Now, as we all know, Lamar Jackson and his contract situation have been the topic of conversation for a while now, but especially this offseason. And everybody has their different viewpoints on it and their different takes and their different opinions on how they think it's going to go, how they think it should go, what they think both sides should be doing, and even what they think both sides shouldn't be doing. But recently, I had my guy Q come on the channel and we'll drop that entire episode soon. But I just wanted to show you all this clip of some really, really good points that he brought out, especially when it comes to a quarterback playing on the fifth year option. Let's have a listen. But my last question before we get out of here. Do you think it's always nice to get an outside opinion? Do you think the Ravens and Lamar Jackson are going to be able to come to a contract with the Green Areas? Man, you know, if you ask me this question this time last year, I'm like, yeah, they should, right? It's like a 70% chance that they just figure that out next offseason. But then this thing has been going on so long with Baltimore and, you know, this is getting into unprecedented territory where Lamar Jackson is about to play on the fifth year option of the team that drafted him. Does not happen with first round quarterbacks that often, right? We can go back from when they started this rookie contract situation, like there has not been a rookie quarterback that's really played on that fifth year option for the team that drafted him. Like maybe once he gets traded and they picked it up, but for the team that drafted you, that never happens. Let alone with the guy is decorated as Lamar Jackson, right? Like Baker Mayfield was somebody that was almost unquestionable. Oh yeah, he's going to get extended after what he did in 2020. He went to MVP in 2020, right? Like Lamar did win the MVP in 2019. So that's like a weird situation for him to still be on his rookie deal.  You know what I want? Boom, let's move on. Now, if you're the Ravens, this gets into a part to where every day that goes on in the season, you're losing leverage because you get to a point to where you can no longer negotiate in the off season, right? So once his contract is up, technically, after the, I think it's after the franchise tag deadline, you're no longer allowed to negotiate with him, unless he's a free agent, for real. And once you're at that point, anything goes, right?  I don't think the Ravens would do it, but the Ravens have been traditional enough to think that they can do it. So again, the options are weighing thin for the Ravens as time goes on. And the deeper you get into the season and he doesn't have a deal, the more and more likely it is. I still think it's 50-50 that he gets a deal done. I think it's more likely than not, like barely.  The odds are that he's probably going to leave Baltimore at that point if they're not willing to give him the money, and it's still at that point of the year. And the only option Baltimore has, if they don't want to give him the money, but want to keep him on the Ravens as a franchise tag, then that gets ugly, right? I mean, you're talking about, I'm not signing that tag, trade me, all kind of stuff there. And you know, that's where it can get real ugly. And then even then, it's like, unless they're willing to do a signing trade, and I don't know how signing trades work with fully guaranteed contracts, because that's what he's shooting for. I don't even think you can get a signing trade, right, at that point, right? So I don't know what the Ravens game plan is. I don't know if they prepare for worst case scenario, but this is worst case scenario. If this gets into the season and he does not have a deal done, the odds shoot down dramatically on the Ravens' chances to keep him. And if this gets past the buy week, I would say the buy week is the last point on the Ravens. Do you guys have an earlier late buy? It's right in the end of October. If you get past the buy week and there's no deal done, that's where I would, I would hit the button where I'm like, OK, something's not right, right? Where that deal is just not going to get done. We're talking about franchise tag, because that's when, I mean, it should have been done months ago, but once you get past that buy week, that's truly the last opportunity to do anything about this contract before it becomes something to where the Ravens might not have the control to take one over it. And I know fans are going to comment down below. They can always franchise tag and that works in Madden, but Madden is not real life, right? You have to deal with relationships and people. And if you're Lamar Jackson, if you let this team for rushing attempts for last two years, you have let this team in rushing yards for three of those years and you have obviously been their leading passer and VP to have me on the franchise tag is is a ridiculous thing, right? Like I it's almost disrespectful for a player of his caliber and his achievement. So, you know, that that's that's where I would start to I would say I would be worried right now about Raven fans, to be honest. If it gets past the buy week, that's past worrying. That's that's where you just need to start. Layton Eric D'Costa know that this is unacceptable, what you've got to let happen here, like you need to get this deal done. Sign the paper, Eric, you know, because that's where I'm like, oh, man, this this becomes likely that he's on a different team at the end of next year. Well, about to start next season. Yeah, man, we'll see how it all works itself out. And hopefully it does work itself out and Lamar can be a Baltimore Raven for the foreseeable future. But that's not what I mean by hopefully, but you know, you just got to wait it out and see what happens, man. Yeah, definitely. See, this is one of the biggest reasons why I love here and so many different people's different perspectives, because they can teach you something that you had no clue about, that you weren't thinking about, that wasn't even anything that crossed your mind. But then when they presented, especially when they presented in a respectful way, it's like, oh, wow, I never even thought of that. So shout out to my boy, QC, the full episode to the show we did together. We'll be dropping very soon. But I just wanted to make sure y'all got to hear that excerpt from our show. So make sure you check out his YouTube channel, because he has a lot of great information to say. He has a lot of fun takes. He has a lot of fun over there on his YouTube channel. I'll link that below in the description. But Raven's time is of the essence. The clock is ticking because, again, Lamar said after week one, once week one shows up, he ain't talking no more. Ravens, y'all need to give him plenty to talk about.


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I'm playing with his hair. Put that on a spool and sew it into something. A beautiful day in the neighborhood. A wonderful day for a neighbor. Won't you be mine? It's so neighborly day for a beauty hood. Welcome to Life Lessons in Film, where today you and I will be discussing a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The Mr. Rogers kind of semi-biopic. They make a story around an interview that he does at this one journalist and they... it's kind of a biopic. Yeah. Yeah, but it was so sweet. Yeah. Wait, are we supposed to do the 22nd thing? Do you see? I told you. Yes. It's brutal. It's, we forget it. Maybe not. Maybe not. Yeah, maybe not. We tried it. Yeah, we're trying stuff. This is an evolving process, you know. And then you gotta be open to whatever sticks. And sometimes it sticks for a little bit and then it starts to just peel. Paper off a little bit. Yeah, yeah. Theme. Wait! Oh, we didn't do that check. No. You're gonna have to pause this time. That's fine. I know it's not fine. I remember. Oh! Oh, no way. Uh, the themes? The themes? You haven't said anything yet, Donnie. Okay, well, you use the same one. You stoned. Touch them. But you added all of the stuff. And yeah, I thought it was really interesting that it was actually, yeah, I didn't grow up in Mr. Rogers, unfortunately. Yeah, unfortunately. But I really dig his philosophy. He's a very inspirational person. And he's someone that, you know, that really embodies it, too. Like, he's not, you can see everyone that works with him is very protective of him because he's kind of, they recognize, here's someone that really does mean all the things that he talks about or how he treats people. It's all genuine, even though the journalist at first, Vogel, was like, who possibly has the energy or, you know, it's not, you're an actor or something. It's a show you put on this character. Yeah, like he said, it's like, you know, the character you play, Mr. Rogers, I don't really understand what you mean, because that's who he is. He's not acting. Yeah, I remember the wife, his wife, she says to Lloyd Vogel, the journalist at one point, when after Lloyd is like, something like you must be hard living with a saint. And then the wife, she says, I don't like referring to him as a saint, because then it seems like whatever he is, this good thing that he is, is unachievable. Like then people just automatically give up, which I loved because initially, I think Lloyd Vogel depicts how people are in general. I think we do tend to err more on the side of cynicism when we see people being good, because it's kind of rare, right? And it's not even to say that people in general are bad. I think a lot of the times we have busy lives and we aren't a lot of the times even able to take the time just to give to each other, even to strangers. So it's always like, you got to get to work, you got to do this, you got to miss whatever, and you got to get to where you're going. So we don't really have time to nurture the goodness of humanity or actually act it out. And so I think a lot of times we do tend to forget. Also, I don't know, I think there's a lot of hurt in people. And so you just kind of forget that people are innately good, because sometimes you'll meet someone who's in a bad mood, you don't know what happened that morning, you don't know what they're going through, but they're mean, and then you just automatically assume that, oh man, the world sucks, people suck, right? And that is a tendency I find in general.  Like, why does it matter to you? Mr. Rogers realized that it's important to however he structures his life, he's like, okay, I need to, well, he did say that his kids are grown now, that gives him more time, but you know, to try and structure it in a way so that you have a little extra time, if things go wrong, it's not the end of the world or things, if people need a little extra attention, you can give it, you know, the one thing, I think the film was fantastic, but one thing I think is a weird kind of way of framing it is they kind of really make it seem like when they fight, it was all his fault at the hospital for leaving. For me, I was concerned about the wife's behavior at the wedding the first time, Lloyd, when Lloyd has a fist fight with the dad, and she's like, you know, it's your fault, like why don't you want to take responsibility for this, right? And I'm like, first of all, you're married to this guy, so you should know what kind of person he is. I don't think you'd marry a monster. And so for me, I feel like if your husband has a fist fight with your dad, your go-to is give him the benefit of the doubt, right? Number one, no one just randomly has a fist fight with their dad. If that is happening, there's a bigger problem, and you should be more nurturing to your husband, even if they messed up, like no one obviously, fist fighting is never going to resolve anything. But what that means is that there's so much pain in your husband's heart that he would do something that grave. And so as a wife, I think be supportive, be caring and forget about this big, you know, this bad behavior, because that, you know, the behavior alludes to something even bigger, right? And I think that's where your go-to is to take care of your husband, put your husband first, and not the dad who you've never met ever in life. And so the second thing was allowing the dad to enter their space. I'm like, you know, your home is where you go for respite, right? Like you, this is your sanctuary, this is where you go to just like, oh, finally, the world, no more work, no more people outside who stress me out. And you know that your husband had a fist fight with the dad, there are issues there that you still aren't talking about, and yet you let this guy in to the house. And with the husband not knowing. With the husband not knowing? And he hadn't even met his father's girlfriend of like 15 years. Yeah, like so many problems there. There was like, they hadn't met his son, like the baby, so there was, it was a bad way to get them to reconcile, very. So poorly done on the part, the wife's part. I feel like, and I understand because a lot of people do this, and I am guilty for this in the past too. I think we all have this notion of family being fundamentally good, you know, and you have this, we all believe that if you have family, you are better off when you have better relations with the family than when you don't. And I think that it's definitely true. However, I think that if you, if the, depending on the nature of the issues in the family, sometimes it's better, it's better the other way around. Yeah, sometimes it's better to distance yourself from family. That's just the reality of things. It still hurts and you have to figure out how to move on without your family because your family is your family no matter what and they stick with you. But sometimes it's better, you know, and I think like if you are a mature adult, at this point you should know and stop romanticizing the idea of family as this ultimately good functioning community. If you do want your husband to reconcile with their, with the thought of their parents, especially one who wasn't a good parent, I think that's fair, truly. But if you do, I don't know how effective it would be to force the parent who was basically abusive or neglectful on your parent. It also just kind of, how do you not see how detrimental that could be to your relationship? Because then how do I trust you to protect me and to see that I'm, this person damaged me, basically. If you want me to make amends, like let's take it easy, find out what happened, you know. Don't take things at face value, me just punching my dad, there's more to it. And one other thing that was really, I didn't, I like the dad asking for forgiveness. All of a sudden, if someone, oh god, they asked for forgiveness. Okay, clean slate. We can now start over and we're all good. That is not enough. Sorry isn't enough. Really, you actually have to take action, show the person, I acknowledge what I did. And I think portray the fact of, the fact that you understand the things that you did and how they affected the other person, like actually verbally point these things out to validate this person's experience. Because that's so important. When someone who hurts you says, I hurt you, I did this, and I can imagine or I know, I saw that it did this to you and I'm taking full responsibility and I'm so sorry. Please let me know how else, aside from saying, sorry, like what I can do, I am ready to do that and to help you heal as much as possible and also help heal our relationship. How else will I be able to trust you if you aren't acknowledging, you know, the things that you did, you know, and giving me that kind of closure, I think. It's not enough, even if it's your dad, it's not enough for your dad to just say, I'm sorry, you have to actually mean it. You know what I mean? To cap it off, I like just Mr. Rogers philosophy. I like that it can seem unreal to people that this person is real or it's not an act because they don't understand the mindset the person and the practice and the routines they have. Mr. Rogers figured out a way to be at peace with, you know, it's, he's got a daily living philosophy where, you know, if you're not always worried about what other people are thinking or you're not always judging other people or being frustrated all the time, you can have a lot more peace of mind and you can take things as it comes. And then he even shares a one point when the Lloyd Vogel is like, you know, what do you ever do?  You know, I have a hard time imagining that. And he's like, oh, sure. Like, you know, fine, but, you know, take it out in a more constructive way because we all have anger emotions. It's normal. It's good to have those. There's usually a sign that something's up and you deal with, but he's like, find it. You know, I get it out with, you know, hitting the deepest notes on the deepest, the lowest notes on a piano and just like get it out that way. And he's like, use swim as fast as you can, which he also does in the movie, you know? So he's, he's self-aware enough about himself and he's in touch enough with when certain emotions comes up. He says, okay, I want to deal with this. I want to be responsible for my emotions and then how to appropriately deal with them as they come up, which is, you know, a sign of a lot of maturity. And even that thing where he talks about like the key playing the lowest keys on a piano, I know that if I did that or maybe you did that, you try that, it wouldn't necessarily work. Yeah, you gotta find what works for you. Yeah, but like also it's not your go-to. You can be trying so many things. You're going to go through a list of things. But I think the, the thing that's also important to note is like, obviously habits are hard to break, right?  And so it's going to take time for a keyboard to do this, to give you the same relief that, that you're, that you're being frustrated and angry used to. So I think a lot of times I know you, for me too, it's so easy to give up in the beginning when you're trying to change these habits and to try and be better, you know, a better person, smash those goals. It's hard. Oh yeah, also he talked about the parent, remember Lloyd Vogel was like your parent, your, your kids might probably struggle to law and have you as your dad, do you remember that? Yeah, yeah.    People, the one guy has to actually do this thing, this move where he gets the, him to stop shaking hands with people because otherwise he would just be shaking hands forever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he kind of person lives in the moment and really tries to connect. His highest goal seems to connect with everyone as many people as he can. Yeah. Yeah. But I just love how untouched he is by the adoration, you know, he, as much as people just completely love this guy, no matter what, they don't question him. They don't question his goodness, right? Well, except Lloyd Vogel, but the people that are like living somewhere in between are in general very much, oh, we love this man is a saint, right? I love the fact that he doesn't allow himself to, he doesn't, other people put him on the pedestal, he doesn't put himself, he doesn't put himself there, himself there, nor does he truly believe that he's that way. And he's very honest about his shortcomings. And it's a good strong place to be mentally. If you take praise and criticism the same with general praise, general criticism, you don't really bother too much with. Yeah. It doesn't really affect what you're focused on. Yeah. Even if you have issues as a person and you're making mistakes, that doesn't, that doesn't really speak to your character in its entirety. And he's very well aware of that. So, and I like that they depict that because I think a lot of us sometimes when we do get criticized, we start to think, oh my God, does that mean I'm a bad person? But it doesn't mean that you're human, you make mistakes and it's okay. Also love his relationship with the kids or his interaction with the kids, you know, Mr. Rogers, the conversations he talks about, you were just saying. Yeah. Seize them while he looks at them the way he looks at adults. Yeah. Doesn't see them any differently. Yeah. Takes them seriously, doesn't condescend, doesn't disregard them. I do enjoy the fact that he does talk about these hard things because kids, as much as they're kids, they do go through these things and they're forced to have to deal with them. And if no one is saying anything, then they're isolated. And to deal with this thing that they have no inclination whatsoever as to how to even begin to.  I'm playing with his hair. So it was so nice. I remember that when he had that kid, remember that kid?  The kid at first was very resistant and then he's just kind of like, yeah, you know, I know you're struggling right now. Physically, you look weak, but inside, I know you're very strong. And the kid was like, oh, folds apart and just, you know, after initially hitting him just goes in for a hug. And I felt that I was like, my God, this poor kid. And they're delaying the show by a lot because he's talking to the kid for so long and trying to get him to open up. And they're like, yeah, it'll start when it starts when he's ready. It just seemed like he hadn't received that kind of interaction from someone, someone who actually sees the struggles that he was having. Because I think a lot of the time, he's obviously very sickly and he's weak and so externally is very brittle and might have been experiencing bullying or whatever because of that kind of stuff.  And so I think it was just kind of nice for Mr. Rogers to acknowledge these things that kids a lot of the times are people in general think of internally, but never actually vocalize. A lot of good can be done by just acknowledging people's experiences. Yeah, that's literally it. Just acknowledge a person's experience. You don't have to be profound, right? Just be lucky to hear you and how you listen and do it. Yeah, show that you listened and you actually received it. That's it. Yeah, so it was a great movie. Yeah, a lot of juicy stuff. Yeah, there was this some yummy substance. Yeah, that's about it. Yeah, those are thoughts. Beautiful day in the neighborhood. And we would love your thoughts on our thoughts. Yes, down below. Let us know. Down below. Yes, until next time. Bye.


Hey everybody, Brett here with the Friday edition of the incoming inventory lot walk because we are not here Monday, that is Memorial Day, and we're just about ready to get out of here. We're not open on Memorial Day and ready to have a great weekend and hope everybody has a great weekend as well, and a safe weekend, and remember Memorial Day, think about those who gave their lives for this great country, and once again, be safe this weekend. That being said, let's get to our incoming inventory. We got a couple trades and a couple buys that just came in over the past day and a half, and let's get right to it, grab your coffee, and let's go. So we did get a 2014 Ram 1500 quad cab short box, a big horn package. It's got the nice 20 inch wheels. It's got just a little bit of corrosion on it. I'm not sure if we're going to keep this, we're probably going to run it through the shop, see how nice it is, and kind of sell it as is, but it's got a nice tonneau cover on it, tow package. The rest of the vehicles in really nice shape other than that little fender flare there has got just a little bit of rust on it, but we'll see. We have a 2018, and that truck's got 135,000 miles on it. This one's got 105,000 miles on it. This is a 2018 F-150 Platinum FX4, 105,000 miles on that one. And yeah, in got silver. We got to run that through shop, see if we're going to keep it. Here's a 2022 F-350 Big Boy Power Stroke Diesel FX4 XLT. It's in my new favorite truck color, which is anti-matter blue. Really a good looking color. It's got the nice polished aluminum wheels, and just a really sharp ride. It's got heated seats, cloth seats, a little dirty, 29,000 miles, and we're going to be getting this into our detail process. Obviously, sometimes they come in a little bit dirty. This is a new Grand Cherokee Rocky Mountain Brown, I think is the color on that. This is a 2015 or 16 F-350 we just got in. Going to need a little bit of work. We've got to run it through the shop yet. Not sure how many miles are on this, but once again, all these vehicles are going to be linked in the description below. So definitely check the description out. Click the links on the cars you want to take a look at more closely. Here's a CTS-V. I just did a video on this two days ago. So that video is up. That's stock number 13894Z. It's a pretty sweet ride. This one's a 2019 Ram 1500, Ram 2500. Big Horn 4x4 off-road. It's got the 6.4 Hemi in it. Granite crystal is the color. I think there's maybe 20,000 miles or 36,000 miles on this one. Really a nice truck. Here's a brand new Grand Cherokee. Here's a Chrysler Pacifico we just got through the shop. Got a couple of little things I want to do to it yet before I do my video on it. But we did a little bit of buffing on the front bumper. That looks really good. And on the front fender, now we just got a couple dings and stuff I want to take care of before I do my video. But really a nice budget van touring. And it's got Stow and Go and all that good stuff. And a brand new Wrangler, brand new Wagonier, brand new Grand Cherokee. Once again, this is a challenger that's been sitting here from service. We're waiting on a part. Here's an Audi 2021 Q5 we took in trade. Nice gray color, 29,000 miles. This thing is extremely clean. Yeah, really a nice ride. And sometimes you won't believe how clean this one is.  So I'm sorry, 39,000 miles, not 29,000 miles. Got decent tires on it. So this will go through the shop nicely. This is a challenger I just did a video on yesterday, 13735Z. RT Scat Pack, Shaker, red leather, really a neat car. So go check that video out. There's a link in the description for this car as well. And then another brand new Grand Cherokee. And then we have a 2019 or 20. This is a 2019 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. I've had three of these. I really like them. And this one's in diamond black. It's a really nice condition. Let's see how many miles are on this one. It's got the tow package on it. This one has 103,000 miles. I would never guess that. This thing's in really nice shape for 103,000 miles. So this will be a very hot ride. I'll make sure to get that in the shop as fast as possible. Anyways, thank you so much for checking out the video. And remember to like, subscribe, and share on the YouTube channel. Remember, all these are linked in the description below minus the new cars. And yeah, have a safe weekend. Have a fun weekend. And talk to you later.


Let's discuss the character of Cassius in the play Julius Caesar. Now Cassius is an intriguing character He is Brutus's brother-in-law and actually initially Brutus was very close to Caesar initially He was somewhat reluctant to engage in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar However, it's Cassius that plays a really important role in basically convincing Brutus to join this Conspiracy against Caesar and of course they are the men who basically lead in the killing of Julius Caesar at the Senate Now he takes part in this conspiracy But of course even after once, you know Mark Antony wishes to speak at Caesar's death And of course even don't forget Cassius did want both Caesar and Mark Antony to be assassinated However, Brutus did not want that to happen Now when Mark Antony wished to speak first at Caesar's funeral, we can see that Cassius is actually a very acute He has a very acute understanding of human nature He already sensed that Mark Antony might change things and tip the balance against them Which he does with his very rousing speech and of course him and Brutus are forced to flee And they organize this rebel army in northern Greece But ultimately after he mistakenly thinks that Brutus has been killed He also kills himself by committing suicide rather than be captured by Mark Antony and Octavius's army Now when you're writing about Julius Caesar and especially if you have to write about the character of Cassius I have selected all the key quotations to bear in mind and to memorize either for your course or for exams When discussing his character. So let's go through them and the word love analysis to do Now the first quotation and of course this quotation illustrates how Cassius really strongly and firmly believes that Julius Caesar has become Far too imperious far too ambitious And he's basically a shadow of his former self as a leader is when he states That Julius Caesar is Groaning underneath his age as yoke. Remember a yoke is basically the thing that's put on the necks of cattle or animals of labor so beasts of labor in Farms so that's usually that wooden thing that's put on the neck. So any one that's laboring under a yoke They're laboring under a burden now what he's saying here and of course bear in mind in terms of word love analysis This is a metaphor. He's basically saying that Julius Caesar. He is no longer fit to be a leader He is groaning under the weight of his old age under how the older he's getting the more and more removed He is from the relevant worries and issues in roman society and he really just needs to be kicked out The second quotation to bear in mind with Cassius's character is when of course again We can see here.  He thinks he's just way too amazing Okay, that's basically what he's saying here and the word love analysis that you can do when you're Analyzing this quote especially the alliteration of em in man and mightier And the essence of oh in prodigous Rome and prodigous means he's become way too You know, his head has become too inflated with you know delusions of his own grandeur The other quotation when it comes to Cassius's character is when of course, uh, he sees Killing Julius Caesar as him doing a duty to Rome and he even tells Brutus and the other men that have conspired You know, we've actually done a duty to our country and we're going to be remembered in history for all the good things We've done and of course this really massive huge important act in Establishing democracy because Julius Caesar was going to probably make Rome a dictatorship And he states so often shall the knot of us be called the men that gave the country liberty Okay, so here he's saying, you know, we're going to be remembered and of course here We can also sense his ambition. He wants to be remembered. He wants to be seen as a great leader and as great ruler Now the word level notice you want to do here, especially the siblings of s and so and shall and also the abstract noun Liberty this idea of him fighting for ideals However, it's interesting that Cassius, even if he fights with similar ideals to Brutus who believes in the importance of democracy We sense that there's a stronger element of ambition within Cassius's ideas as opposed to Brutus who generally believes In protecting democracy for the greater good of his country Cassius we get the sense that he also wants to be remembered In history and Roman history as the man that you know participated in the killing of Julius Caesar So there's also an element of ambition on his side and he's accusing Caesar of the very same things that he harbors within his heart The other key quotation to bear in mind with Cassius's character is when he and Brutus are arguing So this is after the flood and they've Created a rebel army and they're arguing over strategy and things and Cassius gets really really angry at Brutus He states there's my dagger ellipsis strike as thou dist at Caesar Okay, so here he's speaking one level analysis wise and this is a structure technique. You can talk about He's using the imperative sentence strike and he's basically saying okay Brutus If you don't believe me if you don't you know want to follow what I'm suggesting You know, here's my chest. Here's my bed chest and here's my dagger stab me.  We can see that he's very very theatrical There's obviously a lot of tension at times between him and Brutus and but usually he ultimately follows what Brutus suggests The other quotation to bear in mind is now when he fills up the end is nigh So the brazes rebel army, but he's sensing that the end is near and he states Ravens crows and kites flirt fly over our heads and downward look on us as we were sickly prey Now here he uses or rather shakes he uses the rule of three to describe creatures such as ravens crows and kites and of course these birds tend to be ominous birds they tend to symbolize bad omens bad luck And what he's basically saying is that he's sensing that they are going to lose and that his end is near He's going to die and what they were hoping for Rome and what they were hoping in terms of establishing their leadership and Leading Rome in the right direction both Brutus and Cassius. That's not going to happen Also, the other key word love analysis to do is of course the simile as we were sickly prey So he's basically saying that these you know these ominous birds are looking at Brutus Cassius and his army As basically prey which is going to be destroyed very soon The final quotation when it comes to Cassius's character is when he eventually decides to commit suicide He's mistakenly believed that Brutus Titianus have basically died And so he doesn't want to be a prisoner and imprisoned by Mark Anthony and Octavius So he decides to commit suicide and he states where I did begin there are shall end my life has run his compass Okay Now here of course this is him deciding that his life has run its course He is now going to commit suicide the word love analysis you want to do here It's firstly the oxymoron the opposite words of begin and end and of course the other word love analysis You want to do is the metaphor compass this idea that his life has now run its course So that's it when it comes to the key quotations to bear in mind when writing about or discussing the character of Cassius


All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the session on Urban Church Planting. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time. Once again, Lord, you've given us to come together and study your word. Pray God that even as we learn about church planting and the things that are involved in starting a church, Lord, I pray God that you will give us wisdom, direction, guidance, that Lord, everything that we study, Lord, it will be like seeds in our heart, which were bare fruit in our lives. We thank you. We thank you for this opportunity, Lord. We open our hearts. We just received from you this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So last class, we looked at quite a few aspects, right? We looked at growth and consolidation, right? Even as we grow, we look at the pioneering stage. The different stages involve pioneering stage, administrative stage, that is organizational and structural stage. Then you got the pastoral stage and the equipping, the building stage, apostolic function stage, and then becoming a self-sustaining church, right? So we also looked at multiplication and branching. So as time goes on, as a ministry, you can always multiply. You can start new churches. You can start new branches in different cities and different towns, right? And envision your congregation, meaning you share the vision with them, send them out, get them to be involved in your church planting, right? So initially, when you're starting for the first time, you will need to be involved, at least 100%. But as you begin to plan a church plant, get your people, your congregation involved, get church planting teams involved, right? But you're always there to be a support and a strength, right? So today we get into spiritual aspects, right? So we've been talking about some of the practical things, right? Involved in the church, when a church started, what happens, how the church grows, church growth, multiplication. Now, let's look at spiritual aspects. We looked at it initially. We looked at some of the natural aspects and spiritual aspects. But now let's go deeper into the spiritual aspects because this is what lays the foundation to a strong church, right? So chapter 17, the real battle for souls is a spiritual battle, right? Now, we know that God is at work in our cities, but we also know that Satan is working, right? We also know that Satan has his place in the spiritual realms, right? So you have the different realms in the spirit. So Satan is there, he's working. Satan and his demons are working. There's a lot of demonic activities in the heavenly places, right? We see that there are spiritual beings influencing leaders, influencing cities, right? Remember when Daniel prayed, right? He did not receive answers to the prayers because he the angel says there was demonic activity in the spiritual, in the heavenly, that was stopping the prayers from reaching heaven, right? And what are these spiritual influences, right? Now, we have many kinds of spiritual demonic influences that the enemy can use, right? But let's look at some of the ways that Satan hinders people from receiving the Gospel, right? Now, that's the whole point of churches about people, right? It's not about administration being a pastor and all of that. Ministry, the church ministry is about people. Only if you have people come into church, it becomes a church. It becomes like a ministry, right? If you only, if for some reason we are the only pastors, we have a couple of associate pastors and there is two people in the church, it's not going to be of any help, right? We need people. People are the church, right? So how does Satan hinder people from receiving the Gospel and getting people to, you know, be saved? So let's look at a few points here, right? First one is he blinds the minds of people. There are a couple of verses there. Let's read a few of them, right? Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse three and four, maybe one of us can open to even Matthew chapter four and verse 16. Somebody else can open to Acts 26, 14 through 18. Right? So if we can just read these verses, so we get a context on how the devil can hinder the work of the ministry. Now, all of us, right, in ministry, we want the church to grow. We want our ministries to grow, but the devil has strategies. He has ways of stopping this growth, right? So one is by blinding the minds of people. Second Corinthians four, three to four. Yes, go ahead. But even if our Gospel is wailed, it is wailed to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them. Let's read Matthew four, 16. Matthew four, 16. The people, the people, we start in darkness so, so good light. And to them, we start in the regions and shadows of death, light is hung up. Yes, let's also read Acts 26, 14 through 18. Acts 26, 14 through 18. Acts 26, 14 through 18. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. So I said, who are you Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Amen. Now we see here in all of these passages, we have the aspect of darkness and light. The devil's number one way of hindering people from receiving the gospel is by blinding people's minds. So what does he say? He has various forms of deception. He says, hey, this is not true. Jesus died on the cross. That may be true, but how can you receive forgiveness? How can you receive healing? How can you stand holy? He blinds the minds of people. That's one way. Or another way is he brings deception. He says there is no Jesus. There is no person named Jesus. There is no what there's he's not in the Messiah. He's not the Messiah. There is no Messiah. All of this is man made things. These are all ideologies, all thoughts of people. He blinds the minds of people. Remember, I know you're learning Corinthians. What did he do? What were the people in Corinth saying? They were blinded when he go even to Athens and Greece and then Akhaya and then he goes later on in the Second Missionary journey. We see that they were all blinded. They had great understanding. The Athens had great understanding. Even in Aeropagus, they had great understanding, but their minds were blinded. These deceptions, these lies that the enemy put into people's minds becomes a hindrance for the gospel. Now these deceptions is not always on individuals. It can be over groups of people, over societies, over religious leaders, over institutions. You can have it. Blindness. Number one way where the devil works. We'll talk about what is the responsibility of the church. We're just trying to understand what the enemy can use as we God has called us to plant a church, do the ministry. God is working, but on the other side, the enemy is doing this as well, blinding people's eyes. So he can use a group of society, group of people, religious leaders. He can use institutions to stop the work of the gospel. And he can also use our own failures, our own weaknesses to break the work of the ministry. We talk about that in the coming chapters as well. So number one, blinding the minds of people. Don't believe this. It's not true. You have prayed as you're healing. It's not happened yet. So he has many ways. Two, is holding the people in bondage. Now remember, when you start a ministry, you start a church. You've got people coming into the church. People may come in from different faiths. And not always they will accept. There will be people who will say, okay, I don't believe in this or I don't believe in anything that you're doing. And I just believe it's a waste of time. I don't know if it's happened to you, but we had a couple of youth who came up to me straight and said, this is all nonsense. What are you speaking? I was taken aback because they sat for the whole service. But they said, it's all nonsense. You don't believe all of this? He holds people in bondage. Spiritual prisons. If you look at a natural prison, you see a natural prison, but there are spiritual prisons where he holds them in that. Right. Efficiency to two. Let's read that. And also one John 5 19. Efficiency chapter two and verse two. Efficiency chapter two. In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Yes. Let's also read one John 5 19. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under this way of the wicked one. Yes. So the devil has ways of holding people in bondage, right? And the reason he does this is because he does not want people to come to Christ. He does not want people to know about the truth of the gospel. Now these spiritual bondages, the demonic domination of this demonic force that we see is usually through immoral deeds, sinful natures, addictions, social evils, prostitution, corruption, drug addictions, trafficking. These are the spirits that the devil uses to keep people in bondage. Right. So for example, just look at somebody maybe who's been living a sexually immoral life. Right.  Because the desires of the flesh and there are demons who agitate or encourage those sexual desires. So what happens? They are continuing to be in prison and the more they are in that, the more deeper and deeper and deeper they go. Look at drug addictions. People who are addicted to drugs, right? They say, hey, even if they want to get out, they're not able to. Why? Because there are demonic forces that are putting them in bondage. I know of many young people, genuine heart, they want to overcome drug addiction. They come and I speak to them over, just talking to them, ministering to them. Young guys, early, maybe 28, 29, that age, almost early 30s as well, they want to give up. They don't want to live with this addiction in their life. But they are unable to. Why? Because the demons are still working so strongly over their life. There are few of them who have shared with me that they're still addicted to pornography, that they are unable to look at their own mother. They're unable to look at their own sister in the right way. Now what can you say for that? These are young boys, early 20s, addicted to pornography when they can't talk to girls, they can't talk to women. If they talk, there's something happening here. Why? It's a demonic work. The devil is holding them in bondage. These are spirits that are working. Now remember, when people come into church and come into and they ask for prayer, they share with us, right? Because as pastors, they will come and share, right? Remember, you're not dealing with the natural.  That's not going to work. Why? Because they are in, the devil is holding them in bondage. They are still in the devil's trap. They can't just come out of it just like that. They got to believe in Jesus, trust in his work and then there's a work that has to happen after that. So these spirits are working, hindering people, keeping them in bondage. No, you cannot stay without pornography. You cannot stay without the drugs. You cannot stay without, you know, trafficking or all these addictions that are there. You cannot stay without it. Now the enemy is using subtle ways and during the last mentoring hour, we looked at media and technology and subtle ways. You know, there's this mother who came up to me and said, please pray for my daughter. She's 13 years old and she watches, she's on social media for over six hours in a day and I'm not able to handle her. If I take the phone away, if I take the tab, the gadgets away, she's willing to bring down the whole house. She's willing to burn down the house. She gets violent. She starts breaking things in the house. She starts hurting herself and so I'm very scared. You see how the enemy is working? He's not worried about weightlifting and then I'll bring these problems now. He's starting small. And these are all the ways, the tactics that devil is using to hold people in that bondage. Three, he hinders the proclamation of the gospel. So as a church, so for example, you've planted your church, right? And as a church, we talked about how God wants to multiply us. He wants us to reach out. He wants us to touch and permeate and penetrate all seven spheres of influence in the society. What will he do? He will hinder the proclamation of the gospel. The devil will have ways to, you know, he may close those. He may bring in situations in your personal life. He may bring in situations among people within the church. He may bring in challenges within the church. Well, you know, he may disrupt our mind, our thinking, right? He may just cause confusions within the church, people within the congregation. There's so much that he can do. And he hinders the proclamation of the gospel. When we come to a place, say, okay, let's not do this now. Of course, we ask God to open the right doors. You step in at the right time. But he, the devil has to hinder the gospel because he knows the power of the gospel. He knows that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. He knows that those bondages can break if you believe. He knows it. So he knows the power of the gospel, so he hinders it. Let's look at a few verses here. Romans chapter 15 and verse 30 and 31. Romans 15, 30 and 31. Maybe someone else, anyone else can open to 1 Thessalonians to 18 and 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 to 3. Let's start with Romans 15, 30 and 31. Yes, would anyone like to read? Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. Right, so the context here is, before we read the next passage, the context here is not everyone accepted Apostle Paul especially in Jerusalem because God had called him for the Gentiles. Now here in this passage, Romans 15, Paul is planning his last visit, like he's going to his visit to Rome. He's going to Rome and he's saying, pray for me that when I go to Rome and I proclaim the gospel that there will be no hindrance and that there will be no one who will stop me from preaching the gospel. 1 Thessalonians 2, 18. 1 Thessalonians 2, 18. Therefore we wanted to come to you even I, Paul, time and again but Satan hindered us. So very clearly Paul is saying, we wanted to come to you but there was a hindrance from Satan and so Satan hinders the work of the ministry. He hinders the gospel. Now these methods of hindering the gospel can be, again, as I mentioned, different ways. So as pastors, as ministers, we got to always be on our guard. Know that, you know, this is what God has called me to do. This is what I must do. Go back to God, pray, seek His face, continue to go strong. These are things that we must do. 4th one, very important. He hinders, the devil hinders the work of the gospel by weakening the local church. He can cause confusions. He can cause problems. He can cause divisions within the church. Now if we read the entire episode of Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, plenty of problems. One, division. Two, there was groupism. Three, there was no, there was, you know, people were having the Lord's table as if it was food and there was divisions caused there. Then there were people saying, hey, I follow Paul, I follow Paulus, I follow Cephas. So he can bring in weakness in a local church by infiltrating his own thoughts and plans. So that is why Paul writes this beautiful episode of Corinthians and he says, this is how a church should be and he emphasizes about love. He emphasizes about the gifts of the Spirit and the unity in the gifts and all of that. So let's look at a few examples from revelations. Revelations too, in the church of Smyrna, a group that belongs to Satan, devil is going to cause some of them to be put into prison. Now persecution is not, it's not a nice feeling. Now many of us may be in urban settings. Being in urban settings, we may not have faced persecution but if you're in the eye of persecution, it's not a good place to be. I was doing a study on the persecutions on Khandemal a couple of years back and what we have heard of or what the news shows is only maybe 10% of what happened at Khandemal in Orissa, 2008, 2010. A presence of a group of people that belongs to Satan, devil is going to bring persecution. Persecution can really break the strength of a church. It's not easy, it's really not easy because yes, we do see that persecution and this persecution we see that churches have become stronger, greater, more powerful, greater annoying thing but there's also the fact that it causes a lot of damage. Lives being lost. People have lost their loved ones in persecution. What happens? It's a painful thing. Many times, believers who've lost their loved ones through persecution, they're unable to digest the fact that maybe my brother, my sister, my parents have died because they believed in Jesus. It's not easy to accept it. Sometimes the devil can use this persecution to bring a weakness into the church. Two, the church in Purgamos, a place where Satan's throne is and Satan dwells, the doctrine of Balaam infiltrating the church. Again, here, a second way where the enemy comes in, the devil comes in to bring weakness in a congregation is by wrong doctrines, by false doctrines. Was it happening in the early church? Plenty. Paul writes to Timothy. In 1 Timothy, he says, stick to sound doctrines. 2 Timothy says, reach the word in season and out of season. And there's an emphasis on doctrine. Paul is very certain, he's very direct. He says, make sure as ministers of God, 1 Timothy 3, he says, make sure that what you are entrusted with, the gospel is preached in sound doctrine. That's what also happened to the Thessalonians. Remember, in Thessalonica, we see that people came into the church and started to choose. And the others came in and said, hey, Jesus has already come and gone. And you all are still here. And then Paul had to sit down and write and say, hey, if you don't know that during the rapture, these are the things that are going to happen. And so it's very easy for the devil to come up with false doctrines. What about what we see now? Right now, around us globally as a church, are there doctrines that are not aligned with Scripture? Plenty of them. Now, these are churches which have maybe 10,000, 20,000 people in their congregation, 20,000 people, 10, 15, 20,000 people, huge churches, right? But the doctrine wrong teachings, wrong doctrines coming into the church, right? So you and I must be very careful. Social media, we can watch so much, test the word of God. And we look at the church's responsibility as well. So the devil can use wrong doctrines. He can come and say, hey, the Holy Spirit doesn't work anymore. When Jesus went, he went with the Holy Spirit. Or there's no such thing as healing that stopped in the book of Acts. He can bring in in a very subtle way. The cross is only for the Jews. You're not part of it. Or if you've sinned, you're no longer holy. You don't have a right standing before God. You're not righteous. You're not justified. These are ways he brings in false doctrines. What happens when there are false doctrines in a church? The church becomes weak. Because some people are believing in one thing. There's another group of people believing in another thing. Third one, the church in Pietyra. False prophetess Jezebel at work in the church. The false prophetess Jezebel is basically the characteristics of Jezebel we see in the Old Testament and Kings, Ahab's wife Jezebel. Same attributes, pride, arrogance, or knowing all attitude. These are ways that the devil can infiltrate. Pride is the number one way that the devil can infiltrate a church. Make a church weak. Fourth one, the church in Philadelphia. A presence of a group that belongs to Satan will cause them to bow before the church. This is a dangerous place. Imagine, there's a presence of a group of people that belong to Satan who are in the church.  So the letter here that John is writing here, he's saying, these are ways that the devil can infiltrate a church. Now, it may not be in big ways, but it can start small. It can start really small. So as pastors, you've got to be aware, especially when the church is growing, it's just small, you've got 50, 100 people in your church. Be aware of what is happening in the church. Of course, you cannot control your congregation because they'll be listening to a lot of things online. A lot of preachers, they may go to other meetings and seminars. We are in no place to stop them from going. But you and I can reach the Word, let the light of the Gospel, let the truth of God's Word minister to them. Remember that truth is stronger. Light is greater than darkness. So what is the church's responsibility? The church is to be the light to the Gentiles, opening prison's doors and bringing those who are in darkness into His light. Now, the church has to be a light to the Gentiles. Jesus talks about this in many places, right? Especially in the book of Matthew, he talks about it, right? He's preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5. He says, you are the light of the world. Matthew 5.14, you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to the whole house. So God is calling us as a church to be a light to the Gentiles. So wherever we go, as a church, when I say church, it could be singular as a person, as an individual, or as a body of Christ. You know, when you plant a church in a city or in a locality, you are bringing light to that place.  There may be hundreds and thousands of Gentiles around. You, the church, are going to be the light to that place. You will impact that area. You will impact that city. That's the mindset that we must have. We may be 10 people in a church, planted a new church, 10 people. And there are hundreds and maybe thousands of people around you. You are the light, which is greater, light or darkness. So remember that, stand by that. The odds may be one percent to 90 percent, but still you're greater. In the natural, you're just 10 people.  That's what Jesus says. So you are able to impact those 1000 people, more than them trying to impact you. The church has been given kingdom, authority, and spiritual weapons to overthrow the work of the devil. Kingdom, authority. Can you picture this? Jesus is saying, I have given you the authority to trample over snakes and scorpions. The church has given you authority, each one of us. As pastors, as leaders, you've got to stand by that. Hey, I have the authority over the devil. It's not that we have to wait till we have 1000 people in the church, and then I have authority over the devil in that area now. The church has been already given kingdom authority. And we use that authority. As pastors, as leaders, you show the authority. Let your congregation see that you are standing in authority. Let them see the work of God in your life. Let them see it. They grasp it. As a congregation, they grasp that, hey, pastor said this. Pastor is saying, we have the authority. God has given us the authority. So we can pray for people. We can pray for sickness. We can pray for God to open doors, for God to open blind eyes. We can do that. We don't have to wait till we have 100 people. We can do it now. What happens? The mindset changes. Everything changes. You and I have been given authority. I remember this one time. We went to... I was visiting another city. And we went to... I don't know if I've used this example before, but if I have, forgive me, but I've just reminded of this, we went to this other city. And I was very young. I didn't know much of God's word and all of those, all the wonderful promises of God.  And as we were ministering, we finished. We were doing something like a supernatural time. I didn't know the word supernatural. So it was just time of worship and seeking the Lord, praying in tongues and all of that. So we were praying and all of a sudden, this young boy, probably about 15 or 17 years, 15 to 16 years old, he began to manifest. And he was talking in a loud, gruff voice and really shook me because I never got that... I've never seen something like it before. And I got really afraid right now. It's okay to get afraid, but I got really afraid. I said, God, the first thing that came to my mind is, God, you have given me authority. I don't feel like I have the authority right now because this force that is coming against me is so strong. I remember saying, God, your word says greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. And all of a sudden, I just felt like somebody is coming and putting on like an armor. I felt like I was in the army. I had these spiritual machine guns, so to speak. I suddenly felt powerful from being just very powerless. Not only I felt this power, and I felt like God just saying, hey, I've given you the authority. You just use my name. I'm there for you. And long story short, we just prayed over him, said in Jesus' name, I command you to come out. And I think it was just 10, 15 minutes. He was completely delivered and young boy, completely delivered. God just delivered him. And I thought to myself, God has given us the church, the authority. He has given us the spiritual weapons to overthrow the work of the devil. Here's what's interesting. Ephesians 6. Paul is writing the letter in Ephesus and he says, Ephesians 6, put on the armor of God. He's trying to bring the whole aspect of the Roman soldier. He's looking at that and trying to translate that into the armor of God here. And he says, put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the feet with the readiness of the gospel. And he's saying, put on the armor of God. But he's also saying, he doesn't say, take it off after some time. He says, put it on, leave it on. So God has given us the authority to overthrow the works of the devil. As pastors and leaders, how can we stand with this authority? How can we be firm in this understanding? The more we go into God's presence, the more we spend time with God, learn his word, ask for a greater measure of his anointing. People will recognize it in our lives. Your congregation will recognize, hey, the pastor, they've begun to catch that vision. God has given us authority. The pastor is saying, he's preaching, but he's also showing it in his actions. People will grasp that. People may not understand all your sermons as a pastor. They may not understand anything sometimes, but they see your life. They see what you're able to do. I remember right now, what we do is, we have some outreach teams that we have made. And these outreach teams are teams of tools.  I know it may sound old school, right? But the gospel is still powerful. The gospel still works. It will still work. And so I, you know, we had like a small training said, okay, this is how you do it. This is how we just minister to people. And also when people are, you know, probably not happy and angry, you just walk out in peace. So we went out as teams. We went out. They were noticing. And so after that whole outreach, some of them from church said, how come you spoke like that? How come you were not, you didn't flinch when they said anything? I said, because God has given me the authority. God has given us the weapons to overcome the work of the devil. And they caught the vision. They caught that, right? So now they all go out on outreach teams, reaching out. Of course, I keep telling them, be careful with all the things that are happening. We must be wise as well, right? But they caught that vision. They caught that, hey, God is able to bring people. God is able to administer to people, right? So as pastors, we lead the way. We set the example, right? 12, 28 and 29. Let's read that, Matthew. 12, 28 and 29. Matthew chapter 12, 28 and 29. But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house? So here the Lord Jesus is talking about binding, right? And I'm sure that all of us use this, right? In our prayers, we bind the work of the devil. Meaning we control, we overdo, we subdue the work of the devil, right? And so as a church's responsibility, we can bind the works of the devil. You're putting a hold to the work of the devil. So for example, there are too many suicidal cases, suicide cases in and around your neighborhood. You bind the spirit of suicide. Now, we may think how can I bind? I'm so small and we are only five people in church. See, it's not about the numbers. It's about you know, never think about the natural. Look at it in the spiritual. In the spiritual, when you pray, right? What's happening? The works of the devil is being bound. In the spiritual just maybe three or four or five people, but in the spiritual it's a war. It is not something very simple. People may say, hey, what five people are praying? That's okay. In the spiritual, it's a mighty thing to do. Look at the cross. When people saw Jesus dying on the cross, what was it? Complete failure. Thousands were following him. In the end, there was 120 people who still believed in him. Where are the thousands going? Oh, he died on the cross. It's shameful. In the natural, they saw. But what does Paul say? To the Colossians, he said having disarmed every principalities, every power of darkness on the cross. He made a public spectacle of the devil. Where did he make it in the spirituals? In the natural, a poor man who's dying on the cross. But in the spiritual, he disarmed principalities. He disarmed the powers of darkness. Right? So we have to bind the works of the devil. We have to say, God, I pray, Holy Spirit, you will bind. Right? If the enemy is trying to infiltrate your church, he's trying to infiltrate people's lives, bind the work of the devil. Right? You use your authority as a leader. Right? And Luke 11 21 and 22 talks about overcoming. Let's read that last verse and let me close. Luke 11, 21 and 22. When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. So here again, God is saying, God is calling us to overcome the works of the devil.  And the best part is, for us as believers, is that the price has already been paid. The cross has already gained victory. All we are doing is to walk in that authority. Right? So that we can minister to people, bless people, bring people to Christ. And even as we do this now, we need patience. We need to be patient. We need to be wise. All of this is very important aspects. So we don't overdo things saying, don't just go into a certain place and say, come to church or this is what Jesus did. Things have changed. We need to be wise. We see the Lord Jesus also very wise. He knew his life was a threat in Jerusalem. He moved away. He went to Judea. He didn't say, I will stay in Jerusalem itself because I am the son of God. He came back when things were okay. So we also need to even as pastors, as leaders, we need to develop the ability to be wise in the way we handle our ministries. So I want to encourage all of us. If God is calling you to start, launch a ministry or you are already in full-time ministry, remember these things. There is a devil that is working but God has given us the authority over the devil. You and I are already victorious. So we will stop here and next class we will look at praying and exercising authority and what prayer does to a ministry which is basically the backbone to every fruitful ministry. Thank you so much for joining this class. I will see you next class. Have a great day ahead. God bless. Thank you. Thank you.


The English common law had its roots in feudal government. It was the people's law, providing an acceptable level of personal justice and support for the common person and their efforts at commerce. This level of support served to keep the common people satisfied with their aristocratic form of government. It was also acceptable to the aristocracy. Feudal leaders have benefit from a peaceful and productive common people. When the people were supported and at peace, they provided a good tax base and work base to see to the welfare of their rulers. It benefited everyone and so it supported a very stable and satisfying society. Feudal governments have been historically the most stable form of government, lasting thousands of years where others witnessed only a few hundred years. Its apparent downfall is not from its abuses, nor exercising authority to subdue or take advantage of the people who are governed. The downfall is the twin problems of being too stable and of serving the sovereignty of an aristocracy so long that variations in leaders eventually leads to disasters. The stability problem was there. There was no reason to change, no potential for taking advantage of advancement in science or other areas. The leadership problem is that eventually there had to be a bad king in charge and there is no good way to deny family leadership to a bad king. The common law was an important part of the English aristocratic rule. The rule of the aristocracy was careful not to abuse the people who were the source of both the wealth and privilege. This led to a high level of acceptance and honoring in support of the authority of common law judges. The common law was recorded and codified by the courts largely through a history of court decisions. Recorded decisions that best supported fairness and effectiveness for people as they went about their personal and commercial activities were honored and used as examples for what other judicial officers should do. The legal doctrine is currently known as stare decisis, a law of prior decisions. This approach effectively creates law through court decisions instead of legislation. It was a way to assure consistency in the application of law and to accumulate the wisdom of jurists for the benefit of future applications. The maintenance of court records was both a service and a means of passing the wisdom of many prior decisions to serve the immediate situation that called for judicial determinations and actions. This was equitable law. It was a system that seemed to work for the benefit of both the common citizen and the aristocracy. The use of juries by of citizens was part of that wisdom. It was not simply the king's justice as exemplified by Solomon threatening to divide a child between two claiming to be its mother. It was not the wisdom of some ruler but resulted from tapping into that sense of fairness that helped to define the common people. It was a wisdom that honored the common person's sense of justice and fairness. It was giving common people a voice in the actions of government. As a limit, feudal government through royal decisions and legislation was accepted as a higher authority. The laws passed by sovereign government leaders overcame the common law whenever the two were in conflict. In England, legislation set under sovereign authority was always treated as superior to the common law. In the founding of the United States, this was reversed. The government was created in the name and under the authority of the people. The US government resulted from their coming together in agreement to accept this government. We the people were the sovereign source of the power behind the establishment of this new government. The United States government was created under the rules of the common law appropriate for common law agreements or contracts. The common law purpose was written into the preamble to the Constitution in terms of the recognized purposes of justice and domestic tranquility. The writing set the people's common law purpose on their new US government. It set a purpose on the laws that Congress would pass and set limits on how the US courts would be authorized to implement those laws. Then in Article 1, we start with we the people in agreement that all legislative powers should reside in just two representative bodies. There is no longer to be any recognized lawmaking authority in the President or the Supreme Court. Neither can Congress, by passage of laws, create any legal substitute or alternative bodies to create legislation. Nor can it authorize federal courts to create or even recognize judge-made law. This did not remove stare and decisis from law. That was the doctrine that assured consistent application of law in support of justice and domestic tranquility. The creation of law by prior decision of the courts is directly forbidden by the terms of our Constitution. Even the Congress, the lawmaking body, has only limited legislative authority to interfere in delivery of justice or domestic tranquility. This gave the courts that assured justice and tranquility and authority that was greater than legislation. It allowed the courts to act outside of legislative boundaries when it was necessary to fulfill the legal purposes set upon the government created through our Constitution. Judicial leadership simply ignored the purpose. The courts, accepting their own authority under the concept that judicial decisions had created the common law, determined to address their prior decisions as if they were legislation. And accordingly rivaled and limited the laws that Congress passed. State leadership also ignored our Constitutional purpose. They established legislation that their courts accepted as effectively replacing the common law and directed their courts to honor the legislation instead of the common law. It was right back to English legal approach that had been rejected by the Revolution. It was right back to whatever the sovereign judiciary did as forbidden legislation was of greater legal impact than the common law under which the Constitution was proposed and ratified. It was right back to sovereign government that only supported the common law when it did not interfere with judicial edicts. This is reflected back onto the Constitution in terms of legislating through passing amendments. Using a separately authorized process to establish legislation that our representatives were forbidden to do. It was reflected back by amendments that avoided the limits specifically placed on government by we the people in our agreement. It was reflected back onto the judiciary by accepting judge made law as greater than legislated laws so that judicial decisions could determine the meaning of laws that Congress passed. An uneducated public supporting uneducated leadership continued to plague the United States following the initiation of constitutional government. The American experiment in self-government was largely set aside while the new nation handled its own growth-based needs. The United States had growing pains. Changes included power transportation with American determination and ingenuity that harnessed steam to power ships. Even inland shipping was supported by projects like the Erie Canal which stretched more than 500 miles, a technological wonder of the age. Leadership had become a profession, a way to get a living, much as privilege had been a way for aristocrats to get a living under the feudal system. This is not just in the federal government, but in the states as well. The same was true for professional leadership, building a system that rewards those who have longevity in office above those that serve. Presentation of this course to American teens goes sharply against the grain. It challenges that easy path which returns to political feudalism. This course in law and government is provided to empower young citizens so that they are prepared to pick up the reins of government that they own, setting it to serving a self-governing people. No, there is no power in this course of study. The power is not in learning, but in realizing that the power is already in citizenship. Contrary to what has become common political knowledge, the U.S. citizen is the source for all political power, all political authority, and all the potency of both the nation and the individual leaders. Empowerment in this class is not in assuming some new mantle of authority or leadership, nor in electing the public office the right people. Empowerment is not in learning to protest and entering into revolution against other Americans. Empowerment is discovery of what is already yours and learning to respect the power of other citizens in a relatively safe environment of a classroom. Empowerment is not through gathering into some group that can gain influence and overcome others. It is in finding where we are agreed as a people and directing our government representatives to act upon that agreement. It is empowerment, even as the original ratification of the Constitution had to start with the empowerment of common citizens in order to authorize the existence of this new government. For this purpose, the subject of this lesson goes back to the preamble. It goes back to the beginning to pick up that sense of freedom that belonged to the people who had just pushed the abusive rule of British government away, declaring themselves to be separate people. We can go back to the beginning of our nation. The people were divided on many things, but not on their acceptance of a need to find what it was that would bring the people of the United States into a union. We are still the people who are suspicious of those who assume leadership and still chafe at the very idea of some special people assuming benevolent rule over us. We still seek freedom, prosperity, and support for our families. It is such things that bring us together that bind us into a people. Will our rulers accept this? The American answer puts the challenge to government authority itself. There is only one party in interest, and it is us. There is no ruling aristocracy, just those who are acting as if they were. There is no special group of leaders who are not part of the people. When our leaders serve the people, they are serving their own families. When our leaders also seek freedom, they also have families and value prosperity so that they can bring up their next generation. A source for misdirection? How have things gotten so far off track? The answer is in the ignorance of the common citizen as to there being a sovereign source of government. It is in largely unintentional government effort to keep people in adherence of their true potency by setting citizens against citizens. Potency does not come from leaders, it comes from you. It does not come through revolution against other Americans. It comes from you enlisting one another and enlisting leaders as well to the things that we all value. It comes from what you learn in class, respecting one another because that is the way that we become an effective people. This is a continuation of the great American experiment in self-government. Your support for one another and recognition of the sovereignty and citizenship is not some end result. It is just the next step into the future that you will help to define.