Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. So last week I made a video about the company Cepheid and their parent company, Danaher's, amazing but expensive tuberculosis tests. And like minutes ago, as I'm recording this, USAID, the Global Fund and the Stop TB partnership issued a joint statement saying that Danaher's standard TB cartridge would reduce in price from $10 to $7.97, which isn't the 50% reduction we hoped for, but is extremely, extremely significant. And it's significant in part because Danaher is committed to making no profit in poor countries from their standard TB cartridge. Also, I've heard that Danaher is committed to allowing a third party to come in and verify their at-cost pricing and to do so on a regular basis so that if the cost of manufacturing goes down, the cost of the test will too. Also, Danaher just agreed to improved maintenance conditions, making it easier to fix the gene expert tests when they break. All of this is amazing news. Just to state the obvious, this is really important progress for those living with and fighting TB and it's a big win for our community as well as the folks we've worked in deep partnership with, many of whom have been involved in this fight for years, Doctors Without Borders, the Treatment Action Group, and Partners in Health, among others. Here's why it's a big deal. Let's say Cepheid sells 10 million of these cartridges per year at the reduced price. Over a decade, that will save the world's most impoverished communities $200 million. But I know it's easy to think about this stuff in terms of numbers or dollars, but I also want to think about it in terms of people's individual experiences. Like last week on Vlogbrothers, we hosted a live stream that included one of my heroes, the TB survivor and activist Fumeza Tisile, whose TB took over a month to diagnose. Because this saw the situation I was in, I mean, I was like my lowest weight, 32 kg, not sure what it is in pounds in America. About 70. It's very thin. So they said I must do a chest X-ray and then I go to another clinic to get a chest X-ray and then I was diagnosed through the chest X-ray. And because she was only diagnosed via chest X-ray, her doctors didn't know that she had drug resistant TB and so she was put on the wrong drug regimen at first and eventually she was in continuous treatment for over three and a half years, during which she had to take over 20,000 pills. And if Fumeza had been diagnosed immediately and accurately with a gene expert test, she could have been spared so much suffering. She might not have lost her hearing or had to go through years of disabling illness. That's the kind of change in individual lives less expensive gene expert tests can bring. And so when we talk about millions more tests being available, we're really talking about the opportunity to help transform millions of lives for the better. Now despite all this, I do still have some mixed feelings. Like I take Danahar at their word that $7.97 is their cost but I look at the cost of the XDR, the extensively drug resistant tuberculosis test and I just wish that had also reduced in price. And I do hope that eventually Cepheid and Danahar may take a similar approach with their XDR cartridges as they have with their standard ones because I just think it would be such good news for patients and also for the world because it would help us to prevent the most dangerous strains of TB. Also, I've heard that some folks involved in this including potentially people in our community have resorted to name calling and even threats toward people who work at these companies. And I wanna be very clear that is unacceptable. It is a total violation of our community's guidelines for activism and also it makes everything worse. So please, and I realize I'm talking to a tiny minority of people here, but please don't do that ever. I've experienced those threats and all they make me feel is resentment and fear and anger which makes mutual understanding and compromise vastly more difficult. So yeah, there are definitely some complicated feelings here and I do think we should continue to advocate for lower cost diagnostics, especially for those XDR TB cartridges. But we need to do that in a way that is polite and respectful and also reflects the reality that these companies have made choices that expand access to diagnostics for the people who need them most. So yeah, the work is definitely not finished. Really, it's just beginning this week. I'm gonna be in New York to continue conversations about tuberculosis at the United Nations, which is a weird thing to say. Also, on Friday, I'm gonna be part of an author event at NYU with some of my heroes and it's free. You should come, link in the doobly-doo. Hank, the last thing I wanna say is this. Early in 2007, way back when we were just beginning Brotherhood 2.0, I was hospitalized for an infection between my eye and my brain. And Hank, you ask people in our community to take pictures of them with stuff on their heads to cheer me up and of the 400 or so people who regularly watch those videos, about 350 people sent in pictures. And this was before it was easy to send digital pictures. This was before the iPhone. And when I was in this hospital bed watching that video, seeing all these people with ridiculous stuff on their heads, it was the first time when I thought, my God, this community has a lot of energy in it. They want to do interesting stuff together. I just remember thinking, this feels like it could be really special. And so it has proven to be. I mean, the idea that 16 and a half years later, the organizational and creative talents of Nerdfighteria would be harnessed together, not to cheer up one guy in a hospital, but to expand TB treatment and diagnostics to millions. That is awesome. I am genuinely in awe of you and you are truly made of awesome. Hank, I just wanna leave you with three words that I've had to learn over and over again, these last 17 years, never underestimate Nerdfighteria. I'll see you on Friday.


Well, I'm excited to be in God's word with you today. I hope that you guys are as well. And if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to John chapter 17? And today I wanna talk about the importance of unity in the family. I wanna share a message with you that I'm calling unity in the family. We're gonna talk about the importance of having unity in the family of God. Let's pray. God, we come before you right now and we ask that you would meet each and every single one of us here. As if today, God, you would speak to each one of us individually as if this message was handcrafted for us personally. Lord, would we be empowered knowing that you are with us, that you go before us? And Lord, that you are speaking to us more than hearing from a man or from a pastor. God, we desire to hear your voice. And so we pray that by your spirit, you would speak to us today in a powerful way. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. You don't have to look very far or to wonder a lot about our country. Because as you look at our country, it's easy to see that our nation, America, is divided. And our country is divided over so many different things. How to deal with race, how to respond to race, how to deal with the problems of the pandemic, what to do with the economy, our nation is divided over political leaders. And as you look at what's taking place in America today, division is everywhere. And as our culture, our society is divided, so too the church is following suit. The more divided America becomes, it seems that the church is following the tides of the culture and society and becoming more divided as the body of Christ. Do we sing or do we not sing? Do we meet indoors or do we meet outdoors? Do we meet in person or do we continue online only? And there's so much debate about and everyone has a different opinion on everything. Everyone thinks of something, it has opinion on everything. And now because of that, the church seems to be more divided than ever before over all of these things.  And in John chapter 17, we are given a glimpse of God's heart for the church presently, perhaps in a greater way than any other place in the Bible. For in John chapter 17, we see the prayer of Jesus. It's the night before his crucifixion. He just gave the upper room discourse, his last teachings to his disciples. Now, after he's done teaching, he pulls away and he begins to pray for his disciples, but included in that prayer is a prayer for the church today. It's John chapter 17, verse 20. Jesus says, I'm praying not only for these disciples, those who are with him, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. That's you and me, the church today. We've heard the message as God has given the message to the writers of the epistles. As he gave the message in the word of God, we've read the word of God, we heard the word of God and faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And so now we've placed our faith in God, we believe in God. And now as we do, Jesus prays for those who will believe in their message. He says, here's his prayer in verse 21. I pray, his one desire, his one singular prayer for the church of today is this, that they will all be one. And Jesus says, just as you and I are one, Jesus and the Father were one, one God and three people, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God. There was a unity and harmony and because there was a unity and harmony between the Son and the Father as one God, Jesus was able to accomplish the plan of the Father in redeeming humanity. Jesus prayed in the garden shortly after this, Father, not my will be done, but your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as it pertains to fulfilling the plan and purpose that Jesus came to earth to redeem humanity. Jesus was submitted to the will of the Father, although one and equal, Jesus followed the Father's leading and God's plan. There was a unity and harmony and because of that unity and because of that harmony, because of the oneness that they had together, God's purpose and plan for Jesus coming to earth was able to be accomplished solely because of the unity between God, the Father and God, the Son. And Jesus said, just as you and I are one, as you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. The night before Jesus finishes his earthly ministry, he offers this prayer, his desire, his heart is revealed for the church, those who would come after him, who would believe in the message that was given by him. And his heart, his desire is that his family, the family of God, the believers, what the Bible calls the body of Christ would be united, would be one. Jesus' heart is that the church would be undivided, unified in cause and one. That was Christ's heart for this church. And so today I want to share with you three important biblical reasons why Jesus prays for unity in the family. First, number one, the example to society. Jesus prays for unity in the body so that we would be the example to society. And the reason why is because it was God's will and intention always for the church to be the example to the culture and society around, never the other way around. And in a culture and society today that finds itself completely divided over everything, they are looking and wondering where to find truth and unity. And that is why as long as there is division in the house of God on Sunday, there's going to be division and chaos in the nation on Monday. God always starts with his people and what he does with his people, he uses as an example to the nation. That's why God doesn't point his finger at the White House. No, God points his finger at what's happening within his own house. And so God dealing with his family, his prayer, his heart is for unity to have a beautiful harmony and the reason is given in the end of verse 21, so that the world will believe you sent me. The enemy wants to discredit the message of salvation through a family that's fighting among itself. You see, right now the world is looking for something and when the world looks into the windows of the church, we have an opportunity perhaps today more than ever before for Christ to be seen in our lives. Right now as people are looking and wondering the greatest evidence that you have in your life of God is a changed life. Now you can argue with people theologically, you can debate with people doctrinally over the existence of God, you can give them the book, A Case for Christ, and give them all the evidence and they can say, well, I don't believe that. And you can argue with them and they can argue with you, but the one undeniable truth of the existence of God is your life that's changed. That's what Paul the Apostle said when he was telling his Jewish brothers about God and how Jesus Christ is the Messiah, he would use his own testimony, his changed life as the ultimate evidence. When they wouldn't believe everything else that he shared, he said, well, you know who I was. I was the most zealous. I was the young member of the Sanhedrin. I was the one going around and imprisoning and even sometimes putting Christians to death. And now I am following the one whom I was persecuting. The one undeniable, inarguable proof of the existence of God is your life. When people look at you and they say, something's different about you. Maybe that's happened before in your life where people say, man, you're not the same guy that I used to know. You don't talk the same way. You don't do the same things. You're not at that club or that bar. You're not going there. You're not doing everything else that the world does that all of us used to do. Something's changed in your life. And that change in your life, the power of God to save us and then transform us to be more like him is the greatest evidence to an unbeliever that there is a God. It's the difference in your life. Something's different about you. And for the church, the greatest evidence that God is present here with us and in our lives and moving in the church, the greatest evidence of that is the difference of followers of Christ versus those who are in the world or unbelievers. Different from the culture, different from society. But what happens when a church is divided is that there is now no difference between the church and the world. And so unbelievers, as they are looking in, wondering what's different about you guys, they aren't seeing the difference that needs to be had within the church in order for them to realize that God is real. Now the enemy wants to discredit the message of salvation through a family fighting among itself. And when the family of God is fighting among itself, unbelievers that are watching and looking at this are only gonna say, I don't wanna be a part of that family. I remember growing up, going over to a friend's house. And I'll remember sitting at the dinner table and all of the siblings were fighting with each other and then the parents started fighting with each other and then the parents started fighting with the kids and the kids started fighting with the parents and everyone started yelling at each other and I was sitting there watching this whole thing break out and I just began to sink in my seat. Like, and I was thinking, how can I get out of here? I want nothing to do with this family. This is not what I want to be a part of. I think it's so true when it comes to the family of God. When the family is fighting with itself and unbelievers who aren't a part of the family but are sitting down at the table, if you will, beginning to have communion with God and fellowship with his people as they watch and they look what's happening. What kind of example are we being? Do they see Christ and unity in the oneness or do they see division and fighting? You see what the world needs, what society needs more than ever before, right now is a church united. Abraham, the father of faith, he understood this important principle of being an example to society. In Genesis chapter 13, Abraham and his nephew who was like a son to him, Lot, they were being blessed by God and they both had flocks that were flourishing and because their flocks were flourishing, the land couldn't support the growth of both of their flocks. Flocks in that day would be equivalent to stocks in this day. So as your flocks would grow, it's like stocks growing, your wealth is increasing. But now their flocks were being limited because there wasn't enough land to support both the flocks. So the herdsmen, those that were a part of the household, were fighting with each other and that's where we pick it up in Genesis 13, verse seven. It says disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abraham who later becomes known as Abraham and Lot. And here's a parenthetical insert that's important key to the story. At that time, Canaanites and Parasites were also living in the land. So verse eight, finally, Abram said to Lot, let's not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen. After all, we are close relatives. In other words, we ought not to be fighting. Our households ought to be getting along because we're family. Me casa, sue casa. We ought to be family. And this isn't good. This should not be taking place because the Canaanites and Parasites are also living in the land, possibly a few termites as well.  And so Abram realizes as the families are fighting, it's not a good example because those who aren't a part of the family, of Abraham's family, are in the land as well and they're watching. They're attending the flocks in the same places. They're going to the same job sites. They're working the same jobs and they're in the same communities and they're at the same grocery stores. They're at the same Home Depot picking up some replacement parts for their flock and they're going to the same spots but then they see constant turmoil and it's a bad example of Abram's family name. There are unbelievers watching the family of God, the family of faith. They are looking for something that society doesn't offer but what does it say to an unbelieving world when the church is just as divided over issues that the world is? What it says is that the church is no different from the world and God's intention was never for individual uniqueness to cause any family member to forget what family they belong to. No ethnicity, no race, no color, no nationality, no social status, no neighborhood, no part of the block that you're from, nothing should ever cause anyone by their individual uniquenesses to forget what family they belong to. And so Abram realized that they needed to be a better example to those who were not a part of the family of faith as they were watching. So the question is what kind of example are you being in the family of faith? You see the world is watching Christians fight among themselves, oftentimes publicly with other Christians and you might say, Pastor, I haven't punched somebody in like two weeks, I'm doing good but I'm not talking about a physical altercation. But what I do see as a pastor in the church is people that claim the name of Christ as Christians, arguing and fighting with other Christians and the platform that I see this taking place most on is social media. And I'll see one person post something and then I'll see another person chime in and then I'll see the bantering go back and forth, arguing. And what does it accomplish? Nothing. I've never seen in all of my days watching this take place, I've never seen one person share something publicly because they're convicted on that point and someone else come in and share some stats and some facts from their perspective. And then the person who posted it publicly say, you know what, you're so right.  It never happens. No, the reason why is because it's public and when it's public, there's something called pride involved and no one wants to be swayed, not because of your points or anything, but because pride is in the way. Now, I'm not saying don't have conversations with people, it's important and because of unity is important, I'm not saying uniformity. Uniformity is everybody is the same and thinks the same way and that's not ever gonna be the case because we all come from different places, different backgrounds with different perspectives, but what it does is it damages the name of God, the family name of Jesus when Christians are fighting publicly with other Christians and the unbelievers are sitting on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok if you're really hip, posting the Michael Jackson meme eating popcorn. If you know what I'm talking about, spectating the verbal brawl that's taking place and ought not to be. Now, in my family, we've had problems, we've had things to deal with. There was time that a brother or a sister was in error and there was correction that needed to be given either by the parents in my family or by a sibling, but what was our family business and the places where we missed the mark, it stayed in our family. We never made a public spectacle about our own family issues. We dealt with it as a family and the differences that we had as a family stayed within our family and it ought to be in the same way as Christians when we make a public spectacle, we are actually tainting the name of God because it avails nothing. Proverbs 26, verse four puts it this way, don't answer foolish arguments of fools. Now you know why I love the Bible.  Now, if someone says something and you don't respond that just shows that you are above it. But when someone says something and you do respond it puts them above you. So many times people are on usually social media and if you don't have social media or wondering what social media is just hang on for a minute, we'll get back to something that you can understand. But for now, a lot of times people throw out little hooks. They're fishing.     I'm gonna take care of that right now and you bite the bait.  And then now you're hooked, now you're in this big debate and all you've done is accomplished nothing. Now have the conversations but have you ever heard of a phone call? Have you ever heard of a, hey, let's get a cup of coffee. I'm pretty passionate about this topic. I'd love to talk with you more about it. That's how you win people over. But by debating with people publicly for the unbelieving world to see, it accomplishes nothing except tainting the name of God.  Don't bite the bait.    They've been that way their whole lives. And when you argue with them, they have more experience in things that are idiotic and we are in the family of God and there is more that unites us than divides us. We have the blood of Jesus Christ. We are all sinners in need of a savior. No, growing up, I grew up in Orange County most of my life but I'm a Dodger fan. Any Dodger fans out there? We know it's God's chosen team. People say, well, what about the angels? Stop, those are fallen angels. Look at their record.  And someone said, amen, that's the first amen that I got was I bleed blue. And as the family of God, we all have the same blood.  That's our common ground. We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of God's standard of perfection. We are all in need of a savior. And for those that have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness of our sins and the hope of heaven.  So you might as well start getting along now because you're gonna be together for a very, very long time. And when we, the church, which is filled with all sorts of different kinds of people with different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different economic statuses, different classes, different backgrounds, different colors are all united, different looking people having a beautiful harmony and unity, then, and it's then as the church, we are the example to the culture of what you need. It is Jesus Christ. But if we remain divided or allow division to take place, then the enemy destroys the message of salvation and people don't see it. Right now society needs the church more than ever before. That's why Pastor David has taken a stand and I love his convictions. As he stands upon the word of God and listens to the leading of the Holy Spirit in his life, realizes the importance of the church in our society when unbelieving politicians don't understand the importance of it. Right now suicide is an all-time high. Right now violence in the home at an all-time high. Alcohol abuse, all-time high. Prescription drug abuse, all-time high. Illicit drug abuse, all-time high. All of these things in culture seem to be unraveling as we watch a world collapsing. And no wonder it's taking place at a time that it was demanded by the churches to stay closed. The church is important. Can I put it this way? The church is essential. And what our society needs so desperately is to see the message of Jesus Christ and they can hear it more clearly when the church remains in unity. And it will allow people to be, to want to be a part of God's family. The second thing that I wanna share with you today, the important biblical reason why Jesus prays for unity in the family is because Jesus understands, number two, the damage of disunity. Matthew chapter 12 verse 25, Jesus said it this way, any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. Aesop, who was an ancient Greek writer and historian, you've perhaps have heard of Aesop's fables. He was around 600 years before Christ. And in his stories, his fables that he wrote, he wrote a story of four oxen and a lion. And in his story, there was four oxen that would remain together as they would meander throughout the fields. As they would graze, they would always remain united. And any time the lion would attack the four oxen, they would put their tails together back to back and side to side. So whatever angle the lion would attack, he would be met by the horns of the oxen, thus remaining safe from the attacks of the lion. But in this fable, it goes on to say that after a while, the oxen fell feuding.  Because the oxes found themselves divided. And then they found themselves in the four corners of the field separated because that's what happens after division. There's a separation. And now the lion, seeing the division came in was able to take the oxen down one by one until all of them fell. And so Asop ends that fable with this phrase, united we stand, divided we fall. Peter wrote in 1 Peter chapter five, verse eight, be sober, be alerts, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  It's when we are divided. Now throughout the Bible, the church, the family of God is likened to a body. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12, just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Paul likens the family of God to the anatomy of a human body. Different people, different parts, different purposes, but in unity and harmony form one body. Now, if the body isn't working together properly, it is a body that is health is failing, a body that is falling apart. You know, when you have a bum knee and you can't really walk the way you wanna walk, your hip ends up hurting, your back goes out everything starts falling apart because the body doesn't work together in the way that it should be and the body can't do what the body could accomplish because the body isn't working together. The illustration is obvious. The same is true for the body of Christ. When the body of Christ isn't working together in harmony and unity, it won't accomplish all that God has created it to be. Do you realize when the human body isn't working together? It's what science calls cancer. Cell-to-cell communication, when a cell no longer will communicate with another cell, that is what science deems as a cancerous cell. And the cancerous cell begins to have other cells that cut off communication and divide from the rest of the cells and that division causes cancer. And I think most of us, if not all of us, have seen the ravaging effect of cancer on the human body. We know what it does. It shrinks the body down and then the body eventually and ultimately fails. And so too, cancer in the body of Christ will cause any church body to shrink and to dwindle until it ultimately fails and dies. And so God prays for unity in his family. His heart is that his church would be one because he knows the damages of disunity in the body. A body, a human body divided will fail. A church divided will falter and a house divided will fall. That's why perhaps the greatest tactic of our enemy is to cause division.  The enemy has been using the tactic of dividing from the beginning of time. Now, Alexander the Great, who was perhaps one of the greatest military leaders of all time, was coined with the military strategy of dividing and conquer. It's interesting that Alexander the Great was influenced in a great way a huge fan of Greek culture and perhaps even learned the strategy divided and conquer from Aesop's fables of the oxen and the lion that when they were divided, they fell. Perhaps that's why Alexander the Great on the front of the coin that he was on was pictured with his head with a lion's head over his head, identifying with a lion that would divide and then conquer. And so too, Satan uses the same strategy as the roaring lion seeking to divide the body, divide the family, divide the marriage so that he can conquer and bring it down and do ultimately what he does best, rob, steal and destroy. And so Satan has been using that strategy from the beginning of time. You can go all the way back to the beginning, the book of Genesis, which literally means the beginnings. And you can go to Genesis chapter three where you see Adam and Eve sent out from the Garden of Eden and cast out because of their disobedience to God. They were divided from the communion and walking and talking in relationship in the natural grown sanctuary that God had grown for them to dwell in. It was the first tabernacle. And Adam and Eve were cast out from that dwelling place of meeting God in a special way because of their sin. You fast forward to Genesis chapter 10. You have the table of nations. It's a chapter of 70 generations from Noah and his family after the flood and how the world was repopulated. But you can just go a couple generations after Noah, his family, Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, a couple generations in that family. And you come to Genesis chapter 10 verse 25 and it says, Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg, which means division. For during his lifetime, the people of the world were divided. Then Genesis chapter 11, you have the story of the Tower of Babel where Nimrod, who is a type of the antichrist, was trying to unify the people in disobedience and rebellion to God in another way. And because of their disobedience to God, they found themselves divided, smote in with different tongues, different languages. And because of that, the division that we see in our world today is from the curse that was given all the way back in the beginning days from the Tower of Babel. That's why you can talk to somebody. And it seems like you're not connecting. You can share the stats and the facts and all these things, but you just don't seem to connect with them. It's because like we're almost speaking a different language because that's the curse on the world from the Tower of Babel because of their disobedience to God. And you see division taking place throughout world history. And so many things help drive division in the family and the devil will use whatever he can possibly use to cause more division. He'll use uncertainty. Seems to be a lot of that lately, especially earlier in this year of what's gonna happen with the pandemic, uncertainty of what's gonna happen with my job, uncertainty of what's gonna happen with my family, a lot of uncertainty and the enemy will use uncertainty to create more division. Not only uncertainty, but anger, past hurts, resentment. Fear is a big one right now. The enemy will use fear to divide. Misunderstandings, greed, pride. The enemy will use whatever is at his disposal to divide, to conquer. And that's why ASOP's closing line is this. United we stand, divided we fall.  We need to stand for God. And the third and final important biblical reason that Jesus prays for unity is number three because God wants victory in the family. Victory in the family.  Victory, winning, doing well. God wants his family to have victory. No doubt that would have been on David's mind as he penned his hit song bestselling chart topping single Psalms 133 verse one. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is good for the body to be working together in unity. It's good. Unity is so important because when we are united in Christ for the work of God, for the work he is calling us to, we will be able to complete that which God has called us to. But if we are divided, if we don't stand together, we will never be the church, not just Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, but the church as the entire body of Christ, we will never be the church accomplishing what God wants the church to accomplish in such a time as this if we remain divided. To illustrate this closing point, I thought it would be a great idea because I like using visual illustrations. I'm a visual learner. So when I see something visually, it sticks with me, it helps me. And I thought about a good closing illustration for this.  You ever see those really big ones that like 30 guys get on each side of it? And I was gonna maybe bring up 20 guys on one side and 20 of the strongest Calvary Chapel Chino Valley men on the other side. Maybe some of the ladies too. I heard ladies at Calvary Chino Valley don't mess around. They get down and have a giant tug-of-war battle because here's what you would see. You would see a bunch of men on this side of the stage pulling that way and a bunch of men on this side of the stage pulling that way. And as they're pulling against each other, here's what's gonna happen. Neither of those groups are gonna go anywhere quickly. They're relatively gonna be at a stand still. You're thinking right now, not if I was on one side. You won't go anywhere quickly when you're pulling against each other. And that's what the church looks like a lot of times. One group on this side, you need to get on our side. You need to look at it this way. You need to see it this way. And then the other group on the other side, no, get on this side. Come to this side. Come to the dark side. Get over here. And then the church is fighting and pulling against each other. And a church that is divided that's pulling against each other is powerless to go where God has called us to go, to accomplish what God has called us to accomplish and be the church that God has called us to be. But when we as a church drop the ropes literally of disunity and begin to pull together in harmony, I would bring all the guys from one side and put them on the other side. And then look what happens. The church is able to go where it needs to go and nothing will be able to stop God from doing what he does best with his followers when they are fully sold out for him. Following God's leading and God's guiding. When we pull together, we can accomplish all that God has called us to accomplish and literally nothing stopping or holding us back. No resistance to pursue all that God has called us to pursue. So if Jesus prayed for us to have unity because he wants us to be the example to society because God knows the damage of disunity and because God wants there to be victory in his family then the question I wanna leave you with is how do we have unity? Unity is not uniformity. It's not, you know, we all need to be the same. We all need to talk the same way. We all need to dress the same way. We all need to look the same way. It's not uniformity in the family of God. It's unity in the family of God. Well then how do we have unity if we are all different? Acts chapter two, we see a group of a hundred believers who in that group of a hundred people had plenty of their own differences but they were together for 10 days praying. It was a 10 day long prayer meeting. You think an hour and 25 minute service is long. Like when's this thing gonna wrap up? I'm getting hungry. We'll go get some manudo. A's praying, seeking the Lord and something beautiful took place in that moment. No longer was it saying God, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven but it's God, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And they began praying and seeking the will of God. Not what I want, not my opinion, not my perspective, not my historical background, not what I think should be done in my family or in the church or in the leadership or in that ministry or in my workplace. Not what I think but in prayer, there's a beautiful dynamic that takes place. The purpose of prayer is to tune our hearts and minds to the will of God. Many people treat prayer as a way to get our will done with God as if he was a genie in a bottle.  Okay, go do it, God. But the purpose of prayer isn't to tell God what to do, it's to tune our ears, our minds, our hearts, our lives to the will of God. That's why when Jesus taught us to pray, he said, thy will be done, not my will be done. And because Jesus prayed in the garden that very prayer, Lord, if there's any way that this cup could pass from me, then let it pass. But nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. And so Jesus teaches us how to pray. It's about having Christ's purpose be carried out through our lives and to find out how we can be in tune with that. And now those hundred believers that were in that upper room, as they were praying and seeking the Lord, it was when they were praying for 10 days, it says in Acts chapter two, they were all in one accord, that 120 believers that day in one accord, one accord. Now this is usually when pastors will use some cheesy joke, like all 120 people packed into one Honda Accord. But I won't go there, I won't say that joke. But one accord literally means like a rope of many different threads woven together and strong unified in purpose. They were together in one purpose for God's will to be done. And it was when they were in unity in harmony because prayer produces unity. In Acts chapter two, the spirit of God was poured out on those 120 believers that day. And they began to speak in tongues. And all of the language that they were speaking at that time, there was people from all around the world that were gathering perhaps even 3 million in number for that feast that was taking place in Jerusalem. And they heard their native languages being spoken. It's like if you've ever traveled to a foreign country where you didn't speak the language and you were there for some time and all you wanted to do is to talk to somebody that could speak your language, but you couldn't communicate with just about anybody.  That's what it was like for them in Jerusalem. They heard their native language being spoken. And so they came and it says that they all heard the same message. As they were speaking different languages given by God, listen, there's a way to reverse the curse from Genesis chapter 11, the Tower of Babel. As the world was cursed with disunity, there's one thing as they were smitten with different languages so they couldn't be on the same page, it was 2,000 years later that the spirit of God was poured out and those same languages that caused disunity, now our language is given by the spirit to bring back unity. And the curse was reversed when the spirit of God was poured out in the church. And so we see the church, the early church was united because prayer produces unity. They were united in prayer. They were united in purpose. They were united in speech. People heard in unity. And God would use that 120 believers to change the world and to make this place a world that will never be the same. And I wonder what God could do with a group of this size in unity and harmony for the same purpose.  And where the spirit of God comes in, unity always follows. If anything will save our nation, if anything will save this world, what this world needs is a revival, the spirit of God to be poured out in ways that it's never seen before. But here's how revival starts. It starts in the life of one person, the heart of one person. And when that one person is on fire for God, then the people around them are lit up.  No doubt that when the spirit was poured out in Acts chapter two, it says that there was flames of fire upon their head. They were literally on fire for Jesus. And I wonder what God can do with a church that stays united together upon the word of God, upon the leading of the Holy Spirit, as we invite the Holy Spirit in to lead and guide the church because God's not gonna tell one person one thing and tell somebody else another thing, God doesn't work that way. And when we tune our ears to what the spirit is speaking, we will all be on the same page. And that's why I'm so thankful that Pastor David seeks the Lord and he listens to what God tells him to do and he stands by his convictions. And I'm thankful that he listens to the spirit of God as the spirit leads this church. This church is gonna continue to accomplish the great things that God has established, not only in this local community, not only through the Chino Valley, but listen, Romans chapter one, Paul said in verse 13 that he thanks God for the church in Rome because their faith is talked about all around the world. Let me tell you this, your faith here at Calvary Chapel Chino Valley is talked about in churches all around the world because of the impact that you guys have as you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And I thank God for Pastor David and Marie, I thank God for this church as an example to the community and to the world of a church that follows Jesus Christ. What we need is to continue to operate in the Holy Spirit, following what the Holy Spirit wants to do.  Whatever was divided, whatever was destroyed, you bring God in and unity and oneness follows because where the spirit of God is, there is unity. Right now in our world, there's all sorts of racial tensions, political tensions, pandemic tensions. What we need is unity in the body of Christ. It doesn't matter your political party. It doesn't matter the color of your skin. We are all in need of the same blood of Jesus Christ. We are all sinners in need of a savior. And that is our common ground. For the purpose and the plan that God has created us for. So let's follow the leading of the spirit. Let's not allow the enemy to come in, Rob still destroyed by causing division. Let's be a church that is the example to society. Let's continue to be the church knowing the damage of disunity. And let's continue to be the church that has victory in the family. In Jesus name, amen. Father, we pray now for unity in the body of Christ. We pray Lord that what the enemy wants to use to Rob still destroyed to divide. Lord would only unite us that much further. God, I pray for this church specifically that we would be able to stand firm and stand our ground because we stand on the word of God. Lord with all different kinds of people with all different backgrounds and the church of this size Lord all different opinions and differing things. But Lord I pray that there would be a beautiful unity taking place so that the world that doesn't see a difference anywhere else could see the difference in your family so that they would wanna be a part of it. So that those who would see would believe in the message of Jesus Christ. And I thank you God for the unity in this family. And I pray for your spirit to continue to be poured out in a mighty and powerful way that you would continue to use this church to change the world. With head bowed and eyes closed out of respect for those around you. Maybe some here today aren't a part of the family of God. But what you need to know is that the invitation to be a part of God's family is for everyone.  The invitation for adoption is open to anyone. The opportunity to be redeemed to be restored to be forgiven of your sin to be made right with God to find a purpose and plan for your life and ultimately having the hope of heaven knowing that Christ is preparing a place for you in heaven is given to his children. And he offers that gift to you today to be a part of his family. And I wanna give you an opportunity to also receive what Christ has done on the cross for you.  The Bible declares that for all that are in Christ Jesus all the older passed away, behold all things become new. Now I wanna give you an opportunity today to have a new start to leave these doors different from the way that you came in to have Jesus Christ his spirit dwelling within you and making you into the person he's created you to be. And if today you wanna get right with Jesus Christ, he's knocking on the door of your heart right now. All you have to do is open your heart to him. You might say pastor, how do I do that? The Bible says that if you believe in him with your heart and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord with your mouth that you will be saved. And I wanna give you an opportunity to do that today to give your life and surrender your life to Jesus Christ and to be made part of the family of God with heads bowed and eyes closed. If that's you today you would like to be a part of Christ's family. I wanna lead you in a very simple prayer of confessing him as your Lord and Savior.  Listen, there's nothing to be ashamed of.  I need your forgiveness. I need your healing.  You might say well why do I need to stand? Because whenever Jesus calls someone to follow him he calls them to follow him publicly. Jesus wasn't embarrassed to hang nakedly on the cross to die for your sins nor should we be embarrassed to receive the forgiveness he offers. And we wanna give you an opportunity today to stand for Jesus in church because if you can't stand for Jesus in church you can't stand for Jesus outside of church.  And when you stand to your feet I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of giving your life to Jesus Christ. One, Jesus loves you. Two, he died for you. Three, stand now and receive the forgiveness he offers to you. Praise the Lord. Any others right now you wanna join these that are standing you raised your hand you stand now too. We're gonna lead you in this prayer of giving your life to Jesus Christ.  Pray this Lord Jesus forgive me of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me.  Take me. Use me for your glory.  I love you. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus name. Amen. Welcome to the family of God. Let's all stand together. Let's put our hands together. Best decision of your life.


doing today. I'm your host Rich and we have Rich T. Delilah with our very special guest, the CEO of APRU, Steve Levely. How you doing today Steve? I'm good Rich. Thanks for having me. Hey, thank you for joining us. Very excited to learn more about your company. Steve, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with APRU. Sure. I'm a born and raised here in Hamilton, Ontario. So that's where I grew up. I grew up. So I know I've aged down very well. Oh, cool. Yeah. And boomerang right back here over time, but grew up here and started off my whole life in sales. So sales was the kickoff of my business career and did well through my sales career and eventually landed into like a marketing agency and was doing some work from a sales perspective into marketing and actually came up with a concept about actually building a rewards program into, you know, to the sports entertainment space, pitched a VC in Ottawa. And instead of them funding and helping me build a business, they connected me to people in their network that had bought a gift card loyalty company. And so instead of funding, they said, you know what, instead of doing this with us and us funding, there's guys in our network that just bought a gift card loyalty company and they're looking for somebody like yourself that knows how to commercialize it. You should meet them. So I joined those guys in 2012 on the birth of an RTO. So they took this gift loyalty company and this mining company through it together to take the business public and and brought in a bunch of talent like myself to kind of commit and grow the business. Wow. Well, congratulations on all your success. I also come from the sales background. So I understand how that can lead to so many different things. And I always tell people, you know, I can give you a fish and you can eat for a day or I can teach you to fish and you can eat for a lifetime. That's the attitude of a salesperson. And you know, salespeople also have stickity because you have to learn how to take note. So I like the fact that you have that background. It shows me, it tells me a lot about you. Now, you've also recently announced your 5,400th customer. Congratulations. That's huge. That's a huge customer base. Can you tell us what are some of your milestones that actually hit in 2021 and what are some of the goals that you plan to hit by the end of this year? Sure. You know, understanding a crew, what we are as a company, we're a consolidator in the industry. So we're consolidating gift card and loyalty companies, so marketing companies, point of sale companies and payments companies. So that whole ecosystem, we're consolidating together. So really what we are as a company, we're a consolidator for that space. So we bought our 11th company this year. Right. So we bought our 11th company through the process since I've taken over. So I took over as CEO seven years ago. So a big milestone process buying our 11th acquisition and then later our 12th acquisition whenever. So we continue to sort of keep acquiring into the space. So that was kind of big for us. On our marketing business, we also saw a milestone with regards to even our digital gifting, things like COVID have happened. Now 20% of our customers are doing digital gift carding. So the digital thing is very real, where now 20% of our clients are actually embracing digital. So that was another big one. But with us being a consolidator and an inquire of multiple assets that are out there, so we're always buying in the space. A big thing for us organically is cross-sell upsell. So yes, we buy companies and we normalize them. We bring them to our environment, we reduce costs, we move to our single platform, but really where the growth is is when you cross-sell and upsell services. So we've had a record year on cross-selling and upselling this year because we've diversified our business beyond just marketing and payment and point of sale. So we've had a record year with regards to diversification across our products and the cross-sell upsell work. So that's the stuff that we're proud of, continuing to acquire, continuing to normalize swiftly, but seeing digital get embraced and seeing the cross-sell upsell working for us is what's driving a lot of our growth. Steve here at Rich TV Live, we love to understand the fundamentals of the company and we love to understand the management behind the deals. Can you talk a little bit about the management involved with ACRU, especially their past success in the public markets and merchant advertising? Sure. I mentioned a bit about the acquisition side of our business and what comes with acquisition comes talent sometimes. You're not just buying technology and customers, you're sometimes acquiring talent. Two of our directors are actually from acquisitions. So we bought companies in the marketing space and people from those businesses are now directors at our company here and we've got a team lead and a couple directors. Some of our leadership has come directly from acquisition, but then from a public market standpoint, there's myself that has been exposed over the last seven years since I've become CEO of the business, but also our new CFO. We made a change at the CFO level this year and our new CFO comes with a lot of background. He's pretty much been on every index that's out there and so he's got a world of knowledge and history with regards to the capital markets. So that becomes kind of this well-rounded experience in marketing and also experience in capital markets with the biggest thing being our board of directors. Our board of directors is made up of a lot of people that have a lot of capital markets and investment background that's sort of guiding and leading our capital allocation strategy. Fantastic. Now here at Rich DG Live, we believe that the biggest catalyst for any company is revenue. So people that one of the biggest things investors focus on these days is also revenue. You guys have built a pretty good customer base. We talked about it, 5,400 customers. Can you explain to our viewers your revenue model and how much of the market share you believe you can capture? Sure. Our business has kind of two revenue streams. We have what we call our one-time revenue or our product revenue in our financial statements, which is kind of those setup fees to use our software. It'd be like buying cards in collateral or email marketing. So those kind of one-time events and that makes up about 16% of our revenue. So a small percentage of it comes from those sort of setup fees and those one-time purchases, but 83, 84% of our revenue is monthly recurring revenue. So we have a fixed monthly recurring fee to use any of our multiple platforms. And we also have some variable recurring revenue through our payment integration. So we make payment residuals as well. So as a combination of both those fixed recurring fees and a bit of residual, 84% of our revenue becomes that repeatable, predictable revenue stream on that side of it. Your other question was, how much of the market share do you believe you can capture? So it's a really small market share that we have today. Our addressable market is quite large. We do really well in areas like automotive where we've got 700 automotive dealerships in Canada that use our products and there's only 3,000. So we've got something like 20% of the marketplace in Canada is using our software today, but we're barely scratching the surface in the US and that's just a vertical automotive. I'd argue the addressable market is in the billions for us. So there's a lot of runway for us.  And so for us, there's a lot of runway with regards to the addressable market for us. If Apple were to compare itself to its competitors in the sector, what would you say sets you guys apart? I think, you know, I've tried out the consolidation aspect, which is a bit more unique, right? But although a lot of our competitors are starting to consolidate there, I think it's two things. We've diversified and we've specialized. So we diversified our offerings. So we've went from just being a marketing company to now being a marketing, payment and POS companies. We've diversified our offerings. But we've gotten specialized into four different verticals into hospitality, retail, automotive and petroleum. In areas like automotive and petroleum, a lot of our direct competitors don't play there. So we found these niche markets that we've done really well in and we doubled down on them. So that niche focus into certain vertical markets have done well for us. Our first point of sale company we bought was for golf courses. So we've been finding these niches where we can kind of get deeper and wider within them, which is helping us differentiate where our traditional competitors are really playing heavily into hospitality. We play there, but we diversified into other areas that we've also doubled down on and specialized on. Now, we love to understand the share structure as fundamental investors. We like to know everything, like to rip apart the company and everything about it. Can you go through the capital structure of ACRU for our viewers and how do you plan to track more institutional investment alongside your retail investors? Sure. It's very tightly held. There's some large blocks. We've got our largest shareholder is one of our board members who has about a 20% equity position. We then have two shareholders that have between 10 and 15% that got their equity position because of acquisitions. So they took stock in a crew as opposed to cash. So we have two acquisitions that we've done that have taken capital. So you've got, again, between 10 and 15% with them. We have a fund in Montreal that has about 9% ownership. We have another board member that has 6% ownership. I have 5% ownership. And then there's a couple of family funds that have 3, 4, 5%. So it's pretty tightly held. It doesn't take a lot of phone calls for me to have a super majority kind of conversation. But we've been a very retail play. Outside of all those things that I've mentioned, it's been a very retail focused business. But as a microcap, which we are, and you're still validating and building your business, we haven't spent a lot of time on promotion. We haven't spent a lot of time out there creating awareness of what we're doing and how we're doing. Because we thought it was more important to kind of get the business sort of on good footing and in a good place before we start advocating. But we are doing well. And even through times like COVID that we're challenging for a lot of businesses, we've weathered that storm and we're beginning to thrive, that it's time to get a little bit more out there. So what we do, physical road shows, I don't know, but stuff like this is going to be the start. So this becomes like another kickoff for us to start getting more awareness out there. Being here on RichTV, we have an event that we're doing in December, virtual event. There'll be other things we'll do next year. So I think you'll hear and see a lot more about a crew over the next 12 to 24 months, more than we ever have. Because as we start to really scale our business, we're very proud of what we've done and where we're going, that it's all in an awareness game right now. And I think that's what'll change. I've got an analyst call tomorrow. And so we're starting to get more awareness happening about what we're up to and what we're doing while still focusing on the core business, the foundation of what we're doing, but putting a bit extra focus on awareness of what we're up to. Fantastic. We love when companies get an opportunity to come on our show and we can discover them first. And we love finding companies that are undervalued, underappreciated, underexposed, with growing revenue and a tight share structure. Sounds like you guys are fitting in perfectly with what we look for. If there was one thing you would want people and shareholders and investors to know about ACRU today, what would that be? I think what we become known as and what I want to continue to be known as is very strong and operational and financial excellence here. We take pride in our ability to operate both operationally and financially with great excellence. It plays into our whole acquisition model. Super important that we're very disciplined on how we operate and how we financially manage our business, delivering earnings and growth. We became cash flow positive a couple of years ago. We've had 15 consecutive quarters of earnings positive in our business. So we've shown good discipline there. So I think our operational and financial efficiency and excellence is like the thing. It's good for our customers to know that we're strong and capable and able to kind of manage the ship properly. But as an investor, it's what we take pride in. Is that excellence that we have and the disciplines that we're introducing to our business? We're going to have investors from all over the world that are going to see this interview. What is the best way for them to get in touch with the company if they had any questions? You can go to our website, www.acruh.com. It's spelt funny on purpose but pronounced accrue is in the word. We're accruing companies. We're accruing in the space. But ackrou.com. And then there's an investor side of it where you can see my email address and reach out to me even directly. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Steve. I must remind everyone that is watching that rich to be lively strictly for information and education purposes. Past performance is not always an indication of future results. Please do your due diligence, do your research before you invest in anything we talk about or discuss here on Rich TV Live. In saying that, I do believe this is a company that is grossly undervalued, underappreciated, underexposed. Thank you for joining us today, Steve Levely, the CEO of Acrue. Awesome. Thanks for having me, Rich. Thank you for joining us. I'd love to invite you back if you ever have any big breaking news or anything you want to discuss. I'd love to invite you back on the show so you can talk to our community about Acrue. And for those of you guys that are watching, if you're not winning, you're probably not watching, you're bringing the winners and we bring them to you first. Thank you for watching everybody and have a great day.


Hi everybody it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft, thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm going to show you how to make this really sweet little kind of satchel bag or over-the-shoulder bag if you put a longer strap on it. It's really fun, there's lots of little techniques that I show you with this one, lots of detail, I've got the little brads and the D-rings there. This is all magnetic so this comes down, this comes up and then inside you've got this locking system so you just slide it apart and then you've got a really nice sized little gift bag inside. It's strong as well so this will definitely hold you know like a candle, something with a little bit more weight onto it because I have reinforced these pieces here by adding the brads. Lovely bow, little tassel there and yeah I really enjoy this. The papers I've used I usually show this in the next section but I forgot to mention it in the tutorial because I've already made this so I'm just doing my little intro for you all but it's using this paper pad here, Summer Dreams and this was from the Works and it's beautiful so I did do a quick flick through when I shared that video but just to give you an idea of some of the lovely prints this is one I'm going to use next and that's it doubled up, so you get two of each, that was so I've used two pieces for this one here and it's that gorgeous print isn't that lovely, so fun and fresh. The other one I really like is the polka dots so this one and that one that's what actually drew me into buying it so £3 I'll share the links below but yeah this is what we're going to make so let me show you. Okay so you're going to need some ribbon for your handle so I've got this lovely Gingham orange pattern there, I'm using a Posca pen this is just the 0.7mm bullet shaped and it's the white just for that faux stitching detail. I've got my D-rings here, these ones I'll go through the measurements for later on, everything will be linked below as well. This goes perfectly and this was what I had hanging off of my ruler but I thought you know what it's got the bronze metalwork there which goes with the D-ring and the turquoise goes perfectly with this so I'm using it on this so that's going to get used because it's just been hanging off my ruler for a while not really doing anything so you will need for the actual I guess well the main front and back the case keep them there because I'll go through those little fiddly bits in a moment. So you want two pieces that are seven by nine so I've already cut this one so I'll pop that to one side and you want to score along the short side so along the seven inch side you want to score it half an inch and at six and a half and then rotate and you're going to score at three. If you've got directional paper make sure this three inch score line is at the bottom so you want your pattern to be facing this way so that's that three inch score line for me because this is my base and those two score lines are going to be on the side okay so this is kind of not really directional so I guess that could be that way up so yeah just take that into account so two pieces and score like that then you want two pieces for the side and these measure three by twelve and along the twelve inch side you want to score at two and eight okay the two inch is going to be the base this score line here is what's going to go inside we're going to cut a little slot there let me just fold this one as well and burnish and that's going to be the closure now you don't have to have so that's going to be like that and they're going to just kind of sit over each other by an inch and lock in that's if you want to have that kind of closure on top if you don't want that all you will need is two pieces of three by eight and just score it two so ignore that piece there you may want the bag to just be completely open and you can just you know pop tissue in there or wrap the gift again separately so that's you can change that if you want to then for the lid you want a piece that's six by nine it may come up shorter I need to see but I think it will be that from what I've when I've been roughly putting it together along the nine inch side you just want to score at one inch okay so I'm going to fold and burnish that piece there then we want this piece to go on top but you don't want to I've got the default 12 inch length because this is from that paper pack which I'll show you in a moment but the width is five inches because it's going to sit from that score line on that lid piece so you've got this border but until we cut the kind of curve shape or circular depending on what you have I don't really want to cut that yet until I'm 100% sure so just have it at 12 for the moment and then I've got this piece here which is going to be for the the kind of closure the strap piece that comes up from the bottom and this is nine and a half by it was the scrap width so mine is coming in at one and three eighths but one and a half will be fine again that length will be cut down but I didn't want to cut it too short until I've actually started to put it together then I've just got these little ovals which are going to go on the top they're going to cover like that so we're going to have a magnet in between we're going to have a magnet here and that's going to cover the magnet you can put decorative paper on there as well and it's going to come up like that okay again it will make more sense when we do it but if you do want something similar then my largest ovals two inches and the smallest one was the next size down and that's one and a half then you want two pieces to connect your ribbon to the d-ring now depending on what size d-ring you have your width here may be different to mine this comes in at three quarters of an inch so I'm cutting my card to five eighths of an inch I don't want it exactly the same because it will just pucker it will buckle so now you can see when I put that through it sits nicely within that d-ring so look at the width of whatever your d-ring is and just bring it in slightly less than that so like I said that was three quarters of an inch so I've done five eighths of an inch in width and then the length is two inches so that will go through like so we're going to stick that together and then connect it onto the side of our bag and then the ribbon will go through that okay so that's all the scoring and everything explained so we'll go back to our front and back so you just want to fold and burnish your score lines okay and then we're just going to do a quick little bit of cutting so I've already done that one there so you've got that score line here which was the three inch score line and then you'll have those two half inch score lines along the bottom here you just want to cut up the two half inch ones on either side just to that first score line okay and then just cut that straight we may cut a little wedge off of it but for the minute I think I'm just going to keep them straight and then again cut up this one here try and remove the score line just to keep it all concealed when we go to stick the base down and then remove that one there okay so you'll do that on both pieces and then that's it everything now is about us putting it all together so grab your side pieces all right these oblong pieces so yours might be shorter if you decided not to do that extra piece that I mentioned earlier now the two inch piece at the bottom is the base okay so although they don't line up here that doesn't matter because you're not going to see it so what we're going to be doing is sticking this over this one so this side this half inch piece here will sit within that two inch score line up to that top score line or to the edge of your card if like I said if you don't have that piece so it's going to sit because I'm having the pattern paper so that you can see it if you don't want to have it seen then you're just going to stick it behind like that so now I do that I think do I actually want it hidden instead now I'm going to have it exposed it's entirely up to you I'll let you decide on that you may want to have it inside or out I always change them up all my gift bags are so different so yeah I might do this again another time and this and have it hidden instead I'm going to keep mine exposed so I'm going to pop my tape behind if you're going to have it stuck behind this orange piece then you want to put your tape from the front so it's entirely up to you I would also say if you are going to put it behind then you will want to just take little wedges off of the ends here because you don't want it to be seen so like I said because mine is staying exposed I don't want to miter the sides although it does look nice as decorative feature as well so again lots of ways for you to really make this your own I'm just giving you my suggestions and my way of doing it so I'm going to take the backing off of there make sure you've got the largest fold at the top and just line it up with that bottom score line and it should just marry up nicely with the top and just make sure that's all stuck down and then just go to fold it around and fold it again okay so that's going to be going inside that's our base that one's going to go over the top and then this will come in and we will cut that when we get to it but yeah no I think I like it that side I think because that hand because that's going to come down yeah it's nice to have that little bit poking through the sides okay so that's that one then you want to do the same with the other one and then we'll put them all together in a moment this is the second one so again I'm just going to flip it over and pop some red tape and on here you don't have to use red tape I've just it was just what I've got a hand you can use obviously your liquid glues double sided tape up to you again focusing on that two inch score line at the bottom cool next we want to stick it all together so now we're going to stick that one over that one so obviously I'm having mine all exposed but otherwise you will have yours that way if you are hiding it so again I'm going to pop some tape on this one and then that last one I'm just running again two more strips on here okay fold it all in half and it should line up perfectly with that score line you might have to manipulate it a little bit and then just fold that over like so and when it all comes up so the two short pieces will go in or I'll probably put now actually because we're going to have the buckle piece coming out so I'm going to have my front go down first which is unusual usually I don't then I'm going to have these pieces going in and then the last one will come up because we're going to be sticking this in because that's our bottom tab and that's going to come up like this our closure so what I might do actually which I should have said before but it's still easy to do now is just take wedges off of the bottom which I always do but I think because these are a slightly different shape I just forgot so I'm just taking quite a nice chunk off there because once you once it goes in you don't want to be able to see it so see now when I close that whereas if I leave that one in and put that over can you see you get the orange poking out whereas here it's completely concealed okay so again sometimes all you need to do is remove maybe a score line that you might see but I always like to take if I know it's completely being hidden I take a nice wedge off of it and that way yeah it's completely disappeared okay so now yeah that's all going to go in and then that's going to come up it's completely hidden and then before we stick it all down we're going to stick that in once we've decided on what length we want it and then we're going to have these and the magnet and it should all come together nicely so this is going to go in like this just to conceal what was in there because you maybe you didn't want it kind of falling around and stuff but what you want to do is sit it completely flat over the top and then I'm going to grab a pencil and just do a pencil line there we can rub this all out in a minute so we can lie down flat okay so you've got that pencil mark and then overlap it the other side and do a pencil mark again this will all get rubbed out in a moment okay and then halfway from here you want to do another mark at half an inch so if you want to go like that and and then at one inch not half an inch do a pencil mark and again do a pencil mark and just join that up do it lightly because again this will all get rubbed out like so and again on this one so we've already got that one so again just coming in with my ruler like so and then you're going to cut down one of them from this side to the middle and then this one we will cut from this end to the middle so all vice versa so I'm going to start with this one I'm just going to cut up and just go just up to the middle and slightly past a little bit okay it doesn't matter if you go too far it really isn't going to matter and then because that's going to lock into that one but we now we need to flip it around and cut up that next one you're not cutting anything on that first line that was just to help you line everything else up so again just come down like so and now you'll be able to lock it together and if they don't line up like that then I haven't cut down far enough so I just need to take it out and just cut further down again like so so now you have that sealed it looks quite nice almost looks like a little bow okay so again just take that off now I can flip it over and just carefully get about those pencil marks and if you want to add decorative paper over this as well you can there's no reason why you have to keep it plain so if you have made a mistake or you feel you've cut it too much or you're not happy with it you can cut it right off like I said you don't even have to have this piece on but I do like to show you ways to yeah add all those little extras on if you want so we're not sealing it together it might be you know easier to do that as well flat but I'm just trying to show you all the stages so that's what you should have and this will be open for the minute then we've got our lid and this is going to stick to the back it's going to come over like this but what now we need to decide is what how you're going to shape the bottom there if you've got nothing to shape it at all don't worry you don't have to do that you can keep it straight you could maybe just round off the corners maybe you've got a corner punch or your envelope punch board you can use that to always do something nice you might want to just get some more decorative paper and do a couple of little triangles or get some mirrored cardstock and decorate it that way so don't worry if you don't have that because that's going to sit like this and then this is obviously going to go over the top and come down as well so what I'm going to do is find my oval dies okay I'm going to use these because I think they've got quite a nice just subtle kind of slope there's no huge like you know it's not a circle that's probably the easiest way to say so basically if any of you are thinking what you're talking about Sam this is what we're going to do I want there to be just a slight shape so I'm going to use this just to draw around and then cut it and then I'll do the same with that one there so I mean I've got my X cut circle cutter you could position it and you could cut you'd have to come out a little bit further but that'll give you a more defined shape so let's just have a little look so that yeah so you could do the circle you have to line it up in the center like I kind of have there and then you can cut and you'll have more of a deeper shape but I want to go for just a subtle style so this is why I didn't want to cut anything yet because you may decide that you want to have your flap a lot shorter because if I stick that down obviously you're going to create an arch going over there but that comes quite far down but once I take probably about an inch off it's going to bring it up a bit so this is you know you kind of have to decide this bit yourself because I'm you know not everybody's going to have these dies and you know you're going to do it differently so I am going to line up this on here because I do want to keep things obviously nice and straight and then I'm going to line up this so it is I'm going to come up an inch so this is one inch here and I just want to make sure that this kind of overhangs here the same as it overhangs here so it's coming up a little bit more on that side so I'm just going to pull it over because it's an oval you do have to kind of play around a bit but I'm happy with that so I'm just going to grab my pencil now I could die cut this as well and just die cut a partial part by just putting your plates over the part you want to cut but I'm just going to do it this way because it's easy for everyone to follow so now I've got that so now I'm going to very carefully just cut along that cutting slightly above it so I'm just removing it obviously you can rub it out but I'm being lazy so now when I imagine that's stuck there and bring it over see it's coming up higher but that still looks really nice then I'm going to lay this over the top now it's only going to come down from the score line it's going to start there you can decorate the back piece again if you want you want to make sure again I'm using my mat here just to keep everything straight so mine is this is five inches and this is six so I want to make sure I've got half an inch on each side there and then I'm going to flip it all over and I'm going to trace around this side here like so and then cut that one so whatever shape you're doing you just want to do the same as what I'm doing here with that shape so the process is exactly the same you'll just be working with a slightly probably different measurement in shape than I am so so now again go back to the front and that should sit perfectly which it does now what I might also do is come up a little bit higher so I have a border I don't know whether to have that same half inch see if I bring it up now and just cut straight along there so I've got that same half inch border I quite like that actually kind of breaks it up I put it over the front there you can really see the lid rather than having it right down it kind of then disappears so if I bring it up I think it really defines the lid so I'm going to do that so again I'm just showing you the process how I work and you know alter things to yeah just so they work better I'm not happy with that there so I'm just going to trim that a little bit more it's better and it's going to get slightly covered by that clasp that's going to wrap around the front so I'm going to bring that up there and then I'm going to line my ruler up with that score line and then just draw your pencil line quickly trim that one so now yeah I really like that I think that looks cool now before I stick it down I want to stick my magnet down so you know when you lose magnets there we go I've got one we will stick the other one last when we add our clasp so I'm going to have it quite far down grab my glue dots okay these are really thick glue dots so they cover the whole bottom of the magnet which is what I like and whenever you're adding glue dots just rub over the backing until it goes white so I'm just scratching over it though with my nail you can use a ruler or anything and that means it's completely transferred and stuck onto whatever it is you're sticking it to comes off really easily so again what I might do is stick it onto this piece actually no yes like that there we go and then I can make sure then I'm going to get it all covered okay I wasn't happy with where I positioned it so I'm just getting rid of that and I'm going to do another one I want it a bit higher actually because I just put the little strap on and I think it's going to be better having it a little bit higher because I want the ovals to sit nicely on the lid so again just take that one off so I'm going to come up so I'm just imagining when that comes up and you're going to have those there covering it because that's going to have the other magnet concealed so yeah I'm going to use that flower there as my guide and stick it there so I have ended up coming up one and a half inches okay and just make sure you've got it in the middle which I think I have two and a bit two and a bit yeah maybe yeah I can live with that that's fine so then I'm going to stick another glue dot on the reverse side before I stick it down I do want to just curve this whole piece okay so I'm just going to use my bone folder and just kind of get a nice natural curve in it like so okay and again the same with this okay and that's just going to all sit much nicer and then I'm just going to stick that down I'm going to use my calau because this dries really really nice and stiff so it just strengthens your gift bag but I'm down to the last little bit I think my order should be coming today actually so I should get enough out okay so now I've got mine arched I just need to kind of work along with that make sure you get it nice and centered and then I'm going to squash it down a minute just to make sure this sticks nice and flat now these magnets are nice and flat as well so you don't get too much bulk just as that glues kind of setting I'm going to keep it in that arched kind of shape and now and that goes on there and comes around how cool is that that's why I don't again didn't want to cut anything because now we can decide and measure where we're going to have that piece so I'm going to stick this one down so then decide if you've got a front or back because we haven't stuck the base yet so you can still decide if you've got a print although a lot of it's going to be kind of covered I'm going to go for this one so you just want to line up that score line with the back of the bag if you lie it down open it all up there we go so now that will again close that lid feels really strong I love how it just drops down and I've got that nice nice look to it like that I think it looks really really cool I love how this is coming together so next I'm going to stick this in now so I'm going to just change that so this one is going to go down first these are then going to go in so we can get these pieces stuck down it's the very very last one that you don't want to so I'm just going to add really get in the last bit of this glue because it's brilliant okay so next I'm going to prepare the end of this piece so we want to grab our other magnet and what you want to make sure is that you've got it in the right order so it will find see it's just clipped into where it needed to go so you know it will find let the magnet there go it's really really strong find where it needs to go so I know that I need to stick down that way up so now yeah and then it will sandwich in between so just make sure you get the right order of your magnet because if you stick them back to front then obviously they won't attach to each other okay so I've just stuck my glue dot on the right side there and then I want to stick it in the center of this larger die and again they're so strong even with the glue dot between them and then that is going to stick just on top I don't want to squash it all around I want it to look like it's just raised on maybe like a foam adhesive so if I bring it up to you you can see so if you look to the side you would see the magnet but I'm really not bothered about that you could put a flower over the top to decorate it so I may well do that so I'm just putting another glue dot on that opposite side and then you just want to make sure that you get that lined up in the middle like that so yeah I can still decorate that with something again if I want to but now that sticks or attaches really well it's slightly ever so slightly off-center was that just me I think it's just a smidge that way but hey ho so now that is going to stick on the back so it will kind of take away a little bit of the strength of the magnet but it's still really strong so I'm going to again use the end of this glue which is gone all horrid now but it's still going to work I'm just going to spread out the last of that and stick that over the top and let that stick down and then pull it down as much as you can and just kind of fold along there I can then slip off that much and that's what's going to stick that's going to come up and it will now be wedged in between there like so I think I might put a decorative strip of pattern paper because I can hook it underneath there all the way down as well so just play around if you want to decorate that a little bit more there we go that's just perfect that's one inch so I'm going to I'm not going to get that glue out anymore now so I'm going to so hopefully this tutorial I've given you a lot more ideas because you know I kind of I've done this tutorial as I've made it from scratch so it just gives you an idea of how I kind of work things out and think things up so because I don't always need two of everything so so carefully stick that along there I like that I've got that pattern there right in the middle as well and then I'm just going to just follow that around the fold like so and then I'm going to add some glue all on the back of this this is the Tombow tacky glue which is another favorite of mine super sticky make sure you keep it on the magnet when you stick it down I'm going to manipulate it slightly over that way so at least this is in the center but that's like I said a little bit off but I still think it looks so cute and then you just want to add glue either all on the bottom there or all on this I'm going to add it onto this piece and I can just open that up and just go inside there make sure that's all stuck down okay so now we just need to attach our side pieces I mean you can have it like that if you want more of a gift box bag kind of style I think it looks lovely so next we need those tiny little pieces which are here in here and your d-rings so you want to first of all just put a little just curl them with your bone folder like so pop them through the d-ring and then you're going to stick them together okay so again I'm just going to grab some of my glue okay and now we're going to stick these onto the side so I like to stick it so that the d-ring almost falls inside there depending on how you've made the bag also if you don't have those pieces going in then you might want to stick this inside but I'm going to stick this I'm then going to punch a hole through with my polka tool and then I'm going to add a brad just for some extra strength okay so because if you are putting something a little bit heavier in this then you will want to obviously guarantee that that's not going to just fall apart so I'm just sitting that just so it's in the middle here because these are half an inch that's half well I know that's five eighths wasn't it but you want to make sure you just got a nice even border there that's about about right and then do this one here this one's just going to go on display in my craft room for a while anyway that's usually what happens and then if I need a gift bag I then use it and then yeah something else will then be replaced okay so that's like that I've got an array of brads here but I want something that's going to stick within that kind of bronzed copper colour I don't want to go away from that or I'm going to go colourful so I may well do ah that orange there we go that'll go perfect so I've got that one and there's another one okay and then just open it up and just very carefully obviously watch your fingers but I'm going to just poke through that and then go through with my bread like so and just split that inside that colour match is perfect and that will just guarantee strength with that there and you can always cover that if you want with a piece of pattern paper so again on this side here you know when you watch this and then decide to make it you might want to do all this you know when it's flat there's no reason why you can't put these on when they're flat so again you know it might be a bit easier if you want to put a little foam mat underneath and then you can use your poke tool to poke into that so and then those ones okay so that's that all in place close all that up and then I've got my ribbon so it's up to you how long you want to have it I'm going to pop it through like that I love the gingham against the flower print I think it looks really good and then I'm going to go through this one I'm going to kind of do it like my flap over lid one I think I've done so I'm going to do a bow kind of bring the two together so you can have it longer or shorter so you can have it with the double strap or you can have the strap across like that so it's entirely up to you so I'm going to do the two of them together and then I'm going to do a knot like so and then I'm going to put one through and then I can tie a bow okay so I finished my bow you can see there and I've just sealed the edges with a light edges so it doesn't fray anymore and I've got my tassel there as well all looks really really cute and then I'm just going to finish it off this is completely optional this is that pen I mentioned before and I'm going to do some faux stitching around probably maybe should have done this at the beginning let's just fold that back there you want to make sure test it first because these you do need to really shake and just make sure that you get a really nice opaque white coming through because if it looks a bit diluted or transparent let it dry for a minute if it disappears into the cardstock then you haven't you know you need to shake this more but that looks like that's going to be fine so I'm going to go around here and just very carefully do some stitching there you go there's my faux stitch and I really like it I think I still want to do something with this I did die cut a slightly bigger one and look if I put a larger one there do you not think that looks a bit better you'll see if I changed my mind in the photos anyway so yeah so that's what we've done I've got my Posca pen there make sure you shake it with the lid on because I took the lid off and shook it and it flicked out on my finger so but yeah really I do recommend these are great so there you have it guys I hope you've enjoyed my little satchel gift bag here I think it's really fun there's lots of little kind of techniques and tips along the way so I hope you've enjoyed it please give me a thumbs up if you have and subscribe to my channel so you get to see more thanks for watching bye