Good morning, everybody. Welcome. We're delighted to have you here. I mean, neither earthquakes nor hurricanes nor floods nor locusts will keep away this trusty defense community away. And we're delighted to have you here. Thank you for coming and braving yet another rainy morning in Washington. I don't know about you. I'm starting to go webs between my toes. This is getting a little over much. But we're delighted to have you here and look forward to this morning with you. I'm very pleased that you can join us for this fall season to kick off the military strategy forum. I want to especially say thanks to our good friends at Rolls Royce that make it possible for us to offer this to the policy community in Washington. We're very grateful for that. Thank you, Steve. This is a new thing for us, and I'm really quite pleased that we have this opportunity to introduce a leading member of Congress to be a keynoter on the military strategy forum. In the past, we've largely taken senior leaders from within the Defense Department, but in this case, we reached out to talk to one of the key emerging figures in the security debate in the Congress, and that's Congressman Adam Smith.  But I think it's an enormously important topic to kick off this discussion, the military strategy forum, this fall. As we're on the front end of what is probably going to be one of the most momentous debates that we've had, certainly in the last 15, 20 years, on where are we heading with the Defense Program for America? What is it that we are going to organize ourselves to do over the next 20 years? That's the question that's now on the table. It's coming at the same week that the so-called Committee of 12 is meeting, and yesterday one of the members said, well, if there's one penny that comes out of defense, I'm walking out. Well, that's a kind of a hollow threat, since if you walk out and the thing collapses, the defense gets cut $650 billion. And it's kind of a, okay, I appreciate your views, but we've got a bigger problem here. We've got to figure out what we're going to do. And it isn't, it's got to be more than just a discussion of numbers. You know, the numbers are important. The strategy has to be relevant to the resources that you have. But you also have to have a vision. You have to know what it is that you think you have to do. And that has to be the starting point of any serious debate on defense policy going forward, especially now. Well, I'm pleased to tell you that I started having this conversation with Congressman Smith over nine months ago, when he sought me out to say, I want to talk with you about what America's going to be doing in its security policy trajectory. And he rightly said, I think we ought to start by looking at Asia. I said, I think that's absolutely right. I think that is certainly the center of gravity for the international system is and has and is continually to shift to Asia. And yet we don't have a policy consensus that really guides us authoritatively on Asia. The way we did for 40 years on Europe, you know, we just don't have that now. And we're needing that. And for him to a year ago start thinking about this question is illustrative of why he's now such an important leader in the Congress for all of us. We need members of Congress that are willing to look beyond that's on fire in the inbox every morning and look out into the future to say, what do we need to do as a nation? Where are we going? And he started this. I'm not sure when he started it, but I know I first interacted with him nine months ago, and we are now going to be the recipients of the culmination of his thinking over this period. And I can't tell you how grateful I am. He's selected this opportunity to share it with us and how pleased I am that all of you can come and to listen to it. So let me not delay. Let's turn to Congressman Smith. Please welcome him, and then we will have an interesting discussion with him. Thank you. It's a great honor to be here, and I want to thank CSIS in general and John Hamery in particular for their help to me. There are a lot of people in this town with a lot of knowledge about national security matters. I've I've joked with a couple of you before the speech that it's a member of Congress's fate to always be asked to speak to a group of people about a topic where they know much more about it than he does. We're the policymakers, but there are a lot of people who spend a lot of time focusing on these issues. And it's incredibly important for us to have access to those people and their ideas. And John has been incredibly generous, not just with his time, but with introducing me to a wide range of folks who have a wide range of experiences in Asia, expertise that has been very helpful to me, hopefully not just for the purposes of the speech, but also for the purposes of my position as the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee. So thank you very much. I will also have to point this out. I'm from the Seattle area where whenever you say that, well, doesn't it rain a lot there? Um, it's in the mid eighties without a cloud in the sky and will be that way throughout the weekend in the Seattle area and assuming Dulles Airport stays above the waterline. I plan to be back there this evening. We'll we'll see how that works. Well, thank you. It's a great honor to be able to talk about this topic and I look forward to our further discussion. Asia is incredibly important to our interests as we all know. But whenever you're thinking about Department of Defense policy at this point, you have to look at sort of three big issues that are going to frame absolutely everything we do. And John alluded to a couple of them. Number one, obviously is the budget deficit. The DoD right now is trying to figure out how much money they're going to have going forward. And there's really sort of two parts to that problem. One is it's hard to plan when you don't know like within $100 billion, what your yearly budget is likely to be next year. So trying to figure that out is difficult. But then also the the crushing reality that given the size of our deficit and the sluggishness of our economy, whatever that number ultimately turns out to be, it's going to be less than we would like it to be and certainly less than we had planned on it. Everything that's going on at the Department of Defense right now is against that backdrop, the deficit debt crisis and the impact that it's going to have on them. At the same time, even if there wasn't that deficit debt crisis, there is a major upheaval within our defense policy, trying to figure out, given all of the changes that have happened in the last 15 years, what should our strategy be going forward? For a very, very long time, the Department of Defense was built on the notion of we have to be prepared to simultaneously fight two major regional contingencies, as they call them, I guess that's another word for wars, in probably Europe and Asia, we have to build our military to fight those major major fights. Well, ever since the Soviet Union collapsed, that's kind of changed, but slowly. At the same time, you've seen incredible transformation technologically. And of course, we've now come to face the threats of irregular warfare. I met with a group earlier this week that was talking about hybrid warfare and what that means and how the DoD responds to it. And then of course, in the midst of that, we've fought two real wars in Iraq and Afghanistan still have over 100,000 troops deployed there. They're going to be coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan in some sort of timeframe over the course of the next few years. What should the new strategy be? How do we put that together? And then against that one specific aspect of that, and that is the rise of the, I'm sorry, I get the A2, the area denial access, anti-access area denial. I knew I was going to mess up that part. And what that basically means is relatively small players going all of a sudden inflict a great deal of pain on a large power. And what does that mean in terms of how you change your strategy? If the development of ballistic missiles gets to the point where they can threaten us relatively easy, cyber attacks can threaten us relatively easily, IEDs, small cheap things can hit us. How does that affect our ability to project power? So those three things are hanging over everything that the Department of Defense is doing. But Asia is incredibly important to where we're headed. It is the number one biggest growing economic power in the world between China and India, South Korea, smaller countries in terms of economies like Vietnam, obviously Singapore is a major power, the Philippines is growing. This is an area where we want to be actively involved. It is incredibly important to our policy. And put simply, our policy needs to be to maintain a strong presence in Asia. We want the countries in Asia to believe that the United States is going to stay there and be an active participant in regional affairs. We need to do that. Now that's easy to say. The tough part, what I've been developing over the course of the last few weeks is, is what does that mean? How do you remain present in Asia? And how do you balance a bunch of different interests there? And at the top of the lists of the difficulty of balancing, obviously is China. I've felt for some time that going forward next 50, 60 years, nothing will be more important to global stability, peace and prosperity than the relationship between China and the United States. And that's easy to say and that's somewhat obvious. But then what do you mean? What are the policies that are going to make that relationship more positive instead of less? And in that regard, China presents some very significant challenges. Now, I'll start with the good news. And this is sort of where my initial orientation was when I first got to Congress. By and large, I believe that all people can get along. I'm a very reasonable person. And I look at interests and say, well, we can balance those and figure out a way to make it work. I'm a huge believer in, well, in family and personal life and everything, keep the peace shouldn't be that hard, and everybody benefits from it. And when you look at China, you can certainly see things that we have in common. China has one overarching goal. They've got 1.4 billion people to feed. And they recognize that that is a restless population that they have to take care of. And to do that, they have to grow and succeed economically. And they can't grow and succeed economically if they engage in conflicts with the region. So therefore, there's an incredibly huge incentive for them to get along, not just with us, but with everybody in the region to keep the peace and not push forward things that are going to create conflict in any way. And you can look at that and go, okay, we're good. We've sort of, you know, we've got mutually assured economic destruction, if you will, and we will find a way to get along. But unfortunately, as someone pointed out to me during the course of this discussion, you know, there was another time in our history when a group of nations had, you know, apparently intertwined economic interests that would make it absolutely insane for them ever to go into conflict. And that was right before World War One. So bottom line is things happen. There are different interests and certainly China has an interest in the South China Sea. They have an obvious concern about Taiwan. They have a whole bunch of interests there that could lead us to make mistakes and miscalculations on both sides that could lead to conflict. So it's not as simple as saying China's economy is inexorably intertwined with ours. So therefore, we have nothing to worry about, and we have a peaceful future to look forward to. And then, of course, there are internal dynamics in China, which are difficult. While China is rising and prospering, they have many, many challenges. One of the biggest of which is 1.4 billion people, many of whom are still living in poverty, and a great many of whom are starting to get restless as they see significant portions of the country begin to prosper. They want a part of that. And if they don't have it, they're going to have a hard time supporting the regime. They have huge environmental concerns. The one child policy is now leading to a coming population challenge. So there are reasons for unrest. And of course, as every nation that I've ever been aware of, nationalism is one of the ways that you try to control unrest. You make people believe in the country, believe in a greater China, or in the case of the United States, and the greatness and the exceptionalism of the United States. Whatever it is, you try to convince the people about the importance of nationalism. And that can bring unity. But when you're talking about nationalism, as China is in terms of the one China policy, various countries, it can lead the country and the people to feel like, yes, you're right, we do have to be a greater power, and that can lead to bad policy decisions. So there is cause for concern. We have to try and balance that. And the other big thing that we have to try and balance, and this was my greatest challenge in trying to figure out how to put this, is when you say that the United States needs to be present in Asia, you have to balance two very conflicting ideas there. One is, in being present with Asia, we want to work with China. We want China to succeed. And that has to be a very important point that we emphasize over and over again. It is in our best interests for China to be successful. We don't want a great deal of instability there that leads them to have to look to nationalism in order to unite the country. We want them to be prosperous. At the same time, the other thing that being present in Asia means is all of the other countries in Asia. And we have a lot of friends in that region. And one of the biggest reasons that people want us there is as an effective counterbalance to China. So that China will not think that it can throw its weight around, whether you're talking about the South China Sea in terms of some of the conflicts with Vietnam or with Taiwan or with Japan, so that they will see a counterbalancing power. But how do you present yourself as a counterbalancing power and a friend? How do you look at the buildup of the Chinese military and say, okay, well, we have to respond to it. You know, if they're building this, we have to build that. Pretty soon, you're stepping down the road of an arms race, which doesn't lead to friendship. How do you balance that? How do you send that message to China? We're your friend. We think everything's going to be okay, but be very, very careful because if you go too far, we're also there to protect the interests of the other nations in the region. You really have to try and strike that balance. Well, the first thing that I think that we should do and try and strike that balance, I like to put it, is get the easy things right. In other words, the basic diplomacy, the basic relationship building, and I think of this in my own political career, as someone once said to me that, you know, this job would be great if we never had to vote.   And that's tough and someone's going to be upset about it. So that part you do your best with. But before all of that, as a politician, if you're building a relationship, they're very easy things to do. Listen to people. Respond to their concerns. Get out there. Make sure that they see that you're representing them.  You know, don't push them away even if you disagree with them. That's just, you know, basic diplomacy. And we can do that in a number of different areas in Asia with a number of different partners. There are an enormous number of countries in Asia that we have a positive relationship with and we can continue to build on that. I think one of the most important things, obviously, is economics. And one of the core of economics is trade. Passing the Korea Free Trade Agreement is enormously important, not just to our relationship with Korea, but to everything we're talking about today in terms of maintaining that belief in Asia that America will be a factor, that they will be a presence there. It is already taken longer than it should. I've come to describing the Korean ambassador as the most patient man in the world. But it looks like we may get there. And then after that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is being talked about and there are other opportunities. Once upon a time we were negotiating a free trade agreement with Thailand that fell apart. There are a lot of different countries there that we can improve our trading relationship, build a better business relationship, and build stronger ties. I also think that immigration is an underrated and important policy. To the extent that we have people from Asian countries coming into the U.S. in my own district, I have enormous populations of just about every country in the world, it seems, but certainly in Asia. Koreans, Vietnamese, all across there, that connection between two countries helps give you more reasons to get along and not be in conflict. And our immigration policy right now, frankly, isn't very open, is not open as it used to be. Even the simple matter of getting a short-term work visa has become very difficult. And then also on the diplomatic side, being present goes the other way as well. It is enormously important to Asian countries that the top leaders of the United States spend time there. President, Secretary of State, leading members of Congress that we go there and once again remind them that this region is very, very important to us. And I think that policy will help. Shifting over the DOD side, I think the mill-to-mill relationships that we have with a lot of countries are very important. The presence of U.S. troops in Asia right now is an incredibly positive force in terms of continuing to drive home that point that the U.S. will be a factor in the region. Certainly our largest presences in Korea, Japan and Guam are important, but even smaller mill-to-mill relationships, I was speaking with the Philippine Ambassador before earlier this morning, I did a trip to the Philippines a few years back to visit some of our special operations forces who are over there doing training operations to help deal with the terrorism problem in the Philippines. We have small presences like that in a lot of different places, mill-to-mill relationships with Thailand. So we can build on those relationships to go forward. I also feel that India is a critical, critical piece of this, building up a stronger relationship with India, because there are many things in Asia that are hard and difficult. I think of North Korea. One of the things I was thinking about when I was giving the speeches, but you've got to say something about North Korea if you're talking about Asia. But I don't have any easy answer to that one. We definitely are dealing with a country that is unpredictable, unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. If anyone here has an easy answer for how we deal with that, please don't keep it to yourself. We need to have that conversation. We need to work to negotiate going forward to try to make sure that we can contain it. But the more friends we have in the region, the more important it is. Overall, what this is all about is I believe it does lead us to greater stability. It leads China to see us as that counter balancing presence. And more importantly, all of the other nations that are dealing with China can have some confidence that they have somebody else to work with. And that helps China go down the legal road of resolving whatever disputes they may have, not thinking that they are big enough and strong enough and nobody is there to stop them so they may as well just bowl over. Because keep in mind it's a relatively new thing for China to be such a growing power. And when you're trying to figure out how to throw your weight around, you can occasionally make mistakes. It's good to have the U.S. there with a very positive relationship with all of the nations in that region. I should also mention that Australia and New Zealand are two very, very important partners in the region that we need to continue to work with. And if we do that, I think we can move towards the direction that all of these conflicts that you're very familiar with can be resolved in a peaceful way instead of us having to wonder how far China is going to push it and whether or not we're going to go forward. And of course, one of the big conflicts in dealing with that is in dealing with Taiwan. I think it is very, very important that again, we build relationships going forward. And I think very positive things have happened. The last time I was in Asia was actually in 2002 and there was considerable concern about that time about how Taiwan and China were going to get along. And I think both nations have made very positive steps. The economic trade relationship between the two has improved dramatically. When I was there, you couldn't even fly directly from mainland China to Taiwan. We had to go through Hong Kong and then now they have flights. They are building that relationship. And that's the key. Do not force the issue on trying to resolve what Taiwan's long-term future is and how it's going to relate to China. Build up the ties. Make the connections so that it's more likely that that is resolved peacefully. And I believe that to be in China's best interest and in Taiwan's best interest. And I think they're moving in that direction. The United States needs to facilitate that. But we can't walk away from Taiwan. It's an incredibly important relationship. And we need to make sure that everyone in the region knows that it's an important relationship.  When we're trying to be present in Asia, I'll close with two broad areas of points. The first thing is, as I've said at the outset and as everyone here understands, Asia is incredibly important to our policy going forward. And to be present in Asia is not inexpensive. Those troops that I just mentioned cost a fair amount of money. Having an aircraft carrier battle group located over there costs a fair amount of money. Paying attention to that region does cost money. So we're going to have to make choices. And that's what I would really emphasize is to make those choices there, we have to make other choices in another place. And I'll explain what I mean by that. Everyone when they're trying to set priorities, I think does it wrong. When they're trying to set priorities, they talk about what their top priorities are. And there's usually a long list of them. But if you're going to set priorities, it is even more important to decide what you're not going to do. Where you're going to save money so that you can actually support your top priorities. And that has implications both in the broader budget debate and then also within DOD. As everyone knows, we have been very cent-com focused for understandable reasons in Iraq and Afghanistan. And we're going to have to make some shifts in that. And look around the world and say our mill to mill relationships in Asia are more important than mill to mill relationships in some other places. Therefore, we're going to need to emphasize that. But then on the broader budget question, this brings us back to the senator's comments that John referenced earlier. If we're going to deal with our budget deficit without crushing defense and all other non-entitlement spending, then we're going to have to address the other two big pots in play here. Revenue and entitlement spending. And as long as Congress in this country continues to insist that we can't touch entitlement spending and we can't raise revenue, then guess what? That 38% of the budget, which over half of which is defense, is the last thing standing. That's what happened in the debt ceiling agreement that came down. The non-entitlement portion of the budget got devastated. Now, we appointed this super committee that's supposed to fix that. We didn't have a lot of luck in July. I'm not sure how things are going to change between now and Thanksgiving, but they need to. And in order to get there, in order to make sure that we're not forced to make horrible choices in the Department of Defense, and by the way there's other non-entitlement spending that I care about as well, infrastructure, education to name just a couple investments and innovation. If that stuff's not going to get devastated, we're going to have to step up to the plate on the entitlement side of the equation and on the revenue side of the equation. And we had a hearing yesterday with some former chairmen to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Representative Cooper and I made this point and both of us making this point, the Joint Chiefs demerred and said, hey, not our area. Okay, we're not interested in revenue and we're talking about defense. But the point is, if you don't build the political support to make those changes and that's the reason those changes haven't been made, 80% of the country doesn't want to touch entitlements, 70% of the country doesn't want to raise taxes. Don't imagine that it's just because Congress is quote unquote dysfunctional. It's because we have not built the political support to confront the challenges and choices that we have and not confronting those choices leaves defense and all other non-entitlement spending as the last person in line at a buffet that's running out of food. So if you care about those issues, if you care about defense, you've got to start caring about those other things that are going to help us get the deficit under control. And lastly is what the DOD strategy should be. Assuming that we win that first argument and we don't wind up getting cut by $100 billion a year and having to make what are now unimaginable choices, we're still going to have to make some choices about how to confront this problem. And there is a great deal of concern about that area denial anti-access, the way around anti-access aerial denial problem over at the Pentagon. And I picked up a little pamphlet the other day, the Air Sea Battle idea, which is supposed to confront this issue. And I was optimistic because it was entitled Air Sea Battle, which led me to believe that there was a thing called Air Sea Battle and there was in fact a plan based on that. Turns out not to be the case, actually. What the pamphlet said was it's a big, huge problem that countries like Iran and China are developing missile technology that can threaten our forward operating bases and can threaten aircraft carrier battle groups. That it is an enormous problem and we really have to try to figure out something to do about it. Then you turn the page and it goes the end. I'm like, you're supposed to tell us. What? The point is, we don't know for sure. But this is a major, major strategic question and I would suggest just one basic parameter in dealing with it. And this gets back to the issue of how do we treat China like a friend that we want to succeed and then try to convince every other nation in the region that we are going to be a countervailing force to them. How do you strike that balance? One way to go on this is to say, well, if they're building up missile technology, if they're building up technology that's going to threaten our forces, then we've got to ramp it up. We have got to get to the point where we can credibly go to China and say, look, if we go toe to toe with you over the course of a two, three, four, five year war, we're going to win and we're going to win because we've got you utterly and completely dominated. As you can tell by my tone, I don't think that's the best approach because that really pushes you into the Cold War arms race way of looking at things and makes all the other stuff that I've talked about earlier that much more difficult because then you're in a military competition. I always remember the bumper sticker that when I first met my future wife, I saw her parents at the bumper sticker and said, you cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war, Einstein. And I looked at it and said, yes, you can. And it's true, you can. But it's a very, very delicate and difficult thing to do. And if we look at it from the standpoint of, oh, my goodness, China's building an aircraft carrier. Therefore, we have to build all this stuff. Or China's building this missile technology. Therefore, we have to come up with some way to completely defeat it. We're going to get into an arms race. The number one, I don't think ultimately we can get to the point. I mean, weaponry has simply advanced to a level that makes it difficult to be guaranteed that you're going to stop another power from being able to inflict pain on you. But what we can do is we are not going to have what we had before, which was basically completely unchecked access. Back in 1996, when there was a problem in the Taiwan Strait, we sent two aircraft carrier battle groups in there. Wasn't anything China could do about it.  We just sent them in and it was understood. Now we're worried about what can happen to that. What happens if they decide that they are going to attack us? And it wouldn't be a wise choice, but sometimes people don't make wise choices in situations. But the one thing that we can make absolutely clear with our military is no matter what happens, if they step over a line and if they actually do that kind of an attack, we need to make sure that our military is strong enough and it's clear that we're strong enough to inflict a significant amount of pain in return. Not necessarily defeat them over a long, long period of time, but that we will have the weaponry to defend ourselves and also to make the cost of such action way, way too high. And the good news about that is that's relatively easy. We do have that capability in that technology. So when we're looking at those weapons systems, I don't think we should try to get in an arms race. We should try to be strong enough to defend our interests and the interests of other nations in the region. And I think we can make that work. This is an incredibly important region of the world. It's the number one most important thing is to make sure our policy makers understand that. Whether you're talking about trade, diplomacy, immigration, I also neglected to mention development, which I think is critically important. One of the things that has really improved our standing in that part of the world is our response to natural disasters, whether it's the tsunami and earthquake in Japan, the tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand, the earthquakes in Pakistan, our ability to respond and be helpful has been noticed all across. I think it's the only time, for instance, that our public opinion in Pakistan of the United States actually went up was when we were helping during the course of the earthquakes. So that's an important part of it as well. We can do all of that, but I think we also have to be aware that this is a complex set of issues. I have not even begun to scratch the surface of all the issues that come into play when you're trying to figure out how to make sure that we have the right policy in Asia. But number one, understand how important it is to our interests. These are some of the biggest economies in the world, certainly the fastest growing economies in the world, and what our presence has meant simply is stability. Not just for us, by the way. It's, we're underappreciated, as is often the case, for the fact that that stability that we've brought, the fact that not just the United States can go through the critical shipping lanes in the Strait of Balak and the Strait of Hormuz, but that everybody can, because of the stability that we help bring to the region, is a very, very positive thing. We can't walk away from that, and if we're not gonna walk away from that, we're gonna have to make some hard budget choices to make sure that we're in an economic position to not walk away from that. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you, and I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Congressman Smith, thank you. Very thoughtful, very comprehensive discussion, and so many of the questions that I was anticipating, you frankly answered in your speech, but let me just kick it off, and colleagues, I want all of you to feel free to ask questions. We'll have people that'll walk around with microphones, just give me a signal. I'm just simply gonna cue them. I'm kind of an early bird. Okay, I've got first one registered, and so we'll take it from there. Let me, but let me just ask the first question, if I may, one of the, you didn't say anything about nuclear weapons, which I think is right. Unfortunately, this is a theater that we never turned into a dangerous nuclear theater. We in the Russians kind of collectively went crazy and built up massive inventories that we're now trying to get rid of. China always had a fairly reasonable and measured view of the role of nuclear weapons, but you have a feeling the whole world is kind of very uneasy now, and of course with North Korea in this posture. Obviously, we don't want to concede that North Korea is a nuclear power, but we keep slipping year to year with it having nuclear weapons. Do you, I don't have a, I'm not driving to a point, I'm trying to ask, how do you think about this? What do you, how should this be featured in our thinking in Asia? I, it's very difficult. I mean, the short answer is, you know, non-proliferation is a good policy. It's recent for that. You don't want any more countries to have nuclear weapons as absolutely necessary because it leads to no end of dangerous situations. Now, you know, we've managed to stop some, you know, pretty strong economies like Japan and South Korea, for instance, from going down that route because we were their guarantor of their protection. Now, you know, you don't want to be explicit about these things, and that's one of the problems with the lines that I had in my head that I didn't use in my speech was when we're talking about, you know, how do you balance with China? How do you make sure you're strong enough to stand up to them?  Is it, you know, strategic ambiguity is an important part of our policy.  In fact, that was the joke I came up with earlier this week was, you know, I'm going to say that because of how complex it is with China, strategic ambiguity is, you know, the single most important point we need to play in order to maintain that, I'm going to say nothing. And I look forward to not answering your questions. But where nuclear is concerned, I think it is a huge concern. Now the obvious answer to this is we have to do something to contain North Korea's nuclear weapons. And that's great, but as I mentioned earlier, I have yet to see what can do that. I mean, what could do that is if China decided, I mean, if China decided tomorrow, number one most important thing, North Korea cannot move this forward, they have the leverage points to do that, but they have a different calculation and haven't made that decision. So absent that, I think we have to continue to work with our partners and our allies in the region to make sure that they know that we are a guarantor of their safety. And if we don't, and that's again, gets back to the whole we have to be present, and in little things matter, you know, if we don't pass the Korea Free Trade Agreement, if we were to come out with some new defense policy that says we're going to cut in half the number of troops that we have in Asia, if there's any sort of sign out there that we're backing away, then one of the consequences is, you know, some of the countries in the region who feel threatened by North Korea or to a lesser extent by China, may we look at the nuclear question and we could walk our way back into an arms race. So making sure that we guarantee the safety of the region is one way to stop proliferation. Thank you. Our first question is right here in the back up. We have microphones behind you. Please stand up, identify who you are and questions only.  Okay, thank you. This is Lalit Jha from Press Trust of India. Can you give us a sense of what kind of relationship you'd like to have with India and where is India placed in a scheme of things? I think India is enormously important and I'd like to have a better, you know, more positive relationship. I think we have a positive relationship. I don't think we do as much with India as we should. Diplomatically, mill to mill in a variety of different ways. I think there are enormous opportunities for us to build a stronger relationship with India. Now, India has not been as active a regional power as China. They haven't been regional global at this point. I mean, China is everywhere, Latin America, Africa. You know, India, while they've grown significantly economically, they've kept it more internal. I still think they're going to be a major, incredibly important player. You know, largest democracy in the world. You know, we have a lot in common and I think we need to work hard to build that relationship. There's been hiccups through the years. Certainly the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan, you know, has given pause on occasion but we have so much in common, so many opportunities to work together. I think we need to really focus more on India. Look for ways. You know, I thought, you know, the nuclear agreement that we reached, there was a whole lot of criticism of that. Lost in that was the importance of what I just said about the relationship with India. This was a positive way to work with them to show some progress, you know, and I don't think we handle that as well as we should. I think we have to do a better job of building up a stronger relationship with India. They're going to be an incredibly powerful regional and global player for a long time to come. Okay, my first question, the Philippine ambassador back here and then I'll come down to you, ma'am. Then I go to Ernie, then I go back to you in the blue shirt and then I'll come down here. Q and people up here. We have a microphone coming right here, sir. Thank you, Mr. Congerson, for that very enlightening speech that you gave us. In the recent US-China strategic dialogue, China made it clear that they would like the US to be out of the, not to be involved in any of these discussions on the disputes in the South China Sea, but the Asian countries like Philippines, Vietnam, would like the US to continue to be involved to play a countervailing force to ensure the peace stability of the region and to ensure freedom of navigation. But can the US still maintain its friendly relations with China and still ignore the demands of China, not to be involved in these discussions? The Chinese want the countries to negotiate on a bilateral basis, Philippines, Vietnam. We don't think we can negotiate on a bilateral. We want the multilateral negotiations with China. Obviously, we can't negotiate between China and Philippines or China and Vietnam. It's like a David and Goliath type of negotiation. So how do you- Of course, David did wind up winning that particular tussle. I'm sorry? I said David did wind up winning that particular tussle. Yeah. But I take your point. So I was wondering, how can the US in fact play that countervailing force when China saying, do not get involved in the South China issues? Well, having a positive relationship with another country or another person for that matter doesn't mean that you always do what they want. And I think we need to make it clear that free access to the South China Sea is a global issue. It is not something that's simply left up to the countries that are in that region. And therefore, the United States has a legitimate role to play in participating in those discussions. And I think we need to make that clear. And if we want to say, look, if you want to find a peaceful way to work this out that respects the rights of the nations around you, like Vietnam and the Philippines, great. But if there's a conflict here, it's a conflict that we have a responsibility and a right to be involved in. And so I don't think we should back away from that particular concern. As I said, with China, there's going to be some things we agree on, some things we disagree on. That's natural. Right down here in the front, red dress, please. Microphone's coming. Please identify yourself. Thank you, sir, for the enlightening speech. I have a question. My name is Nadia Chow from Liberty Time, Taiwan. I think it's obviously that even though the US has committed to the Taiwan Relations Act, but it's so obvious that the armed cells to Taiwan become such challenging issues with the rising of China. And we saw that in the past few years, that recently, especially like the F-16 CD cells, it's become such a controversial burden, even a burden for the administration to make a decision. I wonder that whether the rising of China current arms sales policy can continue? And if not, can US still maintain credible deterrence in Taiwan Strait to keep the balance? Thank you. Thank you. That's one of the things that I studied in the lead-up to this speech and did not address, because there is no easy answer to that question. And I don't have the exact right way to balance this. We certainly have to have a credible threat to make sure that China does not feel like they can take military action against Taiwan. Military action is Taiwan. It's something we have to try to prevent. There's a variety of different ways to prevent it. As I said earlier, I think the Taiwanese government has done a great job of building stronger ties and closer relationships with China in a way that can resolve their differences peacefully. But there has to be some sort of credible threat against that. I think we've done a limited amount of arms sales to Taiwan. I think it's important that we continue to do that. On the specific questions of the F-16s, my personal position is I think that's a sale we should make. Now, there are others who disagree with that, others who go in different directions. And yes, China will not be happy about it, but I think it continues to keep us in that strategic ambiguity, that balanced point between those very difficult positions. I think it's the right thing to do, but it is going to be difficult going forward. And again, I will simply say, greater integration in other ways and making sure that China knows how important stability in that region is to them and how any hostile action towards Taiwan would just completely destroy that stability and jeopardize the Chinese economy and jeopardize their ability to continue to provide for their people. I think that's the most important point to make. Ernie Bauer? Thank you very much. I'm Ernie Bauer with CSIS. I run the Southeast Asia program here. And first of all, Congressman, I wanted to say I think our friends and partners in Asia would be much assured if other members of Congress could like you talk like that without notes. I was pretty amazing speech. Thank you very much for that. I wanted to ask you about trade policy. You've been very active on trade and a leader on the Hill. I wondered what you heard last night from the president. And I noted that our friends in the East Asia summit, which President Obama will attend for the first time this November in Indonesia, have been in town. It's an outstanding thing to do, by the way. That's really part of showing the commitment. They've been in town asking for us to talk about economics and trade to balance the security and political agenda in the EAS. And I wondered if you thought about that and what your views are. Thank you. Well, first of all, I thought it was very encouraging that the president included trade in his speech last night. As any member of the Democratic Party will tell you, that's no easy thing to do because it's a very controversial issue within our party. So in his big economic speech, the fact that he specifically said we need to pass these trade agreements, I think is a positive step in the right direction. And I think there's just so many opportunities in Asia, certainly the Korea Free Trade Agreement. But I think the Trans-Pacific Partnership is an enormous opportunity. Now, it's a big challenge. I mean, there's a whole lot of countries that want to get involved. How do you actually make it happen? It's going to be difficult. But if we could do that, if we could sort of get out of this, the FDAs are fine, but the one off, one country, another country. If you bring in seven, eight countries, then you're starting to get to real scale and scope and make progress. I think it's a great opportunity. The remaining challenge here, and I'm not gonna, I spend a lot of time talking about trade policy.  But we have made considerable progress in our trade policy, and yet we still have a country that is deeply distrustful of it. I think what has happened is as global competition has increased and made it more difficult for America that was once the completely dominant economy. My trade speech always starts off by pointing out that in 1948, I believe the correct statistic is we were responsible for 90% of the world's manufacturing. I mean, when you're in that dominant position, it's all good. I mean, there's just no end to things you can do. Now, I like to point out to people that if you look at that and go, well, that's when we had the right policy. No, that's because World War II, something of a historical accident, we wound up sort of the last man standing. All the other industrial powers were reduced to rubble. And we enjoyed that advantage. And then global competition kept up. First Europe, then Japan, South Korea, Taiwan. So it became more difficult, but that's not because of trade policy. That's because of global competition. But unfortunately, the challenges and the very real challenges, and from a union family, blue collar father, and I understand those things, they've been lumped on to trade. That's what's made it so difficult. Even something as obvious as the career free trade agreement becomes very difficult to accomplish. We have to somehow, some way, convince the American people that the global economy has to be dealt with in a variety of different ways, but it is not the fault of trade agreements that we face that competition. If we could do that, if we could get that greater political support, there is an endless array of opportunities in Asia for us to improve our trade relationships. And keep in mind, these people are not standing still. And they are throughout Asia, they're cutting trade agreements with each other, cutting trade agreements with Europe, they're cutting trade agreements with Latin America. We are losing that sort of initial advantage that we always used to have because we're not engaging. So I think we need to do that. I was pleased to hear what the president said. Okay, third table back, blue shirt, blue stripe tie. Stand up so we can give you the microphone. I'm sorry I don't know you, and that's why I had to describe you. That's fine. My name's Anthony Smith. I'm the political counselor at the New Zealand Embassy. And congressman, thank you for your remarks this morning. I want to ask a question that's very similar to Ernie's, or perhaps tackling this from a slightly different angle. Your presentation has been very much focused on elements of hard power in the Asia Pacific. And I'd like to ask you about multilateralism more broadly, institutions like ASEAN Regional Forum, EAS. First of all, how important do you think those things are? And secondly, what sort of deliverables do you think the United States should be seeking from those sorts of organizations? Well first of all, I didn't want to say that I believe soft power is very important. And I did talk a lot about, I believe trade, diplomacy, all of that, development assistance is a variety of different ways to be helpful in the region. Yes, I think multilateral organizations are incredibly important. One of the biggest reasons they're important is you need to maintain the idea that the United States is a Pacific Asian power. Now, we're a little ways away geographically, but there is no question that we have a direct interest and a direct tie to what goes on in Asia. And the degree to which we participate in multilateral groups over there, that drives home that point, that keeps us present. As far as what can be accomplished by these groups, I think we should have fairly large ambitions that these are the places where we should resolve issues like the South China Sea, like the drilling rights if there's discoveries in different places in the ocean and it's not clear which boundary side it's on. Like North Korea, I really think we should look at those multilateral institutions as a place to resolve those differences and inaggressively push them as being very important. Down here, George Middleton. Right over here. Sure, thank you for an excellent presentation and also thank you for everything you've done for special operations. I know for Admiral Olson and General Brown. In June, Dr. Hamery moderated a panel at their annual session and it had the former chief of staff of the Air Force, General Fogelman, David Chu, and Sean O'Keefe. And one of their biggest concerns, they said when we've had these drawdowns in the past, there's been a floor out there. We can say, okay, there's been a floor of requirements. It was global war with the Soviets, we had to be able to do that. Then we went to bottom-up review and base case and they're concerned, correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Hamery, they said, there's no floor out there. You've talked about strategy, I guess the secretary Gates had said that there was supposed to be a strategy that was gonna be delivered this fall. Now I understand it's gonna be delayed until next year. Without that strategy, without knowing the floor is going to be out there, how are you all going to reconcile priorities or effects that need to be achieved? Yeah, there's an outstanding point and that was one of the sort of, what I led with in terms of all DOD policy has those three issues and one of them is exactly that. What is the strategy going forward? I think there's a fairly widespread agreement that we need a new one. There's not a widespread agreement on exactly what that looks like and what the choices are contained. Now the president has put in place a major strategic review that Secretary Panetta is focusing on, that our entire national security apparatus is focusing on and we're going, it's not quite zero based budgeting but it's going back to first principles and saying what should our requirements be? Because one of the things that I've learned about the way the Pentagon and the military industrial complex works is the requirements are the key. And once you toss that snowball at the top of the hill it creates no end to problems and we have all these requirements built in. The most impressive chart that I've ever seen in my life was the Pentagon budget planning chart that they showed me. You know, I was like, hey, really? Wow. And the scary thing about it is every single one of those little bubbles and little words, they work along that. That's what they do. And once those requirements get put in place, you know, you wind up funding them. I mean, the expeditionary fighting field calls a great example of it. You know, why did we so stubbornly go down a road that seemed problematic, shall we say? Well, because it was in the requirements. You know, we have to have this and if we don't have this there's gonna be some member of Congress who's gonna stand up and say, you're making our, you're threatening our national security because you're not meeting our requirements. And there they are. What do they mean?  But they're in that chart and we're not meeting them. So we have to go back to first principles and figure out what those requirements are. Now, the easiest way to think about it is the great strength of America is the projection of power. That is what we've done since World War II. Now, there's a debate. I think, I can't remember the guy's name but someone wrote an article in the Atlantic six months a year ago basically saying the projection of power has been a complete waste of time and hasn't done anything for us and it's cost us an enormous amount of money. I think he's wrong about that and I think he's demonstratively wrong about that. I mean, just a couple of examples. You know, where would the Middle East be if we couldn't, you know, if we hadn't been able to stop Saddam Hussein at Kuwait. There's also like to point out if it wasn't for the American projection of power right now we wouldn't have a problem with North Korea. We'd have a problem with Korea. So there have been in thousands of other ways we have guaranteed stability in a more prosperous world because of that projection of power. But if you start ramping the budget down, are you able to continue to do the forward bases? Are you able to have the carrier battle groups? And then at the same time, you have the other side of that and that is the counter terrorism effort. The direct effort to confront al-Qaeda and other forms of militant Islamists and that's where I've done a lot of it. We've really ramped up our capabilities there. But what are the requirements? Do we need, you know, how many ever different types of, sorry, I can't think of them, predators. This might bring my staff. I have to have these occasional quotes come up. You know, do we need all those different platforms? We don't have that set of requirements. What we have, well, it's not true. Right now we have requirements that add up to about at least twice as much of the money that we're gonna actually have. So we need to reset the requirements and my hope is that we will do that strategically in keeping with the group here instead of, you know, just sort of, well, we can only fund half of them. This one got here first, so we'll fund that one. We can cut this one more easily because of some obscure legend. I'd like to see it be done strategically but it's not gonna be done strategically if we stand up and say, you know what, we've looked at it, we have to do everything. We can't, we gotta make choices. Okay, I've gotta make choices. Unfortunately, we've got five minutes left. I've already had three people. I can't take any more requests. I'm gonna take this and you're all gonna ask your question first and then I'm gonna let the congressman pick if he wants to answer it or ignore you, start with you. Short questions, please. And I'll give a quicker answer there, sorry about that. John Zan with CTI TV of Taiwan. This is a follow up to an earlier question. Are you and your colleagues being consulted on the F-16 CD sales to Taiwan? Is it still on the table or off the table already? How would the US Congress react? Should the administration decide not to sell the F-16 sales, it would cost US anything. You may make a few bucks, you know. We got the question. Okay, let me get right back here. Second question's right, the second table back. Didn't you have one? Yeah, right you, yep. Okay, you get to answer that question, they just called a vote. So I'm sorry, I apologize. Really? Yeah, so I'm sorry, we just had a roll call vote, so. Okay, there's been some consultation with Congress, we do not know what the administration's gonna do. If the administration knows what it's gonna do, they have not yet told us. If they were to decide not to make the sale, there would be some kind of protest from Congress. You've already had a number of members of Congress, Mr. Berman, couple senators who have written letters expressing support for the sale, so if it didn't happen, you would have a little bit of a kerfluffle, if you will, in Congress. What we could do about it, I don't know. But I think they would be concerned. I'm sorry to have to cut short. He's got to vote, let's thank him with his applause as he's walking out the door. Thank you very much.


What's up, everyone? It's your girl, Kenzie here from Layton Sports Guards, and I'm ripping a personal for James G. We've got a 2022 Panini Prison Football hobby box. All right, James, good luck. Here we go. See what we get. All right, Mack Jones. Orange Romeo Dobbs. Nice one there for the Packers, 134-249. Woolen and Carson Strong rookie. Again, y'all, if there's nothing in queue after this box, I'm going to call it a day. Otherwise, get your order in here in the next minute or two. Got Silver, Isaiah Likely, Ravens. Hyper to 175, Zach Thomas, Dolphins. Jake Ferguson and Xamir White. Silver, Jalen Hertz, Flashback. Got Blue-Wave to 199, Fred Warner. There's like a print line through that. A sign and Romeo Dobbs rookie. Awesome. Yeah, I'll get back to you within a couple of days, I think. Emergent rookie, Trayvon Walker. Purple Ice to 225, Tyree Kil. Is that Forrest? Calvin Austin III, Jack Jones. Of course it's got here, so. Got Orange, Wes Welker. 195 out of 249. Brock Purdy rookie and Jamison Williams rookie. I should, somewhere, six. I scroll back far enough. I'm sure. Prison break, Silver, Drake London. Red-Wave, Jonathan Greener to 149. David Bell, Chaquan Brisker. Drake Off. We've got Brilliant, Blue Ice to 99, Matt Stafford. Purple, Calvin Austin III, Steelers, 96 of 125. Alante Taylor, Malcolm Rodriguez. Yeah, for sure. I gotta find a box that fits that helmet. Forgot there's a box that fits those like exact. Marriota, Max Crosby. Blue-Wave is Michael Vick for the Falcons. Three of 199. Drake London, Iguanwu. Silver, Devin White's first auto. Bucks is gonna be a Leonard Fournette on the Silver Auto. Leonard Fournette. Oh, excuse me, six. Spiller and Logan Hall. Fancy six. I guess that's not high enough for you. What's that? How's it going? You're good. DuVernay, Brilliant's here. Donald, Purple, Ice to 225. Justin Herbert, Troy Anderson and Pacheco. Color the Brady Auto. Oh, yeah, I gotta show you. Six, pulled this out of a, what's it called, hip parade, repack, de-hop. Next one, yeah. The 35, Adrian Peterson on the Purple Power. That's a cool, nice color match there with the Vikings. It's AP. Lloyd and Tolver, he said he saw it on Instagram Six. It's been killing those boxes lately. Last pack here for you, James. Got Silver, Fireworks with Joe Mixon. Orange, Warren Sat for the Bucks, 120 of 249. Mathis and Ty Chandler. Alrighty, James, that will do for your box. Thanks again for your order. We'll get it right out to you.


Amen. So keep your place in Ephesians chapter four. So we're continuing our good habit series And we're gonna talk this evening and for the next two sermons in this series We're gonna start talking about spiritual habits. We're not gonna, you know, we talked about some some physical Habits, you know things that you actually do Which of course can be spiritual But we're gonna talk about more things that are just spiritual in nature and this evening We're gonna talk about church attendance and the habit of church attendance So I mean just thinking about good spiritual habits, you know Just think about this as we head into these next few sermons Do you think you have good spiritual habits in your life? You know, we're gonna look at church attendance this evening But we're also gonna look at two to three other areas in your spiritual life and just kind of do a Test and see where you think you are and how maybe we could approve in some of those areas, but look We'll look at that and then see how we measure up to what the Bible says basically, okay? Now look the kicker behind Spiritual things is this all right, and I don't know maybe some of you have noticed This with me but turn to Ephesians chapter four. You're there already and look at verse number 17 The thing about spiritual things is that they cannot be forced You cannot force Spirituality on somebody okay, I can't force Spirituality on you. I can't you know Threaten you to become more spiritual all right? I can't you know hold anything over your head or whatever to get you to become more spiritual why? Well, first of all, it wouldn't be right second of all It wouldn't work it wouldn't work So look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 17 as we're thinking about Spiritual things and we're going to talk specifically about one this evening look at verse 17 where it says this I I say Therefore and testify in the Lord that he henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them Because of the blindness of their heart now that's I mean there's quite a lot right there in those two Verses I mean but I mean just one thing that I like to point out if you look at just the connecting words the connecting Phrase in between verse 17 and verse 18. There's some irony in this verse It's not the point of the sermon, but there's some irony that basically saying these Gentiles were walking So we have this cultural shift in the in Christianity at this point, right? So Jesus is ascended to heaven and now you know these churches are forming and the Gentiles are being brought in They're having the gospel preached to them and you know Paul is talking here about the Gentiles coming in He's like hey don't walk out of the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their own mind So they're walking in you know this prideful You know the vanity of their own mind what they think is right and all this But the irony is is verse 18 having their understanding darkened So they're walking in their lives with you know this this vain mind that's self-focused and they have no Understanding because there's no you know there's no God there right so I mean But the point I'm trying to make is if we look at the end of verse 18 having their understanding darkened So they're they're foolish. They're not seeing the truth They're not understanding things being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them So the you know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge Amen the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge so these people don't have that and they're alienated from the life Of God through the ignorance that is in them because of what? Because of the blindness of their heart so they were ignorant of the life of God That's the first problem these Gentiles, okay, and then because why because their heart was blind Their heart was hard towards the Lord Okay, and then you know why if then you can kind of trace it back again to verse 17 and it's because of their walk It's because of how they were living their lives. They were not living for the Lord They were living in vanity. Okay, they were living outside of the Lord so with these things in mind You know spiritual things Spiritual habits or lack thereof what I'm trying to get you to understand before we get started here It's a problem with your heart. It's a problem with the condition of your heart You say well, I'm not you know this unbeliever But you look you could still have a heart problem that could still cause you spiritual Issues in your life. So turn to Hebrews chapter 10. So that's why look That's why it can't be forced because it's a problem that exists in your own heart and Somebody look what do we know about the gospel? I mean why did God make it by belief alone because that's all yours Your belief is all yours. It's a hundred percent yours. I can't force you to believe anything. Look I can persuade you I Can do my best to persuade you using some pretty wise and knowledgeable counsel But I can't force you to believe anything in the same way. I can't force you to be spiritual I can't force you as we're going to talk about tonight to want to come to church that can't be forced So look at Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse number 24 very very famous verses here talking about church attendance and Fellowship of believers in Hebrews chapter 10 look at verse 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking The assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is as the manner of everyone is now by the way But exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Hey, let me just say this when you're going out soul-winning. Are you running into anybody that's going to church anymore? No Nobody's going to church No, I mean, how do you think? Well, you know good churches bad churches. We know most of them are not good But here's the thing. How do you think that this is going to go? For most people I mean most people didn't want to be in church in the first place. Otherwise, they would have found a church to go To okay, but look this is talking about not forsaking the assembly This is talking about going to church in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 to provoke one another to exhort one another You know, here's the thing about church. I don't want to pressure you to come to church Like I have zero desire to pressure Anybody to come to church look if if if you're somebody who really doesn't come to church that much or sometimes you're in church and then you're out of church and You know because we have people like this You know, maybe you're once a month twice a month three times a month depends on the month Look, I'm not going to hunt you down. I Have zero desire to do that. Why? You say why I mean, I'm not going to be calling you Hey, you know trying to convince you to come back to church and all this kind of stuff Look, I love you.  I want you to fix that so you can get to church on your own So you can come to church on your own. So let me ask you this evening Just think about this in your minds and I'm going to ask one of the kids a question tonight So the kids better pay attention. Okay, because I'm going to ask and I have not I've not Talked to any of the kids before so I'm taking a risk here because I don't know what they're going to say But here let me ask you everyone in this room tonight. Do you like coming to church and if not if not why? If not, why? So let's do a thought experiment. We're going to look at the kids this evening. Let's do a thought experiment now Look, I'm going to go out on a limb here. Okay, and I'm going to say I'm going to speak for most of the kids here because I think that most of the kids like coming here That's what I think. Okay. Now. I'm going to ask. I'm going to ask Josiah right now All right, I'm going to ask Josiah Josiah and you just I haven't just I have I talked to you before the church service about this Have I talked to you about?  Have I told you that I'm going to ask you a question Before church or well during this or okay. All right. I'm sorry. I'm confusing you All right, Josiah on a scale of one to ten Are you listening on a scale of one to ten with one being I can't stand church This guy's lame. I can't stand listening to this guy It's boring. I just woke up. I'm sleeping most of the time. Okay, that's one Ten is I love church. It's fun. I love coming here fives like yeah, it's kind of okay So on that scale Josiah, what would you say is your number as far as church? ten, okay I'm like this could go really bad Okay, so look but I can tell I didn't even have to ask Josiah because I can tell okay I can tell that the kids in this church like coming to church You know how I can tell because I'm sitting there and I'm watching the security cameras And I'm going over my sermons before you know evening church and before morning church And I can tell what every family's here because their kids are blasting through the door Like two minutes before their parents even come through the door on every family So I can tell that the kids like coming here look and first of all that makes me very happy because it makes me feel like we are Doing something correct Okay, but I want to explain What this means for us? Okay, because look It's not all just playtime here.  They're sitting in over two and a half hours of church services I mean it's not all just playtime. I Mean look to most people that's extreme To most people outside of our circle. I mean that's extreme, but here's the thing they love it They love it. Why? Why look here's my testimony. I hated church growing up I went to a Lutheran church growing up and I couldn't stand it The church service because it was long it was boring and look whenever we got to stay home for whatever reason from church We were like yes, but look the service itself. I still remember it. It was like torture It was like torture to and I mean if you would have talked about to me as a kid that yeah We're going to go to church for two and a half hours on a Sunday. I'd have run away from home. I Mean I'd have just been like this is enough. I can't do it, but here's the thing. So what's different here? What's different here? Here's the difference folks. Here's what's happening turn to Ephesians chapter 6 Turn to Ephesians chapter 6 what's happening here and the reason it's not like that here. It's a beautiful thing Let's take a look at it Look at Ephesians chapter 6 in verse number 4 probably a verse that you know well but look Look at the look at Ephesians 6 4 and you fathers provoke not your children to wrath But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord now Look, these kids are being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Look, that's a beautiful thing You say what does that have to do with the fact that you know, they love church will just stay with me Look no matter how thing how crazy things get out here. No matter how crazy things get out there I told some of the guys it's quite possible that 2021 could get even stupider than 2020 at this point I mean, but look it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, you know We discussed these things but at the end of the day these kids are being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord turn to Romans chapter 2 and look at admonition means counsel Admonition means instruction They're being brought up in the instruction of the Lord and you see for the kids turn to Romans 2 14 for the kids So we see they're they're being brought up in the nurture and admonition in that instruction of the Lord But here's the difference the kids love it here because their Consciousness the law written in their heart is undefiled It's it's not been messed with It's it's it's pure look at Romans chapter 2 and look at verse number 14 The Bible here talks about that law written in everybody's heart. Remember everybody gets this Everybody starts with this you say it's not fair. Well, everybody starts in their life with the conscience written in their heart What they do with it at that point is is a different story look at Romans 2 14 for when the Gentiles Which have not the law they did not have the oracles of God They did not have the Bible that was the advantage that the Jew had remember what advantage have the Jew Because he had the Bible That's the advantage, but the Gentiles which they have not the law. They didn't have the Bible Do by nature the things contained in the law so it says they didn't they didn't have the Bible But they would still do things they still knew that murder was wrong. They still knew that it was wrong to steal Wow How there's no there's nobody told them. There's no Bible. They didn't have the oracles of God. They weren't Jews They are a lot these having not the law or a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile Accusing or else excusing one another so God wrote the law in everybody's heart is what he's telling us here And look he's saying about the actions of the Gentiles. You can see it. You can see evidence of it in the same manner Also these kids love church because as they grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord It matches their conscience you see That key fits perfectly into the undefiled conscience of their heart of that Undefiled law in their heart look to the kids have the knowledge of the law No, they don't have the knowledge of everything, but they're going to grow in the nurture and instruction of the law Right and that key fits perfectly Because there's no there's nothing broken there There's nothing messed up there. The lock hasn't been smashed. It hasn't been you know Torched or anything and nothing's wrong with it. Look so it matches that that's why they like it here and It gives them confidence and it builds It nurtures them and it builds that conscience in it and it it solidifies it It's a beautiful thing. It gives them confidence. It gives them peace and what everybody's happy when they have peace But it's the opposite turn to Psalm 119 Remember what we talked about this morning. We talked about that shipwrecked conscience It's the opposite of that It's the opposite of a shipwrecked conscience. It's a it's a fortified hole We're fortifying the hull of their conscience if we're talking about a ship instead of shipwrecking the thing What turn to Psalm 119? Look at Psalm 19 one says the very first verse of this Massive longest chapter in the Bible talking about the love for the law. Look at verse one Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. That's what's happening That's why the kids like it here because they're because they're blessed Because they're being blessed because they're they're undefiled and what's happening here is matching their conscience It's building them up and they're walking in the law of the Lord and look it's just going to get better They're going to just love it more and more look it's where kids get where kids get messed up is where their consciences are defiled it's where you know through through you know God forbid abuse or wicked influence in their life or you know I mean just think about all the things that are out there like the fornication the drugs the alcohol Terrible sins that you know people could just drag kids and young adults into this is how I mean This is how you end up with you know imagine a teenager that would commit suicide Your whole life's in front of you It makes no logical sense But this is this is how it happens. It's what it's the opposite of what's happening here It's the opposite the world will take the world is it's almost does it almost seem like there's an agenda to defile the conscience of Children does it almost seem like because there is an agenda To defile the conscience. We're building it here. We're strengthening it here because when these young men and These young ladies go out and they leave their parents home and they get married and they go out into the world Guess what? They're on their own Well, hopefully they're still in a good church, but they're gonna have to withstand more than when they're being protected by their parents That nurture needs to turn into strength But look the world is trying to tear all that down constantly They're trying to break that conscience. They're trying to scar it. They're trying to mar it and look That's why you'll see with kids You'll see with kids that have a heavy outside influence in their life. Look Maybe the teenager that has a heavy outside influence in his life and then he gets saved and Then he gets in church It's a more difficult path You'll see that you'll see that I mean praise God that they got saved in no matter what point in their life But look, I mean the church thing and the spiritual life. It just may not stick Because there's been damage there. You see what I'm saying you could look you can damage it You can I mean that's why the Bible says it's been shipwrecked You can shipwreck that thing Try to fix try to fix a boat that's been shipwrecked Difficult it's a great analogy because it's difficult to fix It's the same reason on homeschooling by the way I know we're talking about church But one thing that I've asked for the last 10 or 15 years Whenever and I used to do this when I would go and visit other churches And we got a chance to meet other families and other and you know Most decent churches should have a heavy homeschooling if not all homeschooling because they should be preaching that type of thing But I would always ask homeschool kids, you know, hey, do you like being homeschooled and like a hundred percent they None of them would say I want to go to public school and the only time you will ever Hear that you will ever hear that a kid wants to go to public school Is if they were pulled out of public school and homeschooled when they're like a junior in high school Then they might be like yeah, I don't want to be homeschooled. I'd rather be in school But why is that it's because there's been damage there There's there's been shipwreck happened there So look, it's the same thing with with older kids. It's the same thing with church It just may not it just may not stick there because there's there's already damage that's happened. I Mean the conscience like folks the conscience itself is such I mean think about it. It's such a great gift It's not salvation, but the conscience everybody gets one You could have a conscience and end up not getting saved and go to hell But the conscience is that thing inside you everybody gets a life everybody gets a conscience and Some people with that find the Lord some people don't some people reject it, but look here's the thing It's such a miracle and it's such a beautiful thing that turn to 1st Timothy chapter 1 once it's damaged It's an extremely hard situation It's an extremely hard situation at that point.  They don't even know what they're talking about. I mean look look We're not talking about I mean of course. I'm a helicopter parent. I mean what? What it what does it even mean?  I mean look we're involved. I mean we're teaching these kids work We're teaching these kids etiquette. We're teaching these kids character and integrity and honesty. I mean all these things grace Mercy all these biblical concepts.   You're never gonna be around my family I'm sorry. That's pretty strong language, but I mean what are you trying to do to my kids? You're gonna tell my kids that they need to go out and experience drunkenness They need to go out and experience being a fornicator.   They're wanting to defile What is pure is what they're trying to do they're what it's the exact opposite of what you're trying to accomplish here It's the exact opposite of what's happening here and look once that thing is damaged. It's hard to fix folks It's hard to fix. I mean how many I mean you don't have you could read secular books that tell you people are pretty much set in Their ways once they're 25 or 30 years old It's like a shipwreck on the rocks You know but that look That's all the world is trying to do is pull these children into darkness By what they watch by what they see by what they hear by what they pull them into So yeah, helicopter parent just get out of here with that stuff It angers me just thinking about it. So that back to the whole point of the whole sermon that That's why they love it here That's why they love it here. So the question back at you. Why don't you? Maybe you do but why don't you if you don't and the reason is it's the same reason It's the exact end of sermon. Let's pray. No, I'm just kidding. But look, it's the same reason if you don't love spiritual things It's the same exact reason that we were just talking about. It's a hard issue through what you've done Through what you've seen Through what you've experienced Through what you're doing Through what you're watching Through what you're experiencing Through it's it's through the life that you're living you're damaging your heart and look you can do permanent damage Are you getting it? It's not just this hey, I can do this for a while. You can do permanent damage to yourself You can do permanent damage to yourself that will affect your future. I mean, hopefully you've not damaged it. I Mean for parents here the motivation should be sufficient to get this right I mean because we talked about you know the serious consequences this morning I mean you must keep yourself from sin. Look, I really look forward to Sundays. I look forward to Wednesdays I mean I look forward to all of it I'm not saying I don't have a bad day. Okay. I'm not gonna be some idealistic You know pretend like I'm a superhero But I mean the point is I look forward to Sundays here.  I mean most people look at my life From the outside if people are looking at my life from the outside. They're just saying to themselves.  I've never had more joy in my life But here's here's the thing. I don't think I have to do these things. I like doing these things and plus It's serving the Lord. That's a bonus That's a bonus. So With that in mind, you know how dangerous it would be for me If I just started getting into some other stuff If I just started, you know, maybe Watching TV shows Maybe I mean you say, what's the big deal? Maybe I started listening to all this just, you know, really Rock music and all that's really all that bad. I just started listening to different music I just started going places. Yeah, I just started enjoying the world a little bit It started to like loosening up my standards You know how dangerous that would be That would that would start I would look I would start, you know, maybe I'm having fun doing that stuff Maybe that stuff's fun But here's the thing I would stop enjoying these things Because the what do we talk about this morning? There's no gray There's no gray area You start moving in some direction You ever you ever heard this analogy that you're never really you never really just on cruise control in the Christian life That is so true You're never just holding steady in the Christian life You're either moving in the right direction or you're moving in the wrong direction and the reason for that is Is because there's no gray area Is because if you start moving in the wrong direction Eventually, you're just gonna be in the wrong place and if you start moving in the right direction Eventually, you're just gonna be in a great place And look there's no limit to the by the way There's no limit to the right direction you start moving in the right direction and getting your heart Right and doors are just gonna be open to you and open to you and open to you and open you And you'll do more for the Lord in your life than you ever thought you could imagine I'm not did I say you're gonna have a Mercedes and be a billionaire? No, I'm saying you would do You'll do more for the Lord that every you could have ever thought you could and that's a hundred percent true But you got to be moving in the right direction So you're never really just flat line in this thing. You can't really find a place I'm gonna put one foot over here, and I'm gonna put one foot here. You're moving in the wrong direction And you're gonna end up in the wrong place So look it's dangerous.  Are you even saved? What you know you miss church on Wednesday. I Don't know I'm doubting your salvation.  That's that's That's preschool stuff Because it doesn't fix the problem anyway It wouldn't fix the problem I can sit here and look I could get up Maybe I could maybe I could be that type of Preacher and I could get a church together and I could just scare you to death with your salvation every single Sunday Maybe I'm just lame and that's the only way that I could get people to stay here is I could do that Maybe that works, but look what a terrible church that would be I Mean those I mean a bunch of fearful people did just like you know or just timid and I might even saved I mean you ever these people are like been Baptist for like 15 20 years, and they're like I don't even know if I'm saved. It's like what in the world kind of church are you in? You know what in the world kind of church are you in I? Mean what has that pastor done to you? Where you know, you know am I even saved like well, I don't know if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're saved That's it Did you ever do that one time probably? So look that that's not what this is about. It's about look. It's a hard issue Turn to Proverbs chapter 28. You're like all right my my heart is hard My heart is hard. What do I do? Like I get it. I understand what the problem is we've identified it I have a hard heart or my heart is you know hardened and it's hardening and I'm just not enjoying these spiritual things anymore What do I do? What's the answer? Well, let's look at solving some problems here look at Proverbs chapter 28 Look at verse number 13 Look what the Bible says I mean the Bible shows us the the problem and it shows us the solution That's the beauty of the Bible look at verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper But who so confess it confesseth and forsake of them shall have mercy Happy is the man that feareth all way, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief I'm gonna give you two solutions and they're both right here. The first thing is this get right with God The first thing is get right with God you say I want to have I want to have turned to first John 1 9 You say I want to have a better heart. I want to enjoy coming here. I want to enjoy the spiritual things Well, let me just help you. Let me just help you. I don't want to threaten you. This isn't about look You don't like coming here. It's not about me and you It's about you and your relationship with the Lord. That's what it is. Okay, and look Look at first John 1 9 the Bible says this So it says he that covereth his sins shall not prosper But the opposite of that is this first John 1 9 if we confess our sins He that is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness look Do you let me ask you this do you confess your sins on a regular basis? Do you I mean look We should not let I mean there's a lot of false doctrine. I heard this this verse like maybe 80 million times In the Lutheran church all tied to salvation this verse is not tied to salvation This verse is talking about your relationship with the Lord with your heavenly father It's talking about being right with God. So let's not let these things remember the sermon series things that have nothing good Things that are have nothing to do with salvation. This is one of them Confessing your sins is a good thing.  You want to fix your heart start there Don't come in. What's the opposite of that? The opposite of that is covering your sins It's not admitting that you're sinning. Could you be saved and not admit that you're sinning How many people do you know right now that do that that are saved? I mean everybody knows that people like that the first thing you need to do is stop covering your sins and Then you'll receive mercy and look the opposite of this in Proverbs 28 is that you have a hard heart So you want to soften your heart confess your sins turn from your sins pretty simple the next one is this fear the Lord fear the Lord look folks fear is A decent motivator Fears a decent motivator realize realize that you will pay a price for hardening your heart against the Lord There's my threat But it's in the Bible look you will pay a price for hardening your heart against God So fear the Lord. I mean look you're you're not you're not offending me By not liking coming to church and not you know I mean I told my wife the other day maybe two weeks ago. It was interesting We had this conversation, but I said I think maybe the hardest thing about the ministry is Going to be as I look forward, you know, maybe years forward and how this is gonna go I said I think the hardest thing about the ministry. I told Heidi this I said I think the hardest thing is going to be You're like, what's that going to be the hardest thing is going to be watching people deal with the consequences of What they're doing and The consequences aren't coming from me The hardest thing about the ministry is going to be watching people suffer the consequences Watching people's families suffer the consequences. That's going to be something that I'm not really looking forward to watching My wife she gave me some hope though She said yeah, she's like but Most of those types of people because there is no gray remember most of those types of people will drop out So you won't have to watch and that's true Most of those people will drop out of church. Look at that. She didn't say that it's not going to happen The consequences are coming. It's just that they won't be here anymore for me to see it Because one of the first things or one of the things that happens along the way of that fall Will be that they stop coming to church and then at that point the slope of the hill will go like that Because there's no gray It's not gonna stay gray You may be traveling through the gray zone on the way down and you know you get out of church and you stop Doing spiritual things and then it's just You're gonna be in the wrong place But back to my point the fear of the Lord turned to Psalm 86 The fear of the Lord it should be a decent motivator, right? I mean Well, here's the thing here's here's some irony for you. Everybody's scared of everything now Can't you at least add the Lord to the list? I Mean, okay. All right.  Well, can you at least add them to the list? Can you at least add the Lord to to the list of things that you're afraid of? That's better than not fearing him at all and just being afraid of everything else Look at Psalm 86 in verse number 11. Teach me thy way. Oh Lord. I will walk in thy truth Unite my heart This is the prayer right here This is the prayer Unite my heart to fear thy name Like I'm just I'm not I'm not afraid of God. I'm not spiritual. I don't like coming to church. I'm in all this sin I don't know what to do.  So I fear you and then when you fear the Lord use that as a motivator to get you to do the right things People are so afraid of everything today. It makes me sick. I Mean makes me literally sick to my stomach to see how afraid Christians are of everything if you don't fear the Lord ask God to unite your heart to fear him and Look That's I mean this this isn't this this isn't on me So I can you know, I can just tell you these things. I can just cry aloud and Spare not and the rest is up to you You know, here's you know, here's another little testimonial for you And I'm sure many of you have gone through the same thing, but I remember I Remember so look to end the last point just the fear of the Lord should be something that's kicking you in The right direction. There is nothing wrong with that at all Because it's true if you don't fear the Lord, there's gonna be consequences if you don't do the right things There's gonna be consequences, but here's the thing on This issue of spiritual matters and especially the matter of coming to church I remember the first time that I found a hard preaching that I heard hard preaching Well on audio sermons or whatever I wasn't in a church that had hard preaching look I remember the first time that I heard hard Bible preaching I couldn't get enough of it.  It was talking about me It was talking about me and I guess maybe I was just honest enough with myself to be like Yeah, you know that is talking about me. I Found and started listening to hard Bible preaching before I even got saved and Then that's what led me to seek out the truth in my life and I ended up getting saved I mean look, so what's the next thing you think I did once I found this amazing thing? I mean here. I found this this vault full of diamonds.   You're gonna go tell your friends. You're gonna go see this listen to this look at this vault full of diamonds and Now my wife had the same reaction as me Of course you is already saved But I mean she thought it was great too, but here's the thing 90 some percent of all the people that I told about it. They're like me And I And I'm like what I Like what what in the world?  How could I how could I?  Of course you have the problem is the key in the heart He doesn't fit anymore. That's the problem The problem is that there can be damage. They're gonna be shipwrecked to the point where that perfect key No longer fits And I'm not saying that people are you know reprobate if they don't like hard preaching That's not what I'm saying But what I'm saying is is that experiences in our life the world, you know You know people getting defiled by things that they've seen things that they've done things that they've experienced It can make them not even interested in the truth anymore It can make them not even interested in the truth and even if they do get saved if they're if that key can just get in there Enough to to get the gospel and they can get saved there can still be enough damage there where they're just not gonna do anything beyond that And it's because there's been there's been shipwreck There's been shipwrecked there so look church attendance It's a good. It's a good pressure gauge for you It's a heart problem. It's all a heart Problem they didn't like hearing the truth from the Bible because their heart was wrong Their heart was in a bad place their heart was damaged. Hopefully not permanently But in those cases, you know, they just they didn't have that heart They didn't have that perfect pure conscience at that point. They didn't have that I mean the key doesn't fit anymore. So look church attendance for you. Do you like coming to church? It's a pressure gauge. How's your reading? How's your reading?  Right here because you're like, you know, I just I'm I used to like it.  I don't like it anymore well Find the problem the root causes your heart The root cause is your heart, you know, unless something happened to you in the church or something But you know, I mean, there's there's ways to get through that stuff, too But the point is that it's always it's in the beauty of it is it since it's a problem with your heart It should be something that you can fix It's something that you can fix So how's your how's your heart this morning or this evening? You know when it comes to at church attendance, just ask yourself that ask yourself that question because look these kids They're they're a great base case for us They're a great base case for us, you know, we know that their consciences are undefiled We know that they're pure and just look at how they react to this type of situation It's be it's a beautiful thing. So if we're not reacting to that We need to find that root cause and it's somewhere in here Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer


Well, February is here and if you're looking for things to do this month in the Bemidji area, look no further than the city's recreation department. City's calendar is filled with different events the whole family can enjoy. First up, a safe sitter class is starting next Tuesday at the Public Works Facility. You can register in person or at the Public Works Office online on their website. Participants must attend all four sessions during the month in order to be certified. It's geared towards our middle school age group so anyone from 11 to 14, they'll be learning skills on how to stay safe when they're home alone as well as how to be a good babysitter. So they'll be learning the Heimlich maneuver, some first aid skills, and some business skills as well. The city is also throwing two formals this month at the Sanford Center. The winter family formal will be Friday, February 16th, while the daddy daughter dance will be Saturday the 17th. You can register for both of those online or in person and just a reminder, registration for this year's Frozen Ox 5K is already underway. It's in place of the puller challenge that was part of Winterfest so we're doing something new. We're working with the Bemidji JC's and the Blue Ox Marathon to put this event on. It'll be really fun starting at Palm and Bay doing a 5K and it can be a run or a walk. It's kind of just at your own pace. The city will also be hosting a family night at Buena Vista Ski Resorts. We'll have details for all those events as well as the Shamrock Shuffle, which happens in March on our website at lptv.org. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.