So today we're in Matthew chapter 13 we're continuing a series found in the gospel of Matthew in chapter 13 We're continuing a series on the parables of the Lord Jesus Christ And what we're going to do is we're going to be looking today at three parables that are found here in this particular Chapter we're going to be looking at the parable of the wheat and the tares We're going to be looking at the mustard seed and we're going to be looking at the parable of the leaven And so I'll explain to you how we're going to approach this in just a moment But let's begin a reading together here in Matthew chapter 13 at verse 24 And I'll read from verse 24 to verse 35 give a prolonged introduction move into our study And we will be looking today at these three particular parables. So beginning at verse 24 Matthew chapter 13 Matthew writes Another parable he put forth to them saying The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop then the tears also appeared So the servants of the owner came and said to him sir Did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tears? He said to them an enemy has done this the servant said to him Do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said no less while you gather up the tears you also uproot the wheat with them Let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers first gather together the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them But gather the wheat into my barn Another parable he put forth to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed Which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all the seeds But when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches Another parable he spoke to them the kingdom of heaven is like leaven Which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till all was leavened all these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables and without a parable He did not speak to them that it might be fulfilled by which was spoken by that prophet I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world Now I mentioned to you in our introduction that Matthew 13 records a series of eight parables that Jesus gave to the multitude That was following after him and these parables related to what Jesus called the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven Look at verse 11 for just a moment and refresh your memory. Notice how it said He answered and said to them because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven and so Jesus Christ is referring to these as mysteries of the kingdom Now when you read your Bible in the New Testament, you will see that the word mystery is used to refer to various revelations That God has given a Mystery is something that was at one time hidden that has now been revealed That's a biblical use of the word mystery and it has been revealed to those who have been initiated and instructed in the mystery Initiated into the mystery would simply mean it is given to those who have been born again You have the Holy Spirit who lives within them They've been initiated in the sense that they've been saved and then they've been instructed You see because before somebody comes to faith in Christ the word of God to them is is is a hidden It's a hidden book the Bible is a hidden book to those who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ So someone can pick up the Bible and they can read it It will make absolutely no sense because the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God They are foolishness to him and neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned So the book the Bible is not like another book. It's like not like a textbook It's not like a novel and it's not like a mystery that you might read Concerning the various mysteries and and all that we have authors who like to write concerning the the mystery that you find in Scripture is simply something that has been in the past hidden but has now been revealed and It is revealed to those who've been initiated and instructed in the ways of God And so Jesus Christ is speaking concerning a mystery when you're reading the New Testament You're going to see that the word mystery is used to speak of a variety of things It is used to refer to various revelations God has given for example You can see what is referred to as the mystery of the incarnation in 1st Timothy 3 16 Where Paul said without controversy great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh and so you have the mystery of the incarnation You have the mystery of the indwelling Christ in Colossians 1 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles Which is Christ in you the hope of glory You have the mystery of the body of Christ revealed in Ephesians 5 31 and 32 Where Paul said for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother shall be joined to his wife The two shall be one flesh this he said is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church You have the mystery of Israel's blindness in Romans 11 25 Where Paul said I do not desire brother in that you should be ignorant of this mystery Lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in you have the mystery of the rapture It's spoken of in 1st Corinthians 15 51 through 53 Behold I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep But we shall all be changed in a moment and the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound The dead will be raised incorruptible. We shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption This mortal must put on immortality Those of you who have inspins in our nursery may notice that we have the scripture where it says I tell you a mystery We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed. That's in our nursery Then we have the mystery of antichrist found in 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 7 The mystery of lawlessness is already at work Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way And so you have various mysteries that are mentioned in scripture and one of the mysteries that Jesus is speaking about is the kingdom of heaven He also could be speaking of the creation of what we call or has been called the church in Ephesians 3 4 through 6 Paul said this he says when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the spirit To his holy apostles and prophets that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and Partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel the mystery of the church You see before God brought the church into existence mankind was divided into two They were divided into Jew and Gentile But when the Lord brought forth the church there are now basically three categories And you see that in in 1st Corinthians 1032 when Paul speaks of Jews Gentiles And he goes on to say and the church of God the church of God is made up of both Jew and Gentile who are believers in Christ And so the Gentiles have been brought into relationship with God through Jesus and That's why in the New Testament there are many Gentile churches that receive letters and you read your New Testament You see that there's a letter to the Romans letter to the Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians and the Colossians You see that there's a letter to the Thessalonians You also see that letters were addressed to people who lived in Crete and Laodicea people who are from Hierapolis or Pergamas From Thyatira Cyrus Philadelphia These are all Gentile churches and they were all part of this mystery that God has now revealed Which is Christ in you the hope of glory, which is the church now the mystery is that God not only ministers to Israel, but also to Gentiles and no longer Would believers have to travel to Jerusalem to go to the temple to offer sacrifices to God? You see in Jerusalem Jesus would be the sacrifice that resulted in people taking the gospel to the world They used to go to Jerusalem to make offerings They went to the temple But now the temple goes out to the world because Christ is in you and you take the message to those who have yet to hear God provided the sacrifice of his son People became God's temple people took out the gospel. So something new has happened The church has been born. It is made up of Jew. It is made up of Gentile. The two have become the one new man And so Matthew 13 covers what is called the church age as well as events that occur after what is called the millennial reign of Christ or the thousand-year reign of Christ When we looked in verses 1 through 23 of chapter 13 Remember with me that Jesus began to describe four kinds of responses that people would have to the message of the gospel He was speaking of a sore who went out to sow his seed Some fell by the wayside some fell on stony ground and some fell on thorns and each one of those In terms of their response to the word of God could be called negative. They were unfruitful But there is one ground that was called the good ground It's this ground that is fruitful and it's this ground that does the work of evangelism throughout the church age And so the following three parables reveal the ministry of the fruitful soil during the church age Now as we look at it, let me give you a background. Let me develop it with you a little bit of context Because these parables reveal the visible church as a large But you're going to see that it is also revealing to us that the visible church may be a large But it is also infected. It's infected with unbelievers These parables are very helpful for us To encourage us individually to evaluate If we truly know the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior That's a good thing to evaluate whether Christ really is in you You may have been raised in a church. You may have been raised in this church You may have gone through various Sunday school classes or perhaps the church tradition you were raised in Would be similar to the one that I was raised in where I had catechism classes And and I received various ordinances or sacraments of the church as a child baptism communion Confirmation you may have gone through those sacraments to matrimony and and all of that and and that may be your your religious heritage and Like me you you went to church and you were part of a visible body of people that were proclaiming themselves to be church Well, this particular Series of parables will help all of us to evaluate whether or not not we are actually Actually saved and that's a good thing. That's something we ought to invite the Lord into The psalmist in Psalm 26 verse 2 said it like this He said test me oh Lord and try me examine my heart and my mind The writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 verse 1 said it like this He said therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest Let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it So there is a good and helpful thing for us to examine our own hearts And and that's what these parables help us to do they help to take the mirror of the word Place it in front of us so that we can see ourselves clearly and come to a conclusion as to whether or not we know the Lord Now in order to get a clearer understanding I'm going to take these out of order I'm going to first look at the parable of the mustard seed Then I'm going to look at the parable of the leaven and that's going to help us to understand and contextualize the parable of the wheat and the tears so beginning at verse 31 and Verse 32 will begin with the parable of the mustard seed Another parable he put forth to them Saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field Which indeed is the least of all the seeds But when it is growing is greater it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches and So this is the parable of the mustard seed the mustard seed was the smallest garden plant seed in Israel not the smallest seed in the world Now some have said the mustard seed is not smaller than the orchid seed The orchid seed can be as fine as dust and is smaller than the mustard seed So there are those who have said that Jesus was wrong by referring to the mustard seed as least Because in verse 32 he says that which indeed is the least of all the seeds and so they've said see he's wrong Well when you interpret scripture the plain sense normally can be used to understand the meaning of the passage Who is Jesus speaking to he was speaking to Jewish farmers not an international group of botanists Why would he use an illustration that did not connect with their world it doesn't make any sense Why would he say the orchid seed to a group of? Northern Israel Farmers he wouldn't say that he would say this is what you carry in your bag of seeds. That's the smallest seed that you have So we have to be careful right from the beginning because sometimes people want to reject the teachings of Christ For things that don't matter and that's one of those things perhaps you've had an intellectual say that to you Oh, Jesus said that the mustard seed is the smallest seed, but the orchid is much smaller and thus he was wrong Why would he use the orchid seed as an example when he's speaking to farmers who understand the size of a mustard seed doesn't make Any sense so we have to be very careful that when we use illustrations perhaps I'm speaking to a teacher in here You know this when you use illustrations you always use illustrations that can connect with the listener You don't use illustrations that will not connect with them. I remember reading about a British a British pastor Who had come to the United States in order to to teach and he was in a church? And he said I went to a baseball game and he said and the batter got a four base hit What is that a four base hit so he's trying to connect with his audience But we call it a Homer a homerun, but he's oh, no, it's a four base hit. Well, you know, he technically he's right But that didn't make any sense to me The bottom line is you have to be careful when you use illustrations to connect with the hearer And that's what Jesus is doing. He's not going to speak of something that they're not familiar with He's going to speak of something that is in general something. They all understand and that's what he's doing here He's speaking concerning a mustard seed, which they understood to be the smallest seed that they would plant So he says it's it's a seed that a man takes and sows in his field His field would be where in israel So he's sowing in his field in israel. It's the lease of the seeds of the crop that he would plant on his ground But the point he's making isn't just that he was sowing the seed The point to consider is how large the mustard seed grew and what happened Now I want you to notice Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven being like a mustard seed That helps us to understand he's speaking concerning the growth of the kingdom of god now Some would say that this speaks of the church starting out small and growing larger over time And to some degree that would be true in that from a small group. It grew larger over time I was reading something by put out by an organization called the pew research center It's based in washington dc And they gave an estimate of christians an estimate of christians in the world the number of christians And this is from 2010 And so the pew research center says as of 2010 Christianity was by far the world's largest religion with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents Nearly a third 31 percent of all the 6.9 billion people on earth And so that came out of a research center that is not a political and it's not a biased Research center that's simply giving out facts and that's what they said It was the world's largest religion with an estimate estimated 2.2 billion Adherents now. Here's the question. How many in this room thinks there are really 2.2 billion evangelical believers Who would really believe that If that's the case over 80 percent of americans to this day still profess themselves to be christians Which means that the 20 percent in prison must not be So it doesn't make any sense now does it and this is what we're looking at today So they would say well, this is an incredible growth of the church from the 11 faithful the 120 in the upper room To now 2.2 billion people They would say That speaks of incredible growth. But is that what the lord is saying? Well upon closer examination you can get a different picture And i'll show you this by just looking at some of this as it relates to What the lord would be speaking about concerning this again He says The kingdom of heaven is like a mussel seed when a man took in sodans field Which indeed is the lease of all the seeds when it is growing as greater than the herbs becomes a tree So that the birds of the air come in nest in it now. Wait a minute There's something that you use normally in interpretation of scripture It's just a study habit that you can get into and it's called the law of first mention The law of first mention Now the law of first mention simply put would be how did jesus use birds When he first introduced his parables, so we already know that look at verse four of the same chapter As he sowed some seed fell though by the wayside the birds came and devoured them Then you look at verse 19 And he interprets that by saying when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it Then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside birds The wicked one are combined And so you get a chance to see that the birds were used in the first parable And were depicted as evil they devoured siege and they snatched away what was sown in hearts So this doesn't speak of being good. This speaks of being evil A second thing to point out is how jesus said that it becomes greater than the herbs and becomes a tree That gives to us some insight And the insight would simply be This is a picture of what has been called the visible church. Now, let me develop that with you for a moment as we look at this introduction Over the centuries theologians have coined phrases used to refer to what we call the church You have a phrase called the church universal That speaks of the body of christ throughout the world The church triumphant speaks of believers who have died and gone to heaven The church invisible speaks of genuine christians who are recognized by god as the real deal The church local speaks of individual congregations that meet in certain locations And the church visible speaks of those who are the visible community of christians One thing about the visible church is that it is not always made up of genuine believers Why well church services always have the genuine believer and others who are there who aren't saved Obviously unsaved people are are welcome normally to hear the message we desire to give them They'll be present in the service But they're not part of the invisible church But the world will call them christians Because they go to church And that's how it works in the world. So they'll say well that guy's a christian He went to church or that guy's a christian because he was baptized that guy's a christian because of some outward emblem You know, and I know that adolf hitler was called a christian And there are people in the world who went through certain things went to church services And they were not believers at all And so you have within the confines of the visible church The real deal and the person who's not saved And that's the picture that we have here those birds nesting In the tree the tree representing the church the birds representing evil finding themselves to be at home In that mustard seed So the church is described in this parable as being large But it is infected with birds So evil is at home in the church The church is large because it's infiltrated by unbelievers and the birds are nesting in the branches. They're at home And the church has become Infected with evil. That's the first we'll look at the second and develop it a step further Another parable parable verse 33. He spoke to them the kingdom of heaven is like 11 Which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened Now This parable reinforces what jesus just said in the parable of the mustard seed This would be a picture of the visible church Permeated with sin. I want you to notice verse 33 that the woman took and hid leaven When it says she hid leaven it speaks of yeast leaven is yeast And she she hid leaven in in the dough and it speaks of the leaven and all of you who who bake in here understand leaven How that it permeates the entire thing And so that's the point It this leaven has permeated the entire thing So when you look in the scripture and you see how is leaven used in scripture It's interesting to note that leaven is often a picture of sin And the children of israel were to were to celebrate Passover The children of israel were to go through the house to this day. They do this to find any leaven And they remove it with great ceremony Leaven permeates leaven is a picture of sin And in the new testament it continually was used in that same fashion for example when we look in matthew chapter 16 In matthew 16 verse 6 jesus said take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees In verse 12 of matthew 16 They understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread But of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees In luke 12 verse 1 Jesus said beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and then luke tells us that he says which is hypocrisy In first chrithians 5 verse 8 the apostle paul said it like this. He said let us keep the feast not with old leaven Neither with 11 And now he begins to describe leaven the leaven of malice, which is ill will a desire to injure somebody The leaven of wickedness which speaks of evil desires He says but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So that's a picture of the visible church It's a picture of the visible church over time being filled with sin The visible church will gradually become permeated With hypocrisy with bad doctrine and a lack of biblical love numerically It is large But spiritually it is permeated by sin and insincerity So the question has to be asked how is that possible? How could that ever occur? What happened over time? How the church become filled with sin?  Well, that's what The parable of the wheat and tears answers So in verse 24 We'll look at the parable of the wheat and tears Another parable he put forth to them saying The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop then the tears also appeared So the servants of the owner came and said to him sir Did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tears? He said to them an enemy has done this The servant said to him do you want us then to go and gather them up? He said no, unless while you gather up the tears you also operate the wheat with them Let both grow together until the harvest And at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers First gather together the tears bind them in bundles burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn In verse 36 Jesus sent the multitudes away and went into the house His disciples came to him saying explain to us the parable of the tears of the field He answered and said he who sows the good seed is the son of man The field is the world the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom But the tears are the sons of the wicked one the enemy who sowed them is the devil The harvest is the end of the age the reapers are the angels Therefore as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire So it will be at the end of this age the son of man will send out his angels They will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness Will cast them into the furnace of fire There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth Then the righteous was shined forth as the son and the kingdom of their father Then he goes on to say he who has ears to hear let him hear A man sows good seed in his field and an enemy sows what is called Darnell Darnell is a weed it looks the same from the time it begins to to grow until the very end And then you'll see that the weed has has no no real crop Whereas the wheat produces kernels of wheat, but they look the same until they're in full maturity and that's the point He's making now. We see that the sower is jesus. We see that the field is the world We see that the good seeds are christians, but the tears Are unbelievers So jesus sows good seed in his field His field is not just israel. His field is the world How does he sow good seed in his field? Well, he commissioned even evangelists to preach the gospel in the world That's what he'll do in matthew 28 when he says go into all the world and preach the gospel And so the the seed of the word is intended to go not only in jerusalem But also in judaeus samaria and then into the uttermost parts of the earth The gospel of jesus christ in other words was not intended to remain in israel But to go forth throughout the world and so initially The church is faithful to the commission and the church preaches the gospel And that's what you see when you look at the day of pentecost all the way through the early history of the church From from the time that the church was birthed and filled with the spirit Believers would go out and proclaim this message and the gospel has gone out throughout the world The apostles and others took the message gave it in a passionate fashion Because they knew that people needed to hear the message of forgiveness. They needed to hear about salvation. They needed to hear of the coming judgment Paul spoke about this in romans 15 versus 20 and 21 when he said i have made it my aim to preach the gospel Not where christ was named lest i should build on another man's foundation But as is written to whom he was not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand So he said i went out and i took this message throughout the world When you look at the apostle paul and you see the things that he did and the places that he went He made sure that he was used by god wherever it was that he went to proclaim the gospel And so the church initially was very faithful to the commission and preached the gospel very faithfully So with that as your foundation and we're going to be able to understand a little bit more about this parable as we look at this With that as your foundation How did error enter into the church and how does error come to be accepted as truth? How's that happen? Well verse 25 supplies the answer notice verse 25 While men slept An enemy his enemy came sowed tears among the wheat and went his way While men slept how did error enter into the church And how did error In fact How did error Make a church A place where those who don't know jesus How did error make that And that people who don't know jesus feel so comfortable amongst those Who do and never see a difference between the two how's that happen? men slept Notice with me the church's picture is falling asleep on the job the church Is not on the alert And while the church is sleeping unbelievers are sewn in amongst them We the church have been called by god to awaken out of sleep We have been called by god to watch and be ready And every person here who's ever pulled any form of guard duty understands what that means to be on watch I in the military they would place us on what was called watch And we would watch I was in fort benning georgia in 1971 And I had to guard this particular house A friend of mine and I had to go around the house. We were on guard duty And in the house was a man named lieutenant kelly A man who was being charged with the mealy massacre And I went around that with others and it was our job to pull guard. That's what they called it We were to be on the alert. We were to be on watch Combat vets know that even deeper Combat vets know that you will be placed in a position Of watching in case the enemy should enter in And you are to be alert because he can come In a stealthy way infiltrate and take the lives of your friends The bible teaches us that we're not to be asleep but we're to be awake And yet jesus says here that they slept while men slept So how could non-christians ever be comfortable in a church? How could sons of the wicked one ever pass as sons of the kingdom? The answer is very simple the church will cease being known for holiness The church will cease being known for the love of god The church will cease being known for rejecting evil And the church can become and can look like any other organization in its day There are numbers of places called church That are more of a cultural center More of an infotainment center more of an entertainment center More of a variety of things than a church And people come they sit in there they never hear a bible study. They're never convicted And the church is infiltrated It begins with the pulp that's being occupied by men who don't value god's word When the minister of the word of god doesn't esteem the gospel Then it will not be faithfully preached And when the gospel is not faithfully taught People will not live according to the standards of god you see that in melanchai When the lord is speaking to the priests of israel The prophet melanchai first delivers a strong rebuke to the priests for despising god's name They had failed to teach the people god's commandments. They were offering polluted sacrifices to god The the priest didn't honor him nor did the priest reverence him as a matter of fact when you read melanchai And we're doing that as I mentioned on on wednesday night when when you when you read melanchai you see in melanchai chapter 1 verse 13 That that they were they were actually tired of serving him and they were offering inferior sacrifices to him And and we read it when it says you say it's too hard to serve the lord and you turn up your noses at his command Says the lord almighty think of it Animals that are stolen and mutilated crippled and sick presented as offerings Should I accept from you such offerings as these asked the lord? You see pastors and teachers need to value god's word And pastor teachers need to properly present the word of god to people paul said it like this in philippians 117 He said I am set for the defense of the gospel the word set means I have been strategically positioned for this To defend the gospel of jesus christ god has placed me in that position And when he was writing to timothy in first timothy 6 20 he said to this young pastor. Oh timothy guard that which was committed to your trust guarded It's been committed to your trust. It has been handed to you and guarded You see the result of not teaching is people can go to church services and not ever think of bringing a bible Why would they it's not even opened up during a church service One of the things that I would like to guarantee is that you will always need a bible here We will always go through the word of god We need to teach through the word of god and understand it But you see many will not tolerate anything that goes against what they already believe Anybody correcting anybody contradicting their beliefs will be ignored. They'll be rejected. They'll be disliked and they will be spoken against And jeremiah 531 it says the prophets prophesy lies the priests ruled by their own authority and my people love it this way But what will you do in the end? In second timothy 4 3 and 4 paul speaking of the last time says it like this He said the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine Instead to suit their own desires They will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what they're itching ears want to hear They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths they will and that's what's taken place even today Because the bible is not taught false teachers infiltrate the church and they introduce error People will be deceived Discernment concerning truth and error does not exist and the result is that false teachers will be given prominent places in the church World that's happened now. You're seeing it today. If you're aware of what's taking place in the church. I know of a church That has they advertise Their baptisms so people show up for the baptism. They have a bar and beer there so that you can drink some beer and watch the baptism A friend of mine was just speaking to me just this last week. He said, you know in my area here And it's an orange county. He says in my area here we have out here a church that's advertised in beer and bible Now there are a lot of guys you're you're going to ask me where that church is, aren't you? Beer and bible How do you do that? How do you get to the place where one of the most significant acts of a christian? Which is to to to acknowledge that I am dead in christ and yet i'm alive I go in the water to demonstrate that i'm dead and buried i come out of that water to represent newness of life I am in christ and I walk by the grace of god and oh by the way, can you save a beer for me later on? How's that work? It's when you don't value the things that god values That's how that works When you don't teach the word of god and encourage people to live for jesus christ, that's how that works It's deception Now it's important to note that that this was a matter of grave concern to jesus as well as the apostles When you read matthew chapter 24 and we'll go there I'll see we're in chapter 13 now. We'll go there in two years and when you get to matthew 24 You're going to see in verses four verse 11 and verse 24 That when the apostles are asking christ concerning the signs of the end at all what's going to happen Jesus no less than three times says take heed that you're not deceived The number one thing and this is interesting because we have so many Today who are real good at at pointing out the amount of earthquakes that we have the pestilence that we have And so many things that are taking place that help to highlight the reality that we're living in the last days And they forget to mention that the first thing that jesus said he knew was asked concerning the sign of your coming Not the signs the sign of your coming. What is the sign of your coming and the answer is deception That's the answer and everything else highlights the conditions of that age, but he's saying it is deception That's how you end up going to a church that offers beer in bible. That's how you end up going to a church that has baptism in beer That's how you end up in a church that has thousands of people that are listening The doctrine that is not true and sharing almost every word of the sermon My wife and I were watching TV yesterday and there is a particular group of people for the pastor Who is preaching it's a very large group of people influencing the whole world And the pastor is giving a message And I told me I want to hear a little bit of what he's saying and when they do these These pullaways and show the size of the amount of people they're showing up there There are multiple multiple thousands of people and he has more than one service It's really a great a great amount of people showing up and and and so i'm watching this and he's quote-unquote teaching and all and and he quotes out of A portion of scripture As a man thinks in his heart so is the man And he begins to say that all the blessings that occur in a person's life Are what proceed out of them as he thinks that's what he is and I turned to marina I said no and I put it on pause and I said bible study time I said time to look at that honey give me the bible and we open up to the passage and I said now Let's read the context and see whether or not that's what god is saying And the context does not dictate the teaching I said that's the way that they put error into the minds of people. They don't give you context They they just hunt and peck. It's called isegesis It's reading into the text and what he's doing is reading in and I said and I can tell you That he got that teaching not from the bible He didn't get that from the writer of proverbs or Psalms What he got that from is he got that from one of the teachers who got that from a teacher who got that from a teacher But that teacher that initially brought that in was wrong because that's not what that scripture says And yet the people are cheering because he's saying that all the good things that occur in your life It's because of how you're thinking And that's how error enters in because there's no proof text. There's no how's this work Where was this found in scripture? Are you saying I create my destiny? I'm the one who determines these things by the words of my mouth and yet that's what you have and thousands of people Buy into that, you know why I'll tell you why listen carefully It's because this book here that we call the bible is on shelves all week except sunday And only read when that person reads to us and explains That's why because we're not having devotions because not we're not on our knees because they're saying god help me Oh, i'm not a pastor. I'm just a sheep. I don't have to do that. Yes, you do That's how you guard yourself from error take heed. Jesus said that no one deceived you He didn't say just that to the pastor. He said that to us Take heed that no one deceived you and see what happens in the church in the latter days. It is infiltrated with evil it has 11 There are people who don't know the lord who are settling in There are birds that are very much at home Nesting in the branches because they're never ever given any reason to not be comfortable because the bible is not being taught You see the apostle paul warned the elders of the church of Ephesus concerning the invasion of deceit He said in acts 20 verses 29 and 30 I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away Disciples after themselves You see the natural inclination of the human heart is to reject What is not to their taste we do that if it doesn't taste what we wanted to taste like we reject It Sorry time my mom Made friends with a woman by the name of ruthi frankenbendera My brother and I were around four years old. My brother was around six years old mama took us to the The seers in los angeles, which was the only seers at that time that I can remember And we were in she was in seers with us getting something And took us to the to the bathroom because we had to go to the bathroom And in the bathroom was a woman named ruthi frankenbendera around my mom's age She had two kids that were close to my brother frank in my age And so my mom was speaking to her in the bathroom and ruthi became a good friend of my mom Italian woman from new jersey had a real thick accent and I and she was very very dear to my mom Very dear italian her husband was italian frankie frankenbendera How how much more italian can you get than that? Franky franky franky.  No, I'm I'm gonna do that I would not eat it. I wouldn't eat it. I still remember. It's a long time ago. I still remember I would not eat real italian spaghetti It's the marinara sauce and all the cheese. No, I wouldn't do it. Why because that was not like my mom's Mexican What was Mexican spaghetti? Sopa de fideo And tomato sauce That was our spaghetti. I am not kidding. We didn't have stinky feet cheese on it And mama would cut up some meat and throw it in, you know, and that was it And so I developed a taste For my mama's spaghetti Then I rejected the real thing The real thing. Now I have to be honest with you. I've grown up I love italian food. I'll be going to eat it tonight I love italian food, but when I first was introduced to it, I had been fed a diet of something other And when I first tasted it I said I reject this guess what that's what happens when you haven't been taught the word You hear a bible study and you go No, that's not true No, that's not true I have a friend of mine. His name is Ron Arbach I was teaching a long time ago back in the day that we were in Ontario I quoted a particular teacher and I said this man teaches false doctrine And I didn't know it But Ron was part of that bible study because he normally went to this guy's church And The next week apparently I for some of the reason I quoted the guy I gave the reference where you could find his material and this is what he said and I said this is the error Well, I didn't know that Ron was there. I was teaching a class at the bible college in Twin Peaks Ron walks up to me and he says pastor, I want you to know I go to your church And I said oh really he said my name is Ron. He began to share his heart with me lived in in Pomona and all He says and and I'm now going to the bible college He says because I would I would like to be a pastor But I want to tell you that the first time I came to church with you you quoted my pastor And I got angry at you I said how dare he say something about my pastor He said and so I went home and he says I have every one of the tapes that you mentioned He says I have them all and I've listened to them And he said and I pulled out that that you reference you told me what it was He said I knew I had it I listened to it And he goes and I thought He quoted him in context. That's that's what he said He said so I thought I'll give you another another chance He said I went back the next week and you did it again and I got mad a second time And I went back he said and I opened up that box that I have all those tapes and I put it in tapes CDs Used to be four track used to be eight anyway, so Used to have things that were vinyl that spun around anyway tapes And he said I listened to that one again And you quoted it correctly he said He said pastor. He said I was upset when I heard that because I thought that you were judging my pastor He said I discovered you were simply quoting him and you were pointing us to truth Now Ron is the pastor of Calvary Chapel San Antonio, Texas He's got a great work going there But when he first came he got insulted and angry because the word wasn't up to his taste Because he was used to things that were said in a certain way And sometimes people will go to church because they're not getting a systematic study And they end up just whatever that pastor wants to point out today. That's what I like I'm a it's appealing. He's got a great personality smiles. He laughs He has us hold our bible up and say this is my bible. I believe everything in it Must be true. He never opens it up again during the service But at least we said our oath That's what you have. How is it that evil can find a home in the church? No teaching Appealing to the ear people having itching ears They will voluntarily turn themselves from the truth and turn onto myths Isaiah 30 verses 9 and 10 This is a rebellious people lying children children who will not hear the law of the lord who say to the seer Do not see to the prophet do not prophesy to us right things speak to us smooth things prophesy deceits Because sin is ignored people will come to church and comfortably be seated as tears among the wheat They consider themselves christian, but in reality They don't know jesus and second timothy 3 1 through 5 paul said mark this There will be terrible times in the last days People will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abuse of disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal not lovers of the good treacherous rash conceded Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god Having a form of godliness, but denying its power have nothing to do with them That's the bible Having a form of godliness. So what are the first two things he speaks about? The first two things lovers of themselves Lovers of money those two things have found themselves into What we as americans take for granted listen my dad when I was growing up said to me son Take care of your health because if you take care of your health It enables you to have wealth health and wealth Health and wealth you didn't say well like they said take care of your health because if you don't have good health you can't work If you can't work, are you going to produce income for your family health and wealth? That's america. That's what we're raised. That's how we're trained. We go to college so that we can have wealth We diet and exercise those who do I look back in the past say I used to I don't care anymore But what we do Is we work out So that we have health we take our vitamins and we do all those things so that we it's it's not that that's evil It's in and of itself. I'm not saying it is Please don't misunderstand what i'm saying is is it can become the more important thing than loving god and loving others In my own finances my own Physical I have to die to self and I have to be generous to demonstrate that I have a relationship with god But when it's all about me when it's all about me and what I have Then it's backwards and and paul says that's what's going to take place They're going to be lovers of themselves and lovers of money And so there's going to be a willful deliberate rejection of the truth and and and as a result the teachings of the scriptures will No longer find a home in the heart of those Who should believe it's like it says in 1st timothy 4 1 and 2 The spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron Well as jesus is speaking notice what they say in the second portion of verse 28 to verse 30 Do you want us to go out and you want us to gather them up? And the lord says no You see it's always been a temptation to use our own efforts to clean up the church Some establish man-made regulations. They want to keep the appearance of holiness You can't always judge by appearances You can't some wheat Is slow-growing Somebody gets saved and they come from a rough background and They're seated next to you in church and you look at them and they don't look like what we think christians are supposed to look like and And you feel all awkward next to them and everything That guy can't be saved He doesn't look saved Whatever that means He didn't look saved And so we have this appearance and so what we do is we make rules and regulations And we say well listen if you're going to be a member of this club You need to look like this and do this and and before you know it We start stifling the work that god wants to do We have to be very careful to impart the word and trust the spirit and and a lot of grace and and watch what god can do in somebody's life Because god has a way of cleaning up the fish after he caught it But a lot of people like to clean up the fish at least that are more comfortable around that clean fish Even though that fish doesn't know the lord and so What we do is we establish rules and regulations. We try to keep it looking holy And we need to remember jesus says let them grow up because it's in it's not in the growing up It's in the full maturity that you see where the fruit really is the darnal does not produce wheat wheat does And it's not your job to go and clean up the church The lord has a tendency of doing that and he does it well He speaks concerning the fact That uh verse 39 the enemy who sowed them is the devil the harvest is the end of the age Reapers are the angels So the church isn't the reaper the angels are as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire So it will be at the end of this age the son of man will send out his angels They'll gather up gather out of his kingdom all things that offend Those who practice lawlessness will cast them into the furnace of fire They will be wailing Nation of teeth the righteous will shine forth as the son and the kingdom of their father He who has ears to hear let him hear Day of judgment is coming And those who don't know the lord will be judged It's interesting how the scripture makes it very clear Like it says in verse 43 the righteous will shine as the son and the kingdom of their father That reminds me of daniel chapter 12 verses 2 and 3 where it said Multitudes of sleep in the dust of the earth will awake some to everlasting life Others to shame and everlasting contempt those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens Those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever Some will be reaped and they will enter into judgment others are reaped and they are receiving glory And when jesus speaks of this final judgment notice verse 42 it says you cast them into the furnace of fire There will be wailing and nation of teeth you need to keep that in mind I remember a guy who at one time was in this church. He has since died, but he was in this church And he said I don't mind going to hell because that's where all my friends are going to be And we'll party That's not how jesus described the final judgment. It's not a party It's wailing and nation of teeth. It's pain and separation. It's an absence of love. It's an absence of joy It's an absence of peace. It's an absence of god Judgment But then there are the others who are wise And they shine like stars In revelation 2011 through 15 john said I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it Earth and sky fled from his presence. There was no place for them I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne books were open Another book was opened which is the book of life the dead were judged according to what he had done as recorded in the books The sea gave up the dead that were in it death and hades gave up the dead that were in them And each person was judged according to what he had done Then death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire The lake of fire is the second death If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life. He was thrown into the lake of fire He was thrown into the lake of fire And it doesn't end Judgment is eternal even as the life in christ is eternal you continue The difference is in christ we have life In the enemy, it's only death What you have in eternity is a continuation of existence if you're unsaved What you have in christ is a continuation of life and that more abundantly there's a difference There's a difference between existing and living In christ you're alive And you need to make sure that you are you are in christ and finally he says this and we'll close with these words he who has ears to hear Let him hear Salvation does not occur because you hear Salvation occurs when you hear receive And ultimately you're hearing and receiving is evidenced by your doing Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 13 verse 5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith Test yourselves Do you not realize that christ jesus is in you unless of course You fail the test There's nothing wrong With examining your own heart If you are relying on being in church today, or if you're relying On being raised in the church if you're relying on anything outside of jesus christ You're a tear You're a tear You are comfortably in a in church But you're not in christ And jesus warned us about that The church visible will increase numerically But within it will be evil birds finding a home there And what we do as we examine our own hearts Christ are you really in me Am i really born again and if i am Is there enough evidence that i'm in you that if i were taken to trial in a court of law People would point to that evidence and i'd be convicted as one of your followers Is that true in my life And that is a question only you can answer


So Alexander Zverev, we all know that he rolled his ankle really really badly and he's actually got some confirmation on when he might return to tennis and it might be actually sooner than you think. Let's go have a read of an article that was uh is giving out a little bit of information on this Varev extent of his injury. So this is from Quinton Manette from Lequips. According to our information the duration of unavailability of Alexander Zverev is estimated between six and eight weeks. Package for Wimbledon, he hopes to be back in early August with the United States tour. His goal is to be restored for the US Open. So Zverev might be back in time for the US Open series. So six to eight weeks looking at the calendar. That's I mean obviously Wimbledon's out of the question. The whole grass court season's out of the question. But he might be back as early as the start of August. So let's say it's exactly eight weeks. The Canadian opens in exactly eight weeks. So he could be back in a very very short amount of time compared to what we expected. I mean I was saying season ending. We had uh you know foot doctor Zach on uh during the final as well uh asking him questions. He was you know um giving us his assessment on what could what it could possibly be. So he could be back for the US Open which I think is a good good outcome for Zverev uh considering how bad the injury looked at first glance and how I mean he could come back still injured but or still hurting but hopefully it's it's quicker than than uh or at least he comes back a hundred percent doesn't come back too early. So Zverev about six to eight weeks he'll be back hopefully uh during the US Open or for the US Open.


The question at the end of his statement, and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. Minister, I call you to make the statement. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I welcome you to your new role. I welcome the opportunity to update the Parliament on the provisional outturn against the budget for the financial year 2020-21. The provisional outturn demonstrates once again that this Government is prudently and competently managing Scotland's finances, even more so in these extremely challenging and uncertain times. Taking into account, as it does, all of the Covid-19 expenditure up to 31 March. The financial challenges of managing our response to the pandemic have been unprecedented. This is an economic crisis as well as a health crisis, and the Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest fiscal and policy challenge facing the Scottish Government over the past two decades of devolution. The pandemic has reached almost every area of our lives and has required the Scottish Government to respond quickly and decisively, providing substantial additional funding for public services and support for individuals, businesses and the economy. Whilst our collective efforts in tandem with the success of the vaccination programme are helping us to win the fight to overcome the virus, this has not come without cost. I would like to personally thank the members of the NHS, emergency services and front-line staff across the whole of the public sector for the amazing work that they have done over the past year. I would also like to recognise businesses and the public for the sacrifices that they have made. Every penny received by the Scottish Government to tackle Covid-19 has been channeled to where it was needed the most. To date, we have announced over 170 Covid initiatives, providing bespoke financial support to businesses, individuals and organisations to support them through the pandemic. In 2020-21, we allocated more than £9 billion to support the health, economic and social challenges created by the pandemic. That is more than the Covid funding passed to us by the UK Government. That includes more than £3 billion to support health and wider public health initiatives, more than £3 billion to support Scottish businesses, £1 billion to local government to support the welfare and wellbeing of our communities, £850 million to support our rail and bus networks and £450 million to support education and skills. Those figures demonstrate the scale and breadth of our response to that unprecedented situation. It is against this extremely challenging financial backdrop that we report our provisional outcome today. Although the path to recovery remains uncertain, the Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that, as a country, we get back on our feet and the right steps are taken to support and guide Scotland's longer-term recovery. The pandemic has put a spotlight on the challenges that we face with having such restricted fiscal powers. There is an imbalance between the risks that the Scottish budget is exposed to and the levers that we have to manage those risks. That includes strict limits on how much and for what purpose the Scottish Government can borrow, leading us to be overly dependent on UK Government policy. There is a time lag between the UK Government's announcements and the confirmation of further devolved funding, which makes real-time response and recovery planning extremely difficult. The uncertainty of the funding and application of certain Covid policies when there needed to be varying local responses to the pandemic, a prime example being the furlough scheme, and the single-year funding model, which means carry-forward of our budget between financial years is extremely restricted. Covid-19, unfortunately, does not stop at the end of the financial year. The 2020-21 guarantee on Barnett consequentials provided by the UK Government was a welcome development. However, that only served to reduce the risk of late deductions to our budget, which we are again facing for 2021-22. What is not in doubt is that significant budget challenges lie ahead, and those funding challenges will continue as we target our resources at stimulating a safe, swift and sustainable recovery for our communities, our public services and our economy. There remains significant uncertainty over the extent to which the UK Government will support the on-going cost of the pandemic, which is why we have requested a guarantee of funding for future funding similar to that in 2020-21. That is why I, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, will continue to make the case to the UK Government for more proportionate fiscal powers to help to manage pressures and volatility in Scotland's financial position and to allow the Scottish Government to respond fully to the crisis. The forthcoming fiscal framework review must take place in that context, and a narrow technical review of the framework will not deliver what the people of Scotland need or want. Turning now to the 2020-21 provisional outturn. Under the current devolution settlement, the Scottish Parliament is not permitted to overspend its budget. At the same time, the carry-forward of budget between financial years is highly restrictive, meaning that phasing of expenditure between financial years is extremely restricted. There is therefore a balance to be struck to ensure that we maintain spend within our budget limits but do not generate high carry-forward between financial years that would risk breaching our reserve cap and result in the loss of funding. We have once again managed to maintain that balance. I can report that the provisional outturn for 2020-21 is £48 billion against a total fiscal budget of £48.5 billion. The remaining budget of £449 million, which represents just 0.9 per cent of our total budget, has been carried forward in full through the Scotland reserve. That was proactively managed with £431 million already being anticipated within the 2021-22 budget reserve carry-forward. It is therefore important to note that there is no loss of spending power to the Scottish Government as a result of the carry-forward. Every penny has been allocated in full, allowing us to implement Covid response measures at the most optimal time, rather than being constrained to a single financial year. The £449 million is made up of £374 million fiscal resource, £8 million capital and £67 million financial transactions, which, of course, can only be used for loans or equity investments in entities outside of the public sector. The provisional outturn is in line with our strategy to actively minimise the amount of capital in the reserve to create headrooms for the FTs and resource carry-forwards, which are required to support the 2021-22 budget position agreed by Parliament. I highlight that those outturn figures for 2021 remain provisional as they are subject to an on-going audit process. Finalised figures will be reported as usual in the annual Scottish Government consolidated accounts and a statement of total outturn for the financial year 2020-2021 later this year. To conclude, the provisional outturn demonstrates that the Scottish Government has maintained a firm grip on Scotland's public finances in the context of a year that has presented the most significant financial challenges in the last two decades of devolution. We have demonstrated that, once again, the Scottish Government has effectively managed Scotland's public finances and maintained the balance of not breaching our fixed budget limits and ensuring that the reserve balances will be deployed in full to fund 2021-22 spending priorities. I commend today's figures to Parliament. Thank you. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question were to press the request to speak buttons now. I call Liz Smith. Can I first of all join the minister in thanking all those who have been very much on the front line as we grapple with the pandemic, which is obviously forcing Scotland to face up to very difficult circumstances? Indeed, it just takes a quick look at yesterday's statistics published to recognise the scale of the challenge that lie ahead, especially when it comes to securing people's jobs. Of course, those challenges are budgetary, too. I have three questions, minister. First of all, can I turn to the underspend and the concerns that the on-going very serious pandemic continues to be, obviously, a large sum of public money that many sectors want to see spent as a matter of urgent support? For example, there is an underspend in the health budget of £183 million, and at the same time, obviously, there is a backlog of health treatment, so those are very serious issues. Can I ask the minister to provide the Parliament with very full transparency within the budget lines as to exactly how the Covid recovery money, including that that is provided to Scotland by the UK Government, has been spent and how it will be spent across each sector? Secondly, in relation to transport, which is once again the largest underspend and which comes just days after the Scottish Government announced that it had missed its climate change targets for the third year running, what money will be given to green transport and infrastructure projects to ensure that the effects of climate change will be mitigated? Finally, the First Minister was accused by members of the national economic forum this week that not nearly enough effort has been made by the Scottish Government to provide business community with that meaningful engagement when it comes to planning ahead for the future. Can I ask the minister what is being done to urgently address that problem? Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I take this opportunity to welcome Liz Smith to her new position. I would just like to pick up on that last point and recognise the outstanding contribution that our businesses have made throughout this pandemic. I'm sure that we can all think of examples in our own constituencies of businesses going above and beyond the call of duty, and she's absolutely correct to raise that today. I'll turn to each of the points that you raised in turn. With regard to the health underspend, that came about due to the late consequentials of £200 million, and it was judged that that was not going to align with public health spending cycles. As I made a reference to in my statement, it is better that that money is deployed at the optimum moment, rather than just to fit within the strictures of a financial year. Within transport, there has been money that has been underspent in capital. That is ultimately just a consequence of the restrictions and the pandemic, and I think that that is something that you will see across a lot of capital lines, with restrictions in place, with construction closed for large parts of last year, that inevitably has led to some slippage within capital. However, there has been money that has been redeployed from capital for purposes of green transport, and I'd be happy to provide more detail to the member in writing if that is something that she would desire. With regard to business support and the overall question of how much money has been deployed, the Scottish Government has received in total £8.6 billion of consequentials, but we have went further and spent more than £9 billion in supporting our communities through the pandemic. With regard to business, the total is over £3 billion. That includes £2.6 billion, and various grant schemes amounting to more than 170 bespoke financial support packages for businesses and our communities. There is also the support that we have given and non-domestic rate relief. We are where we are only part of the UK to give non-domestic rate relief for 100 per cent to retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation, and that is a commitment that we have delivered that would in total cost over £960 million. I hope that that demonstrates to Liz Smith that this Government is absolutely committed to business. It has supported business through this pandemic and it will continue to do so, but I can say that there would be so much more that we could do if we had these additional fiscal levers. I sincerely hope that Liz Smith will use what influence she has within her party to encourage the chancellor to engage constructively in talks with the Scottish Government, with the cabinet secretary, as we take forward the fiscal framework review. I thank the minister for early sight of the statement and indeed welcome him to his position. A £449 million underspend, while so many businesses are struggling to keep their head above water will seem like a cruel irony to many. I understand that the timing of some of the funds from the UK Government might have made an underspend unavoidable. However, the lack of clarity about what the substantial figure is being used for is not so understandable. In particular, with the extension of restrictions, the deepening cash flow crisis may prove terminal for businesses such as taxi drivers, wedding planners, hospitality and tourism. Can the minister provide more detail on how the allocated funds have been allocated and confirm that they are being spent to support those businesses if they have been impacted by the extension of restrictions? Can he also set out plans to improve the transparency of Covid funds, as called for by the Auditor General in February? Can I come back to the issue of health spend? How can the Scottish Government manage an underspend in the health budget in the middle of a health crisis? Turning to his last point about health spending, which I addressed in my response to Liz Smith, those were very late consequentials that arrived in February. I am sure that the member would agree with every member across the chamber that what should determine how money is spent in health is how it can be spent away but delivers the optimal impact rather than just within the structures of a financial year. I am sure that the member will reflect on that point of view. On the underspend overall, as I have explained and set out in my statement, that has been managed prudently through the Scotland reserve. Indeed, £431 million of that was anticipated in the budget. With regard to transparency about how the money has been spent, we had the unprecedented step of a summer budget revision in the last financial year. The cabinet secretary has been engaged fully with the Parliament with the then Finance and Constitution Committee. Indeed, we will be writing to the newly constituted Finance and Public Administration Committee ahead of summer recess to illustrate what our thinking is going forward. Of course, we will all be happy to appear before committee in due course. I just point out that we have quite a number of members seeking to ask a question, so if we could have more succinct questions and more succinct answers, that would be really helpful. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome both you and the minister to your new posts. The pandemic has shown a spotlight on the need for additional fiscal flexibilities to be devolved to Scotland on an on-going basis, including greater boring powers, reserve limits and year-end flexibility. Those powers are essential to secure and consolidate a strong recovery from the crisis. The minister has mentioned engagement. Can he advise what engagement the Scottish Government has had to date with the UK Government about the demolition of future fiscal flexibilities? I thank Mr Gibson for his question, and he is absolutely right to correct to raise the issues that he does. The key challenge that we have had throughout is the fluidity of the overall funding position. When announcements are made, we do not know when we will receive the consequentials. We did have the Barnett guarantee last year. We currently do not have the Barnett guarantee, so we do not know about negative consequentials. That makes budget planning extremely difficult in normal times. That is compounded in the context of a pandemic. The cabinet secretary has written to the chancellor looking to set up a quadrilateral meeting with the other devolved administrations. I very much hope that the chancellor will take that option up. We are obviously looking forward to taking forward the fiscal review next year, and what is key for taking forward the fiscal review is ensuring that the remit of that is as broad as possible. I hope that, together as a Parliament, we can work to ensure that this Parliament receives the powers that it needs so that we can fully respond to the crisis and take Scotland forward in recovery. I refer members to my entry in the register of members' interests, which shows that I am still a member of Aberdeen City Council. From talking to other local councils, there is still real pressures when it comes to funding in local government. I know that the minister will quote more money for local government, but most of that is coming in and going straight back out again for business support and ring-fenced initiatives. Will the minister commit to using some of the underspend to support local government who are doing so much work in local communities? I thank the member for his question and welcome to the Parliament. It is the first opportunity I have had to do so. I also want to join him in recognising the extraordinary contribution from local government throughout this pandemic. All of the money that has been carried for when it is committed, £430 million of that was anticipated within the budget process, so that is part of the overall local government settlement that was agreed by Parliament earlier this year. With regard to the local government funding throughout the pandemic, an excess of £1 billion was given on top of the funding that was allocated in the budget last year, and that funding has went to supporting the wellbeing and welfare of our communities, supporting initiatives to support people on low incomes, free-skill meals and winter support packages. If the member would like to discuss these matters further, will the opportunity to go into the budget process later in the year, and I am more unhappy to engage going forward? I commend the Government on being so accurate with its budgeting coming within 0.9 per cent. Can the minister say anything about tax volatility, because Covid is likely to lead to some uncertainty around tax? He is absolutely correct to raise the issue of volatility. This is something that is addressed in the medium-term financial strategy, and it is also why we have prudently used our resource borrowing powers to mitigate that volatility. Clearly there would be more that we could do if we had further powers in this Parliament, so I would reiterate the calls that I have made already for people across the Parliament to work together ahead of the fiscal framework review to ensure that we can have the powers in this Parliament that we require to fully manage volatility. Last year, the Government gave £191 million, no strings, subsidised the private bus company owners, and underspent the transport budget by £343 million. Will the Government consider taking equity stakes in bus companies and other transport firms going forward to extend public ownership across the transport system to better enable us to have an integrated greener public transport system in Scotland? I thank the member for his question. I will take this opportunity to welcome to the chamber on the substantive point that he raised, as I am happy to reflect on that, on the specific issue of money going to bus companies. I referenced that in an earlier answer. There was an underspend in that area, but that money has been carried forward as part of the Scotland reserve to be redeployed on front-line spending in this financial year. I congratulate Tom Arthur on his appointment as a minister. No doubt it is a difficult job, but there is a concern that, in managing its own finances, the Scottish Government has pushed some of the pressure down the chain to local government and to arms-length bodies such as Glasgow Life. What more is the Scottish Government intending to do to ensure that facilities run by such bodies, such as the White Inch library, about which decisions are being made this afternoon, and many other libraries, leisure centres and community centres, are not lost as we see Covid recovery? What more will the Government do to ensure that those services are protected? I thank Patrick Harvie for his question. I absolutely recognise the vital importance of those local services to our communities, as Patrick Harvie knows well. The budget for local government is set as part of the overall budget, and it is ultimately a matter for local authorities to decide how they spend those resources. I am sure that that will be a topic, but that will be much discussion as we approach the budget process later on this year. I welcome the minister to his position. A minister has already touched upon the fact that the Scottish Government cannot overspend its budget. It is almost balanced throughout the year, so can the minister provide any details as to how the current percentage underspend compares to other devolved Governments that require to balance a budget such as the Labour Government in Wales? Yes, I would be happy to. Mr McMillan is absolutely correct to raise the fact that we cannot overspend our budget, and we have a very narrow envelope to enable us to carry forward any additional resource to the following year. Under spend for 2020-21 is in line with comparative years. The 2020-21 data for, for example, the Labour Government in Wales is not yet available. However, I can confirm that under spend in 2019-2020 was £189 million, which represents 1.3 per cent of its total budget, which compares to the underspend of not 0.9 per cent in this year's Scottish budget. When businesses, especially tourism businesses, are crying out for support, they will find it baffling that millions of pounds of business support is stuck in Government accounts. The minister acutely dodged Daniel Johnson's question on how those funds have been allocated. Can he tell me how much of the underspend has been allocated to tourism businesses, especially those dependent on international visitors? I thank Willie Rennie for his question. We spend every penny of resource that we receive, and what I would say to Mr Rennie is that the £431 million of that carry forward was anticipated in the Scottish budget. If I recall correctly, Mr Rennie voted for that budget. The economic shock of the pandemic has been compounded by the shock caused by the Tory's Brexit disaster. Can the minister advise what steps the Scottish Government is taking to mitigate the impacts of Brexit on Scotland's public finances? I thank Mr Coffey for his question. He is absolutely correct to raise the issue of Brexit. The pandemic, of course, has been the biggest economic challenge that we have faced in the last decade, but it has been compounded by Brexit. However, once again, as I indicated in the statement, the Scottish Government is prudently and competently managing Scotland's finances, even against the most challenging backdrop. We have been clear throughout that we will do all that we can to support businesses throughout the pandemic, and we will continue to do that and also to support businesses that are impacted by Brexit. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I also welcome the minister to his role. The minister says, and I quote, to date, over 170 Covid initiatives, providing bespoke financial support to businesses to support them through the pandemic have been announced. The fact is that too many people in the business community are telling us that they are not receiving the support that they need, and it is not clear who can access what, and it is not clear the timescales for business support grants. Businesses are complaining about the lack of engagement from the Scottish Government, and one question may ask the minister what he is going to do about this lack of engagement and when? Along with the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, I had extensive engagement with businesses yesterday morning as part of the national economic forum, and I will continue to do so. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and welcome to your new post. Thank you, Minister, for his clear statement and welcome him to his new role. Can the minister provide any further detail as to what measures the Scottish Government is taking to provide certainty for our vital public services during this difficult time? I thank Bill Kidd for his question. Due to our prudent management of Scotland's finances, the Scottish Government was able to protect our most vital public services without overspending our budget. During the last financial year, we have responded to the pandemic by allocating an additional £3 billion to health and wider health initiatives, an extra £1 billion to local government through measures such as our lost income support scheme, winter support packages and free-skill meal scheme, ensuring that our rail and bus networks remain sustainable via an additional £850 million of funding, and providing an extra £450 million to education to ensure that extensive support measures could be implemented. I welcome the minister to his new position and, as he rightly identified, this is now an economic crisis as much as a health crisis, and so how these public funds are used is vitally important. However, the last publicly available minutes on the Scottish Government's website for a meeting of the First Minister's Council on Economic Advisers is from June 2020, so I could ask the minister whether that is the last time that the group met and when the next meeting of that group and also the advisory group on economic recovery are scheduled to be, and whether there are any plans for the membership of either of those groups to give a stronger voice to Scotland's business community. I thank Jamie Halcro George for his question. I did not catch all of his question, but the body that he refers to has me since then. I apologise, but I did not pick up the rest of his question, but if the member wants to write to him, I will be happy to respond to him. Thank you minister, and that concludes the statement. We will move on to the next item of business.