We'll begin reading in 2 Corinthians together at chapter 2. I'll read verses 1 and 2 then I'm going to give you some background to remind you of what is taking place and then we'll move into our study by picking up at verse 3 and concluding at verse 11 But I'll begin reading here at verse 1 2 Corinthians chapter 2 I'll read verses 1 and 2 and Introduce and then move into our study Paul writes 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 1 I Determined this within myself that I would not come again to you in sorrow For if I make you sorrowful Then who is he who makes me glad, but the one who has made sorrowful by me And so Paul has been defending his failure as some of you would remember his failure to come to the church The church at Corinth when he had stated that he would he had written an earlier letter And he had stated that he wanted to come in it had that actually had given them his basic plans And what he was hoping to be able to do and many hadn't shown up and so he's defending his failure to come to the church because his Opposers he has infiltrators he has enemies of the gospel who have come in and are beginning to make charges against him and His detractors are are saying that Paul didn't love the Corinthians because if he did he had shown up and So this was all his detractors needed to know that he didn't show up in order that they might say something bad about him Something negative and they were inferring that Paul didn't love them They were saying that Paul wasn't concerned about them because had he been concerned about them and had he loved them he wouldn't have changed his plans and So The church should have known that this charge was false because as we've seen Paul was their father in the faith They they came to faith through his ministry. He planted the church. He was their father in the faith They should have all people they should have known that he loved them He loved these people as a matter of fact as we go through 2nd Corinthians You're gonna see various times that he makes it very clear that he loves and not only does he love them But he loves them deeply and he's very open to them, you know, some people think that Paul was just a Emotionist person That he was simply a theological intellectual, but this is a man who had a heart This is a man who who loved very deeply and you see this very often in this letter For example in 2nd Corinthians, we'll see in chapter 6 Verses the 11 and 12 how how he writes to them and how he says we have spoken freely to you Corinthians opened wide our hearts to you We're not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us in Chapter 7 of 2nd Corinthians verse 3. He said I do not say this to condemn you I've said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you in Chapter 12 verse 15. He went on to say I will gladly spend myself and all I have for your spiritual good Even though it seems that the more I love you the less you love me He was very open very vulnerable very tender hearted You see he knew that these infiltrators were trying to undermine the gospel and his ministry in the church there in Corinth And he knew that one of the ways to undermine a ministry is to attack the minister Paul knew that very well and Jesus taught that and these are things that occurred in the ministry of Christ For example in Matthew chapter 9 verses 10 and 11 Matthew said well Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples But when the Pharisees saw this they asked his disciples Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? See they didn't attack him personally They went around him and went to his apostles and they began to say how come he's doing that? Everybody knows that these people are sinners and and yet your master who was supposed to be a spiritual leader Actually spends time with them. They were trying to undermine Christ. So to undermine the ministry Speak poorly of the minister to those who love him You see if you undermine the leader those who respect them will have their faith undermined in March 14 27 Jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it's written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered So Paul was aware of what was taking place and because of this He was beginning to give explanations in second Corinthians And here Paul made it clear that he had not come because the spirit had not directed him to You see he knew as a spirit-led man that the Holy Spirit leads you in certain directions Causes you encourages you to move in certain ways and he knew that he could make plans But he also knew that it's the Lord who orders his way in the Psalms in Psalm 37 23 It says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way When it says the steps of a good man are ordered that word ordered in the original means to be directed Correctly to be prepared arranged or to be settled God leads us and what we do is we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and we seek God for leading Like it says in Jeremiah 10 verse 23 I know oh Lord that a man's life is not his own it is not for man to direct his steps And so as a spirit-led man Paul was a man who was filled with integrity and character But the charge that was being leveled was that he was vacillating and insincere And he's making it clear you should know that that charge is untrue. I'm your father I love you.  He's open and he's also explaining to them He doesn't necessarily have to explain, but he does because he loves them and he made it clear We saw it in chapter 1 verse 21 that that he was a man who was established that he was anointed He was sealed. He had the deposit of the Holy Spirit. He loved them He taught them he refused to bully them. He encouraged them to walk in the spirit Well, that kind of man is trustworthy and that kind of man should be given the benefit of the doubt So we had said in verse 23 He had said more over I call in chapter 1 more over I call God his witness against my soul That to spare you I came no more to Corinth. So he's explaining why he didn't come He didn't want them To have to be dealt with he wanted to spare them a painful visit. So he chose to alter his plans He didn't want to see them under the former conditions that we'll be looking at in just a moment What he was doing is he was giving them time as a church to repent he gave them time to deal with a sin and This is something his detractors were using to lie about him They used his not coming as a reason to actually challenge his ministry Which again false false people in infiltrating churches often do in first Corinthians chapter 4 verses 19 through 21 This is what he wrote. He said I will come to you very soon if the Lord is willing and Then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking But what power they have for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk But of power Now what do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip or in love and with a gentle spirit? So his not coming was not a sign of weakness. It wasn't a sign of indecision It was really an evidence of grace and patience with them there was a writer in the early history of the church name was August Augustine and He wrote as severity is ready to punish the faults that it may discover So love is reluctant to discover the faults Which it must punish so he said I didn't come to spare you a grievous visit He had said in verse 24 of chapter 1 not that we have dominion over you the word dominion means to dominate It means to rule over or to be lord of I don't want to exercise dominion over you I want to help you to grow. I don't want to use my authority as a tyrant I don't want to be an intimidating bully.  So I want to help you I want to be helpful as you grow and I want to be a helper of your joy And that's what he was saying because ultimately he says by faith you stand Now he moves on into verse 1 of chapter 2 and continues that thought by saying I Determined this within myself that I would not come again to you in sorrow For if I make you sorrowful then who is he who makes me glad but the one who has made sorrowful by me I didn't want to cause you further sorrow If I'd have come on my original schedule I would have had to deal with the sin at that time and I don't want to have a painful visit So as I was praying and seeking God the Lord led me to wait You see I want my visit with you to be one of joy and fellowship not of correction and sadness And so that's what he's saying as he moves into verse 3 and continues to explain By saying and I wrote this very thing to you lest when I came I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy Having confidence in you all that might joys the joy of you all For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears Not that you should be grieved but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you And so verse 3 gives us some insight he was from tarsus all of tarsus But now we discover he was really a southerner because he keeps on saying y'all. Did you notice that? Having confidence in y'all that my joy is the joy of y'all see so that tells me something geographic Now somebody's writing that I'm just teasing I'm just kidding I didn't want to do something that was difficult for me You see I have written to you Paul would say first Corinthians. I gave to you some orders We'll be looking at those in a moment, but I want to though. I wrote with strong words. I want to reveal my heart to you And as he does so he's now answering and if you've been taking notes on this He's answering a sixth charge. You've already looked through five charges. This is number six So he's answering the sixth charge. I already alluded to it that he's an unemotional intellect Now if there was anything Paul could not be accused of It was of being an unloving man He loved these people. He felt deeply for them And he felt their pain Any pain they went through he went through with them And we know that as we've been introduced to him and seen him he loved god And as a result he loved those whom god loved And he gave people not only the gospel But he actually gave his life to them also In first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 8 one of my favorite scriptures concerning paul It says so affectionately longing for you We were well pleased to impart to you Not only the gospel of god But also our own lives Because you had become dear to us We didn't just give you words We didn't just talk to you But we gave you our hearts We loved you Every ministry that is anointed and blessed by god Is going to be anointed and blessed by god if there's a presence of god's word As well as a presence of god's love And when god's word is there it's rightly divided it's being presented to the body of christ to instruct and help encourage and convict That's a good thing But when that word comes out of the heart of someone who loves those people As he loves his god That's even a better thing You can hear the word of god and you can be transformed by it because all you need to do is deposit faith in god's word and act on it But god didn't intend to just give his word to us. He also gave us his heart He had his word declared to us in the old testament you go through the old testament you see the word of god But god is the invisible god god commanded the nation of israel a nation that lived amongst pagans People who who had carved images of their god and carried them around wherever they went their god was a portable god God said to the nation of israel you're not going to have a relationship with me the way the pagans have a relationship With their gods they carve them out of out of wood with human hands He said i will not have you have an idol you will have no graven image So the nation of israel in in the midst of of pagan Religious systems all around them was the unique nation in that it had the invisible god And god said in the book of exodus chapter 20 verses 2 through 5 you will not make a graven image of me The invisible god Was worshiped in faith But the invisible god in chapter 1 of the gospel of john verse 1 Became flesh In the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god In verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us we beheld the glory And so what god did is he took the the question of his invisibility and answered it in the incarnation And so the people of israel had a god who loved them, but also a god with them immanuel And in ministry the word of god goes forth But paul said i i gave to you not only the gospel of god, but i imparted my life to you And what is he saying he's saying i love you and these who are creeping in these who are infiltrating these are Under mining my ministry i'm your father in the faith i brought you the faith in christ But they're saying that i don't love you they're saying i i'm an unemotional intellect alone i have no heart That's not true He said i love you I love you deeply i've imparted my life to you So he's opening up his heart to them And he's saying though i open up my heart you may not understand me as i do so Look at what he says in verse 4 out of much affliction and anguish of heart i wrote to you with many tears See they're saying he's an unemotional intellect. He's saying no affliction anguish and tears were present Not that you should be grieved But that you might know the love which i have so abundantly for you And so he speaks of this my letter was was prompted by deep emotional stress I had affliction and anguish of heart there were tears When he says affliction that speaks of something being pressed together it speaks of pressure distress When he uses the word anguish That means something that is pressed and held together. It's it's a distress that he's going through So he's saying the purpose was not to cause grief The purpose was to express to you the deepest love i have for you The christ centered love prompted me to write a word of correction for your own good I wrote that because i loved you not because i want to hurt you I wrote that because i want you to grow in your understanding of christ and and to serve him properly On the face of the earth that's why i wrote and he says i wrote this because i abundantly love you Then he says in verse five, but but if anyone has caused me grief He hasn't grieved me, but all of you to some extent not to be too severe And so as he's speaking concerning this paul is now referring to that first letter and he's giving to us further insight Now again as i mentioned in my introduction of second corinthians This church the church of corinth in greece was a young church As a young group of believers you can always expect problems Because problems will crop up as we grow together in the things of the lord Someone once said you can be saved in an instant But to become a disciple requires years And that's true You see the church was going through various problems that paul had to address and and as i mentioned that's what you see when you read first corinthians I mentioned that this church had divisions. They had questions about marriage They were dealing with questions of idolatry and issues concerning the role of women in the church That have never been answered Spiritual gifts various issues that that paul had to deal with But one of the serious problems Related to a sin that they didn't deal with at that time It was a sexual sin In first corinthians five one and two paul said this paul said i can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you Something so evil That even the pagans don't do it I'm told that you have a man in your church Who is living in sin with his father's wife And you are so proud of yourselves Why aren't you mourning and sorrow and shame? And why haven't you removed this man From your fellowship Instead of mourning over the sin you're boasting about it. That's the issue he's dealing with You actually became puffed up you you began to respond with arrogance You see when a believer continues in sin And this is what a lot of people don't know The actual effect is that it infects the church Sin is no longer taken seriously And the church becomes used to it And begins to accept it In first corinthians five six he said how terrible that you should boast about your spirituality And yet you let this sort of thing go on Don't you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning Soon all will be affected. Don't you understand that when sin goes unchallenged unrepented of it contaminates the body of christ Don't you understand that? And so what had happened in his first letter is he had instructed them to enact what is called church discipline He said the answer to the situation is remove the person from the church And this is because the church is not the glory and sin The church is the glory and the holiness of god So he said in first corinthians five seven Remove this wicked person from among you so that you can stay pure Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us Now the corinthians were spiritually young and they didn't understand sin's impact on the body They didn't realize that by not dealing with the sin the sin would become the norm And their misunderstanding of god's grace undermined the transforming power of god's gospel Grace was not an excuse to continue in sin Grace is extended that we might be free of its bondage And according to first Thessalonians four seven god didn't call us to uncleanness, but in holiness And so that's what paul begins to deal with that's what we're going to develop here and look at Because he said again in verse five If anyone has caused grief he has not grieved me But all of you to some extent not to be too severe So he's referring here to the brother in this sin and how his sin has affected them all How is it possible that what someone does with his own body affects others? Somebody might say You see many have come to believe that we are not to interfere in other people's lives And so they ask the question well, how can I be affected by someone else's sin? And who am I to say anything and who am I to to address them in any way? What right do I have to do that? Why should I do that? Why don't I just leave them alone let the holy spirit work on them? God has a way of doing that You know, I don't want to be some gospel gestapo out there trying to look at everybody's life carrying a big old You know Magnifying glass to see what the wrong is and you and in many ways that's that's right We're not to be that way of course not and yet There are things in responsibilities that we have and we need to understand it and that's what paul's going to deal with And hopefully I'll I'll be able to help us to understand that together as a church Why is it important for us to be aware of these kinds of things and to act on them? Well, one we need to remember that we are the body of christ And as the body of christ, we have an effect on one another In first Corinthians 12 13 we were all baptized by one spirit into one body In first Corinthians 12 26 is if one part suffers every part suffers with it If one part is honored every part rejoices with it my body is a hole though it's made up of many individual parts hands and feet eyes and all and My hand doesn't boast against the foot and say I don't need you We need every part of our body. What part would I want to give up? If somebody approached me after church and said by the way, we're going to take a part of your body today What part do you want to give up? I'd like to keep it pretty much I really don't see anything that I want to get rid of and and that's the whole thing We are the body of christ, right and so the body works in unity works together and so I can be affected by what others are doing You see the offender has caused grief to the entire church His sin has infected the church it needs to be dealt with The body was getting callous to us becoming indifferent to sin And because he was unrepentant Paul said you need to remove him from the church that's called church discipline You see he says it in verse 6 He said this punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man What he had done is he had given the order for them to remove the man He was excommunicated taken out of the church And so he had done that and he's speaking of that punishment And notice again in verse 6 how he says this punishment which was inflicted by the majority So the word punishment refers to a penalty that fits the offense What they had done is they had enacted church discipline And so somebody says but wait a minute. I've never even really heard that term. What do you mean church discipline? What is church discipline? Well church discipline is a biblical method to promote holiness in the body of christ In first peter 116 it says it is written be holy for I am holy In he was 1214 follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord Church discipline helps to keep us in line with the things of god And it needs to be enacted quickly Because if it's enacted quickly it stops the spread In the person and in the church But when someone sin continues unchallenged It actually infects the church and it becomes the norm Ecclesiastes 8 11 says because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully said in them to do evil Every parent knows that if your kids doing something they shouldn't do then you better deal with it quickly Because that little event becomes a habit and eventually becomes a character And if you don't begin to deal with things as you see them They're set in them. So you have to deal quickly with them. You have to you have to speak to them. You have to sometimes Apply apply the board of education to the seat of understanding to help them to see that what they're doing is wrong You have to deal with it, right every parent knows that And so if you don't act quickly it becomes the norm This guy was sleeping with his father's wife The church knew it and said nothing about it It became the norm of the church now they're glorying in to say look how grace filled we are We're doing nothing because we love him and he's saying no in doing nothing You're infecting the body of christ And the church is the bride of christ and as such is to be pure And paul was their father in the faith and he desired them to live pure lives in jesus christ later on In chapter 11 verse 2 paul says it like this. He says i'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy I promised you to one husband to christ so that i might present you as a pure virgin to him i'm jealous with a godly jealousy I want you to be presented spotless, which means i encourage you to live in holiness You see christians don't always live according to the word of god And sometimes their sin can bring dishonor to the name of christ and shame to the body of christ Sometimes we don't understand how it infects the church and how it impacts other people So what do we do we ignore it or we excuse it and eventually we simply accept it As christians we have the ability to see how sin becomes accepted in our society. We have examples all around us The world is no longer What it once was i have said this more than once Many people have forgotten how to blush There are so many things that are accepted as normal that many of the younger generation is being raised thinking is acceptable And it begins early the the the teachings of accepting sin begins very early If you don't teach your kid about christ the world will teach him things about him that you don't want him to believe Because the world will teach will teach Our children how to live what to think what their philosophy is what morals is It does that what our ethics the world will teach them You know there was an ad that was rejected for the super bowl That was pro-life several of them actually that had Pro-christian messages they were rejected, but they're going to have some Some a man who dresses like a woman on in commercial to make that that's the acceptable norm See those kinds of things for the for many people today are are acceptable and normal But not to god See if i if i get my morals out of the newspaper and the news Then i'm going to agree with the wave that's going in a certain direction If i get my understanding from the word of god Then i know what is right and i know what is wrong. I know that the world says something is sweet when god says it's sour I know that the world says something is is light when god says no, that's darkness But how do i know that i know that from reading the word of god? And so that's what we do and yet today there are people who are accepting things that scripture is Prohibiting and there are even churches and pastors who preach messages to tickle the ear of the hearer But are not teaching the truth of the gospel and that's what's bad And in the Corinthian church, they weren't dealing with the situation. They weren't dealing with the sin Because it became the norm. It was something they gloried it. It was something they accepted And paul says no your glory is not good Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough Don't you realize that when you allow something to just settle in it begins to infect everything else Don't you realize that you've been saved out of darkness you to walk in the light Don't you realize that and don't you know that this man who's sleeping with his his father's wife He's even pagans think that that that is wrong and you're accepting it He said no sin is insidious It undermines the work of god and that's why in in chapter five of first Corinthians verses 11 through 13 That's why he commanded the church to deal with the sin quickly He said now i am writing you That you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy An idolater or a slanderer a drunkard or a swindler But such a man don't even eat What business is it? Is it of mind to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside And then he went to say expel the wicked man from among you Deal with it don't allow it to be there rotting everything You get something that's rotten put it on something. That's not and the rot spreads Deal with it remove it the body of christ needs to be pure So what happens what happens when a fellow believer enters into sin for a prolonged period? Jesus gave us the model of how to enact this kind of discipline in matthew 18 In matthew 18 verses 15 through 20. This is what he said If your brother sins against you Go and show him his fault just between the two of you if he listens to you you've won your brother over But if you will not listen Take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses If he refuses to listen to them Tell it to the church if he refuses to listen even to the church Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for It will be done for you by my father in heaven for where two or three come together in my name There am I with them. So what happens when I see somebody in sin and and uh, they're not dealing with it themselves Well one he said it should be person to person. I've seen it I have a love for them. I have a concern for them. So I talk to them And that is not easy to do some of you know that It's not easy to do you see they're doing something. You know, what's wrong You don't want to be you know, you don't want to be harsh with them at all But jesus said no go and speak to them one on one And and share with them. And so he says first you go to him alone But what if he doesn't listen? Well second, he says bring a witness That infers that others are also aware of this in in other words It's not just you seeing it, but there are others who are seeing it So you bring someone who can correlate what you're saying and then third if he doesn't listen to you or the witness Then you bring it to the church when it says bring it to the church That doesn't mean that we put it in the bulletin.  So I brought somebody else with me And because they know too they can they can they can say what I'm saying is accurate and true They spoke to him and he still doesn't want to hear it So there's nothing else we can do other than to bring it to you and share with you So that you can go and take care of it because that's what jesus taught us to do and then the church gets involved Now what happens if they don't want to hear from the church?  You can't have fellowship in christ if he's not in christ And what you're wanting to do is you wanting them to see that it's valuable for you to have relationship Because if there's anything that the church is it's a community of believers And if there's anything that's valuable within the church It's having relationship with others with love and care and concern that we share with one another Because that shows that we're a family And that's how the lord works And so if he doesn't listen you treat him with kindness and love But you don't you don't have fellowship with him because he he will think that you're approving of his sin He needs to realize that sin separates You see church discipline has basically two expressions one is called preventive preventive discipline comes through teaching and in encouragement it comes through sunday mornings wednesday nights whenever we gather together And the word goes out. It's preventive ministry It's teaching us what pleases the lord and what displeases him and and it's preventing us from having to go to the second which is corrective because When preventive is given Then corrective has a base by which I can appeal And I can say were you in study this last week? Yes, I was But did you hear the study about this? Yes, I did Well, that was intended to prevent this corrective action So that you know what god says so we can agree together that we're going to follow That's how it works. It's not done in a way to try and destroy. It's done in a way to try and and restore You see the true goal of church discipline is restoration True love for a fellow believer is is to lovingly confront in and healing so that healing might take place It's not used to destroy it's used to restore fellowship with jesus and the body of christ And it doesn't occur out of anger. It doesn't come out of self-righteous indignation It's to be enacted in the attitude of humility and concern for that person In galatians 6 1 it says brothers if someone is caught in a sin You who are spiritual should restore him gently But watch yourself or you also may be tempted So when lovingly and properly enacted it provides a real warning to the body of christ And it can restore that person. Have I ever done that? Yes, I have Is it difficult? Yes, it is Do they always listen? No, they don't Most of the time almost every time When somebody is caught in sin and trapped by sin, they want the sin more than anything else They want the sin more than anything else. They do They do And sometimes we try to take the grace of god And we abuse and use it We try to take his forgiveness and we abuse and use it. I got a phone call many years ago now Our church was maybe two or three years old at the time. I got a phone call It went to the Our receptionist secretary I was there in the office. I could take the call She She buzzes me. She says there's someone on the line wants to talk to you. I said, well, yes, of course I can spend a moment with them And I remember speaking to this guy on the phone And he asked me a question. I'll never forget it He said to me I pastor. I just wanted to ask you Is every sin forgivable And like a young novice pastor, I didn't see a trap was being said. I didn't see it Is every sin forgivable is an open-ended question So naturally I answered in an open-ended way. I said every sin, of course Every sin is forgivable Every sin is forgivable even the sin of adultery I said every sin I said Jesus christ died on the cross to forgive us of all our sins There's not a single sin that the blood of christ does not wash in cleanse, of course Every sin is forgivable He said thanks.  Yes, he does of course. That's an open-ended one But you're planning on sinning. That's premeditated You're taking the grace of god advantage of it and extending it over your evil No, that is something you are willfully doing with no heart to reject or repent from And see that happens sometimes that I've had I've actually had conversations like that more than once More than once where people want permission to continue in sin So what do you do? Yes, I have sat down with people as a pastor Yes, I have had conversations with people as a pastor Yes, I have wept with people. I know that surprises you that I can cry, but I have wept with people I love them I love them I love them I'll never forget the lady who said to me god has a perfect will and he has a permissive will His perfect will his permissive will was that I married my present husband His perfect will is for me to be married to his best friend And she divorced her husband to marry his best friend You can take the grace of god an amazing Teaching from the lord and just use it to do whatever you want And then blame others for talking to you about what you're doing that is wrong And paul said this guy He said was committing sin you gloried in it did nothing. I had to from a distance Render judgment and I told you cast him out He said and that's because you wouldn't do it You were so busy and you didn't you were unaware that leaven leavens your whole lump the whole church was becoming unholy Now the majority approved of dealing with it But there was a group of people in the minority who were calling paul An unloving intellectual no care for them And so they disapproved of bringing in church discipline because they knew that if the church began To be chaotic it would be easier to take over And that's what paul is dealing with here this terrible sin But they actually did Enacted and that's what he's referring to in verse 6 when he said the punishment that punishment was inflicted by the majority And so the he says in verse 6 the discipline was sufficient in other words his response was repentance And seeing that he repented you need to restore him So in verse 7 so that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive and comfort him Less perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him for to this end I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you are obedient in all things Now whom you forgive anything I also forgive for if indeed I have forgiven anything I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of christ Less satan should take advantage of us. We are not ignorant of his devices And so sin leaves destruction in our lives And and when we are confronted and we begin to deal with it we can feel rejected and even ashamed And when someone has drifted from god and his sin deeply it leaves deep hurt But when they truly repent and turn from the sin the fruit of repentance will be seen and as terrible as the sin was He repented but the church had not welcomed him back Something to remember every sin is forgivable if repented of In Psalm 32 5 I acknowledged my sin to you did not cover up my inequity I said I will confess my transgressions to the lord and you forgave the guilt of my life Rather my sin Proverbs 28 13 he who conceals his sins does not prosper whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy And so you sin and you've sinned greatly And you know it and someone shares with you and says You're you're you where you go? What are you doing? What happened to you? We used to go to church together. We used to serve the lord together. We went on mission trips together We had nights of prayer. We've had opportunities to do so many things and and what you met somebody and now you got to live with them What happened to you? What you got depressed and you started to drink it now you're drinking you used to do it by yourself You thought nobody knew and now you're doing it openly. What happened to you? What happened? And you and you talk to him what happened wish and the guy says man, you know what? I just I've been broken You know what god can fix you And I'll be with you every step of the way. I'll help you if I can I'll be there I can't I can't be the healer god is but I can be a friend And I can be a shoulder that you can cry on I'll be there for you. That's what brothers do. That's what sisters do I'll minister to you. I love you man.   I've missed the old guy. I missed you so much, man. It's so good to see you again It's good to see you again. Have I seen that? Yes Yes, I have Where they've come back and they've said what a miserable thing sin has been But now I'm just rejoicing To be back with god and his people and that's what he's saying God forgives every sin. You may be thinking the sins and the sin that you're committing or have committed Is unpardonable. It's not god forgives every sin He washes and cleans and he says therefore in verse eight reaffirm your love to him He repented welcome him back And he said in verse nine for to this end I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you're obedient at all things You see this kind of action is not easy to exercise By obeying in the hard matter You're demonstrating that you really believe the lord and your obedience to this Demonstrated your acceptance of of of my authority in your life And then he went on to finally say whom you forgive anything. I also forgive For if indeed I have forgiven anything I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of christ Let satan should take advantage of us. We're not ignorant of his devices This man sin had affected the church But when the church forgave Paul did too and together they reaffirmed their love for him and together they welcome him back and finally one last thing Less satan should take advantage of us.  Nobody cares for you Nobody even notices That's what he whispers to you That's what he says. He discourages. It's one of his ancient techniques to destroy And and paul knows that if they keep the brother from fellowship with god, it'll spiritually hurt him So he says don't keep him out of the fellowship. Show him what restoration is Because satan works to create pain But restoration produces peace And that's what this man needs Welcome him back. Put your arms around him. Love him Forgive him and move forward with him. What is the purpose of church discipline? Restoration Restoration so that that person Can walk with jesus and feel the joy of god smile in his life That's why you enact it And the the less that you do that the less you care about them enough to share with them the truth The more the sin takes over their life So if you know somebody that maybe sat next to you in church on a sunday That is no longer walking with the lord if you that that person is put on your heart Give him a call Just tell him. I love you. I've been thinking of you Love to see you walk with the lord again. See what god can do perhaps That person can be restored Because that's what we do, right Jesus goes out leaves the 90 and nine and he follows after the one that's walked away And he saves him comes again rejoicing and he says I found the one that was lost Well, maybe we can do that too. I think maybe we can be loving friends because You need a friend Jesus is your friend, but you need a friend one last thing I was gone this last thursday Marie and I were asked to go to lake havasu to To do a dedication service for a brother who came out of our fellowship in pastors of churches Been pastor in a church in lake havasu for 23 years And they built a building and he asked me to come and do a A service of dedication which we did And so two of our very dearest friends randy and janette walls went with us and it's a four and a half hour five hour Drive as some of you know It's a long drive But what makes those four and a half hours five hours pleasant Is your friends And so there I am with my friend randy's a fellow pastor who's been pastoring in upland for 27 years And we're visiting and sharing. What's the lord doing in your life? What's happening in church? We're enjoying ourselves and I came to remember how important it is to have accountability and relationship When you have accountability and relationship If you begin to fail Well, if one person falls his brother can lift him up And if there's anything missing in the church today, it's personal relationships We have substituted the Facebook and instagram and everything and tried to make that into real friendship and real relationship But we all know it's not We all know because you read the post Doesn't anybody ever read send me an you know a smiley face if you listen to me If you're reading this pass this on to five of your friends And you're saying my goodness some people your your house bound and that may be one of your forms and and I understand that My heart goes out to you and and yes, facebook and instagram and various other social media Can be used of the lord to reach into people's lives And they can read things at their home and everything I see that too, but it's not to be a substitute For being next to somebody As uncomfortable as it may be even for some of you right now To be seated next to strangers and you're saying to yourself I don't even know this person and their shoulders almost touch you mine They're gonna give me cooties or whatever. I mean when you're when you're there it can be uncomfortable, but god created us for relationship God created us to know one another pray for one another love one another confess our faults to one another Encourage one another exhort one another So many one another's in scripture. Why because the body of christ we need one another And so when you see someone failing You don't go to try and be the one who harms them with your words. You want to bring words that are healing We love you Sin separates you please repent come back to god. Let's see what god can do in your life god can move If you just let go of that sin And grab back hold of him That's how it works And that's what paul said Man was committing a sin He repented You're a little bit too severe Welcome him back.


Do you want to learn how to trade stocks and cryptocurrency? Join our community of traders. Go to richpigsdaily.com and find the next 10 bagger. What are you doing today? I'm your host Rich. Here we have a RichTV Live with our very special guest, the CEO of FSD Pharma, Anthony Durketch. How are you doing today, Anthony? Great, Rich. How are you? I'm fantastic. Very excited to have you on the show. And why don't we get started, Anthony? And you can tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with FSD Pharma. Sure, thank you. So, I got involved with FSD Pharma back in 2017. The FSD are the initials of three last names, meaning Fairfoul, Zayed, and Durkaz, me being the third. Zee Shanssey, who was the president of the company and my partner, he did bring me into the company. And at the time we were looking at the former craft plant outside of Toronto, Canada, to build the world's largest indoor facility. And so that's how I ended up getting involved. I own an investment bank in Toronto, Canada called First Republic Capital. We've probably done about 200 different deals in many, many different industries, which gives us a lot of experience with microcap companies specifically that are public. And so we utilized our money raising capability to fund FSD in the beginning for $53 million and get the company going. Wow. Congratulations on all your success thus far. Can you go through some of the milestones that were hit in the first six months of this year and what the main goals are for the last six months of 2021 for FSD Pharma? Sure. So the first six months we, and just to be clear, I was brought on as interim CEO only last week. So right now what we're doing is analyzing what had happened in the past six months so that we can give the market updates. And these will be coming very, very shortly. And so, but in the first six months, the company was engaged in phase two trials of our lead molecule called FSD 201. And FSD 201 is a naturally occurring protein that's referred to as PEA. And what I find very interesting about PEA is that it enters the human body the same way that CBD does. So the properties that we believe it has are very, very similar to CBD. And so what's most important when it comes to the idea of medicine behind cannabis is that the property is that a target or attack inflammation because inflammation for humans is 75% of the root of all evil of disease. So we were excited by the fact that this protein enters the human body through the endocannabinoid system, which is the same system that cannabis enters the human body. And so that's been in phase two trials. We will have updates coming out very shortly, but we have been analyzing because we have just taken over as management in the past week. Going forward, it's very, very specific. We want to de-risk the company from only having one molecule in our biotechnology pipeline. And so we stated in March and in April in our information circular and amended information circular that we would be targeting other cannabis-based or psychedelic-based biotechnology assets. And to me, I was always a very firm believer in cannabis as a medicine. Recreationally, ironically, I'm in the cannabis industry in a very significant way, but I'm cautious about the recreational uses or overuse of cannabis, but the medical potential I see both in cannabis and in psychedelics is what really, really interests me and gets me really excited. I think there's a tremendous potential. I think that we're on the verge both in cannabis and in psychedelics on the frontier of new medicine of what we know has a lot of healing capabilities in so many ways, but was never allowed to legally be followed up for a number of reasons. So I think this is the most exciting time. And right now, for us, we think that in cannabis, there are a lot of companies. We saw what happened in the past with cannabis stocks, and it really all started in Canada. Canada was the leader for cannabis stocks. And so we thought when there was only Canopy and Aurora and Chronos and Organogram, when you had four or five or six stocks, you saw what ended up happening. The market went wild and all of these companies achieved multi-billion dollar valuations. And so I think that's potential now in the psychedelic space with stocks. So on the NASDAQ, for example, you have Compass Pathways, you have a tie, you have FieldTrip that's coming, and you have Saib and the GIST started trading on the NYSE. So there you have the four. And I compare that to sort of going back to 2017 in the cannabis sector. When there were four cannabis companies that were listed on the big board. So I think there's a tremendous amount of potential. Each of those companies, a tie has an over two billion market cap. Compass Pathways has, I think, about a 1.3 billion market cap. FieldTrip and Saib and both are like 600, 700 million. Oh, and Mind Medicine. Mind Medicine is the fifth one, which also translates like, which has about a billion dollar market cap. So I think there's a tremendous amount of potential in the sector, especially from an investor point of view. With the recent changes, which you've mentioned to the management team, can you give the viewers an idea of what the direction the team is looking to take the company and net? Yes. So, and we did, and I stated that before, both in March and in April, we stated that we would be looking at expanding our biotechnology pipeline and that we are specifically and engaged right now, currently in a number of opportunities that the board is evaluating to look at acquiring that are both in the cannabis and the psychedelic space. Fantastic. And Anthony, and I know you touched on this a little bit. Can you give our viewers an idea of how FSD Pharma is planning on growing its biotech pharmaceutical R&D side of the business and its psychedelic divisions? Sure. So it will be through acquisition with part of our acquisition strategy will be to acquire institutional quality management, because I'm a CEO, but I'm an interim CEO. I'm only here until we can find the right management to move the company forward. And I anticipate that that will be happening in conjunction with acquisitions that hopefully we will be making in the very near future. Very good. Very good. If FSD Pharma were to compare itself to its competitors in this sector, what would you say sets you guys apart? So it sets us apart. In simple terms, as we put out our financial statements yesterday, we have over $50 million in cash. We have an asset that is for sale, you know, that is for sale for about $21 million. So depending if we sell it or not, you know, you could do the math. But our market cap currently is about 60 million, maybe a little bit less US. So we're trading at less than that asset value. You know, we own a molecule that's in phase trials currently with the FDA that does enter the body the exact same way cannabis does. So I would say that the properties to us were similar, and that's why we're very excited about it. And in terms of acquiring in the psychedelic space, every single one of the competitors that trade publicly on the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange and psychedelics start at, you know, 10 to 40 times market cap multiples. So I think there might be or we hope that there will be an arbitrage opportunity, you know, what we will be targeting in terms of acquiring is always has to be something that's unique, that's separate from the rest. And that's something that will, you know, foster the development of helping out humanity and helping on medicine. Here at Rich TV Live, we've got community investors from all over the world, literally 100 countries that will watch this video. And it's extremely important for us to look for companies that have a tight share structure. Can you go through your share structure for our viewers and how the company plans to attract more institutional investors, as well as retail investors? That's an interesting question. So the share structure of FSD Pharma, I was interested in it. So we ended up ordering Nobo lists dated for July 28 through 29. And we started to get a breakdown of our share structure. And it's fascinating. And I'll just make sure that I'm looking so that I'm telling you exactly where it is. But in our share range analysis and reports that were sent to us, there are approximately 157,000 shareholders in FSD today. That's incredible. We have just over 35 million shares. Wow. So we have a enormous retail component to our shareholder base today. So you're talking that over 95% is retail held, over 150,000 shareholders. So to me, that's very unique. First of all, being someone who's done over 200 deals in the microcap world in different industries, I have never seen a share structure like that. And so I've just never seen it. I mean, I've interviewed probably 500 companies, and I can't think of any company that has told me that they have over 150,000 shareholders. And in the microcap world, I understand if you're Tesla, yes. But to be a relatively unknown microcap company, with that size of shareholder base, I see it as a tremendous opportunity. And so rule number one, and for the record, you are the first interviewer that I'm doing as CEO of FSD. Thank you. You're the very first interviewer. What I think is really interesting, and I'm also fascinated by it is, you know, so number one, we have to now do a much better job than in the past at reaching out to our existing shareholder base, because we're already starting with such an enormous base. To me, this is something that I think I would have only dreamt of. So if I can just make sure that we're providing and keeping our shareholders updated, right, if we just reach 20% of them, that's more than total shareholding of other microcaps ever. And so to me, this is a tremendous opportunity to not only re-engage our existing shareholder base, but then, you know, now then to hopefully grow it. And when it comes to, you know, attracting institutions, I can tell you that in my past and in a lot of our most successful deals, and one of them, say, was patient home monitoring. And that's where I learned a lot of lessons in Canada, where we had a company and really, we raised the money all retail for the first three rounds of financing. So it was always a retail held stock. And then the company began to execute and became more of an institutional story. And then we handed it up to the institutions. And where I see a lot of times companies can get into trouble from the stock side is where institutions are there in the very beginning, and then they sell into the retail and into the retail buying. And so I'm a believer that, you know, retail should be first and let retail hand up to the bigger money as opposed to the bigger money selling down. And so I think, you know, the way that this share structure is, which is just so unique and exciting to me. And so we want to, and we will be engaging in, you know, very, very, very aggressive campaigns to ensure that we are telling our story and that we are reaching out to our shareholder base. I think that they have the right to information. And frankly, we want them to be excited and invigorated again. And it's been too long. And so that's why we're going to start and you're the first of what will be many probably interviews and ways of reaching out to the existing shareholder base and then to grow it. And then I think eventually, with the acquisitions, you know, we will eventually be able to hopefully hand up to institutions. And it'll start with making sure that what we acquire comes with institutional quality management. That's great. If there was one thing you'd want the shareholders to know about FSD Pharma today, what would that be? Our market cap. Okay. We're trading at about, you know, 60 million market cap. And if you look at our balance sheet, you can do your own math. Yeah. I mean, like you said, how much money did you say you guys have on the balance sheet right now? Over 50? Yeah, we followed our financial statements yesterday as of June 30th. There's 51 million, I think, approximately in cash. You know, we have the asset for sale on our books, states it's 8.9 million, which was the cost, but it's for sale for 21,900,000 right now. So if you do that math, you know, you can come to your own conclusion. But, you know, I think if we can acquire right now, I think the market's not valuing FSD 201 at anything because of where we're trading, you know, to our net asset value. And then I think if we can make the right acquisition or acquisitions in either the cannabis or psychedelic spaces, considering all the psychedelic cons on the NASDAQ NYC today, which all start at, you know, 10x, 10 times where we are and head up from there, I think that, you know, hopefully we'll catch some of that differential. Anthony, what is the best way for shareholders to get in touch with the company if they have any questions for you? Go to our website at www.FSDPharma.com. Anthony, thank you so much for joining us today, CEO of FSD Pharma Anthony Durkic. If you're not winning, you're not watching, we bring you winners and we bring them to you first. FSD Pharma is a company we've literally been talking about since day one. I remember talking about FSD Pharma when they were penny stock, watched them run all the way to a dollar. Investors made a killing on huge when it first came out. And now they're just getting started again with a new direction and new approach with 157,000 shareholders. That's a great place to start from. And thank you for joining us today, Anthony. Thank you so much. Like I said, this is my first interview as CEO of FSD. So I really appreciate the risk that you gave me the opportunity. Always a pleasure to love to invite you back on our show anytime you have any big breaking news or you just like to chat or talk to your community. We'd love to invite you here on Rich TV Live. Now, remember guys, if you like these videos, please smash the like button, comment down below, share the video everywhere and subscribe if you're live. Remember, Rich TV Live is strictly for information and education purposes. Please do your due diligence, do your research before you invest in anything that we talk about here in Rich TV Live. In saying that, I do like FSD Farm. I love the fact you guys have money in the bank. I love the fact that you guys have over 150,000 shareholders. I like the fact that you're in the cannabis and psychedelic sectors, two very fast growing sectors. And we're going to be watching very, very closely to see some of those new acquisitions, which I think can really bring a lot of value into the company. So thank you for joining us today, Anthony. And thank you guys for watching. We'll talk to you guys soon.


It is great to have you with us on the WB Mason post game Bob Lorenz and Jack Curry with you final from Kansas City Finally in 11 innings. It's eight to six Yankees winning a jack if you love good pitching You're you're in the right place for the first six innings, right? A pitcher's doled Nobody could score and then after that nobody could not score, but it ends up with the Yankees win you were treated to many different versions of a baseball game within this baseball game Bob and you talk about the Zaniness and the craziness and you're absolutely right for the first six innings of this game Scoreless so you had 12 half innings where no one scored after that There were 10 half innings where both teams scored the Yankees won this game They had four blown saves first team in Major League history to ever win a game in which the team also had four blown saves It's also the first time in Major League history that both teams scored in the seventh eighth ninth tenth and 11th innings But I think the thing the Yankees will want to highlight is not the blown saves and not the back and forth and not the fact that they had The Royals grabbing onto their pants like a poodle that wouldn't let go is the at bats And you saw a smart and productive at bats in this game from bread garden a lamez you void Tyler Wade judge so every time the Yankees threw a punch Bob the Royals punched back But in the end the Yankees were the team and the boxer so to speak that was still standing


It's a weeknight and you're starving to death and you want something quick, healthy, and delicious, right? Well, that's what we're going to make today. We're going to make some rice bowls.  And this is going to be very quick. I am making a homemade sauce that is just going to bring everything together. You are going to love the flavors. And like I said, it's healthy. I'm Rockin' Robin and I'm going to show you how to make it right after my chef joke. What is brown and sticky? A stick! First, we're going to start off by making this delicious harissa sauce, which is going to tie the dish together. And we're going to use harissa paste. It's a chili pepper paste, but it's not that spicy, so no worries there. And I got this at Trader Joe's. In my bowl here, I have some avocado mayo from Primal Kitchen. And to that, I'm adding a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. Now, here comes our harissa sauce. Now, you can add anywhere from two teaspoons to two tablespoons. I went up for two tablespoons. That tells you how mild it really is, but it's flavorful. I have ground cumin and garlic powder here. Here's a little pinch of salt, and I'll give this a little stir. Now I'm going to zest one organic lemon here. And don't go too deep. One swipe and then rotate is perfect. Remember, it's always better to zest first and then juice.  Give that lemon a little squeeze, just like you would the like button if you're enjoying this video. I have some very finely diced yellow onion here that I'm just going to sprinkle in a couple tablespoons or so into our mix. That's it for our dressing here. Give it a nice little stir, and then I'm going to place it into a mason jar. And anything leftover can be used on sandwiches or any salads, anything you want. Before we get cooking, I want to show you all the ingredients that are in this dish. Now that you can sub in anything you want. I'm using cauliflower rice here I got at Trader Joe's, comes in the frozen department, and love it. I'm also going to add just a little bit of white rice because that's how I like to do it. You could do all white rice if you want. But if you want to cut carbs, add in some cauliflower rice. I also picked up some chicken sausage here. The ingredients are really clean, as you can see here. Since this sausage is already cooked, all we have to do is slice it up into little coins before we heat it up in a frying pan. I've got a couple of pasture raised eggs here and some harissa sauce. I like adding just a little bit of Frank's red hot original sauce here. Some avocado, some organic broccoli that I'm just going to steam here. We're going to get some greens in here by using a little bit of arugula, and we'll need some butter. Did you know that Carigold took their product off the market due to the PFA's in their packaging? PFA's are forever chemicals that just stay in our body, and so I'm happy to hear that they cleaned it up, and it's back on the shelves. So here's my setup for cooking. I have a double boiler here in the back where I'm going to steam my broccoli, and I have two frying pans here, and we'll get started. I'm going to place my sausage in the first pan, just put it in there. All we're doing here is heating this up, getting a little caramelization on the sausage. And in the second pan, I'm adding a package of cauliflower rice. Both of my pans are on medium heat. Now to the cauliflower rice, I'm adding just a little bit of regular white rice, just for the texture of it and a few carbs. It's important to season the different layers of your dish. So for the cauliflower rice here, I'm going to be seasoning it with a little bit of salt and garlic powder. So heating up both the sausage and the rice shouldn't take more than five to seven minutes. Once your sausage is nice and browned up and hot, we'll go ahead and place it in a bowl and we'll cook our eggs in the same pan. Now at the same time, you're going to keep track of your broccoli. You want it to be a nice bright green color, plus you want it to be fork tender, but not mushy. This needs another minute or so of cooking. Now that everything is done and pretty much ready to go, we're going to start frying up our egg. We've got a little swirl of olive oil in the pan plus a little pat of butter for some nice flavor. I have my pan here on kind of low, I would say. Crack your egg on the side of the pan and gently lay it into the pan without breaking the yolk. I like to pull the sides in a little bit with my spatula and then I'm going to go ahead and cut this in half so that I can flip one at a time. And I want the white part of the egg to turn opaque and not be clear. That's what I'm going to turn it. So I'm going to let this cook just a little bit longer, maybe a minute or two. Now get that spatula under the egg in one fell swoop and flip it over. Now that second one didn't turn over quite as nicely, but it still worked. Now I gauge doneness by how soft the yolks are. Now let's not forget a little salt and pepper for our eggs. This is about how I like mine. There's still a little tenderness there, so I'm ready to serve it up. Okay, it must be time for Chef Joke number two. Did you hear how they caught the great produce bandit? He stopped to take a leak. First goes our cauliflower rice mixture. Put some of that in there and we'll add some of that sausage. Then add a bit of broccoli to that. Avocado in this is so good, just make some slices into it in both directions and then just pop it out. I love avocado, so I put in a whole bunch. Now it is time for our harissa sauce, which ties this whole thing together. So go ahead and give it a stir first and then just blot it over all the way around. Next comes our arugula. So I'll just sprinkle some of that over the top and then we'll finish it off with our egg and a few drops of Frank's hot sauce. Okay, so the big question is how do we eat this? Well the best way I have found is to cut up the egg and then just start mixing everything together just so that everything is combined. That's just the best way it gets all the dressing in there. It's really scrumptious. The flavors are truly amazing. I mean you've got a lot of things going on here. It's a healthy quick meal. This is the way to go when you want something delicious. And if you love salads, you're going to want to try my apple strawberry salad with lime dressing. Click the link on the screen. It'll take you right to it. This one is fantastic. I hope you enjoyed today's quick and easy and delicious recipe. If you did, you can let me know by smashing the old like button. All right, we'll see you back here next week for another delicious and healthy recipe.


Europe starts in Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg. Located close to Berlin, we have the most beautiful palaces and parks. The whole range of Prussian heritage. Do you like movies? Then you have to visit the Media City Babelsberg, where Malene Dietrich started her career and big blockbusters are produced, like the Glorious Bastards or the series Babylon Berlin. Are you interested in history? Then you should go to the Zittilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference took place or visit the Linnike Bridge, where spies were exchanged during the Cold War. Just get international in Potsdam, visit the Russian village, the Aleksandrovka or go to the Dutch Quarters. Just enjoy and have a good time in Potsdam.


in developing semantic data models and biodiversity, he's going to be talking about the use of GitHub to create and manage semantic-enabled control vocabularies. Edmund, over to you. Hi. Thanks, Kiran. Is my audio coming through all right? Yes, it is. Oh, okay. Awesome. And so I used my words. Oh, share my slides. Is that coming through fine? That is coming through Edmund. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, so thanks for having me today. I'm Edmund Chuck from Tern, and I guess my presentation today is slightly lower level compared to the other presentations. It's more about how we're managing and how we've implemented a set of control vocabularies using GitHub as our vocab system. So the outline today I'm going to briefly mention about the project we're working on and then go through the set of requirements we've established for our vocab system and then how those requirements stack up against our previous vocab systems we've worked with. And finally, how we've landed on GitHub and how GitHub meets our requirements. Yeah, so a quick intro to vocabs. I don't think we need this really, but it's just a set of co-list taxonomies or classification schemes model with this costata model. And with the project, Tern is currently contracted with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment, and Water to work on a set of standardized field survey protocols to collect data across Australia. And in the Tern Data Services team, we're tasked to vocabularize those protocols by encoding them with the costata model for things such as feature types, properties, methods, and categorical values. And when we started this project, we thought it was probably a good time for us to review our vocab system. We wanted to actually establish a set of requirements that we actually want in our ideal system. We wanted a way to collaborate with the community and external partners. And we also wanted a way to hand over the project once it's complete in an easy way. So our requirements fall into five key areas. So content management, versioning, community, maintenance, and automation. And under content management, we wanted an easy way for our domain experts to edit and maintain the vocabs. And we also wanted a way to review each changes that get made in the vocab. With versioning, we wanted not just to version the vocabs at the whole vocab level, but we also wanted some way to track the history and changes at the individual term and concept level as well. With community, under the community section, we wanted a way to be able to collaborate with the community and not just within our team at turn. And we also wanted a way to be able to have discussions around how the vocabs are being used and that kind of thing. Our previous solutions involved maintaining servers and applications. So this time around, we wanted to see if we had a way where we can get started quickly and we didn't need to actually maintain anything. And this includes backup management as well. With automation, we wanted to be able to make changes and have a set of tests run as well as have automated deployment pipelines to deploy our vocabs to downstream services. So how do these requirements stack up against our previous systems? So when we started vocabs at turn back in 2019, we started using Git with Bitbucket, then we moved to PoolParty and then to BopBench and now we've landed on GitHub. I've used a lot of emojis here to denote if the requirements meet what we wanted or so the green ticks, the yellow triangles, the feature exists, but we didn't use them at the time and then the red, the notes that these features weren't available. So with Git with Bitbucket, we started out with managing our vocabs in a Git repository. But the issue that we had was we managed everything in a single file. And this became very problematic when we had multiple users editing the same file causing these Git merge conflicts. And it was just not a good experience for our editors. So from there, we quickly moved on from Git into PoolParty. So this is a PoolParty version that's supplied to us by ARDC. And PoolParty provides a very nice way for users to edit the content. It actually also provided a way for us to do backups and stuff automatically. But due to the opinionated view of how PoolParty thinks SCOS should be used, for us it didn't meet our own needs and we needed a bit more flexibility. So we moved to BopBench which is I guess an open source alternative to PoolParty. But with this one, we did have to maintain and host it ourselves on our own server. So there was that a bit of overhead. But we still maintained that easy editing experience for our users. And with the new project, we did decide to review this. We wanted to have green ticks for all the other parts of our requirements. So we revisited Git with GitHub and we managed to come up with a solution that essentially meets all of our requirements. So I'm going to go into details of that now. So one main difference with Git this time around is we separated each resource into its own individual file. So resources such as concepts, concept schemes and collections. And this actually solved that merge conflict issue when we had multiple users editing the vocabs. It's very unlikely that a single user will edit a single concept. So separating this into its individual files really solved that issue for us. And at the same time it provided us with a lot of other benefits as well. With GitHub, we can actually have users who don't even know how to use Git to contribute. They can actually just go to the website and edit the vocabs directly in the browser. Each change that's made to the vocab goes through a review process known as a pool request. And these pool requests are very detailed. They actually show exactly what file and what line was changed. So this served very well for like reviewing things and implementing different governance rules into this. Such as like when Rob mentioned having different profiles of SCOS, we can actually have that validated through a review with humans as well as automated tests. With versioning, since each resource or each concept is mapped to a file, the Git history of that file is essentially now the history of each concept, which is really neat. You can actually see how a concept evolves over time. We can also use the Git blame feature where we can actually go into each file and see line by line what was changed, when it was changed, by which commit, and by which user. We also utilize GitHub's release feature. So we actually release our vocabs with different versions. And if we wanted to, we can also use the Noto and its integration with GitHub to automatically mentor DIY for each release that we make as well. There's also another really powerful feature with the release feature in GitHub. You can actually compare the different versions of releases and see exactly which files were changed and what was changed in those files as well. We are developing in the open. So our repository is public. This fosters collaboration within turn, as well as with the community. And the coolest thing with this is anyone with a GitHub account can contribute, make suggestions, make, oops, make, yeah, they can collaborate with us essentially. GitHub has issued, sorry, an issue tracker and a discussions forum built in. So this, again, allows us to collaborate not just within turn, but with the community and our external stakeholders. People can come here if they find issues, they can put in the issue tracker, or if they just want to discuss on how the vocabs should be used or make new proposals, they can all go in the discussions forum. And best of all, with the solution, we don't have to have servers or applications to maintain. And we don't have to maintain backups either. GitHub is large enough that it's unlikely that it's going to disappear. Sorry, I'm getting messages here. Yeah. So GitHub's not going to disappear overnight, basically. With automations and integrations, yeah, so here we can use GitHub actions to implement different shackle constraints and run those tests every time content changes in the vocab. And we also have a bunch of other custom Python scripts that run tests and formatting and those kinds of things as well, just to ensure that the repository isn't in a good state and everything is, yeah, well-defined, essentially. We have these GitHub actions to also automatically deploy our vocabs to downstream services, such as ARDC's research vocabulary Australia. And now going back to the DQ project, once the project is finished, if DQ wants to continue maintaining the contents on GitHub, we simply just transfer the ownership of the repository over or otherwise. It's just a Git repository with a bunch of text files, so they can take it and then move it to whatever other platform they choose. So our question is, or I guess our message today is should we manage vocabularies in the same way we manage software? And through this experience with this project, our answer is yes. Through managing it this way, we were able to have a bunch of automated tests in ensuring that the vocab is conforming to different kinds of profiles or standards. And we've also actually, I think, empowered our domain experts in actually getting things done, moving fast and being confident in their changes, because now there's a review process and tests as well as other humans can actually review and validate that, you know, these contents make sense. So in summary, using GitHub, we have now an easier way to create, edit and publish controlled vocabularies. We have a way to collaborate not just within our team, but also with the community. We actually have a battle-tested review process, something that's missing in the other systems that we've used. And we also have a way to manage releases and versioning of vocabs, not just at the top vocab level, but also at the individual concept level as well. It's very good that we now have a way to run tests and deployments automatically. And best of all, we can get started without needing to maintain our own service and software. So if your project or if your organization has these similar requirements, then perhaps this is a good solution for you as well. And if you're doing something similar already, please let us know. We would love to see what you're doing in this vocab management area as well. That's all from me. Thank you for listening.


Are you wasting your time learning DevOps in 2020? Well, you reached the right video. Let me explain. This video was brought to you by Diginic Academy, your number one source to learn how to make money programming and get that six-figure salary you desire. Our academy have a wide range of courses including 3k in 30 days, our mentorship membership program, and much much more. When you sign up for our free community, you get access to our membership community with like-minded professional who's going to help take your career to the next level. So let's take the first step to get started and really take your career to the next level with our seven-step money guide today. So let's go ahead and click the link below to sign up for our free seven-step guide to help you get your career started today. All right guys, if you anything like me when you first start to see the term DevOps, you always just think immediately program language first and it's not a programming language. It's more of a process of really shortening the system or software development lifecycle. I'm going to tell you guys a story. I was, you guys already know, I come from a sequel background. I started and helped us and working way up inside of development. Even if I, even after graduating from computer science and learning coding in college, I still had to start off and help desk and then work my way up. Well, just like anything else guys, once you start doing software development and you're trying to figure out, hey, what ways I can provide more value and put myself in a position to get a higher salary. So came across this term called DevOps and start reading into it. Start to see, hey, there's two sides of it. You got the developer side of it and you got the IT operation side of it, which is typically the infrastructure side for most companies where you're managing infrastructure and all that. I already had experience with the infrastructure side, so I felt pretty comfortable with that. So I was like, man, if I already got this experience and I know software development real good, I can jump to this and start to make really good money. So I was thinking of it as a position and going to my boss and telling them all the benefits. I should have done more research before I did that and had more specific business cases in mind. But at that time, I was excited just to see new technology just like any other developer and wanted to try it out. So obviously I failed it because I didn't go in with specific use cases and business, how it can affect the business. It ended up just not necessarily going in that route and never did become a DevOps engineer. But later on in my career, I was able to leverage my skillset and found opportunities where DevOps actually works pretty good in the right environment. So a lot of these environments are agile. You usually have two types of environments. You have the agile environments and you have the waterfall. Personally, I've worked with both in the past. I prefer the agile just because of the type of companies I work for. But I understand a waterfall actually plays a role in everything else too. Man, it never fails. When you're actually doing videos, that's when everybody wants to text you. But show must go on. But guys, these two different companies that I refer to you about, you got to identify what company you work for. And most of the time with the actual waterfall method, DevOps typically don't work in those environments unless they've made efforts to kind of streamline their system development process. But an agile situation or agile system, it works pretty good. That being said, that's why it failed early on in my career because the department that I was working in, the boss I had at the time, they was a more waterfall, slow, steady, test, test, test, test, test, test. And I'll just make sure it's right on the front end so that they can deploy. It was a long software development lifecycle. They didn't want any DevOps at all. But later on in my career, when I start working with more agile companies, it makes sense. I could kind of leverage that technology and it was a good fit.    Don't talk to me about that again. Get back to work. So I don't want you to go through that heartbreak of doing it without being able to go to your boss with specific use case on why you should do this and how you can benefit and get a raise in the process guys. So that's why I want to go over some of these things and really help you guys take things to the next level. I can't cover everything in this video. That's why I tell you guys to go sign up for my seven step guide. I'm building that out continuously. And I'm going to customize that to really get you guys information on why you want to become a DevOps engineer and really put you in a position so that you can win. That being said guys, I have some points here. I want to make sure I cover so that you guys have all the information you need up front so that you can become a DevOps engineer and be able to showcase why the company may need you. First of all, why? If you guys do any software development with your company and you haven't worked with any system administrators to deploy your code, to test your code, and it takes a while and it really takes away from the time you can push your code to production after you're testing all that. Perfect opportunity for DevOps guys, especially if you're on a developer side.  And then you go to the system administrator and say, man, I want to be able to help you guys out. I want to be able to make sure that you guys don't have to get involved with this code because I know you guys got important things to do. I want to help you out. Could you deploy this tool that allowed me to actually test the code and automate all of these processes for you so you can do what you like to do best? You know, work with the servers and all that, not necessarily tinker with my code. And that way, if the end user had a problem with the code, I could troubleshoot it from end to end without getting you involved. Most 99% of system administrators are going to say yes, and you guys go put that in the test environment and test it out. Obviously, when you have some spare time, don't make sure you take care of your other projects, make sure you put this in place. As you're doing this process, now when you go to who is going to benefit and who is this for, now you got to go to your boss and say, okay, boss, I was talking to Greg, here's Greg, the system administrator, and we spent a ton of time just pushing code and going back and forth about the specifics. We got a process in place that's going to help streamline that. Obviously, test it out. We want to let you know that we're doing it. And if you have any questions, let us know. But I think it's going to help take our processes to develop software to the next level. At that point, your boss is going to be skeptical, but they just can't say no, because it's in the test environment. You're testing it out. It's just not you and somebody else. As long as they're going to say, as long as you get your other work done, you do this in your spare time, I have no problem with it. At this point, you're going to start working with tools, Jenkins, Docker, SolarWinds, whatever tools you need to monitor or do the testing or automating. You're going to implement at this point, your test environment, life is good. Then at this point, you should have a good working model in your test environment. You should be able to call the meeting with your team and explain the benefits and all that good stuff like that and be good to go. A lot of you guys may have got lost in this situation in this discussion, because first of all, I'm the only developer at my job, which, okay, I understand that. Technically, you are in a quote-unquote DevOps environment, because you pushed it from end to end by yourself, so it really don't apply to you at that point. Or you work for a larger company where you got way more people involved in this and you just can't do it, then you're probably in more of a waterfall method, and this doesn't really apply to you. It's only for a certain company, certain agile style companies is my point I'm trying to make. If you should know, based off of what I just said, if this is a good fit for you to learn DevOps and to really implement this in your company. A lot of you guys are just getting started with software development and you see these DevOps jobs out there. DevOps is more of an intermediate advanced level position. If you are a Rockstar software developer in the early stages, maybe so, but don't let it be your first job that you apply for. It's best if you already have some software development knowledge, you've been through those, and then you're getting into this, or on the other side, you're a system administrator and you're learning software development, you're getting into this at that point. I would recommend you having one of those skills up front, you experience the knows, and then you get into the DevOps world versus coming in new, trying to learn DevOps, which is still not as clear concept to everybody on your team, trying to learn that and then learning the operations either from a system administrator and a developer. That's a lot to learn at the beginning. I wouldn't necessarily recommend DevOps being a first job opportunity for a lot of people unless the company's going to actually train you up. You got junior DevOps engineers out there. Some companies do it, but they're very niche companies who really invest in their technology, so there's not going to be a lot of opportunities there, but if they are, take advantage of them, but don't expect that for most companies, guys. As far as just defined roles, you have to have defined roles in order for this to work.  You need to be able to say, okay, this person, this defined role is actually going to push this through production. They're going to do XYZ. They check with us, make sure the dates are good, make sure everything's good and tests, all that's good. Communicate that to the end user. Life is good. Each role, everybody know what their role is and have it defined throughout that process. You don't have that in place. It's not going to be successful. That being said, guys, like, subscribe to the content. If you have additional questions, comment below. I have links below, my seven step guide, and also my premium courses. Go check those out. I have a link here for a seven step guide. It's free. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.