'm using like I said primarily the Jack Richardson Landscape set. It's 40 half sticks of Soft pastels. I always recommend if you're a beginner artist and I get these questions all the time What's a good set to get? Well, there's so many of them But I always recommend half stick sets whenever possible a lot of companies offer sets that Basically have a little smaller version instead of a full stick They have a half stick and you almost always get double the color for your money and that's what you want as a new artist You want a lot of colors to choose from But as I stated before you do not have to have this set as long as you use values that are close Now, why am I using these blues right now? I mean what why are you some blues? Lemons are warm, you know a warm color, but I know this side of the lemon is in shadow You'll be able to see it from the shadows that I create and so I want to get that shadowy color in first and One of the wonderful qualities about soft pastel is their layering ability So if you get in a cool tone, I can later lay in some warmer values like I'm doing right now See, I picked a more of a brownish color Now the reason I'm doing that is I needed a darker value and believe it or not a darker value Brown is a dark value of yellow. I remember as an early artist thinking I need a darker yellow I can't find yellows that are dark. Well, it's brown and so that's a good color for me to use to get the shadowy side of the lemon and Have that coolness already laid down So it gives that feeling of shadow things in shadow. This is to my knowledge. This is my expression When you get in the shade or a shadow you cool off, right? If you're hot outside you go get in the shade Well, that's the same thing that happens with colors. They cool off They lean more towards the cooler side of the color wheel So that's why I got those those cooler colors in first now notice. I'm working dark to light I often work that way. I'm not going to add my lightest highlights until the final end of this painting And I'm working the whole I'm trying not to Do what I used to do is a beginner artist, you know early on and I know a lot of you guys If you're new you probably do the same thing I would have focused just on that middle lemon slice because that's the most exciting part, right? It's the focal point and I would have probably gotten all Just too into it and the result would be it would be over detailed and then my painting would not feel connected So if you want to painterly impressionistic feel and for your painting to feel like it works Work the whole try to get your basic values first in and colors in in big shapes And then you gradually hone in and fine-tune things to the finish So that is some advice. I always give Work your big shapes blocking things in is what it's called And now I know that this the leaf shape is quite dark If you look at the reference image you can see that and it's also on the shadowy side now There's a very light green leaf behind that one. The light is catching that one and you'll see later I actually tweak this I didn't really I looked at it and we have the artistic license to be able to do that as artist I didn't like how it was kind of going out and behind it. It was a bit confusing Sometimes I'll just lightly use my finger to blend like I did there. So later. You'll see me actually read or adjust that by Literally erasing it off with a stiff bristle paintbrush. So that'll be coming up later Now I'm still all Jack Richardson pastels to this point But again, you can use similar values and as long as the colors are close You'll be good to go now notice too I liked the complementary color palette going on here big time and the same strategy. I'm working dark to light Notice to how very Textural this board is now that's something that would have freaked me out as an early artist as well It would have bothered me. I was I would be like man. This is just not blending. It's not getting smooth well hold your horses artist because What happens is the pastels as you layer more they start to blend themselves and what looks very chunky at first will eventually start to pull together and I'll talk more about that as they start to blend now This is probably the darkest pastel in the Jack Richardson landscape set and it's a wonderful dark It's kind of a really dark navy and it was perfect for laying down these shadows now I got another really dark gray blue To kind of layer on top of the dark blue you see how it almost created a new color And I'll do the same strategy with the rest of them But that's something I actually really want to make a video on is showing you if you're a beginner artist And you have a very limited set of pastels You can actually create new colors you have more colors than you think and that's because we can layer colors That actually create a new color The dark blue that I'm adding here when I add the other blue on top It's a mixture of both those colors as long as you keep a light touch and you kind of scumble the colors in So don't fret you probably have more colors than you think And I'm just softening up getting some of that some of that yellowy green Smoothed out a little bit here for the shadows and all of this has been at real time so far and notice now how it Actually now I'm just adding that stem. It was kind of hard to distinguish where it was coming from I think I tweaked this a little towards the end too. I didn't want anything to steal the show from the main lemon So so that's why I kind of make some adjustments at the end notice also that I Haven't done anything to the translucent the most translucent lemons Which are the slices the round one and the little wedge in the lower right corner I'm leaving that very Translucent lime color and not messing with that until I really want to start focusing on Getting a little more detail to that area now. I also too wanted to warm up some of the shadows I know light was peeking through But there was some warmth to that light and it was a little darker in some areas So I'm using this really nice neutral brown color Notice too how when you don't over blend you Really have more of a painterly feel and that's what I get a lot of comments from you guys from us I've been an artist who focus mostly on realism and I'd like to get that painterly feel well One thing is don't overwork your painting and don't over blend and often I'm preaching to myself here to stop before you think you're done Now I did have a little bit more of that light kind of peeking through But notice I put the dark down first to be able to layer that light and and things are starting to layer themselves now And I was really liking these early stages. It sort of had a little bit of a van go feel, you know that's kind of how I was feeling and also, too, this is still part of this month in Monet cafe and For my patrons in my patreon group. I'll talk a little bit more about that a minute The theme is tiny treasures and I have been talking this month about so many of the advantages of painting small and My patrons from my patreon page. Well, let me describe what it is to be a patron of mine all the the lessons on This channel Monet cafe are free free for everybody and one of the most beautiful things to me is that there are people all over the world Who have limited resources? Sometimes it's financial resources. They're limited. They can't afford to get art lessons or time limitations They have children and they don't can't get out much or Also, too, some people have physical handicaps and can't go places to get art instruction So that's what I love about Continuing to be able to offer free tutorials on Monet cafe And I have many of them or some of them are unlisted only my patrons can see them But I have over 600 videos probably about 500 of them are public and so there's just so much content I do focus on soft pastels a lot, but the lessons really go across so many different mediums And so to keep those lessons coming, you know, it's all free and a lot of the things I do of course the supplies cost money and the Camera equipment and the time that I put into it Editing these videos is really it takes more time than painting them So the support from my patrons $5 a month for my beautiful patrons are the ones and the reason why these free lessons keep coming So if you're one of those people who is in that position You really need to give a little applause and a hallelujah Thank you to all my patrons because that's the reason I'm able to keep this coming This has become my full-time profession now and it's because of my patron support So if anybody out there would like to support this channel I'll put a clickable link. Well, I'll put a little card right here And there's always a clickable link at the end of this video and in the description So thank you patrons, but my patrons are doing the most awesome little tiny paintings right now We have a homework album and I have been oh my goodness Enjoying not only your paintings, but your comments. You are totally embracing the benefits of tiny paintings also too if you're Not a patron of mine. We have a Monet cafe art group on Facebook. I see a lot of your stuff there Though I do focus mostly my time with my patrons, but you can become a member there for free You just have to ask to join Monet cafe art group on Facebook So lots of resources lots of free resources, which is awesome. Alright, you see it all coming together now I've just been layering color now the limes limes I say lime because the background looks a little lime colored the lemons actually did have some Golden kind of colors to them. That's why I added some of those golden kind of brownish colors And some kind of orange tones. You'll see me add later. Now. I'm trying to get remember when I said I work dark to light I'm getting just a hint of where these highlights are gonna be. This is once again a Jack Richardson I still think that's all I've used at this point. I'll mention when I grab some other pastels and I'm sneaking in Some of those lightest highlights. Alright, now here is where I'm grabbing a different pastel These are my handy dandy prismacolor new pastels. It's spelt in you pastels these long kind of rectangular sticks in the soft pastel genre of of pastels Of soft pastels they range in hardness to softness The jack richison's I've been using I would say are quite soft But not as soft as a senelier perhaps so these things you learn as you as you paint But these prismacolor new pastels lean more towards the harder side of pastels and while sometimes you can't get the vibrant color with the the prismacolor new pastels They are excellent for blending and getting in little sketchy lines So they have their wonderful place in the soft pastel lineup Now I'm adding the the little filament. Is that what you would call it inside of the lemon slices? They were a little darker in value But because the light was shining through them, what do you think that would do to the color temperature? If light is shining, would it be dark? Would it be warmer or would it be cooler? It's going to be warmer. So that's why I picked this kind of neutral brownish color that I used before I didn't want it to be too dark But it is kind of An opaque element in other words The Structure of it is a little more opaque. So that's why I wanted to get it a little bit darker But I'm reserving or preserving that very translucent center of the lemon right now I want to reshape that Lemon back there a little bit and that's the neat thing about pastels. That's why I said with the sketch get it in loosely Um, I mean you want to focus on good drawing. Don't get me wrong, but don't get it so tight that it looks um, I don't know Unimpressionistic if that's a word So these things can be developed as you work. Now the highlight on that lemon leaf to the plant Did have some coolness to it. So I'm kind of working it a little bit and Again, you'll see me in a little while. I lose that back leaf I felt like it was confusing with the one that had kind of some of the blue highlights there I also wanted to share with you a little trick if you're Maybe a little concerned or you're a beginner and you're not sure of your composition Or if you've got your elements in correctly and you want to get a better way to see those things Well, one way it sounds crazy. Take a picture of your painting at a particular point or drawing and look at it on your phone or whatever device you're looking at Look at it as a teeny image as a little thumbnail. That's what it's called those little teeny images And it sounds crazy to say but you can actually see Errors and and your composition more clearly when things are small So and I have another trick for you coming up soon, but let me tell you more about this now Here's where I was adding if you look at the reference image I don't know about your screen, but I see a lot of orange It's the warm light in the reference image in the lower right corner here So that's why I'm using this new pastel and then I used a little bit Can you see in the reference image? I'm seeing almost reddish tones where the sunlight is really bright on those little parts of the lemon where maybe that slice is just kind of touching the other one And so this new pastel worked well to get that warmth in there Also because these pastels are harder, they really do start to blend Your other pastels. I find they're good sometimes for blending clouds once you've gotten a few layers of your softer pastels in I can use my new pastels, you know with the unappropriate color of course to kind of soften clouds And okay, here's the second tip for seeing any errors maybe in your composition Is to take your painting if it's on a board And take it into your bathroom or wherever you have a mirror and look at it in the mirror This works really well for doing portraits, whether it's people or animals When you mirror the image You're really able to see errors more clearly and it's just a neat little trick I had someone. Uh, oh, I think it was someone who commented on my Page by the way, I'm trying to build my instagram following. So go find me on instagram I'm at susan jinkins artist. I share a lot of little quick fun videos and reels on there But I had one of the artists on there say wow. Thank you so much for sharing so many Things or she said something like you don't hold back anything a lot of artists like to keep secrets of their techniques And I'm like, man, isn't this supposed to be shared? You know, so Thank you to the person who shared that because I think what's really neat is that We're going to develop our own unique style anyway. So why is any of this a secret, you know And hey, it's just more beautiful when we share. All right, so you can see things are developing And I think there were a couple of times I grabbed A pastel that was other than the jack richison set And even other than the new pastels I talked about but mostly you can see It was almost exclusively the set and you know, like I said before I've been enjoying I'm now doing product review videos on my amazon shop And stay tuned for more of those by the way, you can learn a lot about the products that I'm reviewing from my little short videos But uh, I was happy to see that Amazon sold out of this set. They had a price really pretty good for this set on amazon I always say compare don't just buy something because it's on my amazon shop Check it out on other sites get your best price But often I like to buy things on amazon because I have amazon prime and I get free shipping So where the price might be the same On amazon versus dick blick or other art retailers. If you're having to pay $15 in shipping Well, there really is a savings to using amazon. So that's just my two cents No pun intended about saving money. I've had to save money a lot in my art career So I feel like I can really relate with so many of you Don't we wish we could buy everything all of these art supplies and goodies? But I improve that you can get started without a What did they say having champagne taste on a beer budget? Oh my goodness, but you can get started without having, you know, lots of financial resources to begin with Okay, I digress susan get back to the painting and what i'm doing now you can see I added some of the cool blue colors Do you see those little spaces? Like underneath the wedges. Well, you can't because my hand's in the way now But like where that round slice is there's a little teeny section of blue kind of peeking through to that other slice there Okay, I'm taking it off my board now to show you my little trick I wanted to reshape the leaf. I didn't really like How there were two leaves one on top of the other I felt like it was confusing and I wanted to simplify it So why would I turn the board upside down to do that? Well, it's because I don't want all that pastel to fall on to my translucent lemon that I'm trying to preserve So if you just get a stiff bristle paintbrush that one I was using was kind of stiff It really will knock off a lot of the pastel Almost like erasing it and give you the ability to get more layers in Now with this particular homemade surface, I find you can easily get five or six layers Um, so and you will know when you have over Saturated your layers if you want to call it the pastels start to become very muddy They lose their vibrancy Sometimes they'll start to feel kind of slick And then sometimes you literally just can't get any color down and that means you've over layered your surface Oh, and by the way, I wanted to mention that the reference image that I got from unsplash.com This particular photographer had quite a few photos That were along the same theme. I think one of them may even have been oranges with light shining through them Then she had another lemon wedge with some light shining through it And I'm going to speed things up a bit for the remaining part of this except for the end I'm going to come back to real time when I go to add those you see the seeds if you can see the reference image I had to make it really small But the seeds that are in the lemon and some of the little filament things inside there I'm going to come back and talk a little bit more about that So let me add some music for you guys real quick and I'll be back real soon All right, I'm finally going to start working more on this central lemon slice Here I'm adding if you look in the reference image, there's a little bit of a shadow on the bottom Right side to the lemon also a little bit on the top left kind of section of it So I'm using my little stiff bristle brush again just to kind of blend some things slightly And that's another neat little technique. You can actually you know brush with a paint brush on your painting to blend things Now I'm going in and getting some of those areas What's this video about creating light and even though I've kept Still the translucency of the original surface there I want to brighten things up even more with some of this sunlight that is just so beautiful shining through back to the jack richest sun pastels They had some lovely warm yellow colors in this set And that's one of the reasons that I I chose the set. I'm like wow these will really be great for this For the lemon colors now i'm back to using my prismacolor new pastel They're also sometimes easier for getting in Smaller spaces like I'm doing right here, and I'm giving a little texture All you have to do is suggest these things don't overdo it We don't have to tell everybody or show everybody every single little bump on the lemon Just give it a suggestion now. I apologize my light changed in my studio Um, I don't know maybe the sun came out or something. Um, but I'm still continuing to give a little bit more Texture to these now. I've slowed it down a bit. Now what I'm doing here. I'm using kind of a blue prismacolor new pastel and I'm getting the shape of that lemon seed in and I'm doing it very lightly I don't want it to be so opaque or so dark that it pulls the viewer's eye Away from my central focal point and I'm just suggesting them where they actually are on the lemon And now I put the blue down But I'm going to warm it up a bit because light is shining through this lemon Back to my point about how you can create new colors with pastels by layering Here's me again using the warmer tone to suggest the seeds. This is really so easy You know, I like to say painting's not hard once you learn the rules You just got to keep at it to be able to learn the rules So now you're getting that feeling of the light shining through that Upper if you divided the lemon slice in half kind of diagonally that upper left half Where the light is shining through and you can tell that's where it's shining through You can see it by the break in the shadow on the ground and those shadows really helped to ground The lemon too and they're getting such a three-dimensional feel just by using Color and value, you know, that's all it is. It's like an illusion I used to do magic when I was young not weird evil magic, but illusion I I fell in love with it when my dad here. I go on a tangent warning tangent My dad Brought me home. He got we didn't get to go to disney world until later when we were kids while my dad was trying to build a business and He got to go to disney world on some convention and he went by the little magic shop Is anybody ever been there and they had so many neat little magic tricks and he brought me home some and I don't know I was probably seven years old or so and I was fascinated by trying to Trick people with these illusions And so when I paint I often think, you know, really painting is an illusion We're giving the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface So it's quite fun and quite challenging, right? All right, here is the light shining through this lemon And I hope I have really helped you guys to understand more about creating light with an opaque medium like soft pastels Also, I have lots more tiny painting tutorials coming I gave my patrons a chance to vote on which lesson I would upload first I have like four more paintings and they chose this lemon lesson first, but next will probably be um That beach scene and then these peacock feathers were done with some iridescent pastels and metallic watercolor So lots more free learning and fun on the way I'm going to get a little abstract where I repurposed a piece of sanded pastel paper having lots of fun with color So if you've made it this far in this video, I really hope you will click the thumbs up like this video Leave me a comment subscribe if you haven't already and if you'd like to support this channel I'd really appreciate you becoming a patron for five dollars a month. All right, everyone happy painting and god bless


Bushiri wins in South Africa court against jealousy foreigners, judge orders no defamation on Facebook. South Africa-based Malawian prophet Shepard Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering, ECG, scored a giant legal victory on Tuesday when the Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria, ruled in his favor that the organizers of Wednesday's false prophets march should stop using the event to defame the name of the renowned man of God. The court underlined that the organizers should stop referring to Prophet Bushiri in defamatory terms on their posters during the Johannesburg march. Residing judge Elizabeth Kiyobushi also interdicted organizers of the hashtag fake prophets must fall march and Martins Antonio accused of making some of the defamatory statements from making them on Facebook regarding the prophet. Further, the court also ruled that Antonio, together with Solomon Isham's and Charles Faray, should also stop attacking Prophet Bushiri on their Facebook profiles. The three have always been attacking Prophet Bushiri on their Facebook profiles on a series of unfounded accusations. Hence, Judge Kiyobushi ordered the three to delete, within 12 hours, all the offensive statements regarding Bushiri from social media. Bushiri, who is also the founder of the Shepherd Bushiri Ministries International, which has branches in Pretoria, turned to court to obtain an urgent interdict against the spreading of defamatory statements on social media against him. The Prophet was not in court on Tuesday, but he was well represented by two senior advocates Barry Roo SC, who defended Oscar Pistorius and Mavisa Sabanda SC, as well as a string of lawyers. Angolan Martins Antonio was the only one of the three respondents who opposed the interdict and who was present at Wednesday's proceedings. Neither Isham's or Faray pitched at court, but Roo told Judge Kiyobushi that they were not opposing the application. The two have already removed the offending statements from their social media profiles, he said. Roo, however, said it was up to the court to in any event also to rule against them, although they were not opposing the application. We fully understand freedom of speech, but our Constitution does not encourage unlawful conduct, Roo argued. He said the statements published regarding Bushiri were clearly defamatory. Roo said Wednesday's march against false prophets was a good march and Bushiri supported it. It is something we need. But Roo said it cannot be tolerated that Bushiri's good name is tainted in the process. The Prophet feared that posters would be displayed during the rally, which defamed him by linking him to criminal activities and by referring to him, among others, as the devil. This must stop, Roo said. He told the court that a letter of demand was sent to the three respondents. While the other two did adhere to the demands, Antonio Point Blank refused, he said. Antonio has a bone to pick but he does not know where to stop, Roo said. Roo said Antonio was the author of the offending pamphlet, but Antonio's advocate vehemently denied this. He blamed others, including the other two respondents, for the creation of the posters and the offending words. Advocate Kielunan Duongo said Antonio cannot be held responsible for the material created on the poster, as he is not the author of the document. He said all Antonio did was to publish the poster on social media to try and attract publicity for the march. Antonio, in an interview with Pretoria News, said he is not organizer of Wednesday's march. He was simply invited as one of victims who suffered under the accusations of the Prophet. Antonio is from Angola, Charles Faray is from Zimbabwe Wallachams is from Nigeria.


Hello friends, welcome to Centrum Academy YouTube channel where we bring for you every day one new problem in the art of problem solving So here we are here. We are with yet another problem in the art of problem solving So these students as you can see on your screen right now We have a question where a integration question has been asked, right? But what is different in this question is you actually do not know the function which you have to integrate Because that function has been written in the form of a puzzle for us, right? So this is exactly what we call in mathematics as Functional equation so they have mentioned the function as a functional equation So they are not very explicit about the function rather. It is very implicitly mentioned as a functional equation So first of all if you want to solve such a question, we need to figure out. What is this function actually? Now there are so many text materials. There are so many resource materials to help you find a Functional equation solution, but actually if you see from the core of it, there is no direct method to find it out So you have to try out you have to put some special values of the inputs and try to see Where are you basically heading for while you're finding the function? So in this case what we are going to do is as you can see there is a functional equation on your screen Which I am highlighting with the yellow color. So in this case what I'm going to do I'm going to start by substituting x equal to f of y in this functional equation Okay, so let's put x as f of y. Let's see what happens to our function So what happens I end up getting f of x minus x on the left hand side on the right hand side I'll end up getting f of x plus x Now f y is x so that will become x into x again, which is x squared plus f of x minus 1, right? So this gives us f 0 equal to 2 f of x plus x square minus 1 Right now. What is f 0 here? f 0 is something which we don't know yet So let's call that f 0 as a c because we know for sure it's going to be some constant, right? So let's replace our f 0 with a c so that leaves us with C equal to 2 f of x plus x square minus 1 So what is f of x? f of x is going to be c plus 1 minus x square over 2 All right now without knowing my c I would not be able to know my function and without knowing the function Unfortunately, I will not be able to find this integral So everything is dependent on me finding the value of c because once we are done with the c We know the function completely and once we know the function completely there is no stopping from there on All right, so let's move on. So what I'm going to do next is something which might surprise you So please please please watch this video carefully So what I'm going to do next is I'm going to put I'm going to put my x value So let's put my x value as let's say something called y1 and let's put the f of y value as y2 Okay, so what I'm doing I'm basically trying to tamper the input of the left-hand side So as you can see the the part which I'm circling for you that x I'm going to put as y1 and f of y I'm going to put as a y2. Okay. Let's see. Where does it lead to? So the left-hand side becomes f of y1 minus y2, right? What happens to the right side? What happens to the right side? My right side becomes f of y2 Isn't it? All right, so now Let us put in the value of f of y2 now. See everybody. Please pay attention This expression gives you an idea of the structure of the function, right? So if f of x is c plus 1 minus x square by 2 It's very easy to figure out that f of y2 will be c plus 1 minus y2 square by 2, right? and Not only that f of y1 can also be written in a similar way as C plus 1 minus y2 square by 2 and finally the minus 1 which is there already in the expression Now, let us simplify this even further All right So this 2 and the ones they will happily get cancelled and I will end up getting 2 c on the top I'll end up getting minus y1 square minus y2 square plus 2 y1 y2 whole upon 2, right? In case you have any issues, please do comment in the comment section and let me know if you are not able to understand any Power of it. I'll be happy to shoot another video for the same Okay, so now Let's write this term as y1 minus y2 whole square So each of my viewers would agree to me that I can write this as y1 minus y2 the whole square Isn't it? Okay. So here we are with the last leg of the vacation, right? Now I would expect everybody now to listen this out very very carefully So here if you have put y1 minus y2 as your input, you are getting the function in terms of y1 minus y2 What does this indicate my dear viewers? It indicates that if I put x in place of y1 minus y2, this should ideally give me c minus x square by 2, right? So all I'm doing is I'm changing the input to the function from y1 minus y2 back to x, right? So when I change it back to x everywhere where there is a y1 minus y2 would automatically get replaced by an x So what does it mean finally? So if you see this is Let's say the expression of the function and we only had one expression over here Let's call this as the two so since one and two correspond to the same may I equate it? Okay, so since one and two relate the same function So can I say c plus 1 minus x square by 2 is as good as c minus x square by 2? Yes, or no Yes, or no, so let's now figure out what's the value of c for us So here I can see that c plus 1 by 2 minus x square by 2 is c minus x square by 2 Let's happily cancel out x square by 2 from both the sides So that clearly means c plus 1 is 2c which means c value is a 1 Right now, this is a very happy news for us because once we get the c value We know the function completely so what is the function so that implies my function which was earlier? C minus x square by 2 now becomes 1 minus x square by 2 right great news Let's wind up the problem now by just integrating this function from 0 to 1 So what is the integral of this function from 0 to 1? Let's write it down Integral of this function from 0 to 1 is as good as saying integrating 1 minus x square by 2 that gives us x minus x cube by 6 and When you put the limits of integration it just simplifies to 5 upon 6 So the answer to this question is 5 upon 6 and the right option is Option number c s So dear students as you can see in this particular problem the problem was not in integration The problem was actually identifying the function which you want to integrate So this is where the integrand was expressed like a puzzle for us And it was very important to solve that puzzle in order to solve this question I hope this gave you a good insight on how to deal with functional equations Thank you so much for watching. Stay safe. See you


What is up everyone, welcome back to another episode of 3 short horror films. Now this is basically where we take 3 short horror films off of YouTube and we react to them and then we decide if they're creepy enough or not.  Look at him. He wanted to turn that frown upside down.  But the whole point is if you want to turn this frown upside down, like the video. Alright, so let's go ahead and jump into our first short horror film which is Toast by Deformed Lunchbox. Toast. How do you guys like your Toast by the way? Why do you want to get like that? All the last Pringle. Dude, what's up with this guy? It's just facial expressions. Okay, so it seems like he is hooked on Toast. Yo. Sorry man, it's a dude. Wait, he's up to something. And I don't think it's any good from the looks of it. Sorry, but this guy looks like a freak bro. Don't do it bro. I guess that's another option when you run out of Toast. Just throw your hand into the Toaster. The sizzling. Wait, what? His hand is a Toast? What? He's a mad man. I mean, I like Toast, but I don't think I've ever wanted to toast that freaking bad. Like, what the heck is wrong with that guy? That dude was definitely a freak man. Alright, next we got Bloody Mary by ACM official. Don't do it girl.  I remember doing this like in the elementary at the restrooms. Bloody Mary. Yo. What the heck? Bloody Mary.  Yep, not so fun anymore, huh? Nobody's there. She took a shower and then look at the water. Oh, does that hurt? She done got snatched up man. This is the dirtiest water ever seen. I'm excited to take a shower, but our last film is the Ballerina by Social House Films. Can't be nothing scary about a Ballerina, right? I guess we'll find out. I thought it was her toenails. That looks painful. The evil has arrived. Okay, this music is kind of freaky. Wait, did she see someone? Okay, I think she's just dripping out on like her reflection.  Just then they're looking at her bro. Okay, this is pretty insane. Why is she gone? Who would have left? Okay, now it's a dance battle. What is she doing, bro? Come on with her bro, she's spazzing out. I guess she didn't like her critiquing. She broke her ankle. Twisted man. Wait, what? No way.  The Ballerina. That was sick. Wait, but why did it only happen to her? If it's a reflection, shouldn't it work both ways? If I'm not mistaken? I don't know. Bro, she's going. She's probably not right now. She doesn't even care. Look at her doing the spider. Right, well those were some three short horror films. I got to say the best one might have been the toast one. I don't know. It was just weird and creepy. Like the way he put his hand in the toaster and just burnt it off. And magically turned into a slice of toast somehow. I have no freaking idea how, but that dude was a freak, man. So thank you all for watching. If you're new around here, be sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell when you do so. And I'll see you guys in the next one.


The Nigerian Senate has approved the appointment of seven of the nominees of President Tinibu as resident electoral commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission. The remaining three nominees were not present for screening. The nominees approved are Mr. Ete Kambao Moran, Aqaibum. Mr. Ishae Himeaikne from Edo, Barista Olua Toyin Babalola Ekiti. Mr. Abubaka Ahmed Gombe. Shekhu Wahab Kwara Aminu Idris Nasarawa Mohamed Abubaka Sadiq, Niger. The Syngwish colleagues will the Senate confirm the nomination of Mr. Mohamed Abubaka Sadiq from Niger State for appointment as resident electoral commission at REC for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Those in favor say aye. Aye. Those again say nay. The aye serve it. The nomination of Mr. Mohamed Abubaka Sadiq from Niger State is hereby confirmed as resident electoral commission at REC for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. I want to thank all the Syngwish Senators for your patience, for your dedication and your patriotic feel. Above all, I want to thank Mr. President, who has been verously commanded by members of this Hallow Chamber for the quality of nominees that we have seen, both for the office of the Auditor General, for the Federation, as well as resident electoral commissioners to feel the vacancies already created. The Red Chamber also confirmed the nomination of Shaka Shira for appointment as the Auditor General of the Federation.


47-25 baby FKT Mount Beerstat July 12th 2018 Now let's see how we do on the descent See you at the car Oh, baby. All right, I don't know what my total time was. I have it recorded, but I don't know what it is right now Don't mind Don't mind me. I'm just talking to the camera Yeah Was it a big big group? Yeah I passed um All right folks You all who for those that watch the vlog on a regular basis and watch the other running videos you probably have learned uh when i'm breathing hard in the mountains, I really breathing I was breathing hard at the top there That felt like pike's peak the pike's peak ascent race last year. I don't know if I've Had that much lung burn since that race uh at the top of Beerstat today And I believe that's a new fkt pretty sweet Uh, I'm gonna go home and confirm that and I'm just grateful. I see at the house A little thirsty a little thirsty after that run Um The day march is on just got done filming for the night.  What a day started at 4 or 30 am It's now about 10 p.m. I'm tired, but I want to just talk about what happened on Mount Beerstat Yeah, that's right course record, baby fastest known time in fkt as it's called um Or as Strava likes to call it king of the mountain moment. So basically, uh, I Yeah, I wanted to break the record and sure enough It happened 47 minutes and 35 seconds to the top of Mount Beerstat from the trailhead And then total time round trip was one hour and 21 minutes and 11 seconds As if anyone's counting if it's and so I'm excited. Listen. What is the secret? Why am I setting Course records on these 14ers Basically, I'm not afraid to train in the winter on the same mountains That's right You got to go year-round folks. You got to be committed to the uphill high altitude efforts For your lungs and your aerobic development year round. It's just that simple Second thing is that I'm not running 100 miles a week or 120 miles a week I'm running 70 miles a week. It's not that much But I'm supplementing the high the mileage with weightlifting and so what I've discovered This is my secret. I'm letting my secret out of the bag is isolating My left leg specifically For weightlifting and making my left leg stronger My left leg is very very weak compared to my right leg because for the last 32 years I've been using my right leg to play soccer to jump for basketball To Throw the boys up in the air. And so of course my right leg is going to be stronger So what I'm realizing is for uphill running Having two legs that are just that are equally strong is really good That's a good thing And so that is my secret my tip of the day if you want to get faster at running and faster at specifically uphill running Make sure both legs are equally strong. And so I'm doing leg presses with one leg Lunges with one leg And lastly on this fine fine day is The rat the rat is winning This is the fourth No, the third last night was the third attempt To defeat the rat at this house I have tried a small mousetrap this snap Snapkind I've tried poison Neither worked. So I got the big mousetrap the big one No, it did not work either last night the the the rat got the cheese and it didn't get the rat So we're going to try again for the fourth time fourth time We're going to try and defeat the rat question of the day at the end of the vlog How do you defeat a rat or maybe Multiple rats. I don't know this thing must be huge because it stole the first mousetrap See beauty work hard Run uphill Or walk walk uphill. That's good too. Good for your health. Good for your lungs. Good for your blood flow. It's good. It's good


Hey, good morning, Radiant Church, how's everybody doing? Good. You guys doing good? Can we just welcome those who are online and our Portage Campus? Come on, everybody, put your hands together. We welcome you guys. Glad to be with you. And very excited to be back this morning and to share the word with you guys. We got an exciting fall that's coming. How many are ready for donuts, cider, football, and snow? Come on. Okay. All right. Turn with me and your Bibles to Galatians chapter five this morning. And I want to share a message with you this weekend. Next weekend, I'm actually starting a series that will take us through September and October, and it's called The Battle. And we're going to be talking about spiritual warfare. We're going to be talking about just some practical as well as maybe some things that you've never heard before from the Bible that deal with the spiritual realm, angels, demons, prayer, the weapons of our warfare, all those kinds of things. And so I think it's timely for the day and age that we live in. But I want to set it up this morning by sharing a standalone message entitled, Giving God What He Wants. Giving God What He Wants. And so I want to draw your attention to Galatians chapter five beginning in verse number seven. And this is what Paul writes to the Christians at Galatia. He said, you were running well who hindered you from obeying the truth. This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. And I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view and that the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty whoever he is. But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. And I wish that those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. But through love, serve one another, for the whole law is summed up in this one word.  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Verse 16, but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. And the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. And now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies. And these things like this I've warned you about as I've warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep step with the spirit. So I want to talk to you this morning about giving God what he wants. You know, one of the greatest dangers that you and I face living in a consumer-driven culture. And by the way, I love American culture. I love the fact that if you want a chicken sandwich, there's Chick-fil-A in a couple different locations. Come on somebody, a little bit of heaven.  There's options that we have. That's what it means to be in a consumer-driven culture because a consumer or a capitalistic type of market is supply, or supply is determined by the demand. And the demand has everything to do with us. It's us dealing with and asking the question over and over and over again, how do I get what I want? What do I want? You know, we have slogans like have it your way and different things like that that kind of reflect that whole nature. We've actually grown up in an environment where from the time that we're little, we're taught that the drive and the direction of our life is determined by what we want. What do you want to be when you grow up? How many of you have ever been asked that question when you were a little kid? What do you want to be? Where do you want to live? All of these questions that have to do with us. And there's nothing wrong with that to a certain extent. But when you step from a consumer-driven culture in a country like we live in, and you find yourself as a believer living in the kingdom of God, there is a contrast between the two because the kingdom of God is not based around the question, what do I want? The question that we should be asking as citizens of the kingdom of God first is what does he want? You see, we're called to obedience and obedience can only occur when we know what God wants. And so it's very easy for us to live our lives going, what do I want? What do I want to do today? What do I want to be when I grow up? What do I want to work for? What kind of relationship am I looking for? What kind of profile do I want to have? What kind of home do I want to live in? What kind of car do I want to drive? What kind of person do I want to date? We ask all of these questions from a me-centered perspective. What would happen if we flipped that around and we asked ourselves first, God, what do you want? What do you want? You know, it's interesting, birthdays and in our house, one of my love languages is gifts. I love to give gifts and I love to receive gifts, but my kids and Jane unfortunately is like, we don't know what to get you because you kind of got everything.  And so at Father's Day and birthdays, I'll hear that often. It's like, we don't know what to get you.  What do you get the guy who just, if he wants something, he basically, you know, finds a way? I mean, that's reality.  And, you know, so it's an interesting question to ask. What do you give the God, not the guy, but what do you give God who has everything? And if he doesn't have it, he just creates it. What does God really want from us? I'm gonna give you the answer this morning because if we get this answer right, everything else falls into place.  That's what God's looking for. You say, well, God can have anything that he wants. Yeah, God can, he's powerful. He's all powerful. He's all knowing he's, he's omnipresent. He can do anything that he wants. But the way that God designed creation and the way that he created you and me and his relationship with humanity is that he's given us a free will, a choice in the matter. And we determine whether we're actually going to believe in him or whether we're going to give him what he wants. You see, God doesn't just take our lives and force us to yield. Force us to believe in him. Force us to trust him. He reveals himself to us and says, this is who I am. He draws us by his Holy Spirit. But then we have the final say of giving to him a fully yielded life or saying no and holding it back.  This is powerful. We have the ability to give to God something that he doesn't already have but he desperately wants. Which is our yes. We get to say, yes, I believe you. Yes, I surrender to you.  Yes, I'll trust your goodness and your character. Yes, I'll trust your steps and your nudges and your impressions of your Holy Spirit. As you're calling me out into something, I'm willing to trust you over my own desires, over my own dreams, over my own passions that are so loud in my head and in my heart trying to dictate my own direction and chart my own course. I say no to that and I say yes to God. I say yes to Jesus. When we do that, not only, listen, not only does God get what he wants, but I really believe that when God gets what he wants most, we get what we want most.  You're going to say no to God. You can't have God and do what you want to do.   Come on over here. Come on. Live your life. Come on after this. Give me your time. Give me your attention. And then we get that thing and we realize that doesn't satisfy. And then we hear the siren sounds of the world over there saying, oh, no, live for this. This, this is the thing that will satisfy you. And so we go after that and only to arrive at it and realize like Solomon did in Ecclesiastes, vanity, vanity, emptiness, emptiness. This doesn't satisfy. And we think freedom is actually the ability to have what we want. But I want to propose to you this morning that true freedom is actually found in giving God what he wants because God is the one who created you. And when he created you, he knew exactly what would satisfy you. He knew the way that he's wired you. He knew the destiny and the purpose that he's had in mind for you from before the foundations of the world. And he knew that the greatest enemy to you walking in the purpose that he has for you that would fully satisfy you is actually you getting what you want without God. I believe when God gets what he wants most, we get what we want most. Nobody knows what's going to satisfy us more than God does. When I was a little boy, four or five years old, I used to spend days with my grandfather. And it was like one of my favorite memories. My grandpa used to own a big Chevy red steak truck. And we'd go and chop wood together. He would he called it Boondog. And we just kind of drive around town, do errands. And I'd sit in the front seat with grandpa and some of the best times of my life. He's my hero. And so one particular story that he likes to tell. I don't remember it, but he likes to tell it is. I was about four or five years old and driving around with grandpa. And he stops at this store in Clarkston, Michigan called Richardson's Dairy. And Richardson's Dairy had like a convenience candy store in the front of it. And I love this store. My mom used to stop there, but my mom was a, you know, very young single. We didn't have a lot of money. Mom. And so when she would stop there, she would always allow me to buy penny candy. There was a huge candy display. Excuse me. And she would say, well, you can pick something from the penny category.  So this day grandpa brings me in and he wants to do something really special for me. He says, Lee, go pick something out. Go pick something out. You can have anything you want. And so I go over to the penny candy. That's what I'm used to. And he goes, no, no, no, no, no. You don't want that. Pick something else up. So I roll down the aisle to the nickel candy. I increased my vision by 500% from a penny to a nickel. Simple math. And I'm looking at, you know, Tootsie Pops and all kinds of different things like that. And he's like, no, no, no, no, that's not what you want. Pick something else up. So I move down the aisle to the core candy. This is unseen territory in my life. This is packs of gum. Remember the bubble-licious, they had the juice in it.  You guys remember those little dots on the paper? I'm like, woo, now we're talking. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. You don't want that. Pick something else up. And his favorite part of the story is I was so confused and I looked up at him and I said, grandpa, what do I want? And so what I ended up with, he took me down to the end of the aisle and I got one of those slow pokes that was big enough to row a kayak. You guys remember those things about this big? And my mom hated me. I drooled like a bowl mastiff. I carried that thing around for like a week. My teeth were all janked up, but my grandpa was happy because he knew what I wanted. He knew what was going to make me happy. I was content at the penny side of the aisle. How many of us live our Christian life thinking that the penny candy is going to satisfy us? Or the nickel candy is going to satisfy us? Why? Because that's all we've ever known. There are a lot of us that all we've ever known is betrayal, being let down, being disappointed by people in our life that have made big promises to us. And can I tell you, we bring that into our relationship with God. And so when God says, I has not seen, here has not heard, nor has it even entered the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. And God says, I've got good things planned for you. I know the desires of your heart. Trust me, believe me, follow me, you to me, and I'll take you to places that you've never imagined that you could go. We stand over here in the penny side of life and we say, I'm not sure I really believe you. This is safe. I'm not really, I really can't believe that I can stand in front of the nickel or the quarter or down at the end of the hour. I've never been down this road before. And so what we learn in response to disappointment in relationships is we learn how to take care of ourselves. We take matters into our own hands and we make inner vowels by saying that if anything good is going to happen in my life, it's going to be because I make it happen. That I've got to learn how to manipulate the system. I've got to be who other people want me to be. I've got to act a certain way. I can't say certain things. I can't trust. If it's gonna happen and it's gonna be good, it's going to be me. That's what God wants to break down in our lives. That's what God wants to break off of us.  He knows if I can keep you from fully yielding to God and surrendering to your own impulses and your own temptations and your own desires. You can believe in God all day long. You can actually even pray a prayer and invite Jesus to be the savior of your life.  Ha, and he doesn't want that. It's what you want that you don't even necessarily know you want. It's what you were created for. C.S. Lewis says this, if Jesus isn't Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. What does Lord of all means? It means our life is yielded. Our life is completely yielded to God.  I surrender. I give it to you, I trust you, and we allow God to prove himself faithful over and over and over. What's the greatest gift that you can give God?  What's the greatest gift that you can give the world? A fully yielded, a fully surrendered life to Christ. It's the greatest gift that you can give to God. It's the greatest gift that you can give to the world. Well, why is that? Because, listen, when you're fully surrendered to Christ, you are walking in the image and in the purpose you were created to your entire life and you're actually empowered by the Holy Spirit, by God's grace to actually love others the way that they're supposed to be loved, the way that they need to be loved because they don't have anything that controls you. There's no transaction that's taking place because your security isn't found in what others think of you. Your security is found because you're fully surrendered to him. What did Jesus say the greatest commandment is? Number one, he said, when he was asked, what's the greatest commandment?  What does that mean? Fully surrendered. That's the way God wants us to love him. He doesn't want us to love him with our leftovers. He doesn't want us to love him 10%. He doesn't want us to love him equal to anything else. He wants us to love him fully surrendered to him. But what's the second greatest commandment? And to love your as yourself. You see, the way that you rightly love the world and this is important because we're in this world as people that are wrestling with the same things everybody else is wrestling with. But we're in this world as sons and daughters of God for a purpose. If the only purpose that God had for your life was to get you to heaven, you wouldn't be here today.  And then we would celebrate another soul has gone under glory. Why risk it by leaving you on this planet? Why risk it? This isn't like an airport terminal where you're like waiting to launch. Well, I got saved 50 years ago still waiting for Jesus to take me. Haven't messed anything up too badly. No, the fact that you're still here. Romans 6 says that we're raised up in the newness of life. Why? Because God's got a purpose for you. You're called to be a light in the midst of darkness. You're called to be leaven that influences the lump. You're called to be salt. You're called to be light. What does that mean? It means loving your neighbor rightly. But you can't love the world rightly until you love God rightly.  Because what happens a lot of time in our culture and in our world is we say that we, in the name of being loving, actually reduce our witness and suppress truth and refuse to live out the implications of our faith in who Jesus is. And we water down God's word because we feel like this is unloving. The most loving thing that I can do is to just say to everybody, you're okay, I'm okay, whatever you want to do, I just love you. But that's not what God did. How many of you, when you got saved, were perfect? Raise your hand. I didn't think so. How many of you had some issues? Raise your hand. How many of you still have some issues at both campuses? Raise your hand. Keep it up. Don't put it down. Because I want to see whose hand is not up right now because now you have issues. When Jesus came, he said, I came into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world. But you can't save somebody who thinks that they're perfect or all right in the place that they're at. When Jesus saved me, I was 12 years old, but I had issues. And I'm grateful that every day from that day he saved me over and over and over again because I still have issues. Now, what would have happened if God sent Jesus who came and when he saw our issues, he was afraid of us rejecting him so he wasn't honest with us? What if Jesus said, no, no, no, it's okay to the woman who had adultery? No, it's okay, I love you. What he said was, where are your accusers? Well, they're gone. And he says, neither do I condemn you. Therefore, go your way, read the rest of it. Sin no more.  Jesus didn't do that. Let me tell you why we do it. Let me tell you right now why Christians are so intimidated in the middle of our culture right now. It's not because we're perfect and we're just putting our nose down at people. We should be the most gracious people because we've been saved by grace, but we should be the most true filled people in any circumstances. A guy's cheating on his taxes and I'm his accountant.  No, you call him out on it because that's wrong. But let me show you a better way. The same is the case across our culture. The reason why we don't love people enough to tell them the truth is because we find our security in what people think of us. And I don't want to threaten that.  Someone might not the way that I live my life. They might not care for that. They might take that as a threat against them and my whole identity and security is wrapped up in what the public opinion of me is. How many likes I get on social media? How many people follow me? If you're scrolling through all of your social media platforms and counting your followers and you're tracking when people drop you or block you or mute you, you've got an issue. Let me tell you, that's the way that religious leaders in Jesus' day functioned as well. So at the end of the day, when we function like that, when we live our lives like that, we're not really loving our neighbor as our self because we're loving our neighbor for ourselves. In other words, I'm going to be nice to you because you have something I need. I need your approval. I fully yielded to God and I say, the only opinion that matters of my life is what He says about me. That changes everything. In John chapter 12 and verse 42, it says, yet at the same time, many, even among the leaders, the religious leaders, believed in Him. That's Jesus. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved human praise more than the praise of God. They believed in Jesus! They're like, yeah, that guy, when he talks, that's true. That guy's real. He is the Messiah.  Why? Because they love the praise of man more than the praise of God. What happens if you flip the script? If I love the praise of God more than I love the praise of men, even then, when people applaud you, affirm you, it's nice, but you don't need it. Jesus, it says, did not yield Himself to the crowds because He knew what was in the heart of people. Jesus acknowledged one person as the most significant and who's God's Father. The greatest gift that you can give to the world is that you've made the decision to fully yield your life to Christ. And you better do it now because listen, if you're waiting until times get difficult, it's too late. You've got to make that decision now. It's like, it's great when people like me, but though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. It only takes one word from the Father over your life to affirm you. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And then, but here's the beautiful thing. When we live our life yielded to God, we're able to love people rightly. We're able to be gracious to them. What's the fruit of the spirit? It's Galatians that says love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. All of these qualities, self-discipline, all of these qualities are of the Holy Spirit that begin to manifest in our life.  No, if you love God, you're going to love what God loves. And what does God love? God so loved the that he gave. So you're going to be generous and you're going to give. What did God give? He gave his own life. Are you willing to lay down your life? Are you willing to lay down your preferences? Are you willing to lay down your reputation for the sake of somebody else to know the love of God that doesn't incarcerate you, but actually liberates you? That's what God's looking for. Can you trust me enough that I will use you to set other people free? You can't be used by God to set anybody else free when you're a captive of fear yourself. I haven't preached in seven weeks. I'm feeling this. Number three, the greatest battle that you will face in this process is between the desire of the Holy Spirit for your life and the passions of your unholy flesh. You know, you have two natures within you.   The ESV and other translations say your flesh. It's not just your physical flesh, but it's your human nature that's affected by sin. And there's a wrestling match that's taking place in each and every one of us. This is the greatest battle that you will face because God has certain desires for your life that the Holy Spirit is trying to activate for you and get you to believe and get you to respond. Because remember, your yes determines who you yield to. But you've got this old passions, human nature, sinful desires on the inside of you that are saying, no, come over here and do this. And the deciding vote is you. You want to know, well, do I have a sinful desire? Yeah, it's that voice that activates at about 8pm in the middle of your diet that calls you to go over to the fridge, open the freezer, and take out the Ben and Jerry's and eat the entire pint against all of your better judgment. How many have ever done something like that? And you know how it goes. It's like, oh, I'm just going to take a bite. And then you get into it and it's like, well, you've gone this far. You might as well go all the way. And so New York Chunk, Chocolate Chunk is gone, baby. Cherry Garcia is gone. You just clean that thing out. And Halo Top is not going to satisfy. It's got to be the real thing. And you just eat it. And then how do you feel afterwards? Guilty. Somebody said great. Yeah. It's like, what is that? Why did I do that? I'm on this diet. I swore off gluten. I'm following this Instagram influencer and she's talking about whole foods and organic and gluten free. I want to be like that. And then all of a sudden I put this thing on my shopping cart. I don't even know how it happened. And pull it out of the freezer. I'm like a zombie walking over to the fridge and eating the whole thing. I have no control. You know what that is? See, nature. The greatest battle that you will face is this battle. Look at verse 16 and 17. But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other. This is so important. Listen to these next words. To keep you from doing the things you want to do. Why is that important? It's because there's a wrestling match between two forces. Fleshly, carnal, sinful nature desires that we all experience. And then the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Do you know, sometimes there's a temptation to say, well which one am I?  The world says, oh, if you want something you should just do it. Because it's natural and that's just who you are. But notice it says that the wrestling matches between the flesh and the Spirit. And the flesh is trying to keep you from doing what you, the real you, the authentic you, really wants to do. What is that? What does that tell us? It tells us that the world is wrong and it's a lie that whatever your lowest base temptation is, is actually your identity. That's not your identity. You want to know what your identity is?  All things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. You now are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. You are more than a conqueror. You are inseparable from the love of Christ. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You have a destiny that was established for you before the foundations of the world were ever laid. The same Holy Spirit that called the entire universe into being dwells on the inside of you.  And you have a will. You have a will and who you yielded to. Determines the kind of fruit that you are going to produce. The Holy Spirit is going, do this, do this, do this, do this. And the flesh is going no, no, no, no. And here is where the battle is. The flesh says I want what I want because I think if I get what I want I am going to be happy. Give me, give me, give me.  Psalm 145 verse 19 says those who fear the Lord, God delights in fulfilling the desires of those who fear him. God says, no, I know exactly what you want. I know what you were created for. I know what is going to bring contentment and satisfaction to you. At the end of the day it is not even what you do that satisfies you. It is who you know. It is the partnership with the Holy Spirit. Well, I have got all these temptations and I have got all these desires and if God didn't want me to act on them then why do I have them? It is because they are sinful and they will lead you to destruction. The Bible says this it says it right there in Galatians. It says crucify the flesh and its desires. The world says normalize your flesh. God says crucify your flesh. That means take those desires, drag them to the foot of the cross, show them Jesus, remind those temptations that Jesus paid the price in full, that those sins were nailed to the cross, that they have been xed out on the record against you and that you no longer live on the cross, and then bring it over to the tomb where the stone is rolled away and say when he rose, I rose a brand new creation in Christ. I am not that, I am this. See it says the works of the flesh and it lists off all these things. We can find ourselves in these things if we work hard enough. My pastor used to say this. He says you you've got to crucify your flesh. Well how do you know when it's crucified? How do you know when you're done doing that? And here's what he said, if something still hurts it's not dead yet. Dead things don't hurt. So if you're still struggling with something that is trying to overcome you and dominate you keep dragging that thing back to the cross. Paul says I glory in the cross. I boast in the cross. I crucify my flesh daily. I tell it no you don't get what you want. That's not always easy. How do we do that? Let me read you one more scripture this morning. James chapter 4 says do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity or hostility with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble. The key to overcoming in life is actually yielding to God when we yield to God the Bible calls it humbling ourselves. When we humble ourselves that's when God releases grace into our life. You see in the church we emphasize grace so much from the perspective that grace is God's eternal eraser for all the mistakes that we make. It's like a whiteboard. It's like Lord look what I did. I messed up my whiteboard. I sinned. I did this. I'm so sorry. And we think of grace as God coming over with the eraser and just go okay it's alright I'll do it. Grace does that. But the word grace actually means more than that. Grace means empowerment.  He gives more grace to the humble. The trouble we get into is when we resist God and we resist the Holy Spirit and we know what I want. Then it says God opposes the proud. So last week Jane and I were on vacation in Colorado and we were with friends and we rented a car. We got off the airplane and we go to the car rental place. We got this SUV. We're about to go do some hiking. We got in the car everything was okay. We punched into the dashboard navigation system, our address. How many know that navigation has saved more marriages in the last decade than just about anything else? So we punched into everything's good but then there was a problem we had to take it back we're a couple miles down the road turn around they had to reset something because of a light that was on the dashboard and when they did that it kind of messed up the navigation system. So everything was fine on the way to the hotel. I mean we had this voice of this woman on the navigation system telling us what to do. She's like take I-70 West 85 miles and so we're doing that and then turn left turn right and 1500 feet you're at your destiny all's good right. So we get to the hotel but the next day when we get back in the car you couldn't reset the navigation. So I mean we tried everything we're just like turn it off turn it back on loading maps loading maps loading maps. So we tried to sync up the bluetooth of our phone loading maps loading maps. So everywhere that we left so we left the original destination and we go on these hikes but the entire time we called her Nancy. Nancy is trying to reroute us back to the hotel you couldn't reset it so everywhere we're going it's like make a U-turn in 45 feet turn right and make a U-turn rerouting rerouting rerouting and she's like barking at us the whole time and we could and you couldn't turn the volume down we tried that the volume wouldn't go down we're trying to shut her off we tried to turn the navigation nothing she's on there bing rerouting loading maps rerouting loading maps turn going crazy so finally our buddy he like googles how to shut Nancy up no he googled and by the way don't ever Google how to get rid of Nancy probably bad but he looked for hacks on how to turn the navigation system off so what we had to do is literally get a wrench when we got back to the hotel and undo the battery cables and disconnect the power so that the whole computer system would reset do you know the Holy Spirit is like Nancy the Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to us trying to get us back to our original destination we keep leaving it we start off following Jesus but then sometimes we get off try come on anybody in this room ever gotten off track and following the Lord aren't you glad that the Holy Spirit is always there to say make a u-turn rerouting I've had people say have I blown it I've not I've not lived a yielded life to the Lord and maybe I've missed my destiny can I tell you something the Holy Spirit is the expert at rerouting and he's the only way you can silence the voice of the Holy Spirit is by disconnecting hardening your heart and Hebrews tells us says today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart as in the day of rebellion in other words don't try and turn the voice off it's annoying in the rental car but it's essential in the Christian life we need the voice of the Holy Spirit the voice of the Holy Spirit will always redirect us back to God always redirect us back to his word always redirect us back to the path of our destiny why because it says he jealously yearns for us I want you to hear this today saint the Holy Spirit does not tolerate you God doesn't tolerate you he loves you and his plans and his intentions his purposes for your life are not just some religious thing where it's like well I'm going to teach them a lesson and they're going to suffer God knows exactly where he wants to take you he's got a plan for your life it may not always be easy but it's always going to be good because he's good but we got to stop trying to turn that voice off so that we get what we want because let me tell you something the greatest end to your life someday in the distant future the worst outcome of your life that could possibly happen is for you to get what you want and to realize how inferior it was to what he wanted I don't know how heaven's going to be I don't know if they're going to have LED walls but I think on that day God's going to show us our life say here was your life that you lived and then maybe the saddest moment is going to be when he says and this is the life that I wanted for you this is what you could have had we're going to be like man that's so much better why didn't that happen God you're in control of everything because you didn't yield you went and surrendered you didn't believe me you bought the lie hook, line, and sinker the world was selling you a bunch of half truths and lies and chicken soup for the soul and you bought it instead of me so enter into my kingdom but you'll never get that opportunity back again today is the day for us to give God what he wants which is all of us yielded surrendered to him would you stand with me today would you bow your heads with me Richland online Portage as well pray that you would give us grace grace that yields grace that surrenders grace that says your way is better than my way Lord we just confess we have so many issues so many temptations so many struggles the voice of our flesh sometimes is so loud so strong is the pole but I pray that today that there would be an increase of your voice in our lives that grace would be poured out as we humble ourselves grace that empowers us to live righteously to live for you and God I pray that every single one of us would find our fulfillment and our identity in you regardless of what's going on in the world around us regardless of what the opinions the voices of those that we somehow see as significant whatever they say God I pray that our faces would be set like flint towards you to hear every word that you say and to believe it Lord would you meet us with this grace today in Jesus name would you keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed for just a moment all across the room because I really believe that especially in our community and our culture church for a lot of us is kind of a normal reality I think that sometimes what can happen is we a lot of us spend time in church growing up but we've never really had a moment where we totally surrendered and had a personal encounter with the living God we actually believe in God love the Bible maybe even love the experience of church but that doesn't the Bible says that when we repent of our sin when we say how I've been living is wrong and we recognize that we're broken on the inside and can't fix ourselves and then we call on God and say and God because of that I ask you to save me because of Jesus the Bible says that we're actually rescued and saved that's what it means to be born again that's how you become a Christian sometimes I think that the enemy is content to just make us religious so that we never really enter into a relationship with God today I want to give you an opportunity to do that I'm not doing it because I'm somehow better than you I'm not doing it because there's something wrong with you I'm doing it because there's something right with what Jesus did Jesus went to the cross died a terrible death to pay for your sin and today if you're willing to surrender your life and exchange your sin for his righteousness today you will be saved today you can have a new heart today you can have a clean conscience today your name can be written in a lamb's book of life but you make that decision God's already made his decision about you to love you to save you to forgive you to give you a clean slate and to fill you with his power but now the decision is yours and my challenge is this this morning if you're here and you have never ever that you can remember made a definitive decision to step over the line and say today I repent I recognize I'm a sinner and I deserve judgment I deserve hell but today I'm asking God to have mercy on me save me forgive me because from this day forward I'm going to yield to you and I'm going to follow you I want to be a follower of Jesus I want to be a Christian today if that's you I want to lead you in a prayer but I want you to make that decision with no one looking around this is just between you and God if you say today I know I need to get right with God today I want to repent on my sin I want to become a Christian I want to be a follower of Jesus include me in that prayer right now where you're at I want you to just raise your hand raise it up right where you're at today you need to get right with God thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you yes yes who else over here to my right I see that hand yes all the way to my right if you've not raised it sir I see your hand young man thank you put your hand down today I want all of us in this family to join these who just raised their hands so courageously and pray this prayer of confession the Bible says of we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if we believe on him that he died on the cross that he rose from the dead and if we confess with our mouth that he is Lord repent of our sin we will be saved so that's what we're going to do right now this is not a formula this is an invitation for him to come and rescue you and it works every single time so everyone let's say this prayer together say heavenly father I come in Jesus name and I confess I have sinned and fallen short and today I repent I'm so sorry God I don't want to live like that anymore come into my heart Jesus and be my Lord and my Savior I believe you went to the cross I believe you paid for my sin I believe you rose from the dead and I believe you're coming back God change me forgive me give me a clean heart and now use me to be a yielded vessel to you in Jesus name amen if you just prayed that prayer welcome welcome to the family of God