Do-do-do-do-do-do Happy Wednesday. Let me hook up my little device What's going on guys? What's up, right Jacob? What's going on people? Tasha Great day Good What are we gonna talk about tonight? What are we gonna talk about tonight? It's webinar for tomorrow 10 a.m. Eastern or Pacific time. I don't have a webinar you're talking about Well webinar you guys see my little bird back there. I painted that bird It was pretty cool The woman of color of color and government contracting is happening August 5th. Okay, very nice Did you send me send me some info so I can tell people about it? Yeah start off as a blank canvas So it was good. I actually just woke up from a nap. I was tired today. I've been up all morning I was beat So I just woke up What do you guys want to talk about? Does anyone have any questions for me today? Before I start running my big mouth Like you know you talk about it on your YouTube video Hmm GSA What about GSA? What do you want to know about GSA? IT security contracts and working Okay, so someone asked about IT security contracts and working What's up Bridget What's up core Oliver You know GSA he's got all types of contracts, right? When we look at IT in particular GSA has the the gamut Hold on I'm reading the questions. I didn't know that you people could put questions in here. So I'm reading them. Okay Deal do search for business So I'm not really sure exactly what they want to ask about terms of IT, but I will say this for IT we have a Facebook group specifically for IT and telecom and We are looking at all of the opportunities that are like Possible like everything possible in the IT spectrum and We're dropping that inside the Facebook group and you can interact with people on it. What I like actually is that Literally Yesterday inside of our gupcon giants community one of our students he's he's really like crushing it with IT and He picked up a consultant client that does about I think they're 20 million a year And so what he's doing is They are going after IT like really hard and then we have other people in there that have Companies they work for that are looking for small businesses like yourself Okay now This person is asking about the GSA webinar tomorrow on the quarterly mass transportation That's just something I publish. It's not I Mean, I'm not leading that webinar So that's I'm just sharing with you the webinar and the information that exists. I don't really know Other than what I've already shared on YouTube. I Don't know any more information because they have a main thing publicly available until it's Till the webinar have actually happened. So I don't know anything about it specifically That's an excellent question. Okay the question My man JR says with so many GSA G wax and IDQ is still worth it chasing contracts to supply software Hardware to agencies Now I actually like that question. That's a really good question. And I'll tell you why It's funny because My guy Just literally in our Facebook group. I mean yesterday in our Facebook group our Guff kind giants group he literally said that he went after an RFI sources saw it and That there was only one company that responded So I think what's happening is everyone is chasing after like again the the big Shiny object and there's a lot of stuff that people are neglecting I had the same experience when I first they're my very first contract that we were looking at up in the Northeast There were projects where you'd have 25 contractors But then there were certain jobs where no one showed up and it was just really strange and really weird and I remember the very first like sole source that I got was the Department of Interior National Parks the ladies said hey, I've got this project. That's like just over a million dollars that no one is bidding right and Everyone assumed the same thing that you're saying is that well everyone's going after all this stuff just the fact that they exist doesn't mean everyone's going after it because I can tell you and Bridget is in our group Maria is in our group. In fact, I think I'm gonna grab a snippet and put it on YouTube so you guys can hear it, but he literally said that on this particular opportunity, which is about 45 million dollars only one company submitted. So I think that's false That people That that is the case that people assume that everyone is going after everything and everyone's bidding all the stuff that That's not really happening. Yeah on the GWACs because those are widely published. Those are widely issued But then you've got a lot of other miscellaneous software IT hardware that again Another student of mine last year Justin Adams He literally picked up like a software renewal contract that I mean the prime took for granted In fact, I just finished making a video that I'm gonna put on YouTube today about how a lot of my Guests on my podcast They took over contracts that other people literally just took for granted and assumed that they were gonna have it forever They stopped doing their work. They stopped being on top of their jobs They didn't value or appreciate the workers of the people that was actually handling it But then a day-to-day basis and so when they start they started basically slipping and when they slipped Somebody came in and took that put the contract from underneath them. So I Definitely want to share that. Okay da da da da da Da da da da da Do these search for business? I Don't know of any specific search that you need for business I Really don't know of any DLD specific search that you need for business So I don't really know that Yes, JR State of course I don't know what you'd be my search. I don't I don't know of any search for business. We I Actually just we just signed another contract. I Got another contract awarded today. That was 4.9 million and We got one that was which DLD I got another million last week DLD and we don't have any search So I'm not I'm not sure what kind of search that you're asking about that you've heard of. Maybe you may want to suggest some search That you think that that you talking kind of get picture because I don't really know what search you're talking about They just ask can we can we do the work and we negotiate and we've we've already along the course of getting to know them Demonstrated that Okay, so when I ask do you need capital? Yes You know, you need capital. You need a team. You need past performance. You got to have some experience. Absolutely now That's if you want to be a prime Right, if you want to be a prime, you're definitely gonna have all those things So that's why I always tell people it's not always best to try to be the prime contractor on these contracts Right, because if you want to be like the man like this is you know, you supposedly Are the one that has a contract the government then you've got to have all that plus some So, you know, I always say to folks that look when you're getting started better off be a subcontractor or Maybe be a consultant and when I say consultant consultant comes in so many forms It's not just like well, I got my own business. So I don't need to be a consultant for my look Like my guess that's a very if you listen to my podcast It's a very common path to get into the marketplace because the government Doesn't matter how big your company is the government is even bigger So don't matter how much money think you have the government got more money and they're bigger than you meaning that If you do even if you have got experience doing a million dollar contract In the government space that same contract might be worth 10 million and you're like well, I and I never did 10 You know, if you do 10 million that same contract in a government space might be 100 million or 50 million So then you still are not gonna ever be there exactly to be able to really like, you know saying like Match up in terms of your capability your capital and all this kind of stuff. So It's just different. It's they're much bigger They're much more vast the and then they're much more complicated in a sense that a lot of times the government will They'll lump in a bunch of different scopes of services on top of just what you want to do. So If you do couldn't if you do like say concrete Yeah, you may get a paving contract like let's say you pave a whole like flight line But then it might tell you throw in like do all the lights, you know, well, I don't do lights I just do paving but the government said the way that we're gonna send this contract is We need someone to do all the paving and all the lights. We're not doing paving and lights separately. So You know my What I've seen and what again we continue to share with folks out there is that Take a look at what some of the people who've already successful what they're doing and the path they've taken and Look at it and say, okay, you know that that makes sense. Why did they do that? Right, what was the reason for that and a lot of folks again to get experience to get past performance You know, they did they were 10 some of them were 1099ers just frankly a lot of them were 1099ers a lot of people that came into Professional services industry they start off as a 1099 contract worker, right when you you're starting your business You don't have money to hire a bunch of people And no bridge. They didn't actually do joint ventures. They actually did teaming arrangements. They were subcontractors They were 1099 workers. So again a Lot of people out there. In fact, one of our podcast folks just joined us welcome and So a lot of people out there they, you know, they took that path And so that's a very common path and that's one of the ones I recommend the folks out there doesn't I would not I Would not I was strongly it's just so far few and in between People that are watching this that again if you're asking these questions, you are not in a position to be a prime and that's just just the truth It could hurt you and I could tell you at the same token is for for the majority of us whatever your Wildest dream your biggest goal ambition is you could probably accomplish that at least in the onset just being a subcontractor One of my guests she literally made the ink 500 list and She never was a prime contractor. She was a subcontractor and she did staffing Just a little stuff. It's just working for a lot of the big DLD firms out there Again, some of these companies are doing eight billion two billion six billion seven billion I mean they could make you an eight-figure company just alone on them just as a sub to them So there's no reason Why? You have to necessarily go that route. So going back to that person's question. Do you need money? Yeah, you're definitely gonna need money and if you don't have any Money right to say then then it's really a lot of people like oh, I'm bidding these countries I'm bidding this job and I'm like, do you have any money to do the work like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, so If you don't have any money to be able to pay to even be able to help you to make sure you're doing things the right way Like how are you gonna be able to execute and perform and deliver? Responsibly and just again think about that and Going back to a video. I've made a few weeks ago Take a look at what are some of the requirements and see do you have them before you just waste your time bidding? A lot of people get into I think it's like a dopamine rush where we just want to bid contracts And it seems very exciting for us just to bid contracts But the reality is Like, you know when I when I talk about what I share, you know when I was on the SBA if anybody guys were on that training You'll see that the majority of stuff that we got was through literally The majority of what we got was literally from doing market research Capture management business development. That's the majority of where our work came from Wasn't just blindly blitting to random people like someone said Just weak to me I would rather you know go a mile deep than a mile wide So just keep that in mind when you're out here doing it Let me see what other questions we have Yes, JR Miguel Um How to be a subcontractor very easily I mean Find out there's people that are winning contracts every day We're winning contracts. It's public information The same way that you're looking for opportunities find people that are winning contracts that are in the space that are that again When I used to be in construction in terms of like I'd win a contract at a military base Someone would always call me up and say hey I looked at that job, you know, I want to do your lightning protection I got a price for lightning protection. Do you need a lot of price for lightning protection? Hey I've already priced at the job. I did the electrical So what I like to say is is I know in my space when we get projects We haven't necessarily bought out the whole contract Meaning that we haven't chosen all of our subcontractors when I won the job So for example the one that I just won This week was for a parking garage and So we don't have all of our subs. We don't have all the contracts and everything in place.  I will look at your price I'll consider you for that striping package because We haven't issued contracts to anyone yet. So we literally just got the award I haven't even decided on the people who We can issue contracts to yes, do we have people that priced it in the beginning? absolutely But again Depending upon where the people are at in a contract and a project I've been on numerous numerous numerous jobs and projects where the subcontractors fell apart They didn't come through And so what happened was literally They reached out to me said Eric Do you know anyone that could do this drywall package and the the package is like a two million dollar package So we literally were like, you know, we could have referred any of our friends to help pick up this package because At the same time one of the things that I think we we don't think about and I've said this before is When you win a contract, you're really really happy right when you win this big contract But then it's time to go to work So at the same token that you're celebrating and you're happy you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah Wow, we won this big contract. Congratulations The other the next team that's got to take over and and put this implement this At least for us They're like, oh crap. Okay. Now we've got to go to work now like now we got to make this happen now we have to actually do this and execute and That's also scary Right, so you're happy, but then you're scared because you have to now perform and deliver And I think so many people forget about the Deliverly the execution the performance factor the only concern about the winning the winning is great Right, but then you have to actually deliver perform execute And that's where again a lot of my guests talk about delivering excellence being on time being present that's That's a whole another arena So, you know what I'm saying is we get contractors that don't don't come through We get subs that are not reliable like anybody else. It's just human nature So how do you become a subcontractor reach out to people? I literally One of the contracts that we're talking about one of the Bases that we're working on today Was because some the the main construction company at this facility Took it for granted and they started deteriorating in terms of the quality that they were delivering to the clients So last year we found out that this particular sub Was going to be I mean basically they were removing them from the base because they were no longer delivering quality performance. They weren't being they weren't There were there was a lot of things that they were making mistakes on and so the The base was like hey look we want to find another Main contractor to help run the base and that's kind of where we had already been talking to them We had been in their air. We had been letting them know we exist and We showed up and we're present and that's how we started, you know slowly Making our name known with a small project Deliver that a little bit bigger project deliver that and then continue growing To bigger and bigger projects until we actually literally Received an idei queue to basically any types of construction jobs. They could throw inside that idei queue Someone asked about payment Yeah How does the government pay most most of my again? I can only speak about construction because that's what I do Most of the time we got paid 30 days Sometimes we get paid 15 days a progress payment, but most of the time it was net it was 30 Right Oh, I didn't realize I was supposed to touch this day I'm not answering I guess I learned something new tonight I want to bid and get a position for an award contract and be a consultant Yeah, I think um bridge you can ask a question now I don't realize I want I was on there Okay, I'm still learning this stuff. So you guys just bear with me on this whole You know IG live stuff. I'm still learning it By the way, okay. So it looks like I answered through those questions. What else? 15 days from signing day or a complete date You know, it's funny I'm gonna say this um getting paid is obviously a big concern, but I can tell you this if if you're if you're diff you're a difference between 15 days and 17 days at 19 days of survival You definitely got to start out a little bit smaller because If something happens the paperwork is not right Your forms are not right Your 15 day can turn to 30 days 30 days can turn to 45 days Like we've been on projects where and again This is this is really important I want everyone to understand that if you're if you're that tight where the two days matters if you've got a You've got a partner or work with someone else who could kind of help float some of that for you because You're really going to have a hard time if you know trying to focus on getting your business done and And at the same time trying to make payroll or pay whatever expenses you have my suggestion would be whatever Areas because because I hear this from people all the time Is you know, they're like, well, I don't have my credit I don't have you know, I don't have my I was trying to get like a loan from the bank or I couldn't get a loan from my credit card or something like that You're really already on the edge Right to where I would always say It's probably better to be a subcontractor or 1099 or something like that where you could actually float The actual time right the 30 days because just being that Concern like I mean right now I can tell you right now. I just we did some of the Library of Congress And Maria can tell you I don't know how long it's been Since they paid us. I mean, yeah, I want to get paid But I'm at the same time not blowing these people's phone up like get my money get my money get my money today Like this, you know, I look stuff happens it they could blame coronavirus They could blame whatever you can't be that desperate You've got to be able to have more working capital You got to be able to have some float you got to be able to have Some reserves to be to do this like this is this is this is real And I've said it before I'll say it again when we delivered PPE to florida in texas. I think texas took 60 days to pay me I think florida took, you know I think florida literally took I don't know I can't remember but they took a long time to pay Right, they told me florida actually told me they're gonna pay me in five days and They didn't pay in five days, right? Like it was it was like 50 days they paid And and I was more I was more concerned about The state's running out of money than I was about like the money that we had out there Because we had already taken care of that piece. So I think you have to figure that out um And that's really what the longest time Wise that I've done in terms of not getting paid What's the longest job time wise wise you have you done? I'm not okay. So the longest job time I've done I don't know the question but in terms of maybe the longest project or the longest time I've gone without getting paid The longest time I mean, I've done projects that were two years long Um, and I know friends of mine if we talk about terms of how long they waited to get paid I've got friends of mine that work on state contracts like was hurricane relief and disaster relief where The state of florida or the school board of somebody is taking nine months to pay them So I know people that waited nine months to be paid on a state contract before nine months nine Nine so You know, that's that's a tough gig. That's why I don't really that's why I I'm not a big fan Encouraging people to chase State and local work. Yeah, it's a great way. You know, it's a stepping stone, but also Um, I've just had I just have a lot of experience with horror stories And I always suggest to people that in your local municipality or area and again, they all vary, right? um Just talk to them about that like there's nothing wrong with asking them about how often are people being paid Right, like any one of us wherever we live, whatever city municipality, they have a board for small businesses Uh for you know community small businesses CSBE's DBE's they have organizations that that there's like a a board that you can go to and and participate and ask those kind of questions see What how long is it the time frame in which people are being paid? You could actually go and participate I would encourage most people that are listening to to go out there and learn this stuff Don't just sit back and take the word of a person on a social media network, right? Because look I don't live in your city But I can tell you that from experience and from talking to a lot of guests around the country It's it's more common that you're getting paid slower on the lower contracts than you are getting paid faster and that's why for me like I like federal because I just don't hear those same type of horror stories, right? We get paid on time. We're getting paid quickly um And again, like maria said in the chat, you know, she does a lot of work with the coast guard I do a lot of work with navy I do work with the army so and again we you know the the money flows and the contracts are being paid out Yeah, philly. Yeah, I got paid along the way. I got paid every 30 days on that two-year contract We got we would we would have to invoice now now. That's a good question So philly ev asked me on my two-year contract. How often did I get paid? So let me give you two examples Um on that particular contract the way that works is and I was a sub is a 20 million dollar project I was a sub you had to have your invoices turned in by the 25th of the month To get in on the next payment cycle So if you did not have your invoices and your documents submitted by the 25th Of the month, so let's say we're today. We're in july and I think today is july 28th If I if you miss your july invoice month Then you don't get paid in august So then you would have to submit in august and get paid in september But they literally had to cut off time So again all the subs had to have their invoices turned in by the 25th To get paid for the following month And if you didn't do that, you didn't get paid that following month. You had to skip a whole month But yes, we did get paid every 30 days now Let me flip a different different scenario. I had another contract that was It probably was about a year long contract And we only got paid twice on that contract And this is this is kind of what i'm saying. There's no Everything holds certain right the government is there's so many ways in which they can buy stuff. The reason was they issued us a construction project But it was called a furniture contract. So that the way that the government got their funding was I don't know if my things stopped moving. I don't know what happened So might let me know if i'm still alive. Just like message me maria bridge. It's my okay. I'll see someone just join so one of my projects that we were awarded and this was like 2012 or something like that they awarded us a It was construction, but they called it. Thank you guys It was a construction project But they called it a furniture contract because that's the way the government requested the funds So it was to put up a hanger But what they said was the hanger is like a desk like so when you buy when you provide a desk to the government When you deliver the actual assembled desk, then the government pays you Now on my contract The assembled desk was an assembled hanger. Well, the hanger was 60,000 square feet And it was 13 bays. So you don't exactly assemble a hanger overnight The hanger had it came in parts components and took teams and it was like six months to build it On top of three months to actually engineer it design it and get it ready We didn't know when we took this project on that this was a furniture contract because we were very new and green To the contracting world. So we thought that it was like a typical construction project that we built every 30 days To our surprise it was not like that And the project was to it was just around $2 million and we were very new very early stage You know We didn't have that kind of money to float $2 million but that's why and it our cost was about 1.7 million Let's say 1.7 1. Yeah about 1.7 million. We did not have 1.7 million to float just We didn't even have like we had probably like a half a million a max that we could tap into Um Before we were like just out like just flat like homeless Uh and we didn't know this so so it's it's really And I and I still like I don't even remember what made it that contract that way Because it all depended on the funding that the government issued and how they requested the funding So what we did was fortunately for us we had been working with that particular agency for a couple years now on some much smaller things and And so the one of the contracting guys he wasn't on that particular vehicle But he had experience in and actually doing contracting for the government He said to us look why don't you petition the contract to say hey, it's a small business contract and You need they should pay you like you shouldn't be expected to float a 2 million on a contract um and then get paid only when you deliver and so We did that we went back and we we we wrote a letter to and I believe this was the uh the air force We wrote a letter and said hey This is a small business contract. We think that it's unfair. We think it's been miscategorized as a furniture contract and we should Be allowed to have at least an additional payment Included uh because what they call it and construction is progress payment. So as you're going through progressing right then You get paid. So we petitioned the government literally and said hey, we believe we should be uh Fairly awarded progress payment because it's unrealistic to think that a small business can float a 2.1 million dollar contract And get paid at the end.  This is why to me Um, and I'll say this here. It's only recently It's only really recently like like this year that my credit score ever surpassed 680 That for the first time in like my whole life Before that my credit score was like 630 640 650 But I got supplier credit. I got vendor credit. So I was I always paid my vendors I always paid my suppliers even though like life happened to us and I get I was never wasteful I didn't I didn't have a lot of credit card debt intentionally I just always had businesses and I you know, I borrowed money for my companies But I literally always got supplier credit and vendor credit So the building manufacturer Actually gave me extended me because the building itself was about 700,000 I had credit for the entire cost of the building So guess what? I couldn't get a line of credit. I couldn't get a bank loan I couldn't get any of the stuff that people Traditionally are saying that you should go get and most of my Most of my podcast guests can't get those things either when they first started they couldn't get bank loans And I maybe it got a small sba loan, but literally Um, I had a supplier credit vendor credit For the building So now check this out. I got a two million dollar project Um And the only thing we could do was we could get the building supplier credit And so what we did was we lumped in the engineering cost We lumped in the building cost and we lumped in a large part of our actual labor Cost right we lumped it into our first building and so my first building that we build the government um we literally We literally I think it was like we build like 1.2 million when we delivered the actual building that fortunately the manufacturer Floated me the money that for the building not the money, but they actually deliver the building I didn't have to write a dollar out of pocket So they delivered the building to the government I was able to use that building that building to send the government an invoice because we actually delivered something to the job And so We actually literally were able to build them the 1.7 million. I got the money to pay the building back Right, so I paid them after 700 thousand and then now we had like a half a million dollars in capital To actually front to start doing the job and get the guys out there and working And that's how we're able to literally float that big project, but Again, it was a combination of several things that took place and even still on top of that I mean like my partner. He was like scrounging doing other jobs to literally help Bring in money Right, so we could keep going and I mean it was it was tough. It was tough Uh, but at the end of the day we survived and we made it and then we we literally were able to You know pull off a 2 million dollar job We added, you know an extra four or five hundred thousand dollars Into our account and so that gave us the ability to go on and take on other types of projects. So, you know, it's just You got to do what you got to do You know, one of the things that someone said to me was do what you can with what you have where you're at And I really strongly believe that a lot of people are not Um trying to not even attempting to do that, right? They're not even attempting to to do what they can With what they have where they're at. There's so far down the road about well, what about this? What about that? What about what you could do right now? Like what about what are the things that you can control right now? Where you're at right now with what the resources that you have today? How about start with that, right? Let's not go way out here into the space force world Like I get it. Look, trust me. I've got big dreams I got big ambitions as well But I'm also working in the space that I could work in right now Given the resources that I have given the team that I have given the players that I have Yeah, I'm looking for but I'm not a lot of times what I'm hearing everyone on here asking questions about It seems like to me they're they're being paralyzed at the same time because they are So far out into the things that they don't have the resources They don't have and they're not sitting here saying well What the resources that I have what are some of the things that I can be doing? And and I think that's so important And I'm glad Maria's on here in the chat because she's giving you guys also real life examples of Doing what you can what you have Maria and I are you know, we're And doing totally different Things, uh, but we're both working in the federal marketplace. Okay, um, she's working on her her projects And I'm working on my projects Um, she's doing things, you know herself a lot of times. She's still managing her projects. She's still like boots on the ground I'm doing things at a much higher level with teams Bigger teams large teams multiple companies multiple entities multiple people But that's what I could do with what I what what I have and where my Capacities at and then she's handling what she can and where she's at with her capacity. So, you know I think that a lot of us We're not we're not we're taking it for granted What we already have where we're already at And some of the skills some of the tools some of the resources that are already and within our our sphere of influence our our immediate Facinity we're not even taking advantage of the stuff that we already know And that we already can do so I you know, I just I really believe that that's that's so important out there because I just see so many people focusing on the negative focusing on the I don't have a certificate Focusing on well, I don't have You know, I don't have bonding or I don't have a line of credit or I don't have credit lines Let me tell you something I just got the phone with someone that's in our group that literally got the eat alone And I'm gonna tell you guys because she just told me this today She went she received like I think she told me 30 40 thousand dollars on the eat alone She went back and she's told she called the SBA And she said she wanted a reconsideration because she thinks she made a mistake on her application And she literally asked for 30,000 more and they gave her 30,000 more How many of you out there would do that? How many people out there listening and I could even tell you my accountant told me Eric No, you can't do that How many of you would have tried that? How many of you would actually say you know what? The government didn't even spend all the money that they have for PPP and Edel, right? This person literally went back to SBA and said, you know what? I want to be reconsidered. I think I made a mistake on my application throwing me another 30,000 dollars That's what she did How many of you would have been so paralyzed that you didn't even try it like you didn't even like Eric I didn't even know that was possible How many folks out there that's what they're constantly thinking is like Yeah, and the college says Look to be if you want to actually start off as a subcontractor, you don't even need no certifications I did not have any certifications I was a subcontractor don't have any certifications and guess what people want folks that could do good quality work It's not about certifications I have a video that says why are people so hung up on certifications I don't understand that Companies want quality workers They want quality companies that can deliver that could perform That is more important than a certification I always say this don't leave with certifications You're gonna embarrass yourself because a lot of times people actually get turned off when you say, oh, I'm a woman on business What do you do? What is your business? Oh, I'm a minority on business. Excuse me. Hello. What is your business? Can I look I want to know about your business? What do you do? What is what can you help help me with? They're not here to say oh Oh, I'm just looking for a woman on business that does anything. That's not people not there. You will never see a request publicly that says we want a woman on business We don't care what you do because we're just looking for a minority business. That's not What the people are advertising they're saying we want an electrical company. We want a We want a paint company. We want an it company want a software developer We want to aid of us develop you want a share point developer They have very specific requests in there and by the way if you happen to be Some of these things that's even better But the first thing they want is a really good contractor all of us. It doesn't matter who they are They want good contractors Uh, I see here one of our guv kind giants saying look, that's not my pain point I need a quality company. That's not their pain point is not a woman on business or minority business or certification business or hub is owned business. That's not their pain point is not that it's I want a good company. I want a good contract. I want someone that shows up on time as maria Today when her and I were talking she was like Okay, this guy didn't show up again Right. I said, well, that's good because now you'll appreciate when you have good subcontractors that actually do show up So, you know That's that's very important how to become a subcontractor again. We talked about that earlier There are lots of people out there that are looking for subcontractors I mean, there's a lot of people out there that want good quality subcontractors whatever whatever it is that you offer Your skills your company your business Find out the people who need those services And reach out to them and they're going to take your calls. You're going to take your emails They're looking for good contractors. In fact, what there's two people's two or three people out here now That I guarantee you today There's right now. There's several people on this chat that are looking for Good quality subcontractors Right now that are on the chat that are in the same room as you Uh, look right here. I've put look look look look look look look excel cleaning service has called me. I'm turning down work She's laughing. Okay. So you hear that call me. I'm turning down work. She says so again This is you know, you're asking how do you become a sub easy ask You it worker. I just told you guys I have a facebook group going to facebook group There's probably there's over a hundred people in our facebook group right now that it and telecom And I promise you there's a lot of people that need it folks out there um Someone said barber look uh Dana white was saying she's seeing stuff over there for barber services Okay, I've seen stuff on there for a person that plays the organ I've seen stuff for for preachers. I've seen things on there. So again, you don't have to ask on here on IG about finding it worker Go look for this stuff. You know, you're not going to find the answer in a chat with only 22 people You have to use google google is your best friend? Okay Who just won it contracts on my youtube videos? I posted on my twitter feed I posted some of the it contracts people want it contracts and those folks need people to do the work So again, there's there's that to me is the easiest Easiest thing in a world to actually do Um, you just have to go look for it And it sounds like to me that you haven't went and looked for because if you do search or seek the information you will find it What else so no one's jumping on tonight Who else we got here? But yeah, definitely take a look.  Good way to start out Um Subcontracting is is a great first step for a lot of people out there with limited resources I can tell you even on top of this We have one of our students that she literally uh, she was in a group doing janitorial and her first contract she met a guy at a conference or event And she said she does janitorial Um, he was working on a negotiation for a large janitorial project and again, this doesn't happen everyone So let's not take this as norm, but she was very honest and candid and said look, I don't have the money He said don't worry about it. He says what we need is we need you to to assemble 40 people Uh next week to basically work on this project And she pulled it off in three days and he literally this I say he but the the prime Paid her and was paying for her workers directly and she had no money and her first contract she got was a subcontractor Where she's providing 40 people on a on a janitorial project and she's been doing that since april so Again, I don't think you're asking.  Like I said, they have the pain points that need to be met and you can help meet those pain points You talk like that and people are going to take you in your calls. They're going to listen to you um, they're going to definitely Um hear you out, right? And so that's kind of you know, that's that's that's the way to go Now let's see I know this isn't going to happen for a while, but my dad wanted to ask are there ever contracts for seats boxes sporting events I don't know what that means jake Seats and boxes for sporting events. I'm not really sure Bridget, you gotta ask the question. I don't know what question you're talking about. I'm only on ig I can't read any other questions. I can't read no text messages No, what's that message it's only I can read is what's on this ig live because it has my whole phone block So I can't read anything else right now um Jake asked me the question about seats and boxes again. I'm not sure Jake, why don't you jump on? I think we have like 13 minutes left by the way. I just got to kick me off in an hour. So Get your question in now or wait until next third next wednesday or monday on youtube live How do you do what? I don't see it Bridget. How do you do what jake? What is a seat? I don't know. I don't know what you mean a seat at this sporting event You want to sell them a chair?  Is that what you're asking? Jump in I don't know. I don't know why Bridget acting scared I'm already sad I'm laying down um You know rodisha. I just you know again Um, we just talked about go back and listen to this chat again. I tell people don't leave with your certifications It's what's next for you is solve the pain points find out Who act you know and this is a good example, right? Rodisha she says I'm woman-owned and I'm ewsb. What's next for me? I don't know anything about her business I don't even know how can what can I offer her as advice when I don't even know what her business is about That's and that's what so many people make the mistake Oh, what's up mo? And that's what so many people make a mistake at is they they lead with I have a certification What is your business? We have people on here that does millions of dollars of business that may could use her service But because she led with Certification and not with what she does for a living. I can't even make a referral to her or make a reference because I have no idea Right and that's where again, I want to use as an example for so many people out there Is that What is the pain point that you're trying to solve? I don't even know how to help you because I don't know what your pain point You're trying to solve Okay So now Okay That that that's that and this look again part of and I hope I hope we all have thick skin because we're not We're not here to to pick on anybody obviously. We're here to uplift people I really believe in what I'm doing Um, I really strongly believe that this is the pathway for so many of us This is a great equalizer. This allows folks out here to put us on a level playing field with a whole lot of folks That we normally would not have the opportunity to be on that playing field with so Do not um Ever think that I have Anything but the utmost respect and admiration for anyone out here who's trying to start a business particularly People that look like me particularly women I really strong like I'm like again and mariel tell you this we actually sponsored the US women's chamber of commerce with all of our women on podcast cast. We took out a full page ad in there Because we really believe in the power of women. I really think that strongly But at the same time part of what I believe my job is is to help educate and make everybody better Um, and so that's what we want to do But at the same token we just have to show using real life examples because sometimes When I just say something like people don't always get it immediately until we can actually show with an example So that was just an example to give uh bridges. I was on gsa to find the right price. There are various prices I don't want to over under bit. What is the rule of thumb the magic price? um You know when you say the price Like that's a very open-ended question. There's a lot of prices on there um, and so Bridget like there's prices for Labor there's prices for materials. There's prices for I mean, I don't know what you're asking for the price for what? What do you there is no magic price? Pricing a job by the way is a science um And so, you know, it's really like a lot of magic to pricing a job So it's not there's no I mean, there's really hard what I would suggest is this Uh, if you don't know how to price your job if you've never done anything like this before Work with people who've done the pricing before so gain experience under their belt That's what I would suggest, you know, that to me is the best advice I can give only because Uh pricing is such a art science Conundrum that really the best thing to do is work with some people who've already done this before And learn from them how to price these jobs. I I every industry is different. There's no magic bullet. There's no civil bullet Now, let me get back to radisha's count question about transportation logistics. Okay, so um This past week. I just interviewed people Now if you say freight brokering freight brokering Um, okay, let's talk about that transportation logistics is different from freight brokering first of all, um I just had on my show a couple people That are in the transportation and logistics side of the business for federal contracting They do moving. They do interior. They do furniture design. They do interior layouts They move people from buildings and offices Those kind they do that and they that's called logistics totally different from freight brokering so so What I would say radisha to stay tuned for my two podcast guests coming up um One is called proven management and the other one is Tyson management And they're both in the same space as you and I highlight and share their stories on upcoming podcasts So I would say stay tuned for those episodes or really get episodes. They're exactly the same vertical issue and um because they're they can probably better Describe to you the process they did in fact a lot of the things I was referencing today Today's talk was based on comments that I got from them Both of those particular companies Like I said, they're in the same space. And in fact, I didn't even know Logistics involved moving One of them actually has the contract to do the moving at the pentagon Another one has a contract that does moving at the white house They have people working every day moving staff and offices. So there's a lot of opportunity in that space and So for the next thing for you would be to find out obviously where those opportunities at What I would say is if you and again, I this is part of the advice that I tell everyone even in my course I say look go look at the companies that are successful in your arena and find out what they're doing find out You know when I talk about how do you feel about your dsbs profile? Go look at the guy the big guy or big girl that you want to be after like that has all the contracts that you want And find out how do they set up their profile? How do they set their pages? And I call it modeling go model what they do Okay, and then once you set up your profile your page is just like them um, Rodisha this is that's what I would say then First the next thing for you would be figuring out. Okay, wherever you're at whatever region location you're at um, then what I would say is find out who's Buying those types of services in your regional area Who are those who are those particular agencies that are buying the the the transportation logistic stuff that you're in your area? um Now just I would just be cautious because again freight brokering is very very different I know a lot of people that do the trucks um, and I know that if you want to start out with trucks itself that typically you can't be a broker you have to have what they call uh, What do they call that my man's not on tonight, but uh, I think it's called the authority right you have to have the whole actual truck itself and then uh, You they normally as a subcontractor they want you to have maybe five to ten trucks So if you actually have physical trucks that you're looking to break into with actual trucks and drivers um, what I've seen and from the people that I've talked to as a subcontractor There's a lots of opportunity But some of the primes want you to have at least ten trucks because One or two trucks doesn't help them move the needle because they have really big contracts So if you want to do the logistic side, that's different set around if you want to do the actual truck side Then um, we've got people in our group In zack and we actually have people here on instagram that ig That have talked to companies that were willing to hire Companies like yours to be a sub if you've got ten or more trucks and they do that all day In fact, radisha what I would say if that's your quick your your gig Someone earlier said that I think it's coming up I put it on my twitter. There's a Someone go to my twitter and find out there's a transportation webinar for the gsa mass contract schedule coming up Next month I would attend that find out who are all the major players on that schedule And then I would reach out to them and let them know I have ten or trucks or whatever however many trucks that you have Okay, there's already so that same thing as being in the room with all the big boys and if you have those things Um, I would not be surprised if you walked out of there without a contract Because that's where like that schedule is is billion to dollars So they want people like you that already have trucks that are ready to go Okay, I'm trying to find the right price for my combined circumstances in this station. I've found various prices Okay Sorry Go away Okay. Yeah, I answered that price question. I'm ready I hope that helps when you should yeah, we there's a not no problem Yeah, but there's but there's actually a really big event going on For trucking that is with all the big contracts. So definitely Um, I've got on my twitter. I don't have it here. I can't share it with you because I don't have it here Let me see maybe I could jump on my computer and find it For you, but it's definitely on my twitter feed Um, I've got one minute and 20 seconds Oh, look at that. Someone already somebody pulled it up for you. Boom Look at that. Someone just pulled it up and post it in here. Look at that We got some source for people out there. Okay. That's a trucking webinar link for tomorrow There it is All right. Look, I didn't have to go grab it. That's the link so For all those folks that are in that industry. It's the webinars tomorrow. Take a look at it. Um Jump on that and and let me know how it works out for you But I will tell you this do me a favor a big favor when you go in there and you're meeting people Don't leave with I'm a woman on business Um lead with you know, you said you have all of that to me if you if I would have led with hey By the way, I happen to have 10 trucks that are whatever the case may be I've got 10 of these types of trucks for refrigerated trucks Toe trucks whatever and I'm ready to get started If you leave with that and you tell them that you're already doing that and you're done it You've done it and just 13 countries at 12 places. That's the people want to hear SBA does not help with funding contracts. No, that's a myth. SBA does not actually provide any funding SBA is


Here we are we're in chapter 2 of John's gospel We're going to be looking this morning at verses this morning this this evening at verses 1 through 12 And so I'll begin reading here in John chapter 2 at verse 1 and we'll read to verse 12 And we'll get into our study John chapter 2 Beginning at verse 1 on the third day There was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding And when they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine and Jesus said to her Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come his mother said to the servants Whatever he says to you Do it Now there were set there six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons of peace Jesus said to them fill the water pots with water and They filled them to the brim And he said to them draw some out now Take it to the master of the feast and they took it when the master of the feast had tasted the water That was made wine and did not know where it came from But the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said to him Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk then the inferior You've kept the good wine until now This beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in Him I'll stay at verse 11. I won't go into verse 12 All right, here we go Now I want you to notice something I'll lay some foundation we're gonna get into a few things tonight I'll begin with a Foundation I want you to notice that according to verse 11 John makes this very clear that this is what he refers to as the beginning of signs the beginning of miracles and It is the first miracle recorded in the gospel of John more than likely is the first miracle that Jesus ever performed publicly Now I want to lay a little foundation by taking you in a direction About this early in church history books were written that were not accepted as inspired There are different books you can you can look into what is called the apocrypha there the word apocrypha It literally is translated hidden and they have what I refer to as apocryphal books You have a apocryphal books in the Old Testament and you have apocryphal New Testament books They numbers Bible scholars number the New Testament apocryphal books at about 27 27 books that were called apocryphal. I'll give you some information about that in just a moment, but these books include Titles like the Gospel of Peter Or the Gospel of Mary the Acts of Peter the Acts of John the Acts of Paul There was a one called the Gospel of Thomas That book was written around 185 AD. It's an uninspired book But it contains traditions and factual errors concerning Jesus Christ There was a there was a lot of talk as to why people didn't accept the gospel of Thomas just a few years ago And so this particular quote-unquote gospel of Thomas Speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ making up stories about him. It describes Jesus as more like a nature God One who actually does mean things to people in this book called the gospel of Thomas It fabricates miracles like breathing life into birds that have been fashioned from clay It contains a story of Jesus cursing a boy who then became a corpse Again, he cursed a boy who fell dead and his parents became blind In the gospel of Thomas he resurrects a friend who fell from a roof. He heals a man who chopped his foot with an axe He stretched a board that was short because he was working and he didn't feel like going to cut a new one So he just stretched it to finish the job. He harvested a hundred bushels of wheat from a single seed And so you see that there were books like the gospel of Thomas and the others mentioned that were rejected Now why were they rejected? Because there are those who ask, you know, how do we have our canon and you know the books that we have that we Considered to be inspired. Why did the other ones get rejected and all? Well, none of the writers of these other books claimed to be inspired by God Also upon close scrutiny they contain historical and geographical and moral errors and that's that's why they were rejected One source said the early church leaders in the third and fourth centuries Generally distinguished between canonical works canonical works and those that were not canonical but useful or good for teaching Though never relegating any to the final 27 books to the of the 27 books in the latter category one aim with Establishing the canon was to capture only those works that were held to have been written by the apostles or close associates and so When you read like the gospel of Luke and you go into his introduction remember it with me in Luke chapter 1 This is how he begins in verses 1 through 4 He says in as much as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things Which have been fulfilled among us just as those who from the beginning were eye witnesses and ministers of the word Delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account most Excellent theophilus that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed and so Luke wrote under the inspiration The spirit, but he said I did a thorough research. I'm able to give you all the information He he was able to interview those who were eye witnesses and all and so when you're looking at your Bible You need to remember that there are miracles that are in the Bible, but they always have a purpose There's always a reason in total There are 37 miracles performed by Jesus that are recorded in the Gospels Now there were many more works that were done that did not get recorded and John makes it clear that This is the first of the beginning of signs performed by Jesus and John 21 25 He said there are also many other things that Jesus did which if they were written one by one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written Amen, and so you have a certain amount of miracles and there was a purpose for them being recorded During this time and past this time actually beyond this time Early in the history of the church, but after the first century there were people who were writing books and were claiming them to be Authoritative that these books were not received the ones that were received were the ones that had the the sense of authenticity There were eye witnesses and that's basically how the canon or the the scriptures were collected And so as we look at this we're looking at the first miracle that Jesus Christ performed It wasn't making clay pigeons and making them fly I mean we're seeing something and we'll see the reason for it in just a moment now again John refers to this as the beginning of signs and it gives to us at least two reasons Why did he do these miracles? Because you're gonna see him. He's gonna actually have seven miracles recorded in the gospel Why does he record this and why does he want us to know about it? Why did Jesus perform miracles? Well one Jesus performed signs to manifest or reveal his glory Why did he do miracles to reveal his glory in verse 11 this beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and Manifested or revealed his glory The second reason is he performed signs so the disciples would trust in him or believe in him Because it makes it clear Manifested his glory in verse 11 and his disciples believed in him So Jesus Christ is the one who gives glory to God it reveals his glory and his disciples believe in him and so This is a purpose of any miracle done in the name of God Anybody who claims to be performing miracles This is one of the things we as a church need to remember is That that miracle is intended to bring glory to God so that people will trust in Jesus Christ if someone claims to perform miracles There's a very important question for them to answer Who receives the glory for the miracle performed the person some other power or Jesus Christ? So this sign was not intended to provoke people to argue Whether or not they can drink because that's what happens when we go through this passage See Jesus was a bartender I've had Let me share a couple things about that This is not permission to drink alcohol This is not permission to have alcohol served at your wedding. You just want to be biblical. Didn't they do it in Canaan? Let's do it in Chino. No if you if you were to ask me how I On a personal level deal with these kinds of things I have a basic philosophy and my philosophy related to this is broken down into a few questions One and you if you want to mark these down for yourself You might want to because you can ask yourself the same questions questions I asked myself and I'll I'll just ask them and perhaps it's something of value to you My philosophy related to this is broken down into a few questions one does my drinking alcohol? Bring glory to the Lord Does my drinking alcohol bring glory to the Lord? You say what's the big deal about that? Are you kidding me? I mean, that's Well, according to 1st Corinthians 10 31 Paul said whether you eat or drink or whatever you do Do all to the glory of God? So does my drinking Bring glory to God Because I am to do all things to the glory of God So that I'll ask myself if I'm drinking does that bring glory to God? Secondly, would my drinking alcohol cause anybody to stumble? if you came walking into a restaurant here in town and You say that's my pastor David over there and Marie I'm gonna go say hi because people do that all the time I'm gonna say hi and you came walking up to say hi and I was high Which how would you respond to that? You know if I was there You're drinking wine pastor David. It's Christian brothers How would you how would you respond to that would it stumble you now perhaps it wouldn't When our church was brand-new I was sharing I asked that question. I said what would you do? It was a rhetorical question, but I said what would you do if you came to my house open my refrigerator and saw some Some alcohol in there and this guy in the front row who was who was unsaved and like to drink yelled out in church He said I'd help you drink it brother. You know that wasn't what I expected him to say So would my drinking alcohol cause anybody to stumble and would I encourage people to a life of addiction? I might have the freedom or liberty to drink but that doesn't mean the people with me also have the same kind of liberty I may not be an addictive personality and I'm not and I could if I wanted to have a beer And I'm not going to be afraid of running to it every week and then drinking six packs and finally ending up with harder No, I don't have that addictive personality. I that's not where I'll go But would you with somebody else I may not be having a problem with it But will my children and can I encourage my children to live a godly life if they open the refrigerator and they see What I drink or if they see me drinking in the house? I ask myself those questions my liberties are always limited by how I affect other people and it ought to be That way in 1st Corinthians 8 verse 9 beware less someone Less somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak in 1st Corinthians 1024 let no one seek his own but each one the others well-being Romans 1421 it is good neither to eat meet nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak There are quite a number of believers today who say you stumble. That's your problem. That's your problem That's your problem. It's not my problem Why should my freedoms be limited by your weaknesses? Because love cares about the week Because love cares about the week and if I am more caught up with what I'm free to do and who cares about you I'm not loving you. I'm not loving you. I'm not caring for you I'm stumbling you and there's too many scriptures speaking about that for me to ignore Does drinking alcohol develop my reputation as a man of God? You see It's not going to It's not going to develop my reputation as a man of God what it will do It will stumble and it will cause people to Consider me less than set apart for God You see public public drunkenness in Israel was a disgrace. It was avoided Why well because it brought shame to the person who was drunk Proverbs 20 verse 1 says wine is a mocker strong drink is a brawler and whoever is led astray by it is not wise second Intoxication impairs your judgment and anybody who tries to argue and say no, I actually think better when I'm drunk Must be drunk Proverbs 31 verses 4 and 5 It is it is not for kings O. Lemuel It is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes intoxicating drink Lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of all the afflicted a Third thing is drunkenness will destroy your life Who has ever become better because they are alcoholics? Ask yourself that question. Who has ever become better? Because they're drunks who who has ever become better in Proverbs 23 verses 29 through 35 Who has woe and who has sorrow who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Now have you ever been around a sorry drunk we used to call them sorry drunks Who has woe they're complaining and upset? Oh life is bad and you know, that's the question who has woe who has sorrow Sometimes they think that you know a five foot two hundred and fifty pound man thinks he's six eight five hundred once he's had a few drinks in him, you know who has contentions argumentative drunks Complaints wounds without cause. They're so drunk. They stumble they fall they hurt themselves In and because they they were drunk and they tripped and he gives the he gives the The answer to that he says those who linger long at the wine those who go in search of mixed wine And then he says do not look on the wine when it's red when it sparkles in the cup when it swirls around smoothly at the last it bites like a serpent it stings like a viper your eyes will see strange things Your heart will utter perverse things Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea Or like one who lies at the top of a mass saying hey, they struck me. I wasn't hurt They beat me. I didn't feel it and then you'll go on to say when shall I awake that I may seek another drink So it's just an unwise hurtful painful thing to be addicted to Don't use your liberty as an excuse for the flesh Don't use the freedoms Christ has given to you to live lower than what God would have you to live the argument that we're having today About alcohol and all I could give a whole series of sermons on because it's very it's a very It's a very current argument One last example, and I won't use names. I just don't feel like doing it at the moment So Justin Bieber Is it has made a public Claim to have returned to his first faith because at one time some of you may or may not have known this but early on in his Career those who know even who this guy is Justin Bieber He at one point was very he used to talk about his spirituality In his early days, I remember back several years and then he you know It became popular and asked the way of the world can be sometimes we've drawn away We begin to pursue it and we're not known for being a Christian any longer and having a spiritual life And that happened in the life of Justin Bieber. It's happened to many people But it happened to him not that long ago within a few years He made a profession of faith and he came to a faith in Christ and and and I thought well bless the Lord I'm glad to hear that that this young man is is right with God I think that's a great thing anytime someone comes to faith in Christ I think that's a wonderful thing and it was spoken of and I I believe that he's sincere I have no reason to doubt that and so I rejoice with him But I also become saddened when I see a picture of him and his quote-unquote pastor at a bar in Australia doing shots his pastor and his sheep doing shots and It breaks your heart Now who's gonna argue who's gonna say oh you're going to hell because you were doing shots with your pastor But can you imagine the amount of people who were emboldened To live less than what God would have you to live to diminish your Your your your testimony your witness your capacity to communicate how God gives you new wine You see I had enough of the old. I don't need it anymore I've never had a Holy Spirit hangover because of the new wine I've never apologized for something I did under the influence of the Holy Spirit and his new wine But I have apologized or found guilty for the things in the past that I have done Well under the influence of the old and so it's just wise for us to abstain from anything That is going to keep us from having a testimony that brings glory to God And that's something to be aware of and with that said that's just kind of an introduction Let's get into verses one and two now on the third day, which is Tuesday On the third day and by the way in Israel you will still on Tuesday see people getting married Many times they'll get married on Tuesday So on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. So when you're looking at a map Israel divided if you look at his California is similar And you look at Southern California and then Central California Northern California Well northern California would be the area basically that Cana of Galilee is in that would basically if you're looking at a map So it's to the north. It's a village that is around nine miles north of the city of Nazareth And Cana is mentioned in the Gospel of John three times and Jesus is there at this particular wedding So it's been noted that Jesus's attendance at this wedding Gives the seal of approval for marriage in general Now notice the mother of Jesus is there along with Jesus and his Disciples now the disciples that are being mentioned here for those who take notes It would be Andrew Simon Peter Philip Nathaniel and more than likely John Now you also are meant it also is mentioned here that Mary is there Mary is at the wedding also Because in verse 3 it says when they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine And so Mary the mother of Jesus is there. I'm gonna give you some study material on Mary right now Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned three times in the Gospel of John She has mentioned by name in this passage She's mentioned in John 1925 and she's also alluded to in John chapter 6 verse 42 when you look in the Bible for a biblical record of Jesus's mom Mary There really isn't that much information. There's not much known of her Now let me share you a little bit about tradition because there's a lot of tradition related to Mary But again, it's the tradition of man. It's not scripture Some of you perhaps were raised in the same religious System I was raised in so I'm gonna give to you my religious training as a child And I'm gonna compare it with what scripture says if you don't mind. That's what I'm gonna do You see there's a lot of tradition related to her, but it's not found in the Bible There is I was taught something referred to as the immaculate conception Now the immaculate conception was that she Was conceived that she was conceived and born without sin Without a sin nature and she was according to Catholic dogma that she was filled with sanctifying grace I took the straight out of Catholic sources she was free from personal or hereditary sin and it became official church dogma in 1954 so that's tradition She was also thought to possess what is called perpetual virginity meaning she never knew a man She never had physical intimacy She was also thought to have been assumed into heaven body and soul that became a dogma of the church in 1870 in Catholic theology Mary is called the Mediatrics means that she meaning that she intercedes for people when they pray to her She is called co-redemptrics Meaning that she participates in salvation in the salvation process and did so by consenting to bear Jesus She is referred to as the queen of heaven From her union with Christ. She attains a radiant eminence Transcending that of any other creature from her union with Christ She receives the royal right to dispose of the treasures of the divine redeemer's kingdom From her union with Christ finally is derived the inexhaustible efficacy of her maternal Intercession before the son and his father This is what I was taught and any of you who were raised in the Catholic Church or perhaps continuing to to be in the church You know that that's I took this straight out of Catholic sources. This is what they say. This is how I was taught All of this is tradition It's derived from sources other than a genuine study of the Bible Because the Bible does not give much information about Mary from piecing together the verses that mention her We can get a snapshot When you look at the doctrine of immaculate conception and it says that she had no sin nature Well, she possessed the sin nature as I'll do human beings I'll have sin and fall short of the glory of God in Romans 5 12 It says through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned Proverbs 20 verse 9 asks the question who can say I have made my heart clean. I am pure from my sin So the Bible very clearly makes it plain that every human being is born with a sin nature And she had one too in Luke chapter 1 verse 47 It's Mary who said my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior and only sinners need a savior If she were without sin, she would have been the perfect sacrifice for sin Because that's what was required. I have a brother-in-law. I love very much very much many years ago He and I were speaking about this topic because he's a devout Catholic very devout Catholic and We were speaking of this subject together and I asked him. I said, do you believe that Mary? Had no sin and he said yes, I believe that he said I was taught that I believe that and I said so you're saying she was Perfect and had no sin at all and he says yes, that's what I was taught and so I asked him the question I said why didn't they crucify her? Why didn't they crucify her because what was required was a perfect sacrifice and seeing that she had no sin Why was she not crucified and why was Jesus crucified? Because and I quoted Luke 1 47 because she said my spirit rejoicing God my savior said she was a sinner She bore the savior that saved her. She was a sinner also Second she did not live in perpetual virginity She was a young unmarried virgin when she conceived Jesus according to Luke chapter 1 verses 27 and 34 But after marriage and the birth of Jesus she had normal marital relations with Joseph Matthew 125 says Joseph did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son called his name Jesus Third she had other children after giving birth to Jesus notice verse 12 in this chapter here It says after this he went down to Capernaum He is mother his brothers and his disciples and they did not stay there many days In Matthew 13 verses 55 and 56 the question is asked is this not the carpenter's son is not his mother called Mary and His brothers James Joseph Simon and Judas and his sisters are they not all with us Scripture does not teach that she was assumed body and soul into heaven earliest church tradition says she died in Jerusalem, but in the seventh century It was widely held that she'd been assumed into heaven She does not intercede because only Jesus intercedes on our behalf Hebrews 725 says he is he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him Since he always lives to make intercession for them in 1st Timothy 2 verse 5 There is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus She is not co-redemptrics Jesus in other words didn't need help to redeem mankind in Hebrews 1 3 Jesus who be in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and Upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high and Obviously heaven needs no reigning queen because there's only a king Now she was at the cross when Jesus died according to John 1925 and she is last mentioned and acts chapter 1 verse 4. That's what you find about Mary That's why it's so important to remember that old Latin phrase Sola scriptura The word alone God's word alone that is that is what our measure of that's where our faith is derived It's not by man's traditions. It's by what God's word says and that's why I took just a couple moments with you tonight Just to let you know. This is who Mary is now. I don't say that to disrespect her I Say that to honor Jesus because he's the one who died on the cross for me He's the one who bore my sin and he's the one who was big to be exalted above all and that's who we worship is Jesus Christ so as we look at that it says again in verse 2 now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding and When they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine Now marriage ceremonies were a time of celebration There was a procession of the bridegroom and his friends to the bride's house This would occur at night by torch light at her house speeches and blessings would occur The procession would return to the groom's house a wedding banquet would be held a religious ceremony would be formed And then a prolonged feast would begin and sometimes they would have a feast for up to a week Well on this occasion the wine had already been used up before the feast ended It was great embarrassment to the host for failing to be hospitable to the guests They may have been poor. They couldn't afford the best wine for their guests. So mom steps in and Mom steps in to inform her son and notice what she says in verse 3 they have no wine Now let's develop this for a minute. Mary knew that Jesus was Messiah For many years she observed his words and she observed him as her son and She knew of his works. She knew who he was in other words On the night he was born remember the shepherds that shared what had happened that night And it caused people to marvel at the things the shepherds told them well according to Luke 2 19 Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. So from the very beginning She was musing concerning Jesus her son Later when Jesus was was 12 years old and he went to Passover He had remained behind and his parents Joseph and Mary had left and remember how he went into the temple And he sat with the rabbis listening to them and asking them questions and his parents came to take him home with them and they said you very worried us and He said I must be about my father's business and when he said that they at first didn't understand But Luke 2 51 says he went down with them and came to Nazareth was subject to them But his mother kept all these things in her heart Now she may have been aware of what the Baptist had said about him because John had referred to him as the Lamb of God And she knew he was preaching repentance She knew people were beginning to come to hear him speak and she also knew there was a need and that He didn't have money to buy supplies But she knew that he could help and so what she's doing here is she's encouraging him to meet the need Now again, we noticed in verse 11 up until this point Jesus has not performed any miracles And so when she says in verse 3 they have no wine Jesus responds in verse 4 Woman and what is your concern have to do with me? my hour Has not yet come Now when he says my hour He's simply saying it's not my time to act The term hour is used various times in the gospel We're gonna see it in chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 12 chapter 13 as well as chapter 17 and From the beginning he's looking at his purpose Because that hour that is to come is to glorify his father and it it isn't you're not gonna Press me into your timetable in essence is what he's saying I'm on my father's timetable, but notice this and I want to develop this for a moment because here in verse 5 it's I I Marked it out for myself to always remember his mother said to the servants whatever he says to you do it Now When it says and I'll give you a couple things Commentator when she says that commentators believe that the way she's speaking Shows that the marriage is for one of their family members because she's barking orders to people She obviously expects something to happen When she's when she tells them to follow Jesus's commands But here's the thing I want to develop with you for just a moment if I may people will say You dishonor Mary there may be some right now in this room We're thinking he's dishonoring Mary No, I honor her I honor her for who she is for what she has done, but honor and honor her in a way that is Biblically right, but I do listen to her advice. I think every person ought to Look at what she says whatever he says to you do it now. That's good advice That's good advice her command is for me to do what her son says What does their son say is the question does he say honor my mother? Does he say pray to mama? Does he say all the things that tradition is no no what does Jesus say well? We know because in Matthew 4 verse 17. What did he say? He said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand do what he says in Matthew 11 28 He said come unto me through 30 come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest. He said take my yoke upon you learn from me. I'm gentle and lowly in heart You will find rest for your souls my yoke is easy and my burden is light do what he says come unto me He says and I'm gonna give you rest Jesus said unless a man is born again He cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. He cannot see it nor can he enter in So how does a man enter into the kingdom by receiving Jesus Christ? So you repent and you receive him so the advice his mother's giving to us is advice We ought to take it's a command we ought to obey whatever he says to you That's what you ought to do. She didn't say do what I'm telling you to do She said whatever he says to you that is what you are to do and that's the heart of Christianity It isn't just following somebody else's orders But it's following the order of the one who points you to the one you're supposed to worship And so when Mary says that I like that whatever he says to you do it And that's what I want to do now as he's saying that as this is being said verse 6 And there were there were set there six water pots of stone According to the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons a Piece this water was more than likely the water that was used for ritual cleansing The Jews would they had what they were called mitzvahs, but they also would wash pots pans Hands they would use water for for washing in mark 7 verses 3 and 4 It says the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way Holding the tradition of the elders when they come from the marketplace They do not eat unless they wash and there are many other things which they have received and hold like the washing of cups Pitchers copper vessels and couches and so that's what this was for these would have been Holding the water for washing rituals and so Jesus is Mary has said whatever he says you do we know that there is a lot of water there that is available in verse 7 So Jesus said to them fill the water pots with water They filled them up to the brim He said to them draw some out now Take it to the master of the feast and they took it So after filling the pots with water, they take a sample to the head waiter This is a man the master of the feast is in charge of the entertainment He provided the food he gave directions to guests and all and so they take it Well verse 9 when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine Didn't know where it came from the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom He said to him every man at the beginning sets out the good wine when the guests have well drunk than the inferior You've kept the good wine until now Well, what do we see here?  He's blessed mine My God blesses abundantly. He really does That I don't know how to say it in Ephesians chapter 3. That was overwhelming in Ephesians Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 It says he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think According to the power that works in us Why does it seem sometimes that he isn't working abundantly? Well, one, maybe we don't expect him to To maybe we have him on a timetable. We're expecting him to do certain things in a certain time And have you ever discovered that God is not on the same clock that you're on? Have you discovered that? I have too He works in a different timetable and so I've I've grown over the years to actually get to the point where I think I'm learning to wait on the Lord. I I've gotten to the point in my walk where I've discovered That he loves he loves me and that he would he would not do anything to harm me and Though I may be going through something that I wish would stop He's the one who knows how long the pressure needs to remain Because in the squashing of of the olives for the olive oil and all in the crushing of the grapes There's a pressure that releases. What's inside and one of the things that I'm learning is that when I sense pressure That he's putting me to the place where I come to the end of myself So I can finally see where his strength begins Like Paul I want to I am learning and would like to learn to some degree That when I am weak then I'm made strong And I think that part of what has happened in these last days in the church is Because life in and of itself so often is such a it's a pressure There's a lot of pressure. I am never going to minimize the fact that there's a lot of pain and pressure in life It is it's filled with that. Let's face it.  I can stumble you know that we know our own weakness We know our own flesh now you may get up you may have your devotions you have your prayer time You know breakfast is on time and you get in the car.  How did I because my flesh well It's like this sin lies at the door waiting to take advantage and my my flesh is very capable of Yielding to that moment so I know that I need the Lord 24 7 I know I'm weak and like the apostle Paul I can sell wretched men that I am who will deliver me from this body of death I need God's help, but thank be to God There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk according to who do not walk according to the flesh But by the spirit there's no condemnation God knows my heart and if my heart accuses me God is greater than my heart And he knows all things and he knows my desire is to please him to do the right thing before him to be a blessing to others But he also knows that I can yield myself Sometimes the things that I ought not to and because of that I have to rely on the Lord day by day and there are pressures that come into my life and People say well, you know as you get older the temptations are less. That's not true.   So one of the things I see here is they that God blessed, but he blessed abundantly And he'll bless you too. Why not? What makes you any different than the people at this wedding feast 2000 years ago? What makes me any different? God still Blesses and so one of the things that I see is he provides abundantly again He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think According to the power that works in us second the water pots used for purification were made of stone like people's hearts Ritual religion will never satisfy because ritual is Not sufficient for real needs That's why Ezekiel 3626 says I will give you a new heart Put a new spirit within you and listen to this I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and so those Water pots religious water pots if you will they were made of stone and so was my heart until Christ softened it Third wine in the New Testament is often used as a type of the Spirit of God in Ephesians 5 18 do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation Be filled with the Spirit and so Jesus provides abundantly the new wine of the Holy Spirit Every morning as you awaken. I Encourage you as a pastor. I encourage you Every morning as you awaken When the cobwebs are cleared and you kind of realize you're still alive Pray I Pray every morning. I encourage you to do the same thing Father in Jesus name Fill me with your spirit Jesus fill me with you. I want to walk in your spirit today Jesus. I've been praying that for so long I can't tell you how long every morning fill me with your spirit because Lord I know my flesh and I know how easy it is To yield to it Fill me with your spirit. I pray for the Lord's filling often You know, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I ask for refillings Your spirit fill me your spirit come upon me in a beautiful and fresh way. Oh Lord Jesus And before I come up and teach I'm praying when I give him dutations I'm praying when I'm teaching sometimes. You'll see me look up. I'm praying. That's another habit somebody told me I have they say you look up I see it. I'm waiting for somebody to come down and jump on me. I don't know They say you look up, but I'm praying You know father fill me with your spirit because he pours this Holy Spirit out abundantly and Fourth the master of the feast represents those who appreciate the new wine Not everyone does Some want to remain in their own religious beliefs You know That's true. There are some who are Very satisfied in their own religious beliefs. You'll see this as we continue through the gospel That what Jesus will do a work and I'll give a word. There are those who reject him Because they're satisfied to stay in their own religious faith In luke 539 No one having drunk old wine immediately desires the new for he says the old is better And so the master of the feast represents those who appreciate this new wine And with that said verse 11 this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him I'll read verse 12 After this he went I wasn't going to after this he went down to Capernaum He his mother his brothers and his disciples and they did not stay there Many days. So he moves to the city of Capernaum When you go to Israel we go into Capernaum. It's uh, it's on the uh, sea of Galilee And it's in the north and it's a it's a village a coastal village there and Jesus Had his ministry headquarters there and he moved from Nazareth. He moved to Capernaum and That's where peter was and james was and and other disciples and and a lot of his works Are going to take place up in the Galilee region where this is in reference to so he's simply saying that he went to Capernaum And it speaks of his mother his brother and his disciples and they didn't stay there many days In other words, he stayed there for a short time But he was about to go south and we'll pick that up. He was about to go south for the Passover So again, Capernaum is a place where Jesus Did a lot of teaching we go in Capernaum when we go to Israel we go to A site that is the traditional site of where the apostle peters house was Um, it doesn't look like anything that you'd see in the first century to be honest with you And what has happened is the catholic church has built a A church over at it and we call it the spaceship if you were there You'd know why it looks like a saucer. That's how they built it And they say that that there's archaeological evidence that this could very well have been the home of the of the apostle peter so the apostle peter lived there and Jesus moved his headquarters to Capernaum And uh, he's going to use that his as his headquarters and Jesus is now going to launch into his ministry And we're going to be picking that up next week when we get into verse 13 And see some of the things that he's about to do John is about to open up to us and we're going to see some very great things to apply to our own lives


Hi, good morning. I'm Steph Sarmora, and I'm the Kinzer Messel manager at Camp Kinzer Messel. There is a plan in place for every health protection condition level. If we were to move on to the next hip-con level, we will remain open and flexible and adjust to the situation. Patrons had to adjust their hygiene habits to the ones enforced by the hip-con Charlie regulations. The wait time has increased, but the variety of food is still provided by the mess hall. The food service marines quickly adjusted to the new health regulations, since the dining facility already follows the highest standards of cleanliness when it comes to handling food. Enforcing social distancing, remove and marked off tables and chairs, remove self-serve items, and direct handwashing upon entry are some of the new implementation of Health Protection Condition Charlie Plus or Hipcon Charlie Plus. The mess hall does provide meals for restriction of movement and quarantine marines. Roasters are submitted along with special meal requests that are documented, verified, and prepared on demand. These marines were placed on these statuses as a precaution to slow the spread of COVID-19. We work with Camp Operation Marines or the COVID-19 Task Force to deliver the meals to the marines door. Marines entering the mess hall can slow the spread of COVID-19 by simply practicing the safety guidelines that are in place at the mess hall. By washing your hands upon entry and wearing a face mask can lessen the chance of contamination in a place that every service member shares.