The title of our sermon this evening the communion of the saints our texts primary text Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 16 so we are back together this evening in consideration of our series entitled the essentials one sermon one subject and Essential to the life health growth and maturity of the Christian and tonight We have the joy of looking at a doctrine that is familiar to our confession It's a doctrine that is familiar to the great creeds of our faith Familiar to hymn writers, but unfamiliar to many Christians and tonight the doctrine is the communion of the saints our confession of faith Beautifully explains the communion of the saints this way from chapter 27 article 1 where our confession reads All saints that are united to Jesus Christ their head by his spirit and faith Although they are not made thereby one person with him have fellowship in his graces sufferings death resurrection and glory and Being united to one another in love They have communion in each other's gifts and graces and are obliged to the performance of such duties public and private in an orderly way as Do conduce or lead to their mutual good both in the inward and outward man That is an introduction if you will to the communion of the saints in other words No matter where they come from whether those in heaven whether those on earth whether those in Zimbabwe or those in Tuscaloosa no matter where they come from no matter what time period they come from from Adam To you No matter what time period they come from no matter what language they speak what nation they represent whatever the color of their skin is Whatever the distance that would seem at first appearance to divide us All the saints through their union with Jesus Christ their head are united to one another in love Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 that we are fellow citizens with the saints and Members of the household of God the whole building now growing up into a holy temple in the Lord There's something going on there right with our fellowship with our communion one with another By his spirit and by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. We have communion with one another now having fellowship in his Gifts and graces in his suffering his death resurrection and glory our confession explains that we also then have communion in each other's Gifts and graces the Bible expresses this reality in beautiful terms and familial terms often in terms of body and head He is our head and we are the members of his body and members of one another That's the communion of the saints that doctrine that reality that spiritual blessing something that we should highly value and Cultivate labor strive to cultivate among us and it's something that is entirely foreign to most Christians It's interesting, but it is something that is entirely foreign to most churches Entirely it goes unexperienced by most professing Christians and most professing churches many today pride themselves on rugged individualism Isolation is them right how many people are used to going in the doors of a church Sitting down real quick to hear a sermon and then bolting before to get to the parking lot to beat the Lutherans to the buffet Right to get out of church because they don't want to have communion with the saints And that's what we're used to we're used to isolating ourselves. We're used to being very private People tend to be unassailably private really difficult sometimes to get to know people Relationships tend to be very superficial and I'm going to submit to you brothers and sisters We have to fight against that here. We have to fight against being superficial We need to be invested in one another enjoying the blessings that flow from the communion of the saints Churches today By many are seen to be a little more than a common activity. They share on a Sunday morning They're a little more than a social club and Besides possibly abstaining from Cussing and course jokes There's likely little if any real difference between your friendships in the world and your friendships at the church if you belong to a place like that the church is far More than a common gathering spot and a common activity Shared on a Sunday morning. There's far more going on there, right? Christians are saved to a living Breathing growing thriving rejoicing hoping loving community and that's a community that we are to cultivate There's something going on there and it's going on by virtue of God's spirit at work among us If you've been here for any length of time, you know what I'm talking about Sometimes it's difficult to put your finger on right maybe it's difficult to Tangibly define but community the communion of the saints is something that we enjoy and are blessed by and it's something through Which the spirit of God works the 18th century English Baptist John Fawcett Was pastoring a small church in a rural town When a large church from London offering a large salary came calling Well Fawcett accepted the job Preached a farewell sermon to his home church And after preaching the farewell sermon they all gathered together outside the church building to help load his belongings his family on to a cart and send John Fawcett on his way to London as They said their goodbyes There was open weeping To which John Fawcett finally responded. I cannot stand it. I know not how to go John Fawcett loved those people those people loved him He would stay and faithfully pastor that church for the next 54 years He wrote this hymn That describes our fellowship together the communion of the saints listen Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above That's the community of the saints right It's what he's describing. What is the tie that binds by the way? What do you think that that is ultimately primarily predominantly? It's the spirit of God But he does so through means that we're gonna talk about those means tonight Listen to the words of the hymn before our father's throne We pour our ardent prayers our fears our hopes our aims are won our comforts and our cares We share our mutual woes our mutual burdens bear and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear You see how connected we are how Intertwined we are When we are called to part it gives us inward pain But we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again We we we hear that heart expressed all over the New Testament. Don't we by the apostle Paul, right? I long to see you. I'm there with you in spirit Paul would say right I long to be with you That hymn Blessed be the tie that binds expresses the communion that we share as being heirs together of the grace of life The more that we grow in this grace Oftentimes you'll find won't you the more painful it is when that fellowship when that communion is broken the Lord Jesus Christ himself Alludes to that same kind of spirit-wrought communion on the eve of his crucifixion in John chapter 17 look there with me John chapter 17 And listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself on the eve of his death as He prays to the Lord for those who are with him and those who would believe upon him through their word John chapter 17 drop down there with me to verse 11 Now listen to the Lord's prayer verse 11 Now I am no longer in the world But these are in the world and I come to you holy father keep through your name Those whom you have given me that they may be one as We are that is an amazing thought that the body of Christ believers would be one With each other as Jesus Christ is one with the father is the father and the son or one with the Holy Spirit, right? He's speaking of our communion together Even as we are in union with him Verse 12 while I was with them in the world. I kept them in your name those whom you gave me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled But now I come to you These things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of this world Just as I am not of this world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world But that you should keep them from the evil one They are not of the world just as I am not of the world listen verse 17 Sanctify them set them apart right sanctify them by your truth Your word is truth as you sent me into the world I also have sent them into the world and for their sakes. I set myself apart I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth I do not pray for these alone verse 20 But also for those who will believe in me through their word he's speaking of you and I there right verse 21 That they all may be one. He's talking about our unity He's talking about the communion of the saints the communion of believers together They all may be one as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us That the world may believe that you sent me This is something that is entirely foreign to the world right Bingo clubs have no idea what's going on here. They have no experience of that elk lodges Have got nothing on the brotherhood of whatever football team or whatever right? It's it's not the same as communion of the saints right There may be brothers and arms. This is spirit wrought communion. Do you see there's a difference? This is a testimony to the world of the unifying force that is the spirit of god in the church In the glory which you gave me verse 22 I have given them that they may be one just as we are one I in them you and me that they may be made perfect in one And that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me communion of the saints do you see you can sense The depth Of this christian communion in the words and actions of paul all over the new testament We've seen it in the book of romans right romans chapter 1 verse 10. Listen Without ceasing paul says i make mention of you always in my prayers making request if by some means Now at last i may finally find a way paul says in the will of god to come to you Why verse 11 for i long to see you communion of the saints I long to see you paul tells the thessalonians we brethren Having been taken away from you for a short time in presence not in heart That common alone you see paul expressing his heart. We've been taking away taken away from you physically I'm still with you in heart Right endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire Do we not experience that here when you when you're not In church you're missed Is that so difficult to imagine? I long I long to see your face Some of you more than others no i'm just Some of you are better looking than others that i'm even joking completely. We we love our fellowship together. Do we not? And as goofy looking as i am i know you like to see me too. We enjoy communion of the saints a spiritual fellowship that is wrought by the spirit of god among us And you hear that in paul's desire to be with them Right in other words there is a communion in the spirit a fellowship that paul has with them that causes paul to long to be with them Not to text them paul isn't longing i long to send you an email no To see them face to face and heart to heart. Do you see? This is not some shallow Emotionally hyped Sentimentalism we have no Ulterior motive some backward agenda going on trying to get our long arm in your short pocket Which is the way the world tends to think about these things right we're trying we just want your money right no Our confession refers to it as communion in each other's gifts and graces and it is wrought It's a fruit of the spirit This communion our confession says leads to the performance of such duties public and private in an orderly way As do conduced to or lead to their mutual good both in the inward and outward man Can always define how we bless or encourage one another in our communion our fellowship together But it's a reality of our fellowship together And when I see you you are an encouragement to me I hope I am half the encouragement to you that you are to me right we have this fellowship this communion together And it's a fruit of the spirit It's a fruit of the spirit that yields fruit I want to look at that turn to that text with me romans chapter one romans chapter one. Let's look at that text together Romance chapter one look there beginning in verse 11 And this is the text we've already looked at in detail on sunday morning Praise god and notice how this communion that we have in each other's gifts and graces compels paul then to the performance of such duties that lead to their mutual good in other words This is not a communion That is merely sentimental This is not a communion that is merely emotional This is a spirit wrought communion that bears fruit It's a spirit wrought communion our confession says that compels paul to the performance of such duties as do Conduced to or lead to their mutual good Now paul in this text has four goals in mind verse 11 has four goals in mind I long to see you that's not I long to text you I long to write a letter to you. I long to email you I long to see you face to face heart to heart Long to share this communion with you one That I might be a blessing to you and establish you in the faith That's his first goal verse 11 that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established or strengthened Some gift of or pertaining to the operation of the holy spirit. That's what spiritual gift refers to It's not referring there to speaking in tongues or word of prop. It's not referring to that it's referring to A gift pertaining to the operation of the spirit a spirit wrought blessing It's a blessing given by imparted by the spirit of god and that gift is given through paul Serving them face to face and as vital and as important as this letter is This is not something that paul feels as though he can do through a letter paul says I Long to see you I long to be among you right Second goal that paul has in mind That we might encourage one another verse 12 that is That I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me It's interesting That our communion together is never a one-sided affair It's a mutual faith a mutual of encouragement both of you and me we employ our gifts For the edification of the body and when we employ our gifts for the edification of the body We ourselves are encouraged. It's impossible not to be right When we get in and amongst one another and we're serving one another in love It's impossible that we ourselves are not encouraged by the mere virtue of getting Involved and jumping in and serving one another That takes place verse 12 through our mutual faith. We share the same faith And we're encouraged by how the lord has worked in us Encouraged by how the lord works through you. It's uh an encouragement for us mutually The third reason of the four goals that paul has in mind the third is fruit Verse 13 I don't want you to be unaware brethren that I often plan to come to you but was hindered until now So that I might have some fruit among you also just as among the other Gentiles I love this heart attitude of the apostle paul like I want fruit I want to bear fruit. I want to be fruitful among you paul desires to bear fruit for the sake of jesus christ And that's a good attitude to have the word of god will most certainly bear fruit among them and among the loss When paul ministers paul knows it so paul wants to go there because paul wants fruit fourth goal that paul has in mind That I might preach the gospel verse 14 I am a debtor both to greeks and to barbarians both the wise and the unwise So as much as is in me. I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in rom also romans chapter 1 paul anticipated that Communion through their fellowship. He wanted to see them face to face. He longed to see them paul anticipated that that Communion would be cultivated through the preaching of the gospel through the preaching of god's word paul anticipated that communion as he served them And he knew it would be mutual as they endeavored to serve in the fellowship with him And this is fellowship in each other's gifts and graces. This is what paul longed for what he looked forward to in his communion together with them This is what should be happening when christians get together When we fellowship when we get together at the church, this is what should be happening and listen by god's grace It is happening. I'm we're so grateful for that Could we cultivate that? Yes, and we should can we abound more and more in that grace? Yes, and we should praise god We see this among us and we should not take it for granted We should not receive that grace of god in vain We should be grateful for it. We should treasure it and want to see more and more of it There's nothing better to talk about. There's nothing better to do than that. Do you see? Talking about the lord talking about the gospel Edifying one another the note with me note None of this merely happens by accident It doesn't happen by accident. This is a spirit wrought spiritually fruitful communion in the blessings and privileges of the gospel and the spirit of god uses means Let's take a look at those means from aphesians chapter four turn over there with me The text read earlier in your hearing aphesians chapter four And look there at verse one Let's take a look at these means together. What are the means? Through which the spirit of god works to bless our Communion together. What are the means through which we have communion in each other's gifts and graces? There's something going on here. The spirit of god is using means first means personal holiness I don't let that be lost on you first means the spirit of god works through In cultivating this kind of communion among us is personal holiness verse one I therefore the prisoner of the lord beseech you To walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness And gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love Now notice even from verse one how those Personal fruits of the spirit there are used here to emphasize a distinctively others Focused outlook, right? This is how we're to walk and this is how we're to walk toward one another personal holiness here is characterized by lowliness by gentleness by patience and by love in other words If you're not walking in lowliness gentleness Patience and love you're not going to be a blessing to anybody Right if you're walking in haughtiness harshness Impatience and hate You're not going to be a blessing to anybody You're not going to it's not going to be Experienced as communion of the saints if you're not walking that way, right? It's going to look like disunion of the aintz If you're walking in either way, but walking like this It's going to be disunion of the aintz not communion of the saints, okay So walk i beseech you walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness gentleness long suffering Bearing with one another in love and that will serve as a means through which the spirit of god will cultivate communion of the saints among us second means second means a diligently maintained Vigilantly protected and genuine spirit wrought peace spirit wrought peace look at verse three endeavoring laboring working to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace There is one body in one spirit Just as you were called in one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism One god and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all those Spirit wrought fruits Are the distinct blessing of our communion as saints and are impossible Apart from our communion as saints, right? One of the reasons that we enjoy such a blessed communion is because we have This unity among us and one of the reasons that we have this unity among us is because we enjoy blessed communion as saints We're not talking about uniformity here We're different people different backgrounds different ways of thinking we have liberty of conscience And we're not talking about uniformity, but we are talking about unity We are talking about pace peace unity in faith unity in practice resolving Conflict speaking the truth in love Correcting encouraging loving confrontation It is amazing to me how in a vast majority of churches It's these very things that are completely abandoned neglected. They will run from them Instead of doing these things brothers and sisters. We have to be diligent about doing these things Resolving conflict Which means you have to approach someone And talk to them about a conflict that you have right you've got to do this work correcting There are things that need to be corrected And we have to be diligent vigilant about correcting those things encouraging one another loving Confrontation what does paul say convincing rebuking? Exhorting with all long suffering and teaching i'm going to send an email No face to face heart to heart loving confrontation and not only from behind the pulpit Right i can't just sort of retreat back to this little safe space and like speak over it to you We've all got to be involved in this work together Loving confrontation resolving conflict speaking the truth and love correcting encouraging convincing rebuking exhorting with all patience and teaching Notice how the word of god keeps coming back right as a means through which all this takes place right third means Third means our gifts and graces deployed And employed in the body Verse seven But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of christ's gift Therefore he says when he ascended on high this is a victorious Conquering king when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men He divided the spoils right verse nine now this he ascended What does it mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth We have time to go there right now we'll cover that another time verse 10 He who descended is also the one who ascended far above the heavens that he might fill all things To each one grace is given Show up And put it to work in the body right The lord has given gifts to men show up and put it to work in the body fourth fourth means constant equipping Constant equipping verse 11 And he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of christ What we mean there by constant equipping is that it's not like you know i'm gonna go to church on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock From 10 to 11 and then i'll be ready No, it's every Sunday morning from 10 to noon And then it's fellowship with the people of god and then it's back Sunday night for evening service and then it's In bible classes in the morning and it's over fellowship at lunch and it's at groups during the week And it's in conversations with brothers and sisters during the week and it's having people over to the house It's constant equipping constant equipping Again, what's common to all those gifts that the lord gives to his church apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers. What's common? They're all preaching and teaching gifts they're all From the word of god they involve the regular Ministry of the word of god to equip gods people the ministry of the word Replicates itself in the ministry of the people. Do you see? Our confession says that saints by profession Are bound to maintain a holy fellowship in communion in the worship of god And in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification That involves preaching the word right preaching the word Fifth means We're looking at those means that the spirit of god works through to cultivate communion of the saints among us We're doing that from Ephesians chapter 4 the fifth means is sanctifying unifying growing Knowledge of jesus christ a knowledge of jesus christ look at verse 13 And so we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god To a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ So that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting in other words Understanding the truth of the gospel we begin to be transformed We are transformed by the renewing of our minds that through the word of the living god and then The whole of our lives We are transformed Through the word of god the word of god is the means the spirit uses to do his work And that is a means to effect our communion Lastly, what is the fruit of that? We have these five means that I think are clearly outlined there for us in Ephesians chapter 4 Lastly that bears fruit look at verse 15 Speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things and to him who is the head christ We will grow up in all things into him who is the head jesus christ From whom the whole body Joined and knit together that is the communion of the saints. You see Joined and it together by what every joint supplies According to the effective working by which every part does it share Causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love So how does the body grow it grows this way? right the people of god every part doing its share Joined in it together by what every joint supplies according to its effective working It causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love In other words, there's something going on in our communion that is spirit wrought that is the fruit of this work of the spirit of god among us It's not an empty thing that we're doing here tonight. You may be sitting there, right and you know Smaller crowd on Sunday night sometimes there's a little more social distancing going on on a Sunday night And there can be on a Sunday morning. We're all packed in here elbow to elbow, right? But even even sort of sitting over there and sitting back there and sitting over there, right? There's something going on in our communion through this means That the spirit of god works through the word preach works through our fellowship works through our interaction To cultivate this growth in the body the edifying of the body the spirit of god is working through these means to do that very thing What is the unifying theme? That runs throughout all of this. What is the unifying theme? What is one unifying theme? It's through our in person face to face heart to heart communion and fellowship together It doesn't work the same way through any other means The corporate worship the corporate assembly of god's people is used as a means by the spirit of god to effect This kind of growth. It's not the same as a letter You can't do these things through an email a phone call streaming zoom facetime text Face to face people, right face to face We have to be together We need each other. We need to be around each other We need to be in church together at fellowship together Serving together from the weakest to the strongest We all encourage one another. We all have our part to do As we consider the responsibilities that we have for one another responsibilities that we've been given by the lord himself We have to ask ourselves don't we how is it that I am to get this done? How am I? The one and others how am I to get those done? How is it that I can be faithful to love my brother as I am called to love my brother? How can I do it? show up There is blessing and benefit in our communion show up What must that look like over year think with me right what must that look like over years of showing up? Loving one another serving one another being there face to face heart to heart Doing these things what must be the fruit of years of that kind of communion right tested proven fought for and won Uncorrupted immersed in mutual gifts and graces The fruit of years of the word of god being poured into one another through these means Growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love That we may grow up in all things into him who is the head christ Right the spirit of god works that fruit through these means It's this That you're missing right now if you're at home because of corona virus It's this That you're missing right now if you're at home for any other reason We should value this because the spirit of god tells us this is what's going on here, right? And we have to Take stock of how much we do or don't value this It's the reason that The more that we grow as a church The more that we love that the more that we treasure that and cherish that and the more painful it is when that communion is broken through sin Sometimes we lose sight of the fact only that most of the new testament Was written to communities and churches and not individuals Communion of the saints is critical to the church So important was this doctrine to the early church that it was enshrined in the historic creeds of our faith Listen to the apostles creed I believe in god the father almighty the creator of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord Who is conceived of the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under Pontius pilot was crucified died and was buried He descended into hell now well Another time the third day he rose again from the dead He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of god the father almighty Whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the holy spirit in the holy catholic universal church The communion of the saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting Amen We share communion with them With those who wrote this creed do we not we share it with the saints who are in heaven Even now the communion of the saints speaks to the unity of the church past present Future through our common salvation William walsham howe wrote to him called for all the saints that I think well captures this He says oh blessed communion fellowship divine We feebly struggle they in glory shine Yet all are one in thee for all are thine hallelujah, hallelujah From earth's wide bounds from oceans farthest coast Through gates of pearl streams in the countless hosts all praising father son and holy ghost hallelujah, hallelujah it is An innumerable host of saints from every tribe tongue and nation gathered in unity and peace By virtue of our head the lord jesus christ and union with him praising his name father son and holy ghost for eternity The communion of the saints god may we abound in this grace amen let's pray Father in heaven lord cause us please lord we pray by your spirit cause us to abound in this grace Lord cause fruit among us through this means may we treasure it and cherish it and value it as we should May we recognize and acknowledge the work of your spirit among us through it producing good fruit And lord may we walk worthy of the calling with which we've been called Uniting with one another in worship and in fellowship and in the preaching of your word and Serving one another may we love one another as we should and lord i pray that you would cause us to grow Cause us to increase in our knowledge of the lord jesus christ growing Into the fullness of him who is our head and may we Enjoy the blessing of it, which is for our good may it be to the praise of your glory We love you. We pray all these things in the name of jesus christ our lord amen


alright you guys what is going on welcome back to another video today's video has to be made it has to be i mean for you guys who followed my journey it just simply has to be made i could have just gone you know gone quietly and let the date roll over and not said anything but the reality is guys is that today's date is october the 6th 2018 and today being saturday means that the nfl international combine or nfl the inaugural nfl international combine held on the gold coast of australia is on today and i'm sitting here in ellis springs and i'm not there and the reason is because i was deemed ineligible at the end of the day so let me just take you back a few weeks i went to melbourne for the first time in this little football journey of mine probably i don't know a month and a half ago whilst i was there i found out about this combine i found out about it i thought fuck what a great opportunity as far as i knew you had to go to any of the five regional testing days there was one in samoa there was one in fiji there was one in Auckland new zealand there was one in sydney and there was one in brisbane and um after the one in brisbane the the final one of the five got wrapped up they also added one in melbourne on the 15th of uh september so 15th september was the final testing day i was unable to to to make any of them because of the fact that i lived here but also because of the fact that that i received an email from the nfl or from you know from some department in the nfl basically saying to me that due to you know the success of my youtube channel due to the fact that i'm you know busting my ass putting all these videos out creating this community they thought it would be great for me to be able to bring my camera along go and test at the nfl international combine so today i would be there testing and you know make a video of it and it would be great lo and behold that person from this particular department of the nfl which is probably like a creative department you know marketing strategy things like that unfortunately you know yes it's fantastic to have ideas but the reality is is that the nfl as a as an organization is so strict with things so strict with eligibility you know they're not going to include anyone in this thing if they've got a slight chance of not being eligible to go in the draft for example and as far as i'm aware i'm actually not eligible for the draft so i don't know if that was the case if i don't know if that was the reason i couldn't get an exact reason but basically i wasn't the only one in this boat i think they might have reached out to probably four or five other people around australia who they were going to give you know automatic entry to the combine and i was one of those so they said in the email they said look we we we're going to fly you out basically the the best athletes of all of those regional testing dates now get flown and accommodated on the gold coast for this weekend there's going to be lots of media and in fact to be honest i can't wait to see what the media is like i can't wait to see some footage of it you know when i did i did actually speak to someone on the phone about this and i said you know it's fine it's all good but if i was to get to the gold coast is there any place for me to watch or possibly you know take some film and apparently there's not so it's going to be closed off there's going to be media coverage i'm not sure what we're going to be able to see of that as a viewer but basically guys at the end of the day i had six weeks of massive stress for nothing because i didn't go so you know i'm not holding anything against anyone this is all just part of this journey and if i hadn't started doing these reactions six months ago i wouldn't even be talking about this so i want to say guys if you have supported me if you wanted to see me in the combine i'm sorry but it didn't work out and it wasn't in my hands i was told that i didn't have to attend a regional testing day low and behold that wasn't true yes a creative social media type person would be able to say that to me but at the end of the day the people that sent me that email don't make the final decisions and me along with a few others weren't deemed eligible so with that being said my flights weren't booked my accommodation wasn't booked and i was told probably five or six days ago that i wasn't going to be coming so here we are what have i got left my other opportunity with pro kick i have been on the phone with them and i will make an update on that in a coming video not all is lost guys this was going to be an opportunity for me to put myself out there it was probably going to be my last chance to sort of you know at the age of 27 to um to to put my foot forward to to be to be introduced into this NFL undiscovered you know international pathway program that's what this combine is about that series i've been reacting to called NFL undiscovered that's what this combine as well as other regional combines around the world are put on for i believe to to create another series of that program so with that being said you know when this 2019 version of undiscovered comes out i can't wait to watch it if there's any Australians on there any Samoans any Fijians New Zealanders or Australians i will know that they have been at this combine that is on today putting their best foot forward meeting with the right people rubbing the right shoulders and making sure every person that they introduce themselves to remembers their fucking name make sure of it so i want to say guys good luck to all of the athletes competing anyone from New Zealand especially you know to see a Kiwi in the NFL undiscovered program next year would be fucking phenomenal so i want to say good luck smash it guys have a great day and all you guys watching me man thanks for the support i wasn't able to do it this year you know the reality is i got told you know a few things on the phone the reality is is that they only sort of announced this two months ago you know it's been such a such a stretch to even get it over the line to get this thing happening in the in the little time that they had you know i think next year will be a whole different ballgame they'll be advertising it you know way way sooner getting more and more numbers more competitors and you know hopefully if i'm in australia at that point i can be involved in some way i'll be 28 but i don't give a fuck about my age so i want to say if you have enjoyed this video if you want to support me please press like if you want to subscribe please do if you're playing football at the moment man kill it out there you never know what opportunity might be lying around the corner


Welcome everyone to the 17th meeting in 2019 of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. We have apologies from Mary Fee and Stuart McMillan, but I welcome Alex Neil to his first meeting of the committee. Alex is attending as a substitute member on behalf of Stuart McMillan. The first item on our agenda is declaration of interest in accordance with section 3 of the code of conduct. I invite Alex Neil to declare any interests relevant to the remit of the committee. The next item of business is to propose that the committee takes items 4 and 5 on consideration of the Delegated Powers provisions in the fuel poverty bill and a paper on our work relating to the Scottish Law Commission bills in private. Do we agree to that? Item 3 is to consider an instrument subject to negative procedure. It is the local government pension scheme, miscellaneous amendments, Scotland regulations, 2019 SSI 2019-161. The main purpose of the regulations is to provide the entitlement to retire at 55, which applies to deferred pension members of the local government pension scheme. It also makes some changes to the requirements for cohabiting partner pensions. There are a couple of errors in the regulations relating to a misplaced word and a paragraph that appears twice, albeit with slightly different wording. Full details are in our published papers. Does the committee wish to draw the regulations to the attention of the Parliament on the general reporting ground as they contain a couple of drafting errors? Do the committee wish to welcome the Government's undertaking to lay a further instrument to correct the errors, timmously, for the regulations to come into force on 28 June? Yes. I will move the meeting into private.


Christian Miller notes that there's a gap between how we think of our moral self and our actual behavior, which is often rooted in context. We might know this, but on a deeper level, we also rationalize. Maybe I'm not perfect, but overall, I'm a moral person. This gap reveals why moral leadership, which depends upon our own virtue, is not enough. We must strive for ethical leadership. Ethical leadership requires leaders to be moral, but it also requires the capacity to reflect, to ask hard questions, to deliberate, and to examine the reasons for our moral choices in a larger context. Ethical leaders have the humility to acknowledge this gap, as well as self-awareness. They have also developed habits of mind and heart to critically think about their moral choices and how they arrive at them. Lead well this week.


Hola, my friends. This is the behind-the-scenes video for May 2017 and the Pacific leg of the journey has now come to an end I am back in upstate New York after visiting four countries New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Thailand having interesting conversations and all of them This is probably gonna be the least exciting behind-the-scenes video that I've posted so far because while I was in Thailand I got food poisoning which meant I was Inside let's say for the majority of my time there Next upcoming I've got a trip to Panama I'll be taking also be moving to South Carolina and we still got some east coast travels that we're gonna do But the probably the craziest part of the journey has officially closed So thanks you guys consistently for your support and I hope you enjoy these videos All right, so this video is me standing outside a Buddhist temple and I arrived just in time to hear them chant I actually got to go inside here and just sit for probably a solid half hour Maybe even an hour as people came in local Thai people to pay their respects pay their dues and listen to the monks Go through their chanting ritual That statue you're looking at is gigantic and there's a bunch of them So this temple that you're looking at is called the Grand Palace in Bangkok It is the most ornate buildings. I've ever seen in my life just building after building of Insanely intricate Architecture apparently this is where the king hangs out spends a lot of his time and again I just couldn't help but notice how many man hours must have gone into building this complex. It's just insane Now in contrast to the serene nature of some of these Buddhist temples one of the last nights I was there. I did go out to one of the night markets, which is packed wall-to-wall with people All kinds of crazy food You're looking at a picture now of some fried insects. No, thank you Last thing I want to mention about Thailand is One part of the culture I mentioned a little in the last behind-the-scenes video is it's very kind of strict and authoritarian Hierarchical and there are pictures of the king Everywhere they are obsessed with their royal monarchy And in fact, they have some of the most extreme Lese majesty laws in the world, which is where if you insult or disparage the king They can arrest you for like 10 years sometimes even more. So after Thailand was done. That was it My flight back had a one night layover in Hong Kong So I got to I got to walk around a little bit of Hong Kong just for a few hours And this is a clip of me in the airport after my journey walking up to the airline terminal going back To Newark. It was a bittersweet moment and then I'm back home Not as glamorous being in upstate New York But it has been nice to be able to sit down in one place and get some work done. That's been piling up I am sending out sign copies of square one the foundations of knowledge Too much of people some academics that met my travels Patreon supporters So yeah, I've been waiting for several months to send them out and I know people been waiting for them So This is the most special and advanced Setup for podcast in history. Check it out. This is a water cooler with a handle, which means Translated roughly. This is how tall people can sit down Have a conversation Microphone about to have my conversation with Stephen Hicks. Look at that. This would be very uncomfortable, wouldn't it? Well, I have a solution which is Come on, that's pretty impressive That's all for this video guys Again, I appreciate your support if there's something that you'd like to see Send me a message on Patreon or shoot me an email and I'll try to incorporate it in the next behind-the-scenes video See you guys next month


Almost all of us depend on pure metals like iron and copper in our daily lives. But these pure metals, they come from rocks like these. And in this video, I am going to show you how to extract pure metals from these rocks. Now the need to know this is because we quite often depend on pure metals in our daily lives. But these pure metals, they generally do not occur in the free state in nature. Meaning iron will not form as a big rock of iron. No, you might find iron as iron oxide in these rocks. Or copper as copper sulphide in these rocks. And you will have to extract iron and copper from these compounds. So first problem is that generally metals occur in combined state and not free state. And why I am writing generally is because there are some metals like gold, silver and platinum. That do occur in the free state. You would find pure gold particles and not gold oxide or gold sulphide. But let's talk about them later. Now the second thing is that in these rocks, you would not only find the metal compound that you are looking for. But along with this, there will be many other impurities. For example, this might have iron oxide which I need. Plus it might have some sand or some mud and soil or some other metal compounds that I want to get rid of. So the second problem is that these rocks will have metal compounds that I need plus some impurities that I want to get rid of. So the first step would be to start with a rock that has more metal compounds. Or it takes us less money or less energy to separate the metal compounds and impurities. I would not want to start with a rock that has less amount of metal compound. Or it takes us more money and more time to separate these two out. The bottom line is that naturally most metals occur as metal compounds in the rocks. These are called minerals. But only from specific minerals, we can profitably extract metal compounds. These minerals are called ores. For example, a rock near your house might have some iron oxide compound. So this is a mineral. But if you cannot profitably extract the iron from it, then it's not an iron ore. Now let's see if we had an ore, how would we extract the pure metal out of it? So these are the steps. First, enrichment of the ores. So over here, we take the ore which is basically a rock and we crush it to pieces. And then we separate the metal compound in these pieces from the impurities. So over here, we have concentrated the metal compounds in one bunch. Therefore, we have enriched our ores. Now next step will be to convert this to metal oxide. See, our final aim is to arrive at the pure metal from this ore, right? Now this metal compound could be in any form. It could be metal oxide, it could be metal carbonate or metal sulphide or something else. Now it turns out it's easier to extract metal from metal oxide. And that's why if this compound is metal carbonate or metal sulphide or something else, then first of all, we convert this to metal oxide. And that's where comes the second step. Metal compounds or the metal compounds are converted to their metal oxide form. Now next step is to extract the metal from this metal oxide. And since we are removing oxygen from this compound, this is called reduction. That's why the third step is called reduction to get the metal. Here we convert metal oxide to metal. Now see, the metal that you have got, it's still not completely pure. It will still have some impurities. And that's where comes the fourth step, refining to get the pure metal. Here we convert the metal to pure metal. Now let's look at each step in a little bit more detail. So the first step is enrichment of ores. Over here, our main objective is to separate the metal compounds from the impurities. So first thing, we break the ore into small small pieces. And then we use certain techniques which are based on the physical and chemical properties of these compounds. And we are able to separate them. For example, if you have an iron ore, then see, after breaking the iron compounds, let's say these are iron oxide, they are going to be magnetic in nature. So if you bring a magnet close over here, it will attract most of the iron compounds. And that's how we can separate the iron compounds from the non-magnetic impurities, right? For example, if you have gold ore, you see gold particles are heavier, are denser compared to the impurities. You can use certain techniques like gravity separation to separate the heavier gold particles from the lighter impurities. By the way, the impurities removed at this stage are called gang. And it has a weird spelling, okay? So just be careful. So this is how we can enrich our ores, meaning we can concentrate the metallic compounds and remove most of the impurities out. Now in later videos, we will be talking about how to convert this metal compound into metal oxide. And then reduce the metal oxide to get the metal. And then refine the metal to get pure metal. Well, for now, let's summarize this video. In this video, we spoke about what are minerals and what are ores? And how are these two things different from each other? We spoke about the steps involved to get pure metal, to extract pure metal from metal ores. And we spoke about the first step that is enrichment of the ore in a little bit detail.


Well folks, we're a day away. Can you believe it? One day away from Skyward Sword HD being in our hands. Now, I am looking at a few things here to consider when it comes to this game because we have two stories to talk about. One, we're gonna be talking about the developer of this game, who it is, their previous work, and maybe why you could argue that the changes to this game are not maybe what you want them to be. And if you were hoping, obviously, for more changes than what was talked about already by Nintendo, we now can actually talk about that because the reviews are in. And well, the game is actually scoring well, but not even close to as well as it did back in the day. And we're gonna talk about why that might be the case. But before we do, hey, this is the last day to enter for two copies of Skyward Sword HD. Head into the description to enter and I wish all of you guys luck. Let's first get into who is making this game or who what was the developer behind this game and maybe some additional information we have about this. So it turns out that the people who made the Wind Waker HD are not the ones behind this game. That was Nintendo themselves. That was the main Zelda team. I remember when they were working on the Wind Waker HD, the whole concept behind even doing that game was that the Zelda team was practicing HD development before they went full go on making what became Breath of the Wild. So what studio made it? Was it Grezzo? After all, Grezzo has done a number of Zelda remakes more recently than Awakening. Actually no, it was the people who did Twilight Princess HD. In the credits of the game, it is stated that Tantalus is the company that made Skyward Sword HD. Tantalus is also the company that did Twilight Princess HD. And if you remember comparing the Wind Waker HD to Twilight Princess HD back in the day on Wii U, it was very clear that Twilight Princess HD had less effort put into it than the Wind Waker HD. It did have a texture overhaul. It did have the double damage. It did have a few extra things, a few quality of life improvements. But for the most part, it wasn't nearly as impressive of a job as that happened with Wind Waker HD. But then again when we found out it wasn't Nintendo that made that one, it was kind of like okay well Nintendo didn't do it. Nintendo's efforts are obviously going to be a bit more high quality in comparison to them. And then they did the ones with Skyward Sword HD. And what we have discovered now after the reviews have come out is that none, but pretty much everything we have heard about the quality of life changes to the game is it. There's not any additional cuts. There's nothing else that's made simpler or easier. There pretty much everything we have been told for the quality of life changes up to this point for the game. That's it. That is everything that they did. Now what we learned about this game also after it coming out and this isn't necessarily a bad thing but this does fit into something I have been contemplating or really feeling about this game since it was announced. Back when it was announced at 1080p and 60fps, I noted that I felt like this might just be an emulated game and all that. And in some aspects it turns out it is. Now it does run natively on Switch. At least the code base is running natively on Switch. But earnestly that's not necessarily true. Nintendo has chosen to, or I should say Tantalus in this case, has chosen to take the GPU aspects of the game. So a lot of the graphical output of the game and run that through an emulator. We aren't 100% sure which emulator this is, but this was discovered by a well-known Switch hacker OatmealDome that this game is using a form of emulation to run the graphics of the game. And this is very interesting to consider because they actually did something similar to this. Nintendo did themselves for Mario Galaxy. So Mario Galaxy running in 18 Super Mario All-Stars. Its code base runs natively on Switch, but the graphics of the game runs through an emulator.  But it also is kind of a hey, if they're using that, it does also explain the lack of major changes to the game just in terms of adding new content or other tweaks because it's really a bunch of changes and tweaks that you could do in emulation as a fan. You could add button controls through emulation as a fan. You could run the game at 1080p and 60fps as a fan. You could do a lot of these. You could edit the text. Someone noted that some of the red text has now been changed to green text, which is actually easier to read, especially for colorblind people. So a lot of these changes you could be done. The one change that obviously did have to take at least some effort is the fundamental way that Fififo foam works. How she is now set to a button press for the most part, but also contains additional information. That was obviously something that had to have some level of effort put into making that work. But besides that, a lot of the other changes are just things that really wouldn't have been that difficult to do. So yeah, that's just kind of just out there for you guys in case you're wondering on that front. Now the reviews are obviously in as well. And right now it's sitting at an 82 on Metacritic. Now the original game did review at a 93 on Metacritic. So that is an 11 point drop, but this game came out 10 years ago. And obviously there's going to be some things about it that aren't going to feel a little bit dated. As an example, there is a lot more polygonal angles. You could see that just in the footage of the game itself. Things aren't as rounded or there's more direct edging on things like that. Obviously there is some aspect more to the textures like when you're climbing vines are literally just flat textures against the wall doesn't you know that doesn't really feel new. That's just from a visual perspective, but it's interesting because for the most part almost all the reviews are pretty happy with this game. But it's more or less the reviews that aren't happy are kind of ones that felt like it's not Breath of the Wild or just they feel like the controls are kind of cumbersome. So let's look at some of the top critical reviews out there. You have places like GamesRadar who gave it an 80 saying Skyward Sword HD is one of the most misunderstood Zelda games for getting a second chance. It's an underappreciated gem, closer to a gem, but they only gave it an 80. So that's interesting there. One that finds the space to really breathe with a more reliable and relaxing method of control embedded within. Skyward Sword has its fair share of problems, but it makes up for many of them in moments of true brilliance and defiance against established series conventions. Say what you will about Skyward Sword, but it's good to be out on an authored adventure with like again saving Hyrule at one inventive dungeon and Challenge Boss at a time. And then you have another you know on the opposite end a more negative review not entirely negative, but one that gave it a 67 from Player 2 says the controls irk it is full of breadcrum breezy work and almost everything done better in Breath of the Wild. But for all its faults it still offers some satisfying environmental traversal unique gadgets and complex puzzles. So it's like the game is being judged more harshly because of Breath of the Wild, which I guess we really shouldn't be shocked. I think Breath of the Wild kind of set the new standard bearer for the series and you know it's a bit rough around the edges for some but I would argue overall it's getting fairly positive reception. You know I feel like at Nintendo Life and I'll let that we use a lot just for sourcing on certain articles and all that. On Nintendo Life's review it gave it a 90 and it said the Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD introduces a raft of technical improvements and quality of life updates that reinvigorate and revitalize this 10 year old game. With motion controls and being more precise than ever before, an alternate button control scheme that totally works, crisp HD graphics, smooth 60fps gameplay and a bothersome sidekick who's been streamlined into something altogether more useful. This really does feel like Skyward Sword as it was meant to be experienced. Yes the locking off of instant travel behind the official amiibo is a misstep but beyond this one issue what's here is a sublime experience, a technical triumph and an absolute must play for Switch owners and Zelda fans. So yeah I'd say overall the game is clearly being received fairly well. As I said at 82 overall on Metacritic I think it has 83 overall on. OpenCritic will link to that Metacritic score down in the description if you'd like to check out some other outlets and some of your other outlets favorite reviews. Obviously I don't have any thoughts on the game yet beyond hey as an outsider looking in I'm liking some of the changes I think they're gonna add up to a better experience but I gotta play it firsthand. We will be live streaming this game tomorrow I'll probably even stream myself picking up a copy of the game maybe we'll see it could be a bit rough streaming inside retail outlets but we'll see we'll see how that works I'm gonna I'm probably you know I don't have it pre-ordered so I'll probably try to go to Walmart and get it for the 50 bucks because you can get $10 off so why wouldn't I but we'll see that could be sold out that does happen sometimes at Walmart so then I'll just hop over to GameStop they usually don't sell out quite as quickly as Walmart they also have a few more copies than Walmart does usually but yeah I'm pretty excited to play this game again I haven't played this game in almost a decade I did play it about what I played it for my second time about nine years ago the first time obviously being 10 years ago so it's been a long time since I played Skyward Sword I don't currently own it I don't have any platform to play it on I don't own a Wii I don't own a Wii U and I don't own a copy of the game so I haven't played it in a long time so for me I'm a bit of a shill for Zelda so 60 bucks I get it it's more expensive than the original release does it include the gold you know Joycons for that price or anything obviously there is or the Skyward Sword Joycons at this point but there was a gold gold remote back in the day you could get it again I understand all the criticisms on the pricing scheme but hey if you have never played Skyward Sword then this is the time this is the definitive version of the game and yeah just don't expect it to be Breath of the Wild okay I thought it was a mistake when Nintendo started comparing this to Breath of the Wild when they first did that in the marketing thankfully they backed off on that Breath of the Wild marketing so kudos to Nintendo for recognizing what I recognize is that they were comparing too much to Breath of the Wild and that's not going to go over well for this game and maybe that even impacted the score is the one negative review I read well semi negative review I guess I should say noted that hey you know it's not as good as Breath of the Wild like well no shit but Skyward Sword is she is the antithesis of Breath of the Wild Breath of the Wild is massive open world explorative game this game is more linear heavy story focused but massive on the dungeons so if you miss dungeons and you never played Skyward Sword now's the time to get back into it so I am within a RoboJets from Nintendo Prime remember to enter our giveaway down in the description leave a like and comment if you want I greatly appreciate all of that support more the sorrow than anything else you guys are awesome and I'll catch you in the next video


Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by Bill Lucas. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Michigan Republican Party. Mr. President, thank you for the privilege of the honor and the honor of being able to say to all of you here today. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Bill. Colleen. Being here with you on this occasion, and in view of the fact that I know that you have already had closed circuit television in here, this all reminds me of a story about an event in ancient Rome. Apparently a group of Christians were thrown into the Coliseum with a pack of hungry lions. Before the lions could attack, however, a Christian jumped up and said something. And the lions immediately laid down, refusing to go anywhere near the Christians and much less eat them. And the crowd hooded and hollered. They threw rocks at the lions, but to no avail. And finally Nero called the Christian leader and asked him just what he had said to the lions. He said, I only told them there'd be speeches after the meal. Seriously though, seriously though, it's a pleasure to have this chance to speak with you and to be in a state that has meant so much to the Republican Party and the success that we've enjoyed in these last six years. Let me just say that your GOP delegation to Congress is terrific. I owe great debt to each and every one of them. That's especially true for Bill Broomfield, the dean of the GOP's Michigan delegation. One other individual I rely on would be remiss if I didn't single him out, Guy Vanderjack. And I thank you for lending him to the country. These are true champions of our cause. The measure of their success can be found in the change that's now taking place in the Republican Party. It wasn't that long ago when party ranks were dwindling and registrations were down. And after being over there in that rally just a short time ago, and seeing the young people that were there, I remember right after I became a Republican I commented to Nancy once after coming back from an affair that the only young people we saw there looked like they couldn't join anything else. Well, that's not so anymore. As America drifted into the second half of the 1970s, liberal power reached its zenith. Our opponents gained full control of both houses of Congress and had held it for almost 30 years. The presidency, all of the executive departments and agencies, and at the same time they held all of those and dominated much of the state and local government throughout the nation. The liberal agenda only had one flaw. It didn't work. High taxes, central planning and heavy-handed federal controls were about as good for America as Mrs. O'Leary's cow was for Chicago. As our country sank into decline and uncertainty, a revitalized Republican Party dedicated to building a free, prosperous, and secure America emerged to meet the challenge. We met here in Detroit in 1980, as I've told you, and then we reached out to our fellow countrymen under the banner, together, a new beginning. And it was a new beginning for our country and for the Republican Party. In Michigan, this new day began when the GOP took control of the state Senate. Isn't it great that the chairman of today's event, John Engler, is the Senate majority leader? Today, we're the party of new ideas and open doors. We're the party of opportunity and freedom, of strength and ideals. And today, as I said before, young people are joining our party as never before. And I've been meeting them all over the country, in schools, university and college campuses, in shops and factories, and above all, on our military bases. This generation is the best darn group of young people we've seen in a long, long time. And I understand that we have with us a courageous young heroine, Mino Sundersen, who risked her life to rescue an infant on board the plane in the recent hijacking in Pakistan. And Mino, I just want to thank you personally to say how proud we all are of you. Well, along with the young voters, more and more people are leaving their old party affiliation behind and joining our ranks. After much soul-searching, they come to the conclusion that the leadership that dominates the other party no longer reflects their interests or their concerns or their values. And this reminds me of a story maybe some of you've heard about that kid that was outside a Democratic fundraising dinner. And as those in attendance filed out, he started hawking them and he told us he had puppies, held them up and gave the pitch, Democrat puppies for sale, anybody want a Democrat puppy? Two weeks later, the Republicans happened to hold a fundraiser at the same restaurant. And there was the same kid, the same batch of puppies, only this time his pitch was changed, Republican puppies for sale. Anyone want to buy a Republican puppy? A reporter noticed this that had been at the other meeting and he said, wait a minute kid, how come the same bunch of puppies were Democratic puppies two weeks ago and now they're Republicans? Kid wasn't stopped for a minute, he said, now they've got their eyes open. Well as Bill Lucas and I can both tell you, even once you've got your eyes open making that change in registration is the most difficult hurdle to jump. And yet so many are jumping over and joining us. They know that today ours is the party of all the people while the leadership of the other side remains paralyzed by a dependency on special interests and tied to the failed ideas of the past. There's no better symbol of the realignment taking place in our country than your ticket here in Michigan. Colleen Engler has both youth and experience on her side. She knows that women are not just welcome in the Republican Party, they're welcome in the leadership of the Republican Party. The days of looking for the best man are over. What we Republicans are looking for now is the best candidate, period. Let me stress, the difference between our parties is clear on this front as well. We don't choose someone based on his or her race or sex in an attempt to charge to curry favor from this or that particular group. We're looking for leaders who share our ideals and have the talent necessary to get the job done. And again, we Republicans are looking for the best candidate, period. And the best candidate for governor of Michigan is Bill Lucas, period. Bill's a man who's gained the respect of anyone who's ever known him. Born and raised, as I've already told you in that televised account, he was raised in Harlem and after his parents died, his aunt cared for him as her own child. And this honest compassion and example of family responsibility no doubt made a lasting impression. Early on, Bill learned what commitment and a desire to achieve are all about. There's a story that Bill's college track team was up for the championship. He was in the three-mile race, but on the first lap around the track, he lost a shoe. Maybe other runners might have quit. Bill kept going.  Now that's the kind of man we Republicans are on our team. I chose a shorter distance. I ran a quarter-mile. But I want to thank you for having me with you here today. And I hope that you'll do all you can to see to it that Bill and Colleen and the other Republican candidates are elected and re-elected. And I just, there's no way to say how rewarding all of this has been for me to come here and to see you. You know, sometimes in Washington, you kind of lose track of what the real Americans are doing across the Potomac and outside the district. But it's wonderful to be here with you and please send these two people to the state house. We need them. God bless you. Thank you very much.


Well today is such a historic moment for Metro National Public Schools and partnership with the Titans. Exciting moment because this is the first time that we've had such a wonderful opportunity with girls black football. One of the top priorities for us is to get this sanctioned as a varsity sport with a TWSAA. Be confident in whatever you want to do.  Don't let anybody tell you you can't do what you want to do.


So there's a couple other different ways to mount your photos. Here's two different mounted photos. This one was picked up from the Art Star, pre-made, just a wooden support. This one, custom made, and look at the back. So it's just a piece of wood and you build this frame and that way when it's on the wall, it looks more like it's floating. So I'm going to resin these ones and show you how to build those frames. Unique in different ways to mount your photos and have frameless photo mounting, which is really popular these days. Okay, talk to you later. Bye-bye.


Hey, most insurance agents set goals and then very few actually hit them in the next year. Okay, I'm Cody Askins. I set a goal back when I was 20 years old to earn $100k my first year. Because of the steps, the four steps I'm going to share with you, I earned $117,361.13 in my first eight months as an insurance agent. Okay, so I'm going to give you four specific steps that you can do to make sure.  Okay, step number one is you actually need to set a goal. Okay, you actually need to know that, hey, I have a goal. Most people don't know where they're going. If you think goals are cheesy, if you think goals don't work, if you think goals are a waste of time, then you'll probably never actually hit anything. Okay, so number one set a goal.  After you set the goal, let's just say that it was because I bet a majority of you, this is what it was. Stay with me, pay attention.  Okay, if I was right, put it in comments below. If I was wrong, tell me in comments below. Right? I've been wrong before, not a lot, but before. Okay, 100K, I guarantee that's what it was. The second step I'm going to tell you is that you actually need to set it bigger. Okay, here's why. I was just on the success side of the accountability call that we do every week and a member spoke up and said, you know what, when I set my goal at 100K, I fell short and I made 80. He said, but when I set it higher, I hit it. Okay, so maybe instead of 100K, maybe you should set it for 125. Maybe you should set it for 150. Maybe you should set it for 200K. And you say, well, why? Number one, if you fall short, you still hit. Okay, also, you will, it'll make you work harder to actually hit the bigger goal. And you'll end up doing the activity for the bigger goal and end up falling, even if say that you do the activity for 200K, because you've outlined it, you know what it takes and you do the activity for 200K. What will end up happening is it will, let's just say you have a bad day, a bad week, you can't throw a beach ball in the ocean. Somebody, something happens to a family member or you get sick for a week or, you know, you have to go to a birthday party or vacation or life happens or holidays or whatever, right? Because stuff happens. You're doing the activity for double. So who cares if you have to take a week off, you're still ahead of schedule for what you originally actually wanting to make. So set it bigger. If that's what it is, you're not going to hit it because it's too small. Because when life happens, you're going to fall short. Okay, I don't want you to fall short. So set it bigger. Okay, next step after setting it bigger is I want you to reverse engineer what that looks like. Okay, what does that look like for you? If it was 200K, it's 4,000 per week. Okay, how many cells is that? How many appointments will that take? How many people you need to sit with? Like what does all of that look like for you to make sure that you know your numbers? You need to wake up and know, okay, if, if I set 20 appointments and I sit with 15, I always close at least seven to eight. Well, if it's seven, eight, you're probably going to be at 4K a week. Okay, so reverse engineer this thing, know what you need to do to make it a reality. Okay, it's one thing to say it. Talk is cheap. Okay, as Wendell said in our sesame call earlier, Bradley talked about this. Okay, you need to be thinking bigger and actually doing it. Okay, you also need to be telling people. You don't want to keep it in. You don't want to keep it private. It holds you accountable when you tell all your family and friends. So I would do that. Okay, fourth thing is you need to know what type of activity does it take to make this a reality? Is there so many dials? Is there so many doorknocks? Right? So I'm coaching an agent that's trying to get to 400K next year. Okay, actually, I think it was actually 500K with some annuities. Okay. And what he is wanting, okay, what he is wanting is he has an appointment setter and we talk through, he wants to sit with 20 people. So we're looking at numbers. His appointment setter needs to set 30 appointments a week. His appointment setter needs to speak to 60 because two-thirds of them stick, half of them actually book because he speaks to 60 and two out of every 10 answer on a bad day. So he's got to dial 300 people a week to make all of this a reality. But that's what I mean by activity. That's what I mean by numbers. We know that as long as they have the lead flow and they do because they're working with a security agent marketing and they get a couple hundred leads a month from us. As long as the lead flow is right and the appointment setter does what he knows he should do, then guess what? They just slayed 500K. Like it was nothing because they knew what to do and it was in front of them and they knew the activity. They had reverse engineered it. They said it bigger than they first, they first said it smaller. I'm like, no, freaking set it bigger. But they actually had a goal to begin with, right? Now here's the bonus. The bonus is you need to write it down daily. This is something I do, something I believe in doing. So for example, my own goals is that I write down. I want to own a jet. I want to get our companies to $1 million per month at our conference. I want to get to where we have 10,000 agents there one day. And I want to help every insurance agent in the world. Those are my own personal goals. You need to have freaking goals. Well, I own a jet. Apps up. Flipping loosely, right? Well, we get to $1 million a month probably before we own a jet. Well, we have 10,000 agents at our conference in maybe three years. Yes. Okay. Well, I've been able to help every insurance agent in the world. Time will tell. Okay. But the point is, I used to write much smaller goals. I just told you when about a decade ago, I wrote a goal that I wanted to make 100k in a calendar freaking year. A year is a long time. Am I setting bigger goals now or am I setting bigger goals now? I am because I set one. I set it bigger. I reverse engineered it. I put the activity and I write it down. I write these down every single day because I'm committed to going bigger and helping more people. And so I want to challenge you in your own business. Okay. To make all of this a reality. You're going to need, you're going to need to be creative. Okay.  You're going to need to think bigger. You're going to need to be innovative. And you're going to need to realize that you can learn from others, which is probably why you're watching this YouTube video right now. You can learn from other people. And when you actually start to realize that I need to innovate, create, I can need to think freaking bigger. And I need to get around success people. I can learn more. I need to go to retreats, events, conferences, et cetera. You can scale your business. Okay. So I was just challenging my success side group to do this for 2020. And I want to challenge you right now to do this. Stop what you're doing. Pause the video or as soon as it's over, stop watching it and say here is what I'm going to do for 2020. Take a second to reflect on 2019. Take a second to think about 2020. Also every problem that you could potentially run into in 2020, I want you to list them all out and I want you to take them all away. Say, you know what? This, this, this and this and I'm taking them all away. Okay. What would hold you back from hitting your goal? You need to know it because it's probably going to come up and happen. So I want you to challenge you to take these four steps, set a goal, set a bigger reverse engineer, put forth activity and even the bonus right down every freaking day in a year from now. I want you to think, did I hit it? If you hit it, how would you feel? Let's put yourself in your shoes in a year from now. How would you feel? How would you feel freaking good? I bet you'd feel pretty freaking good, right? Now, if you feel good, you probably were glad you did everything it took and you did whatever it takes and you went for it. Now, do whatever it takes so that you can end up with that feeling of success and that you did it and you achieved it. And I promise you, whatever you did the year before will be totally worth it. Hey, so if you love this video, I've got eight rules for calling insurance leads. It's right there. Go there, click on the video and I'll see you there. So these eight rules will make sure that you're able to stay in control and it'll help you set more appointments when you call leads. All right. So let's jump right in. The first one is you need to assume that


Hello, it's Priscilla here. I have a question for you all. Did Sai ever tell you he has feelings for anyone? It's just that he's acting strangely around me these days. And I'm guessing it because he likes me? Have you ever been in a situation similar to Priscilla's? Knowing that your friend has romantic feelings for you can help you decide what your next step should be in this friendship. You don't want to ruin your already established friendship, but you also don't want to miss the chance for something profound and romantic with them. So with that said, here are some signs that you might just be more than friends. Do they always seem to steer the conversation back to your relationship status, no matter what you're talking about? Are they curious who you have a crush on, or did they tactfully ask about your type? They might be doing this to see if they could be your romantic partner. If your friend is romantically interested in you, they will want to know if the feelings are mutual. They may try to determine precisely what you're looking for and whether or not they're your ideal type to avoid any chances of rejection.  Or maybe you're both eating burgers at McDonald's without realizing you've got cheese on your face. They chuckle at your clumsy eating habits and instinctively reach out to wipe the cheese from your face.  If you have, leave some butterflies in the comment section. What they're doing is called preening, which is the act of wanting to ensure that the person you care about looks tidy and neat. It could be their way of expressing genuine love and care for you. So if they look after you in this way, it may be a sign that they want to take the friendship to the next level. According to an article by behavioral specialist Jack Schaefer, you lean towards people you like and away from ones you dislike. So have you ever sat on a bench completely engrossed in your conversation until you noticed them staring at you and gently leaning in towards you?  Until then, keep an eye out for physical proximity between the two of you because it's a sign that they want to be more than just friends. Another subtle sign that they have romantic feelings for you is if they remove some sort of barrier between you two when you sit together. Maybe it's their bags, a cup of coffee, or even just a cushion. They set it aside and scoot closer to you. It's a sign that they're into you and want to become special to you. Remember when they say nothing comes between you two, it meant literally here. Do they only refer to you by nicknames among all your friends in the group? Have you considered why? Maybe they refer to you with a cute nickname. If they are ready to let you know their feelings, they refer to you with some sweet nicknames like bae or sunshine. However, they could also conceal their feelings by referring to you with strange nicknames until they're sure of your feelings. They're probably trying to catch your attention with those quirky nicknames and it could be their way of saying, let's get together already. The way their texting changes. The texting game is an entirely different ballgame. It's natural for people to feel more confident when communicating with someone via social media rather than in person. So are there more hearts, kisses, or smiley emojis in their chats now than before? Do you feel they frequently ask you lots of questions to keep the conversation going? And rather than just a simple yes or no, do they reply to your questions immediately and with full explanations? If you notice any of these changes in your conversations, it's a sign that friendship with you is just not enough. Number seven, they flirt with you. Is your friend flirting just with you? If that's a yes, it's one of the surest signs they like you. Maybe they're just scared of confessing before they're certain of your feelings because they don't wish to ruin your friendship at any cost. Do you also subtly flirt back with your friend? Even if it might seem like a fun, lighthearted, harmless conversation between you two, it might just be a cover to hide your feelings for each other. Number eight, you can feel your friendship changing. Regardless of the signs we provide, if you have a gut feeling that you're already acting like a couple, it is most likely true. Maybe you both hold each other's gaze for longer than usual and then blush, or perhaps you spend the entire day together sharing intimate details about your lives that you don't share with anyone else. Or maybe the same friendly hug feels different now, as if they want to hold you forever. Do you feel as if love is in the air? All these small changes in your friendship may indicate that things have escalated between you, and you're no longer just friends. Did you notice any of the above signs in your friend? Wait, maybe you find yourself doing these things as well. If that's the case, then you both might be trying to take your friendship to the next stage and are more than just friends. Let's see what Priscilla is up to now that she's aware of these signs. Hey Psy, what are you up to these days? I mean aside from making me fall in love with you. Did you just? Priscilla was able to advance her relationship because she loves and supports us. Less than Psy, but that's all we need. Above all, she stays informed about psychology and mental health by sticking with us. How about you like and subscribe to our channel and share this video with friends? Who knows? You might as well take things a step further with someone special. If you have, share with us in the comments. The references used are in the description. Until next time friends, thanks for watching and see you soon.