This is here in my chat room. I am not a robot. This is the forever claim on the internet. Yeah. Am I a robot? I am not a robot. I am not a robot. Some days I feel like playing back on the internet. Yeah. Sorry about that. Playing back on the internet. We are live. Ha ha. Recursive forever and ever and ever. Let me get started here. Introduce everything, everybody. We are getting started with this special makeup interview. Yay. Welcome everyone to This Week in Science. I'm Dr. Kiki and today we are having a special makeup interview with Dr. Suzanne Brander. Unfortunately during our live broadcast Wednesday night, the internet failed us and we lost contact with Dr. Brander. And we have rescheduled and today are making up this, the audio from this episode, this special interview will be put into the podcast. So everyone will get a chance to hear all the wisdom she has to impart on us. But without further ado, let me remind you that if you have not ever subscribed to This Week in Science, you can do so by hitting the subscribe button here on YouTube or heading to twist.org for subscription information. Dr. Suzanne Brander is an ecotoxicologist working as an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. She also holds an adjunct position in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina. According to her lab website, her lab's research encompasses the fields of toxicology, endocrinology, and ecology. It integrates molecular approaches with measurements at the organism and population level. Their main focus is on the effects of stressors such as emerging pollutants, plastics, big thing for everyone these days, and changing climate on aquatic organisms. But their work spans the links between ecology and human health. Dr. Brander, welcome to This Week in Science. And thank you so much for offering the opportunity to make up the snafu from Wednesday. I'm just excited that we're able to make this work because when I found out about you and your work, I was very excited about getting the chance to talk with you about what you do. So to jump into this conversation, let's start with your background. We both went to UC Davis at one point in our educational career, but how did you get to where you are now as an ecotoxicologist? That's a really good question, and I think I mentioned this before and Wednesday before. It's not as if I decided that I was going to be an ecotoxicologist when I was a 12-year-old reading a book on toxicology. It was a bit of a long and winding road because I didn't have any scientists in my family growing up. So I would pick up all the trash on the way to the bus stop and be concerned about impacts on the environment, but I didn't know you could make a career out of that. So it was sort of gradual. I went to a minor in biology, and then I went and got a degree in environmental science and policies, a master's student. And sort of through that journey, I started to meet other people who were doing research, who were getting PhDs. A couple of that sounds really cool. And after working for a couple of years, I backed for a PhD. And I was lucky enough to be in the San Francisco area, and the UC Davis Marine Lab was right up the road on the Sonoma Coast. And so that's kind of how I landed there. I became a toxicologist a little bit by trial and error and a little bit by luck and a little bit by just being in the right place at the right time in some ways. So can we talk a little bit about what ecotoxicology is? What exactly is this area of study? That's a great question. So the field of toxicology, any type of research science that investigates how chemicals or other environmental stressors interact with our physiology, interact with organisms, in some cases, with adverse effects. And the questions around things like, how the chemical do you need to cause an adverse effect? Do those we observe scale up and cause issues with the overall health of a population?  Everything from air pollution to water pollution to other stressors affects human health greatly in a lot of ways. But ecotoxicology, that is specific to effects on organisms in the environment other than humans. So there are people who study effects on terrestrial animals, so animals that live on land. And then I in particular study effects in animals that live in the water, so in rivers, lakes, estuaries. So ecotoxics, it kind of broadly encompasses a description of the science involved in studying the responses of all of those organisms to stressors. Mostly pools, but now more about interactive effects, everything that comes along for example. Right, and the aquatic environment is one, I mean, we live on land, right? So land animals, what's happening in the air and on the land is something that's very important to us. But how does the health of the aquatic ecosystem feedback to affect us? Sure, sure. So in lots of ways, well, you know, all of the chemicals that are getting into the water are, like you said, originating on land. You know, treated wastewater, maybe they can run off from agricultural lands, from industrial facilities. And so all of those chemicals that are present in the water are likely present in some form in the air or, you know, in our food. And as we get further along this field, we're coming to realize that responses that we observe in aquatic organisms, in particular fish, also vertebrates just like us, that many of those responses are very similar to what we see in humans. So the responses we're seeing in fish when it comes to things like disruption of hormones or, you know, which then can scale up to disruptions in growth or effects on reproduction, how many offspring they're able to have. We often see those types of responses mimicked in humans and in terrestrial animals as well. And so we're all connected in that way. At the cellular level, we're all pretty similar. So when you're, what you're studying in the water, what are you looking at one category of these stressors that we know of that do affect humans are endocrine disruptors. Can you talk a little bit about those and the other things that you study? Sure, sure. And, and I've been studying endocrine disruptors since I started my PhD felt 12 years ago now. It sneaks up on you. So I remember writing, I was writing in one of the muni trains in San Francisco, and this was back before I had thought about going back for a PhD. But I'd been reading about people being concerned about feminization of fish. And then there was a poster up in the muni that was instructing people not to flush their drugs down the toilet because of this concern that feminizing fish. And I was like, oh, that's probably an oversimplification, but that sounds really interesting. And I want to learn more about that. And so I ended up focusing my PhD work on the effects of endocrine disruptors, mostly from agricultural runoff. And so it turns out that endocrine disruptors, which interfere with hormone function come from come in many different flavors. You have pharmaceuticals that run off into water, usually from wastewater treatment and effluent that come from things that are designed to mimic hormones. So birth control pills, for example, those have synthetic chemicals in them that look a lot like estrogen and testosterone or progesterone that are produced by our bodies and by fish as well. They use the same hormones. And then you have things like pesticides. There's a class of pesticides that is used across the country now called pyrethroids. And some of those, when you're spraying your lawn to prevent mosquitoes from coming in and attacking you, you may also be contributing a little bit to runoff that can interfere with endocrine function. There's also industrial chemicals that we've all heard of, like this phenol A and this, you know, a scat of other plasticizers. So they come from many different sources. And the tricky thing about chemicals that interfere with hormone function is that you don't need a lot of it to cause an effect. Your endocrine system is incredibly sensitive and you will respond to a chemical that's at a picomolar concentration. So to put that in perspective, it's like one drop of that chemical in an Olympic-sized swimming pool if you don't think concentration. So people will say, there's not that much runoff getting into the water. It's diluted, right? It's at a very low level. But it turns out you don't need a lot to cause at least subtle effects that can cause a fish to stop laying as many eggs, for example. So when you're talking about feminization of the fish, I mean, sounds like that's great. Wouldn't that lead to more egg laying all around? In some cases, yes. In some cases, it's more complicated than it sounds. And we had a model that we published last year where we looked at kind of the trade-offs between feminization and masculinization. And so one of the points that that paper made was, well, if you have just the right levels of estrogenic chemicals and androgenic chemicals kind of mixing together in a waterway, and that's what the fish are exposed to, then in some cases they can cancel each other out. But it gets more complicated than that because along with feminization, maybe you're producing more eggs, but there's offspring end up being lower quality, for example. There's almost always a trade-off or you grow more quickly, but that might make you more vulnerable to predation. Or it might mean, again, that you produce offspring earlier, but those offspring are less healthy. So there are lots of observations like that in the literature across organisms. So you might make more eggs, but they might not be as good. Right. So it's situational, really. It depends on what's going on in the water in terms of the chemical concentrations. It also depends on the individuals and the species that are there themselves. Yeah. So when you're talking about these animals, there's the individual effects like the endocrine disruptors affecting an individual. How do the individual effects parlay into population level effects that really have an effect on evolution and generational things? Absolutely. Yeah. So in the same study that came out last year, we did look, basically compiled a bunch of different laboratory experiments that have been done and came up with a model that predicted what population levels might be if in the situation fish were exposed to X, Y, and Z chemicals, examples of chemicals in the water. And for the most likely combination, it was about a 30% decline in population numbers for this particular species of fish. Whether that translates to other species, we're not sure. There are many other papers published across fish, across other organisms showing similar effects. So it's not, and I think that's sometimes why it doesn't get as much, there's not as much alarm about the situation because 20 or 30% doesn't sound maybe like that much to some of us. You know, not in the sciences, not sort of surrounded by this stuff. But over time, that can add up. And if you're talking about a fish that you like to eat, for example, that could eventually mean that you have less of that fish, you know, when you go out for sushi dinner, for example. So maybe that's a way to get people's attention. So it's gradual and some recent work we're showing is also demonstrating that these effects can be transferred across generations. And so if you expose parents to low levels of endocrine disruptors and then rear them out for a couple of generations, you're seeing reduced hatching success and reduced survival and altered growth in the unexposed generation. Yeah, so not only do you see a carryover effect to the offspring, which isn't that surprising, but then you can call them the grand fish, I guess the grand offspring, grandchildren are, we also see effects in those individuals as well. And that can then be scaled up to the population level. If you have fewer fish hatching, you're going to have fewer fish survive to adulthood. Right. Do we know how this is happening? Is this, I mean, I've read about this in across literature where there's a stressor in one population and then, you know, the successive generations have effects. Do you think this is an epigenetic effect? Is that I read something recently about RNA or epigenetic and transcription factors being packaged with sperm? Do we have any idea how this is having this long lasting effect generationally? Sure. There are a couple of different mechanisms. The main one that the most is known about is DNA methylation. And just to break that down a little bit, DNA methylation refers to the addition of small functional groups, small methyl groups. We won't get into the organic chemistry on this, but anyway, small, you can call them tags, like little tags that are being added to your DNA, close to the area where a gene is, and they can dictate how often that gene is expressed. And so this has been shown from humans down to, I think there was a paper out in sponges, even that sponges get their DNA methylated. So it's highly conserved. All organisms have it to some extent. Plants, there's been a lot of study in plants, studies in plants, for example, but so these tags are added to your DNA dependent on events or stressors or, you know, good and bad that you encounter throughout life. I think one of the most interesting studies was done on Holocaust survivors and their children and grandchildren. And they were finding that the offspring and even grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were more likely to have certain types of anxiety disorders. And it wasn't based on experiences they had had in their own life, but it was based on stressors that occurred in their grandparents' lives, and they were able to link that back to the methylation in the area of particular genes. And so we are now studying, yeah, it's crazy, right? And it makes you feel very cautious about what you're doing with your life because you don't want it to affect your great-grandchildren, right? But we're looking at that in fish in the lab now, and it's been looked at in other species in fish and determining that fish do have DNA methylation and use it for similar purpose to mammals and humans. And so we're hoping to link the potential epigenetic effects we see in this current study to methylation and that it's cranking away at the UC Davis Genome Center right now. Oh, fantastic. That's fascinating. Do you know about how long, like, any estimate on how long this study is going to take? I'm supposed to present it at a conference in early November, so I'm hoping for it. So yeah, so it should be in the next couple of weeks. Oh, that is exciting. That's going to be some interesting, those will be some interesting results for sure. Thinking about how these epigenetic factors work and, you know, things like endocrine disruptors in the environment and having these transgenerational effects. I'm just wondering how is this evolutionarily sustainable? Why would an organism want to methylate, control the regenerative or reproductive capacity of the offspring? I mean, what benefit would that be? Are there any ideas on that? Yeah, there are. And there is now, so the Skinner Lab, I think he's at University of Washington, came out with a paper a couple of years ago where he has put forth that the two events of epigenetic, methylation or if it occurs via another mechanism, epigenetic modifications are probably linked to longer term evolutionary adaptation. And there is some evidence that genes that get methylated are then more likely to mutate down the line. More likely. Yeah, so that's something I've done in my lab, but that's something that others have been looking at. And the thinking is that, okay, you are in a stressful environment, say there isn't a lot of food. And so the gene that controls how quickly you metabolize things gets methylated. And then that means your offspring, that gene is methylated in your offspring, and it's a situation where there's not enough food. Again, that situation continues. That offspring has quickly been able to adapt to that situation. But it's not always beneficial because what if, you know, if you're a human and you move from the situation where there's salmon to where food is plentiful, then that offspring is predisposed to the metabolic disorders and that sort of thing. So it can be good, but it can also kind of backfire in a way. Yeah, and this lines up also with the rapid change in the environment currently due to climate change, where populations are potentially methylating for the current situation, but down the line it may not be adaptive. That's absolutely right. Your adaptation has to match with the right period in time and the right set of conditions. So sometimes you get a mismatch and then that. That's really where I think part of the field of toxicology is heading to think about evolutionary toxicology and how, you know, are these epigenetic mechanisms leading to resistance, or are they leading to organisms that are more susceptible due to these trade-offs or due to a mismatch between the epigenetic tag that was laid down and the environment that they're currently in. I love the phrase that just struck me was evolutionary toxicology. I have never considered it. I think of it in terms of the human lifespan and always have where what's happening to me in my lifetime, but suddenly we're at a point where we're thinking about how these compounds that we are releasing into the environment that are in the environment are affecting generations down the line. That's a striking change in perspective in the questions that we would be able to ask. Yeah, it's a huge new area and a colleague of mine, we're on a grant together on a different topic, but for a lot of mass has been studying mutations, specific mutations that allow invertebrates that are exposed to pesticides to the zest become orders of magnitude more resistant to a pesticide exposure compared to one animal that hasn't been exposed. And it's really, it's incredibly interesting. Absolutely. Let's talk about the disruptors that we are putting into the environment. You mentioned the endocrine disruptors. There was a paper out recently about PCBs and killer whales and how there was another paper that we that we covered recently on the show about phthalates in the urine of dolphins. And these all come from these are organic persistent organic chemicals. These are from plastics. What kind what compounds are we what are the big concern compounds right now. The concerns it comes from two two different two different sources and the two chemicals you mentioned are good examples of PCBs highly coordinated by phenols were used basically as flame retardants back in and we banned them back in the 60s or 70s. I don't have the exact date in front of me, but they are so persistent because they bind to sediment they're hydrophobic. They sit in the sediments of aquatic areas of waterways. And they are very good at getting into the food web and they tend to associate with bats with lipids. And so they bioaccumulate and that's why you're seeing them at organisms at the top of the food chain right. It's very difficult to get rid of them. And I think that's something people don't evaluate or think about properly when we when we design new chemicals. We don't necessarily think clear think enough about how persistent those chemicals are in use of phthalates that are phthalates are type of chemical that are still being used as plasticizers. And you know the fact that we're seeing them in the urine of dolphins we're seeing them at an organisms that are at higher food or higher trophic levels and food web should be really right. My cat has just waved down. You can see the tail going from the camera. Hello kitty cat. It should be it should be alarming that we're we know we know what the characteristics of chemicals are that are going to be persistent in the environment. And we're seeing them three, four, you know, even five in some cases decades out still still hanging around yet we're still developing new chemicals that are maybe not quite as persistent but have many of those same characteristics. So it's it's it's problematic. And it's something that we don't consider when we invent the latest plasticizer of the latest. Do you think it's on. Do you think it's on scientists these these material scientists who are coming up with the you know the chemists who are coming up with these new materials do you think it is more on their minds. Now I mean in the 60s it was plastic everything everyone has Tupperware everyone plastic bags plastic wrap plastic plastic plastic and it was the thing the 50s and 60s was the kitchen of the future and it was this modern rage and it was making life better you know there are these advertisements for plastics make your life better you know and now decades later we realize how much plastics are getting into the environment and how much many of these you know like you mentioned the PCBs and the phthalates how they're getting into the environment and staying there so is there a different are we teaching the next the chemists of the next generation, these considerations. I don't know I think I think there might be slightly more awareness and when I think of plastics in the 50s and 60s I always get that movie the graduate, where it's a Dustin Hoffman asks what he should do with this feature and person says plastics. But nowadays it's and plastics are a really good example of where there should be more awareness and I think there is, but then you also have the, the perflornated chemical industry, which pretty Yeah, the ways and all and PFAS which incorporates hundreds of different types of chemicals that you know they're making things that are waterproof and making magical shirts that you spill you know tomato juice on and they it doesn't stain but But the downside is that those chemicals that get they get into waterways and they bio cleanly and in fact people they affect wildlife so I don't think there's enough awareness yet I think there's more but it's I don't think it's gotten to the point where it is influencing the design of chemicals in a way that chemicals are a lot safer today than they were decades ago. I think they're they're marginally safer and we're we're moving forward but but it's going to take and the other challenge too is that there just aren't there isn't enough funding to test enough funding or time to test all of those chemicals and that's a huge challenge. The toxicologist that we need to come up with ways to be able to test hundreds of chemicals at one time and prioritize the ones that we should do further study on and that's that's a big stumbling block right now. Yeah at this point are you still in the phase of well this class of chemicals all have the same basic structure so we'll just lump them all together. That's we're trying to find better ways toxicologists are trying to find better ways of doing that and there there was a call out from the EPA a couple of months ago that was trying to get at that very challenge. Okay we have we have so many chemicals we really need to get away from having all this testing that's based on using live animals live fish rats what have you and we need to have in vitro assays that you can run in a plate really quickly and do lots of exposure at once. And so so we're we're getting there but but but change is slow and especially for for ecotoxicology. You know we don't necessarily have other resources that you know a fancy National Institute of Health Funded Lab would have right you know and so there's always a little bit more funding for human health and that might move forward a little bit more quickly but we have to remind people that the two are you know intimately connected. Yeah. Forward but slowly. Slowly. I'm glad we're moving forward that is the that is the big key here keep moving forward I'm just what I wonder how much you know like big data super computers that are able to you know crunch massive data sets to be able to look at molecular structures and how they line up with already. With what we already know about negative environmental or ecological impacts. And that's it and that's a huge movement on the part of the EPA they have a tox cast program that is trying to do just that and use things called quantitative structure activity relationships which is a complicated way of saying group this class of chemicals here and group this this class of chemicals does that. The challenge is that first biology isn't always predictable. And sometimes sometimes things happen that you can't predict just by looking at the structure of the chemical and the fish and humans and we metabolize chemicals that get into the body and sometimes those metabolites are a bit more harmful or have different activity than the parent chemical did. And so that's that's something that's that's difficult to mimic with with a cell line or with just you know a computer program that classifies chemicals based on their on their structure. So the challenges. Yeah, we're talking so we're talking a bunch about this difference between fish and people and you're involved in a study through NOAA the National Geneographic and Atmospheric Association on marine debris. So looking at stuff like plastics in the environment. Could you talk a little bit about what you're seeing through your studies and this is through your your other position in North Carolina right. Yeah, so so technically it's all the same position just just to explain that. So before I came to OSU a year ago, I was an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington for about three and a half years. And so when I moved, you know, of course, you don't always move all of all of the ongoing grants because sometimes it makes more sense for them to stay where they were. And so because that study had already begun and it was on East Coast fish, we left the study there, but it's still it's it's complicated, but it's still it's still part of. And I'm adjunct there now because I still do work there. But my main position is at OSU it's all all kind of in the same part and parcel. But that study there, NOAA was understandably concerned about microplastics and microfibers and what might be happening in commercial fishery species. You know, one, because we want to make sure that their numbers aren't being affected because their health is declining because of exposure to plastic. And two, because we don't want to eat the plastic ourselves or the chemicals associated with those plastics. So they focused their last call on commercial fishery species. And so we obtained some funding to look at Black Sea Bass, which is a pretty big commercial fishery off the East Coast of the United States. And also delicious. And I haven't been able to eat them lately, but so the study consisted of two parts. One field. There goes the microphone microphone. One was a field component where we went out and collected Black Sea Bass off the coast of North Carolina from a couple of different sources just to confirm that they were ingesting plastic. And we've confirmed that microplastics. So plastics that are bigger than five millimeters in diameter in the guts of several sea bass. And now we're looking at eating big pieces of plastic, not just a little tiny. That's right. We didn't find it in that many of them. I think out of hundred and fifty fish or so that were sampled. We found macro larger pieces of plastics and three or four of them. But the thing to think about there is that they're going to excrete these plastics. So that's kind of a snapshot of what was happening on that particular day. And so we confirmed plastic ingestion. We're now looking at micro plastics as well, which takes a little bit more effort and processing. And then the second component of the study was to look at plastics in the lab to do a couple of different dose levels of plastic and to look at responses that are relevant to the health of the fishes. So looking at immune response and respiration. So how much oxygen are they taking in? How much effort are they taking to breathe? Pretty basic stuff. We'll be looking at gene expression down the line. And so the idea was to use the lab experiments to try to have an assessment of the risk that might be happening in the field. But how much risk is there to a black sea bass that has ingested three pieces of plastic? What effects, what biological effects might be sustained by the fish or might be occurring in that fish? So that's the ultimate goal of the study. And I have to give a shout out to all the wonderful, all my wonderful collaborators that are at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Because the study would not happen without them doing much of the heavy lifting right now. In terms of the plastic itself, I mean I understand a piece of plastic, it doesn't have nutritional value, it is replacing food in the gut of the animal. But what else would the plastic have in it that would be having an effect? Sure, sure. And I will speak briefly to the plastic taking up space in the gut and that lowering the amount of food that the organism can obtain nutrition from what we've seen in larval fish. And I would encourage that if there are fed plastics, whether they be cleaning plastics or contaminated plastics, that either type will cause a reduction in weight if you grow them out after a short term exposure. And so just the physical presence of the plastic itself can be problematic. But as far as chemicals, plastics like lipids and like sediment are really good at sticking to anything that doesn't like to mix with water. So if you have a chemical like PCB, so we'll get back to these persistent organic pollutants. Lots of persistent organic pollutants like PCBs, DDT, which we still find in the environment, still, still everywhere and hello cat. You didn't want to hang out with me until now. Those types of chemicals are found to be associated with plastics. And so the concern is that as a plastic hangs out in the water as it kind of ages, it's going to have more of these types of chemicals adhere to it, absorb to it. And then it becomes kind of a chemical cocktail. If a fish swallows it in a way becomes a way for those chemicals that have stuck to the plastic to be delivered to be like taking, like taking your, your daily dose of DDT. It's a little pill that has DDT and PCB and all these other things in with it. It sounds wonderful. But and now the question is, and something else we want to get at with our, the NOAA work. It's an experiment planned hopefully for next year. We've been a little bit waverly by the hurricane that Carolina is to look at whether do we really, how much of a concern should there be because they're pretty low levels of these chemicals. Do they leach off into the fish? If they do, where do they go? How long does it take? How much gets there? And so is it a concern for the fish? And is it also a concern for the person eating, eating the fish? So that's, that's where we are. We know, we know that plastics are, are kind of soaking up these chemicals. We just don't know how dangerous they are. Yeah. So those are, that's the big question at this point in time. Exactly how dangerous, what kind of effect. Is there a, is there any way to clean up these plastics? I mean, the micro plastics, I mean, I think my fiber, my, my sweater here is natural fibers should, should I be worried about my, the fleece that I wear, you know, my, my sports fabrics. This is also a really good question. And there are labs that are doing really detailed study of micro fibers now, because when you think about, in almost like five hours, like muscles or oysters, which the whole body of then, you know, you're ingesting the fibers and the plastics and whatever else is accumulated in that organism. So, so, so it definitely is, is a concern. We just don't know how much of a concern. Right. That's the trick. And it's going to take time to find out.  Should I stop? Should I buy everything in glass and aluminum now? And, you know, and my, I guess my advice on that would be to follow the precautionary principle, because we know those things aren't as good for the environment. Or, you know, plastics aren't as good for the environment as these other, you know, measures we can take. So maybe try to reduce the plastic as much as much as you can. I think that's something that we don't talk about enough in terms of what people can do. I love the you bringing up the precautionary principle. This, if this is the worst thing that can happen, you know, would you want to be involved in making that terrible thing happen? Or do you want to limit your impact on that? Right, right. And I kind of have the same opinion about buying, if you can, I know they're expensive to buying organic fruit when you can instead of conventional, right? You're, you're applying the precautionary principle there too, because you're not only potentially protecting your family, but you're also protecting the people who work in the fields and have to spray those chemicals and get exposed to a lot more. So, so yeah, just think, and, you know, there's only so much you can do, right?  So there's, there's a, there's a, there's a fine line between, you know, trying to do what you can and being a little bit over, overzealous about it. But, but yeah, that's, because it's going to take us a long time to really quantify the impact, you know, might as well do what we can now to kind of stave off the constant stream of plastics and chemicals. Yeah. And, and thinking about, you know, from the, as we mentioned earlier, the individual effects of these endocrine disruptors on the population at large, the individual choices that we make can have an effect on the system at large. So even though you feel like, who am I one person? What can my little, you know, deciding to use a straw now or not use a straw later? What difference is it going to make? Well, if all of us are making those choices and choosing, you know, not to use a straw or whatever it happens to be, sometimes it's limiting. It's reducing the impact. That's right. That's right. Even if we can't, we can't quantify it at that moment, if collectively we're having less of an impact. So I get really excited when I see someone, you know, tell the restaurant, tell the waiter that they don't want to straw and that sort of thing. It's, it's the little things, right? Even if it seems, again, even if it seems significant. Yeah, at the larger level, it becomes significant. So we all can, we all can be a piece of this. I don't want to keep you all day long. We're having a wonderful conversation and I am loving talking with you about this. If people want to follow the results of your methylation study, find out what's going on with your research, where can they find you online? Sure. Well, we have a website, which I don't update nearly enough, but that's brandorlab.net. And so I try to update results of studies there as much as possible. I also, I'm on Twitter and the Twitter feed on my page updates to my, to my website as well, thanks to WordPress being a really easy to use. And so my Twitter handle is at smbrandor, E-R-A-N-D-E-R. So I try to post updates to research and studies there as much as possible as well. Wonderful. And if people are interested in supporting the kind of research that you do and answering these big questions about the real impact or the danger of these chemicals in our environment, how can they help? How can they do that? I really like to give a concrete answer on that. I really love a group called the Environmental Working Group. It's E-W-G-E dot O-R-G. And if you go to their website, they connect all of the latest research on impacts of chemicals, on impacts of microplastics, what have you, with consumer products. And so you can look up particular products that you're using and you can get a score as to how environmentally damaging that product might be or how great and wonderful that product might be. And so you basically get like a red or a green flag or somewhere in between. But it's a really, and I've shared it with a lot of friends and relatives. And I like it because it's easy for anyone to use and it makes you feel like you have a little bit more control over what you're doing in your own home or in your own life.  Because I think it can be pretty overwhelming for people to try to figure out what, you know, you're at the grocery store and you have 18 different choices for toothpaste, right? Yeah. What do you do? So yes, Environmental Working Group is a really great organization and I think it's super helpful for those kinds of questions. Wonderful. Dr. Brander, thank you so much for joining me today. It has really been wonderful speaking with you, elucidating on so many levels. Thank you so much for having me. It was a lot of fun. And I'm glad, I'm glad the mode I've decided to stay on this time. I am too. Thank you, Technology, for making this interview possible. Everyone out there, I would love to invite you to watch other twist episodes on Wednesday evenings, 8 p.m. Pacific time at this YouTube channel or at twist.org slash live. You can also subscribe to the podcast, go to twist.org and find information there. I'm Dr. Kiki. Thank you so much for joining me today. And Dr. Brander, once again, thank you for joining me, everyone out there. Pay attention to this work because our environment feeds back to us. It is what, you know, it's all one big system and we need to be an active part of maintaining it. Thank you, everyone.


Hey what's up folks, in this project we're making 3D printed cases for floppy drives. We designed and 3D printed these cases for both 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppy drives. They're designed to slip over your standard floppy drives without any hardware and they feature an embossed pattern of little Adafruit logos. This was printed with translucent PLA filament and sliced with only shells and no infill. The transparency is clear enough to make out the internal parts and it looks pretty cool. To install, just slip the floppy drive into the sleeve with the back end going in first. We designed the sleeve with the recess on one side so you can stack a 3.5 inch floppy drive on top. We think the case gives off vibes from the 90's clear electronics trend. Links to the CAD files are available in the description of this video. We hope this inspires you to 3D print your next project enclosure in translucent filament and bring back the nostalgia. Thanks so much for watching and be sure to subscribe for more retro projects from Adafruit.


Okay, let's just pray and then we'll get started. I just want to read that very familiar verse, Hebrews 4 and verse 12 talks about the Word of God being alive, being powerful, living sharper than any two-edged sword and able to pierce even to the division of soul and spirit. Let me just read that and I'll just invite the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the Word to us. I'll continue to speak the Word to us. Hebrews 4-12, for the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that your Word is living and powerful, your Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. Yes, God, we believe that, God, dividing even to the division of the soul and the spirit. Lord, this morning we just ask for more of your Word. We ask for the work of your Holy Spirit in bringing the Word to us and quickening the Word to us, Lord. This Word, Lord, and which we, Lord, right now we just want to highly esteem in our own lives, Father God, treasure it, cherish it, God, in our own lives, Father God. And yes, Master, we pray, Lord, even as you speak, maybe receive, maybe believe, and even as we word says that it will profit those who receive with faith. And maybe be such a people, when you hear your Word, when we hear your quickened Word, that we will reach out in faith and we will receive in faith. And may your Word bring about, Lord, may a Word that was released to us do those things with the purpose for which you release those words, God. Being changed in us, Lord, stir up things in us, awaken things in us, God, and bring revelation, understanding, conviction, conviction of sin, conviction of the truth, or may do all that, God. We thank you. We give you all the praise at this time and we give you all the glory even as we invite the work of your Spirit in our hearts. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, let's look at what we, yeah, what we looked at last class. We looked at how the Lord Jesus ministered the Word, right, how He ministered the Word, and we looked at those nine things, you know, and the reason we're studying, you know, we study how the Lord Jesus ministered the Word is, you know, He's our example to follow. And the way He ministered, it'll be good for us to follow, to observe, and to emulate in our own lives, in our own ministries. So we looked at that. Okay, and today we are looking at how we can prepare ourselves and how we can to minister the Word of God, right, how we can prepare ourselves. And we're going to look at a few things that, a few things, even as we look at preparing ourselves about the Word of God being ministered by a human being. You know, when we look at the Word of God, we see that it's eternal. When we look at the Word of God, we see that it's, you know, all that we've read, it's living and alive, powerful. And so in the heart, in the mind, in the lips of someone who is finite, you know, who's called to minister, you know, how do we do that? Right? So some of those things we're going to look at, right? So we see that the Lord Jesus Himself, you know, He is the the eternal Word, like He's the Word which became flesh and who dwelt among us. And John chapter one verse 14 talks about that, that He is that Word who dwelt among us, the eternal Word, the Word became flesh. And, and John very beautifully captures that. And John chapter one says, you know, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And He was in the beginning with God and all that. And, you know, I'm going down to verse 14 and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. So we see that the eternal Word became the Word who became, I mean, He became the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us, right? And in that fragile human body, you know, the eternal Word became the living Word or was the Word that became flesh, sorry, the eternal living Word became the Word that flesh. So whatever the Lord Jesus did, whatever He ministered, we see it was, we can say that He is the Word of God and this is Word of God in action, right? And well, with the Word of God, the Word which went forth from Him was untainted or unimpaired by all that, you know, as a human being when He ministered, He ministered the Word, He spoke the Word and He was filled by the Holy Spirit and He ministered the Word. The Word went forth from Him, teaching, you know, all that He taught, line upon line, etc. It went forth from Him. So we see that it was untainted, untainted by human emotion, untainted by the fact that He was in the flesh. Well, there's a difference when we minister the Word because, you know, we know that He was sinless, we know that He was perfect and the Word which went out from Him, you know, even though He was, you know, in flesh, the Word that went out from Him was untainted by the flesh. Well, it came with emotion, it came with the human personality. It was untainted by the flesh. When we say untainted, it was, you know, uncontaminated, it was not contaminated by anything of the flesh, okay? Whereas we as human beings, we know that we are works in progress, right? Our thoughts, emotions, imaginations, sometimes inspired, sometimes, you know, we indulge in works of the flesh. And so, despite all that, God has entrusted us with the work of ministry, which itself is fascinating, right?  But our responsibility is to ensure that this perfect Word, this living Word, this quickened Word goes forth from us, you know, the way it is dropped into our hearts. So we are in fact, you know, delivery persons, right? We can be tempted to change it, we can be tempted to, you know, do something with it. But we need to be faithful to the Word, we need to be faithful to minister the Word the way we have received it, right? So that's the thing.   So first thing we see is that our flesh needs to be worked on. Meaning, well, the flesh wants to dictate certain things. Okay, Galatians 5 talks about that. Okay, let's turn there. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16, okay, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another. So that you do not do the things that you wish. Okay, so this is a reality for a believer, this is a reality for a minister of God. Okay, now, truth is this, that this is still applicable. If we walk in the flesh, then we will not fulfill the desires. I'm sorry, if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Okay, the only way to put to death things of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. Verse 17 is a reality for the Spirit or the flesh lusts against the things of the Spirit. Okay, so the flesh lusts against the things of the Spirit. So our fleshly appetite, our unrenewed mind, everything is against the work of the Spirit. It goes against the Spirit. In a believer, yes, in a believer. Okay, in a minister of God, yes, in a minister of God is a believer, as a human being. So the thing is that our thoughts, our feelings, our imaginations, our ideas have to undergo change. Right, now it could be fleshly inspired. It could be, you know, fleshly led, motivated, you know, we say, Oh, I think I think I should share this. It's fantastic. I think it'll be good, great. And the thing is that it needs to be tested. It needs to be tested. The motive has to be tested by the Spirit of God. And we need to reflect and say, Okay, you know, why do I want to do this? Why do I want to share that? Is it to make me make me or project me in a better light? Or is it to, you know, is to bring glory to God? Right. So that has to be there all all the time. And our flesh has to be so that is what we mean by saying our flesh has to be worked on. So the thing is the motives of our heart. See, when we say a flesh has to be worked on, we look at maybe sometimes we look at pride, we look at ego, we look at things like, Okay, something that we project ourselves and bring focus to ourselves. And we look at all that, right? But the opposite of that is also true when we say that I'm not worthy enough, or I'm, I'm, you know, when we lack, when we are called and then and then still we say, Okay, I'm not ready. I'm not, you know, I don't think I can do it. I don't want to all that is also the work of the flesh because the flesh is flesh is afraid, fearful, anxious. And it's also the work of the flesh as much as pride is as much as, you know, selfish ambition is as much as all this is true. And it's the work of the flesh. So also is fear. So also is intimidation, right? So also is like withholding, holding back and saying, Okay, I, I don't think I want to do this. This is also the thing. I don't think I'm, I'm equipped.  I don't feel up to it. Emotionally, I feel, I don't feel up to it, you know, physically, I don't feel up to it, right? So it has to be, it has to be tempered by the spirit of God, it has to be worked on by the word of God, right? So it becomes suitable. So that's part of the preparing, the preparation process, you know, as finite beings, as new creations who have been dwelling spirit of God and who have been called to be New Testament ministers, like the dispensation. Okay, so the second thing that we need to understand is that God will use our thoughts, feelings are, you know, unique personalities and he will use that.  So do I have to hide all that, you know, do I, and bring it under the category of the flesh, you know, this is a physical thing. So I, for example, I remember, you know, I used to sing in a choir in a church, back home, you know, in a home church where I was, you know, in a different town, different city, but I grew up. So I remember one of the, you know, one of the persons who was who I was singing with, he was a very experienced person. So he was talking about, you know, how in certain places, in certain, he was talking about some monasteries and where the monks would sing in the same tone. Okay, much like a chant, sing without any inflection, without any change, because they don't want to add to the word that was being sung. Okay, because if I sing, you know, they don't want to distract, they don't want to add to it, they don't want to, they were afraid that, okay, if I do something, if I add my ability to it, or if I add my, you know, my talent to it, then it will change, or it will distract, or it will not bring glory. Okay, so he's just talking about that.  Okay, maybe you're very, the way he's created us, you know, is very intellectual, very academic, very academic oriented, and you know, a bent of mind is that, right, the way God works with us is that, you know, and he wants to want us to speak, and then we always go into the why and the how and the where, and all those questions, and we go to the depths of it, and we minister the word with all that, right, so I'm sure you've noticed, you know, some people would go to the scientific part of it, we'll go into the, you know, every illustration is somehow linked to that, right, answering a lot of questions, right, and that's how God has created them, like personality-wise, and God uses that, right, their natural abilities, God uses that, or if you can think of human personality, well, okay, maybe some people are funny, some people are very serious, right, and they, you know, they're serious right from start to finish, but God uses that, right, and some of them cry is so moved emotionally, right, by the Spirit of God, they are just, they just lead a verse, and then they can't hold back the tears, God uses that, you know, does that mean that God will not use, no, right, so despite all that, you know, he uses our thoughts, he uses our feelings, he uses all that, okay, so you don't have to be afraid, okay, at the same time, we know that we bring all that under the, we bring all that, you know, we submit all that to God, we bring all that, you know, human temperament, personality, everything under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, right, so that is refined, so that brings glory to God, that finds expression in bringing glory to God rather than highlighting man, okay, so don't be afraid, you know, just be yourself, you don't have to copy someone in order to bring the word of God, you don't have to, you know, oh, I need to speak like that man of God, I need to speak like that, you know, person, no, just be yourself, God has created you uniquely, God has formed you, fashioned you uniquely, you be yourself, and you share the word of God, you know, how he has created you, the unique style that he's given you, you do that, okay, okay, which is what the third thing is, you know, is delivered through human vessels, through human elements, okay, if you're following in the notes, we are looking at chapter 8, ministering God's word, and we're looking at the topic New Testament ministers, yeah, okay, so God's word is delivered through us as human vessels, so we have all those characteristics, it has to be dealt with the Holy Spirit, dealt with the work of the Holy Spirit, that's for sure, okay, so the thing is that if I have wrong ideas, if I have, if I've gone through certain, you know, bad, certain hurtful, certain bias, certain experiences in life, you know, so it has affected, let's say, my realm of the soul, right, my thoughts, my outlook perspective, it has been touched, right, so I need to be careful not to let those hurts, not to let those hurtful experiences maybe contaminate or taint the message, okay, now for example, you know, the thing is this, that let's say someone has been, someone has had a very bad marriage, okay, bad marriage, so just give me a minute, sorry, I just want to plug in the laptop, just a minute, quite a relief, yeah, it can be on, thanks, okay, excuse me, just a minute, please guys, it's the charger, this is the port, okay, I think I'm carrying a different, can you do me a small favor, this is Diana's charger, so you can give this to her and then get Kiran's charger, please, okay, just give me one more minute, sorry, and just get the charger and then just continue, okay, we started back on, thank you, yeah, so let's say, you know, if someone has had, let's say a bad marriage, you know, a hurtful experience and so it is all, it is possible when the minister of the word, word of God and it's, maybe it has to do with marriage, it has to do with finding a life partner, it has to do with, you know, something on those lines, it is possible if they are not, he, if they are hurt, if they are still carrying anger, or maybe against their spouse, then that will find expression in the word, in the message, right, it could be in the way of, in the manner of a, you know, maybe in a joke, where the joke is, you know, just putting down the spouse, or it could be some statement, you know, putting down the other person, or maybe they have been hurt by a certain group of people, you know, let's say, a language group, an ethnic group, and they've still not got over that hurt, okay, and they still have that kind of a bias in their heart, in their mind, so that comes out as well, that, you know, they are maybe talking about that particular group, and they are, you know, about someone living in that particular state, or country, or speaking that language, and then, you know, it just comes out, right, so in these man, in these ways, the message, the word is fine, you find that, okay, it's tainted by the flesh, by our bias, by our hurt, right, so in all these things, you know, we need to really bring ourselves under the subjection of the Holy Spirit, you know, it's very, very important, and say, Lord, you know, first let me, you know, deal with this, please deal with these hurts, and really ask God to heal us, strengthen us in those things, and so that even when we mention those things, when we talk about, you know, talk about the scars, you know, it does not come from a place of hurt, okay, so it's very important that we do that, okay, then the thing is that the word of God, the message, the Lord Jesus, when he talks about it, he says that you do it yourself, okay, so it's, okay, let's say the word, God gives us a word, God gives us a message, and many times we say, okay, you, you know, we turn to our audience and God is asking you to do it, God is asking you to do that, God is asking you to repent, God is asking you to change, right, the very fact, yes, it's true, yeah, but the very fact that God has given us, you know, we first apply the word, okay, we apply it to our lives and say, Lord, you know, is there something that I need to change, how you are, there's a direction maybe to repent, there's a thing that, there's an instruction here, God, you know, what do I do with it first, right, and then we teach, so which means that the word goes through us, the word goes, you know, word is part of us, in us, it goes through us and changes us even before we teach, so we receive the word first, we believe the word, we receive the word, we follow the word and then we teach, okay, so this is what the Lord Jesus says, Matthew chapter 5, and you know, the Lord says this, let's read Matthew 5 and verse 19, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, you see the order, whoever does and teaches, okay, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 19, so of course the context is that, okay, they are breaking that commandment and they are also teaching the wrong thing, okay, but the Lord is saying, you know, whoever does and teaches, now that's the order, so it's not only, you know, I understand, you know, certain words, certain prophetic words could be for a group of people, it doesn't apply to you, you know, it's for that people, it's specific for that people, yeah, there are, you know, instructions like that and there are, you know, maybe a word of warning is for, you know, maybe for someone in the, you know, congregation, it's not for you, right, it's a word for them, right, but at the same time the values or the truth of that word applies to us also, the standard of that word applies to us also, right, the truth is eternal, it applies to us, right, so we also need to hold ourselves to that standard of the word, you know, when we say, okay, you should not live in such a way, you should not be doing this, it applies to us also, I should not be doing that, you know, I should be living in this manner as the word prescribes, so we need to understand that, okay, so it applies to me, Matthew 5, verse 19, whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of God, okay, then another thing which will actually set us free is this of, many times we put a lot of unnecessary pressure on ourselves, like every time we go there to minister, to speak, we put ourselves under great unnecessary and unwanted, you know, pressure, okay, what is that? Every time we want to minister the word, okay, we want to give a new thing, a new revelation, okay, it's a good desire, right, God, you know, your infinite, your wisdom is infinite, your understanding is infinite, so Lord, you show me, you teach me, I want to, you know, bring something new for the people and I want to show, you know, I want to bring something that is beneficial for them, it's a good desire, but also understand that when the word, when God ministers, it is also to give something or one of which could be a reiteration of truth, okay, a truth that has already been laid, a truth that has already been established in people, it's a reiteration of that, meaning it, God is reminding them again, okay, many times God does that, he reminds, hey, did I not speak this, did I not say this, I'm reminding you of this, that you need to walk, right, so God brings a reminder of truth. The other thing is also that he adds to what is already established, it's not something totally new, totally out of the world, which can be, which can be, you know, which is possible, which is really, you know, which is how God works, but it also could be adding more light, adding something to what is already established, okay, so the pressure, we don't have to put ourselves under pressure, oh, I don't have any new thing, you know, God, you're just telling me to speak the same thing, I've already spoken at God, well, it could be a reiteration, or God, you know, it's just adding to something, you know, just one more point you're saying, you know, I've already, you know, preached about these five things, but then you're adding just one more thing, you know, just be faithful, he's adding to what is already established in people's lives, and that is exactly what he wants to do, right, so, and you'll be surprised sometimes, right, we share this, you know, the simplest of messages, and then we maybe share it many times, and then you do so much of hesitation, God, should I do this, I don't have anything else, okay, God, I'll just go, and then you get the feedback, you get the response that, oh, wow, this is exactly what I wanted, and you're surprised, really, and that's how it is, right, so be faithful in whatever it is, you know, don't put yourself under unnecessary pressure, yeah, so the word is intended to be repeated, and each time, you know, there is a fresh anointing that comes from God, the, you know, a fresh facet of that truth, so that, so don't be, you know, don't be afraid, right, share that, okay, so the thing is this, that we always, the other side of that is, okay, we've, you know, somebody gives a topic, somebody shares a topic and says, you know, can you please share on this, okay, or you yourself, okay, okay, I think I'll share on this, you know, I've preached on this many times, so I'll share, and then we are confident, we're saying, okay, I've preached on this many times, I don't need to even spend much time preparing, you know, points one, two, three, I know it, and I'll just speak it, right, even if it's something that is repeated, what we need to understand is that there, you know, God gives a fresh anointing upon it, right, every time, it's a fresh anointing, a fresh revelation, he brings to that same word, okay, what you're repeating, what you're bringing it again, and as a result of it, okay, it produces various fruit, right, and it's not the same as before, but it's something else, God does a new thing, right, anointing, he brings a fresh revelation, he brings a fresh anointing, and it's a fresh prospect of some, though it is repeated, so for us, it's, we depend on him, right, we go back to him, we depend on him, and we receive a fresh anointing, right, so the thing is also that, you know, when it's a topic that is already been visited, many times we become a little complicit, right, we're saying, okay, and maybe we depend on our own experience and learning and not so much on God, saying, I've done it, God, you've taught me, Lord, I'm so good, I'm just going and teaching, right, and we're not really depending on him, asking him to anoint as a fresh, asking him to show us what more, God, what more, or in the same thing, what is the emphasis, what is it that you want to emphasize on, right, like we were looking at the just that one verse, you know, the Lord is my shepherd, but God, what is it that you want to emphasize about that, and the Lord will clarify and the Lord will show, right, okay, the next one is that we receive revelation and then we share that revelation, so God quickens the word to us, we receive that revelation from him, he reveals things to us, he's a spirit of truth, he's a spirit of revelation and truth and wisdom, he reveals these things to us and we speak out of that, okay, so when we look at Galatians 1 and 15 and 16, so this Paul talks about how he was called, right, a pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, okay, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, so that's what he says, no, I did not immediately consult with man, but God chose to reveal his son, God chose to bring a revelation about Jesus to me, and then we know, you know, the revelation about the cross, the revelation about this new dispensation, the revelation about, you know, everything, just justification, sanctity, all that, about the gifts of the Spirit and everything, you know, we see as he brought, so he revealed his son in him, God revealed his son, the Father revealed his son, brought that revelation and he ministered out of that, so what do you see here is that, you know, we see that he chose to reveal, right, verse 16, he revealed his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, right, so the purpose of the revelation was that he would communicate that revelation, that he would proclaim that revelation, okay, so he revealed his son that he might proclaim, so that's the order, so we can ask for revelation that we might proclaim, right, so that's, so we receive that revelation and when God speaks, when God reveals, there is an assurance in our heart, right, there is an assurance in our heart that God has spoken and with that assurance comes that confidence and boldness, like, you don't care and we don't, you don't care when God has spoken, you don't care how intimidating that audience can be, how learned, how, you know, whatever be the audience, whatever be the number of people, you don't care, you reach that place, you don't care in the sense, you know, I'm saying, it's not like you, you know, you're going to be, you know, disrespectful to anything but, you know, you're not intimidated, you know, how did you reach that place because it was a revelation, you know, you receive that revelation of the truth and that produced in, in us, that that'll produce in us such confidence and boldness that we don't mind the situation, that we don't mind the kind of audience, nothing seems to intimidate us because we've received the revelation. So we have the privilege of receiving that from God, you know, when it comes to communicating a message, we have the privilege of receiving that. We have a God who reveals, we have a God who, you know, who's just willing, right, willing to reveal those things, just as he did to Paul, we have the same Holy Spirit who wants to reveal that and, you know, that's his characteristic. So we receive that and we minister out of that. Okay, so we, we, there is a boldness that comes, there's a confidence that comes. Also, you know, when we just look at one other scripture, you know, so also when we have walked with God, so one is we receive the revelation, there's that boldness, that confidence, right, you know, God has spoken. Okay, and boldness and confidence also comes when we are in his presence, when we have been in his presence. Okay, if you look at, let's say, Mark chapter 3, okay, Mark chapter 3 and verse 14, okay, Mark 3 verse 14, this talks about the Lord appointing, appointing the 12 disciples and, you know, this is what he says, right, 3 and maybe we'll read 13 and 14 also, just, and he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted that and they came to him. Okay, verse 14, then he appointed 12 that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach, right, that they might first of all be with him and that he might send them out. So that's the order, he called them, he appointed them that they might be with him. Okay, so we see being in the presence of Jesus, bringing in the presence of our Lord, he is appointing them and saying, okay, first of all, you be with me. Okay, that's the first thing, not to be neglected and that he might send them out. So that's the order. Okay, so when we go to Acts chapter 4 and verse 13, Acts chapter 4 and verse 13, you see this, you know, a testimony of that, okay, what we read just now, a testimony of that, a proof of that is what we see in Acts chapter 4 verse 13. Okay, Acts chapter 4 verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. So they were uneducated, untrained, but they were in the company of Jesus and that was unmistakable. Okay, so the Lord's purpose was this, he chose them, he appointed them, he called them, appointed them that they might be with him, that he might send them out. Now here is the thing, people saw the change, people saw the difference that they had been with Jesus and what was that change, what was that difference, you know, the boldness with which they spoke, right, they were so convinced, they spoke with so much boldness, they spoke with so much sincerity and authenticity, right, so that is what we see here. So if you look at the words of Peter before that, so they are surrounded by the high priest, they are surrounded by kerfers and John and Alexander and the family of the high priest, which we see in verse 6, they were gathered together, they set them in the midst, they asked by what power, by what name have you done this? Verse 8, Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people, elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man by what means he has been made well, let be known to you and to all, you know, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and then verse 11, he quotes from the Old Testament, right, he quotes from from the Psalms, I guess, he says, this is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone and all is their salvation and any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved and after all this, they saw the boldness, the courage with which they spoke and they realized that they had been with Jesus, they had been in the presence of Jesus, right, so also for us, we realize that, you know, yes, on one side the revelation that comes that gives us the, you know, the boldness and the courage and the revelation we receive from our personal walk with the Lord, right, and then when we receive that and when we minister that, it is with so much of boldness, it is unmistakable, it finds its impact, okay, then this receiving revelation about something, about some topic, about some, you know, some about a truth in scripture is not a one-time thing, it's a continuous thing, okay, it's, okay, let's say God use, you know, we say, okay, Lord, you've taught me about this, you've taught me about faith, you've taught me about maybe the works of the Spirit, you've taught me about this, now we don't have to be satisfied with that or we don't have to plateau, we don't have to stop with that, right, there's more and we will receive continuous revelation and with continuous revelation comes continuous ministering because like we saw in Paul, you know, the purpose of the Lord giving the revelation is that we might communicate that, is that we might proclaim that, right, profess that truth, share that, so with continuous revelation comes continuous opportunities and, you know, moments when we share that and so we say, you know, with continuous revelation comes continuous ministry, right, so it is, it gives birth to continuous ministry where, you know, we're just excited, we just want to share, the Lord has put it in my heart and I need to share it, so and He's creating opportunities and, you know, environments and maybe it's with one, two groups, whatever, but He's giving those revelation to be shared, so we, you know, we know that continuous, this is a continuous process, it's not just a one-time thing, right, we go for fresh anointing, a fresh revelation of the truth that is already shared with us and that gives birth to continuous ministry, okay, so without the anointing, enlightening and the revelation of the exposition of scriptures, you know, if it's just the natural mind, then, well, God will still use it, God, we know that God will use anything, you know, it's the word, God will still use it, but, you know, as a New Testament minister, there's so much more, right, there's so much more, if it's, so we don't have to just be satisfied with just the human mind, just the human reasoning, there's so much more as we dig in deep, there's so much more as we depend on the revelation, elimination of the Holy Spirit, right, there's so much more, right, okay, so we'll stop here and then we'll continue in the next class, thank you, God bless you, bye-bye.


All right, here is the gym. This, they're really healthy for you. Morning, you guys. So I woke up at eight o'clock today and I'm gonna be showing you guys my monthly reset routine. Sorry, did I just say monthly reset routine? My Monday reset routine. I've never done a Monday reset routine before, but I did a Sunday one like a week or two ago. And I was like, why not do a Monday one because the reset routines are so much fun. And I actually do have like a Monday, Sunday, monthly reset routine. Like it's actually a thing that I do. So I'm like, why don't I show you guys? Like I just feel like my Monday one is really low key and I've never really showed you guys it. So this is gonna be a fun experience for all of us. I'm just going to do some yoga and meditation right now because I feel like for me personally, I need to start the week off right. So I need to go straight into doing my yoga and my meditation at the beginning of the week. Because if I don't start the week off on the right foot, then it kind of leads my week to be kind of not so good. You know what I mean? I need to like start my healthy habits and my self-love first day of the week so that like it motivates me to continue throughout the week. You know what I mean? Also just having like a productive Monday just makes me feel so good. So let's get this yoga and meditation session in. The AirPods always remember to turn off Siri.  I almost forgot. One thing that I just kind of thought about doing that I don't do every Monday, but it's just something that came into my head that I want to try this week is setting like little weekly goals for myself. Usually like I'll set like monthly goals, but I was like, sometimes those are hard to stick to because it's like a month is a long time. Plus it's like kind of daunting saying you're gonna do something every single day at the beginning of the month.  You know what I mean?  And then you only have to stick for it for like Monday to Friday and you just make it those five days and you kind of give yourself a little bit of a challenge. For example, like, oh, I'm gonna do some sort of workout every day this week. It's a lot less daunting than saying, oh, I'm gonna be doing a workout every single day this month. I feel like it's just more attainable and it kind of gives you a little challenge for the week. And I feel like that will motivate me more personally and help me actually accomplish those goals because they're super short term. So it's like I'm only looking five days into the future. And then next Monday, I can just like reassess and set like a new theme for the week. So that's what I'm gonna do right now. I'm just gonna write down like a couple little goals here that I wanna give myself for the week and challenge myself. Goals for this week. So I put this week's theme as fueling my body. First goal is to gym three days this week because I'm just getting back into the gym today. So I'm going to do three days this week just to keep it chill. But I feel like that's still a very realistic goal that I can stick to this week. Next goal is drinking two liters of water, hydrating myself. Next goal is to eat a healthy breakfast every day even if it's not like a smoothie. I can do oatmeal, just anything healthy to start my day. And then the next thing is having no dairy because I have been very bad with eating dairy recently and it just doesn't, my body just doesn't like dairy. So gotta cut that out. I'm gonna try for this week to completely cut it out. So yeah, those are my little goals. So yeah, I would encourage you guys to plan your week as well and set like little goals on Monday. And yeah, I just feel like it's a lot. This feels very attainable. You know what I mean for the next five days. And then you reassess and on next Monday, so. One thing about me is that I cannot leave the house without sunscreen on my face. Like I just can't do it. And if I do, as I forgot or that was just in some circumstance or I couldn't put any sunscreen on, I like literally like try to hide my face. I don't know, I just know that it's good to wear sunscreen every day. So I just feel weird without it now. I just got this new one actually. I just ordered it from the Sephora sale. It's the Kiehl's Everyday Mortarizer 30 SPF. And I've been only using it for like a day now. Maybe two days, like yesterday and the day before. And I really like it. I mean, I think it has like a natural scent to it. I don't think there's any fragrance in it. But it does make my skin feel really good. So I'm gonna keep trying it and see how I like it underneath makeup. But I feel like it would be fun because I just hate those sunscreens that like pill. And also I have like super sensitive skin. So I obviously wanna make sure that what I get is like not fragrance. I don't get like why companies honestly put fragrance in their products because there are so many people out there that we have to fragrance. So it's like why even bother? Like I just don't get why. I get it makes it, it smells good. But like fragrance is just not good for your skin. It's just honestly a pointless ingredient in my opinion. I've never like used anything from Kiehl's before. And I just randomly saw their SPF thing on Sephora and I'm like, oh, I'll try it. I really wanna try Paula's Choice. Their SPFs look really good. The thing that I've been starting to recently do is like also blend it down my neck because I have never been doing that in the past and people have like been saying how important it is to blend it down your neck. So I am starting to do that because I do not want a wrinkly neck. Alrighty, feel protected. Also when I put cream on my face I always make sure to run my eyebrows up like this because it kind of gives them like a laminated effect. Good to go. Okay, let's get going to the gym. It's gonna be a good day. It's so sunny, I'm so happy. All right, here is the gym fit. Set is from Able. Shoes are Nike. This I'm probably gonna throw on cause it's probably gonna be cold but it looks cute over the shoulder. So I have this tote bag with sunglasses because it is sunny. Okay, it is sunny outside today. And yeah, this is like my first time at the new gym here in this area. So we're gonna check it out. See how I like it. I really hope that it's as nice as the one where I used to live because that one was really nice. It's like the same chain. It's just like different location if that makes sense. So I really hope that it's nice but I guess we'll see you today. It was so good. That was like the first time I worked out like in a couple of months to be honest. Like a month and a half I would say. Maybe just like a month, I don't know but it's okay to like take breaks from working out. Like it gets you an unhealthy point and an unhealthy balance when you think that you have to work out 24 seven every single day like seven days a week. Like your body needs rest. And sometimes if you wanna take a month or two off there's no big deal out of it. Like you gotta listen to your body and do what you want to do cause if you force yourself to do something that you don't wanna do and that makes you miserable then you're not gonna be happy and it's no good in forcing yourself. Obviously forcing yourself and pushing yourself are two different things. Sometimes I have to push myself to go to the gym but like I know that like I wanna go I'm just like lazy, you know what I mean?  Like those really rude things we call ourselves. That could become really toxic and like there was a point where I was feeling really disgusting about myself because I was like ew I haven't went to the gym in like a month and a half. Like I'm disgusting. But then I'm like hold on a minute. What am I saying to myself here? And you just kinda gotta make sure that you always just have like a healthy balance and it honestly could get hard especially if you struggle with like body image but like honestly the most important thing is that you're keeping yourself healthy and happy mentally, physically in whatever aspect that is for you because it's gonna look different for everybody. But yeah anyways that was such a good workout. Feels so good to be back in it. I'm just at the grocery store right now actually because I need to pick up some more vegan butter. I've been using normal butter but I have to stop. Like I don't like using normal butter so I'm gonna go pick up some vegan butter and that's all I have planned to pick up so hopefully I don't leave the store with 10 other million things.  I've never done that before but I'm craving like a coffee and a protein shake so I'm gonna mix them together and see what a coca-cola can come up with. It's actually so hot. Like I'm sweating like the air conditioning is on. I didn't even turn off the car to film this because I'm sweating. Like it's hot. It's not just because I finished my workout but like the sun is so hot today. I'm not complaining about that. I love it. Okay, let's go get some butter. I ended up getting the butter plus these two bars. These are called RX bars and they are my favorite like protein bar. They have 12 grams of protein in it but they have like really clean ingredients. Like the ingredients are literally right here. They're really healthy for you. They are quite expensive. Like for these two bars it was $5 which is quite expensive but they are so good and I'm just so bravenous right now and I really just felt like a granola bar. It's basically like eggs, dates and then like a couple other things in here but if you guys ever are looking for like a healthy protein bar, I would definitely suggest these. They're so freaking good. I just made lunch. I made this coffee protein frappuccino. Basically all I did was mix double espresso with milk, maple syrup and then I put in the protein powder and I don't really like it. So I mean, it's fine. I'm still gonna drink it. Anyways, so then I did that and you guys know I've been obsessed with this lately. So little lunch of the day. Okay, so I just had my peanut butter and shake. Now we're going back out. Me and Joel are going to go on a walk because it is like a beautiful day today and so we don't wanna miss out on the opportunity and I honestly don't even have like a lot of sit down work to do today. I was just kind of answering a couple emails on my phone today and then when I get home I'm just gonna do a little bit more sit down work but I gotta take advantage of the beautiful day and since we both work from home this is something I feel like really important especially resetting for the Monday. I wanna start going on more walks and that's like one of my goals. I should have wrote that down in my weekly goals cause I actually wanna make that one of my goals this week is to go on a walk every time that like it's a nice day. So. Hello you guys. So we are unexpectedly going to the, well I'm unexpectedly going to the Olivia Rodrigo concert tonight, Julia had a ticket and she asked me last night and real last minute, real last minute but I was supposed to work today on set. Okay, this is a crazy story. I was supposed to work today on set and she asked me last night and I'm like Julia like at first I was like yes and then I'm like wait, I work tomorrow. I can't just like cancel last minute and then I get a message and it's like you're canceled for tomorrow and let me tell you I've only ever gotten canceled like one other time before this. So this is like, it was a miracle cause she didn't know who else to give the ticket to. So it basically just all worked out. The only thing that didn't work out is I got my period and of course it comes today. Like right after I got canceled, I get my period and it's like it literally tries to sabotage us. Whenever we hang out or have plans for something, it comes. I literally barely go out and I make one plan and my period decides to show up on that exact day. It's actually rude of it. So I was just not feeling good at all. I think not gonna win. I think it's like coming down now but it's just very, very annoying when it comes at the literal worst times it can ever come. Like and it was two days late. Like it was supposed to come two days ago and it held off for today. It purposely did that and I believe that it's purposely trying to sabotage my plans. But anyways, this is my second concert that I'm ever going to in my life. The only other concert that I went to is Len and Stella. No way. Oh my God. That's crazy. I also got these new Sephora beauty blenders. I showed you guys in a haul, but I don't like them. I really don't like them. The real technique beauty blenders are just superior. So I think I'm gonna try to return them. They came in a pack of two but the real technique beauty blenders, you really can't get a better beauty blender than that. I think Julie is using it right now. Yeah, literally this one. They're so good. So much better. And I never knew how good they were until I tried these and I just don't like them as much. No hating it Sephora, but. I'm not gonna say that's scary for this. I'm really scared. I'm scared. I'm just gonna keep doing this. Yeah, I'm gonna say I'm like, I'm gonna stop right now. I'm just gonna look around. This is broad because I don't want to spill it and I'm sorry for the rest of this. Is it worth it? I'm just gonna keep doing this. Okay, are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Okay. It almost can be good. That is really good. Oh my God. I'm gonna make sense because like I've listened to like her whole album and it takes me like a drive to work with to look like almost through. I know a lot of songs. Yeah. Not that many. I feel like she's only gonna be on stage for like, maybe like an hour and a half. Well, she'll probably take time to do it through a set so like we'll work out like an hour and a half. Yeah, yeah. True. I feel like maybe a team. Actually, as all the openers done. Yeah, I think it's only one of this. It's not yet one. Princess Pauly, Jeans, Chien, Leather, Blazer, Princess Pauly. You're right. Pau, Eurythia, like Blackbeard, I love Eurythia. Jeans, Dara. Also Dara. Dara, Blazer. They look the exact same. One of you looks different. These are my open details. My top is from Eurythia. My jeans are from Dara. And my shoes are from Converse, it's my comfort one. Top is from Dara. Okay, four.