Live from San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, it's theCUBE, covering QuickBooks Connect 2016. Sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks. Now here are your hosts, Jeff Frick and John Walls. Welcome back here on theCUBE as we continue our coverage here at QuickBooks Connect 2016. Live from San Jose, the convention center, 5,000 attendees the third year of this event, more than ever, and certainly that explosive growth is personified in what's happening here on this floor in the keynote station, of course, at home, if you're a small business owner, you know exactly what we're talking about. Along with Jeff Frick, I'm John Walls and we're joined now by one of the most popular authors, most widely read authors in America today, Malcolm Gladwell, five times New York Times best seller author, congratulations on that and the Virginia History Podcast, which we love, I love the Will Chamberlain podcast, big man can't shoot. Thanks for joining us, great to have you. I'm glad to be here. Yeah, so first off, I mean, tell us about, I mean, the whole spirit of this show is about the entrepreneurial capabilities of so many people in the workplace today. I mean, what's your thought about entrepreneurism, if you will, and what does it take to be a good outside the box thinker, like so many of these folks are? Yeah, well the, I mean the explosion and here we are in the middle of Silicon Valley and what this part of the country has done to change the culture of the entire, the world's economy in the last 20 years, 25 years is nothing short of incredible. I mean, entrepreneurship has gone from something that people thought of as the province of wackos and weirdos and strange people to a kind of thing that kids aspire to do and be. I mean, that's an amazing transformation. And I think when we, what's happened over the course of that transformation is we've discovered that the definition of what it takes to be good is a lot more, a lot broader than we thought. That many different kinds of people using many different kinds of strategies can be effective at starting businesses and achieving. That I think that's been the great kind of take home lesson of this entrepreneurial explosion of the last generation. You know, I think probably in all of your works that there are pieces of it that you could extract and apply to this world, but what really struck me, I think about David and Goliath, about advantages, disadvantages, and making the most of your strengths, basically.  You know, how am I going to cut through the clutter? How am I going to get there? All this sweat equity, but yet, there are advantages that they have. Yeah. Yeah, because, I mean, this talks about, this goes to this issue of learning strategies, that there's a kind of learning, what we call compensation learning, where you are learning because of, out of weakness, not out of strengths. You're learning from your failures and from your, and that kind of learning is a lot harder to do, but it's a lot more powerful. So the task of the small business owner who is facing a whole series of disadvantages and weaknesses relative to much larger competitors, there's no question, it's a harder way to go. But if you can pull it off, you'll end up in a much stronger position. If you can be one of those people who can do compensation learning. In that book, I talked, for example, about how many entrepreneurs are dyslexic. And that's a beautiful example of that. Some portion of people who suffer from quite a serious learning disorder, and not all of them, some portion of them, manage to turn that around into an advantage, to take something, to take a basic inability to read, and turn that into developing skills of delegation and leadership and problem solving and developing an incredible resilience, the ability to cope with failure. I mean, they turn a weakness into a strength, and they end up being far more powerful than they would be as a result. And when I interviewed all these successful dyslexic entrepreneurs for that book, what was amazing was that all of them said, I did not succeed despite my disability, I succeeded because of it, and that's the crux of it. And I think there is a silver lining to the too many of the clouds that small business owners face. Really powerful statement, because so often people are using drugs and medication and other things to kind of normalize people that are maybe not in the mean that are on their fringe. But in fact, it's their ability to put a different lens, see things differently, that opens up an opportunity that the regular person just trucking down the road didn't see right in front of them. That's what I meant when I said earlier, talking about how our kind of definition of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur is expanding, I think we're beginning to understand that lots of traits that we once thought of as just problematic have unexpected benefits. Like I remember once reading someone who was pointing out that basically most of the great research scientists in the world have OCD and you kind of have to have OCD if you want to be, because what are you doing? You're spending hours and hours in a lab doing the same incredibly precise experiment over and over and over again and measuring your results to the slightest, that's OCD behavior, that has found a beautiful home. It's found a world where you need to be that way. And I read that, it's like that's lovely. These are people who we drugged up and pushed off to the fringes two generations ago and now we've found a home for them in labs where they are doing incredibly productive and satisfying work. Yeah, I think you profiled one in one of the podcasts, a cancer researcher, he said nobody really likes the guy, he's kind of an ordinary guy, but he was just so laser focused on the very specific problem that he was trying to solve. He didn't really care, that's what he was all about. No, I think this has been a lovely development in our understanding of kind of human capacity. So where do the ideas come from, right? I mean, I'm one of the many, you know, fans and I've read and every time I read one of your books, it never ceases to amaze me how much you make me think. Yeah. Which is, I think why we're all so attracted to it because it seems so obvious, right? After you present this beautiful, elegant case, like I never thought of that. Where do those ideas come from? What motivates you to, I'm going to write blank, I'm going to do tipping point. I mean, I wish I had a system because right now I'm planning the next season of my podcast so I need 10 more ideas for that and I'm starting to write a new book so I need, you know, 80,000 words for that. And I'm wondering, I wish I had a big bucket full of ideas so I'm running around with my head cut off talking to people but I mean, I spent the summer, I probably read 40 books this summer to do with, I mean, apart from, I'm not talking about novels and thrillers and serious books that I'm trying to get and I've been going around talking to people, just talking to interesting people, trying to work out what I'm interested in and what, trying to just uncover interesting things that will prompt me to go in cool new directions. There is a kind of, you have to let your mind, you know, it's like the farmer lets his field go fallow for a while, you've got to have a fallow period where you just let everything regenerate and then you plant the crop again. Somehow reading 40 books doesn't sound like to me, you're letting your mind go fallow. I mean, that's- Well, I didn't have a, I was literally just lying around reading books, it seemed pretty fallow to me. What was your favorite one out of that read? Or the most enlightening one out of that read? They were all, I got on these weird sidetracks this summer. I became obsessed with Churchill's best friend. Churchill had a best friend who betrays him and this is an incredibly moving story and I don't know how it fits in what I want to do but I want to try and make it fit because it's such a kind of weird and troubling story about this, I mean, a truly transcendent figure in history who has a best friend who stabs him in the back with consequences for the world. Anyway, that's just, oh, so I read like seven bizarre, weird obscure books about this guy and I was like, that's, there's something there. I think. He's out there, yeah. All right, so we'll pick something that was a little more topical. Last night they had a drink-making robot machine over in the corner making drinks and it just brings up as we get into more automation, more connected systems. We had the huge knockout of the web last week from the East Coast. As you look at the future, there's kind of the happy future where the machines do all the hard work and we get to sit around and read books like you did which is fantastic and then there's the darker potential future where the machines take everyone's jobs. What are people going to do? And if it can make drinks and it can diagnose disease and read every manual that came out, how do people fit and then there's the middle ground, right? The best chess player is the best chess player in a machine, not either or. So I'm just curious to get kind of your thoughts as we look kind of to the next big wave of AI and machine learning and automation. How do you see that kind of shaking out? I think it's important not to overstate how much of our lives we will be willing to let machines take over. So it's been very interesting for me as a writer to observe, for example, what happened with eBooks over the last 10 years. So eBooks come along and everyone says the printed book is over. It's all going to be on just why would you go and lug around a big heavy book when you can get for a fraction of the cost? Something will be, and so there are all these bloom and doom and expectations and what happens? Well, it turns out that eBooks are still a fairly sizable portion of the marketplace, but it turns out that most people actually want to read a book, a physical object, that that's more pleasurable somehow, that the interaction with this thing, this pages and paper and is pleasing. It's part of the experience. And I think that's a useful, no, that's not a robot and that's not AI, but it's an important reminder that the way that the interactions and the activities that make up our lives are not just functional activities. They are opportunities for enjoyment and engagement and part of the reason you go to a restaurant is not just to eat the food, but to engage with the people in the restaurant. Part of the pleasure is the person who brings you the wine bottle and says this gives you a little spiel. Now, I can replace that person with a robot, but the question is do you want to? Now, you can do it and I can imagine a future where the robot brings you the best wine in the world and does some algorithm and gives you the finest wine, but I don't know if I'm going to have a nice night out and I'm paying $60 a plate for my dinner, I kind of want the human interaction. I mean, it's part of the pleasure. Same thing with self-driving cars. That baffles me as a kind of car guy, how everyone assumes that, oh, well, by 2020, it'll all be self-driving cars. What if I enjoy driving a car, right? We've forgotten this. It's actually quite a pleasant thing to go and to make decisions on consciously and consciously and drive down the road.  I like the feel of driving a car. I don't want to give that up. Why should I have to give that up? So it's like, we can't get ahead of ourselves. You mentioned the chess thing, which is a great example of this. Can you make a machine that will beat a person at chess? Yes, you can, but it's not chess. Chess is a game played between two people. That's why it's interesting. If it's played between two machines, no one will watch it, right? So it's like, it's the absurd thing. Like machine, I can also make a machine that can run faster than Usain Bolt. It's called a car. Do I want to watch a race between a car and Usain Bolt? No, why? Because what's pleasurable is watching human being race. But Jeff hit on something, and then you touched on it with the car. And I think about GPS and how it wasn't that long ago.  And if you came to the traffic, dog gone, I've hit traffic, but now we use applications that take us and they're using their intelligence.  Can you see like with this generation of kids coming up now, that artificial intelligence kind of makes our personal thinking obsolete and we don't process like we do. We don't evaluate, we don't analyze. And so we're raising a whole different kind of human because of the interaction with technology or what we can sign to technology. Yeah. Because we give up on it. Well, it'd be different. I mean, I think that, so let's stick with cars for a moment. I think you, now we have a world where a whole class of people drive their car to work in the morning. And when they're driving the car, the number of things they can do with their imagination and mind is limited, right? They can listen to music for the news or a podcast or they can just sit there, but they can't, they can maybe talk on the phone even though they shouldn't, but they can't do work and they can't lie in the back and take a nap and they can't daydream and they can't have a meaningful interaction with more than one person. What we're going to move to is a world where some people will give up whatever kind of pleasure or interaction that came from driving a car and replace it with another kind of interaction.  And I sort of think that's what the world looks like is we get this incredibly complicated mix. Medicine becomes some mixture of the computer is going to do all the easy stuff, but half of medicine is about being reassured. It's about your personal fears. It's not about the diagnosis or which drug you take. And for that stuff, I imagine that we're going to have much longer, deeper, more meaningful conversations with our doctors 15 years from now when the computer is taking all the easy stuff off the table or the AI, the robot. So it's like, it's a world in many ways that world allows for much richer, personal interactions than the one we're in now. The doctor really will have, my doctor has no time for me now. He's like, right, I got to move you out, right? In 10 years it's possible my doctor will be able to sit down with me for half an hour or 45 minutes, twice a year and really talk about what's going on with me and that's the promise of the future. I don't think we're going to have a situation where everything's done by the robot, right? Well, this is one of those occasions where I truly wish we had tons of more time, but you have a busy schedule and so we're going to allow you to go on. But thank you so much for sharing this time with us. We've thoroughly enjoyed it. We're looking forward to the next 80,000 words. So good luck with that. Thank you. Malcolm Gladwell joining us here on theCUBE. Back with more from San Jose right after this.


So I had this idea Okay, let me backtrack. I'm building the Chrome Dev Summit website and It's really I love I love it I've built it a couple of times before and I love this bit because I've got all the designs and wireframes like I did those myself But I'm about to start the build and I was like well look There may be stuff in there that people actually want to see so why don't I make these videos? Where I show you what I'm working on what's going on the code will be going into github anyway and then if there's things in there that I'm thinking or bugs I find then I can Record it share that and we can kind of go on a bit of a journey together. So Subscribe to the channel if you want to there'll probably be a playlist with just these videos in and I will Share what I'm doing and obviously you can type in the comments or whatever else and we'll Ship the Chrome Dev Summit 2016 website together Sort of with me doing the coding


Ancient building techniques are an excellent subject to explore if one wishes to understand just how advanced our hidden ancestors were. Additionally, it allows one to get a true insight into the contradictions currently upheld by academic institutes the world over. There still exists an extraordinarily diverse array of building techniques. Some, interestingly, appear to overlap even older advanced methods. For example, a stone-boring technology, seemingly used upon many ancient monuments, in many cases it appears to have been deliberately used to slightly damage these ancient stones, leaving them etched with uncanny marks, possibly in an attempt to also leave their mark to prove their past existence, later to be realized by us now laying within their very distant future. We feel that these marks, along with many other aspects of these ancient sites, indicates that many ancient civilizations have been and gone here upon our Earth. Ancient metal clamps used to seat enormous stones, precision machine-cut blocks, some left with inquiries, clearly indicating machine manipulation, impossible block building, effortlessly fitting random sized blocks perfectly together. Yet the most enigmatic of these ancient building features, which many suspect was indeed somehow connected to the construction of said sites, has to be the protuberances. Rarely mentioned within history books, yet these protuberances are present on many of the most ancient of block structures, which can be found all over the world. No one seems to know what these protuberance were placed upon these structures for. The biggest of these, undoubtedly carved into the still-in-situ Igaliths at Yangshankori, a feature we have previously noted and pondered over. Not only do these enigmatic notches suggest a past, world-going, highly advanced civilization, having once prospered here upon our planet, but a feature known as the Boss Mark, found deep within the Great Pyramid of Kufu, may link, for the first time, the builders of the Great Pyramids to ancient structures found elsewhere on Earth. Furthermore, the methods used by the pyramid builders are, interestingly, the same methods used by builders of the other sites containing protuberances. This strategic building method, meaning that their ruins have outlived, we feel, many other ancient civilizations now lost to history. Their capability to move such mind-bogglingly huge stone blocks, and their ability to create such erosion-resistant structures, indicate to us that the builders of these sites may have lived an unimaginably long time ago, and probably chose to create such Earth-shifting structures in a bid to indeed survive the eons. Were they doing so in an attempt to leave their legacy on our planet? Or maybe they were, and are, still trying to tell us something? Only time will tell. In 1879, British archaeologist Weynman Dixon successfully retrieved a number of mysterious artifacts from within the infamous lower northern shaft of the Great Pyramid of Kufu. One of these artifacts was a small piece of a square wooden rod, which has since disappeared. The only artifact to conveniently go missing, and the only artifact which could have produced an accurate dating for what seems was a rather elaborate prior attempt to overcome a sophisticated array of blocking stones and vertical passageways, which confront all who try to breach the innermost sanctums of this mysterious pyramid. The reason for this past mission, or indeed, who undertook such an attempt, remain a mystery, but their motive will soon become clear. One of Weynman's other finds, resembling a small grappling hook with two rivets, matches two holes in a square rod still lodged up in the vertical northern shaft, clearly left by these wannabe tomb raiders. It seems that these highly talented acrobatic grave robbers couldn't make it any further, and once one becomes aware of the existence of a large hidden chamber built into the pyramid's design, placed just above this unexplored shaft, you will inevitably begin to wonder what could possibly be hiding up there. Indeed, it's a well-known fact that the builders of these structures were notorious for their superhuman efforts in concealment, huge multi-ton blocking stones in front of the entrances to their kings and treasures, and indeed in front of virtually every interior shaft and room within the great pyramid of Kufu. The upper region of this northern shaft constitutes the last remaining unexplored areas due to the impossible access angle. We know it's there, and all we have to do is apply existing technology in getting in there, Rudolf Gatenbrink told the press. It must be noted, although the mention of tombs has been made, the evidence, to suggest such, is based solely upon a number of parchments and a single mark found within an interior chamber of the pyramid, naming a gang and the fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Kufu. Egyptologists have taken these fragmentary factors and concluded that all pyramids were therefore built as tombs, the great one being built over a 10 to 20 year period, concluding around 2560 BC. It seems the entire thesis of ancient Egyptian legacy is built around a few mentions of the pyramids as tombs. No mummies or burial artefacts except a tiny box claimed to be that of the sarcophagus of Kufu has ever been found in the pyramids. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Kufu's Egyptian civilization, along with all subsequent and prior dynasties, cataloged tremendous details regarding their existence, yet all, for some reason, seemingly forget to mention the construction of the biggest, most mysterious structures on earth, or indeed, how they did it. What could there possibly be hidden within this chamber? This unexplored and clearly sought after secret room, a room which is seemingly unrobable. With mainstream Egyptologists, archaeologists and academic historians alike insisting that these amazing pyramids were once unquestionably tombs which were robbed completely over the millennia. Whatever this room contains may settle this once and for all. During the past few years, we have covered many aspects of Mankuri, Kafra, and Kufu, the three great pyramids of Giza. We have explored numerous amazing facts regarding these structures which have remained secret for many years. As the interest has grown regarding these three amazing structures, more people with suspicions, hypothesis, and technical and intellectual talents are fortunately beginning to approach these mysterious and wonderful structures in more explorative ways. We are experiencing the beginning of an ancient Egyptian Renaissance, thanks to the gift of modern technology. At the beginning of this year, an international team of researchers began investigating the buildings from afar, gazing at them with unusual cameras. Using state-of-the-art infrared heat detection technology, they have discovered some surprising anomalies regarding the heat signatures visible on their faces. What these thermal anomalies reveal are undiscovered shafts, more than likely leading to additional and undiscovered secret tombs deep within these amazing pyramids. The thermal scanning that they have successfully completed has revealed that there are many of these temperature fluctuations in many areas undocumented as containing anomalies. Thus, what the team has done is pinpoint unexplored shafts dotted across the pyramids. The team also found a particularly impressive anomalous signature located on the eastern side of the Khufu pyramid, very close to ground level. From the beginning, the team had always maintained that they would publicly disclose their findings. All of the staggering finds were made public by Antiquities Minister Mamdu El-Damati. During a press briefing, quote, there is something like a small passage in the ground that you can see leading up to the pyramid's ground, reaching an area with a different temperature. What will be behind it? said El-Damati. The scanning was done throughout a 24-hour period, allowing the researchers to monitor subtle temperature changes as the pyramids heated up and then cooled down during the day and night. Though the huge granite and limestone blocks which make up most of the pyramid, this technology was capable of recognizing the slight differentials in their temperature. By monitoring the speed of this heating and cooling, thanks to these miraculous cameras, the researchers were able to isolate several persistent anomalies. Thus, they may have just unlocked more of the pyramid's secrets in one day, using state-of-the-art technology than Egyptian antiquities or archaeologists worldwide have in more than 100 years. While the difference in temperature between most adjacent limestone blocks was between 0.1 to 0.5 degrees Celsius, the largest of heat anomalies discovered on and within the Great Pyramid was an impressive 6 degrees warmer than the surrounding bricks. So far, there are plenty of theories being put forward as to what these heat anomalies might indicate. Not surprisingly, with the leading assumptions being that of just empty areas, a hypothesis I'm sure some would like to make a reality. The good news is that the study, which is called Operation Scan Pyramids, will continue. Next, the researchers intend to use cosmic particles called radiographic muons to create a 3D reconstruction of the Pyramids of Giza in an attempt to map all the secret chambers and passageways within the Pyramids.  Who built the Great Pyramids? How? Why? Questions many have attempted but seemingly failed to answer, although claimed as tombs with the different internal chambers within the largest, Khufu, named in representation of this purpose. Interestingly, Khufu, or Cheops, is the only one of the three pyramids with internal chambers. The other smaller two merely have tunnels beneath. An enigmatic box whose lid has long been lost to history lay within this enormous structure, long claimed to have been the sarcophagus of Khufu. However, although suspiciously small, no one seems to be able to explain how they got it into the chamber in the first place. It is as if the pyramid was built around, as it doesn't fit through any of the known entranceways. Since the 19th century, when these chambers were first rediscovered, a tremendous amount of research, though it must be noted, always supervised by official Egyptian antiquity academics, nonetheless remarkable discoveries have at least been partially shared with the world. Notably, Gontenbrink's door, yet the tomb of Osiris, where this once inaccessible tunnel led, was, once the media was permitted back into the location, found empty, claimed by officials as being found conveniently vacant. A room only discovered thanks to 21st century technology, according to mainstream Egyptologists, was somehow looted. However, there still lay many mysteries within this most intriguing of structures, and we would expect at least one, or possibly many more, which no matter how long it takes us to rediscover them, will be too big to hide. For example, although we once thought the tomb Gontenbrink discovered was inaccessible, the chamber at the top of the structure, one of considerable size estimated at 30 square meters, is so inaccessible. It was only found with technology used to register cosmic rays. A technology usually utilized in high-energy particle physics, capable of tracking particles called muons produced when cosmic rays strike atoms in the upper atmosphere. These incredibly sensitive detectors were first developed for use in particle accelerators, but they have also been used to gaze into the inner bowels of many geological and ancient artificial features. In December 2015, physicist Kunahiro Morishima of Nagoya University, Japan, placed detectors inside the Queen's Chamber to detect muons passing through the pyramid, thus any large chamber still hidden within the pyramid would be detected due to a higher register of muons than expected from denser angles. The chamber's discovery was cooperated by two other teams of physicists. All three teams observed a large void in the same location above the Grand Gallery. It was a big surprise, says Teyubi. We're really excited, he continued. The researchers say it might even be made up of two or more smaller spaces. Teyubi suggests that it could be, quote, a second Grand Gallery. It is a discovery, which we are finding. In 1996, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo di Michel spotted an unusual yellow-green gem within one of Tutankhamen's necklaces. The jewel was tested and found to be made of a type of glass known as Libyan Desert Glass. The interesting thing regarding this, however, is its origins. To this day, no one seems to be able to explain how it formed, no trace of a crater has ever been discovered. An ancient meteorite, or indeed outer space object, scorching across the skies of Egypt is the basis for many religious teachings within this one's amazing ancient civilization. They associated the objects and the flaming tails during such events with that of a phoenix, and the collected items, presumably nearly always meteorites, were then hammered down into wares. Nine small beads, stored at the University College London's Petrie Museum, dated to around 3200 BC, were found in necklaces along with exotic terrestrial minerals such as lapis lazuli, agate, and gold. They are some of the earliest iron artifacts ever found, and archaeologists have confirmed that they came from outer space. Meteoric iron is much harder and more brittle than copper. Quote, they were rolled and hammered into shape. This is a very different technology from the usual stone bead drilling, and shows quite an advanced understanding, showing the metalsmiths know exactly how to work this rather difficult material, said Thilo Rarin, a University College London Professor of Archaeology. When American geophysicist John Wasson was consulted regarding King Tut's strange gem, he curiously linked the event with one within an extremely remote forest of Siberia, an event we have covered before. Quote, when the thought came to me that this required a hot sky, I thought immediately of the Tunguska event, he told Horizon. In 1908, a massive explosion flattened 80 million trees in Tunguska, Siberia, and whatever landed there over a century ago is still there, and it kills any living organism which settles above it. And what is most interesting surrounding all of this is the ancient Egyptian accounts of what they did with a rather peculiar, rather special type of object that was at one point retrieved from the glassy sands of Libya, a particularly different object which they called a phoenix egg. That hieroglyph state was secreted away within a secret chamber deep within the Great Pyramid. We have covered before the hypothesis that these stories etched in hieroglyphics may be far older than the Egyptian culture which may have preceded it. Yet, the question is clear. What could this phoenix egg be?


Ladies and gentlemen silent Mike Back with another video and today we have a guest all the way from barbara brigade I flew out just for this Los Angeles just for one four-minute video Yep, so be sure to like it because I need the money to pay for his flight That was expensive first class from Los Angeles, California all the way from Hollywood to air Dubai He flew to Dubai layover and then flew back. Yeah, Nadim. How much how much how many me? Hamedi Hamedi Huh me D. D. There you go. Hamedi Today we're gonna cover a couple topics be sure to give this thing thumbs up new videos every Monday and Thursday check out Nads He's doing a little bit of fitness, but a lot of cooking and I know how fat you all are watching Yeah, and if you want yumminess go to his channel Nadim Hamedi Just one ha ha maybe maybe. Yeah, ha meaty Hamedi Like your bro. All right, so So basically you guys are probably noticed on Instagram things have been going viral Which I didn't know I've been going viral for a long time since Nadim told me but My man, I believe his name is Miles and he's out in Maine. I think we're Maryland Don't miss quote me, but he trains at my guy Brian all rules Jim strongman youtuber really cool guy. I've known Brian for a long time And miles has cerebral palsy, which is a disease that basically controls your central nervous system makes your bodily Muscles everything firing a little bit more difficult or a lot of it more difficult Bementally, they're all there and recently he pulled 200 pounds. I think and he weighs 99 It's absolutely insane and this literally goes back to almost every video I've ever done forever talking about how powerlifting is literally for everyone and and that the the potential for someone to Participate in in either the hobby or compete whatever how far you want to take it Can teach so many lessons and this guy's going absolutely viral miles Which is a crazy feet pulling 200 pounds or pulling a double body weight is a good feat for anybody doing strength Let alone if you have these issues like if you're just a regular person You're not pulling double body weight. No, no, no, it takes time And so let alone the time that he took which is what actually impresses me because we're in this game This fitness game. So when I see that video everyone thinks man cerebral palsy 200 pounds. That's so heavy But to me it's like oh man cerebral palsy 200 pounds. I know this dude put in reps Yeah, this dude's been doing it for months and years weeks after week And it's not taking time off and that's what really impresses me It's not like he just came in pulled and then everyone fire like right been training with them They've been doing this and that's like it's cool to see the the results from man saying that like like because we're watching the video They literally talk about how treat them just like a regular person. Yeah, it's dope and like we're just losing like comedian Yeah, Tom Segura and he's like to stop patronizing people with disabilities You know like the regular people they want to be treated like for sure for sure and you can really show I see that that's what they do here. Yeah, and it's so impressive to me because my body's Full functioning I guess and for me to know the frustrations and the mental Strength that I've needed to power lift for ten years going through injuries or plateaus or showing up on days I don't want to show up and all these things and miles His his his difficulty ladder is much more difficult than mine and the frustrations He must have had and he's competed in a full power lifting me Which is actually even more impressive to me than a double double body weight deadlift Which is also it's a but competing in a full power lifting me training all three lifts when your body His mind's telling his body to do shit and it won't do it Yeah, no, we all go through that right because otherwise we all be in the NBA if our body did exactly what our brain told us Right there Mike go dunk. I mean, I probably make it on about you. No, I'd make it really. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I don't know about that, but oh, I'd be there Yeah, if we could tell our body do exactly what we're gonna do We're just better at it. It's herbal palsy stops that connection. And so the frustration must be absolutely insane But this kid's an absolute he seems happy every video.  That's like, yo, we're in it with you Yeah, it does help to have a team and that's something obviously mean to the ima been friends for a long time because of the Jim Barbara gate, which is basically a team Having a community having like-minded people with power lifting As a hobby as a sport however you want to take it is so incredibly life-changing if you allow it to be It's not just lifting. It's not how much you can lift It's it's the community you can build. It's the discipline you can build It's the mental strength you can build and the character you can build for showing up on days You don't want to show up. I definitely I've made a lot of the gains in life through lifting You know, there's definitely a lot of people that take advantage of it and just try to be cool They try to like make money off you they try to do all these different things But then there's the people that just really like it for what it can give you Yeah, for sure And there's so many things behind the scenes like you said like yeah Like even you guys comment below when you Mike are we gonna see you lifting in like trust me I'm lifting and I lift every day, but I don't always just lift to hit a PR to put it on Instagram for you guys to like the video I lift every day to get me in the right mental state. I lift every day as my meditation. I plug in my music I get my reps in to feel physically and mentally better and it's incredibly Cool for me to see that hopefully this sport the sport that I've loved And what I believe in a in a way my religion fitness being my religion movement being my religion movement Allowing you to have a better life that that Miles and his crew and shout to my I think his trainer's names Nick and my boy Brian For showing this guy the way. Yeah, I mean it'd be really cool to see what comes up after this because now there's a whole Like millions of people that have problems are not say problems But like disabilities that now they might be inspired to do something they might try to go above and beyond and now That just opens up a whole new place for them to be like hey I can go and like we always like everyone always has people like sale of my cajota for basketball any Person for any sport or business or whatever, but it's like there hasn't really been anyone with That for power lifting out I don't think for like cerebral palsy. Yeah.  Yeah, he's squatting a barbell, which is absolutely insane to me So check him out check out Brian be sure to check out Nadine Keep pushing yourselves, you know, whether you want to step on the platform break a world record or if you just want to get better For yourself power to you and know that we're all kind of in this thing together and the iron is something that that that really Makes it's the forever equalizer. Yeah, definitely, you know what I mean? It makes us all the same It doesn't really care what what color you are what what you were born with what kind of money you have All it knows is hard work and all it knows is pounds. Oh Bye


Today we're in 2 Thessalonians. We're gonna look at verses 13 through 17 in chapter two. And so let me begin reading at verse 13. I'll read to verse 17, give you an introduction, move right into our study. So in 2 Thessalonians, chapter two, verse 13, Paul writes, we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord. Because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. So as we begin here, let me give you a little bit of foundation, a reminder of some of the things he had said. But Paul is beginning this portion of his epistle by saying that he is obligated to give thanks for them. Now that's the second time he's made that statement in this letter. If you remember in chapter one, verse three, he said he was obligated to give thanks for them and he gave us three reasons why he was obligated, bound to give thanks for them. And when we looked at verse three, I pointed those things out. He had said that he's obligated to give thanks for them first because of their faith, that their faith was growing exceedingly. And secondly, he was obligated to give thanks because their love for one another was abounding.  So he's already mentioned that to them at the beginning of the letter, but once again he returns to saying that he is obligated or bound to give thanks on their behalf. You see, he had already given thanks on their behalf because when people experience difficulties, many believers just basically turn away. The difficulties are too much for them to handle. Their faith runs dry, they walk away from the things of the Lord. But that is not true for this church. In the midst of the trials, they were continuing to exhibit faith, they were continuing to show love and continuing to have patience. That was something that moved him to thank God for them. But once again here in verse 13, he says he's obligated to give thanks for them. He's prompted to thank God because they believe the truth of the gospel. And in believing the truth of the gospel, they are not believing the lie. You see, in verse 10, he had said, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. They did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And so that speaks of truth being offered to them, but them refusing to receive it. It was something they had no appetite for, they had no desire for. It was not desirable to them. And the reason they didn't wanna receive the truth is because they preferred the system of the world. They had no desire for the truth of the gospel. So the love of the truth was not something attractive to them. You see, the love of the truth isn't simply loving truth in general. When he said they wouldn't receive the love of the truth, he's saying they would not receive Jesus Christ, who is the truth. It wasn't speaking concerning general sympathy for ideas. It wasn't saying that they didn't have a philosophic desire to know the meaning of life. It wasn't saying that. What he is saying is that these people will receive anti-Christ because they do not love Jesus Christ, and that's why they'll receive the anti-Christ. They're gonna receive the anti-Christ because of his great swelling words. They're gonna believe the anti-Christ because of his works and the wonder that he will cause them to experience by the things he's doing insane. And he's saying the reason they're gonna accept the anti-Christ, and again, remember, he's writing to people who are going through persecution and affliction thinking that they're in the middle of or going through the tribulation. So he's saying, listen, I already shared with you and have shared with you that people will follow after the anti-Christ who will make himself known, but the reason they will follow him is because they were not lovers of truth and insane, they weren't lovers of truth, they weren't lovers of the gospel, they were rejecting Jesus who is the truth. So they refuse to listen to what Jesus taught. They're gonna reject him and they'll reject his words. In John chapter eight, verses 42 through 44, Jesus is speaking and it says that he said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own, but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. So there's no desire for truth, they had no love for Christ, they didn't wanna hear his message and he said the reason you don't is because you're rejecting me because you belong to someone else. So that reminds me of something that Isaiah wrote about. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah was writing under the prompting of the Spirit of God and during his day, people were receiving false teaching and were rejecting his message and what he had to say in his message was not something that they wanted to hear. So in light of this, the prophet Isaiah spoke a word against these people. Listen to what he said. In Isaiah 30, verses nine and 10, this is a rebellious people lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, do not see to the prophets, do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy to seeds. When he says, speak to us smooth things, it's another way of saying flatter us, say something to us we want to hear. And so there was a rebelliousness in the children of Israel in the Old Testament that continues through history. In the time of Jeremiah, another Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah prophesied concerning the people's openness to deception and Jeremiah 23, 16 and 17, he said, thus saith the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, they make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. So he's warning them, he's saying, like Isaiah had said, he's saying, they're just asking people to say the things that they want to hear. And so that's what's gonna take place and that's what Paul has been outlining concerning the last days and the deception. He's saying in verse 11, instead of receiving truth, they will receive the lie. They're gonna embrace the lie, the lie that the Antichrist is Messiah. So instead of embracing Jesus, they voluntarily will embrace the false Messiah and the result will be the condemnation because they had pleasure, he says, in unrighteousness. In other words, they embrace unrighteousness. When it says they embrace unrighteousness, it speaks of Antichrist teaching and his claims. They're gonna embrace that and hold fast to that. So God permits strong delusion to occupy their minds so that some will believe the lie. In other words, they prefer false apostles and the heretical doctrines to the pure truths of the gospel. And being always ready to receive any false Messiah, they systematically reject the true one. In John 319, this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. But the Thessalonians embrace the gospel and Paul is bound to give thanks. In giving thanks, it's an encouragement that he's giving to them. It's interesting that when somebody comes and shares with you that if they open up a Bible and they speak with certainty and give their testimony about the truth of what they're saying to you that many young believers are very prone to receive what they're saying. And they'll say things that tickle our ears. They'll say things that we agree with. And so we have a tendency of saying, well, they opened up the Bible. They use the name of Jesus. They must be telling the truth. But what happens over time is this. Listen, if you get saved, you begin reading the Word of God. And as you're feeding your spirit, as you're going through the Word, you begin to learn things about God. At the same time, you're going to church. As you go to church, you receive Bible studies.  You do the best that you can to check on these things and hold fast to the things that are true. And you begin to grow. And as you're growing spiritually, you begin to develop discernment. And so when somebody says something, you start saying things within yourself like, that doesn't sound like anything I've read and that doesn't sound like anything I've been taught. And so you begin to realize that some things being said don't necessarily line up with what Scripture says. You're gaining discernment, you just aren't aware of it. You're growing to understand certain things, but you're not aware of how that's taking place. When I first got saved, for example, some people knocked on the door, began to share with me, I was a brand new Christian. And as they were speaking to me, I began to say to them, you know, I don't think I agree with what you're saying. But that doesn't sound familiar to anything that I've been taught. Because the Lord was already giving me through his word and by his spirit, a sense of discernment. And sometimes the people that you're speaking to are so attractive in so many ways, you don't really see through them. But as you're growing older in the Lord, you start seeing more clearly. You see that they're wearing a mask. Just the other day, my grandson, who is less than four years old, his name's David, what a great name.  And it's just like three or four different false mustaches. You guys have seen those. So you open it and then you can paste it on your face. And he came walking in where I was and he looks at me and he stands there with his mustache and I look down at him. And I say, who are you?  Then he puts it back on. Where'd David go? He puts it back on. We kept going for some time. The funny thing is, is the Holy Spirit began to minister to me and said, you know, that's kind of like false teachers. They walk in, they have a little disguise, but a lot of people look at them. But with discernment and quite obviously knowing the true Christ and a true prophet and what they would be saying, they can put the disguise on all day long. But the fact is they're just being disguised. They're just disguising themselves. And that's what happens. You gain discernment. You see that that's a phony mustache they're wearing. So I scared him, I pulled mine off. No, I didn't. And so what it is, is he's saying you didn't give in to the lie. You didn't move in that direction. You won't give in to the lie. True believers won't. And so as he's speaking concerning this, and he's already been speaking concerning those things. In verse 13, he continues by saying something to them in this way. He says, we are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren, beloved by the Lord. Because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth. So notice he says, brethren who are beloved by the Lord out of the abundance of his love, God had chosen them for himself. Whatever God does for the lost always finds its origin in his love for them. Salvation is not impersonal. God is not some other out there, some cosmic energy. Salvation is personal. And God's love for mankind is personal. In Jeremiah 31 verse three, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. We all know John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loved the world. And first John 4.19, we love him because he first loved us. And God's love is revealed through his grace and his mercy towards sinners. God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And this grace and this mercy is revealed in the gospel of truth. And first John 4.19, this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. So salvation is not possible for those who refuse the love of the truth. And the truth is Jesus and is revealed in the gospel. In the New Testament, the gospel is referred to as the word of truth. Colossians 1.5 speaks of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. And throughout the Bible, belief in the truth is the means of salvation. That's why in 2 Timothy 2.15 Paul said, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And so it's God's word, the word of truth that they've embraced. And so in verse 13, Paul calls them beloved by the Lord and reminds them that God had chosen them. Now remember, they thought they had missed the rapture, but Paul reminds them of their salvation in Christ. And this is what gives them peace in the midst of their afflictions. Now someone say, how irresponsible it is for this man to give them such a promise, to think that that's bringing comfort to them. How can you comfort somebody with promises of pie in the sky, buy and buy anyway?  But the thing is people don't seem to understand. That's been the hope of the church all along. We realize that we're just passing through. We realize that this world is not our own. At least we ought to. What strengthens me daily, what strengthens us daily is that awareness that truth is found in scripture. God's scripture brings me comfort and hope. And I am a sojourner, I'm a pilgrim. I'm passing through. 1 Peter 2, 11 said it like that, beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul. So the Christian is supposed to know the world is not our home. The Christian is supposed to know we're traveling. We're traveling to heaven. Again in 1 Peter in chapter one verses three through five, the apostles said it like this. He said praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Kept in heaven for you. In Philippians 3 20 our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So believers are given spiritual security through receiving and loving God's word, the word of truth. And that's something Paul made very clear in order to encourage the believer. When he was writing for example to the Ephesians he had said in chapter one verse 13 in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So the security we have in Christ is what prompts us to praise God and the security they have in Christ prompted Paul to thank God. They received the truth of the gospel because they did, they reject the lie. Now notice in verse 13 he went on to say God has chosen them from the beginning for salvation the beginning from eternity. God determined to save them from all eternity. It wasn't an afterthought. He intended to save them. Quoting from Peter again, 1 Peter 1 18 through 20 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish without spot he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. So salvation began with God choosing them in the past continues in the present and moves on into the future. And so when Paul's writing to the Romans in chapter eight he says in verses 29 through 31 for those God for new he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those he predestined he called. Those he called he also justified. Those he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us who can be against us? So the way of salvation is through the work of the spirit in combination with the gospel. When the message of the gospel is preached it's not a man's message. It doesn't originate in man's imagination. The gospel is never declared in scripture to be just something that was compiled by human beings. The gospel is a message that God gave to us. And the word of God is true. And because the word of God declares that the gospel is a message of salvation and in order for us to be saved we receive it it's important for us to understand that the message goes forth but requires the Holy Spirit to bring conviction. You've seen this, I've seen this where you're speaking to somebody on a one-on-one kind of conversational basis.  And you say, I didn't have much to do so I went to church.  Yeah, yeah, I've been going to church for a while. Really? Why? Well because I get taught about God. Why do you care about God? And you begin to share, well you know what? You knew me, you know what I used to do. You know how I was, the things I did, where I used to go. You used to hang around with me. You've seen me do a lot of crazy things. Yeah, yeah, I do remember that. Well God has changed my life and you begin to share with them the gospel in this church. Recently I got a letter from somebody in the fellowship, Facebook post and I saw the last name and I said, I've only known one person by that name, that last name, how'd they find me? No, I've only, I've only known one person by that last, actually two and I thought, I wonder. So I went to the profile and I went to see the information and I see the name and then it says married to and the name that this woman is married to is the name of the person I was associating. So I thought, what a small world because I haven't seen this person for 50 years. Yep. And so I'm thinking, no. So I write, listen, I knew somebody by this name. Could it happen to be your husband? And she writes back, yes, it is my husband. And she tells me, we've been in your church for a year but he couldn't believe that was you. I'm not kidding. Because we hung around in high school and she said, nah, I can't be David. That's not David because he and I, if you're here right now, my brother, you know what I'm saying, but it's true. The gospel transforms lives. It's not just the words, it's the power. It's the power. It's the power that God through his word in conjunction with the spirit works within you to make you unrecognizable to those who knew you best. That's what God's word will do. See, so Paul is blessed that they're not receiving the lie but what is protecting them is that they've received the truth. They've received Christ. They've received the message of the gospel and they have the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is working within them conforming them into the image of Jesus Christ. So when somebody is speaking and sharing if they're just giving their opinion or even their testimony, that's one thing. But when God's word is rightly divided and presented for what it is and people will read that scripture as we're going through the word and they see it, it applies to them. The Holy Spirit brings what is called conviction. When the Holy Spirit brings conviction, the word conviction speaks of bringing a sense that this applies to you. It awakens you to yourself. It gives you opportunity to be aware of who you are and it's the work of the Holy Spirit to do that. In John 16 verse eight, speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. It takes a Holy Spirit's conviction to awaken us to our sin because we have excuses. I make excuses for my life because I'm gonna take care in number one. I'm gonna take care of myself. I'm gonna present myself in the best light and I do that all the time, we all do. But we know what we really are but sometimes want to acknowledge it. The Holy Spirit will awaken us and will say, this is you. This is what you've been doing. And when he does that, that's called conviction. It awakens me of my sin, the sin of rejecting Christ, the sin of not wanting to walk in accordance to his will. And that's what happens. And so the Holy Spirit working with the word of God when that gospel is preached and the Spirit convicts, brings salvation to those who receive him. In first Peter one, two, Peter said, elect according to the foreign knowledge of God, the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you in peace be multiplied. So through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, God transforms us. He saves us. It's God's purpose to lead us to a life of holiness that comes by the Spirit and the word. And this sanctification is an inward process produced by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You know, I want to be very quick to always recognize the fact that I am a sinner saved by grace. And if I ever give the impression, anybody here that I don't know that, forgive me for that impression because I know what I am. And I know what I am without Jesus Christ. And anything I ever share with you, I share out of a heart that just desires to be honest with you and to be right before him. Understand that.  I'm no better than you. I'm a sinner saved by grace. You know, when I first got saved, I went into the military three months after getting saved. I didn't have a church to continue attending. No excuse. I read the Bible. I had fellowship, but I was maturing very slowly. And when I got out of the army in 1972, early 73, I went to one of my cousin's marriage, or her wedding, and I was there at the reception and the reception was held at her home. And my cousin was a born again believer and I was too, but I was only two and a half years old in the Lord. And almost two of those years had been spent in the military. And now I'm out. And now I'm at her reception and I'm 23 years old and they're offering champagne and beer and it's free. If it's free, it's for me. And so I drink one. After all, I'm over 21. Drank another. Before you know it, I was starting to get kind of wobbly. We used to say buzzed. I don't know if that's used anymore, but, or we had our buzz on, you know, and that's what was happening. I got a little dizzy, those feelings. And I was sitting down on the couch and two guys once sat on one side of me, the other on the other. And they turned to me and they started speaking to me and they said, you know, Jesus Christ saves sinners. And I said, amen. Cause I'm a Christian already. Amen. Yeah, I know that. I said, you know, he could save you. I said, yeah, he has. And they share with me and share with me. And I'm trying to convince them that I'm a believer already. And I still remember when they finished talking, they had a frustrated look in their face. I remember them getting up and walking away and saying, all right, man, talk to you later. Cause I wouldn't pray with them. I said, listen, man, I am a Christian, but I was little, little drunk. And I still remember when they walked away, I said, there was a saying we used to say at that time, that Jesus freaks. I said, here, there or in the air. That's what we used to say. I'll see here, I'll see over there or in the rapture. That's what that meant.  And they just looked at me. I didn't realize how unholy I was until the Holy Spirit convicted me and said, you are living in a way that makes believers think you can't possibly be saved. And it was things like that that I began to think about as a young believer, how then should I live? Well, getting a little high at a wedding probably is not the best testimony and things like that. So if there is anybody in this room that is struggling because you fail, I'm not giving you permission to continue. I know the Lord doesn't give you permission to continue failing, but I would say, guess what?   But don't make excuses for your sin anymore. Just say, God, I am miserable. I am going in the wrong direction. I wanna follow you. I'm open to you. And that's what happens. The conviction of the Holy Spirit and the combination of that with God's word, your desire to pursue him leads you into a holier life. And Paul is speaking concerning these kinds of things. And he says that in verse 13, that he says that God from the beginning shows you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So the Spirit prompts you to desire holiness. God's word shows you what it is. How can a young man keep his way pure by living according to your word? That's how it works. And so he's speaking of the word, verse 14, where he says to which he called you, belief in the truth, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has fulfilled his four ordained purpose by calling them through the gospel. Paul and Silas and Timothy, mentioned in verse one of this book, had been used by the Lord to minister salvation to them. It was by the preaching and receiving of the message that they had been saved.  In 1 Corinthians 1.18, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And so it's interesting that God intended to save them and us through preaching. Before they heard the gospel, they were walking in spiritual darkness. The wisdom of their philosophers and intellectuals did not produce spiritual relief. And so to reach them, God sent his son and the gospel message and it was communicated to them. Titus 1.3, Paul says, God has in due time manifested his word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior. Again, somebody can't be saved because they like your testimony. They'll see you and they'll say, well, that's great.  And that's nice to hear. I had a friend of mine, his name was Eddie. He said that to me. I was with him at his house. I was, again, I was a Christian, maybe four years old in the Lord. I was visiting with him, good friend from high school. And I said, Eddie, I said, you knew me at high school, you knew the crazy life I lived, you knew the way I was. He goes, yeah. I said, Eddie, I'm not that way anymore. You know, I'm not out getting high anymore, I'm not running anymore, I'm not doing those things anymore. And he says, Dave, I just figured you outgrew that. I thought you just grew up because Eddie didn't do any of those things. He wasn't that way at all. And it hit me. Way back in 74, it hit me. My testimony's not enough because people can think that you outgrew certain things or you just got tired of certain things. That's not what saved me and that's not what saves others. It's a preaching of the cross. It's learning to communicate to people this is our deepest need. You see, the reason we do things isn't simply because of my education or lack thereof or anything pertaining to that. The reason I do what I do is because my nature is sinful and I desire to do the evil. For within me there's an evil desire. I need that to be obliterated. I need that dealt with and that's why God sent Christ. Not so that I could try hard to be good because I can't. I used to have friends of mine who'd say, you know, Davey, you're not that good. What makes you think you're going to heaven? You see, I got saved into time when people actually thought that good people go to heaven. At that time they knew that sinners didn't and that only real good people went to heaven. And so I would say that and I still remember saying, I'm going to heaven because I was excited. I'm going to heaven. And they'd say, you're not good enough to go to heaven. And I still remember at the age of 20 saying, I'm not good enough, but he is. It wasn't that I kept the commandments that he did it for me. And that's, I learned that early. It wasn't by works of righteousness that I had done but according to his mercy, he saved me by the Washington Regeneration of renewing of the Holy Spirit. It was a work of God by grace I've been saved through faith. That not of myself, but it's a gift of God. Not of works, let's say a man should boast. I learned that early. And it's not a lesson that I didn't have to relearn because there've been times in my life like yours where I've thought I have to really try, I have to really try. And I learned that part of the trying is the dying.  And that's what happens as the word starts taking home in your heart and you begin to realize that. It's the society that we live in is not gonna be transformed by our testimonies. The society is transformed when they receive truth, when they receive the gospel. And that's what we give to people. Good people, to some degree, do exist in certain levels. There's none good, no not one in terms of ultimate righteousness. Everyone sins, I'll fall short of the glory of God. We know that. By nature we do that which is evil. We know that, at least we as believers know that. But there are certain kinds of good that are relatively good. And for me, coming from a relatively good society, I grew up in a time where good things were kind of the norm. To do good things were kind of the norm. In the 50s and all growing up as I did, they were kind of the norm. There were people that you didn't do certain things and you didn't do certain things and that's just because you had a whole community that would look at you and say that's not right and what you're doing is right and that's how I grew up. It was a time when I was able, I'll give an example, not like I'm tripping down memory lane, like oh, it's good old days, but just to give you some context, when I grew up, my dad would give me a quarter because the Sunday paper was a quarter at that time, that tells you how long ago that was, it was a quarter. And he'd give me a quarter, I would walk to the store, we had a corner store and I would walk to the store, I'd lift up the papers and there was a pile of quarters there and I would put my quarter amongst the pile and just drop it and then take the first paper. The papers were actually left out in front of the store before the store opened up. So people were not stealing newspapers, they were actually lifting the paper up and putting the quarter in and then they'd take the paper because they were honest because we still lived in a time where it was, that was to be admired and that's the way you should be. That was how I grew up. I grew up, if it was hot, we opened up a window.  I grew up in a time when you'd leave your car keys in the car, in the front yard and nobody was gonna steal your car, that didn't happen. I lived in a time when if I had left my bicycle outside that one of the neighbors would come and put it in the backyard to make sure I didn't get in trouble with my father for leaving my bike outside. It was a different time and a lot of people don't understand that. We're living in a time of instant everything now and everything is so rapid people don't relate to that very well. I lived in a time when you used to use something called mail and you'd actually write, you had to write and spell correctly and then you would send your letter and it would take three days to four days to get there if it did. And then they would write back. So guess what? If I needed help and I said, man, I'm in real need, help me. It would take me two weeks to hear them say, I'm on my way. I mean, that was about it. See, so we're living in an entirely different life. A time where music was entirely different and everything else, everything else. There wasn't any profanity on the airwaves or weren't marches for certain things there. None of that. I mean, the I Love Lucy show was still perpetually on reruns. I mean, they had a kid, but they slept in different beds and they thought, how'd that happen? They don't even sleep together because we didn't have that. See, so when you grow up, you have this idea that certain things ought to stay that way. But one of the things that I saw when I got saved was why these things were like that? Why did we have a society like that? And it was because the gospel still had that restraining kind of power in the nation I was growing up in where people didn't get mad if you said, Merry Christmas. That was normal. When stores were closed, when I grew up in my neighborhood, were closed on Sunday because everybody went to church and had Sunday afternoon meals. That's the America I grew up in. Now I'll give you some insight into the tears you'll see coming from me. Sometimes when I see how far we've drifted from that, but the tears aren't just that. The tears are because Christians are living like the world. And that's what concerns me. You know, I am more than willing to discuss with people whatever their concern may be, but what is new to me is having to speak to Christians to teach them, but God's word doesn't say that. This is how we should live. And then to hear people say, no, what? Grace, man, grace, grace is all grace. See, when I got saved, I learned what grace is because I came from a religious system that you had to work to go to heaven. That's why you never knew if you were gonna go. And when somebody gave me the gospel of grace, that God loved me, sent his son, died on the cross, was buried, resurrected the 30th, he ascended to heaven and 40 days later and all of that, I thought, that is grace. You mean, to me, it was amazing grace. But you know what happened? From those years ago, when I got saved, to now, people use the word grace to cover their sin, to give them permission to stay in it. And that's the stuff that you'll hear coming from my heart every sermon really is for us. Let's stay in the word. Let's walk in the spirit. Let's not get deceived by the flow of the world today. Let's remain firm with Jesus Christ. Let's be lights on the hill. Let's take that basket off that candle so that the world can see that we really believe what we believe because it's the truth, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us live transformed lives. And that's something Paul is blessed about. He said, you will not believe the lie. And he's saying in verse 14, God called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God works within you.  And so, what began in grace will end in glory. Jesus spoke of this in his high priestly prayer recorded in John 17. In verse 22 of John 17, he prayed and said, the glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are. In first Peter 1.7, Peter said, the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious and gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So Paul's point would be that those who are in Christ also share the glory of Christ. God's purposes for believers to eternally share in and reflect the glory of Jesus were being transformed and were being conformed into his image. And as someone once said, for the Christian, there can be no other glory. So he says in verse 15, therefore brethren, stand fast, hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Stand fast, brethren, stand fast. The term stand fast, remain firm, persist, persevere, keep standing. Since we've been saved by the gospel, stand fast to the gospel, hold tightly to the gospel. Like he says in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Galatians 5, 1, stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which crisis made us free, do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. In light of the fact that the world is in crisis, and a greater crisis is coming, he's saying stand fast in the word. He had already said in verse two, do not be shaken in mind or troubled. So hold on, remain firm, be strong. For me, part of what helps me to remain strong is I have fellowship with people who are strong also. And they encourage me. So I see someone who is strong and I wanna be strong too, we can actually lift one another up. You know, going to me, if I fall and no one in there to lift me up, I have people who can lift me up. I have fellow pastors and brothers in the Lord who I can look to and I'll be honest with you, there are times when I say, you know, this is hard, I'm tired, you know, I'd like to give up. I've had it. It's easier to flow than it is to fight. I just as soon as like any dead fish just flow on with the current, but there's something inside of me that says, but you can't do that. It takes a living fish to go against the flow, so walk in the spirit. And I strengthen my own heart often, but I also need people who are examples to me. And seeing them and all, it encourages me. And even hearing sometimes the well dones or encouraging words or something can stir my soul and you're the same way. It helps me to proceed even when it's hard, even when it's tiring, even when you wanna give up. When I was in the military, once again, I was in the army, most of you know, I served with the 82nd Airborne. And the 82nd Airborne is known, was known in the military as being runners. We ran, we would run everywhere. And I mean, that's the way it was. And after I got out of jump school and after I had permanent party, you know, I started to get out of shape, so I started to run again.  You know, I don't run today. If I'm sitting down, I don't even run to the refrigerator. I'll say, Marie, can you run on over there? She likes to run, I don't.  That's what I did on my own, recreationally, because I got to love running. And so, it wasn't easy when it began. When I started running, I was out of shape. I'd been out of jump school, I was permanent party, we weren't running as much anymore. And before you know it, I'm just getting lazy and putting on weight. And I'm realizing how easy it is to put on weight. They give you three meals a day, and that's the way it worked. And now I'm gaining weight, I'm putting on weight, I don't like it, I have to work out, I start working, I start dropping weight, and so part of the way to drop weight for me was running. So I had a course, it was a three mile course, I used to run through a forest area. It was a three mile course, and three of my friends, four of my friends, and I decided to start running again. So there we go running out up this course. And as it's in the woods, I still remember my first run saying to myself, I hate this, there's no need in doing this, why am I doing this? You want to stop, I'm telling myself this, you want to stop. And so we're at the two mile marker, and I'm thinking, you know, if you stop, they're gonna think you're wimping out. Then I'd say, who cares? I'm tired, I'll go get a burger. I don't, you know, and I was arguing with myself. You gotta stop. And now my feet, those of you who run know what I mean when your feet feel like lead. Your legs are heavy. And you're saying to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't need this. And I'm starting to slow down. When off to my right in this field, there's a bunch of young kids who probably were high school age. And there was one of our sergeants, one of the airborne sergeants, and he says, and I heard them. They were about 50 yards away. I heard them when the guy says to the kids, you see those men? Those are airborne men. And all of a sudden, man, I can run. I'll never forget that. I'll never forget that. It's a truth. I'm just like a stallion, you know? I, so I learned a long time ago that it's encouraging when you got somebody on the sideline who was saying, now that's an example. Follow that. I learned that at the age of 23. Be an example and be encouraged by others. You can do it. Stand fast. Don't give up. Hold on and watch the glory of the Lord. Hold on. We're with you. We're cheering for you. We're on your side. We want to see you succeed. And stand fast. And that's what he's telling us to do. Hold fast. And remember, there are eternal benefits. In 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Paul said, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Don't be apathetic. Clutch tightly to the truth that you've received, he says. And he uses the word traditions. The word tradition literally is a giving over which is done by word or mouth or in writing. Tradition by instruction, narrative or preset. That speaks of the teachings of the apostles. It's been called Apostolic Doctrine. They're to hold fast to the teachings that they've received. Now Paul had received and he's simply giving that which he received in 1 Corinthians 11 too. He had said to the church in Corinth, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. These traditions are not religious ideas. It's speaking of the gospel, verbally delivered, later written down. So he's saying, remain firm in the word.  The great apostasy will impact those who refuse to hold fast to the doctrine. So the teachings of the apostles give you instruction and hold fast to those things. Paul first received them and he gave them to others. In Galatians 1, 11 and 12, he said, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter in 2 Peter 1, 16 said, we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power in coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. So stand fast, don't move away. Grasp firmly to it, hold tightly to the word of God. Stand your ground, don't let go. Plant your feet, clutch tightly to God's word is what he's saying and that's applicable to us too. And then finally, he says in verse 16, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Under persecution, may God continue to give you encouragement as you obey him. We not only are to stand fast in God's word and guard it, but we're also called to do it. So Paul prays that God will encourage and establish them in every good word and work. If our lives contradict our preaching, the gospel's compromised, we lose credibility. So Paul prays that their word and works will be consistent and remember it is God's love that has motivated our works for him. It is the good works that are fueled by faith and testify of his saving grace. James 1.22 says it like this, be doers of the word, not heroes only deceiving yourselves. Titus 2.14 says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifying to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Remember, this changed life isn't going to happen just by our own efforts. We are being sanctified by the spirit as we continue to believe in the truth. And remember, Philippians 1.6 which says, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God will work in you. God is working in you. And when you feel a sense of conviction, the wisest thing to do is repent. God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. God, I'm weak, but you are strong. God, I'm faithless, but you are faithful. God, I need your help. Because Lord, I realize that every day I live is one less day on earth and one day closer to being with you. Help me to live like that. Help me to number my days that I might walk with wisdom. Help me to look for things that are still unseen with the expectant hope of one day seeing them with my eyes. Help me to realize that Jesus, when it's all said and done, this world is passing away, but your word never does. And that I have my name written in your book of life. And one day I will see you face to face and I will be brought into your image. Help me to know that Christian faith. And help me to be a witness of your glory because you are transforming me from glory to glory. And the day will come not that far from now when I will be known, I will know even as I am known. And I will have the opportunity to lay down at your feet and to simply say for eternity, thank you for what you've done for me. I love you Jesus, but thank you because you first loved me. May we stand fast in the truth.