Amen. Alright, Romans chapter 11. There's a lot there. Romans chapter 11. Okay, so in Romans chapter 11, Paul is putting a cap on this thought that he's been having in Romans 9, Romans 10, and Romans 11, talking about Israel, his people. Paul was a Jew. Paul was a Pharisee. So Paul was a Jew, he said, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Jew. In Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 10, and Romans chapter 11, Paul is talking about the nation of Israel and the state of the nation of Israel.  I just gave away where I'm going tonight. But there's a lot of false doctrine that's pulled out of Romans chapter 11. So I'm going to try to, you know, point out and kind of get rid of some of that false doctrine. But I want to also not chase too many rabbits tonight. I want to explain what Romans chapter 11 is actually saying verse by verse. Okay, so look down at Romans chapter 11 and verse number one. And the Bible reads, I say then, hath God cast away his people, God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seat of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. He continues, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not with the scripture sayeth of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone and they seek my life. But what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have reserved myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the need to the image of Baal. Even so then, at this present time, there is also remnant according to the election of grace. So in verse number one, Paul says, hath God cast away his people, God forbid. And then he gives it a comparison of Elias or Elijah in the Old Testament. The story of Elijah in the Old Testament, if you remember, we don't have time to go there. But basically, Elijah went and he challenged the prophets of Baal. The nation of Israel had gone astray and they were chasing after false gods. And he challenged all these prophets of Baal to this challenge, to try to call down fire on this sacrifice. And the thing I love about it is, he has, these guys are like, they're cutting themselves and they're trying to get Baal to light this sacrifice on fire and they all fail.  And they soak it with water like three times. And then they fill the whole trench around it with water. And then Elijah calls, calls, asks God and this fire comes down from heaven and just cooks the whole thing. Then Elijah kills all the prophets of Baal. And after this, you know, the wonderful Jezebel, King Ahab's wife, basically comes after Elijah to try to kill him. So Elijah flees for his life. And this is where Elijah, you find him, he's depressed, he's sitting alone and he says to God, I'm the only one that's left.  And God says, no, you're not the only one that's left. He says there's 7,000 men that have not bowed the knee to Baal. Now, there's millions of people in the nation of Israel at that time. So that wasn't a lot of people. But there was still a remnant.  That is the comparison that God or that Paul is giving here. Okay, he's saying, has God cast away his people? And he uses the comparison that no, because there's still 7,000 men, there's still a remnant is what the Bible is saying here. And at this present time, if you look down to verse number five, so basically verses two through five, explain verse number one. Okay, so it says in verse number five, even so at this present time in Paul's time. Also, there is a remnant, a remnant according to what? A remnant according to the election. And here's one one thing I want you to remember when we hear this word election, because a lot of false doctrine is brought out when you know, you hear the word election, all that you were elect that you were chosen by God. Election of what? Election of grace. So the election means and then read into go down and look at verse number six. The Bible says not as though the word of God had taken none of I'm sorry, I was gonna say go back to Romans nine and look at verse number six in Romans nine. So God always leaves a remnant. Okay, that's the point that the first point we're trying to make here is because not all of Israel believed on Jesus Christ. But there was a remnant according to the election of grace. Look at Romans nine and verse number six, not as though the word of God had taken none effect for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall the seed be called. So you see that God has always been pruning the tree so to speak. So he did the same. He's talking about the same thing here. Now the first point tonight I want to make is that there's a remnant and that this chapter is talking about mainstream Israel. Okay, this chapter Paul is talking about the mainstream of the nation of Israel, not accepting Christ. Okay, there was a remnant. There was people that did accept Christ that had the election of grace, but in general, the mainstream of the Jews rejected Jesus. They did not accept him as the Messiah. Okay, now you say what is the mainstream because there's a mainstream today. There's a mainstream today, you know, the mainstream media, the Fox News and the CNNs and all this. The mainstream today is people who are arguing politics and spending their life watching football and, you know, wasting their life and not doing anything. Right. You are not the mainstream. You are the remnant today. The believers on Jesus Christ.  Okay, so the mainstream of the Jews did not accept Jesus Christ. We see that. Look down at verse number six. I'm going to reread verse number five. Even so, then at this present time also there's a remnant according to the election of grace, the election of grace. And then verse number six, and if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. There's that pesky gospel again in Romans. I mean, every single chapter in Romans, it, it, he's preaching the gospel again and again. So the election is the election of grace. That means it's all Christ. And what verse number six means is that it can't even be a little bit by works. Otherwise it's no more grace. And if it's by grace, it's, it's not of works. It's one or the other. That's what Romans 11 and verse six is saying. So that defines what this election of grace is. So the remnant, the Jews that were part of the remnant, it's because they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. But that was not the main stream. Look down at verse number seven. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. So this election of grace obtained it, and the rest were blind. Look at verse number eight. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber. Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day, Paul's day. And David sayeth, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Turn to Psalm 69. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back all way. So he references something that David said. So let's look at what David said in Psalm chapter 69. Psalm chapter 69. Look at verse number 22. We see these words from David where the Bible says, let their table become a snare before them. And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake. And then we see, I'm going to read a few more verses of Psalm 69 so you can see David is cursing these people here. In verse 24 he says, pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him who thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those who now has wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Boy, that's a hefty, those are some strong words that David uses there. But we see here that the ones that aren't of the remnant have this spirit of slumber. Their eyes they cannot see it says and they can't hear with their ears until this day. And then David says a snare, a trap, a stumbling block. Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. Now I didn't go into this on purpose in Romans chapter 9 but we need to look at something in David's words and Paul's words here because there's a lot of false doctrine pulled out of this as well. So go to Isaiah chapter 8 and verse number 14. And let's look at this verse number 9 where it says, And David saith, Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. In Isaiah he's referencing Isaiah 8 where Isaiah says, And he shall be for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is a prophecy about the Messiah in Isaiah chapter 8 where it says it's a stone of stumbling or a stumbling block. And then we see this phrase a rock of offense. What I'm trying to get at is Jesus is many times in the Bible in the Old Testament and the New referenced as a rock, as the rock. And when you look at turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, let's look at the New Testament. So we see that Jesus is called a stone of stumbling and he's called this rock of offense because he was a rock of offense to the Jews, the mainstream Jews of that day. And in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 8, let's start reading at verse number 7. The Bible reads, unto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same as made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling. See we see that that phrase again and what a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto they were also disappointed were appointed. I'm sorry Jesus is the rock that's being discussed here. Okay so you say why is this important? Well turn to Matthew 16. Here's the false doctrine that's taken out of this that we can use this to disprove. Turn to Matthew 16 and look at verse number 18. You see to some he was a stumbling stone. To some he was a rock of offense but he wasn't in 1 Peter 2, 7 unto therefore which believe he was precious. But to some he was a rock of offense. So you see differences there and what was the difference? Belief or unbelief? It's that simple. Okay look at Matthew 16 in verse number 18 and the Bible says Jesus says this he says and I say also unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now who's the rock? Jesus right now the Catholics will tell you that you know this is Jesus calling Peter the rock and that Peter is the leader of the church on earth thus the first pope which you know what? I mean I can see how you could take one verse out of context but it makes no sense you don't hear it in any part of the Bible anywhere else. But other places in the Bible we could go studying how Jesus is the rock for the entire sermon.  That's what Jesus is saying. Okay now do you think it's possible here's the irony of this whole thing that the rock of offense first Peter chapter 2 in verses number 7 and 8 guess who wrote that? Peter right so do you think it's possible that before Peter wrote his epistle that he misunderstood who the rock was and then he got it right after no no I mean Peter knew who the rock was it proves it in first Peter chapter 2 verses 7 and 8 Peter himself knew under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ was the rock of offense Jesus Christ was the rock we just looked at Ephesians 5 turned to Ephesians 5 we just talked about marriage last Sunday turned to Ephesians chapter 5 look at verse number 23 for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church it's real simple nowhere in the bible is this stupid idea that Peter is to be head of the church or some pope or anything like that okay all right let's not get too far off on trails here so instead of the Jews using Jesus Christ as their cornerstone to build their nation and to build you know Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of my religion of your religion he is the head of this church and instead of using it as their cornerstone they tripped over it is basically what Paul is saying they tripped over it because of their unbelief it's really not that complicated all right Paul's just explaining here that the Jews they they missed the bus you know they missed the bus on the Messiah it's a it's a bad bus to miss all right look at Romans 11 and verse number 11 Paul continues I say then have they stumbled that they should fall God forbid but rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles how much more their fullness for I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine office if by any means I might may provoke to emulation them which are of my flesh the Jews and might save some of them provoke to emulation turn to Acts chapter 8 provoke to emulation means that they would follow my example of believing on Jesus so Paul believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah he's saying hey by all these Gentiles that were going out and were getting saved hopefully that will provoke some of the Jews to emulate us to understand that hey jealousy they'll be jealous we want to know what they know and they'll hear the gospel and they will get saved as well turn to Acts chapter 8 let's look at what happened in the book of Acts Acts chapter 8 I just want to read one verse verse number one Stephen has just been killed in the book of Acts at the end of chapter 7 Stephen had his wonderful sermon and then he was stoned to death okay he was killed and the Bible says in Acts chapter 8 in verse number one this is Paul before he was converted it says and Saul was consenting unto his death unto Stephen's death Paul was there when Stephen was killed and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles so after the stoning of Stephen is when all the Christians started scattering and that's where you saw all the different churches pop up that's where you see the church of Antioch start that became Paul's home base where he took his missionary journeys out of Antioch all the time but they were forced out to the Gentiles largely because of persecution from the Jews so he's saying that hopefully Paul still has a heart for his people he's saying hopefully you know they'll be provoked unto jealousy because we're taking the gospel to the Gentiles and they will will be able to save some he said okay the gospel was going out everywhere all right because of the persecution of the Jews you won't find any other persecution in the book of Acts except for from the Jews okay of course after 70 AD then the Romans stepped in and started persecuting the Christians but as of right now it's the Jews look at Romans 11 verse 15 for if the casting of way of them be of reconciling of the world what shall be the receiving of them be but but life from the dead recognize again he's talking about the nation of Israel as a whole the mainstream nation of Israel for if the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches and if some of the branches be broken off and now being a wild olive tree we're grafting it among them and with them partaker partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree boast not against the branches but if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root that won't say the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in so Paul is using this analogy of grafting the Gentiles into you know the root of you know God's people basically okay remember when he said they're not all of Israel that's you know that say they're of Israel he's talking about you know this root this remnant the people that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ now these Gentiles that believe are being grafted into the tree okay it's a good analogy I mean we we went to this underground place here in Fresno where this guy dug a bunch of tunnels underground weirdest thing I've ever seen but that being said he dug all these things underground and he made this little house underground and he was really good at like you know horticulture I guess you would call it but he grafted he had all kinds of trees that could grow all different kinds of fruit on one tree because he grafted a branch in on you know from a lemon tree to an orange tree and all this type of thing so that's what Paul's talking about he's talking about there's a remnant you know that the Jews the mainstream Jews were cut off that branch was cut off because of their unbelief not because of who they were or the nation that they came from because they rejected the messiah they were cut off and the Gentiles were grafted in okay and he's saying hey if we can save some you know maybe we can you can be grafted in again you know I mean he's talking about the nation okay he's not talking about getting cut off and then being grafted in this isn't about individual salvation okay he's just talking he's using an analogy here look down at verse number 22 behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but toward the goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise uh oh did I skip verse 20 go back up to verse 20 why were they broken off I already said that but well because of their what unbelief they were broken off and thou standeth and thou you he says standeth by faith be not high minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee so Gentiles they they need to believe as well okay so there's not there's no nation that is to get high minded and believe we're God's people and you know it's all about belief or unbelief of the individual person period all right now look at verse 22 behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but toward thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shall be cut off and they also if they abide not still in unbelief shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again now this is talking about the nation all right he's talking about the belief of the nation individual salvation has always been the same the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament go to John 10 28 John 10 28 John 10 28 the Bible says and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand the Bible clearly teaches that salvation once you have it once you believe you have everlasting life and God holds your salvation no man including yourself can pluck it out of God's hand period it's very clear throughout the Bible you know my one of my favorite verses in the in John 3 is you know John 3 18 actually and the reason I like John 3 18 so much is because it says he that believed on him is not condemned but he that believed not is condemned already because he hath not believed so why why are you condemned because you have not believed all right when I was a Lutheran I one of the biggest questions that I had for my pastor before I I left the Lutheran church and ended up getting saved was just one of the biggest contradictions in my own mind is I asked my Lutheran pastor I said where in the Bible does it say or demonstrate or explain or show somebody being born again and then again and then again and then again it doesn't you won't find it anywhere it's eternal life if you get a gift that's eternal you only have to get it one time and the Bible says that you will never lose it in Matthew 7 in Matthew 7 Jesus says that to those people who came to him and said look at all the works that we have done look at all the wonderful things that we've done in your name Lord Lord they called him Lord he said I never knew you I never knew you because once he knows you he knows you that's it it's not like he didn't say I used to know you and then I forgot about you and then I knew you again and then I forgot you and then I knew oh yeah I knew you again no he said I never knew you it didn't matter that those people called him Lord that they were thinking that they were serving him they had not they had not put their faith on him their faith was in their own works period and he never knew them because once he knows you folks he knows you that's it look down to verse number 24 for if that work cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and work grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree how much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree so Jews can get saved if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that's it for I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in now we got to stop here for a little bit and the Bible let me just read verse 26 and then the Bible says and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and so turn away ungodliness from Jacob turn to acts 28 so let's look at this blindness in part first okay blindness in part I love how how thorough the Bible is in its in its wording this is why you have to have a King James Bible in your hand because these tiny little words like in part they make it true or not blindness in part has happened to Israel because that matches the beginning of the chapter we talked about you know it's just blindness in part because there's a remnant remember there's a remnant so blindness in part has happened to Israel look at acts 28 verse number 26 so the Jews are blind in part this is talking about the mainstream Jews the unbelieving Jews blindness is part in part has happened and tell this fullness of the Gentiles comes in okay but let's look at the blindness first verse number 26 saying go on to this people and say hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and not perceive for the heart of this people is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their own eyes lest they should see with their own eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it look he's quoting Jesus here in Matthew 13 where Jesus said this and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of asias would say it by hearing they shall they shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive for this people's heart is waxed gross what have I said again and again and again let's just I'll stop reading there I'll just explain it to you belief is a heart issue if somebody grows up and they have God God has the law written in their heart and they grow up in this creation this is Romans 1 right here this is why no one has an excuse because God wrote the law on everyone's heart and then they're living in this they see the creation all around them but if they grow up and they sear their heart and they sear their conscience over time and then someone comes to them with the gospel they won't hear it because their heart has grown this has waxed hard and it won't fit someone whose heart is not waxed hard when you come up to them and say hey you know would you like to hear how to get to heaven the bible tells you you can know for sure and they say yeah they'll believe it because it's the word of God and the word of God has power but people whose heart has waxed hard will not believe and pretty soon this is why Jesus said that he spoke in parables pretty soon God will not want them to believe anymore that's why with pharaoh it was you know pharaoh hardened his heart pharaoh hardened his heart the plague the next plague the next plague the next plague pharaoh hardened his heart and then pretty soon it was God that was doing the hardening because he's like you're done i'm done with you so God can give up on people God can turn people over it's very clear in the bible it's a scary thought but this is the reprobate doctrine right here okay so the heart their heart was hardened and this is why this is why jesus said again and again when he was talking he said those that have ears to hear let them hear because the jews at that time they did not want to hear and that's why you saw in many places in the bible when jesus is talking to the Pharisees the bible says they could not believe amat think about it jesus is doing miracles right in front of their face he's he's raising people from the dead and the first thing that these Pharisees they're not getting together going uh how did he do that he just raised a guy from the dead he's healing all these sicknesses he's having people get up and walk he's making blind people see they're not sitting there going how's he doing this they said no we got to kill him because their heart was hard they could not believe they couldn't believe they asked jesus why are you talking parables he's like because i don't want them to believe because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god and he didn't want to be speaking the word of god to them and these Pharisees these unbelieving jews who had rejected him and have them believe he did not want them to believe at this point because they rejected him he did have ears to hear let them hear faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god it's not me when you go out it's not you it's the one of god that has power to get people saved so the jews you saw david the jews have been cursed turned to matthew 27 the jews have been cursed not only by david but look at matthew 27 you know this isn't mainstream what you're hearing today but this is the bible matthew 27 looked down at verse number 22 the jews have been cursed and they literally asked for it they literally asked for it look at matthew 27 this is poncho's pilot he wants to let him go he wants to let jesus go he he's like this guy this guy there's nothing wrong here he's done nothing wrong he's innocent poncho's pilot's wife even said i had a dream stay away from stay away from the the blood of this innocent man don't have anything to do with this look at verse number 22 and pilot sayeth unto them what shall i do then with jesus which is called christ they all say to him let him be crucified these are the jews and the governor said why what evil heth he done but they cried out the more saying let him be crucified when pilot saw that he could prevail nothing but that rather a tumult was made he took water and he washed his hands before the multitude saying i am innocent of the blood of this just person ye see to it then answered all the people and said these are all the jews his blood be upon us and on our children they asked for it now look i believe you see effects of this curse today if you're if you're a seasoned soul winner and you've gone out look i have talked to thousands of people all across the world i have gotten i've given the gospel to Mormons i've given the gospel to Jehovah's Witnesses i've given the gospel to all sorts of weird cult following people and not all of them got saved but i've been able to give the gospel to muslims and all all sorts of different religions i have never been able to even open my bible to someone who claims to be jewish and i'm sure there are jewish people that can get saved that's not what i'm saying but what i'm saying is is that their their religion today is very hard-hearted against the gospel and you will find that when you go soul-winning it is very difficult to get someone who follows the religion of Judaism to to be able to give them the gospel and for them to believe it i believe we see that the results of this curse even to this day to this day now turn to Luke 21 what does this mean until because it says blindness in part has happened to Israel and tell the fullness of the Gentiles come in what does that mean let's go and look at Luke chapter 21 when is the fullness of the Gentiles that's what we need to know because blindness in part is happening to Israel until the fullness of the Gentile comes in right christian churches today say that you know there's going to be a time in the end times where just like all sudden all the jews just get saved or i don't know if there's some christian christian pastors out there that teach that the jews don't even need to believe in Jesus because they're god's chosen people and which is not true at all and they just there's different rules for them you know it's not in the bible but that's what people are teaching so let's look what we need to know is when this time of the fullness of the Gentiles is okay let's look at Luke 21 start reading it at verse number seven where the bible says that they asked him saying master but when shall these things be they're asking about the end times and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass and he said take heed that you be not deceived for many shall come in my name saying i am christ and the time draweth near go ye not after them but when you shall hear of wars and commotions be not terrified for these things must first come to pass but the end is not by and by then said he unto them nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and great earthquake shall be in diverse places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great science shall be shall there be from heaven but before all these they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake and it shall turn to you for a testimony settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer for i will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversary shall not be able to gain say no resist and ye should be betrayed by both parents and brethren and kins folks and friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to death so there's going to be this great you know tribulation this great time of trouble for christians okay and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but there shall not and hair of your head perish in your patience possess ye your souls and when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies then ye know that the desolation thereof is nigh this is talking about the abomination of desolation okay then i'll explain this i just want to just let me read the the next few verses then let them that are in judaea fleet of the mountains and let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter there into for these days these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled now notice that in verse 13 it says it shall turn to you for a testimony settle it therefore in your hearts i will give you a mouth wisdom he's talking to his followers he's talking to believers here all right now look what he says in verse 23 but woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people these are the people in Jerusalem these are the jews right here when he says them because first he was talking about you they're going to kill you then he starts talking in the third person about these people and they shall fall by the edge of the sword it shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled this is the time of the Gentiles so when is this verse 25 and there shall be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and upon all the distress of the nations with perplexity and the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts filling them for fear verse 27 and then shall they see the son of man coming in in the cloud in a cloud with power and great glory this is the resurrection this is the rapture right here okay so he's saying that this fullness of the Gentiles come in is this middle of Daniel 70th week we're not going to preach on Daniel 70th week but this the abomination of desolation happens right in the middle of Daniel 70th week and then after that turn to revelation chapter 11 revelation chapter 11 and after that Jerusalem is compassed with armies it's destroyed and that is called the fullness of the Gentiles when they crush Jerusalem okay so the fullness of the Gentiles is in the end times so what does it mean that all of Israel shall be saved here's our first clue if you look back at verse 26 let me just read it for you if you're not there and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer the deliverer and shall turn away on godliness from Jacob who is the deliverer turn to Psalm 18 so we see that blindness in part is happening to Israel until this time of the fullness of the Gentiles comes in which we know is at the end in the end times in Daniel 70th week and the bible says in Psalm 18 in verse 2 the Lord is my what the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my god my strength and whom I will trust my buckler and the horde of my salvation and my high tower so in verse verse Romans chapter 11 verse 26 when he talks about there shall come out of Zion the deliverer he's talking about Jesus Christ so we see that the fullness of the Gentiles comes in right at the time of the rapture and then that's right at the abomination of desolation with marks almost the center of Daniel's 70th week and then what does it mean that all Israel shall be saved here are you in Revelation 11 Revelation chapter 11 look at verse number one and the bible reads and there was given me a read like unto a rod and the angel stood saying rise and measure the temple of god and the altar and them that worship therein but the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months that's three and a half years so the Gentiles are going to trod Jerusalem underfoot for three and a half years that's after the rapture after the resurrection and we're out of here okay and then i will give power into my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days clothed in sackcloth of course the the two witnesses come in at the second half of Daniel 70th week wrath of god has poured out but what happens after that anyone know so all Israel shall be saved and that three and a half years later is the beginning of the millennial reign of christ and look down at Matthew turn to Matthew chapter 19 this is this this is the whole answer right here that Matthew 19 verse 28 wraps it up Matthew 19 verse 28 is everybody there i want to make sure you're there before i read it Matthew 19 and verse 28 the bible reads and Jesus said unto them verily i say unto you that when you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory he shall sit upon the 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel so it says ye which have followed me in the what in the regeneration the regeneration is you know the the resurrection those that have followed me in the resurrection when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory he shall sit upon the 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel let me give you a little history lesson here before Jesus's time there was two kingdoms the first the kingdom split off after you know you had david then you had his son who lost the kingdom and then you had the northern kingdom of israel and you had the southern kingdom of Judah the 10 tribes went to the northern kingdom of israel and you had like two well i guess three you basically had benjamin the levites and juda that went to the southern kingdom and the other 10 tribes were in were in the northern kingdom all right and you know there was a so basically what happened the northern kingdom was much more wicked than the southern kingdom so god judged them first they got taken over by the assyrian empire about 120 years or so before Babylon took over juda all right and assyria came in and they they basically took everyone away and they just brought all their people in and it's called the 10 lost tribes of israel for a reason because they were just they were just basically just bred out of existence assyria came in and wiped them out and just basically came in and just they intermixed with each other and pretty soon you had these people in jesus's time called the samaritans and the samaritans were the result of the 10 tribes the northern tribes of israel you know mixing with all these other different people from the assyrian empire and other nations and whatever so no one knew at that time who was of who so there was really in jesus's time that the jews were only you could really only identify three tribes at that time it was benjamin levi levi and juda that's why paul says i'm a benjamin so he knew at that time now today no one has any idea if you've ever seen the a documentary uh marching design they actually interview jewish rabbis today no one can has any idea what tribe they are anymore i mean it's impossible jesus said you know forget about genealogies juda ism is a religion today so when we talk about it's tough to get a jew saved we're talking about someone who's following the religion of juda ism that's what we're talking about because no one has any idea what tribe that they're from no idea so what does he say when he's saying that they're going to judge the 12 tribes of israel well don't you think that back in the northern kingdom of israel and back you know in abraham's day and isaac's day and jacob's day that people believed you know on the messiah on the coming messiah that people got saved we already talked about this that abraham's faith was the same as our faith so these are these the disciples are going to rule and reign over the resurrected old testament saints that's what this is talking about it's the only thing that makes any sense at all all right there are no 12 tribes today you know and it would it would be against what jesus actually said to be like oh you know you magically found out you were of some tribe there is no june or greek you know we're all of one blood you know there there isn't there is no point of genealogies today the samaritans were despised by the jews of their day you know the 10 tribes of israel were already gone by the time jesus got on the scene look at john uh four verse nine i mean we could study the samaritans for for an hour too but just look at john four verse nine where the bible says this is the woman at the well jesus walks up to this samaritan woman and then say at the woman of samaria unto him how is it that thou being a jew ask a drink of me which i am a woman of samaria samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans the jews considered them unclean i mean they came from those 10 tribes yet the jews at that point considered them unclean so this is talking about the millennial reign of christ the 12 disciples will rule over the old testament saints you know that is the turning of ungodliness from jacob that you think there's going to be ungodliness and the millennial reign of christ no i mean unless you think that all of a sudden you know there's some magical thing that's going to happen to the you know israel today and they're just going to become like all believers in christ and you know overnight or something but that's not what the bible teaches about how you actually get saved the bible says that it's a it's an individual belief in your heart and it's an issue of your heart so god has not changed the gospel god has not changed the path of salvation since the beginning of genesis chapter one so he's not going to change it so all this teaching that there's going to be this miraculous you know salvation of of some religion it's a religion there's not even any genealogies anymore so it makes no sense it's resurrected old testament saints folks it's the only thing that makes any sense at all look down at roman's 11 verse number 27 for this is my covenant unto them that i shall take away their sins as concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes but as touching the election the election of grace remember they are beloved for the father sakes talking about the patriarchs abraham isaac and jacob for the gifts and calling of god are without repentance god has never repented of the calling of abraham isaac and jacob these were flawed men they weren't perfect men by any means made a lot of stupid decisions they had a lot of dumb things but god never repented to that he brought the messiah out of that line like he said he was going to like he promised that he would verse 30 for as ye in times past have not believed god yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief even so he's talking to the Gentiles again even so these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy for god has concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon them so he's saying that the people that he's had mercy on through belief the Gentiles that's the way the Jews will get saved through you the Jews will get saved by the previously unbelieving Gentiles the Gentiles got saved they will go they will preach the gospel to people including the Jews and people including people who follow judy isn't today and some will get saved that we may save some Paul says look salvation is available through Gentiles preaching the gospel that's what he's saying all right so god is speaking on a macro level here folks you know god chose to use the unbelief of the Jews to have mercy on the Gentiles and he'll use the Gentiles to preach the gospel to the Jews isn't that beautiful look everyone will hear the gospel until the end through those who are sent to preach it and that's you that's you and if you don't preach it people aren't going to hear it faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god Romans 11 verse 33 we're almost done the bible says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of god isn't that true how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who had known the mind of the lord and who had been his counselor nobody or who had first given to him that it shall be recompensed unto him again again for him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen so really folks Romans 11 is not hard to understand as long as you understand that he's talking about the the the nation of Israel at his time and the curse that is put upon Israel I can see it today we're look I don't hate the Jews I don't hate somebody who's following the Jewish religion but they if they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they die they're going to burn in hell just like anybody else so this false teaching that you know somehow they have some some privilege or they're God's chosen people you know what that's that's that's that's that's a disservice to them if somebody doesn't tell them the truth you know I had my background just so you guys know I didn't I didn't I came from you know a Lutheran background and there was really no end times philosophy taught in the Lutheran church so when I got saved it was really I didn't have all this other stuff in my head but let me just tell you from a from a neutral standpoint reading what the Bible says about the end times how it's all going to play out especially concerning the nation of Israel or Judaism today it makes perfect sense what is being taught in mainstream Christianity today is is very confusing it's very confusing and it it ultimately it makes no sense my first Baptist pastor that I ever had was was one of these people he was he was saved he had the right gospel but he was just like the jews are God's chosen people and and he's like anyone that does anything bad to Israel you know there's going to be bad things that happen to that country and all this weird stuff that's not in the Bible and I just like I'm a logical person so I just asked him one day I said look if a Jew dies and doesn't believe in Jesus where do they go and he's like well hell I'm like all right so what does being God's chosen person get you what does that buy me if I end up in hell anyway right it may it doesn't make any sense I mean what does it buy what benefit do I get out of that a title it doesn't make any sense you can't you can't think it through logically it doesn't it doesn't go there'd be no miraculous regeneration outside of individual belief that's all the Bible teaches all the Bible teaches is that belief on the Lord Jesus Christ is a matter of your heart your belief is yours how many times have I said this it's the only thing that's only all and no one can ever take it away from you no one can convince you to change it your belief is uniquely yours that's you know that's one of the beauties of that salvation is by belief it's yours so it's your it's your heart issue to deal with and it's always going to be like that for every individual person on this planet no matter what religion they are so to believe that some religion has some benefit they're going to end up in hell the muslim if he doesn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is going to end up in hell I mean the buddhist is going to end up in hell I don't care how nice he is or how long he sits under a tree he's going to burn in hell if he doesn't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and the the Jew today it's not an issue of race or or genealogy it's a religion that does not accept Christ and people that follow that religion are under this curse that they rejected Christ they need the gospel so the gospel of salvation hasn't always will be the same folks and and paul is advocating for his people he's advocating for his people he wants them to be saved that's what he's talking about and if they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they're not they're not going to get saved they're not going to be saved all right that's what paul is talking about in Romans 9 Romans 10 and Romans 11 let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear heavenly father we thank you for the book of Romans we thank you for these these three chapters Lord we we ask that you just be with us and and help us understand the word Lord and just you know reject extra biblical doctrine Lord that just takes verses out of context and just help us know the truth and we thank you for the Bible we thank you for this church Lord and just help us be bold and clear when we preach your word to others so we just may save as many as we possibly can Lord we love you in Jesus name we pray Amen


Sleepy ways, chicho. What's the important stuff in life for you? What's the importance of family health, education, knowledge, things that money really can't buy unless you put a lot of time into it as well, right?  Those are the things that are important life, the things that require time, right? As the saying goes, time is money, right? So depending on what you think your time is worth, that's all. If you put a lot of time on something, what's the price on that, right? So anything that money can't buy instantly is the important stuff. Love, health, clear conscience, very important, very important.


Following the poor condition of the federal government road, which created hardship for road users in Edo and Delta States, the governor of Delta State, Right Honorable Sharif of Warawari, has directed the Ministry of Works in Delta State to put palliative works on the federal government road across the 25 local government areas of the state. The four road users along Benin, Sapele, Wari, Agboaiku and Asaba Benin Road. A commissioner for off-road road and river road works, Charles Anyagu, made the statement while speaking with us of our correspondent, Akoame Jero Friday, at the government house in Asaba, the state capital. The very disturbing nature of federal rules across the state have also caught the attention of its excellency. And to that extent, he has directed the Ministry of Works, i.e. highway and rural, to proceed, to seek ways of mitigating the effect of these challenges posed by these federal highways that are in deplorable state. And to start with, one across the Asaba Benin expressway has asked that something be done along some of those ditches, and also, very, very importantly, the Agboaiku Road, which is in a very disturbing state, even if it is a federal road, and at the moment we'll have the challenges of federal government having to grant you permission before you could proceed. But the governor is disturbed that our people are going through a whole lot of harrowing experience to commute along this corridor, and so he has asked us to proceed, to take steps to do something that will make those rules and put them in much more motorable condition.


Well, there's a few things that we specifically focus on in the partnership. One is strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining. Of course, if we can find ways to do that, that's always our core business. But the other, where I think we have some interesting prospects for the future, is to do somewhere together to explore possibilities for diversification of both the services that the postal operators offer, but also, you know, can you use the network to provide social services, elderly support. There's some discussion about recycling, the various postal facilities to be used at recycling. How can the postal network be used to support community needs in ways other than what happens right now?


The concept of big data goes far beyond the data type and includes the aspects of data analysis, such as hypothesis generating, rather than hypothesis testing. Big data focuses on temporal stability of the association rather than on causal relationship, and underlying probability distribution assumptions are frequently not required. Medical big data, as material to be analyzed, has various features that are distinct from big data of other disciplines. This article was authored by Chung Ho Lee and Hyeong Jin Yoon.


of her husband are a fourth generation farm and ranch family located near Scobie, Montana, where they raise wheat, lentils, pea, corn, barley, and hay, and also run a herd of 100 Black Angus cow calf pairs. In addition to farming for the traditional commodity market, Shana and her husband began a direct consumer business called Farver Farms LLC. They market a lentil cruncher ready to eat snack, lentil baking mixes, and lentil meal kits such as salads and soup mixes, as well as two wheat meal mixes, which I'm just curious, has anyone in the room run into those products? I know I've seen lentil crunchers around. We've had them at some events. I've seen the soup mixes that cooks on main. Okay, awesome. So we do have people who've run into Farver Farm products, Shana. So wonderful. And then just to wrap it up here, Shana is an advocate for agriculture and rural America and does speaking engagements, blogging and fundraising activities. So thank you very much for joining us. I am Shana Farver. I'm the president and founder of Farver Farms LLC, which is the commercial production leg of our farming operation. And we do use the commodities that we grow, wheat and lentils, to make products, meal kits and baking mixes, and also lentil crunchers snack products. And I had some pack to bring with me, and I feel bad that I wasn't able to get them there for you. So you can find them at Cook's on Main. You can also find them, I believe, at Glotanning Salon there in Milliston. Or if you'd like to try, you can order online and when we're done here, I'll set up a free shipping link. Just use NDSU, and I'll set up a free shipping link in case any of you would like to try and we'll include some extra goodies in your order since I wasn't able to bring them for you. So let's start a little bit with the history of how this whole thing started anyway. We have a traditional farming operation, about a small operation, about 3,500 acres. Some of that deeded some leased, and we run about 125 head of Black Angus cow calf pairs. And that was fine. And then our kids got a little older, they got into high school and started talking about how they wanted to come back to the farm when they graduated, which is fantastic. I think a lot of farm families are in the same position and really hope that their kids will want to come back. Or they're in the position where they want them to run as far and as fast as they can. But we were happy to hear that our kids wanted to come back. And the question becomes then, how do you make that happen? So what we had was supporting one family, our son and our daughter both wanted to come back. So how do we make what we have support three families now, or at least partially support three families? We knew some off farm income would have to be part of that. But really wanted to find a way to make that fit so that we could all be here together doing the thing that we love doing. So there's only so much land. Land is hard to come by. Land prices are challenging right now, even if there's something that does come up for sale. You can only grow so much on that land. Obviously using all the techniques that we knew how to use or know how to use to maximize our bushels per acre, rotational grazing so we can run the most amount of cows possible. But there's still only so much that you can do. And so we started brainstorming and thinking what else is there? You step out your front door or whatever it is and you look and there must be something else that we can do to supplement here. So about the same time I went to a conference that's held here in Montana every year, women stepping forward for agriculture. It's a great conference and they have some fantastic speakers. And one of the speakers was a woman who runs Elliott's of Montana. They do fundraising with cookie dough and she talked about how they started from their home. They originally used some products from their farm. They don't anymore, but that got me thinking it sort of set the ball rolling. I'm actually a farm girl and I'm messing with my phone here sorry because I keep getting messages. I'm actually a value-added girl from way back. Montana used to have what was called the Montana Ag Innovation Center and I worked as a regional counselor in that capacity. So value-added agriculture has kind of always been on my radar. We did some beef sales way back when the kids were just little and the internet was kind of just getting started. So and I don't know if you're getting are you getting those sorry those notifications that keep showing up on my phone are you seeing those we're not no oh good okay so I won't be distracted by them. So we had talked about value-added things before and started talking again what can we do and we really literally just sit down and sat down and we made a list on paper what are our options do we want to sell beef by the cut again do we want to look at agritourism do we want to look at opening you know getting some kind of dealership farm dealership or something like that that would tie into what we're already doing. We went through a lot of really crazy things and put them all down on paper and talked about what the pros and cons were what would fit what wouldn't fit what the investment would be we're located in a really remote area a long ways from everywhere in scoby I mean our whole our whole area is you I don't have to explain that to any of you but scoby is really 45 miles from anywhere on roads that are less than desirable so so that was that was part of it too and that ruled out some things like shipping beef by the cut because we actually can't ship overnight or or overnight into scoby so so that automatically ruled some things out and we eventually came up with food food has always been on my radar as well I had a german grandmother and I remember when I was two her pulling a stool up to the counter for me to to stand on and watch as she would bake and she'd tell me that we feed people we feed them often and we feed them well and so that's something that really stuck with me it's something that's always been kind of a heart thing for me and terry felt like he had his hands full just farming and doing the farming part of it and he said well let's let's go with that then so we we developed a line of mixes that uses the wheat or the lentils just in their in their raw form in their seed form as they come out of the combine they get cleaned and then they and I'll show you some products here in a minute they go in the bag with a seasoning packet and then they go on the shelf so we talked about it being almost like an adult hamburger helper kind of thing and so then you add meat or or other things that people usually have in their kitchen add to those mixes to make a meal for their families incidentally I was at a trade show one time in Salt Lake and I was talking about how we we view this as sort of an adult hamburger helper and one of the people that I was pitching to actually was involved with a company that makes hamburger helper so he didn't think it was very funny so I use that cautiously now so that's where we started with those mixes and then at some point the lentil crunchers showed up about three o'clock in the morning one morning in my head one of those nights laying awake we had a lentil cruncher mix that that you could make and and bake the lentils in your oven it honestly wasn't very good and so we were discontinuing that anyway but wondered if there was a different way to do that we we kept thinking about corn nuts I don't know how many of you have had corn nuts but thinking certainly there must be something that we could do with either the lentils or the wheat we knew that wheat was a there was a puffed wheat product that a company just down the road from us in big sandy actually crackloin commutes have any of you had that product I have yeah yeah yeah and it's actually changed ownership now but it's a crunchy wheat product and so we knew that was being done and so we thought well maybe we can do that with the lentils so we started thinking about that and and immediately after that actually I went to a trade show where I connected with Thomas still worth who manages that big sandy organics facility and he said well why don't you bring those lentils over and we'll try processing them similar to the way we process the crackloin commuter let's see what happens and we did that and we really had no idea what what would come from that but it has been it's been a ride and the lentil crunchers have turned into for sure our flagship product they saw us through 100 growth last year and we're actually on track to see 100 growth again this year which is pretty amazing to me and we know that that's not a sustainable number but we're going to take it and run with it as as long as as long as we can so um so that's um that's kind of the history uh how how things happened how they came about why why we even started with a value-added ag um project in the first place when there's all of you know there's plenty to do on the farm always why did we think we needed to add something else to that um but but that's sort of where it came from and um and we are achieving some of those goals my son-in-law and daughter um my son-in-law works full-time on the farm with terry now and my daughter works part-time for me here in the plant our son is in college he's learning a lot of really great things that we're hoping he uh he brings back and is ready to apply he is taking not only some production but some things that will apply really here at the plant as well and seems very interested in that so we're excited about about what's coming so i'll just start um with the growing with i mean with the process any questions so far yeah okay oh sorry i was wondering shana um so it sounds like your lentil crunchers are being made over um in the big sandy area with the crackling comma so yeah and i'll i'll get to the the hole that's in both of that but um we take them over there and they actually cook them and then we bring them back to our facility um to season and bag and ship from here so it's a it's a co-packing agreement that we have with them which is actually really common in the industry um and it really makes sense they have um the big equipment to to do the heavy work um and for us to repeat that investment just doesn't make a lot of sense so um so we let them do that part and we do our part and it's working really well so uh we grow last year we grew about um 11 i want to say terry told me 11 000 bushels of lentils that doesn't seem like that's what he told me keep in mind he just broke 18 bones so not 100 sure that's the right number um anyway we grow viceroys small greens and that's what we use in the mixes and for the lentil crunchers as well we chose those because we can grow them well um because at the time that we started there was a good market for the viceroys um and also because they're small enough that they cook up really quickly so um you know if you think about mama coming home with the kids after work and needing to put a quick meal together those viceroys don't take long at all um really similar to to pasta to get those cooked up and ready for a meal so that was part of the reason we chose those um we're using about five percent of our volume right now for our value-added product the rest is still being sold on the commodity market um as we continue to grow obviously we'll use more and more of our own lentils and if we reach a point where we um can't grow what we need for the value-added project then we'll contract with other growers and you know under some growing stipulations make sure that they're doing things the way we do things we'll talk about that as well but that's our plan going forward to be able to be sustainable and continue doing what we're doing uh so once the lentils are harvested on our farm then we take them to colombia green and plenuit where they are clean identity preserved for us so we know we're getting our own lentils back that's important um it's an important piece of the puzzle for us a lot of our marketing is built around our tagline which is our our fields your fork so we really want to make sure that those are our lentils or lentils that we have grown under contract um just to make sure that we're keeping things cohesive and and um following following along walking the walk I guess um doing what we what we say that we're doing so they get cleaned we bring those back in 50 pound bags and we store them here um in our facility until they're ready to go to Big Sandy and get cooked they go to Big Sandy um they get cooked there and then we bring them back here um to finish them up and so then they go into our commercial kitchen where they get seasoned and bagged up and then we um case and ship everything from here so it sounds like a project um it is these little guys have a lot of miles on them by the time they get put in a bag and sent to a retailer somewhere or shipped directly to the consumer from here um but it it works um it's still profitable there's a lot of money in the middle and and so a lot of that money that would uh you know normally go to some other processor somewhere um we're retaining those profits that's what value added ag is all about um we're used to traveling here you know it's it's northeast montana you know much the same as northwest north dakota we we travel a lot we just know that that we're going to put some miles on and so um the back and forth between plentywood and big sandy is not really a big deal for us there's always someone heading that direction and we can and you know make things work um we can also get freight lines into scoby and so we're going to be utilizing those a little more especially back and forth um between scoby and big sandy we'll be utilizing the freight lines and um and moving things that way although there are some um special things that we need to do because it is a food product and there's food safety component involved there um so we'll need to be working that out as we move forward so once we um have the the products here um like I said or the the crunchers back here they're um seasoned and packaged up and we send them out so let me show you some of the products and we'll see how this works with my phone um it might be a little bit of an adventure um so our very first product that we came with actually was um our sweet lentil chili mix can you see that awesome yeah looking good yeah and so um on the back then of each of the packages has nutrition information um it has a list in orange there of a of ingredients that the consumer needs to pick up to be able to finish the recipe and then instructions on how to put it together and and it can it's it's versatile you can use lots of different meats in it I have a lot of people that use um wild game in it elk is fantastic in it so um this was our initial product and the reason we chose this was because terry's mom actually in the 70s they grew lentils um they had a bunch of sacks of lentils left in the quonset and um they had been using them and making this they actually called it lentil stew that wasn't really a marketable name so we changed it to a sweet lentil chili and um and we've had a fantastic response to it so that was our initial product we participate in the main in montana and grown in montana programs and so our products all carry those labels and I believe in north dakota there's something similar um can you help me out with that right of dakota right of dakota correct yeah um and so they they would have a similar program there to to participate so this was our flagship product yeah if you don't mind um so what was the process of like starting that initial product so you had like a family recipe and did you have like the bags and the label or just sort of an evolving process of adding those pieces yeah so it was a product it was really an evolving process so um we looked for some bags our original I wonder if I have one sitting right here do you mind if I wander around the plant a little bit I might as well right since I'm mobile originally we'll do a facility tour here a little bit later just for fun since I can um so originally we started in these um basically just poly bags like this with a label that we put on and they worked in in the beginning for a little while they they don't look super fantastic um and they didn't sit on a shelf real well they weren't super marketable um and also you can probably maybe you can even see I can get really close here this is kind of fun um you can see that those lentils were oxidizing a little bit so the color wasn't really great by the time the consumer got it so this packaging actually has foil lining in it the light doesn't get to it so when they open it um the lentils look just like they showed the same color as they were mostly when they came off the combine that pretty green so we went to Uline it was um I kind of did a search online and I talked to some other people in the industry Uline has a lot of bagging products labels it really just did a lot of searching to find um you know using search terms on google like commercial food packaging and found some some things that would work we worked with our county sanitarian to make sure that we were using packaging that would be FDA and approved you know for use with food products um so and so so I'll talk a little bit about the building then and and how that came along and then the packaging comes along with it we actually started in this building where where we are now it was a restaurant at the time and we rented it was a night or a nightclub so we rented space in their kitchen during the day and I had a tote with wheels on it and I would roll my tote in with these packages that I had found online the the bags to package in and some labels that I had actually printed at home um and our county sanitarian had come in and approved this process and so I would um and I purchased the label um a lot of the spices online um did a lot of research there to to find a company that I felt really fit with us there were a very family oriented company as well I was able to visit with them on the phone obviously a lot of spices can't be sourced within Montana or sometimes even in the U.S. and that we wanted to be really careful about making sure those were a good quality product that had the same assurances behind them as as we're as we're giving to our our lentils in the the whole product so we um work with a company called Spices Inc so we would bring our spices in and I had everything stored in a tote and I would roll the tote out of the back room during the day to make mixes in the kitchen and set everything up and then I'd have to box it all back up and put it in the tote roll it to the back room to store while they had their their meal time going on their night club going on at night and then the next day I would do the same thing and and we did that just to get started to see if this was something we really wanted to continue to do to see if there was a demand for the product before we got really carried away it didn't take very long for that to get really old and not very sustainable so uh we rented space in um an old service station actually that that hadn't been in use for a long time um we we rented the corner that used to be the office and the bathroom area and we renovated that um we had to go in and put up um the the wall board that's required in a food facility um all of the the molding um the base cove along the floor um all of the things that come along um with regulations for a food facility we did all those things in that little corner of the gas station and um and operated out of there I think for almost a year grew our product line a little bit um we added some things like this fudgy mental brownie mix if you can see that it has brownies in it um it has brownies in it has lentils in it so the lentils are in there they get cooked and folded into the brownie mix so it's almost like cooking with applesauce if any of you are familiar with that baking with applesauce you boil the lentils to the really mushy and then you fold them into the mix it's the only time you want your lentils boiled until they're really mushy um so we added to our product line at that time um we added a spicy lentil chicken salad and we added um a couple of wheat products at the same time we got through Christmas um that year and we were ready to grow again and so we purchased a building in town um that used to be a restaurant completely renovated that building did the same process again um went in all new flooring all new walls on base cove um worked with our county sanitarium to make sure um that everything was set up the way that it needed to be so we um we got we've gotten to be very good friends with our county sanitarium I think I have him on speed dial and he probably cringes when he sees my call come in and because he knows it's going to always be something else with that that farver farms bunch there's always something going on um but they have been really good to us and so one piece of advice I would have if you're considering any kind of a value-added ag endeavor that includes food really make um make good friends of your county sanitarium um of your building people your electrical your plumbing you're going to rely on them more than you know um also at your state level whoever your food people are um at the state level make sure that you have a good working relationship with them uh it'll be on the daily really that you're involved with those people and visiting with them about um what's going on in your in your facility so the the hard mechanics of what's happening as well as the food development side of it so um that would be one one huge piece of advice I would have so um last no let's see November of 2019 we decided that we would expand a little more and that it would be great to have a restaurant to go along with our products we could serve our products in the restaurant would be one more way to market them um and the supper club oddly enough that we uh originally started renting kitchen space in had come up for sale so we purchased that and um like I said that was November 2019 and things went really well until March of 2020 when they stopped all together um so long story short unfortunately in April of 2020 we ended up having to close the restaurant um COVID was not good to us really small community only supports uh so many restaurants um there were several of them struggling we were struggling and we made the hard decision to close the restaurant because we had a plan B and some of those other restaurants didn't and so we closed the restaurant and we moved from our small building into the building that we're in now we moved all the processing facilities over here we um remodeled the kitchen and and kind of revamped the whole building to serve our purpose it's not uh traditional in any sense if you think about a food processing facility it has some quirks to it and there are some things that we have had to just sort of make work um but that's okay it it actually has made us be um a little more creative how are we for time wise really good so I think we'll just do a really quick if I can get this turned around um we'll do a really quick facility tour everybody okay with that sounds good awesome okay so this is what was the dining room in our facility um and so so we made this the office space right here by the windows um added some some desk space all of our orders come in via email or via our website so we have our website set up so that orders can come in they come directly either to myself or to my plant manager here they all get printed out on one printer here um so the orders come off of the printer and then they get packaged up here along this line so we have box storage here this is where all of our product storage is so everything is in a um in a tub and labeled we're actually right now working with the Montana um Montana Manufacturing Extension Center um doing some lean manufacturing type of things so that we um have our shelving lined up a little differently um so we have better inventory control sort of a work in progress um but one of the things I've learned and one of the things I can certainly tell you is that it will always be a work in progress um if you are someone who does not like to pivot uh who does not like to change ships mid-stream or um be able to think on the fly work on the fly um probably a value-added ag food project is not for you things have changed more than I thought they would part of that due to growth obviously um which is great part of that due to some challenges that we've had and that's okay as long as you're willing to work with those challenges and make the changes that you need to make so there again this is our packaging um our where we case things up and ship them out that's our line there um and we added a small employee break area and so this is what used to be the bar area of the facility down in here um there was a wall here we took that wall out this is actually where the bar was and there's a storage uh the walking cooler is behind there so we made this our pre-entry area um so when you come in from the the end of the building down here you come into this area um scrub up this is where um hair nets and gloves um lab coats or or scrubs get put on and do an initial scrub and then out of there into uh you come out of here into the production area where there's another scrub um and I thought we would be in production this morning we're actually not so I'm not going to take you into that production area because it is it's been cleaned um and Amy doesn't want me in her kitchen wandering around while it's clean and ready ready to go um in the production area always shoes shoe covers or plant shoes always gloves hair nets either lab coats or scrubs to cover um your street clothing um and then if you were to come out of production area for lunch or for a break or for whatever reason that all comes off and then has to go um back on new stuff when you go back into the production area so there's quite a process um that that goes with that when we were first starting um the rules aren't quite as stringent um when you when you first get going and there are some cottage food laws you can actually do some production under those cottage food laws once you reach a certain point um you need to be following all of the rules largely um largely for two reasons I'm struggling a little here because somebody's knocking on the door I'm ignoring them um for two reasons uh obviously because you want to be following the rules but but the other reason for us to to really want to make sure we're doing things right is these products are going we've actually shipped to all but four states now um and really wanted to make sure that that we're now they're coming in so if I get really sidetracked uh we wanted to really make sure that we're doing things right because these products are shipping all over the nation and we certainly don't want to play a part in having contaminated fruit out there uh and so that has been one of the challenges that we've run into is making sure that we can um keep up with all of those food rules um and that we can follow them and that we can make those pivots when we need to as we grow um I think it's Amy coming into the production area so maybe we'll get to run back there um to make sure that we have everything in line where it needs to there so yeah go ahead yeah with what was that point that you hit that you needed like all that the sanitation and compliance with food safety was that based on gross sales or like volume of sales you know sorry I keep putting the phone right up on my ear that's just what you want to see um it really was based on it wasn't a gross sales thing it was um once we expanded our sales reach so um and your county sanitary and will be a big help there um in telling you at what point you need to be able to to step up your game so to speak but for us it was really about okay um actually from a monetary standpoint we're not even to the point where we need to be doing some of the things that we're already doing so some of some of the rules yes are set by by your gross sales and so some of the things that we're doing we wouldn't need to be doing yet because we haven't hit that gross sales mark but we recognize that these products are going all over the nation and we just felt like we needed to be doing a little better and and making sure that this product that was going all over the nation was going to be representative of what we want um the the food in the U.S. to be representative of we're representative of so we talk a lot about how in the U.S. we have the safest least expensive food supply in the world and and we have the most of it and we wanted to make sure that we were continuing to to play our part in that so that people would recognize that even a small operation like we have um can really help up and help supply those food systems in the U.S. which has become a huge topic lately right food supplies and and food food chain breakdowns and we want to make sure we were not contributing to that that we were playing a part in being a solution to that problem if that makes sense it's a long way to say that but so so once we got settled in this facility um there are still challenges even even once you think that you're that you're where you want to be there are still challenges so um I'm just gonna hold my notes here quick excuse me okay it's really hard presenting like this if any of you ever done this presented virtually like this where you can't see faces can't get a lot of feedback so some of the challenges that we ran into once once we got into this facility then were obviously it was a restaurant it wasn't set up to do exactly what we needed it to do so uh there there was a little remodeling that went on um the air system was something that had to be changed over so um in a commercial kitchen like we have the air exchange there can't be air exchange between the like the office part of the the kitchen I mean the office part of the facility and the production part of the facility in the kitchen where the food's actually being handled so we had to close off the vents in the in the kitchen in the commercial part of where the food's actually being prepared we had to close off those vents from the rest of the facility that meant we had to have a different air exchange for for heating and cooling in the kitchen um so we had to have that done I couldn't even list all of the little things um that had to happen some different you know electrical that needs to to go on um all of that being said just to point out that when you get involved in a value-added project like this there are going to be things that you that you don't think of because you couldn't think of them until you're actually actually into it and doing it so know that whatever investment you make that whatever time you a lot for what you're doing um is going to probably be half of of what you need whether it's the time or or the financial investment um just because there are a lot of pieces to a value-added food project puzzle not to deter you from thinking about that but there are a lot of pieces to it so um licensing obviously make sure you're staying in touch with with your state and and making sure that you're getting all the licensing pieces together um I'm just trying to hit on some other things here that managing growth then has also been one of the things that um I mean we we obviously had good things planned for our business but but we didn't know exactly what that was going to mean as as far as um what that growth would look like and and how we were going to have to manage that so um right everything from ordering extra packaging so so right now um this packaging that we get um used to come in and and of course there's been some things happen a global pandemic that added an extra level of difficulty so that packaging used to come in three to four days and now it takes three to four weeks and at the same time we're experiencing some pretty large growth so it's um trying to decide how how much extra packaging do we order in because how much will we need three to four weeks from now or or the three to four weeks after that um and that obviously comes with managing some cash flow then making sure that you have lines of credit that will match up with that so that's one of the challenges obviously growing the lentils is one of the challenges right making sure um that we have enough lentils to to meet the growth that we're having um and then you throw in things like a drought so this year we grew about 10 percent of the lentils that we that we usually grow um since we're only using about five percent of what we grow right now um we're gonna be okay we're gonna probably be tight coming into next harvest um but that's something we're gonna have to manage forward for um you know luckily for us once the lentils are in a 50 pound bag we can keep those and store those for quite some time um but that's one of the things we're gonna have to plan ahead for obviously is is um as our volume gets bigger and bigger um and that that's where we may hopefully we would love to get to a position where we're contracting with other growers having them grow under our standards um for our product and providing them a premium for their lentils so um someone asked me well why why can't you just go out and buy some more viceroy's from someone um two reasons one we want it to be our product we really do we want this to be our fields to your fork that's the platform that we've built on we do a lot of social media work around that and incidentally I'm gonna say half of our sales right now probably are directly related to social media and the work that we've done there um so so that's that's been a big deal for us and and we really want to maintain the integrity that that we have built there and saying this you know these are our lentils they come from our fields or ones that we've contracted um the second thing there though is we actually we don't desiccate our lentils um are and this is um where the consumer sometimes will dictate how your product changes obviously there you know you can choose to sell a product however you want to and there's always going to be a market for that but overwhelmingly our consumers we're saying um we don't want those lentils to be desiccated now I I know there's a lot of schools of thought there and we do continue to desiccate um sometimes our regular commodity lentils but the lentils that are going to go directly into these bagged products um that go directly into our lentil crunchers are not desiccated we swap those and then we come back and pick those up so anyone that would be contract growing for us would need to follow those same guidelines so um just those are some more of the challenges so um where are we now and actually before I go too far I wanted to show you some of the lentil crunchers just so you have an idea so these are the small packages that they come in right now and we just and I know I'm getting up against my time so I'll be quick here we just introduced some new flavors we have a sweet hickory this is an eight ounce bag this is our dill pickle in an eight ounce bag and then real soon our small single serve packages are actually going to be a two ounce size those will be resealable as well and all flavors will come in that resealable that's also a direct response to our consumers they said hey your single serve size um we don't always eat all of that in one serving and then the bag falls open and we have little lentils all over everywhere so could we do something different and put those in a a resealable container as well so we were responsive to that and I'm scooping lentils onto a paper here all right let me get this switched around so these are lentil crunchers I don't know can you see those yes yep yep yeah so they're just crunchy I mean they're just lentils that's all and then they're they're actually boiled and fried and and then there's some other things that we do to them it's a proprietary process but they end up just being this crunchy little snack you can throw them right in your mouth you can put them in soups and salads and they're actually really versatile and people are coming up with some super creative ways to do them or to use them someone told us that they're going to be putting their dill pickle crunchers on in their potato salad and on their deviled eggs and so that goes right back to again you know our consumers actually sometimes knowing even better than us what what what a product is capable of and what it can do which is why we want to be real responsive to them when we can so where are we now we just hired a new marketing firm using some vapg funds that we received the apg is a value added producer grant and if you are looking at doing a value added food project from your farm definitely look into those grant funds I'm going to say you probably it's probably a bigger undertaking writing that grant and getting those funds then then you'll want in the first year or maybe even two years there's a lot of money available there it's a very meaty program and so you want to make sure you're ready to use that program before you dive into it so this is your three for us with the rental crunchers and the and the mixes and so we finally went to that value added and we got some some money to make a full court marketing press so so we're going to be starting that actually they just sent some information yesterday so you'll see some new things coming at our Farber farms that's fun all settled in the new facility we have a new flavor coming out in January I mentioned we're we're on track to be 100 growth again this year which is super exciting for us we have one full time and we're just bringing on two part-time employees and it won't be very long we'll have a second full-time employee as things start to grow so I think I mentioned that my daughter and son-in-law are both involved in the operation my son-in-law full-time on the farm and my daughter part-time here my son will be working for us when he comes back so a lot of the goals that we had for this we've already achieved and we're just looking forward to some some more growth being able to employ some more people being able to really play a big part in our small rural community by providing jobs but also bringing income from outside of the community that can be invested in in our town in our schools and our churches and our swimming pools and and and those kind of things so we're we're proud of that that we're able to bring income in from outside of our community a couple pieces of pieces of advice to leave you with if you're if you're looking at a value-added ag project particularly a food project be prepared for that vision to change for it to evolve for your consumer to shape that in certain ways be ready to pivot and and be willing to pivot and make some of those changes few of those have been hard for me I thought I had a real serious vision about what I wanted and and things needed to change and it was for the better as ag producers I think sometimes it's easy to to feel like we you know we've been doing this this way for a while and it's working why do we need why do we need to do something different but that's really we have learned the the name of the game in production agriculture this whole process has changed how we do things on the farm our how our rotations work we're more aware of of chemical usage so not only have we had to learn to make changes on the farm but also in the commercial facility here but then also reach out to your resources there are so many resources out there when you start talking about value-added agriculture whether it's the extension offices whether it's the pride of dakota or the main montana programs there are federal resources out there our department of ag here in montana has been fantastic they have been so supportive of us they put opportunities in front of us that we would have had no idea we're even out there there are manufacturing extension centers just start looking reaching out to those resources there are people out there who their their whole job is to help you succeed and and help you make make you go of this project so make sure that you're really utilizing those resources


Enbridge Energy says it is delaying the startup of its planned Line 3 replacement crude oil pipeline through northern Minnesota by a year. The Canadian-based company now expects the new pipeline to go into service in the second half of 2020. Officials had hoped to put the pipeline into service in the second half of 2019. But Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has said his administration will keep pursuing an appeal of a regulatory commission's approval of Enbridge's plans. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.