If you have your Bible, let's go to 1st Kings chapter 19 and verse five. I'm just going to take the 1st Kings chapter 19, that whole chapter. If you are interested in notes, they are available on the YouVersion Bible app. And those of you watching us online, we're going to drop that in the chat right now. 1st Kings chapter 19. With it, I'm going to also target or touch on the issue of depression. Pretty much on developing routines on beating depression in 2022. Now, you may say, you may come here today and you're like, well, depression is not my problem. You don't know what 22 has in store for you. There's a lot of challenges that each person, people, groups experience that bring enormous amount of stress, enormous amount of depression. Because our church is more younger, among the millennials, the number one cause of death has been, in the last two years, a suicide, not COVID. More people are dying among young people today because they're taking their own life than COVID, car accidents or other illnesses. And depression is rising and it's rampant in the United States. It's rampant in our generation. And I want to address that by touching on the things from the scripture and how we can prevent and how we can overcome stressful, overwhelming and difficult times. First and foremost, I'm not a doctor. Also, I'm not a therapist or a counselor. I'm a preacher. So I'm going to talk about the Word of God. I'm going to speak on from the Word of God and I'm not going to touch on the areas that I don't know or I'm not an expert in. But looking at the story of Elijah, before we go to the story of Elijah, I want to mention that depression is a mood disorder characterized by extreme sadness. Poor concentration, sleep problems, loss of appetite and feelings of guilt, helplessness and hopelessness.  A young lawyer in 1800s suffered such a deep depression that his friends did everything they could to keep all razors and knives away from him. He wrote these words, I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall be better, I cannot tell. I awfully for bore, I shall not. This lawyer became the 16th president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln. Charles Spurgeon, who's considered the best preacher that ever lived outside of Apostle Paul, he struggled with periods of depression. History tells us that there were times Spurgeon was so depressed, he would refuse to leave his home to go to church. On one occasion, his deacons physically carried the pastor to the pulpit. And this can happen to anybody. The guy we're going to look at today, his name is Elijah. He was actually probably the greatest guy in the Old Testament, the most powerful one. Him and Moses are like these two top dudes in the Old Testament. Elijah was so powerful, like he could at his command bring fire. And this was not like some kind of a magic trick. Elijah was so powerful by God that he was just talking to God back and forth. He would command and the rain would stop coming for three years. God would feed him by birds. God would speak to him. He would raise the dead. And at one time he challenged 400 or something prophets on one mountain and literally obliterated them. He destroyed them. He brought the fire from heaven and eventually killed all of those prophets. And I mean, this guy was the bad guy. He was crazy. He was powerful. And then Jezebel sends this message to him in chapter 19 of 1 Kings says, Hey, I'm going to do and do and do this and this and this and this to you.   Jezebel is a queen of intimidation. Her expertise is intimidation, not actual killing. And Elijah got so scared that he ran. Now, nothing wrong with being scared and running until you start seeing his prayer life. He runs and then he does this thing. He starts talking to God. And this is where the mistake that we sometimes make as Christians is when we tell people who are depressed that they don't have enough faith. And we need to stop that. Or we tell people that are depressed, pray more. A person who is depressed, their prayer cannot help them. Because the prayer, they're swimming in their own vomit, their own feelings. They're swimming in their own broken mood. And you look at Elijah's prayer, when he is depressed and this is what he's praying. He says, Lord, I've had it enough. A lot of us feel like that sometimes. And then he tells God this. He says, Lord, kill me now. Now, and this is the only time that God did not listen to Elijah. Elijah is used as an example of an intercessor and a great prayer warrior. In fact, in James, it says that Elijah was just like men like ours. He had the same passions and when he prayed, God heard. But this is the time, God's like, I'm not answering that.  I actually intend for you never to die and to be raptured to heaven.  So sometimes when you're depressed, prayer is not a solution. Because in prayer, you can get more depressed. You can pray yourself into a deeper depression. What is the solution? We're going to look at what his solution was. Prayer wasn't one of them because he went to prayer first, start praying, start praying and then he actually prayed himself almost into suicide. Then God does something. The first strategy I want you to see that we need to prioritize this year. Whether you're going to battle with stress, anxiety of being overwhelmed or depression or not, this is a good strategy and routine for this year. Number one is get your physical health in order, meaning develop discipline for your physical health. When Elijah was finished with his prayer, the angel of the Lord came. The Bible says, and he made him some food and Elijah slept and he arose and he ate these three things, eating, sleeping and exercising.  And he says, many people who come to me and who claim they have depression and anxiety, he says, before I put him on medication, I ask him, how is your sleep? Are you exercising? Are you eating? Are you and he's like, until they get their life in order in the area of physical discipline, he says, I don't put them on medication. Because why should we treat your chemicals? If you haven't taken control of your choices before you go see the doctor first develop a discipline.  Are you sleeping? Are you eating properly? And are you exercising? You may say, this is not spiritual. It has nothing to do with that with why I'm feeling like that. My mood, my sense of being overwhelmed, my sense of being stressed out and depressed has nothing to do with that. My husband is the problem. My children are the problem. My boss is the problem. Biden is the problem. COVID is the problem. Everybody is the problem. But perhaps maybe getting off the couch, putting aside the chips and drinking fifth can of Pepsi and running on the treadmill or running outside for one mile a day, setting a time when you sleep and getting out of bed on time. If you do that for 30 days, you will see a drastic effect on your mood and your emotions on your physical body. Your physical body will affect your mood. Look at what God did to the prophet. The prophet was suicidal. He did not want to live and the angel of the Lord does not come and slap him with rebuke and says, come on, Elijah, pray harder. He comes to him and he gives him a meal.  He goes to sleep. He wakes up and you would think the angel will come and preach a hellfire message. The angel gives him another set of food and he says, go back to sleep, sleep, food and exercise can do more good to you than taking another pill. I'm not against medication. But what I'm saying is if you're supplementing with medication, what you're missing with discipline sooner or later, you will develop codependency on that meds and you will lose power as an individual and the created human being that God gave you will power. God has given you freedom of choice. Don't yield that choice by living as a slave to your chemicals. In fact, the statistic tells us a study by Dr. Andrea Dunn found that patients who did 35 minutes of walking six days a week exercised, experienced a reduction in their level of depression by 47%. So 35 minutes of walking six days a week and 47% of depression was dropped. This study conducted at the Cooper Research Institute in Dallas, Texas shows that as little as three hours of regular exercise a week reduces the symptoms of mild to moderate depression as effectively as prozac and other antidepressants. In addition, the proven benefits of exercise in treating or preventing depression extend to even moderate physical activities such as gardening, walking the dog or cleaning your house. Your body as Christians, we teach that our body is the house of the Lord. You have to take care of it for God and you also have to take care of it for you. This year, I want to encourage you to make a decision, a healthy decision to get your health in order. Develop healthy disciplines. If you are you have extra weight, may this be the year where you bring your weight to a healthy normal weight. You will receive the dividends from taking care of your body. You will be compensated by God by giving attention to your physical body. If you ignore your physical body this year, you will experience consequences on your emotions on the length of the days you spent on this earth and also on many, many other things. We have a person mean my wife who takes care of our house when we are gone and this is not because we're divas, Paul, Brad, but we love this person and our way of helping this person is her taking care of the house. We were just gone for this last week. We went out of town for a few days and she stayed with in our house. She took care of this four leg creature we have called Jacko and she took care of the house and everything. And so when we came back, not only she did what we asked her to do, but she went above and beyond. She cleaned the driveway and took Jacko make sure he had his play time. I'm like, he doesn't need to have a play time. This guy, his emotions are not connected to his play time. So she really, she just took care of it. I came to the house and the house not only is clean. The house is not only well taken care of, but extra things that, you know, we didn't ask her to do and because of that, we compensate her and mean my wife like, you know, we should bless her more just as a New Year's gift. Partially because she took care of the house so well, she received compensation. And as I wired some money, I started to think about how the Lord feels when I take care of my body. He looks at you when you take care of your body, when you get on that treadmill, when you say no to those foods that you know, you shouldn't be eating. This is not only helping you.  Releasing endorphins. By what? Improving your mood. By what?  God will compensate you. I promise you that you will experience the compensation of the Lord when you take care of the temple of the Lord. But if this year you become lazy. If this year you simply let it go. If this year you was like, well, I'm just going to accept and everybody should accept the way I am instead of taking responsibility. My friend, I have a warning from the Lord for you. You will experience consequences of that on your mood. You will experience consequences on your emotions. You will experience consequences. God will not be pleased. I'm not saying you won't be saved. I'm saying is that God is not pleased when we don't take care of our body. Elijah's first strategy from God was not more prayer. It was physically taking care of his body. Your body is important to God just because your body is not spiritual. It does not mean it does not matter. We don't believe in what the Greeks believe that that the matter is not important and evil because only spiritual realm is important. That's why we pray for healing. That's why we talk about physical things. Why? Because your physical body matters to God. He created it. He heals it. He will reward you for what's done in it. He will raise it from the dead one day. It matters to God. Your body matters to God. You want to walk this year overcoming stress, develop good stress. You know what good stress is? It's taking care of your body because it's stressful. Nobody likes to run. Nobody likes to take care of their body. Nobody likes to do that. But if you focus on the good stress, it will beat the bad one. The second thing I want you to see what Elijah did is after he slept, he ate and he exercised. The Bible says that we see in verse 3. Chapter 19 verse 3. It says the following. And when he saw that he arose and ran for his life and went to Bathsheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. This year, I want you to make a decision to embrace community. Now, the idea of health for most of you, that's already, you've already decided that you looked at the weight scale, maybe, maybe your spouse or your parents told you, hey, you're fat or hey, if you keep doing this, this is going to be bad or our society tends to kind of, there's this pressure from our society to take care of our health. Everybody does that and there's nothing wrong with that to some degree and that's good. But the second thing what I want you to notice that society will not focus on is this. The second cause of Elijah's depression was loneliness. Elijah was a very lonely man. In fact, when he brought the fire on the mountain, he told the Israelites, he says, I alone am left. So he's telling them, I'm the only one left and you would think, oh, okay, but it's actually something deep in his heart. He always was lonely because then he tells God again in the cave, I alone am left. He says again, I alone am left and in this verse, we read that he runs for a long time with his servant and then he leaves his servant at this area and goes by himself. It's not that nobody wanted to be around Elijah is that Elijah on purpose intentionally lived alone. Now, maybe he was too powerful. Maybe he was too anointed. Maybe everybody never measured up to his standards. I don't know the real reason, but one of the things that God provided for Elijah in that mountain and on that cave is he says, you're going to have to find yourself an Elisha and you're going to have to be surrounded with people. When COVID hit United States, you know, masks, social distancing was implemented and from Dr. Fauci to every other doctor, they're saying right now that the pandemic that is following the restrictions that we implemented to keep COVID at bay are going to be worse than the COVID itself. Because as humans, we were never created to be alone. The first thing that God said that was not good when he created humanity and nature is it's not good for men to be alone. Something happens to your immune system when you're alone. Something happens with your ability to be joyful when you're alone. You were never created to live lonely. You have to choose this year to be in the community. If you are afraid of community because you were hurt before release those hurts because those hurts are not as important as your health. Maybe you are easily offended.  You have to leave that behind because community is more important. There is no perfect community. There is no perfect family, but each one of us needs a community and family. A few practical things. One, prioritize your family this year. Prioritize being with your family. Structure meetings with your family. Don't just like well once in a while we'll get together. Make it a weekly family gathering. God was so specific about that that he created Sabbath for the children of Israel. Sabbath was not simply running around errands and going to Home Depot or going to Walmart and catching up on your to-do list. Sabbath for Israel was a time around the table with the family in the good meal.  That was what Sabbath was for years, thousands and thousands of years and that my friend is good for us when we spend time around our family. Maybe your family doesn't come to church.  It does not mean that for one day or one night you cannot put aside your political convictions and get together and focus on what's important. This year make a decision that once a week you will spend time with your family. It will do something to your emotions and it's also something that honors God. Secondly, make a decision this year that you will join a small group. Maybe you've never been to a small group and the idea of being in a circle of people who potentially could like poke on your business and make you like confess stuff. That's not what our small groups are. But you have this weird thing that you're going to be trapped in like an AA meeting or something. You have to get up and say, my name is John and I'm an alcoholic. I want to let you know first of all small groups are not about that or maybe you're like, well, I just don't have time. I have so many friends on Facebook and Instagram. Most of those friends and most of those people on your Facebook will not show up to your hospital when you get hurt. They don't even know who you are. You need to have tangible Christian friends who care for you and who will help you. Come on somebody. In a few weeks we are relaunching our small groups and we're going to have many groups that you can choose. They will last about 10 weeks where you can come. We have provided childcare for your children.  It's so important. This is what at Hungry Gen you receive pastoral care is through our small groups. I want to invite you this year. Make a decision. Don't wait until that Tuesday night comes and say, well, I'll see if I have nothing else to do. The devil will always find something for you to do. Make a decision. For 10 weeks my church is doing it. I'm part of my church. I'm going to be in the small group. I'll find new friends. I'll find your connections and I'll be in the place where I can be accountable. Number three, make a decision this year. Not to skip church. Not to skip church. I understand that there's not one word in the Bible that specifically says don't skip church on Sundays. But the Bible talks in Hebrew that do not miss the gathering of the believers. As it's a habit of some. Don't skip church. Make a decision on Sunday morning unless you're sick or dead.  We got you covered. Some people go to church when they are hatched, matched and dispatched only three times in their life. So go to church more often than when you're hatched, matched and dispatched. Don't be a CEO Christian where it's a Christian where it's Christmas and Easter only. Be a person that makes a decision. Every week to the best of my ability I'm going to be in church. That doesn't mean if you miss once in six months there's something is but you come to church. Make a decision to be in church. I'm committed to a local church in this coming year even more than I've been before. To the point where I as of right now canceled all of my trips because and when I am not preaching on Sunday morning I'm still here because just because I'm not preaching it doesn't mean I'm not a Christian. I'm there to serve. I'm there to receive and I'm there to be there. Why? Because the church needs me and I need the church. Amen. Don't be alone.  Well, why did you leave that guy alone? And that's a lot of people like, Oh, I don't have any friends. Nobody's helping me. Nobody's showing up. But when the call is to come to a small group are you saying, Ah, that's not for me. When the time is to come to church. Ah, that's not for me. I want you to break that off this year.  Don't be an organ in the bank. You know, there's bank organs. There's banks that actually hold people's organs. It's a living organ that could function in the body. But it happens to rest in the bank. God wants you to be an organ in the body, not an organ in the bank. Don't be this whole thing where I don't need the church. No, you don't need but the church needs you. You want to be in the body because you are organ in the body. It's kind of like if my liver will say, well, I don't need Vlad. Ah, yes and no. Vlad needs you, liver. If my hands will say, well, I don't need the body. Sort of not really. You need the body and the body needs you. You are an organ in the body. Do not be an organ in the bank. Number three, I want you to notice this about Elijah is that when he leaves his servant and that's something we are not going to do. When he receives food and he gets enough sleep and he rises up, something we are going to do. He goes on for 40 days in verse eight of chapter 19. It says this. So he arose and ate and drunk and he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as horrib the mountain of God. He escaped to extended fasting. Elijah fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and he went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights. That indicates to us he did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. Now I understand we have young believers here. People who are for the first time here and also children. So I'm going to be sensitive of how I present this but I believe a fervent believer in Christians practicing fasting. Jesus said when you fast not if you fast you were created to fast. How do I know that? Because every day you're fasting because the first meal you have is called breakfast. You're breaking your fast. You were created by God to fast. Fasting is good for you. Now if you're a nursing mom or if you're taking medication or if maybe you're working in some kind of a job where you absolutely cannot fast I am not talking to you right now but I'm talking about to an average person that is sitting in this room and watching us online to practice fasting. Elijah he runs from Jezebel but I want you to see where he runs to. He doesn't run to a club. He doesn't run to his ex. He doesn't run to some kind of a drug dealer and buy some weed. Elijah he doesn't go into a party lifestyle. Elijah runs and escapes into an extended fast. Now I don't recommend somebody to go into a 40 day fast but 21 day is a good place to start. Maybe a three day is a good place to start. A seven day is a good place to start. And what do you mean by fasting? I mean by fasting is when you abstain from food for the spiritual reasons. This is not a diet where you go on a keto diet. This is not as simple. I'm going to cut this food so I can lose these pounds. The benefit of fasting will be physical but the cause of fasting and the motive of fasting is always spiritual. Now there's nothing wrong with fasting one day a week fasting one meal. Those are good but I want to challenge you.  Like the Bible says about that man who stored up a lot for many days and you're good. You got it. You can go in the strength of your belly for a long journey. I want to challenge you to consider contemplate. Just ask the Lord if that's something he would want you to join in this month and see what God will do. Last year when we did our 21 day fast I will be very honest with you the last time I attempted 21 day fast was 12 years ago. That was when I was single skinny and I wanted to get married. I did not last 21 days because I was so skinny on the 17th or 18th day I started to faint and partially I was getting drunk enough water but I got so scared when I started to faint that I quit my fast. I went ate some crackers and I was like man fasting is not for me. And since that day I became scared of an extended fast. I thought that extended fast is where you meet Jesus literally. Like if you really want to meet Jesus like in next 21 days that's what you do.   And so he would you know say hey I'm fasting and he wouldn't publicize it or anything and last year I really felt like there was this unhealthy fear of extended fasting and I knew that I won't die because I'm now a married and I have a little bit more weight. And so we decided with the church to do a 21 day fast. A young man an older man actually not a young man I see him as a young man in my small group came to our church only six months and when he came to our small group and I've noticed he's like he's drinking water we usually drink coffee and he says oh I'm fasting and I was like well you've been in church only for about six months and you just recently gave your life to Christ he says I know and he was a general contractor so he has had businesses and fasted all 21 days on water and he prided himself that he didn't take even one sip of coconut water or any other water just water. And I was like well I'm pretty sure there's an extra blessing for that. As you know people took like electrolytes or anything in their water to kind of give themselves an energy but he prided it was only water H2O nothing added to it. All 21 days. But last year by God's grace I was able not only to finish 21 days I was able to finish 40 day fast. Now this don't clap for me this is not too because the goal is this I want to tell you I did not die. Right now looking at the 21 day fast I'm actually very excited. This is weird I was never excited about fasting as I am excited about this coming fast. I really believe God's going to do something incredible and something amazing. It will help you to fight off spiritual forces. I'm not saying alone this but it will help you to fight spiritual forces. Elijah when he was depressed he escaped into extended fasting. Maybe you're trying to escape from something this year may I give you a good escape strategy extended fasting. You may say but how do I do that? We have the PDF right behind me and we can give it to you that you can practice. God will help you but the secret of fasting is this you have to go in the strength of this food. If you fast and you don't develop the courage to eat this food what's going to happen is that you will focus on the food you're not eating instead of feeding on the food that you're required to eat which is the word of God. First three days will be hard. First three days headaches and especially if you stop drinking caffeine you know and you will feel a little bit moody and cranky about the fourth day something switches.   You become more sensitive to the voice of God and after that it's just mental battle. It's just as long as you mentally stay focused you will be able to overcome that for the glory of God. Are you with me? This is no pressure but if something that the Lord puts on your heart I want you to join us this year. May your success this year not be like I made more money but hey I fasted and I finished it.  Don't drop the ball just resume the fasting.  I want to encourage you maybe try a Daniel's fast where it's no sweets no meats no dairy and no sweets. I said sweets twice because they're very important. But this is my rule for people who work in very heavy jobs. If it gets through the straw it's under the law. As long as you don't blend your sandwich. Because I know people who literally took their steak grind it.  Number four the Bible says Elijah he sleeps he eats and that's taking care of our physical health this year. Number two is we see that we shouldn't avoid community. Number three is fasting and number four is Elijah gets into a cave and the Bible says this and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said what are you doing here? Elijah First Kings 99. Number four and this is what I want to challenge every believer this year is to make a decision to be in God's word experience God in his word. According to the American Bible Society 78% of American households own a Bible and average household has three Bibles available but the problem is that most Americans have the access to a Bible that they don't read just 11% have read the entire Bible and majority of 30% of American survey have no more read than several passages or stories. So that means that 11% of people in this room and I will not ask whoever has read the whole Bible I don't want to embarrass anybody but people in this room have read the Bible from beginning till end. And it's not because we don't have enough time because on the average an American spends two hours on their phone and social social media and four hours a day watching videos.  My goal is not to hey renounce YouTube that's not the goal. The goal is this is that we shave off some time of social media and we bring the word of God into our life. You have to find your cave and the word of the Lord has to come into your cave. If you want to have a new year this year I want to challenge you to have new year and to have new you and that is this make God's word as standard in your daily life. If you read the Bible every single day for six minutes you will finish the Bible in two years. If you read the Bible for 12 minutes you will finish the Bible in one year. If you read the Bible for 25 minutes you will finish the Bible in six months. If you read the Bible for 50 minutes you will finish the Bible in three months. If you read the Bible for two hours and 29 minutes you will finish the Bible in one month. I want to encourage you to read the Bible every single day. I am not against reading the Bible through one year. The goal is to read the Bible every single day. Whether you read three chapters a day, you read one chapters a day, but read the Bible every single day. Why? Because the Bible is the only book in the world that's God breathed. God actually breathed. He exhaled into this. Every time you read it, you inhale it. The only book. Not one book how to win friends and influence people. Reach that, pour that. So many books in the world. Even I have three books. None of them are God breathed. Even genealogy is God breathed. Even book of Leviticus and limitations is God breathed. The Bible doesn't contain the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is powerful, sharp, and it's living. It's the only book where the author will continue to speak to you. This is God's presence. The Word of God came to Elijah. Have you noticed the Word of God came? Why? Because the Word walks. The Word talks. The Word transforms. The best decision you can make this year. It's good to run. It's good to watch your diet. It's good to be in the small group. It's very important that you and I, we choose to fast this year. But my friend, I'm going to tell you where rubber meets the road. Is if you carve every single day and you pick a Bible with the translation you understand.  Even if it's one chapter or three chapters. And you sit there and after you're done reading, you meditate on it and let it speak to you. Your life will never be the same. Mark my word. Statistics says the following. A key discovery from one research found out this. That Christians who read the Scriptures four or more times a week look radically different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers. Let me say it again. The lives of Christians who do not spend at least four times a week in the Bible look the same as the lives of non-believers. The Bible makes all the difference. And this is what statistic found. Someone who engages the Bible four or more times a week is 228 times more likely, more likely to share their faith with others. 407% more likely to memorize the Scripture. 59% less likely to view pornography. 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness. If you're spending your free time browsing and watching porn as a young guy, listen to me.  The best defense against porn is the Bible. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not have seen against you Psalm 119. 11. The secret to beating porn, loneliness, and a lot of emotional problems is consistent diet in the word of God. If you don't feel like reading it, make yourself read it. If you don't have time, make yourself some time to read it. Even if you're coming here today and you're saying, man, I'm not sure if I'm a Christian or not, I'm gonna tell you one thing. If you make a decision to take 10 to 15 minutes every single day with this book and you make a rule for your life, your life will never be the same in 12 months. I promise you that. The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. This book of the law shall not depart your mouth but you shall meditate any day and night and then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. The Bible says that the righteous man, the good man, the blessed man, he doesn't stand, he doesn't walk, he doesn't sit, but he meditates in the law of the Lord day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water whose leaves shall not wither and he will bear his fruit in its season and whatever he does, he shall prosper. This is the power of being in the word of God. And the Bible says Elijah is depressed, Elijah is lonely and he gets to the cave and the word of the Lord came. Every morning when you open the Bible, God will come to you in the form of his word. Every time you wake up and you read the Bible, whether it's in the morning or in the evening or during your lunch hour or in the car as you are on the break in your work. And after you've done scrolling, after you've done reading the news, after you've done seeing what happened or what is happening in the world, you open your Bible app. The word of the Lord will come to you. You're like, man, I've never seen God. When you read the Bible, he will come. When you read the Bible, he will visit you. I want to challenge you this year with few practical things with the Bible. Number one is read the Bible daily. Make a decision to read the Bible daily, whether you read through the Bible or you just read every day. The goal is to read the Bible daily. I used to read the Bible through in one year. I found that challenging because my competitive nature got the best of me and sometimes I'll be very honest with you, especially in the Bible app. I let, I opened the Bible app and closed it and didn't read it just so that I don't lose this streak. Confession time. There were times I let the Bible read in the empty room and I left my phone, went to a different room just so that I could finish the check mark. Now a few years ago, the Lord has delivered me from that plague and I no longer read the Bible in one year, but I still read every single day to the best of my ability and I usually finish within a year and a half. And this is why, because second thing that I want to encourage you is to read the Bible as a study Bible instead of just a Bible. Why? When you have a study Bible, it has little notes on the bottom that can help you to understand what you're reading. One of the reasons people do not like to read the Bible is because they don't understand what they're reading. How did Cain get his wife? What about that Adam have a belly button or not? Okay, the Bible commentary won't help you to answer that, but there are so many questions that people have and behind me there is a different Bible studies that I would encourage you. Get one and read the Bible through it. The goal is not to finish it in one year. The goal is to read it every single day to be fed to understand what they're speaking and have a speak to you. The third thing that I want to encourage every person today is this, is to download a Bible memorization app. Why?  That will fail three days from now. I'll just be very honest with you. Oh, I'm just gonna delete every social media. Yeah, but then you're gonna spend more time on something else. This is what I would encourage you. Instead of trying to fight the bad habits, replace them with good ones and make a decision that every day you will spend some minutes memorizing scriptures so that you will put God's word inside of you. Are you with me? I'll read the Bible daily. Get a Bible study where you read, right now currently I'm reading to three Bible studies. That's why I'm slower in my reading, meaning as I read two chapters, three chapters, then I reread them in a different Bible study. I want to understand. I want the Word to speak to me. I want the Lord to come to me every single day and He does and He meets me on the ground in the cave of His Word. Amen.  I know this was longer today than usual. Actually, it's about the same as usual. Number five, live for a cause in the midst of the chaos, and the Bible says that God's came to Elijah and He says, go return your way to the wilderness of the Damascus and when you arrive, anoint. So God gives Elijah a new job, a new assignment. He gives him a purpose. According to Victor Frank, which is the guy who survived the Nazi concentration camps, and he also developed this very new way that psychiatrists and psychologists used today. He said this, that you find meaning in life by creating the work or doing a deed, by experiencing something or encountering someone, or by attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. Dr. Karl Menninger, a famous psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health and he was answering questions from the audience and someone said, what would you advise a person to do if a person felt nervous breakdown coming on? Most people thought that he would say, go see a psychiatrist immediately, but he didn't. To his, to their astonishment, this doctor said this, lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need and help that person. To overcome discouragement, he said, do not focus on yourself. Get involved in the lives of other people. I want to encourage you this year, one of the best ways to fight off discouragement, burnout, and this is almost seems like that this is contrary, is to find a cause and give your life to it. Find a cause and give your life to it. Pastor Chris Hodges shared a story where 22 years ago, a church was doing a 21 day fast and he was under verge of depression, clinical depression. He was about to admit himself to a hospital because he felt so empty. He was the associate pastor of Bethany Church, which was very large church at the time and still is very successful, had everything he needed, finances, no problem, health, no problem, marriage, no problem, had everything anybody ever dreamed of. Chris Hodges in the year 2000, he is almost on a nervous breakdown, almost like mental breakdown about to submit himself to the hospital, but decides to take a 21 day fast with this church. During a 21 day fast, God shows him a vision.  Eventually goes to Bellingham, Alabama and starts a church. Today, it's a second largest church in the United States. 22 years later, and he says this, what pulled me out of my depression is God giving me purpose. One of the things that can help you pull out of discouragement is having a cause and having a purpose. If you're in this room today or watching us and let me just speak for just a moment to those people who are maybe not just depressed, you're on the edge of suicide.  Suicide is not a solution. It's a permanent decision to a temporary problem. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is our savior, not the robe. As Christians, we believe even if what you're dealing with right now is because of your sin, maybe you've committed a mistake. You fell into something that you cannot forgive yourself and nobody will ever forgive you.  Listen to me very carefully. If you're watching, rewatching or if you're sitting quietly in this room, you don't need to take your life. Somebody already has given his life for you. His name is Jesus Christ. Suicide is not your salvation. Jesus is. Something, a therapy, a doctor and a counselor cannot give you is forgiveness of sin. Something I can offer you today is because the man I'm talking about actually died in your place. That means that you don't need to pay for your sin. You don't need to pretend it didn't happen. You don't need to pretend it did not matter. It did. It hurts somebody. It's wrong. But there is somebody who took that on upon himself and Judas, you don't have to die for your sin because somebody not very far from here on the hill of Calvary died in your place. All you got to do is come to him and give your life to him. But maybe you are here because you're overwhelmed with the problems of life, with the challenges of life, the kids, the wife, the mortgage and you don't know what the future will hold. Maybe there's just challenges that nobody can help you. And honestly, there's nothing in this world can happen to change that situation. I want to tell you something. Still, if there is breath inside of you, there is hope for you. The Bible says God makes things work together for good for those who love God. The Bible doesn't say that everything is good, but he will, he can't turn around things for your good if you love him. If you hang in there and if you don't drop the ball, but instead go into prayer, go into the word, go into fasting, something will happen. God can supernaturally turn around your life in the way you have never fathomed or imagined. Elijah wanted to kill himself, but God planned to take him on the chariot of fire to heaven. Your current mood and your current emotional state is not an indication of what God wants to do in your life in the next three months. How you feel right now, it may feel like you're at the lowest of the lowest and there is only darkness. I'm alone left here Lord. Nobody is serving you. Just about is still raining and God says Elijah, a little news flash.  I want to take you gloriously to heaven in the chariot of fire. I want to challenge you today.  Yield it to God.  Listen, if God doesn't remove the thorn in a flesh, he will supply you with strength. But there is hope for you. Another personal or practical advice. Medicine is not a sign that you lack faith. Just because you prayed, just because you fasted and emotions of depression linger. Go see a doctor. Taking medication is not a sign you lack faith. In the bible, we see in heaven, there will be trees that have leaves and these leaves will provide healing. In Ezekiel he says these leaves will provide healing. In the bible, one of the authors of the New Testament was a good doctor. His name was Luke. Christians were the pioneers of hospitals and medicine. In fact, the first hospital was actually a monastery that turned into a hospital. Why? Because Christians believe that their leader was a great physician and therefore we should be at forefront helping the sick people. Not shaming them for taking medicine. Now, will medicine heal you? Probably not. But it will treat you and it will help you to manage whatever you're going through and help you to get back on your feet. Apostle Paul, the great man of God that he was, tells a young Timothy instead of telling him to quote the scriptures, he says, take alcohol for your frequent stomach problems.  He says, take some of nature things on your boils and you will recover. God can use medicine. Don't be afraid to seek the doctor. Don't be afraid to go see a therapist. Don't be afraid to go take medicine. Do not simply say, well, no, this problem is just spiritual. I just need to keep attacking it. Well, if you've been attacking it spiritually and it's not changing, go see the doctor for Christ's sake. For the family's sake. For the sake of your well-being this year. It's not a sign that you lack faith and anybody who says that to you, it's wrong. The last thing that I want to mention on a practical level, depression is not a pet that should be entertained. It's a pest that should be exterminated. Ultimately, behind every depression is a spirit of Jezebel. Elijah did not have really a problem with his health or his diet. Elijah had a force that he had to confront. It was Jezebel to provoke the whole thing. A lot of times behind extended periods of depression and anxiety is actually a demonic spiritual forces and medicine cannot help with demons. They can help with physical chemicals, but they cannot help with demons. If you've taken medicine, if you've done all the spiritual disciplines and you're noticing it's still there, seek deliverance. Come to our prayer line this month. Get delivered because there is such a thing as spirit of heaviness in Isaiah. There is such a thing as spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1.7. There is such a thing as distressing spirit. The Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 16 it came upon Saul and it made him manic. He started to throw spirits like he kind of lost episodes. So, there is such a thing as spiritual world. This is not just portrayed in movies and paranormal activity movies. This is actually real. There are spiritual forces. I'm not saying every mental disorder is demonic, but there are demonic spirits behind some mental disorders that cannot be removed from medicine, therapy or counseling, but it can only be removed through the act of exorcism. Amen. So, these are the lessons that I want us to take on this year. Let's prioritize our health. Let's prioritize community. Let's prioritize fasting. Let's prioritize putting God's Word in our life. Let's live with the cause. And if you're going through a heavy depression right now, suicide is not a solution. Medicine is not a lack of your faith. And deliverance is not just an option. It might be a necessity. Amen. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video. It cost you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance, and so many other things, go to HungryGen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.


This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Plan on paying less for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP.com. I'm Mike Keith, very special OTP as just days ago, Titans head coach Brian Callahan and Executive Vice President and General Manager Ran Karthon and I had a chance to do a Q&A in front of the membership of the Nashville Sports Council and we did this in the Wesley Mortgage Club at Nissan Stadium. It was a fun 45 minutes overall as the head coach and general manager went back and forth on several topics and there were some good stories as well. We began with one that Ran Karthon touched on in a recent press availability. The story of how the Titans ramped up their pursuit of Calvin Ridley. Now in the press availability you heard part of the story. The Nashville Sports Council members heard the entire story and will begin right there. Brian Callahan and Ran Karthon from Nissan Stadium on the OTP. So the process started when we set our intentions on free agency, myself, Callie, Anthony Robinson, Chad Brinker, our coaching staff, Ven Moreno. We went in with a target list and we met with Ms. Amy and kind of gave her the plan. Hey, here are our top guys we're going to target. Here are some guys on the back end that are maybes if other scenarios don't, you know, come to fruition. So we're in it, we're getting guys and we have a day where we ultimately we struck out on two guys that we targeted.  So our night ends and I go in my office, I take a shower and, you know, I'm in the shower and I'm still pissed, but I'm thinking, you know, about other things. And that's when the thought of, well, maybe, maybe we can get in on this Ridley thing. And so I'm thinking about it.   Wait a minute. You went out in the hall. Not in the hall, but in my, in the, like the four year of my office. Okay. Okay. So pseudo private. Yeah. But you're in a towel. I'm in a towel. It's not that private. I'm in a towel and I'm like, Chad, can we get this Ridley thing done? And in the media part where I spoke and I can see the cameras now. So I guess it's going to be known.  And so I was like, all right, cool, but put it on his, on his mind. I got dressed and then I went next door and talked to Cali. And we had a conversation about the possibility and what Calvin could bring to us and the possibility of adding them. And from there I had the conversation with Ms. Amy, you know, my drive home about the possibilities, kind of walked her through, you know, where we would need to come in financially, where our walk away price would be in total, we'll do more research. But let's talk tomorrow. So come in the next morning, talk to Chad. You know, Chad has a really good relationship with Calvin's agent. So Chad started the conversation from his part, Cali and I, we talked again and we all talked as a group and it was something that we wanted to keep really intimate. So during the, during the negotiation of that day, it was only three of us, like in it, well, Counting Vin, it was four.  Like in Cali's office, pretty much how it was. So now we start, we put our name in the hat and we knew we had to come strong because of other offers and to get him to want to leave Jacksonville. So we do that, we make our initial offer. They tell us it's a competitive offer. It's a good offer and that they'll explore it. So this whole thing, what do you say? It was about 10, 10 a.m. Yeah, it was, it was mid-morning. Yeah. So when we made the offer, so I'll fast forward because it's now it's about three. Yeah, it's been hours. We've been going back and forth and sitting together talking. And it just sort of been this whole day just sitting around together, waiting and having conversations in between. And there's other things going on too, but that was the main one we were waiting on all day to see if we can get it finalized and finished. So it's about three o'clock now. This is the day that you can officially start to talk to guys after 4 p.m. Eastern, which is the start of our new league year. So negotiations are still ongoing.  He likes the opportunity. Not committing, but we'll say it's about 90%. He still has to talk to his wife and talk to his family. So we're like, cool. So you guys will get to know coach. Coach doesn't believe it until it's signed, right? Like, I don't want to talk about it. Not one bit. Not until that ink is dry. Do I believe that anything is done? Because I've seen it go the other way way too many times. So coach is behind his desk. I'm sitting on the couch in his office. And it's like, you can't move. You can't do anything. And we're just frozen waiting on this call.  What we didn't know, his wife is from Huntsville. So it gets her close to her family. And they actually have a home in Huntsville. So it gets them close so the percentages went up to 98%. You'll take that, right? 98%? Like, all right, we're good. Nope, he has to sign. Still no? Yeah, I don't believe anything until it's done. So then because of the type of character Calvin has, and everything that he went through, Jacksonville traded for him.  These people took a chance on me when others turned their back. I want to be able to call through his agent. He let us know that he wants to be able to call Jacksonville and say, hey, I'm going to take this other opportunity. And I'm sitting there and said, there's no way. This is not 98% done. He's going to call Jacksonville. It's going to go sideways. This is not good. I can't believe this is like, we're this close. And then I just knew as soon as he called him that it wasn't going to be favorable for us at that point. I was not a very big believer that it would get worked out. And to Coach's point, we get a call back maybe what, 30 minutes later. It was like, all right, well, it's at 50%. I knew it. I just shaking my head, looking at him, like, I told you. And they're like, you know, Jacksonville wants to put something together.  But they want to put something together to see if they can match. So now we're waiting. So another 45 minutes, we get a call. And they're like, Jacksonville is going to match the offer. Not going to say what we said, but we were in that phase of it. So we're sitting there. And you look at the clock, and it's after four. So I'm like, well, we can talk to him now, right? Because a new league year started. And I'm like, at this point, all we're doing, we're throwing money. And at this point, you're just talking to the agent. Just to the agent. That's all we're allowed to do is have communications with the agent. And so now we're like, we need to get this guy on the phone. Like, I'm sure the GM's calling him, the head coach, teammates, everybody's calling him from Jacksonville. But we can't. So I'm like, let's get this guy on the phone. Let's talk to him. So we get his phone number from his agent. And then we just call him. We put it on speakerphone. And by this time, our office coordinator, Nick Holtz, had joined us and Nick coached him in Jacksonville. And so we get him on the phone and we all introduce ourselves. And then we pass the phone to coach. And then coach tells him, hey, this is going to be the system. This is how our program is going to be run. This is how we're going to do things. And then I got the phone. And it was one of those things. If you guys, I don't know how many people in here in Florida or know about people from Florida, like we stick together, right? Whether you're in state, out of state. And I knew people that coached him. And I knew the area he's from. And so I just approached it from two Florida boys having a conversation on the phone. And one of the things I told him, I was like, listen, I know where you're from. I'm from the same place you're from. I know how you were raised. I know what things mean to you. I was like, but more than anything, we're going to treat you like a man and allow you to be you. I said, whoever that is, we had done our research. So we knew what he was made of. But we were like, we're going to let you be a man and allow you to be you. And I told him one of the things that Miss Amy takes pride in is allowing people to be them and do their jobs. And what do you say? Within two minutes of the phone call, he was like, I'm coming. I'm good. We went from a 50% chance to Calvin just being like, yeah, no, I'm good. I'm coming. Wait a minute. Brian, what do you think at this point? I mean, obviously, I don't believe anything. I mean, I felt good. Our conversation was good. And I felt confident that we had represented ourselves the way that we were hoping to and that he would be open to coming to Nashville. And free agency is like any business, money talks. And the money part was important. And we were competitive at that point. And that was about all things being equal. Where does he want to play? And what kind of environment does he want to be in? And I think we did a good job of painting the picture of what it's going to be like here for us in Tennessee. And I think he obviously bought into it. So then he says he's coming. So then I say, all right, well, listen, have your agent call Jacksonville and tell him that you're coming. You don't call him. And we're good. And so we were still waiting on final word from his agent. And his agent is one of the best, if not the best in the business. And he called us back. And of course, he moved to go post a little, well, if you can do this. And at that point, we just wanted it to be over. So we're like, if we do this, are we good? And he's like, yeah. And so we were like, just do it. And he said, hey, congratulations. You just got yourselves a wide receiver. And so we celebrate it 15, 20 seconds. And then we get Calvin on the phone, just to, hey, welcome. Thank you for believing in us. We believe in you. And again, I said this before. And I think you got misconstrued a little bit because I said, again, this is all 90 seconds. And we call Calvin, or FaceTime Calvin, as we're having this conversation. And 30 seconds into the conversation, Miss Amy beeps in. And she's like, is this true? And more so, is this true? Like, did we pull this off? Not as in, I don't know what's going on. But is this true? Did we really make this happen in this day? And at first, I was like, is what true? I didn't know that it was out. We're in our little bubble. And she's like, it's all over the TV. And we were like. I about drove off the road, by the way. I'm listening to the radio. And so of course, we get off the phone with Calvin.  Like, the queen is calling. And we talked to her. And we were all excited about what we had done and how we did it. It was collective. It was a group. It wasn't about any one person closing the deal because it took all of us. And we closed the deal. We got Calvin back on the phone. Got Coach Tobart in and talked to everybody. And then the panic sets in again because you're like, nothing signed. So then it's like, well, damn, like how soon can we get this dude in here? Like, we need to get him in here ASAP signed. Because again, it's not done in Jacksonville. I think it happened a couple of days before there was a player, Eric Kendricks. Whatever, he visited the 49ers, agreed to sign with the 49ers. And then the next day, I mean, it was all public. He's going to San Francisco. And then the next day, he signed with Dallas, had a change of heart overnight. So then you gotta wait another 24 hours to get this guy in and you have to live through that. So long story short, we made it happen and we're excited to have Calvin. Now that's a story. It's a little peek behind the curtain of how those things go and the ups and downs and backs and forwards. And it's, everybody sees the announcement that you sign a player, but you don't understand how much work goes into actually making that happen behind the scenes. And like Rand said, the collective effort of all the people involved was really pretty cool to watch and watch everybody do their job and activate when it was time to activate. And you get to see the announcement, but we take a lot more pride in how the deal got done as opposed to actually getting the deal done. The one part I did leave out is after we got it done, I officially quit for the day. So I legitimately, after we were done, we were in a good place. I grabbed my stuff, I left and went home. It was like five o'clock. Like I was depleted. I got sick for a few days after that just cause it takes so much out of you to get this done. And you want to deliver a product for the people in this room, the people in the city, the people in this state. And knowing that we were close to having it, it just takes a lot out of you. So, you know, we're just glad that it came to fruition. Head coach, Brian Callahan.  We know that. You have coached some good quarterbacks. You've certainly coached some good receivers. Why was Calvin Ridley worth all of the time and effort? Well, there was an element of explosiveness that Calvin brings to an offense. It's been proven. He was explosive in Atlanta. He was explosive in Jacksonville. Teams in the NFL nowadays, you have to be able to make those big plays, to make explosive plays. And you have to have the guys that have the ability to do it. And Calvin does. He's got great acceleration, great ability to separate. He can win in one-on-one coverage. There's not many guys in the NFL that can cover him in a one-on-one situation. And he's a fantastic person on top of it. And so you add that element to an offense that already's got some good young players. We felt like that was something that would be able to take us another notch up the rung offensively. And as everybody that follows the NFL knows, I mean, you gotta score points in the NFL to win football games. And so we needed someone that could help us do that. And Calvin fit that perfectly. What can he do in combination with Deandre Hopkins scheme-wise? Well, it's hard to cover both of them.   He's been an explosive player as well over his career. And so to be able to have two receivers that are hard for people to match up but then have to determine which corner they wanna put on which player. And both are different styles of players. So we feel like no matter who we go line up against, that we're gonna have someone that can go in. What can those two guys do for Traylan Burke's development potentially? Well, you get a chance to see for a young player like him, you get a chance to see what another two other veteran, productive veteran receivers look like, how they work, how they approach their craft, how they approach their work day, how they take care of themselves, how they prepare for a game. And then there's an element of playing receiver in the NFL that's confidence-based. And then these guys have an incredible amount of self-confidence. It's almost delusional the way that they feel about how well they can do their jobs. And that's how you have to be to go out there every Sunday and play in front of all these people and produce. So to have a young player see that from two veteran players, I think is an important part of any player's development at all positions truthfully. But those two guys I think will really give him an example to follow. Our Nashville Sports Council crowd here likes stories and they know that we got a good cornerback this week and that's an understatement in Legerius Snead from Kansas City. I guess it's more story time with Rand Carthon. That's gonna be my new podcast. Yes, story time with Uncle Rand. So Kansas City puts the franchise tag on him meaning they owe him, I think it was $19.8 million this season, he has the ability to go out and potentially make a trade and then last Friday you officially acquired him. That was almost a month from the date that the tag was applied until you officially acquired him. When did you start working on this with him in Kansas City and whomever else and how long did it actually take in terms of the process day to day? Well, I'll say active conversations where compensation was discussed with Kansas City was more like two weeks. So it wasn't that long. We had other conversations more just us inquiring about where they were with their process and where they were with him and you do the research you know, kind of understand where other teams may be what other teams may be interested.  I had a good relationship with his agent Chad and Mike Borganzi, who is the assistant GM in Kansas City, they have a really strong relationship. So allowing those two to talk amongst themselves from a team to team standpoint and with us having Kansas City's permission to engage in conversations with the agent kind of just had an ongoing conversation with the agent no offers or anything, just kind of learning a little bit more and more than anything doing a case study to try to see where they want to be you know, what's important to them contractually. And so you know, as time went you kind of, we approach most things with our walk away price, right? Where we're ultimately where we're done. And so we kind of knew where we wouldn't go within a trade and amongst myself, Callie, Miss Amy and the rest of the team, like hey, this is where we'd be comfortable, you know making that move. And so we got to a point with Kansas City where it was like, okay, you know, this is what we're willing to do. And they accept it. And so then it transitions from there to now you have to negotiate a deal with the agent. And then that's where Ven Moreno, you know, comes in and kind of based off of my conversations with the agent of where they want to be and what was feasible for us at the time, we were able to find that happy medium. And so again, the process seemed like it drug out because so much was coming out, you know in the media and all those different things but it was really a two week process. And then on the back end of it, it was more logistical because we were getting ready to leave to go to owners meetings, as was the team with Kansas City and the way you have to execute from a franchise player being, you know, tagged, traded and signed. It's our contract, but it has to be executed by Kansas City. Because a player has to be under contract in order to be traded. Correct. And the player has to agree to be traded. And so there were some, you know, some red tape for all sides, us in Kansas City as well. And again, logistically, we're in Orlando, Kansas City's in Orlando, Lagerius is in Dallas. And so getting him to sign, you know, in person, if I'm not mistaken, I think Kansas City had to fly, you know, one of their young scouts to Dallas to meet with him to get him to sign the proper paperwork, you know, in order for the trade to become executed. So it was more of a logistical thing, but it over the course of two weeks. So two weeks, Brian, I wonder, your defensive coordinator, Denard Wilson, your secondary coach, Chris Harris, the guy who works with him in the secondary guy, we know well in Steve Jackson, are they driving you crazy at this point to get this done? No, we, we, we did a really good job, I think, as a staff of identifying the players that fit what we were looking for from a player perspective, from a coaching perspective. And I thought we had a really tight free agency initial plan. And so we knew the corner was a spot that we were hoping to address. We knew there was some free agents that would be available. We would have, you know, at the onset, the idea that we could sign Lagerius was obviously our top target, but then he gets franchised. And now it's a tag and trade situation, which makes it very different than just a normal free agency contract negotiation. And so we kind of put him on the shelf. We signed Cheeto, who, who I love Cheeto. He's, he'll be a fantastic addition, but we knew that there was an ability to get maybe two quality corners in the free agency process and really solidify that position. And obviously we knew those were needs for us. And so Denard was obviously very excited that we were gonna take that route for him and try to find two really good players. And we felt like that was the best allocation of our resources for those positions because that's the way the NFL works. And they were very much included in the process. You know, obviously the way we do things, our scouts watch players as well as our coaches. But when the first thought of potentially trading for LJ came up, myself, Callie, Anthony Robinson, Denard, Chris, Steve, we all went into a room together and we just watched him play. We just turned on the tape and we watched him and we literally talked about, hey, are you guys comfortable if we trade this for him? Now understand this will cost you this. And so we worked through all of those scenarios with the coaches. So they will understand, you know, everything that goes into getting this player because it's not always an apples for apples thing. And so they were very understanding of where we had to be and what it, you know, the areas that it would take us out of if we pulled this off and made it happen. But I promise you, those guys are more than happy. We'd say so. I mean, Cheeto, Owuzzi, and Lijerrius Snead and Roger McCrary for that matter. Don't those guys totally fit what Denard Wilson wants his guys in the secondary to do? Yeah, if you watch those guys play both Cheeto and Lijerrius and the way that Roger plays the nickel position, it is a tough, physical, smart group of corners.  And Cheeto plays very similar style. They're both big players, their dimensions are big. They're tall, they're long, and they play a style that's very physical, which not every corner plays that way. And we feel like we got three of them that fit that style. And that's certainly one of the things that Denard stressed when he got here is that ability for the corner to challenge and play physical at the line of scrimmage and make life hard for NFL offenses. And as an offensive coach myself, I've played against Lijerrius. I've watched Cheeto in practice for four years. And Lijerrius is one of the toughest corners that we've had to face when I was in Cincinnati. And so to add him and add Cheeto really transforms, I think, both the mentality and the physical nature of our secondary on defense. All right, so let me ask you, the Titans gave up a third round pick to get Lijerrius in need. Last year you gave up a third round pick to get Will Levis. Brian, how has Will Levis already made his presence felt in this off season within Ascension St. Thomas Sports Park? Just his eagerness to get started and improve. Obviously we have rules about when and where we can actually meet with players on actual football. But Will's been around, he's been present. He's taken a couple trips out to California to work with some of the quarterback people that are out there that were really good. But we've had chances to have some discussions. I've talked to him on the phone a bunch. I keep him in the loop of everything that's going on as far as where we're signing, who's been targeted. I kept him in the loop and the coaching staff as we hired guys. And I think that quarterbacks need to feel that it's not an ownership necessarily, but it's just an involvement in the process because ultimately he's the extension of me on the field.  So to be involved in the process, to have communication with him, his willingness to engage in that communication. And finally, his leadership role and talking to all the players that we've signed and making sure that he's the one that's making a phone call from the player side, welcoming them to the team has been really impressive. And so we start Monday and I can't wait to get actually in a meeting room and talk football and coach finally after all this other stuff you got to do. But he's been fantastic and I can't wait to get to work. It's really exciting and that the work that he's put in on his own has been really impressive. Ran, who have been some of the other guys who have really made their presence felt that you feel like are going to step up and take more of a leadership role in 2024? Well, we've had a ton of guys and I think Brian said it when like your first week here, we've had a high number of players just in the building every day working out on their own and that's been the cool thing and that's one of the blessings about being in Nashville that guys want to be here.  So that's one of our advantages. So we have a ton of guys around but one guy I'll name is Taje. You know, Taje is a guy that he's been around. He cares a lot. I didn't know this prior to assigning but he and Tony Pollard have had a relationship that I don't even know how exactly they know each other but I know Tony reached out to Taje before he got drafted to kind of offer him advice and they kind of just kept in touch throughout this time and so when we brought these guys in the building for the first time, Taje was one of the guys in making sure that he's around, he's meeting everybody and meeting their families and so you start to see his leadership develop as time went on for him last year and so especially with Derrick no longer being here, there's a void particularly in that room that I know he's willing to step up and become the guy in that room. The one other guy that was the first phone call I made when I got the job was Jeffery Simmons. To me, Jeffery is who the Tennessee Titans are. He's to me the face of what our organization is and so I think that he's continuing his role. That's what he's been here but Jeffery's been great and he's been around as well and so having that, he's sort of like the Will Leviss of the defense and we've tried to keep in touch and make sure Jeffery was sort of aware of what we were doing and how we were doing it because he's a guy too that's a, he is the Tennessee Titans. When I think of Tennessee, I think of him because that's when I had to go game plan again so. Why did you start offensive line construction with Senator Lloyd Cushenberry from the Denver Broncos getting him to commit as quickly as possible? Well I think it starts with another fellow also by the last name of Callahan. I call him Big Coach, having Big Coach, a part of it being the best in the game at coaching O-line, guys want to be here. Guys want the opportunity to play for him. He's gotten a lot of people paid and so we had, again we talk about relationships and being relational, Big Coach over the last few years coached Ethan Posick, which was his center in Cleveland and Posick and Cushenberry, they train together, they're both LSU guys, they train together in the off season and so they had plenty of time to talk about what playing for Bill Callahan can do for your career and do for you as a player and so we identified him very early in the process as the best center in free agency and a young and ascending player who has a ton of great ball left ahead of him and so as a staff we identified him as a top target, our coaching staff agreed and at that point, I mean we didn't ask Ethan Posick to do anything but when it starts coming down and we're having these conversations during the tampering period with his agent, of course the agent communicates, hey, Tennessee called and then now those phone calls start from the players and then you get guys that you look up to stamping, the coaching makes it easy for us. Your dad is an unbelievable evaluator. I've wondered how much of the current offensive line room can he evaluate on tape and how much more will he need to see as you get on the field in the weeks to come to fully know them? Yeah, I mean he's evaluated every player on a roster, he watched every snap they all played, he's watched practice reps of some of the guys that didn't play a lot, so he's very aware of what we have currently on the roster, what we needed moving forward, where our deficiencies were, where we might have some strengths. So yeah, he's evaluated the whole thing from top to bottom, there's nobody better and obviously I'm biased but there's nobody better out there when it comes to both evaluating and coaching and so we made the move at center because center is that's the middle of your offensive line, that's the guy that where everything goes through the balls, he touches the ball every play, there's the communication aspect and if you're good in the middle of your offensive line in the interior, you're gonna have a chance to be a pretty good unit so that was sort of a key starting point for the offensive line and he was adamant that that was the guy that we target because that's the one where you, as you build out, you're building from inside out and those guys, you need a center and his ability to know exactly what he wants and how he wants it done is what makes him unique and he can't wait to get on the grass and get to know these guys a little further and actually coach but we got a pretty good feel for where we're at and where we need to head. How much of a help is that to you and the rest of the personnel staff ran that you can walk down the hall and you've got somebody that he says, this guy, yes and you can just be like, this guy, yes. I mean, maybe you don't take him because he doesn't fit the spot and you have other needs but the stamp of approval is realistically all you need if you want to go in that direction. I think it's an advantage for us as scouts and I think it's not only big coaches, all of our coaching staffs, the number one thing when we were talking with Cali during the interview process was being able to have a plan, not only have a plan but being able to articulate that plan and create the vision for what we need to do as a personnel department and both of our backgrounds, we have experience with what we call profile tapes which are basically highlights, if you will, of what you're looking for at every single position and being able to describe those attributes. And so we had a big meeting, one with the offense, one with the defense about what we're looking for at every single position from a skill factor and critical factor. And so for us as scouts now, we have a visual because these tapes are put together by the coaches. We have a visual as a reference point to always be able to go back to and to know what's required of playing our scheme. So it makes it really, really easy for us to know that although player A is a great player, he's just not a fit for what we do and that player B or C may be better options because they fit exactly our scheme and so it makes our job so much easier. Okay, we gotta wrap up. Seems like we've been going for five minutes but I told you we could go for three hours. I've got so much more but they obviously have to get back to work. The draft is approaching. Do you guys look at mock drafts, either one of you? I think there's an element of mock drafts that you have an awareness of because people are collecting information from all different parts of the league, from scouts, from coaches. Some of these people have good relationships around the league and so they do get accurate information sometimes. But never like one, but it's usually an aggregate of all the mocks so you just get an idea of where publicly maybe guys are, I guess being mocked to. What's your chances would be for a guy, for example, if you're picking a 38, what are the chances that X player is there? Well, and publicly in all the mocks, it's like a 10% chance that they make it to 38. So there's some things that do go into the mocks. I do not pay attention to what they say. It's just more about an aggregate of what the public perception is of players and teams. There is some accurate information in there sometimes. I bet Rand loves them. I love and hate them at the same time because it keeps me up at night. Part of one of the things that Sarah Bailey who runs our research and development department, one of the number one things I asked of her when she was hired was to create a draft predictor model. And it's kind of what he was talking about in knowing, showing us, and it's based on our grades, the coaches grades, mocks and a bunch of different variables, analytic variables. And it gives us a percentage of the chances that these certain players will be there at each one of our picks. And so we were talking about it this morning actually. And what goes into her model is there's over 400 mock drafts that are out there. Really? Yeah, there are over 400. Some could be my next door neighbor putting one online. Don't know, but there are 400 available mock drafts or over 400 available mock drafts that kind of go into our algorithm. So yeah, I pay attention unfortunately. But like Coach said, you know the reputable ones, the ones that have good relationships that might be tapped in. Right now we're 20, what's today? The fourth? 21 days. We're 21 days away, so three weeks away from the draft. They'll get better next week, a little bit more accurate next week. And probably the week of the draft is time to just turn off everything. Cause that's when the misinformation period starts. And so you don't want to get too caught. You go from the legal tampering period to the lying period, don't you? It's all lies. All right, we're going to wrap up with this. You gentlemen have been working together for two and a half months, roughly. And I'll start with you, Brian. In the two and a half months, what are you most excited to have gotten accomplished with Rand Carthon and with everybody else in the Titans organization? That's a great question. There's not been much time for reflection yet, unfortunately, it just seems like every day there's just something else coming that we have to keep moving forward on. So I haven't had much chance to reflect on the early part of this. It's been just every day something's coming. But what I am the most excited about and the most proud of so far, I think, is the way that we've worked together in the processes. In the, you know, we went from Rand and I working hand in hand, trying to get our staff hired, getting the strength coaches hired, the people that were involved in that process, starting the free agency process, getting the draft on there's just, it's been a really, really seamless starting point to now where everybody's just works in their role and does their job and we all work together and that part's been really enjoyable and I think that that's what attracted me here in the first place and to see that in action every day is really what's made that, you know, the fact that I got to come here and they offered me a job, but my decision to come here as well was that this is what I thought it would be and I think that that's probably the highest compliment I can pay to the people in the building right now is that it's exactly what I expected it to be and I think that that's bodes well for what's to come and I think that that's, to me, the most important part is the way that everything's been worked together on and collaborated on and everyone's pushed forward with the same vision that's been pretty outstanding to see in action. Yeah, it's the same for me, it's the relationship that's been developed not only between Callie and I, but just our staffs merging together and you're in the building and you're up and down the hallways and doing your thing, but I think everybody that comes into the building feels our building, they feel, we were just talking yesterday and we were like, man, because we've been having a bunch of draftees come in for what we call 30 visits because you're allowed to bring in 30 players and we kind of jokingly said to each other that if this was college recruiting, we'd be Alabama or Georgia, we'd get our... Tennessee, you mean? Notice I didn't say Florida, but... That was nice how you did that, you almost got it right, sorry. But I think that's a testament to not only who we are as people, but our coaching staff and our personnel staff and so to fully answer the question, the thing I've been most proud of is the great people that we've brought in and that's something that we care about a lot. It's a prerequisite to be a good coach, to be a good personnel person and to be a good football player to be here, but we care about the people, we're not gonna sacrifice that, we're not gonna sacrifice our building, our locker room because these people have to be stewards of the community and stewards of the organization and the state. So I'll just, these two gentlemen mentioned that they have the 30 visits and they're, how many in today? They're a bunch in today. Three. Yeah, so you gotta get back and so I'm gonna let them go and as we let them go, I think the thing that I have been most excited about and the people in this audience have been most excited about is the fact that we have had so much to be excited about in the last two and a half months. There have been a lot of fun days, we didn't even play the game yet. So Titans fans are fired up. Thank you both for making this happen. Thank you for taking the time for the Nashville Sports Council and for our great fans. Bryant Callahan, Rand Parson. Thank you guys. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Seat Geek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans, whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans games or any other event in Nashville, Seat Geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek, the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So Titans fans can fan. thanking the Nashville Sports Council for allowing us to share this with you. I'm Mike Keith. We appreciate you joining us for the OTP.


Dude, you need some gloves because your hands you I just hope they don't ask you to throw the ball Okay, did you not see him right? And the balloon talks Bro, we talked about it before I said Derek make sure you put some air on he was so scared or throw you saw it on his face I'm like, it's right here Well, listen and we still we still up in points I think I wish I had a bill I got football condition