Welcome to George H. Smith's Excursions into Libertarian Thought, a production of Libertarianism.org and the Cato Institute, narrated by Daniel Highland. Toward an interdisciplinary study of liberty, Part 2, The Libertarian Idiom. The vocabulary of political theory overlaps with the language of everyday life. When the libertarian speaks of freedom, government, rights, and so forth, he is using words that are part of normal discourse, words familiar to a general audience. But the libertarian uses such words with meanings that are far more specific than we find in ordinary usage, and a particular word, as used by the libertarian, will convey a meaning that may appear strange or overly refined to the average person. This situation creates an obvious problem of communication. Less apparent, however, is this problem. If libertarians do not rely entirely on ordinary language for the meanings of their key terms, then where do those meanings come from? Certainly not from philosophers who typically disagree among themselves. The meanings we impute to words like freedom, property, and rights are not new inventions. The libertarian key cluster of ideas, our distinctive idiom, derives from an ideological culture that extends centuries into the past. The libertarian idiom is an outgrowth of the liberal tradition, in which the meanings of key terms were debated and refined over time. Of course, our idiom also developed spontaneously to some extent. But unlike most conventional language, it is also a product of conscious deliberation and reflection. This philosophic analysis was necessary, first, to distinguish our idiom from the vagaries of ordinary usage, and second, to stabilize our idiom with consistent definitions that would serve as a common ground for discussion and consensus. There is a natural tendency for an idiom to lose its identity as it insensibly degenerates into the ambiguities and imprecisions of conventional usage. Libertarians confront this problem when they use words like rights and freedom in public discourse. Such words, which may have precise meanings for the libertarian, can mean almost anything to the general population. Few people oppose rights and freedom, but relatively few people understand these words as libertarians do. This is bad enough. But if libertarians begin to neglect their own ideological culture, if they fail to understand the historical roots and evolution of their own idiom, then the forces of spontaneous order will kick in and eventually rob our key terms of their distinctive sense. And if this happens, the disintegration of libertarianism will soon follow, as more and more libertarians find that they lack the conceptual ability to understand and appreciate their own theories. To some extent, this has already happened in the modern movement. How, then, can we recover and revitalize the libertarian idiom? The answer lies in a restoration of our ideological heritage. It is in the historical development of our key cluster of ideas that we can locate their distinctive meanings. For this reason, we must pay close attention to the history and integrated structure of libertarian ideology. Ideology and Ideologues The word Ideology was coined around 1800 by the French liberal Antoine de Stu de Tracy, who used it as a label for the science or systematic investigation of ideas. This enterprise was essentially psychological, not philosophical. Tracy's ideology was concerned with how the mind generates and organizes ideas, not with the epistemological value of those ideas. The word Ideologue also appeared in France around the same time. Its creator appears to have been Napoleon, who attacked as Ideologues his libertarian opponents, such as Benjamin Constant, who refused to compromise their political principles for the sake of expediency. Hence, this term, unlike Ideology, was infused with political connotations from the beginning. An Ideologue was a person who adhered steadfastly to abstract principles in political affairs. Today, Ideologue retains much of its original sense. But this is not true of Ideology, which normally refers not to the study of a belief system, but to the belief system itself. Moreover, the word Ideology, though coined by Tracy, has become widely known through the abusive treatment of Karl Marx, who viewed Ideology as the product of a false consciousness, the phrase was coined by Engels, that serves to rationalize class interests. Of course, Marx did not view his own ideas as emanating from the ideological bias of a false consciousness. His theory of socialism, he said, was scientific, not ideological. Generally, I use Ideology to refer to a value-based belief system. More specifically, an Ideology is an integrated system of ideas that are connected, directly or indirectly, to a primary value commitment. The major components of this definition are as follows. By idea, I mean any cognitive phenomenon or phenomena that are viewed subjectively as a single mental unit. Concepts, definitions, theories, beliefs, paradigms, and so forth, whether simple or complex, whether one or many, are called an idea when regarded as a distinct part, one unit of an Ideology. And this Ideology itself, considered as a single mental construct or unit, is also an idea. Simply put, the term idea, as used here, is to the inner world of abstraction, what the term thing is to the external world of physical objects. By primary value commitment, I mean first evaluation that exists in the consciousness of a person, a value to which that person is subjectively committed. Second, a value that is primary, i.e., fundamental within a given cognitive sphere, religion, ethics, politics, etc. For the libertarian Ideologue, individual freedom is the primary value commitment in the sphere of political theory. By integrated system, I mean an organized structure of diverse ideas, which are shaped into a self-contained unity according to their common relationship to a regulative principle. The system is functional, i.e., the parts contribute to the same overall end. The primary value, in the case of an Ideology, is the regulative principle and unifying theme. An Ideology is the interpretive framework that enables us to classify our social experiences and integrate them into consistent patterns. An Ideology greatly affects how we perceive and respond to the social world of institutional relationships. Libertarianism, as an Ideology, provides a conceptual framework that influences how we see social and political problems, how we evaluate them, and which solutions we accept as legitimate. Given this discussion of Ideology, we may define an Ideologue quite simply as any person with an Ideology. It is useful to distinguish between two kinds of Ideologue, passive and active. The passive Ideologue, when he reflects, stands as an observer to a prearranged system. He accepts his Ideological structure as given, as if the structure had emerged from the Ideas themselves, spontaneously and with their justifications attached. This kind of Ideology is normally shallow, because it is derived secondhand. The passive Ideologue is unable to control and structure his system, because he is unable to justify the Ideas themselves, and his knowledge of those Ideas, historically considered, is non-existent. He has little sense of context. If an experience, say a revolution, is personally unfamiliar to him, he will lack comprehension of the Ideological function of the Ideas based on that experience. This account of the passive Ideologue, though unflattering, is realistic. It is difficult to imagine someone who reflects on his Ideology, and yet with that level of awareness, shows no interest in controlling its structure. This makes sense only if we assume that the passive Ideologue does not interfere, because he cannot interfere. He lacks the detailed familiarity with the constituent Ideas, and so has no real understanding of their logical and historical interconnections. This kind of Ideologue recalls the Approbrium that often accompanies the label Ideologue. It suggests a person who is a slave to his Ideas, simply reciting abstractions as dogma to cover complex situations. The passive Ideologue, unfamiliar with his own Ideas, cannot adjust to the appropriate context. This true believer, whether Randian, Marxist, or Christian, is unable to arrange or structure his Ideas, so he must adhere to them religiously, as from a prefabricated system or text. The passive Ideologue has a hierarchy of Ideas, but this typically rests on a narrow pillar. Remove one idea, and the entire structure might collapse. An Ideology should stimulate a greater range of depth and interest in every relevant discipline. The active or critical Ideologue can extract valuable Ideas from almost every original Thinker, whatever his conclusions may be. A new Idea is seen as an opportunity to expand and deepen one's structure of Ideas, not so for the passive Ideologue, for whom every new Idea is a threat to his structure. Even a Thinker who is sympathetic to his own values will often be neglected or shunned and no use made of his Ideas. This system of the passive Ideologue exists as a solid brick, unalterable, an all or nothing affair. He views the Ideology of others the same way. He either accepts or rejects them in total. The active Ideologue, in contrast, has a reflective, critical attitude toward his Ideas. His Ideological structure is, in effect, a cognitive work of art. The constituent Ideas may be borrowed from others, but their organization into an interconnected system is his unique and original creation. His lasting reflective interest flows from the aesthetic appeal of contemplation and creation. Reflection may reveal new connections which occurred spontaneously. These he may leave as is after critical evaluation, fully aware that the subconscious power of integration exceeds that of the conscious mind. This subconscious process may be called tacit integration. The active Ideologue will eventually develop a disposition or subconscious habit of integrating Ideas into his Ideological structure. This is akin to the creative insight, in major cases at least. Hence, a basic function of an Ideology is to provide an accessible and coherent structure for one's tacit knowledge. Such tacit knowledge will tend to sort itself out, according to the categories and connections of the Ideology. Later, this tacit and spontaneous ordering is examined and evaluated by the active Ideologue. All this requires a lasting, reflective interest in one's ideas. Much of this comes from the primary value commitment, which, as a thematic source, infuses a sense of significance to even the remote frontiers of one's knowledge and opinions. Even the process of Ideological construction and revision, which never ends, will often motivate a reflective, critical attitude. The primary value commitment, therefore, functions as an Ideological theme. It infuses a tone or attitude throughout the entire system, affecting each constituent idea to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the proximity of that idea to the primary value. The thematic effect of the primary value serves to unify the constituent ideas with a common significance or meaning. Even plain facts of history, when part of the Ideological structure, inspire a high degree of interest in the Ideologue. An idea, when part of an Ideology, can embody, illustrate, or exemplify the primary value. Or it can increase the range of significance by linking the primary value to new facts and fields of inquiry. As more ideas are incorporated into one's ideology, those ideas become parts of the Ideological whole with a complex network of connections, first to the primary value commitment, and second to the other constituent ideas. Hence, the reflective interest in the primary value stimulates interest in a wide range of knowledge. Like a ripple effect, the value theme flows outward in all directions, infusing the reflective interest, i.e., the desire to understand, to the remote frontiers of knowledge. This reflective interest, since it originates in the understanding, is satisfied only in terms acceptable to the understanding, namely, the desire for truth. The Ideologue, therefore, should value truth above all else, because only a rational idea can fit into the ideology. He does not accept something as true because he wants to incorporate it. Rather, he wants to incorporate it only if it is true and relevant. The possible relevance of an idea calls our attention to it. But the ability of that idea to withstand critical scrutiny is the ultimate test. Liberology I shall conclude this eclectic essay with a modest proposal. Libertarians, anarchists, and others with a lasting interest in the subject of individual liberty should institute a new field of study, a cognitive discipline that specializes in the study of freedom. I propose that we inaugurate a systematic study of liberty. I also suggest that we christen this discipline by giving it a distinctive name. A logical choice presents itself. Libertas, the Latin word for liberty, is the root of our traditional labels, liberalism, libertarianism, and the like. The systematic study of a phenomenon is commonly indicated by the word ending, ology, as in psychology, geology, and so forth. If we link these stems, one Latin, the other Greek, we have a new word. Liberology The systematic study, science, in the general old-fashioned sense, of liberty. As with many newly coined words, liberology may sound awkward at first. When Auguste Kant introduced the word sociology, it was attacked by some critics as a barbarous hybrid of Latin and Greek stems. During the 1960s, F. A. Hayek noted his dislike of the term libertarian. But he conceded that modern advocates of liberty could no longer call themselves liberals, as they had throughout the 19th century, because the original meaning had been lost. Indeed, had degenerated into its opposite. In general usage, especially in the United States, a liberal denotes a person who favors more intervention by government, not less. Hence, if we use the word at all, it must be qualified as with classical liberalism, which has become nearly synonymous with libertarianism. Liberology is the systematic study of the idea of liberty, as it is employed in the various cultural disciplines, also known as the moral sciences, the humane studies, the science of man, etc. These disciplines refer to the specialized fields of investigation that have, as their fundamental subject matter, some aspect of human action. i.e. behavior that is goal-directed and influenced by man's ability to reason and to choose among alternative courses of action. Liberology, in substance, if not in name, was developed throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, reaching its consummate expression in the synthetic system building of Adam Smith, as we see in his system of natural liberty. This, in essence, is what I mean by liberology. Therefore, in advocating liberology, I am advocating the restoration of a neglected tradition, one that was fragmented and ultimately destroyed by forces within and without. To catalog the many reasons for this would require an extensive treatment. Liberology is a matrix discipline that connects the cultural sciences by means of a conceptual common denominator, namely the idea of liberty or freedom. For the purpose of this analysis, I offer the following postulates of liberology without suggesting that they are complete or comprehensive. First, the idea of liberty, whether implicit or explicit, is of fundamental importance in every cultural science, i.e. every cognitive discipline that is concerned with voluntary human action. The idea of freedom, as it is used in a particular field of study, will profound the influence, a. how one analyzes problems and solutions within that discipline, b. how one views other disciplines and evaluates the results, and c. how one defines other key concepts, property, coercion, society, etc. d. how one treats the ideological aspects of one's subject matter. For example, should historical figures who claim to act from a love of liberty be taken at their word? Or should this be analyzed as an ideological cover for self-interest? Or must the two motives necessarily be in conflict? Second, the idea of liberty constitutes a methodologically useful connection between the cultural sciences. If the idea of freedom is used differently in different cultural sciences, economics, and sociology, for instance, then knowledge of this fact may yield important insights into the tensions and conflicts between those sciences. If, on the other hand, different sciences employ the same concept of freedom, then this may enable us to integrate their methods and results into a comprehensive theory. Third, in order to understand the meaning of liberty and related terms, we must know something about their historical development, the context in which they originated and developed, the problems they were intended to address, etc. A theory, considered philosophically, exists in the universe of abstractions independently of time and space. A theory is a network of constituent ideas that are united by logical relations. A theory, however, is expressed in words, the sign symbols of concepts. The specific meaning of words is historically determined through conventional usage. We cannot assess the inner logic of a theory unless we understand the meaning of its primary ideas. Thus, a logical analysis presupposes and depends upon the historically conditioned meaning of the constituent ideas. Thank you for listening to Excursions. To learn more about Libertarian philosophy and history, visit www.libertarianism.org.


We're gonna give you tips to build your online community here on the journey This is my co-host nearly and why should I build an online community right an online community is in my opinion? The only way that you are going to elevate your brand to that next level It's really gonna help differentiate you from everyone else Because at the end of the day literally everything's a commodity, but a community is something that makes you stand out All right, so I know it's really important to not always be focused on selling rather take the time to position yourself as an expert This will be a great way to give back to your community your fans your customers So think about that when it comes to what you're focused on right and like you say and previous episodes if you've been following along You don't want to sell sell sell you want to tell tell tell super corny as it is It is the truth and while you're doing that and you're telling and you're positioning yourself as the expert It also gives the opportunity of really learning about your audience because you're engaging with them You're talking with them. You're learning about really what they're doing because of that you're figuring out cool What are their actual problems? What are they wanting? What are they needing then with that? That's free market research from your community that you can really dig into and figuring out cool What's next for your brand? What other services can you offer to really elevate that? Yeah? I mean your customers can show you a lot and enlighten you on a lot of things to help actually benefit your business in the long run That is a great point which leads me into the first tip and that's really to make it all about the people because Without people you have no business without business. You have no money and then you're broke and then you can't eat pizza all day It's a tragedy But you really didn't make it about them and figuring out what they need going into that I strongly encourage your group to share I often speak to this when talking about social media like hey social media is rad because it's not a one-way street It's not a walking billboard. It's a two-way street. So encourage Comments feedback just like we do here on the journey asking a comment below right and you can do the same thing Have polls especially with Instagram and how engaging stories are you can throw up a quick poll or a question or a quiz now, too Just ask your audience a random question that relates to your business gets them involved gets them engaged and now it's not just a one-way street We're just yelling out of the person. They're like stop yelling at me. We're actually talking All right now another way we can really encourage our community and build it and boost it is to recognize our group members, right? Good tip. They're they're putting in the work, especially if like you're a coach or if you're Teaching something online you have people learning how to do whatever you're doing right show their progress I know there's a person by the name of Lewis house and he has a Facebook community group and He has masterminds and inner circles and all that stuff and I'll talk about it in a little bit But one thing he does really really well is when one of his clients or his followers are doing something like just super great He'll give him a shout out like hey Margaret just launched her new book. Everyone give her a shout out And that's not something you have to pay for you're literally just giving a shout out saying hey I see you.  All right So this is a perfect time to bring up the importance of setting the tone for the culture Leave a sample so don't go and ghost people on your social media Just cuz I get it you're busy because then you'll lose the engagement of your fans and followers So set the tone be sure to be engaging be present dish out some quality content Think about it even in your social life, you know You stop inviting your friends to go do things and you stop reaching out. They start to think oh This friendship. It's just done. It's done. So perfect segue, right? So leading into my next tip is to really be consistent with your audience And what that consistency is is really up to you. You don't have to post every single day But you do want to be consistent So if you want to make something where every Thursday I'm gonna do a Facebook live or every Friday. I'm gonna do an Instagram post or every Tuesday tip Tuesday I thought you're gonna go with taco Tuesday or motivational Monday. I'm still about taco Tuesday But anyways make it consistent and make sure that they can expect it now back to Lewis house He has what he calls an inner circle. It's a lot of people call it rather That's basically a little mastermind group of his community and once a month He goes on with his community on a video hangout, right? So he goes and they do they talk to each other They say hi how we're doing do like a little ice breakers Then he usually has like a special guest that goes on and like teaches his audience something super cool He'll usually have like a Q&A session with some randomly selected audience members. They can really have that engagement Super cool, right? But he does that every single month and his followers expect that so they know that this is happening Which also you keep doing it continue to do it so you get more and more people really bought into you because Man this person's sticking around there. They're about it and I want to be about it, too And it's like what I was talking about earlier setting the tone for that culture. Yeah another cool thing to do challenge your community There's this artist illustrator that I follow on Twitch and she does a whack Which is a weekly artist challenge and it's super fun because you get to see these challenges live And it could be something as simple as like draw a tree or Try oil paints or screen printing and then you get to check it out on the live footage and feed now with all this fun And game right what that comes with building your community all these challenges all this engagement There is the not so fun part and that is to set some ground rules and policies Because at the end of the day, we want this community to be a really a safe place for everyone So those rules they don't have to be super strict, but they should be more common sense, right? Yeah, so like if you have a chat room you want to make sure you're mediating that making sure that there aren't any trolls out there Block the trolls It's been a while since you heard that right I've never heard that totally derailed you but yeah I keep all the negativity out there You want your community to be inspiring and you really want the power communities like bringing people together with like-mindedness, right? We're all here to help each other and that's what that community should be about So those rules and policies are there to make sure everyone plays fair, but and don't call me a delusional optimist But what if I become too successful and I can't handle it all? Well other than partying on your yacht eating all the pizza from all that success, right? You're gonna need to get some help and that help is going to come from your community You've likely already have people in your community answering questions helping you out already It's time to go back to what we talked about earlier and recognizing them Recognizing all the help they've been giving and give them more of an admin type role in your community saying hey You've been doing an awesome job. I want you to keep doing it. Let's let's go ahead and make this official I want to make you my admin so now they're helping you with your community answering those questions talk to the people while you're partying on your yacht or growing your business even more and growing your community and And and just having fun with it. Yeah, and then they can all join me on my Absolutely, it's a forever one or there's also ways you can outsource this So if you don't have anyone really active in your community that wants to step up You can't hire admins to go in and manage that for you. All right cool. Nellisa now. I know how to do it, but Where do I do this? Wherever you want, but no there are a ton of options that you can use to really build your community and It's really gonna come down to what your community likes right because not every community is the same Your community might like being on Instagram or Twitter about others may just want an email But one of the first places you can really build that community is just with an email newsletter It's one of the earliest forms of community and simple as just sending a weekly email with all the updates And then they'll res maybe reply back to your email and really start that relationship there But what I would recommend for this is try to make that email newsletter, especially in today's world Almost exclusive right like that email newsletter is for this specific person trying to achieve this specific thing So if it's just an email for anyone, they don't really feel a part of that community. You know, definitely hear you on the email I'm definitely a huge fan of it with the businesses that I follow and engage with but also let's not forget blogs Blogs are a great way to also try it in shrew Get the information out and also make it really easy for your customers to share So one thing I love about GoDaddy is we have a great blog that we share a ton of topics Everything ranging from how to find answer your business to how to start a business to how to build a community description below Exactly or how to be a master on Twitter point is we put this information out there for the community And then we make it easy to then share across social channels Yeah, and another way we can really build that community is through a membership on your website Now if you're using WordPress or other popular applications, they're usually plugins that will help you accomplish this But Lewis house has that inner circle and that's a membership on a site that people go to that are just a part of his community We can share that content directly with them So it's something that you can potentially do to really build that community with them And another way to build your online community forms a great place to provide feedback ask questions and Talk amongst themselves exactly bond with the community Now probably my favorite way to build community and I'm a part of I kind of lost count is through Facebook and using Facebook Groups it's probably one of the easiest ways to connect all of your community members together Because let's face it. Everyone's already on Facebook already So it's one quick share one quick add and they're in and now you can add your posts your videos your images and Just anything you want to share with your community You can the good thing kind of like forums is your community can actually talk amongst themselves You can start their own conversations And I've seen lots of relationships build within the community because they're all like-minded people Some people end up becoming best friends to this community, which is awesome. Are you a part of any Facebook groups? Um actually just part of one. It's like vegans in Southern California, which is very common But I get to meet a lot of like-minded people It's also a great way for me to learn of different restaurants to try because I recently moved from LA to San Diego And it's a three-hour difference. A lot of people go that's not that far No, it's a completely different community And so it was a great way for me to learn about where to eat which farmers markets to hit it's super That's awesome in there that community is pretty specific to what you like and your business has a Specific interest group, right and that community wants to know more about what you do or the service you offer And just the rest of the people that are like-minded, which is super awesome. All right, so I've heard a lot about slack I personally don't use it to build my online community Maybe you could convince me otherwise, but what what's all about slack? What slack attack? So it's slack attack always throwing random things to throw me off Sometimes you should see how many bloopers we have but so slack is Typically a messaging app, but I actually am a part of a pretty big slack community out in Phoenix So as you know, I love WordPress I'm all about it and there's a lot of little WordPress meetups and community inside of Phoenix now Instead of us having a Facebook group or all these different things. We just actually have a slack group So the entire community in Arizona is a part of that slack group So we talked about upcoming work camps upcoming meetups just talking about new leads and work We try not to talk about that it's always gross right But we're always talking amongst each other only building that community there And that's just a more unique way to do that And it's a different customer base or a client base or whatever you call your customers So if slack works for you if your audience is already on slack, they're familiar with it It's a good way or a good idea to really build that community in a unique way. So I get slack I can see where that's I can see where that'd be beneficial to get together some like-minded people build the online community I'm a little bit more about the IRL. What's IRL in real life. Okay, so there's meetups I know that's been super helpful for some of my friends who've moved to new city As a way to like, you know meet new people and get to know their area I know my good friend Rai joined a meetup where it was like a paint and sip Okay, you get to like have a little booze paint a little picture and then get to meet people unless they're like really into their artwork and introvert then you don't get to know them at all, but It's a chance to meet people. I know when I first moved to LA LA's huge, right? So I also joined a meetup in a bunch of chambers of commerce went and did some cool events Which like arcades one of the coolest meetups I went to was just straight-up hiking and that was awesome because I not only felt cool I was out there getting active, but I met some people enjoy hiking. That's awesome and Sometimes having those meetups or those events are hard to plan What I've seen a lot of really successful people do is they'll piggyback on already big events So like big events like work camp is one of them. It's a WordPress conference People will have little meetups at the day after the day before that way people are already coming to that conference They're gonna basically piggyback on all that travel already Bring that community in and have their own little meetup if you will or little conference or they'll really get together They can really bring that community together have that face-to-face time and really just bond and connect Yeah Now my last point with really building your online community is maybe think about some Barriers to actually join the community because you may not want to have everybody come in Limiting people from joining it might actually be a good thing And there's a couple ways you that you can really determine how best to do that The first way is just have an open-ended question, right or a couple of questions I know that's super common with Facebook groups. They usually ask why do you want to join this group?  They're committed.  All right. I hope this video inspired you to go out there and build your online community today We hope this video helped go ahead and smash that like button if you got some value out of this video Add a comment below. Let us know if you're building your community right now and be sure to subscribe Also, be sure to ring that bell so you are the first to know when our next video comes out. This is the journey


Breakfast is an important meal for us and I'm always looking for a breakfast that's going to fill me up and keep me going all morning long. I want something that's really going to satisfy me and so sometimes I have smoothies. I do smoothies a lot and sometimes I eat leftovers from the night before. My husband just can't understand that and sometimes I do hot cereal and this time of the year as it starts to get a little bit cooler, I love a good bowl of oatmeal but I like to add things to it to give it even more vitamins and minerals and just more nutrients in general. So today I'm going to show you one of my power oatmeal bowls that I like to have. I've already cooked my oatmeal and this is just one serving and before I take it out of the pot I'm going to add a few things that really pack a good punch. So I'm going to add just a tablespoon of almond butter and almond butter is a little bit more nutritious than peanut butter plus it has those good mono unsaturated fats that are really good for our heart health. So I'm going to stir in that almond butter also adds a little bit of protein too and then I like to add a little bit of honey just a little bit especially you know, September is national honey month so I really like to celebrate honey this month. Add a little bit of honey stir that up and once the honey is melted into the oatmeal and that almond butter is just really blended in then oh I know one other thing I like to do for a little added flavor a little bit of ground cinnamon probably about a quarter teaspoon for one serving and not only does it make it smell good but it really tastes good too. So now I'm ready to put it into my bowl and then I'm going to add a few toppings that give it a little bit more sweetness and a little bit more flavor. I've got a little bit of coconut. I've got coconut flakes and I like to sprinkle those over the top and I like to slice a little bit of banana. I usually use about half a banana for one serving of oatmeal and just put that right over the top and last I like to add some blueberries and when they're in season I use fresh blueberries but today I've got some frozen blueberries and I'm just going to put a few right over the top. Now that's a breakfast that's going to stick to your ribs all morning long and give you plenty of energy. I'm Sue Dodin sharing good food for Good Life 365.


We're in 2nd Corinthians. We're going to look at chapter 8 verses 1 through 9 and I'll begin reading at verse 1. I'm going to give you a prolonged introduction I know that's unusual, but I'm going to give you a prolonged introduction to lay the foundation for this and You'll see why I'm doing that in in just a moment. So beginning at verse 1 reading to verse verse 9 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 Paul writes more over brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. And not only as we had hoped but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you abound in everything in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. So in chapter 8 and chapter 9 here in 2 Corinthians, Paul turns to a new subject and the subject that we're going to be looking at in chapters 8 and 9 will be a collection taken for poor saints in the city of Jerusalem. So in order for us to understand this, what's the purpose of this?  In order for us to understand this, like I mentioned a moment ago, let me lay a foundation. We need to develop a background. We need to remember that the church, even as we celebrated Pentecost Sunday recently, we need to remember that the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost in AD 33 almost from the beginning, almost from the beginning. The believers in church had a financial need. They needed help. You see, as the church began to regularly gather and regularly be taught, needs within the confines of the church began to appear. From the beginning, the church developed identifiable organizational structure. The believers, according to Acts 242 following, the believers remained steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers. They maintained consistent fellowship, members, as they did so, began to be recognized as genuine. So as they were doing these things, as they were in fellowship and growing together, getting into the word and prayer, there were people who began to be recognized as the genuine article. They were really believers. And as this was taking place, it helped them to love one another. It helped people to begin to see that God was moving in the midst of this group called the church. And the world around them began to see their genuine faith in Jesus Christ. And the church actually, you might find this interesting, one commentator put it like this, the church actually became an ideal society that truly cared about others. The church began to do what Jesus taught us to do in Luke 12, 33. Remember, he said, sell your possessions, give to the poor, provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where the thief comes near, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys. So the church actually became a family of believers who died to self-interest and died to competition. Instead, they were motivated by sympathy for other people and they were motivated by a spirit of self-denial. When you read the history of the early church and look at Acts 2, 44 and 45, it says, all who believed were together, had all things in common, sold their possessions and goods, divided them among all, as anyone had need. So the obedience to the teachings, the fellowship, the prayers produced generosity in the believers. And the church rallied to the support of their Christian family members who would be in need. It became an obvious element of the Christian faith. It also became part of how they responded to real, genuine needs in the church. Again, in Acts chapter 4, 34 and 35, it says, there were no needy persons among them, for from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. So the church continued to grow. And as the church continued growing, needs began to increase in the fellowship. So as you're going through Acts chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, when you get to chapter 6, Acts chapter 6 records the selection of seven men for the distribution of goods for widows who had genuine and real needs. Church structure had been put into place to meet the needs of those who were poor. But financial needs became a continuing condition in the church of Jerusalem. And though believers were spiritually rich in Jesus, financial concerns remained.  How did that take place? Well, you can see how that takes place by looking at the book of Acts. When you look at Acts chapter 11, for example, that chapter reports something occurred during that time. It was approximately AD 46. And Acts 11, 27 through 30 says it like this, during this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. And this they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. So a famine had come, people were in a lot of need. And so that began in around 46 AD. In AD 51, the church was still in need. That's referred to when Paul met with the apostles Peter, James and John. Because when you read Galatians 2, 9 and 10, Paul said, James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing that I was eager to do. Now moving on, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul closed with a call to help poor believers. In 1 Corinthians 16, 1 through 3 he says about the collection for God's people, do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come, no collections will have to be made. Then when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. The believers had become impoverished. There were members of the church who were poor. How had this happened? Well one, I mentioned a moment ago, the famine that had hit. But you might find this interesting too. Many, when they became Christians, well many Jewish believers were disinherited by their families. Jesus had made that clear. This is going to happen in Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 36. He said, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to send a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Man's enemies will be those of his own household. And so when these Jewish people came to faith in Messiah Christ, Jesus, what they did is they lost everything, all support. So the famine hit, but also families began to be, people began to be disinherited by family members. And on top of that, when you look at Acts chapter 8, according to Acts chapter 8 verse 1, a great persecution hit the believers in Jerusalem.  All of this over time was combining. And as it combined, it produced poverty for some, for many. And so what happens is Paul is now saying we need to help our poor brethren in Jerusalem. Now I want to take it a step further, one more thing to consider. Some people might wonder, why should Gentiles, remember the Corinthian church as a Gentile church? Why should Gentiles be concerned about Jewish believers, Jew and Gentile? Why should that matter? When you begin to remember your Bible for centuries, Jews excluded Gentiles. They called them dogs. They were pagans. They were people without God. Peter made that clear when he was speaking in Acts chapter 10 to a Roman man by the name of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 verse 28. Peter said to him, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But he goes on to say, but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Why should Gentiles care about Jews? Look at the way that they were spoken of. Look at the way they were treated. It was so common. Remember in the Gospel of John, even the Samaritans who were not regarded by the Jews, like John says, he said, the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. There were differences, cultural and religious that were huge. That's why when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, that woman of Samaria, she said, how is it that you being a Jew speak to me, a woman of Samaria?  The Jew and the Gentile, the Jews worship the one God. The Gentiles were regarded as those without God. And they had no dealings with the Samaritans either because they were a hybrid mix, a pagan mix of religious, religion of the Jew and Jewish heritage. It was something they had nothing to do with. They didn't want anything to do with that. So why should the Corinthians care about a group of people who excluded them, had nothing to do with them, would speak poorly of them? Why should they care? Well, one, because in Christ there is no Jew, nor is there a Gentile, not in Christ. In Galatians 3, 28, the Bible says it. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to take the two and make them one in him. That's why we should care. In Romans 3, 29, is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. And secondly, Gentiles should be thankful for what God did for them through Israel. In Romans 15, 27, Paul said it like this, if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them in their material blessings. Why should we care about the Jews? Because we receive the spiritual blessings from Israel through Messiah. And why should we care? Because there's only one church. You know, there are some people who find that offensive for me to say, but it's true. There's only one church. Guys, let's not forget that. Let's not forget that in the midst of all the pain we're going through right now, all the sorrow and the hurt that people are going through. There's only one church. I say this to you often because I believe it so deeply. There's neither Jew. There's no Gentile. There's no male. There's no female. There's no bond, no freak. There's one in Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ. We need to keep that in mind. We need to keep that in mind. I'm going to tiptoe for a moment because I have to, because sensitivity is being as raw as they are. We need to remember that. There is one church. There is one church. And we need to act as if there's one church. And there's one message, the message of the gospel, the gospel that changes human hearts, that teaches us what forgiveness is, what grace is, what goodness is, what love is, the gospel that presents to us a Savior who died for the sin of the whole world, the gospel that takes enemies and can bring them together in reconciliation through Jesus Christ. It's the message that isn't cultural. It's a message that's spiritual. It's a message that reaches hearts. It's interesting, and I'll say this now. It's interesting how the Bible says there is in Ephesians 4 verses 4 through 6, there is one body, 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 this is where Paul shows himself to be from southern Tarsus, because he says, and in y'all, right there, you saw it, it's in Ephesians 4, 6, and in y'all. So I find it interesting that the first division of the church, the first division within the body of Christ was cultural. Did you know that? The first division in Scripture was cultural. Acts chapter 6 tells us that in verse 1, in those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The first division came over Greek and Jew, not getting along, because the Hebrew widows were cared for and the Greek culture Jews were not. Remember the book of Acts? Remember in chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost had fully arrived and the people had been baptized in the Spirit and they had come out of that upper room in all. Remember how it says in Acts 2, I read this to you last time we were together. It says, how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? And then all of these people groups were mentioned, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Kepidesians, from Pontus, Asia, Phrygian, Pamphylia, various, 16 different. They were Jews. These were Jews. These were Jews. They were hearing the words of God in their own language. There were cultural differences between the Hebrew Jews and the Grecianized Jews, strong cultural differences. When you look in the religious makeup of Israel, you had the Pharisees who were extremely conservative and they were in opposition to Sadducees. Why were they so upset with Sadducees? Well, in the Sadducee faith, and you see the Pharisees and Sadducees throughout the New Testament in the Gospels, why were they so upset with the Sadducees? Because the Sadducees had been infiltrated by Greek culture and thought. And in their theology, they had embraced Greek philosophy. And so the conservative Jew who was a Pharisee, a separated one, had opposition to the Grecianized belief system of the Sadducees. The Sadducees didn't believe in angels or spirits. They didn't believe in the resurrection. And that was against the pillars of Judaism. And so the social, cultural, Pharisee conservative had a problem with the liberal Sadducees. And so that was early on in the history of Israel prior to Jesus coming to the face of the earth and ministering. So when the Holy Spirit fell upon the people there, there were all of these people from language groups and culture groups that are being referred to. And the first division that took place in Acts chapter 6 verse 1 was a cultural division. The Jewish believers thought themselves to be superior to the Grecianized ones, and they caused a lot of problems. So much so, that's the first division that you find in the church. The Jewish believers who were culturally Greek were treated as second-class citizens, and it caused division. But in Acts 432, it had spoken of them as being of one heart and one soul, but now division threatened the church. How did the apostles deal with that? Well, the apostles said that their job was to pray, to give themselves over to the Word of God. And they said, select spirit-filled men to handle this problem. And that's exactly what they did. There was a practical problem that was handled in a spiritual way. Why is that important? Remember that if a house is divided, it cannot stand. And remember that Satan is trying to divide the house. He always has. It's his oldest tactic to get believers mad at each other, to get us arguing amongst ourselves, to get us trumpeting a cause that doesn't save a soul. And that's what happens, guys. Be very careful. Be very careful that you take your beliefs and wash them with the blood of Christ. Be very careful. Remember, there's no Jew. There's no Gentile. We're just one in Jesus Christ. Out of the two, he made the one new man, Paul says, the believer. That's what we are. You may love whatever culture you come from. I love mine. I love mine. Somebody said to me, just the other day, they said, Pastor David, if you had to give up spaghetti or tacos, which would it be? Duh. Is that a real question? You love what you love and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, right? But would we divide over that? Would we divide over something that is my culture and not spiritual? Should we? But people do.   And as we bicker amongst ourselves and argue amongst ourselves, as we divide ourselves, the lost continue parading to hell.  Well, the church is so busy arguing who's been hurt the most or who's been blessed the most. Guys, please be careful. I hope I'm not offending you. But as a man who loves you, a pastor who's willing to tell the truth, I'm telling you the truth. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ in this time. You have to because he's the only hope because he changes hearts. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. Why should Corinthians care about Jewish believers? They should care because they're children of God and they are followers of Christ. They are part of the one body. So Paul is using this. This is your backdrop to why it's important to have this offering taken to the believers because they're impoverished. And that's what Paul is speaking about. And that's what Paul is speaking concerning. And he's returning to what he had commanded in 1 Corinthians. He's saying set aside money to send to the poor in Jerusalem. So verse one, again, that was your introduction beginning at verse one, looking at verse two, 2 Corinthians 8. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. These are Greek churches that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. So he begins by using the Gentile churches of Macedonia. Remember, he's speaking to a Corinthian church, a Greek church. He's speaking to them using the Gentile churches of Macedonia. And Greece was part of what today Macedonia would be north of what we know as Greece. And it goes all the way up into Yugoslavia and all. So this is an area that's general for both of them. The Corinthians would have been in the southern area. These are northern. And he's speaking of the Philippian church and the Berean church and the Thessalonican church. And that's what he's speaking related to. And he's using them as examples of caring and giving. Now, I want you to notice something. He's speaking of their generosity. Notice that. He's speaking of their generosity. Again, we make known to you by the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. He's using them as an example of generosity to provoke them. Now, he's not doing this to encourage competition. Some carnal response from them. He's utilizing their generosity as a godly motivation for them to emulate their faith. If you take notes, Hebrews 10 24 says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Let us watch over. Let us see. Let us encourage one another. Let us consider one another. Why? That we might stir up love and good works because when I see you do something good, it provokes me to do the same. You're an example. You become an example of what it means to be loving and caring and generous and patient and all of that. So we're actually supposed to watch each other closely. Consider means that to watch each other closely because you become an example to me and I can be an example to you. And that's how your children, if you're a parent, that's how your children learned what they believe is right and wrong. They learned that by watching you. They considered you. You say you love mama, daddy. I'll watch how a man loves a woman. And if you love in her right, you're training them right. They're considering you. They're watching you. And he says the church is to consider one another that we might provoke one another, stir one another up to loving good works. So if I can use the church as an example of what a great church doing a great work is, that's what I should do. This is a great work. Look what they're doing for Christ. And we as believers, we see that. And as we see that, it provokes us. And we say, you know what? That's the way it ought to be. And that's what he's speaking about. Churches are to provoke one another to good works regularly. And in our own lives, we do serve as examples and we do encourage others. So the Macedonians were examples to the Corinthians of God's grace in action. So he points out some things. Notice what he does. He points out their generosity. He says their generosity originated in the grace of God. It wasn't their own goodness. It wasn't their own charity. It was God's grace prompting their hearts to give because God's grace is the foundation of giving to other people. There's a commentator named Matthew Henry. And Matthew Henry said, the grace of God must be owned as the root and the fountain of all good in us or done by us at any time. The grace of God. So we who have received from the Lord are careful to give to the Lord. Not with a fleshly motive to receive and return but out of love for him and those he loves. So God had bestowed his grace on the churches of Macedonia and in response they're giving. And this free grace bestowed on them produce a generous spirit within them. And as a result out of the love for God and others, they're carrying for those in need. So as God's grace flowed into my life, as God's grace flowed into yours, then that's the fountain of all generosity. And he's making it clear this grace is available to the church at Corinth. Verse two provides another insight into their giving and instructs present day believers. Notice verse two, that in a great trial of affliction, he says, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality, their generosity. Liberality speaks of generosity. They were under affliction and persecution and they barely had enough for themselves. And Paul points out that they were enduring a season of great affliction. Again, the Thessalonian church was an example for other churches. When Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians, he said in chapter one, verses six and seven, in 1 Thessalonians, he said, you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Ikea who believe. So Paul uses them as examples because they gave when it was difficult for them to do so. Their trial of affliction, their deep poverty resulted in sacrifice and joy as they gave. You see, giving under such conditions not only refined their faith, it also revealed it. Trials and affliction produced an abundance of joy and deep poverty produced riches of generosity. Under the fire of affliction and poverty, joy and generosity was refined. Here's something interesting to you as I was preparing this. The Philippian church was once again a northern church there, a Macedonian church. And one commentator mentioned that the church of Philippi has actually had a core, a core group of women. Acts chapter 16, verses 13 through 15 points out that the first converts in the church were women. Now, when these women came to faith in Christ, their husbands didn't necessarily support them. These were Jewish women who would meet to pray by a riverside. And as they were there praying, they received the gospel, came to faith in Christ. But that doesn't mean that their husbands came to faith either. And so the Philippian church very well may have been a church that didn't have much financial means. You see, the breadwinners who would have been the men would not give to the wife money to give in their gifts to the Lord. And so the women had very little to give. But in spite of this, they responded to difficult times with love and concern for others. And that's what happens so very often is people who have little actually learned to live on that little, not to say that's good or bad, but it's true. And many of those who are very generous are also those who have gone through much pain and much poverty. And they gave. In verse three, he says, I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, beyond their ability, they were freely willing. That means self motivated or spontaneous. In other words, they were not prompted. And this is an important point I'm going to make in a second. They didn't need to be prompted and nobody had to beg for them to give. They didn't have to be asked. He says of their own will they gave. So though they were poor, their giving was incredibly generous proportionately. That's because they exercised faith. They knew that God supplies their need. Remember in Luke 21, verses one through four, how's that speak in this way as he looked up as Jesus looked up. He saw the rich putting their gifts in the temple treasury. He saw poor widow put into very small copper coins. I tell you the truth, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth. She out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. These people spontaneously gave without being begged because of their faith and their love for the Lord. And again in verse three, they were, he said, freely willing. They were, somebody said they were freely willing because they were free to be willing. Jesus had set them free from the normal self centered way they at one time had lived. They were no longer slaves to sin. They were no longer in bondage to selfish fears. They were now seeking God's kingdom and they believed that the love of money is a trap. Remember Ecclesiastes 510, whoever loves money never has money enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. When the COVID virus, the COVID-19 hit, did you see the stock market tank? 30,000 points went down to like 19,000, 11,000 loss. They said that it was even greater than the time of the Great Depression.  And those who were relying on the finances like that saw them drying up right before their eyes within a matter of just a few weeks. Economies began to crash and a depression was threatened. And when you put your trusted money, that's exactly what happens. That's what they're saying here. Whoever loves money never has money enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. It can sprout wings and fly away. And that's what happens. They didn't have that attitude. What they did is they loved God. They gave because they loved God and they gave because they cared about people. In Acts 2035, Paul said, I've showed you all things, how that's so laboring, you want to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. In verse four, he says, employing us with much urgency that we should, we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministry and to the saints. And so they were urgent in their giving. They were motivated by love, motivated by concern. They insisted on giving. It reflects the knowledge of God that is mature. When you're generous, it shows that you understand grace and love. But here's what's happening. These poor people were giving. And with these poor people were giving to help the Jewish church, Paul had an accusation launched against him because Paul was receiving the offering to give to the poor. And so I've been sharing with you in 2 Corinthians that there's a whole list of accusations. If you take notes, some of you may have been. This is what is the 15th accusation that Paul addresses in this letter. And the accusation, Paul takes advantage of the poor. He uses guilt to secure their money and his power. That was the accusation against him. So Paul makes it clear this is not the case. He says they gave of their own free will and they gave out of love. It was they and not Paul who was who were doing the begging. They implored us to receive. He said we are not taking advantage of them. They're asking us to take this and to give. He says in verse 5 this they did not as we had hoped but first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. And that's the key to giving because when God has your heart he has all of you. They had what we call a heavenly mindset. It's been said that my wallet has a chain and the chain in my wallet is directly attached to my heart. And when God has my heart he's got my wallet. But when he doesn't have my heart he can't have my wallet. There are quite a number of people who feel that way.  So give your offering and he comes home and she's going through his pocket and she finds the quarter and she says to the boy she says I told you to give a quarter to the Lord and keep the dime for yourself but you kept the quarter. That means you gave the dime to the Lord. Why did you do that? He says you know I was going to give him the quarter but the preacher said God loves a cheerful giver and I was more cheerful giving him the dime. And that's kind of how people are sometimes. I'm more cheerful giving the little instead of the lot. Well in Matthew chapter 6 19 through 21 lay up lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust does corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt where thieves do not break through nor steal or your treasure is there where your heart be also when something is when something is stolen from you how do you feel? That's what Jesus is saying. Where's your heart? Not saying that it's a good thing to steal. He's speaking about my heart. How do you feel? How do you respond to that? Now notice he says in verse 5 again he said gave first to the Lord and then to us. In first giving themselves to the Lord they were able to trust Paul. The few goods that they had were put at the disposal of the Lord and Paul. They trusted that Paul would dispose of it in a way that was honorable. They trusted him because they knew that he trusted the Lord and therefore they could give to God first and they trusted him to handle finances properly. So verse 6 we urge Titus that as he had begun so he would also complete this grace in you as well. So when Paul heard that they were faithful to God and loyalty him he sent Titus back to them. Paul knew that they would be faithful in their support of the church of Jerusalem and Titus is going to be in charge of carrying out the disposal of the gift. So he goes on in verse 7 but as you abound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and all diligence and in your love for us see that you abound in this grace also. You abound in the gifts of faith and speech which are the vocal gifts, tongues, prophecy and all words of knowledge and wisdom and you're diligent and you have a depth of Christian love but abound in this grace also. Beloving and generous to those who need. You abound in faith, exercise it, trust in the Lord, use it, provide. God will provide for you because without faith you cannot please God. When you have genuine faith you will abound in good works that are revealed by love. One of the things that I've discovered so have you in being generous or giving to somebody. I'm trusting the Lord. I'm trusting the Lord. I'm handing somebody something that was important for me and my family but I know my God will provide and I trust that he does and so when I give as I do and when I have I do with that attitude. I give like that. My God is able to supply all my need and a long time ago I learned that Paul didn't say God can supply all your greed. He said he supplies all your need and and he has and I learned a long time ago that I can live on less than I am living on almost at all times when my kids were small I wanted to teach them to be givers and so you'll see how small they were when we began this because we still had baby baby food jars and I would give them my older kids because Anna would have been just an infant at that time but I would give them an allowance and I gave them dimes because you could count the dimes and I had two jars two baby food jars I put them one next to the other and I said this jar here is yours this jar here is for Jesus that's how I did it with my kids as from the time they were very small and could see that you could buy things with coins and stuff and that's what I did and I said and I put 10 dimes in front of them because I wanted to do a basic thing it was easier to go with you know dimes so I put dimes there and I said this is where you begin and I took nine dimes and I did this every week and they did the same thing every week I took the nine dimes and I dropped it in their jar then I would take the dime one and I would put the last dime in the baby food jar I say and this one's for Jesus and they they would say no daddy that's not enough for him you need to give him more I say well you know one dimes no you need to give him more they they wanted to be generous to the Lord even as little kids no eventually they knew how much that dime was worth they'd say yeah that's good for him but when they were younger there was something inside of them that would respond visually and I learned and I taught my kids this lesson I can live just as well on nine dimes as I can on 10 that's what I taught my kids from the time they were small I can live just as well on nine dimes as I can with 10 and I said you need to learn that God will provide you need to learn that that was my job to model that and to teach that to my children because God comes first in our family right God comes first you first give yourself to God and then you said and you gave yourself to us and you trusted us to take that money that you gave so we could give to those in need you have faith you're abounding in it exercise trust the Lord and remember without faith you can't please him and it's an act of faith he's telling the Corinthians when you give because that which is visible you're giving to the one who is invisible it's one of the most tangible elements of your faith and be aware that when you have genuine faith you are going to be generous then finally he says I speak not by commandment I'm testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others forcing you to give reveals a lack of love on your part so why would I do that a willingness to remain cold to need reveals a lack of understanding of the love of God so I'm not going to force you to do that you see genuine Christian love isn't coerced it's generated from love and faith generosity springs from a heart touched by Jesus and God weighs the motives of the heart not the forced giving of guilt but an act of faith and finally he says in verse nine for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich he was God but he emptied himself and took upon himself human flesh he chose a life of the poor he revealed the depth of self-surrender and he gave everything for you and his point is will you not respond in kind to him his sacrifice and our response to it is what provokes us to be generous to others many years ago somebody sang this song it's an old song we don't sing it here but the words have remained with me he left the splendor of heaven knowing that his destiny was a lonely hill called Golgotha where he laid down his life for me if that isn't love and that's the way it is guys he left heaven and he died on a tree for me so why would these Corinthians support the Jewish believers because you you give in faith and you give out of love they're in need you meet the need you can be poor yourself but your faith has made you rich and don't forget Jesus gave up everything for you that's the point he's that's the point he's making you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ though he was rich yet for your sins he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich no not walking around with the money just falling out of your pockets but rich and spiritual blessings in the presence of God rich in the things that you can't buy at a store rich in joy rich in peace rich in the grace of God and rich in his love and you have been saved and because you've been saved you want others to be saved and because you're cared for you want others to be cared for that's what changes societies the love of Christ that reaches to those in need and helps them


out. What I want to introduce now is our next speaker and I think the speaker will be a real treat. This gentleman started his career early career at Oracle, worked at Salesforce, worked at Zynga and has consistently been focused at looking at data. In fact I joke with him that he made data cool before data was cool as it is today. So we're talking about one of the original thinkers around that. And now he's at the small company, you may have heard him Facebook. May have heard of him? May have heard that company? Little f, you see every now and then. And not always at that company but he's gonna tell you the story about how he came to Facebook. A lot of people might assume well they started with analytics. That was their first hire, right? Mark got some money and the first person he hired was let's get some analytics because that's just obvious. Well I think you'll hear the stories a little different but most importantly he is gonna share insight about not just how to do analytics but how to make an impact with analytics. So we can move to the next slide I'd like to introduce on the stage Ken Rudin, head of analytics at Facebook. Please welcome Jack. Hi good morning I'm Ken Rudin and I run the analytics organization at Facebook and we've had quite a long journey over the last several years of figuring out how to do analytics. We've always had lots of data but there was a period of time when we didn't exactly know how to use it well to really drive impact in the company. And over the last three or four years we've really focused on building a culture around that. And we've thought long and hard about how we approach data at Facebook and I've talked to a lot of people in the industry and my conclusion is that there are a lot of commonly held beliefs, myths if you will, that I think really need to be challenged. And I'd like to go through four of those today. The first myth is myth that if you want to build a big data system you have to use data to do. That is way too narrow of a perspective. The second one is that big data provides better answers. It's not always true. Third one is that data science is a science. If you only focus on the science you're going to fail. And the last one is that actual insights is why we're all here. Actual insights is the goal for big data analytics or any analytics for that matter. And that's just plain wrong. So let me start with the first one which is that there's this belief that big data is synonymous with Hadoop. And there are a lot of companies who are implementing Hadoop right now and many of them are thinking about turning off some of their relational systems once they've done that. The problem with this way of thinking is that Hadoop is a technology and big data is not about technology. Big data is really about business needs. It's about the need to have deeper analysis using a lot more data. It's about the need to do different types of analyses using algorithms and approaches where SQL may not be the best approach. And it's about the need to have faster iteration without being constrained by a fixed schema. And when you think about big data from the perspective of business needs instead of technology, then it opens up the possibility of using a much broader range of technologies. So the reality is that big data should include Hadoop. And it should include relational. And it should include in-memory systems. And it should include anything else that is the right task for whatever job you're trying to focus on. At Facebook we're a young enough company that when we first built our data systems we started with Hadoop. But over time we started realizing that Hadoop is not always the best solution to whatever it is we're trying to focus on. We were using it incorrectly in many ways and there were much better tools out there for specific parts of what we were doing. And it turns out that using the wrong tool was pretty painful. So whereas most companies are taking relational right now and then are adding Hadoop onto it to do big data, we're in the position where we started with Hadoop and now we're extending it with relational to do big data better. So the question then comes up as to, well, when do you use these different technologies? And I'll just look at two of them here, which is how we use Hadoop and how we use relational and where they fit. And the thing that we've noticed is that, and the thing that we focus on is there's really different uses for each. And when we look at the types of analyses that we do with each, we use Hadoop to do exploratory analysis to look through massive amounts of data to find out what are the metrics that really matter for us. And we do that because we need Hadoop's ability to go through mountains and mountains of data to find the gems within it that are really important to the business. But once we figure out what those metrics are, we move that data into a relational system because it's easier for us to use that to do ad hoc analysis and to slice the data by multiple different dimensions and to do historical analysis. If we look at the granularity of data, there's also a big difference there. We use Hadoop to store massive amounts of data at our lowest level of granularity because for now, Hadoop is the only system we've been able to find that can store the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of petabytes that we've got. But most of the analysis we do isn't on all of the data. It's going to be on some aggregated, some summarized portion of that data. And so we'll take that data and we put that into a relational system, again, because it's just much easier to do the analysis in that environment. And then the last thing when we look at the time frames of the data that we have in each of these systems, most of our data come streaming in directly into our Hadoop system. So we tend to use that system for if we want to do things like monitoring, hourly monitoring of what's going on with the user population. We'll do that in Hadoop because that's where the data is landing first. But it does get processed. It does get summarized. And when that happens, then we'll put that into a relational system. And that's where we tend to do our longer term trending analysis, again, because it's an easier tool for that kind of job. So the bottom line is figure out what technology is best for whatever task you're focused on. It may be Hadoop. It may be relational. It may be something else. So this brings me to my second myth here, which is that big data provides better answers. And that's why everybody's implementing big data in the first place. And it is true that big data will give you more answers and deeper insights on more data. But the problem is that's really not the focus in where the value comes from. Because coming up with brilliant answers to questions that no one cares about doesn't add any value. So you've got to figure out where does the value really come from. And as it turns out, it's fairly straightforward that often better answers comes from figuring out how to ask better questions in the first place. So that raises the issue of, well, how do you get to that? How do I figure out how to ask better questions? And there's three different approaches that we have found that work for us. One of them is focused on hiring the right people. Data science is something that has become very, very popular recently, and it's often associated with you need to hire people who have got PhDs in statistics. And that's what we used to do. But what we've learned along the way is that that's no longer sufficient.  They also have to have business savvy. Business savvy is quickly becoming one of the most critical skills for a data scientist to have. And unfortunately, it's also becoming one of the hardest to find. How do you figure out if a potential data scientist you're talking to has business savvy? Well, I think the easiest way to do it is when you're talking to them, when you're interviewing them, instead of presenting them the typical type of question, which is, I've got this data. How would you calculate this metric to see if they know how to do it, how the processes work for that? Start with, here's a business problem. What metrics do you think you'd want to look at to figure out what's going on here? And then once they give you that answer, then say, okay, next step is how would you calculate those metrics? So check to see if they've got the business savvy. To make sure that they can ask the right questions, that they can come up with the right hypotheses, and then they can use all that data to see if they can get the right answer. The second thing we focus on is training everyone, not just analysts in your company, but everyone they work with. The goal isn't to convert everyone in your company to an analyst. The goal is really to make sure that everyone has an understanding of how they can use data to do their job better, to have more impact in whatever role they have. And in my company, one thing we implemented about two years ago is this thing that we call data camp. And it's an intensive, immersive two-week program all day, effectively all night as well, where we immerse new hires into this program to learn about data. And it's not just for analysts. Engineers all go to data camp, and product managers, and people in marketing, and finance, and people in operations, they all go to this two-week data camp. And the result is that when everyone comes out, they have this common language about how to use data, and they all can understand how data helps whatever role they're in. And one thing that's interesting, if you look at the curriculum for data camp, only about 50 percent of it is really focused on how do you use the tools that we've got within Facebook to actually do your job and get answers. The other 50 percent of it is how do you frame questions in such a way that you can answer them with data? And how do you build a more data-driven type of team that you're working in? The third thing that we focus on is org structure. And this one turned out to be really important for us, and also took a few iterations before we got it right. You need to make sure that your analysts are in a structure where they understand what's going on in the business and are as close to it as possible so that they can ask the right questions. They know what questions they should be asking. There tend to be two traditional models for structuring analysts within a company. The first one that I've shown here is the centralized model, where you've got all the analysts in one organization rolling up into some analysts lead, and then they're working with different business organizations. The advantage of this model is that because everyone is centralized, it's a lot easier to come up with common standards and processes and definitions and so on so that you can have a nice structured analytical environment within your company. The downside of this is that because they are centralized, they are a bit disconnected from the business and the business needs. So what ends up happening is they tend to be really reactive as a business function within your company. And the role tends to be defined as they're responsible for responding to requests that come in from other areas of the company. A second pretty common model that you see is the decentralized model, where here you've got the analysts as part of the business organization itself, rolling up into the individual business leads. And the advantage of this model is now you've got really good alignment between the analysts and the people in the business that they're working with. And so what ends up happening here is they can be a lot more proactive now, because they understand the challenges, they understand the issues of whatever is going on in that business, so they can figure out what are the right questions we should be focusing on in the first place before they run off and start going through mountains of data trying to find answers that may be meaningless. The downside of this is because you have different organizations, they each tend to come up with their own set of standards and processes. And also you tend to find that each of them tries to somewhat redundantly solve the same set of problems, because it's their own group and they're not communicating well with the other organizations. So if the centralized doesn't work all that well and the decentralized doesn't work all that well, what do you do? And so the model that I really think is the right model is what we call the embedded model. Essentially it's a hybrid of both. Organizationally it's a centralized model where all of the analysts roll up into one analyst lead. But when you look at it physically, the analysts are sitting geographically sitting with the actual teams they work with. So they're embedded in sitting side by side with the people in the business organizations that they're working with. So you get the best of both worlds here because they are part of that organization sitting there physically with them in the mix of the conversations going on. They get a really good understanding of what's going on in the business and they get a really good understanding of what are the issues that we need to be addressing. But because they're also still physically part of an organizationally part of a centralized team, you get this consistency and this standardization. Because if you don't have some centralized organization it tends to be chaotic and it tends to be pretty hard to see across the company. So I'm pretty well convinced that this is the right place to start if you want to have an analytic organization that has a lot of impact in your company. And for a lot of companies this is also a great place to end if you want to figure out how to organize your analysts. A few companies may decide that they're going to modify this a little bit and as I was showing here what we've done here is we've taken the analysts and we've decentralized them again and they are now actually part of the business organization. And companies may decide that they want to do this in those scenarios where the business organizations themselves already have their own functions, they have their own engineering, they have their own marketing, they have their own product management. It would make sense over time to make sure that they have their own analytics function too. And this model can work pretty well as long as two things are true. First that you start with the embedded model so that you build up the common set of processes and standards and so on that you build a pretty strong data driven culture that's unified across the company. And then the second thing is that you still have somebody in the role of an analytics lead that all the analysts are dotted line rolling up to. And this person's purpose is to make sure that the analytic organizations all stay in line. They all stay aligned and that they all maintain a consistent data driven culture across the company. So this brings me to the third myth which is that data science is a science. It's actually a lot more than that. I talked a little bit before about the relationship between better answers and better questions. And if you look at the better answers part, let's focus on that for a second. Well that is a science. You've got to be fluent in some database languages and some programming languages. You've got to understand statistics really well. You've got to master a whole bunch of technical tools. So that really is a science. But if you look at the part on better questions and you think back on the things we were just talking about about how you get your organization structured around asking better questions, well that really becomes much more of an art. So the reality is data science is a science and an art. And the trick is how do you balance those? How do you figure out when to use science and when to use art. And the way to do that finding the right balance here is what I refer to as balancing hippos and groundhogs. And the hippo scenario is a scenario where you've got two little science going on. The hippo scenario is when you're in a meeting and you've got, you're trying to make a decision and you've got the person who is the most senior person in the room pounding their fists on the table saying their opinion about what to do is right because they have the most experience and they've been at the company the longest. This is a scenario where people aren't using data. They're instead going on opinions and going on gut instinct. And I call this the hippo scenario because hippo stands for the highest paid person's opinion. So that's one way you can do it. The other way to do it or the other scenario is the groundhog scenario. And this is a scenario where you're using too much science. And I call this the groundhog scenario after the movie Groundhog Day. And I don't know if you guys have seen it. It's a classic movie. But in that movie, the lead character is named Phil and for some unknown reason he ends up reliving the same day over and over and over again. Every morning when he wakes up, everything is reset exactly to the way it was the day before and he relives that same day again. Well in the movie he's really interested in this woman Rita. And so he decides that he's going to ask her out in the morning and then they're going to go out on a date that night and they do. And it goes horribly and she ends up slapping him at the end of the day. But he realizes that wait a minute, I get to live this day again. So maybe I can change my behavior a little bit and make her like me a little bit more. So he tries again the next day and it doesn't work and she slaps him again. Each day he wakes up again and he says I'm going to change my behavior a little bit more and try something slightly different to see if I can make her like me. And he tries again and again and again. And the outcome is always the same. It never works. So after countless attempts at this, he finally decides that you know what? I give up. I'm not going to try and be who I think she wants me to be. I'm going to just be myself. And of course that's when she falls for him and the spell is broken and he no longer has to relive the same day over and over again. Now I know I sound a little bit like a data analyst who's trying to give relationship advice. But I bring this up for a reason, which is that from an analyst's perspective what Phil is doing is using A-B testing to try and fix a relationship. And that's not going to work. He's using too much science and he's not using enough soul. He's not using enough art. So you can have too little science and too little use of data. You can also have too much data and use it and overly use data instead of taking a step back and thinking about what should you really be doing here? You have to find the right balance. Another way of thinking about this is that if you have a good idea, data is like sandpaper. If you have a good idea, data can help you refine it, but it doesn't help you create the idea in the first place. That's where an understanding of your business comes in. That's where an understanding of the industry comes in and where intuition and art comes in. So ultimately when you think about it, data can't help you take a bad idea and make it into a good one, but it definitely can help you take a good idea and make it great. So let me focus on the last of these myths here, which is that actual insights is why we do analytics in the first place. And that just isn't true. It's not going far enough. So I'll take a step back and look at where we come from over the last two decades or so. Started off with reporting where people wanted to know, tell me what's going on. Okay, great, we can use our systems. We can tell you what's happening so you're informed. Then people realize that that's not enough. I need more than that. I need to find out why it's happening because if I understand what's happening, I can do a lot more about it. Okay, good, we paused there for a bit. And then people said, that's not good enough either. What I really need to know, the ultimate goal is, I don't want to just know why something happened, but I want to know what I should do about it. And that's where we are as an industry today, the actionable insights. And as I mentioned, that's still not far enough because an actionable insight that nobody actually acts on adds no value. You have to take it the last mile and you have to focus on making sure that people actually act on your insight and that it drives some impact. So before I go any further, I need to define what I mean by impact. And something with impact fits into one or more of these buckets usually. The first one is that I need to be able to move a metric, like driving user registration up by 5%. Or I need to be able to change a product, such as when we looked in our data and we realized that if I know Jonathan and you know Jonathan, I tend to know you. So then we can add a feature in the product that suggests people you may know within the product itself. Or it changes a process or a behavior like when you're using data to come up with a better process for forecasting revenue growth or forecasting user growth. So ultimately what this means is that you need to own the outcome. If nothing changes, you've made no impact. Our goal as analysts is to drive impact through data. Drive change through data. If nothing changes, you've added no value. Because if nothing changes, then it wouldn't have made a difference if you didn't even work at that company. And if it doesn't make a difference if you didn't even work at that company, how can you say you've added some value? You've got to go the last mile. You've got to evangelize what your insight is and make sure that it leads to a change in the business, that it leads to an impact. So ultimately, all of this, everything I've said is that we really just start to, we need to start thinking about big data differently. We need to start thinking about big data from the perspective of business needs, not just the technologies that people are using. We need to start focusing on asking the right questions and not just getting more and more answers from more and more data. We need to focus on how do we balance the science and the art of data science? And we need to make sure that at the end of the day, we're taking that last step. We're making sure that somebody is doing something with our insight and that it's driving a real impact. And the people who do this really well are driving huge change in their companies. They're driving a ton of impact in their companies. They're also helping to redefine the role of data and analysis in multiple industries. And as an analyst, that's an incredibly exciting role to have. So thank you very much. Is that for me? Oh no, there's plenty more for you. Well, thank you. A big round of applause for Ken. You know, that call to action that this isn't just about the data. It's not just about the analytics. It is about making a difference. It is about driving the impact. And I hope what you heard from Nate and Ken gives you a sense of the levers that you have in this room, the opportunities you have to really make a difference, not just within your organization, not just within IT or the data science group, but across the organization. It inspired me and I think it sets the stage for the journey that we're going to be going on. So with that, a couple key points. So you can start your journey today like yesterday, fully packed with a couple changes. Number one, apparently there was overwhelmingly huge demand for lunch. So I guess lunch is a good thing. And we've decided to put lunch in two places. So both in the place it was, in the Marina Ballroom, on the other side of the hotel yesterday, and also out in the foyer behind here. So for those of you that are into arbitrage and would like two lunches, go for it. But we want to make sure you're fed. We want to make sure that you seamlessly and painlessly get that lunch right away. The other point is that because of what I'm about to share with you, we want to grant you some more sleep. So we're going to start tomorrow. And I know this will really upset a lot of you. 30 minutes later. I know I know how upsetting that is. I know how great this is. But we will start at 9 o'clock. So push that alarm back. Oh, a round of applause for starting later. 9 30. Should we do 9 30? No, we'll do 9 o'clock tomorrow. So 9 o'clock to start tomorrow. Once just like yesterday, because it's so important, please take that extra moment. Give us that feedback in those sessions. We read that stuff. We act on it. Tell us what we're doing well. Tell us what we can do better. It makes a difference. Everyone counts. And you're going to win something or have a chance to win something. And the last thing is and I'm holding in here in my hand here, a very rare substance, very rare, only based in Boston. And it is known as. And I'm going to share two words with you. Breakfast beer, breakfast beer. And this is clearly symbolic of this evening. We have had a history. You have incredible celebration evenings. And that's what's going to happen tonight. It's going to be held in the Waterfront Pavilion. I'm going to get this right. That's to your left, my right. So to your left, just down the hallways, a large tent area right outside. It's an enclosed area. And that's where the celebration will be. And the theme of it is Boston. So you will have, maybe it's not breakfast beer. Call it what you want, but you'll have a lot of this. You will have cannolis, lobster, and everything else that makes Boston just an incredible town. That'll start at seven o'clock. It'll rock and roll to nine o'clock. And it's a great time, obviously, to network. But maybe more importantly, celebrate and have a great time. So with that, off you go to your journey in Big Data today. Thank you for being a great audience. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.