Today on the channel, we're going to take a look at the top 10 manga I acquired in 2022. Before talking about these 10 books, let me remind you that in no shape or form does this invalidate the list that you might have for your top 10 books of 2022. Let's get started. Kemonojihen Volume 1, written by Sho Aimoto, published by Seven Seas Entertainment. This dark fantasy mystery slash shonen series finally came out. I've been eagerly anticipating this one since I watched the anime back when it premiered in early 2021. If you don't know what Kemonojihen is about, it basically mixes a lot of yokai and Japanese folklore with battle shonen mechanics and all that fun stuff to provide a really quirky tale of a character called Kabane Kuzaka. I hope I pronounced that right. A 13 year old who is a Hanyo or ghoul hybrid. He thinks he has been abandoned by his parents, but there's more to that. As the character of Kohachi Inugami arrives to investigate a case at his village of rotting livestock. The village does not care for Kuzaka, they nickname the kid Dorotabo for his stench and ugly appearance similar to the yokai of the same name. However, Kohachi reassures him that he is more than that. And without spoiling things for you, he gets an opportunity to investigate about his parents by now working with Kohachi at his Tokyo office. One of the things that I wanted to point out in this video is the art of the manga. For somebody going in for the first time, you might be inclined to think that it's not as complex or intricate as you thought it would be. But I think that's part of the charm of the series. When you're dealing with yokai and supernatural elements, the more layers you peel back, the more detail and beautiful artwork you'll start to see. And such is the case with Himonojihen. Highly recommended, Volume 1 of this series. Rooster Fighter, written by Shu Sakuratani, put out by Viz Media. This is an action comedy slash parody. It is so sincere in its absurdity. I can't help but smile and have a really fun time when reading Rooster Fighter.  So he is trying to avenge her death. Obviously, this has elements of Tokusatsu, Super Sentai, Kaiju, and comic books and all that stuff. I like that it doesn't take itself too serious, but it knows how to have a hell of a good time. The art in it is beautiful. I love the detail on the monsters and the animals. Everything looks great. It looks right. And I highly recommend it. You're going to have a fun time with this. Do pick it up if you get a chance. Dinosaur Sanctuary, Volume 1. This is written by Itaro Kinoshita with contributions by the professor Shinichi Fujiwara. This manga is put out by Seven Seas Entertainment and this was also one of my favorite reads of the year. This I put out a video on and I just fell in love with it. I love dinosaurs and this is sort of an alternate reality where in the late 40s, they discovered that dinos never went extinct. They were on a Pacific Island. So through breeding and genetics, they have manipulated the dinosaurs and they are still alive today. And we follow the character of Tsuma Suzume, a kindhearted rookie dino keeper as she's starting to work for the first time on Dinoland. Now this zoo has fallen on hard times and it could potentially close, but now that Tsuma is there, she's going to try her hardest. This is a series that is a slice of life. It just happens to have dinosaurs in it instead of regular animals. The art is beautifully detailed. I love the contrast between the character designs of the humans and the dinosaurs. Total attention was put into this series to make it as realistic or factual as possible with the contributions from Uduata. They do a really good job of basically if dinosaurs were alive today, this is how they would behave and look in my opinion.  Succubus and Hitman volume one. This will probably be the only controversial pick on this top 10. I am fully aware that this is not for everybody, only for the strong of heart that aren't bothered by the disturbing elements that happen in this manga. However, I am a fan of a lot of things. I like all the cutesy stuff. I like all the slice of life elements. I love your standard Shonen manga.  It really plays out like a B horror slash action movie. First and foremost, this is written by Makoto Fukami and drawn by Seigo Tokia. In it we follow the character of Gamo Shoja. This high schooler unfortunately passed away, but now his body is inhabited by the soul of another person that made a pact with a succubus called Armalina. In exchange for his services as her personal Hitman, Armalina is helping the young kid to hunt down the people who brutally murdered him and his family. Again, this is a very dark, demented, twisted series. It has a lot of grotesque images, a lot of not-safe work material. There is a lot of gross violence and sexual content throughout, but it sort of reads like a trashy, action-packed, demonic series. And I don't know, it's my guilty pleasure I guess. I hate using that term, but I'm going to use it for this one. For some reason, I just like it. The art is phenomenal. It's one of the strongest aspects of the series. And again, I completely understand you shrugging this off and invalidating the whole video because I put this on here, but I got to be honest with my viewers. I genuinely liked Succubus and Hitman Vol. 1. Record of Ragnarok Vol. 1 Yes, this was actually released in 2022 to be precise at the very start in January of this year, and it is such a fun, action-packed story. This is pure adrenaline and badassery. This is a story written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and art by Azichika. I hope I'm pronouncing those names right, if not, forgive me. 1. Once every millennium, the gods assemble to decide if humanity is worthy of its continued existence or if it should be destroyed. The Valkyrie of Runhilda has convinced the gods to give humanity a chance at redemption through combat, so they assemble the best of the best of the human warriors in a tournament against the gods. The action is super bombastic and reminds me of the awesome extreme era of the 90s when it came to action, manga, and comic books. This is a really fun series with fantastic character designs, and if you're a history buff and nerd and you like action movies, I think you're going to have a fun time with this as you see your favorite characters in a completely different setting. You can't go wrong with Record of Ragnarok. 2. Dragon Quest The Adventure of Die Volume 1 by Rico Sanjo and Koji Inada. This is one of my all-time favorites shown in manga. This was put out by Viz Media. You don't have to know anything about the Dragon Quest video games. This is just an epic action fantasy series with fantastic themes of friendship and love. I highly recommend this. This North American release is based on the most recent printing over at Japan where they collected, I believe it was a 2-in-1 for a 23 volume set. This stars the character of Dai who has the heart of a hero and sets off on a legendary journey with awesome friends traveling the world to take down the evil Dark Lord. The plot may sound simple, but as you read into it and you meet all the wonderful characters and how they help our protagonist grow as an individual, you start falling in love with the world and its inhabitants. The art is extremely charming and awesome when the real stuff hits the fan.  3. Yakuza Reincarnation Written by Takeshi Natsuhara and illustrated by Hiroki Miyashita. This action fantasy comedy puts a spin on the isekai genre as we follow an old Yakuza that dies on the job. He wakes up in another world in the body of a young princess, retaining his back tattoos and Yakuza's strength. Now I know what you're thinking, another isekai series, however there are things to like about the genre. When it's done right, you really have a fun time with it. You don't have to take things too seriously and such as the case with Yakuza Reincarnation, a beautifully drawn series. I love the distinct art style for this and the really well done character models. I like that there's the whole aspect of an ancient prophecy that Ryu is meant to save the realm and all that stuff, but he just takes it in stride and goes day by day solving problems that are fairly realistic to today's climate. Fun story in my opinion with great art. I highly recommend it if you're in for something different or if you've never tried an isekai series. I think this could be a nice entry point for a genre that's overstuffed with series. The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus Volume 1. Now I have to admit I have zero knowledge of the Seven Deadly Sins, I was always interested in it, I wasn't a fan of what I saw from the anime, but I've always wanted to read it. Lucky me that Kodansha put out the big oversized 3-in-1 omni additions that look and feel amazing. I think this is one of the best physical releases in my opinion and it really helps to have the series in a larger format, the art gets blown up, and you can see all the details drawn by Nakabasuzuki. I know some people will complain about the spine creasing and all that stuff, but hey at the end of the day these are big books, you're meant to read them and enjoy them and that's what I've been doing. I don't have a proper review of this series because this is the first time checking it out, but I'm interested to talk more about the Seven Deadly Sins in the upcoming year. One of the best releases of the year goes to Shuna's journey from the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, this was put out by 1st, 2nd. Shuna's journey originally was written in June of 1983 and finally in November of 2022 finally arrived stateside and I couldn't be happier. This was a fantastic release by 1st, 2nd books. I highly recommend you guys check it out. It's a one volume watercolor illustrated graphic novel and this is essentially an epic about a prince on a quest for a golden grain that would save his land. And there are people that have commented and written articles about it and how this manga by Miyazaki could be sort of seen like the prototype to character works in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke and stuff like that.  It's a beautiful, epic, wonderfully illustrated by one of the best creative minds from Japan. Princess Night All-New Omnibus Edition from Osamu Tezuka. This is an absolute classic. I know there's always controversy when it comes to old classic manga like this, but Princess Night was a trailblazer. It established a lot of trends in the shoujo genre, but it is considered to be one of the first manga that is heavily focused on portraying a female hero. If you don't know, Princess Night follows the adventures of Sapphire as she is born with a blue heart of a boy and a pink heart of a girl. She's pretending to be a male prince to prevent the evil Duke from taking control of the kingdom. With a medieval European-like setting, Princess Night is emblematic and a classic, and I am genuinely happy to have this in my collection. This year, I started getting into Tezuka books. I'm not a fan of all his works, but I do want to have the classics, if you will. So that's going to be it, folks. Those were 10 books I bought in 2022 that I really enjoyed. Let me know in the comment section what was your favorite purchase of 2022 when it comes to manga and anime as well. Why not? That's going to be it for manga videos in the year 2022, what a year it has been, a lot of fun. And I'm definitely looking forward to making even more content in 2023. If you liked this video, hit the like button, subscribe, share the video, all that fun stuff. Thank you everybody for tuning in. God bless, stay safe out there. I will catch all of you on our next video.


Okay, let's open our Bibles together. We're in the book of Job, we're in chapter 28, and it's already been mentioned, but I'll repeat the time of comedy and fellowship. We've had this fellow, Carlos Oscar out before, and I don't know if any of you have ever heard of him or were here when he came, but I have to tell you, he's a lot of fun. He really makes you laugh, and it would be good in relaxing time, even as Dave, who, Dave finally did a peer-a-peer today, you know, that same guy. I thought that the rapture had happened, we all stayed behind and Dave was gone, but he's gonna be fired again, you know, you just have to fire Dave. But anyway, Carlos will be here. He's a lot of fun. I really encourage you to come because it's important sometimes for the church, just together for fellowship, and just to laugh, to enjoy ourselves, have some dessert, and have a date. And so, a lot of people haven't been doing that lately, and so we invite you to do that, and to be part of that. And also, with the Israel trip, we've been working on the dates, and you know, the date is really not exactly what Dave was saying today. I didn't, well, that's the second reason to fire him. It's really the last, it's gonna be more the last week of March into the first portion of April, just for those who may be thinking of going. We do have a great interest. Many people, we've had like 130 some people who've signed up with interest to go, and when we have that many signed up, we usually, well, it tells me that we're gonna have a trip. And so I hope that you guys, if you've never been to Israel, I have to tell you, it would be something well worth going. And if you're afraid to go, and some people are, I don't know why, but sometimes people are, there's no reason for you to be afraid. We are issued bulletproof vests and M16s. It's very safe, and you get a little training before you go. So, no, it's very safe, and we'd love to have you go with us. With that said, we're going to be looking today at Job chapter 28, and I chose to entitle this particular installment of our study, the search for wisdom. And even as we were having our video bulletin today, tomorrow Christi Duff will be sharing about wisdom also. So for those ladies who are watching online, or perhaps here right now, and plan on being there tomorrow, you're gonna get a double dose of this kind of study. And so we'll be looking at chapter 28 today. I'll begin reading at verse 1. I'll read to verse 11, reading all of that, and then I'm gonna take it apart a little bit at a time. So, Job chapter 28, beginning at verse 1. Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to darkness and searches every recess for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away from people and places forgotten by feet. They hang far away from men. They swing to and fro. As for the earth, from it comes bread. But underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the source of sapphires. It contains gold and dust. That path no bird knows, nor has the falcon's eye seen it. The proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. He puts his hand on the flint. He overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He downs up the streams from trickling. What is hidden, he brings forth to light. Job's friends have basically been claiming to have great wisdom in life. They have come to speak to Job and to advise him. We've seen that all the way through up to chapter 28, how they'll come and they give to him their information, their wisdom, their experience and all. They're doing that because they're wanting him to know that they have age, that their experience, they have knowledge of ancient traditions and therefore they should be listened to. We saw in Job chapter 15 verses 9 and 10 where they said, what do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us older than your father. In chapter 8 verse 8 they said, please inquire of past generations and consider the things searched out by their fathers. And so as they've come and spoken to him and tried to give him advice, they have spoken of their own age, their experience, the knowledge of ancient tradition and all. And they're acting as if they have great experience in wisdom. But Job doesn't agree with them. As we've seen, Job does not see that they do have wisdom. They have failed to impress him with their wisdom. Job shows them where wisdom actually is found. Since they have failed to do so, what he's intended to do is communicate to them so that they may know where wisdom actually originates. And Job, as we go through this study, Job points out that without God, man has no wisdom. And so he begins to contrast human skill and ingenuity, which is what we're seeing in this passage. He's contrasting human skill and ingenuity with God's wisdom. And it makes it clear that man can attain material things with ingenuity and hard work. That'll give him experience and understanding that is very practical in this world. But as good as that kind of knowledge is, it's not equal to the divine wisdom that God will impart. And it's this kind of wisdom that should be pursued because God's wisdom is of eternal value. You can gain experience. You can gain a certain kind of wisdom as it pertains to the job that you work or the things that you do even by hobby. You can gain wisdom and experience. You can learn how to garden and do a great job. And you can teach your children or grandchildren or whatever, what kinds of plants that you plant at certain times, things like that. And that's good. That's experience. And I appreciate that when somebody helps me with all of that. Or you can have a job that you do for many years. You become an expert at it. You become very good at it. You're able to train other people that this job, that's good too. My father was a truck driver. My father attempted to teach me to drive. And eventually he hired somebody else to do it. He got so frustrated with me. But he was a great driver and he could have done it had he wanted to. And I learned by watching him how to do certain things. So he had a certain kind of wisdom. He had a certain kind of experience. And he was able to give that kind of thing to me. But it's not eternal. It's not the kind of thing that profits not only in this life but in the life to come. And that's really what we're looking at here in chapter 28. And so Joe begins to speak concerning that. And we'll look at it a little bit out of time. As he's speaking concerning wisdom and its origin. And so in verses one and two once again, surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. He goes on to say iron is taken from the earth and copper is smelted from ore. And so he points out that man makes great effort in achieving things that are material. He digs into mountains searching for silver and gold for iron and copper. And then once he has found that he refines it. And that requires great effort. He refines it with great heat. He makes it pure and he makes it usable. And so he's speaking concerning how that they will go after that which is material. He says in verse three, man puts an end to darkness and searches every recess for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death. And so he's willing, man is willing to enter into dark caves to illuminate them as he searches for the treasure. And he thoroughly searches every inch of the area, even in the darkest regions of earth. Then that's a point he's making when he speaks of every recess for ore in the darkness. In verse four, he continues and says he breaks open a shaft away from people in places forgotten by feet. They hang far away from men. They swing to and fro. And so that's a picture of a deep mineshaft far away from the houses above. He speaks of places forgotten by feet. That speaks of places that you can't walk. It's like speaking of shafts, mineshafts. He speaks of them hanging far away from men, swinging to and fro, which is a picture of being suspended by lines as they enter in and they are looking for that ore. And so again, it speaks of effort. In verse five, he says, ask for the earth from it comes bread. But underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the source of sapphires. It contains gold dust. And so he's speaking about earth's surface here. And once again, he's illustrating, he says, a man can plant crops and grow food to provide for his needs. But underneath, he says, it's turned up as by fire. That could be a picture of the precious stones that he digs up. And when he brings them up, they reflect the light. They seem to be on fire. And so he's describing what they're digging for and what they're getting as they do so. In verse seven, he says that path no bird knows nor has the falcon eyes seen it. The proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. So man descends into the earth. Man minds ore. Birds don't even enter into the shaft. Even lions and the young don't descend into its depths as man has. And once again, this is all illustrating the effort that man makes in order to gain materially and to live. He says in verse nine, he puts his hand on the flint. He overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks. And his eye sees every precious thing. He downs up the streams from trickling. What is hidden, he brings forth to light. And so he digs through even the hardest of rocks. That's what it speaks of when it says he puts his hand on the flint. So he digs through even the hardest of rocks and he persists until he gets through. He'll even dig into mountains in search of the precious ore and the minerals. In verse 10, it speaks of cutting out channels even in the rocks to divert water. So he can continue mining. He keeps his eye on the prize. He searches diligently until he finds it. In verse 11, he downs up the streams from trickling. What is hidden, he brings forth to light. So the metal that he is seeking, those metals are found in. And he brings them to the surface with him. So all of this is intended to show man's diligence and ingenuity as he seeks for material and natural benefits. This is what man will do. He's willing to rise up early, go to work and work long hours. He's willing to go down into a mineshaft, a dangerous place to be, and to work all day until it's night. And then to come up with whatever he can dig out of that mine. He's willing to do that. He's willing to put effort into doing all of that. And that's for material things. That's for things that will provide sustenance for him and all of that. But now he's going to ask a very important question. He says in verse 12, with all of this, but where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man is capable of searching for and discovering precious stones and ores and all of that. That's material. It's necessary. But where does true wisdom, wisdom that informs us how to live, where does that come from? Is that something that you can go out and mine and dig up and refine and something that will benefit you in the sense of how to live a life that is blessed? Will that help you? And the answer to that obviously is no. And that's why he's going to turn our attention to where wisdom can be found and where the place of understanding actually is. And now he begins to speak about that. And he's actually comparing or contrasting the material efforts with the spiritual effort. And so speaking of wisdom, verse 12, rather verse 13, man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, it is not in me. And the sea says, it's not with me. It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of warfare, in precious onyx or sapphire. Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. So now he begins to give to us a contrast in order to give to us the a sense of how valuable wisdom is. When he says in verse 13, man does not know its value. He's actually literally saying man does not know wisdom's incredible value. It isn't found in the land of the living. Sinful man does not value the wisdom that comes from above. It's not something that you can buy in the marketplace. It's not something that you can sell for profit.  That's the point he's making. You can't buy it. It's not something that you gain. It's not something like like looking for ore.  It's different than that. And the thing is, and the contrast is, is man values and is willing to work for something material like gold or silver or precious stones. Man is willing to do that. Will do everything they can to have that. But when you contrast the value of gold with wisdom, he's saying wisdom has an incredible value that people don't really understand. You see, true wisdom is something that the natural man does not intentionally seek. Part of the reason for this is it doesn't promise immediate material gain. People don't necessarily look for wisdom. It's not something that as a child, most people are ever raised thinking is valuable. It really isn't. Wisdom isn't something that people will say you ought to have. Now, your grandparents might have said that to you. Perhaps your parents did. They may have said, you need to gain wisdom in life, son or daughter. You need to. But that really was, I was never taught that. I don't know how many in this room, if you were raised a Christian, perhaps you were raised to value wisdom. But I was raised and it wasn't in a wrong way. It wasn't in an ignorant way of my father or anything. It was the way he felt was right. I was raised to be, he taught me to be a hard worker, be honest and things like that, but my father never said, son seek after wisdom. So a lot of people have grown up seeking after material things and that's what's being contrasted. That's what's being spoken of here. They've sought after the material and this is a picture, material is pictured by precious stones, by silver, by gold, things like that, because sinful man doesn't value wisdom and especially is not going to value the wisdom that comes from above. True wisdom is something that the natural man doesn't intentionally seek. In Ecclesiastes, in chapter 7, verse 12, the Bible tells us wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter. But the advantage of knowledge is this, that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. Wisdom gives to you that practical way to live that actually blesses you and even protects you and money really can't do that for you. You see, he says true wisdom does not come from the land of the living. That's an interesting way to put it. True wisdom is something that the natural man doesn't intentionally seek. It doesn't come from the land of the living. In James, in the New Testament, James chapter 3, verse 17, it says the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. True wisdom doesn't come from the land of the living. True wisdom comes from above. It's imparted by God. He'll point that out in just a moment. In verse 14, the deep says it's not in me. The sea says it's not with me. In other words, it's not hidden in the depths of the sea and even if a man could dive deep enough to find it, it wouldn't be there. It's not there. It can't be purchased for gold nor can silver be weighed for its price. It's not something that can be bought even by the most pure gold or silver or precious stones. True wisdom is the most valued possession anyone can have. I have to tell you and we'll be looking at this. I'll be developing this with you in a little bit, a little bit more. But true wisdom, you're having trouble with your kids and you've got money but money isn't going to buy peace in the home and your kid's going through a hard time and you may have a good amount of money in the bank. You may have a lot of material things but your material things are not going to help your son or your daughter to know how to live. It doesn't matter sometimes how much you have. That's a great advantage in having material things of course but my kids didn't need to get raised with a lot of material things. My kids needed to be raised by parents who sought the Lord and had wisdom to have a practical understanding of how to live in the age that we're living in to have the capacity to give advice that would benefit them not just in the decision they're about to make but in the decisions that they'll make throughout their life and wisdom is something that that you gain and I'll show you this in just a moment over time but it is something that is much more valuable than giving your your son or daughter some money to go out and have a good time. Wisdom is something that prepares them and equips them for a lifetime and it's the most valued possession anyone can have and it's the most valuable possession anyone can give. That's why in Proverbs chapter 8 verses 10 and 11 it reads received by instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than pure gold for wisdom is more precious than rubies and nothing you desire compares with her. I feel sorry for ruby she's always told in scripture she's not valuable at all I think ruby sweet but anyway in Proverbs 8 19 my fruit is better than gold pure gold and my harvest surpasses choice silver that's how wisdom speaks and so he asks again in verse 20 from where then does wisdom come and where is the place of understanding now he had already said it in a different way in verse 12 where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding he basically repeats that in verse 20 where then does wisdom come from where does it come where is the place of understanding since godly wisdom can't be acquired by any natural means the question is how can you get it if it's unattainable in any normal way then how do you attain wisdom and and the question is where does true wisdom actually originate and who can show us where it is and who can show us how to gain it somebody once said wisdom the wisdom of god is not something that is acquired by man but something that is bestowed by god it is a divine endowment and not a human acquisition so where does true wisdom come from he says in verse 21 it is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air on one hand there's a kind of wisdom that belongs only to god and is not to be disclosed to us there are things that god is hidden from our eyes from the eyes of all living and remain concealed there are things that he's reserved for himself and he doesn't reveal to us in our lifetime Deuteronomy 29 29 says that like this the secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may follow all the words of this law there are some things that belong only to god that we will not know this side of heaven and there are our other things that god chooses to reveal to us that are not only to benefit us but to be handed down to our children and our grandchildren so there are things god desires us to know and to have but wisdom is not obtained by any natural hunger or natural means he says in verse 21 it's hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air so god's ways are beyond man's attempts to find it they're higher than the birds can fly it reminds me of romans 11 33 and 34 where paul said oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of god how unsearchable his judgments his paths beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the lord who has been his counselor god's ways are beyond our ways they're beyond our finding out god has never called me up and asked me for counsel he's never called him and said you know i have a problem could you give me some advice that's the point that paul's making who has known the mind of the lord who has been his counselor god knows all things he discloses to us the things are necessary and he's pointed that out he says in verse 22 destruction and death say we have heard a report about it with our ears and so he's saying here very basically that that wisdom isn't found in the upper world it's not found in the seas nor is it found in the air because it's concealed from birds and so even the underworld doesn't possess great wisdom now these are our word pictures intended to illustrate that wisdom is hidden from man but he goes on and he says in verse 23 god understands its way and he knows its place for he looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens to establish a weight for the wind and a portion the waters by measure when he made a law for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt then he saw wisdom and declared it he prepared it indeed he searched it out and so god is the author of wisdom god possesses wisdom wisdom resides in him alone and because that's true he alone can make it known to us he can tell us what wisdom actually is notice how he says in verse 24 he looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens god sees everything and god knows everything in the universe that's so beyond anything i can comprehend heber's 413 says nothing in all creation is hidden from god's sight everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of of him to whom we must give account nothing is hidden from him nothing is he sees it all every single thing and so in the universe god is aware of all things that's so beyond me to understand but in the universe god sees everything and knows everything and so he looks to the end of the earth he sees everything under the whole wide heavens in verse 25 it's interesting how he says to establish a weight for the wind and a portion the waters by measure he's saying god's wisdom even governs nature the winds force and the amount of rain that is going to fall is measured by him because the word waters it speaks of rain he speaks of it being laid up in storehouses it says in verse 26 he made a law for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt god placed rain fall under a fixed rule when it's going to fall how it's going to fall and he proportions it out it says he gave laws concerning even how lightning would strike and what causes lightning so it's interesting that job is making it clear that god has control of everything including nature remember in chapter two of the book of job we saw that lightning fell it burned up his sheep and killed his servants and that wind caused his oldest son's house to collapse killing all of his children at one time well job is aware that without god's knowledge or permission that would not have occurred and he's pointing to that in verse 27 he saw wisdom and declared it he prepared it indeed he searched it out so in a sense in his creation wisdom was visibly expressed the rain the storms the thunder the wind thunderbolt the visible expressions of his wisdom and these were searched out or examined and it shows the wisdom that governs nature and now i want to make something real practical hopefully as we look at verse 28 you may be thinking boy that's a quickest study i've ever had with this man don't worry i'll keep you here for a while verse 28 and to man he said behold the fear of the lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding and so i want to share with you a few things about that i want you to notice how he says in verse 28 the fear of the lord that is wisdom now it's interesting read this with me again in verse 28 it says and to man he said when did he say that we know that job is what has been called chronologically the oldest book of the bible when did he say that well perhaps it was when he was ministering to adam when adam was created that may have been and the commentators that i use pointed to that they said this would more than likely have been something that that as god was communicating to adam the things that would make for life that he made it very clear that the fear of the lord is wisdom departing from evil is something that he needed to do so the fear of the lord is wisdom to depart from evil is understanding it's the reverence of god that motivates us to live holy lives pleasing to him in proverbs 1533 it reads the fear of the lord teaches a man wisdom and humility comes before honor and so when he says to man he said behold the fear of the lord that is wisdom to depart from it from evil is understanding i want to share with you by taking you to proverbs chapter two would you please turn your bibles there because we're going to actually close our study of joe by looking at proverbs chapter two i'm going to give you a few verses verses one following in proverbs chapter two and i'll take you to verse six and i'm going to spend a few minutes here i want to develop this with you where does wisdom come from so in the book of proverbs chapter two begin in at verse one my son if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding yes if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding if you seek her as silver search for her as for hidden treasures then you'll understand the fear of the lord and find the knowledge of god for the lord gives wisdom from his mouth from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding we'll look at that for a few minutes so Solomon says son if you receive my words where does wisdom come from well Solomon is giving some insight to us to know that wisdom originates with God but he's giving to his son counsel as to how he can be a godly man one of the things that i believe every man every man who is a father one of the things that i believe that every man who is a father ought to be dispensing to his son and his daughter for that matter is we ought to be dispensing wisdom to our children we ought to be giving them devotions when they're young we ought to be praying for them when they go to school when they get up in the morning and leave as they're growing older we keep them in prayer and saturate them in prayer we know that the enemy hates our children we who are parents we know that we know that both in the old testament and the new testament satan hated babies in the time of moses when he was born babies were killed in the time of christ when he was born babies were killed we know that the enemy hates our children and we also know that the enemy does not want a godly heritage we know on top of that that god is given to the man the husband the father the responsibility of being the quote-unquote priest of the home leading the home in in prayers and in devotion and in ministry that's what my job was i i personally knew that and and therefore i i never expected somebody else to do my job for me i always knew it was my job and so i did the best marie my wife and i together did the best that we could but i as a father did the best that i could to raise my children up to to live a life that was respectable before them because i knew that even though they were they were very small when this church was was birthed you know they they would always know their father as as pastor they would know that but they would know that that was what i'm called by people in the church i needed to make sure that they saw me as their pastor i needed to make sure that in my home my children respected and reverenced god and so in my home i needed to make sure that that home was was not simply a place that that people live it was a place where a family a family dwells and i knew that that by the way i would treat my wife that my sons would learn how to treat theirs and i knew that as the way that i as a man treated my wife that my my daughters would one day hopefully want a man who would love them that way to see i knew that even as a young man growing up as a christian i need to be somebody who can be respected because this is nothing that is is is more more to be avoided than for for a man for me to be a hypocrite in the side of my children i wanted my kids to know that they had a father who is sincere about his faith who doesn't just pretend to be something in front of people but is actually that behind closed doors i had a girl that i was dating before i met marie a couple years before i met marie i think of all the time no i and uh and you know we're just kind of going out i had letter to the lord and uh we went out for a little while and i would come to her house and her father was really it was kind of mean he was mean he really was he is an ex marine and he wanted me to know that and he had attitude and um i'll be honest with you i was a young christian and a young man and i i didn't really appreciate his attitude it was it was rude very disrespectful and he really wasn't very kind to his daughter and and i saw that i we went out long enough for me to see those things and and then one day i came to the house to pick her up to go someplace and i knocked on the door and she came to the door and i hear his voice as he says okay honey you'd have a great time baby i love you see when you get home and i heard him say that and so as we walked out i said i've never heard your father say that she says oh we have friends over he does that whenever people are listening to him he just does that in front of people because that isn't my father and i said i know that's not she says no he just does that so they'll think he's a good guy i never wanted that to be said of me i never wanted my kids to know the real david as just some kind of a harsh overlord um but i pretend to be loving to them i never wanted that because i knew that if there's anything that smells terrible in the nose of people it's hypocrisy and i never wanted to be that hypocrite and so neither did my wife so my wife and i loved our babies still do obviously we still call them our babies even though they're not babies obviously my baby joseph is turning 40 this this sunday yeah 40 years old how'd he get so old and how'd i stay so young i don't it's one of those miracles but uh i wanted to be able to sit down with him and say this is the way a man should live son this is how a man should treat a woman this is how a man should live his life this is what a man of god really is solemn's doing that solemn speak into a son and he says again in verse one my son if you receive my words if you receive my words you see if i want to be wise i need to receive godly words godly words of instruction receive my words welcome my words within your heart and and this is the seed that comes and and it would the best wisdom obviously is going to be scriptural wisdom and so we receive the seed of the word and we we take it by faith because wisdom is found in god's word and and practical wisdom develops as we receive what god has to say and then act on it obey it so if if we're to become wise it begins with the willingness to learn the ways of wisdom like it says in psalm 19 verse 7 the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple and so where does wisdom originate it originates with god how do i become wise while one received the word let the word be implanted and grafted within us so that we might know what it what it says and and that we might determine to to the best of our ability with a help of the spirit to obey and to grow over time so that our hearts are changed and transformed by the word of god he also says in verse one a second thing he says treasure my words and when he says treasure my commands within you the word treasure means to store something up it's a it's a picture of of actually protecting something valuing something encasing it and and and what he's saying is you need to treasure my commands you need to store my commands in your heart so that you carry about these things with you so that when in need you can you can turn to the things that you've learned and you can call upon those things you can remember those things that were taught you store these things store these things within you and and treasure these things value these things within you like it says in Psalm 119 127 therefore i love your commandments more than gold yes then find gold your commandments are are more important to me than anything else even even more important than than the purest of all gold why because gold will not bail me out in a time when i need wisdom and so he says what you need to do is receive the things they say welcome those things within you treasure them have a value place a value on my commands and then a third thing incline your ear he says in verse two if you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding incline your ear the word incline speaks of being attentive it means to listen closely to to to hear and mentally interact with what you're hearing so when you're inclining yourself you have a desire to hear it and you want to think it through and you want to make application that's what god's word is supposed to do in us it's not just a matter of knowing a scripture in its words we want to know its scripture the scripture in its meaning and there's an inclination of our heart he says in Psalm 119 112 the psalmist said i've inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end i have made a determined effort and inclined myself in that direction that i would know your statutes forever and that i will live by those things and so what we do is we receive and and we treasure and we incline our hearts in that direction we apply our heart he says to understanding so an inclination of the ear without the application from the heart is useless so we need to hunger for and desire something that causes other things to fade in comparison when my son joseph who turned out to be my little student he'd like to go to school and i was very proud of him my son went to the bible college in marietta and while he was there he made friends and one of his friends said to him one day joseph i feel sorry for you and joseph said why would you feel sorry for me he says i feel sorry for you i feel sorry because you um you're a pastor's son and joseph says what is why would that be something you'd be thinking is something you should feel sorry for me about he says because you see your father the way he really is and the rest of us will only see him when he's in the pulpit now this is many years ago and my joseph one day told me about this he said that to me i said oh really he goes yeah he says yeah dad he said my friend was saying i feel sorry for you because you see your father for what he is and and i said and and he said to that guy he said i told him dad he said what you see my father to be in the pulpit is the way my father is in his front room my father doesn't change those were words that i wanted to hear i'll have to be honest with you i wanted to hear those kinds of things for myself because if there's anything that i want my sons and daughters to know and fathers and mamas we all ought to have an agreement on this is i wanted them to know the sincerity of our faith not just that we go to church or attend to church but that we understand that we are the church and that the church when it gathers in a certain in certain places for feeding and equipping and encouraging it and worshiping together as a community but then we leave and the salt leaves the salt shaker and goes out into the world to have an impact that's what we're supposed to do and so with my son he wanted he wanted me to know that dad i've seen that you you've actually applied those things i see that you have applied your heart to understanding you have a hunger you have a desire that is that is great so that other things fade in comparison and so do you want wisdom well apply yourself to understanding and then again in verse three he says if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding once again cry out for discernment lift up your voice you cry out to god for understanding and prayer and it requires god's spirit to illuminate his word and that's why we cry out that's why we say father open our eyes like it says in psalm 119 verse 18 open my eyes that i may see wondrous things from your law like it says in psalm 119 130 the entrance of your word gives light it gives understanding to the simple cry out for discernment father in jesus name i need wisdom in jesus name i need discernment in jesus name father i want to know what to do it is right open my eyes that i may see open my eyes because the entrance of your word brings me light if you want to gain wisdom it comes through the word of god and by the spirit of god and then in verse four he says if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure be diligent to seek be diligent to pursue god make that a daily habit why because where your treasure is there your heart will be also when you're pursuing the things of the lord on a daily basis and this is one of the reasons i have to say this in an honest fashion i'm blessed that you come on wednesdays i really am because it tells me that there are people who are hungry for the word of god and i praise the lord because you know you know you're getting a bible study not entertainment and and and you come and i have always been blessed by that because where your where your your treasure is your heart is and and when you have a value when you value the things of the lord you're going to search for her you're going to make a diligent effort to know you're going to continue to seek you're going to continue to pursue god i was interviewed a while ago now by by a pastor for a podcast that is directed towards pastors and and various ministries and all and and he asked me that question the pastor was interviewing me asked me when is it that that you would feel has has been the explanation for you living and serving the lord for the 50 years that you have and for me you know i never realized that 50 years is a long time for some reason i never did you know i thought you know i i still feel in many ways that i'm i'm still a young guy you know until i try and jump off this platform then my body lets me know otherwise but i'll tell you what is it that has kept me my wife marie got saved uh in 1974 you know what has kept my wife solid with christ for 46 years 46 years what is it it's a daily pursuit of the lord it's so simple you wake up in the morning and say god here am i used me today lord i i just want to be used i'm available father in jesus name if there's something you want me to do today just reveal that to me and i'll do my best to be to to be faithful in that i've been doing that for all of these years especially for the last many years as a pastor of this church 40 years this upcoming july lord help me to to not grow weary in doing what is good help me to not rest on on previous blessings but to expect you to move in the future help me not to feel that uh i've got nothing else to learn my goodness five seventh of my life has been with you i should know a lot but i don't i don't know anything and if you ask any of my friends who know me well they'll tell you that that i know i'm still a work in process after 50 years that that god is not finished with me yet and then one day one day i'm gonna say oh he's finished with me and i'll die and that'll be it i'll be god and then i am completed in him pursue the lord every day search out the lord seek the lord get into his word and pray oh god help me do you want to have wisdom do you have a desire for that well he says that's how you get it because in verse five he says then you'll understand the fear of the lord and find the knowledge of god then you'll understand and then you'll have it this wisdom will protect you in life and god will work in your life to make you righteous you're going to be protected by his wisdom and and when you're protected by his wisdom you don't get ripped off by the world in the devil you'll be protected by him you'll be able to walk with confidence knowing that that you have found the ways of the lord and you're walking in his ways because verse six the lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding where does wisdom come from and he said once again and i'll close with this in chapter 28 of joe verse 28 to man he said behold the fear of the lord that is wisdom to depart from evil is understanding when you search for wisdom god gives it to you in first john chapter five verses 14 and 15 now this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions we've asked of him father in jesus name i desire to have practical knowledge wisdom to know how to live in this age and where is where is this wisdom deposited well the treasures of wisdom are hidden in christ it's revealed by his word it's received by faith and it comes by the spirit because colossians chapter two verse three says in whom in jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge jesus is the wisdom and power of god that's why it says in first grintians 130 it is because of him that you are in christ jesus who has become for us wisdom from god that is our righteousness holiness and redemption and that's why proverbs 1616 says how much better to get wisdom than gold to choose understanding rather than silver may this church may may we covenant before the lord with our own hearts in him that we will pursue him daily father we want to have your wisdom i asked that you would just even now lord as we as we pursue you that you lord would would would continue to aggravate our heart in the direction of pursuit that lord we would love your word that we would treasure your commands that we would be diligent to pursue you for lord we saw a contrast of a man who's digging a a shaft in order to mine for gold or silver and and the work of refining and the work of all that that he has to do in order to have that and and yet your word tells us oh to pursue you and to have your wisdom is is more valuable than gold or silver and in a time lord when it really is obvious that many don't have even a small bit of of wisdom may we the church shine as lights in this darkened world and may people come and realize that even as the world came to solemn and asking him for advice that people would see the way that we live and they would they would come to us and say i see the way you live and i just want to know how i can live like that may we remember lord that we are walking letters that we are epistles known in red by all men and may we lord may we may we pursue you may we seek after you may we hunger for you may we thirst for you especially lord may we live in this darkened age with the wisdom from above for lord from you comes wisdom and i ask lord that you would increase ours may we love jesus pursue him because within him in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and even as ours are closed perhaps i have some right now who who desire prayer you need to get right with the lord maybe you haven't been pursuing him with all of your heart and you know it's time to yield areas of your life to him or it may be that you've never even yielded anything to him and you need to get right with him right now whatever the case whether online or in this room if you need prayer you want to be right with him before i close i'd like to pray for you would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at father you see these hands lord you know the reason why they're being raised to you and i ask in jesus name that you'd reach down now and that these practical things that we looked at today would become real things in us and lord as we pursue you i pray that you would be not only found but reveal yourself in deeper ways to us for lord you are more valuable valuable to us than anything else and to know you is is to have eternal life so we ask that you would work within us we yield ourselves to you we ask that you'd cleanse us of any sin and that we would walk with righteousness lord before you we lift these things to you now in jesus name we bless you thank you you can put your hands down and jesus please keep moving in us to your glory in your name amen amen


There's all this awesome stuff you want to do. But then you either fall into one of two camps. The first camp is that you end up working so much that you have no life. The second camp is that you don't end up working enough because you have too much life. And how do you balance the two of them? Well, as someone who has really sucked with work-life balance with an asterisk, I want to share three of the strategies that I use now on a daily basis that have really worked miracles. And I promise I don't think they're things you've heard before. Hey guys, Alex Hine, author of the book Master of the Day. Now if you want to work on your work-life balance, for me it always starts with journaling to actually reflect what's working, what's not working. So the first link in the description is for a free journaling worksheet and an email course that you'll get every three days, a series of free emails that tells my story and helps you get started with journaling to reinvent your life. So you can check that out, the link below. So the first thing for me that made a very big difference is being fully all in on what you do, all in or all out. You're either working or you're playing. There is no what I see everybody do, especially entrepreneurs, which is that they're kind of working and then five minutes later they go to their phone. Kind of working and then five minutes later they go to a news article. Kind of working and then five minutes later they get up to pee. This is like the lowest, absolute lowest level of productivity. When I work, I just work. I put my phone on airplane mode for 30 minutes at a time. I use the self-control app on my Mac. I have a clearly delineated list of what I'm working on right now and for how long if it's not a project. When you work, be all in. And when you play, be all in. That shocking difference, a whole book has been written about that called the Powerful Engagement, but that shocking difference of if you're going to be working or studying or at the gym, just do the one thing and then it's done. And then you can go do this next thing. But what I see so many people do is the exact opposite. At the gym, on Instagram for eight minutes in between sets. Like in the car, going through so many different things and listening and then calling and texting, but especially with work, low quality work, it takes five hours to do what you could do in 90 minutes. So the second thing is to actually have something fun planned in the evenings. You know, I've struggled with this more than anyone I know because for me the last seven years I've been all work goals. I wanted to improve my actual career so much because it sucked. So what happened was I would go to my J job until five. I would go to the gym and I'd get home at seven. Then it would be time to build my business for three hours and then easily days a whole week goes by. No problem every week without seeing anyone. Even my girlfriend and I, we made the sacrifice to only see each other on the weekend for three and a half years until my business was something I could do full time quit my job. Now you may have to pay that price and do those sacrifices. I would recommend it if that's what it takes to reach your goals. But the difference is when you end up working so many hours what happens is sometimes you show up and it's Friday night and you're like, wow, I have nothing to do. I don't know anyone doing anything I have nothing to do. I'm not looking forward to Saturday and Sunday because it's boring. I have nothing. I'm just going to work again. And that's the trap I put myself into for a year before I was miserable and realized if I don't plan the weekend like I plan my work life, nothing's going to be there. So if you end up being like, hey, I'm off work at four today.  But you have nothing fun planned. It's easy to just go back and do work if your work for yourself or you if you love your work. But if you've said, you know what, I've designated nine to four, I'm going to work or study. And then guess what? I'm going to go to the gym at five. I'm going to go to salsa lessons at seven at nine. I'm going to go grab a glass of wine with one of my friends or go see a movie because you've planned that excess filler of the day. There's no way this work stuff is going to creep into what should be the play part of your day.  And the last thing is the plan goals in all aspects of your life. This should go without saying. If you want to improve your life, that's the reason why in all my videos, every course, all my books, we always talk about setting goals in multiple aspects of life because you don't want to be the successful person that's alone in the mansion on the hill who's obese, miserable, divorced, and has contributed nothing to humanity. You want to be and you can be super successful, happy, fulfilled, healthy, your dream body married to your ideal person, all of that's possible. But only if you set goals in those other parts of your life, right? The reason why people get successful and then unhealthy and divorced is not because you can't be successful and be healthy, happy, and married, but it's because they spent all their time and their mental energy dedicated to how can I be more successful instead of how can I be successful? How can I have an amazing marriage or relationship? How can I be super happy? How can I be super generous? How can I be super fulfilled? So if you set goals in other parts of your life, you're a lot more likely to have a work life balance because there's a reason to do these other things. The way it usually shows up for me is that I like to set three goals for each year. And in recent years, one goal has been financial related to my business. One has been a fun goal and relationships goal. And the third has just been a bucket list goal. So the bucket list goal is I've actually compiled a unique list of experiences I want to have in my life. And then I take time to try to find a way each quarter of the year to do one of those. So if you're taking the time to plan other parts of your life, then after you're nine to five, you actually will have people to have dinner with on Friday night. You will have people to go to a museum or movie or skydiving with. You will have people on Sunday to go for like a little joy ride or just go explore the city you're living in. That's all possible when you plan the other parts of your life as hard as your work life. Hi guys. So I hope that helps. I hope those are things that you were not necessarily thinking of less tactical but very specific in terms of the big picture of your life. Now of course, if you want to get started reflecting on your own life, click the first link in the description, download the free journaling worksheet to plan your year. You'll also get an email every three days on how I use journaling to completely reinvent my life and change it for the better. So you can check those out. And you can also check out my last two videos there and there.


This is a great thrill for me to have a chance to be here. I've got a great chore going up and been able to view every aspect of the ship. But the greatest thrill is to watch those takeoffs and landings. That's a thrill I'll never forget. I have a chance to do that. This is a great ship. And all of you are great Americans who are serving in defense of this country.


Livia Wilde directs and stars in Don't Worry, Darling, a psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes, keeps you guessing until the final moments of the film. But do the questions posed in the film pay off in the end? Oh, we're gonna find out right now. The movie stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine, but let's be honest, this is a Florence Pugh vehicle through and through. This thing is living and dying by her performance and it's impeccable. Harry Styles has been taking a lot of grief online about this movie. You may know him from a little boy band he used to be in. I thought he did really well here. I don't know what the big fuss is about. Sure, when he's going up against Florence Pugh, it's obviously a losing cause. She's acting circles around him, but he is holding his own decently enough.  I didn't hate this movie, but it really falls apart at the end. This is a spoiler-free video. I'll probably do a spoiler one later on a couple of days from now, so subscribe if you haven't. If you wanna stick around, that'd be great. I do tons of movie reviews, rants, reactions, things in the movie space. I think you'd have a good time here if you tried it out. I'm not so sure I can say the same thing about this film. This movie's stupidly long. It's like a half hour longer than it should be, and it's a slow burn, but that burn is nice. There's good stuff going on. There's intrigue. I'm invested in the characters, so I'm along for the ride until we find out what's behind the curtain. Who's pulling the strings, or what, or why, or how, I mean, most of that's not explained. It makes no sense if you even think about it for a second. Man, the last half hour is just a disaster. Now, I went with two other people. One agreed with me. The other one, a buddy of mine that I see all my movies with now, he actually disagreed with me wholeheartedly, not halfheartedly. He put the whole heart out there. He said, Adam, you're wrong. This movie's fantastic. So obviously, what's really going on in this movie's gonna work for some, and not for others like myself. From a technical standpoint, and somewhat superficial, I think Olivia Wilde does a good job here, I noticed some color grading issues. The people I went with didn't seem to notice, but there was a couple scenes, especially early on, where I thought some of the skin tone, some of the lighting looked a bit off from shot to shot, and there was a lot of blurriness out of focus. That part could have been intentional, but it didn't read well on the eyeballs. Where this movie really succeeds for me is the sound design and the score. That stuff is fire. The cracking of eggs, like very over the top sound effects. Someone was having a great time getting their paycheck, making those sound effects. And then of course, another amount of praise should be heaped onto the shoulders of Florence, who does really do the heavy lifting in this film. It's again just a shame this movie ends up going the direction it does, because all the slow buildup, all the interesting concepts and ideas fall flat on their face when you see what's really happening, and then nothing really adds up at all. It's tough because I do wanna encourage people to go out and see movies like this that are different, that are trying to take some chances, even if they fall on their face at the end. Another part of me is like, ugh, things are expensive. There's a lot of media out there. We only have one chance on this planet. Maybe don't waste it watching this movie. Save it for streaming in the background. I don't know. It's up to you.  However, if you're looking for something that's gonna blow your socks off and it's absolutely a must-watch, this is not that. It's also not the complete dumpster fire disaster that people were assuming it would be. I thought it was gonna be a train wreck going in. Pleasantly surprised, but ultimately disappointed. Those are my thoughts on the movie. If you saw it, let me know in the comments below without spoiling anything. I'd love to hear from you. Like the video if you had some fun. Please think about subscribing once again if you haven't already. I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this channel. It would be great if it kept growing. Please join me. And with that, hopefully I'll see you next time. ["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"] Thanks for watching the video and for sticking around. Maybe join me on Patreon at patreon.com slash adamdoesmovies. There's a dollar tier, a $5, a $20, whatever you wanna give is great. If you go to the top tier, you can even recommend a movie I have to review. I'm also at Twitch at Adam Does Movies, not only playing video games, but I'm also talking movies, I'm also editing, filming there, and we're even gonna attempt a movie watch where I'm going to roast the crap out of something live. So check me out on Twitch and join the Discord while you're at it. Adam Does Movies.


Okay, okay, so we've the class recording is on good morning everyone to BC 111 our course on faith Thank you for being in the class today. Let's pray and let's get started together Father we thank you for the opportunity to gather together like this year in person and online and Even our e-learning students. We thank you for each one even as we Take time to be in your word To hear to listen to understand Father I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us that the Holy Spirit will write upon the table of our hearts will write the truth of Your word into our hearts so that together Lord, we will be able to do your word practice your word and See amazing results in our journey of faith as individuals and as a collective body Teach us train us equip us by your spirit and by your words We thank you in Jesus name Amen, amen Okay So last class we kind of paused and I said you need to ask I think some of you wanted to ask some questions I hope you remember your questions All right, but I'm going to quickly review The lesson we were covering and then we will open up for your questions And then we will proceed from there So I'm going to share the PDF just to quickly review. We've been talking about One minute on PDF. Yes, okay so we've been talking about collective faith and and Just quickly review some of the things we shared We talked about The importance of being in agreement This is based on what Jesus said in Matthew 18 that he said if we agree on earth And ask anything it will be done. So Jesus himself taught us the importance of being in agreement and And Then we talked looked at examples of collective faith in action We looked at the early church in Acts chapter 4 How they prayed together in Acts 4 and then we saw the outcome of what happened The miracles that took place on the streets through Peter's shadow and so on We talked we saw how Peter was released from prison as the Disciples were praying We also saw Acts 14 the example or the incident when Paul was stoned and The disciples gathered around him and prayed and immediately miraculously. He was healed and he woke up and And he got up and he went back into the city and he continued on his journey preaching We talked about how our collective faith puts up Solid front meaning a defense or protection a wall when we stand in order and have faith together and We saw that as a community we can keep increasing in faith and Keep growing in faith. And so this is a journey that we make together as a community We also mentioned a few things about things that will destroy collective faith murmuring complaining being in competition and strife Or self or pride or jealousy these things destroy collective faith That means when we come together to have faith if people are in Jealousy stripe and all those things it disturbs the faith that we want to see exercised And so in view of that We must learn how to minister as a team and most of the time we will be ministering as teams Right. It's not that we are ministering alone You know, we have others with us who are also believers who love the Lord and you know, we minister as a team So we need to learn to flow together not in competition. You're not trying to outdo each other but flow together You know be sensitive to Working together as a team. So we need to nurture and protect genuine team ministry. So we Went on to that. We also, you know talked about a little bit. We had quite a bit of discussion on Will the unbelief of one person affect the collective faith of the group that was a lot of questions We were discussing on that. So I shared my thoughts and what we see in scripture and This was the last part which we didn't cover I'll just cover it and then we will take up questions on the same topic on collective faith So what happens when we face failure in collective faith, right? And this has happened, you know, there are times when, you know On a couple of occasions, we call the church together to pray for something I mean when I say church was not everybody came but sometimes 20 people 30 people would gather together to pray for one particular thing And There have been times when we failed like we didn't see the outcome Okay So especially example you're praying for a child who Became sick and died for the child to come back to life So there you know once one whole night. We all gathered in the house One house He prayed whole night. I think there must have been at least 30 people 40 people Through the night praying but nothing happened next day We did the funeral, but then a lot of people work, you know, very very You know What is the right word to use maybe discouraged maybe questioning what happens, you know, why did it?  How would you do that? What would you say, right? So some of the things one is a bit dead to self reputation. So it's not about my name It's not about the name of a PC You know, it's look we as a community are journeying into this. There are times we see amazing results and there are times we may see failures Okay in success and in failure. We are together. We succeed together. We fail together When we succeed together, let's learn, you know, what did we do right? When we fail, let's learn Where did we fail? What went you know, we have to seek God. So don't So, you know, it's not about an individual's reputation Right. Secondly, don't defend God. We don't have to defend God. God. God is our defender. We are not his defender Right. So it's like so don't feel the pressure to try to defend God. So God you're big enough to defend yourself I'm only Under shepherds, I'm only trying to lead the people the best I know how I don't have all the answers I'm also learning turning with God, but God knows everything. Right.  This is a very bad thing to do You know, don't say are those three people they didn't pray properly You know, if you have a group of 30 40 people don't pick on Couple of people, you know, don't say they didn't pray properly. They didn't do it, right? You know, don't fault people Especially when we don't know ourselves for sure. We don't know But the thing is when we start faulting people.  So don't fault people don't try to put the blame on others just Number four is encourage others and then say hey look we prayed We know we didn't see the result that doesn't mean God is bad. That doesn't mean his word has changed God is still the same His word is still the same You and I are growing You and I are learning how to exercise faith It's like, you know, we get the example of learning to ride a bike or drive a car You may have some Accidents that doesn't mean you can never learn to ride a bike What do you do you get up and start riding again? So We say, okay, let's go on. Let's see how we can move in this Yeah, and so number five is don't quit. We don't give up. So we tell the people let's continue Let's keep moving forward Even the disciples fail, but Jesus didn't disqualify them or nine of you You could not cast the devil out. So from today onwards, you're no longer my disciples. He didn't say that Yeah, they fail But what did they do they came and asked Jesus, why couldn't we do it and then he taught them? He said because of your unbelief If you have faith, you will tell the mountain to move a little more So even when they experience failure, Jesus didn't disqualify them. He taught them. So look, you can learn something you know, so We have to be like that. We have to learn. Okay It's nothing wrong with God. Nothing wrong with the will of God. Nothing wrong with the word of God nothing wrong with the Holy Spirit Nothing wrong with our calling is that we have to learn about faith About how to exercise it just like how Jesus taught his disciples, you know, this is what you do so let's pause here before we go forward and Take up any questions Any questions from the online class any questions from those of you here to On this whole subject of collective faith, I know we had a lot of discussion last week, but Let's open up. Do you remember your questions?  Go ahead Pasha can set and give temptation according to the level of faith Can Satan give temptation or tempt us according to our level of faith Okay, so there is no chapter in verse on this the only verse that I can think of is first Peter 5 8 and 9 Where the Bible tells us so question is does Satan tempt us in Proportion to the level of faith So scriptures that come to my mind say first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 and 9 Also first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 It's not talking so Peter chapter 5 was 8 and 9. It's talking about the devil as a roaring lion Walks about seeking whom he may devour and the Bible says you resist being firm in your faith So I resist being firm in my faith but it doesn't tell us, you know, how Intense the temptation will be doesn't say that In Ephesians chapter 6 when Paul is talking about the armor of God He says be strong in the Lord first and be strong in the Lord in the power of his mind Then he says put on the full armor of God And then he says having done all to stand stand So that you may be to withstand in the evil day That means he's saying you put your whole armor There will be an evil day that means there'll be a time when the devil is coming with intensity But if you have the armor you'll be able to stand But again, he doesn't tell us Whether the intensity the evil day whether the intensity with which the devil comes is in proportion to our faith or it doesn't connect that there What the Bible does say first Corinthians 10 13 is that God will not permit us to be tempted Beyond what we are able to bear But he will in the middle temptation give us a way to escape So we can overcome that's from God say that means God is saying I will be with you and I'll make sure You can overcome So to answer your question The Bible doesn't state anything in relation to that in the sense that okay, the devil will tempt you in proportion to your faith or something but What we can think is the devil is Going to tempt us in order to cause us to fail right, so He's obviously going to come with whatever he can Small or big or doesn't matter. He's going to come his intent is I want to cause this person to fail so that much we know and He can keep coming back with more temptations more craftiness more cunning But so so to answer your question, we don't know exactly how he comes up with the strategies But whatever it is we have to be firm in our faith first read of 5 9 Ephesians 6 13 14 If we have the armor of God we can withstand in the evil day That means no matter how intense it is we will be able to withstand it First content 10 13 No matter what you're facing God will help us to overcome So that we can say based on the scriptures It's okay All right, go ahead second question is we have collective faith and we are praying for some subject So if they that not done and we don't get the result it can discourage all the peoples That is true so Like when I'm bringing alone so it can harm only me But if we are praying together all we have faith It is true, but then there are some things that we have to do collectively Right. See there are some battles Which are personal battles we fight alone And then there are some battles that we have to fight as a community together Right. So that's what we have to come together and fight spiritually. I'm talking and Along that process maybe sometimes we face it back some failures But that's where all of us have to know that God will cause us to triumph Right. So the question women last words You know, when we have collective faith we come together to pray for something together If we fail then so many people are discouraged Whereas if I pray alone only one question is discouraged. So we are discussing that um There are things that we have to do collectively right and even if we face a setback of failure We must collectively encourage ourselves And go forward Right. And this is where as a leader you need to know how to encourage the people You know a good example. I think it's in first Samuel chapter 22 David and his and his Army he had a small army at that time. He was not king yet And uh He had an army of about 400 people They had left all their Property everything family all in a place called Zik lag They'd gone away to fight somewhere else, but another enemy came Hongkong that Took all their positions away the people away So when they came back They saw everything destroyed And they were all so discouraged Right. They went to fight one battle, but another enemy came and took all these things away And at that moment it says that David's soldiers were angry with him His own people were angry because they like, you know, David what happens? And but then it says David encouraged himself in God You know, so He encouraged himself in God and then he prayed and said God what must we do and God said I want you to go and pursue You will recover everything So he told his people Those of you want to come with me come with me We are going to go and pursue And we will recover, you know So some of them went and they recovered everything You know, so that's when leadership is so important when everybody's discouraged The leader should encourage Himself in God and bring encouragement to others and show that God will still lead us in victory That's what David did Your question, right for God Okay, good in Matthew um 26 where um Jesus asked his Disciples to pray with him but they how they fell asleep, but um I mean, why did Jesus need his disciples to pray for him? Hmm. Okay So rents question is in Matthew 26 Jesus asked his disciples specifically the three of them Peter James and John. He said I want you to pray with me Then they fell asleep So the question is why Did Jesus need his disciples to pray with him, right? So that's something beautiful that we must understand if you go with me to Romans 15 In prayer, we actually strengthen one another In Romans chapter 15 the apostle Paul Is actually requesting for prayer from the believers at Rome and In verse third Romans 15 verse 30 he says Romans 15 verse 30 um Now I thank you brethren through the Lord Jesus Christ to the love of the spirit That you strive together with me in prayers to God for me You strive together With me in prayer so when we pray together What is happening? We are striving together. So example if I am fighting an enemy by myself Then it's only me against them But if others are praying for me, it's like Example if three others are praying for me, then it's like four of us are coming together to fight the enemy We are striving together through prayer, right? So that's what happens in the spiritual realm That is when we get people to pray with us For us in a given situation We are striving together or we are battling together through prayer This is a spiritual thing. So it's through prayer. We are striving together with this matter so remember That on the earth though Jesus Jesus was deity though he was God When he walked on the earth, he limited himself to a man So the people say hey, why does God need help? Yeah, but when he walked on the earth He didn't walk in the powers of deity. He limited himself to a man. So as a man He needed You can think about this even Jesus who was the anointed one. He needed the striving together of his own disciples Join with me now. This is a very crucial time I have to say yes to the will of the father and I have to go to the Cross this is the most important thing. This is why he came. So he says pray with me So not convinced Kind of so if the disciples without parade will have changed anything So it would not see it would not have changed the will of the father The father's will was for Jesus to go to the cross That's the father's will Jesus already knew it You know in John 12 24 25 he says for this purpose I came I mean I came for this purpose to die on the cross You know, so he knew that's the will of the father. That would not change What would have happened was Jesus would have been even more Enabled and empowered To say yes to the will of the father. So eventually he did it Right Even though the disciples went to sleep He still said yes. He said father not my will But your will be So he did but How would the praying of the three disciples have helped him? It should have enabled him. It should have strengthened him To say yes That was the difference the permanent Okay, any other questions prince Yes, prince It says like in bible in psalms or david says like help me to remember all my days were numbered So is it like our lifespan here on earth is already predestined how many years we will live I'm sorry Is so all so the bible tells us all our days are numbered. So god knows the number of our days. So is it like How many years we live on this earth is already predestined by god? Yeah, so Let's let's put it like this God's will Is for us to live out the full course of our lives Or we can know we know that from scripture example in uh, old test when exodus uh, chap to 23 Was this 25 and 26 he says The number of your days I will fulfill That means I will help you live out the full course of your life Then again in psalm 91 14 with long life I will satisfy you and show you my salvation. I will god is saying I will give you a long life And like this are many other scriptures where long life prowess 22 was for by humility and the fear of the lord our riches And a long life prowess 22 was for so A long life is a promise that god has given to us, but I have my responsibility for every promise See every promise of god is conditional Whether conditions have been stated or not. Sorry the question that that was asked here by prince. I forgot to repeat the question is The bible tells us that the number of our days have been numbered So psalm 90 and also in psalm 39 god knows the number of our days Does that mean how many days we will live on earth is already predetermined? So that's the question. So what we are saying is god has promised long life to all of us It's his promise, but every promise is conditional whether conditions are stated or not Every promise is conditional so for a long life god is saying I'll give you a long life if There's a there are conditions What are the conditions example part of it would be I need to take responsibility for my own health So a person cannot say oh god will give me a long life. So I will be reckless with my health That means they abuse their body They do all the wrong things for their body They don't take care of their body then body will collapse So example if god had if the long life for this person was 80 years But he didn't take care of when he died when he was 30 It is wrong for us to say god planned only 30 years for him no God planned 80 years for him but he Abused his body he didn't take care of it and he died at 30 right or example if a believer is Riding or driving his car very rashly gets into an accident and he dies Can we say oh god only wanted him to live for 25 years? No You know god had promised a long life But that is conditional you have to live properly take care of yourself Be careful, you know, and so if a believer is reckless and gets into an accident that costs his life We can't say god only planned 25 years no Okay, so The word of god Doesn't change But every promise of god is conditional again question Okay, any questions online students you're welcome to ask as well. I'm just uh Yeah, go ahead And in one of the God's generous books that I read Like they were I wanted the evangelist they were having a healing ministry or they were having a service something and He felt He actually spoke to the people and told that The holy spirit Is not moving here because of one person's unbelief so I mean and you said last time right if About the collective faith like I asked you and you said that if The majority is in faith god will answer the prayer But And he still moves you told right custom moves even Even if one person is an unbelief. Yeah, but in that situation the host would not How is that? Okay, so I'm trying to understand your question. So rents question is um She heard an evangelist say that There is someone here with unbelief So the holy spirit is not moving something like that whereas Last class last week I shared examples many examples We were looking mainly at the ministry of jesus where um, even though there were people Maybe in unbelief in some cases um Like example the man who brought his Even possessed son Or when they went to jesus house These were examples where It's possible that others were an unbelief and yet miracles happens. And so what we concluded last week was The unbelief of one or more people is not going to prevent the person who is in faith from ministering to people, okay, so Having said that and I still believe that I believe that is true But the other side is unbelief can prevent the person from receiving Okay, so example matthew five matthew chapter six was five and six matthew chapter 13 verse 52 Jesus was in his own hometown of nazra And the bible says in both these scriptures matthew 13 52 matthew six five and six That in his own hometown jesus could not do many mighty works Except he healed a few sick people Because of their unbelief Okay, that means jesus was anointed He wasn't faith But the people didn't receive any mighty miracles Except a few small things few sick people were healed That means they didn't receive because of their unbelief Right, so here it's about an individual receiving a miracle But they were not they were not able to receive a miracle because of their own personal unbelief right, so it's not like Their unbelief prevented jesus from serving somebody else It was their unbelief Prevented them from receiving through jesus so Perhaps i'm relating that to this evangelist's case perhaps That the evangelist was ministering if one or more people weren't unbelief Even though he may be anointed maybe even though the presence of god may be there The people in unbelief will not be able to Receive for themselves But it should not prevent others who are in that same place were in faith From receiving So in a same in the same meeting in the same environment There will be people who are in faith Who will receive There may be people who are in unbelief who won't receive And Plus you have to think about this and this is true That sometimes in spite of the unbelief of people God will still work miracles for them example The man by the pool of Bethesda He didn't have faith. He didn't even know who jesus was He got healed the blind man whom jesus said go wash in the pool of siloam He had no idea who jesus was people asked him who healed you I don't know Somebody came put mud on my eyes told me to go wash. I washed I came I got my side then afterwards he found out it was jesus so Before he didn't know But so god still moved sovereignly work miracles. So that's something we must keep in mind Okay All right any questions from online class? Okay, we're going to go forward to our next lesson move forward and I think You know this week next week we will wind up the course And I will have to create some assessments for you to review the whole course. So Let's do this now The next part I just want to but the remaining parts of the course are just showing us Some of the outcomes of walking by faith One is as this was lesson number 19 The joy resilience and rest of faith So When we walk by faith It's going to fill us Or keep us in a place of joy Okay, there's a joy to this journey of faith because faith Is taking us out of the limitations of this natural realm You know That you are not limited to just this natural realm. You are connected to god Who is bigger who is greater than the natural realm? So even in situations that may be looking difficult in In circumstances that look very difficult sometimes Contrary to everything you're expecting Even in those situations you and I can have joy Big true faith because our faith is in god Right. So look at some of these scriptures Romans 15 13 may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so You're filled with joy and peace Because you believe Or true believing or unbelieving Right. So because of your belief in god or your faith in god, what's happening?  We don't give up Even if you fall down we get back up on our feet and we keep going So resilient means you can't put me down. You can't Take me out. I come I keep coming back I keep getting up. I'm resilient. I never give up. I don't quit So faith makes us resilient people who are who are not quitters keep fighting We come back fight again Because we know our God cannot be defeated Right, so we keep fighting. We stand strong and faith also enables us to be in a place of rest So that's very interesting because There may be turbulent things turbulence all around us But because we have faith in God we can be calm So we are in a place of peace It's not saying there are no problems No, there may be problems challenges trials all those difficulties hard hard situations And yet in the middle of all of that you can be in a place of rest That means calm You're not stressed. You're not anxious not worried Disturbed No You are in a place of rest meaning calm As a 28 verse 16 he says a lens on a sure Sure stone is offering to jesus and notice what it says the end of that verse whoever believes Will not act hastily Right, or if you look at the Bond's commentary It says to make haste means to run away out of fear Right That means whoever believes is not acting out of fear That means if you or if you put it in a positive way if you believe You are in a place of assurance Not fear not anxiety not anxious You're not acting out of that hastily that means out of fear out of being scared No You believe So you're in a place of calm assurance You Live like that you operate from that place Right other other scriptures where god has promised He said in quietness and confidence will be your strength So then in faith when you're in a place of quietness and confidence That is also a place of strength. Yeah, that is where we operate from and Many other scriptures where god tells us, you know, be still be still so Faith enables us to be still we it and it creates that Knowing this battle belongs to god god is fighting and god will come through on my my behalf so When we walk by faith As people of faith We can have joy We can be resilient And we can have peace or rest So These are the, you know, we could say the benefit of walking by faith in god which A person without faith in god May not be able to experience, you know when things are bad. They're very anxious very disturbed. They get a panic attacks They get all kinds of things. Yeah But a person who's in faith Walks in joy walks in peace walks in quietness calmness and is able to be resilient May fall down seven times when you get back up again because god will help us overcome You know, that's what faith does In our lives. So that's how precious this faith is in god So i'm gonna pause here We will Go for a break. Let me just see if there are any questions any questions from the online class everyone's fine here Yes, pastor Okay, all right the others in class can hear you as well. All right So let's go for a break. We'll come back and I think we have five minutes extra break today So I'll come back in 15 minutes and we will continue with our next lesson. All right See you soon. Thank you