Rydyn yw'n cyfnogaeth ei wneud arall y cwestiynau'r wrthgwrn arfer. Rydych chi'n gwneud i'r cefnod i'n gwneud â'r cyflwytoedd sy'n cyfaniaeth gyda'r byddauorydd ar beth sydd wedi'u ymlet aluminumau. Mae'r rhai hyn yn ei wneud â ei wneud ar hynny ymlaent â'r cyfanyddolanyaeth. Mi'n rhan o'r eu gwaith a'i gynnwch'r gwrdd bolig hwnnw o'r oedlaid o'i gwych. Felly mae gennych i gael y byd ei chael o ddau o'r pethau o'r holl o'r cyfaint. Mae gennych oedlaid o'r holl i'r Gwydiannau Nici. Nici'r profesiol o psycholoedau o Ycwyr Cymru. Nici'r cyfaint yn ysgrifennu ar y dyfodol. A chael i'n gwybod i ddim yn rhan. Mae'n gwybod i'r ddansflor. o'r ffordd ar y cyfnodd, Nicky yn Clif? Nid oes, rwy'n nhw'n fawr. Yw'r fawr, yw'n nhw'n nhw'n nhw'n nhw'n nhw'n nhw. Yn oed, yn canwndrum. Ar dwy'r fawr, rydw i'n gwneud yr mewn fawr, fyddwn sy'n yourr o'r fawr, o'r fawr, yn gyfan gwybod yr datblygu. Mae'r fawr yn ymgyrch yn ymwneud, is we'll displace what we actually saw and the way in which we saw it. And that's because when it comes down to it, memory is a subjective experience. We each see it through our own eyes. So it's not about what we see, it's about what we thought we saw in many ways on many levels. That's what becomes readily accessible again and we can change memory to suit the complexion of our thinking in different circumstances and at different times. Often at unconscious and subconscious levels. But it's also a shared experience. So despite individual differences in what we thought we saw and remembered, memory actually becomes a vehicle we use to share our experience with others, to compare notes, to question those realities, we can't quite be sure we've seen. And it's not just about thoughts we have of the past, it's also about things we think about the future. And so what we hope to do tonight is explore aspects of memory and mental time travel and we're going to do it using evidence from the science, sciences and from the arts as well. So what is mental time travel? Well, as we've hinted at, it's about memory of the past and it's also about the ability to think about the future and to plan for it accordingly. And in fact it has two fundamental features that makes it different from other kinds of remembering. So it's not just about information storage, it's very much about the self. And we're the creative self in that we're all the authors and owners of our memory. We make them for ourselves. It's so much more than just facts, it's how we see it through our own eyes. But it's not just about our own eyes, it's also about time with a time travelling self. We're very much aware that we can think about the past and think about the future. And yet at the same time be aware that we're in the present moment. And for that reason it's also the door to identity because our individual memories shape who we are and who we are shapes how we form our memories in the first place. But in truth you might think when we talk about memory we're talking about the past but actually we mean future identity for it's been suggested that memories really are more about the future than it is about the past. And it allows us to create multiple scenarios for what the future should be in the hope that we'll be better able to predict it and importantly to prepare for it. So mental time travel allows us to conjecture about alternative worlds that would have operated had circumstances unfolded differently. And to create new ones for ourselves that in truth may never come to pass other than in our imaginations and it makes us very special because we can indeed do this. So mental time travel this ability to flip-flop between remembering the past and thinking about the future in fact reveals two important points about memory. Remember future memory which will approach both scientifically and artistically. The first is that it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards as the white queen so shrewdly remark to Alice in Lewis Carroll's famous novel. And the second point is that our memories are not simply repositories of the past that are fixed and never changed. Every time we revisit a memory we may later alter bits of it to suit our purposes always shaped by our subjective experience of the current moment that we find ourselves of the ever-eternal present. And I'd like to give you a reading from one of the books that we're actually using for tonight's lecture which explores this point in quite an interesting way and perhaps gives us a way of thinking about ourselves quite differently. So this reading is from the Moustachio Quartet and I'm taking a short reading from an extract from a point in which in this particular book people are at an art private view and there's an artist who has his work all around the walls right now in fact you might be here in this private view with your drinks and your hands can you imagine that? It's kind of a memory thing that you're doing by doing that. And you're wondering what the work's about it doesn't kind of make sense to you. It seems vague and strange but at the beginning of the private view the artist comes forward and reveals who he is, the complexion of his thinking how he assumes his place in the world and he says reliving memories and imagining futures is essential to all of our lives yet the very nature of imagination impedes and disorientates those same memories. It diversifies reality to the point where almost nothing can be known unequifically. As a species we make use of this to define multiple truths and so doing we keep reinventing our own past and anticipating our preferred futures both collectively and individually. The things all coexist side by side. Are we unique in being able to dream ourselves into imaginary spaces those places where our spirits would like us to be seen travelling mentally in time in the direction of our own choosing? I suspect not. Are we the only ones in a turbulent universe to question the ontology of existence? Now there is a question. For me painting is not about art or an artefact or a book in which characters might only appear to exist. It is the encounter between the conscious mind and the worlds it locates in its perception. I have discovered this if there is time we are it. Take me apart and learn my constituents and you'll realise I do not truly exist only your prejudice in this moment refuses to allow you to accept the truth of what I say on behalf of all of us. We wonder about ghosts. We all are. So how is mental time travel studied by scientists?  It's shown here and it includes various parts of the frontal and temporal and parietal lobes but the critical area as pictured on your right is the hippocampus that seahorse shaped area. Now if you don't know where it is if you take your fingertip and imagine placing it on both sides pushing it in about two inches from the top of your ear lobe then your virtual fingertip would be touching your hippocampus so that's where it is. Don't try this at home perhaps. It could be quite messy. Anyway the interesting thing is destruction of the hippocampus not only destroys the ability to remember past events but also the ability crucially to plan for the future. Let's now consider the eminent English musician Clive Waring. Stick your hands up if you've heard of him. How many people have heard of him? Just Clive Waring. W-E-A-R-I-N-G. If you've not heard of Clive Waring this is going to be very interesting. So he actually studied at Clare College in Cambridge which is actually where my college is. And the thing is his hippocampus was irrevocably damaged as a result of a viral infection.  Well if it crosses the blood brain barrier it's really bad news and it completely destroys the hippocampus. So as a consequence of this his episodic memory was completely destroyed. So if you google it on YouTube and you google the man with the seven second memory his name will come up as the hit. And certainly he can barely remember things for you know seven seconds might be an exaggeration but frankly for no more than 30 seconds. And without a permanent marker of the past the interesting thing is it affects the present because then the present has no anchor. It's nothing to hold on to it's just a series of thoughts that pass by on the tide and they just float away into oblivion. Allow us to show you an ever such a short clip of just how debilitating his memory problem was as a result of this hippocampal destruction. Here he's being interviewed by his wife Deborah Waring. I've been here about 10 minutes at least. Well I've no knowledge of this. My answer has started working now and I've seen the whole thing I've been seeing in English. What is that? And do you feel absolutely normal? Not absolutely normal no. Completely and completely confused. Confused? Yes. If you've never eaten anything, never tasted anything, never touched anything or smelled anything what right do you assume you're alive? But you are? Apparently yes. But I'd like to know what the hell's been going on. Thank you very much Nick and Claib. So we're going to continue with another performance. This time from Chris Rawlins who describes himself as a memory performer. So could we welcome Chris please? My name is Chris Rawlins and I remember things. So we go through the house we go in the front door we could turn right into the front room we could then turn right into my bedroom which was on the ground floor but we don't go through the kitchen out the back door down the patio through the bush which is impossible but I do it anyway because it's my own memory I can do what I want go me and I go back to the river out which is at the back and on the river I can see this arrogant kind of fat oafish swan looking at me but it's getting closer and closer to me so this will be swan close is that the street name? Yeah good you seem shocked that's what I'm here for. What most people tend to do is to write down a phone number so it starts with 07 so I always get the couple numbers at the beginning for free but you haven't you haven't done that so thanks got a pen see my pocket excuse you oh you know when you to the front a little bit I just hold the paper up for a second so I definitely don't see it as well um same with the zero if you dot the page it's no longer a fresh page which is annoying and now it's bled through to the page underneath which is even more annoying um hold this facing out this is what I've encoded the number to mean hold it facing out um we have I can't write today I'm sorry did you know in the numbers you've written down and by the way you didn't show me this piece of paper no uh you said you were doing an internship and this is your last day um and as a result you were eating as many sandwiches as you could um it's true um um so that the tray that's gone missing out the green room uh no not true but uh you you did it we I'm just saying we haven't met before you you actually worked here up until today we were out to finish so I hope you do great things after this um but you know that I haven't seen the piece of paper up until now when we're on this stage you kept it a complete secret and I even stood in the corner of the room like a like a dunce which is a guest quite fitting I'm not sure um would you read out nice and loud and clear in fact before you do I was just about to say did you know they're exactly I'm looking at now so I can really cheat I should have just excuse me done this myself uh five odd numbers in the number that you've written down I think is correct will you check make sure that is right five odd numbers yeah and if you take those odd numbers do you remember the Nokia 3310s the old phones with snake on them yeah snake's terrible but the phones are great if you get one of those phones and punch in the five odd numbers and check this when you get home and it's been filmed so we can check this uh you can very nearly make the words not quite but very nearly make the words if it's on predictive text monkey letters are in the wrong order but you can rearrange it uh almost uh I live a sad life you're going to read out the numbers on your piece of paper the one that I've only just seen for less than I think it was less like 1.8 1.9 seconds we can look on the camera later maybe nice and loud and clear what were the numbers that you wrote down spot on hang on I'm so sorry that I've gone over but I need to I want to do this last one as well um if we take these numbers I said this is what I'd encoded your number to mean so what my brain does sometimes not all of the time what it does especially with serial numbers is look at a number and shrink it down to two digits I don't know why um and I'm not very good at maths but this is this is what happens so if we take feel free to get your phones out if you're good at arithmetic just do this in your head if we take all of the numbers here and add them together you will actually find that 57 is the total of these numbers the number that I looked at for less than two seconds I'd say 1.8 1.9 second and with that you can leave and go back to your seat and relax and eat lots of sandwiches on your way out go give her a big hand for helping so finally we come to this gentleman here uh you know that I've not seen that piece of paper we sat actually in here it was nice and comfortable um you actually uh thought of a word it had to be in the dictionary had to be in the English language it was a real word and and I asked you to let me know if if if it was going to be like a rubbish one and make sure it was a good one and you promised me it was a good word so I hope it is uh and I actually gave you a single sheet of paper with a with a pen that writes in black ink was in my pocket it's not there now and and then you printed the letters from the word in like I asked to do it in like a scrabble kind of way in lots of different places and then I gave you a pencil a little golf pencil uh which I've actually left somewhere I hope no one's sat on it a golf pencil and you filled in the rest of the little box with what I said random shapes numbers doodles anything that you want um but what was important was that it created like a code like a puzzle that I'm going to try and work out in a second so you're going to hold the piece of paper towards me but not just yet because when you think about it numbers in a string of numbers because each each individual number can only go up to nine there's only nine different variables so letters of the alphabet have 26 different variables per letter of the word that we're using um but to make this a little more exciting and hopefully a little more impressive I'm going to do this with the paper upside down so not only does my brain my mind have to take a mental photograph and hopefully less than one second I have to store the image flip it on its head zoom around the image as if using like an iphone screen to then piece together the word that you're you're thinking of whilst at the same time in less than one second trying to do one other thing before I leave you all um so if you don't like this same as the the thing with the map just uh just clap anyway paper facing towards me writing upside down upside down facing towards me if it's facing towards you I won't be able to read it and I'm I'll be in a sticky situation but and I can't have you count this time just any paper facing towards you and if you could go to stand at the front of the stage over here face the front in your word there was a uh letter o there's a zero well it's not a zero but it's letter o is that correct yeah good um there is a letter I think it's a repeated letter it's a letter b you um and don't take offense your L's are weird uh there's an L in the word I think your word in less than a second I think it was 0.8 of a second um feel free to check uh was and is first half page 132 top left in the dictionary it's the same guy so you're going to come to every show I do um would you take this for me so it's a dictionary and good catch dictionary and theosaurus so there are thousands of different words in there we go to the first half that's what the fh stands for page 132 the one is kind of blurred into the p but my writing's bad page 132 first half top left uh if you could tell me in a nice loud clear voice what word is there at the very top and what was your word there you go thank you so much for your help thank you so so much thank you so much for listening to me um it's been a pleasure to be here my name is Chris Rawlins and I remember things good night the next speaker is um Hugo Spears from UCL and um he's the uh head of the special cognition lab there so this is a lecturer this is the end of the night where I'm going to um provide information going to embed in your brain facts I'm going to have in fact three graphs tonight so we'll get on to graphs in a moment um so tonight I'm going to talk about memory and space and in fact I'm going to start with um oh not with this slide projector um with these these people out here so London wouldn't really be London I think unless it had these creatures prowling round its streets picking up customers and performing magic feats not far off what we've just been having and I can imagine you stepping into a magic in a cab one of these cabs later trying to get home and asking to go somewhere and how many of you in the audience would clap rorously for that expert you know amazing ability I suspect not you've been clapping away to some really very impressive Chris but what is it that makes our London cabs so special is that you can ask them to be taken to somewhere deep far in the south of London they will complain but they will eventually get you there and that is because they spend about two to three years studying the 25 000 streets of London so they do pretty much like an undergraduate degree on that and that's just the six mile radius around Sharon Cross so that's the topic at the beginning of tonight's last rolling moment with no tap dancing just facts first fact is taxi drivers are amazing they are world-class and in fact in 2003 their brains won the ignobell prize for medicine because it turns out that these chaps and here is here is three of them swatting up over three years three of them sitting in a a school learning their brains are not normal they're very unusual do we have any taxi drivers in tonight okay I can make very different jokes given that so their brains are not normal and we know this because Ellen McGuire at University College London not far away from here looked deep inside their brain using magnetic resonance imaging and she measured the brain this is another you saw earlier Nicky put up a picture of the hippocampus in various other brain areas I've now stolen the image from Wikipedia under hippocampus which is the skull rotating where yeah you don't have to put screws inside your head to see but that red structure is the hippocampus and it's it's not normal in taxi drivers so the posterior part towards the back of the skull that gets bigger and it gets bigger the longer they've spent driving a taxi through London so this was discovered in 2001 this ignobell prize and so since then so the question is why why did taxi drivers have this bigger hippocampus and because you've seen the earlier talks tonight you can probably guess it's because of that memory that we know this structure if you damage it like in Clive Wirings case you can't recall memories so this evidence that this structure gets bigger in taxi drivers is amazing so not only are they amazing at this memory feat of getting you home tonight anywhere in 25 000 streets instantly they can't hang around on a street taking even maybe three seconds to think they've got to do it otherwise somebody's going to scream they'll probably kill a cyclist it's something like that but we know their brains are different now in 2006 we thought well let's pit their brains against bus drivers now we'll do an experiment to see if bus drivers brains are big as well and we found out bus drivers brains are really boring they're just like yours so bus drivers here's a map so there's one of these this is the first graph the next graph some were interesting because there's a hidden component in every graph and see if you can spot what that is before I say ah and the secret is this is a normal graph so what this is a graph showing us here is this is the facts um how long a taxi driver in years going up to 30 years they spent driving in London each one of those dots is a London taxi driver along the other axis at the bottom is how big is the back end of their hippocampus and you can see scientifically we can measure this as a yes that's not by chance we've got this something happens in their brain the posterior hippocampus gets bigger and you saw that little movie earlier about the squirrels weirdly enough squirrels posterior hippocampus gets bigger too but seasonally so when it goes into winter and they need to store more nuts their hippocampus gets bigger but when summer comes it shrinks back not for London taxi drivers for some reason but it doesn't matter bus drivers just don't show it so it's something about not just driving through London dealing with annoying customers soaking up all the traffic fumes it's something about the knowledge of London that's important so that Ellen McGuire and Katya Willough who are involved in this did one further experiment I'll just take you into which other was really nice clinching one they looked at what happens when you acquire the knowledge so Chris said he spent how many years was it Chris he spent the those books yet on the map books right so three yeah so three so what this study was will take people like Chris who well who decided they want to become a taxi driver not to similar they want to memorize that book the London AZ will take them when they just want to start out they don't know it like a magician's trick will take a bunch of people that don't want to do that but a match they're equally you could have just picked between them and will scan their brains will measure every little bit of their brain using magnetic resonance imaging and will measure that and then we'll come back three years later when they pass their test and see if their hippocampus has magically got bigger and we'll see so this is the graph here so what you can see on the right are controls the scientific where people who just sat around doing nothing they could be doctors they could be dentists they could be people shooting lions or anything but they don't change their hippocampal volume but look at these taxi drivers thankfully for Eleanor who'd spent enormous amount of money scanning them there was a nice effect that their hippocampus got bigger so there's a hidden part of this graph and you might have seen why these bars separated and that's this part what happens to the people who spent three or four years studying that book endlessly like Chris but can't do that magic act they fail the exam nothing their brain their hippocampus doesn't expand so it's not just sitting down with the book every day but it's actually acquiring that knowledge that seems to drive the hippocampus so since that those early studies with Eleanor and I was involved in scanning taxi drivers I wanted to know what happens to you what happens to normal people's brains as they acquire a little bit of the knowledge I wanted to go out and I wanted to use magnetic resonance imaging like Eleanor'd use but instead of measuring the structure in their brain I wanted to measure what is it doing how is it being used so I'm going to use something called or just stick the word functional in front of magnetic resonance functional magnetic resonance imaging we can look for where the blood is going in their brain to see where activity patterns are occurring here's somebody going in an MRI scan and here is the reconstructive brain of one of the taxi drivers I looked at but for the study you wanted to do we decided we were going to look at how people navigate through space how do they actually move through space it's a real big problem trying to take that object around London secretly and strap it onto people's heads it just doesn't work so what we needed to do was take London inside this object bring London into the MRI scanner so with a lot of fun there have been all sorts of attempts to do this people have used virtual reality for years and we thought no let's take a film crew let's shoot an entire bit of a city and we'll go at five a.m with a steady cam crew and film the whole of a bit of London and piece it together and that's what we did we pieced together a whole bit of London and people came in so we got people to go around this bit of London learn it somewhere they'd never been before or claimed they'd never been they made them do a knowledge test before we made them go around on a very specific tour they had to memorize these streets only if they passed our exam not far off what Chris had to do like at this reference point how would you get from A to B they had to do that our subjects passed this test and then we could scan their brain the next day whilst they navigated through this film footage of London but the big problem we had was thinking well that's all great but where do we pick in London where are we going to choose to set this crazy experiment and in fact we settled on a place that was linked by these four men so this is my participation to you this is a bit of London that links these four men can you tell me in the audience you've all been warmed up very nicely with a bit of dancing and a bit of theatre but who are these men shout out to you recognize yeah that's the normally the first one Karl Marx and a bit more advanced sorry Francis Bacon very good it's Mozart excellent yes wow so this is the first time I actually got an audience educated enough to know we have on the right Francis Bacon Karl Marx normally the beard gives it away Mozart people don't normally get and Samu Johnson so what is it that connects these four men well they all spent a lot of time rolling around cruising this bit of London London soho so this is a bit of London that there was all sorts of coffee houses and all sorts of places of ill repute that they would venture into even in Francis Bacon's day he was he was well known to roll around but this is a bit of an odd map so we picked picked this bit because really is a warren it's a dense street if you want to test navigation you want to put a taxi driver through a horrible test that's your bit but does anyone recognize that map another little memory test John Snow's map so again twice tonight it's a very educated audience tonight the last time I gave this talk was in it was in Santa Fe so Vince saying you never get out I only go out to give little talks I went to Santa Fe and the entire audience leapt out of their seat there's a geography conference so they all know this map backwards so this is the map drawn by John Snow in the 1800s and there's the earliest kind of epidemiological map it's not a very nice map because those dirty smudges of black in it are deaths from cholera and so John Snow started to map out he kind of assessed that everyone was wrong in the medical profession and said to map out in this bit of London where all these deaths were occurring and noticed that there's a hotspot right in the middle of this map and that was right next to a well which is still there just down the road so if you pass by there's a well there and it doesn't have a handle and that's because John Snow stole it he took off the handle and the deaths from cholera dropped dramatically so it's a remarkable story of this lovely map and I'm now going to sort of look at how the brain maps the space I'm not going to look at deaths from cholera but how does the hippocampus do that and so actually I'm going to go to the last graph of tonight which is about how you remember the past going back to Nicky and Clive Store how you remember the past the plan for the future so you're able to scan people's brains and we reported last year an enormous number of things that would take up all night to talk about and I talk about one of these which isn't in our published paper so this is new data no one else in the world has really seen but it's kind of fun so we're interested in how people plan how they use the memories of that environment to plan for the future so what we did very carefully when they walked round on this tour and had to learn the knowledge was a very particular tour which meant that when they were tested in the scanner they couldn't remember the exact sequence of streets they'd been through they had to reconstruct and judge journeys across it so they had to really plan they had to use the memory to construct something they'd never done before and after they so at the end of the scanning we can test how good their navigation was so then the audience from guessing some of you would say you're quite good at navigating a good memory for space and other people would say you're very bad and you might think well that would explain maybe the hippocampal activity like taxi drivers are really good so people who are good at navigating should be really good at planning for the future that's not what we found hippocampus and the brain we look at the activity isn't that excited by good people but here's the trick here's what we did different was that at the end of the experiment we got people to come out of the scanner they thought it was all over and oh no we gave them a cup of tea and made them watch everything they'd done again in the scanner this time we asked them a memory question we said okay watch over this footage here you are walking past the john snow pub do you remember what you were thinking about then do you remember what you were planning to do and a lot of the time people said no I have no idea what I was doing but sometimes they go oh yeah there's crepe affair at that point it all came back to me and I filled in this route and people vary a lot on a scale of how obsessive they are about picturing their way through space uh and we find that's totally unrelated to performance if you have someone and you leave tonight and they start rambling on about all the exciting things in the journey ahead it doesn't mean they're going to be good but they just may be engaging it so what we thought we'd do is look at how does that thinking about the future thinking about the streets on this graph relate to activity in the hippocampus particularly that bit that gets bigger in taxi drivers and I wouldn't be showing this otherwise except for this graph that we find and these little dots of black dots are each of the people we studied and not deaths from cholera in this case so there's a there's a graph here and you can see actually the more you obsess about the future streets ahead of you the more you're engaging that bit of the brain it seems very likely our london taxi drivers are obsessing about these routes ahead so those of you've got good eyes and you've not drunk too much gin and you can see you perhaps see that there's not just entirely black dots on that graph there's one that's different a little red dot on there and normally under ethics you can't say oh this is john snow dot number one but in this case we can because this chap gave his permission this little red dot is the writer and broadcaster will self who we thought this guy writes obsessively about psycho geography and space where on this scale will he fall and indeed he just pips ahead of the most most obsessive student he is by far the most obsessive and very happy for me he lies pretty damn on the line we predict his brain activity so will self uses his hippocampus more than average telling something about how the brain is using he probably has an unusual brain but we haven't had time to look into that but if you want to read more about will self's brain do go and buy a copy of memory in the 21st century a book on written by literary critics and artists including a chapter by myself on will self's brain


hello everyone this is Amit Dan of AmitDan.com you're watching one of my travel videos on the sovereign hill playlist and today I'm taking you back in time 200 years ago sovereign hill in Ballarat a small city from the 1850 gold rush in Australia is preserved as it was back in those days in this episode I'll take you inside a 200 year old church the first Wesleyan church in sovereign hill was made of a canvas tent the church served as a church day school and Sunday school later on as the congregation grew the tent was replaced by wooden slab building with canvas roof in 1857 a wooden building replaced the slab building


I'll begin reading at verse 37, I'll read verse 41 and we'll get into our study. And John writes, but although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him. That the word of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. And so let's begin like this. I'll share a little bit with you when I was first saved. I came into the faith of Christ as a believer in miracles. I believed that God was capable of doing anything, and there really was nothing too hard for him. Now I had yet to read Jeremiah 32, 27, where God says, there, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? I had yet to read that, but I came into my walk with the Lord believing that if there is a God, then of course he can do all things. Yes, he can do miracles. And so as a new believer, I began to hear the word miracle thrown around quite a bit. I began seeing that the word miracle was often used for ordinary things. Somebody said, oh man, this morning I got in my car and it started. Man, that's a miracle. I heard people saying how it was a miracle because they needed money and they found change in the couch, or the baby slept all night last night, man, what a miracle I was able to rest. And so the word miracle was used quite often for things that were ordinary, for things that were not necessarily miraculous at all. Now obviously those were all good things, but they fall under a different category. They don't fall under the category of the miraculous. They come under what is called the category of common grace, that God does things for us because he loves us. God allows things because he loves us. But they're common things. They don't require anything supernatural. And so what we're looking at today is something that refers to miracles. Notice again, verse 37, how it says he had done so many signs before them. So this is in reference to things that are miraculous. And so naturally seeing that I brought up the fact that people used the word miracle for normal things, let's define miracle for you. And I took this out of a theological handbook. I didn't invent it, but it's been said a miracle is an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message. Now that's a long kind of definition. In other words, a miracle occurs without the aid of human effort. It's something a human being can't do. And it's something that reveals that God is behind it. You see, as I began to read my Bible, I began to see that the Gospels recorded many miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you read your scriptures, you'll see that there's a there's a discrepancy. Some theologians say that you can count 37 miracles in the Gospels. Others will say no, they're approximately 40. And so between 37 to 40 miracles are recorded according to what is found in the Gospels. But that is not a complete total of the works Jesus performed. Now how do we know that? Well, at the end of this book at the end of the gospel of John chapter 21 verse 25, John says this, he says, there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written, amen. So there are numbers of miracles that are unrecorded. And so Jesus performed many miracles and throughout the Gospels, the writers carefully presented that Jesus would perform miracles. And John makes it clear that he performed miracles and he did it with a purpose. So as I'm developing this with you, what is the purpose of miracles? Well, let me give you a few things. And this is all important for you to have in your heart as you read your Bibles and you begin to see the works that Christ performs, the works that he does. One, we know that by going through the Bible, we see that signs were performed to attract the attention of people, that he would do things that would cause people to notice. He intended people to believe the Gospel because belief in miracles does not save and so he had performed a miracle so he could give to them a message. You see that in the life of the man by the name of Nicodemus. We saw it in John 3, 1 and 2 where it says a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, came to Jesus at night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can form the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him. And so Jesus did miracles in order to initiate opportunity to proclaim a message of salvation. A second thing we see about miracles when you read your Bible is that Jesus' miracles gave him credit. They established, in other words, the truth of his ministry. In the book of Acts, in chapter 2, verse 22, we read these words, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. And so he's saying Jesus had established credibility by the works. God demonstrated he was with Jesus by the miracles. It's interesting how he uses the words miracles, wonders and signs. Now miracles speaks of the demonstration of the power of God, the miracle. But a sign is something that points you somewhere. And so you're going somewhere, say you've never been to this fellowship before and you're looking for a sign to show you how to get here. And you say, what kind of sign?  I mean, what are you talking about?  You take, the signs are directing you somewhere. A miracle is what God does, the sign directs your attention. And the wonder is what you experience when you see the miracle. And so that's why you'll see miracles, signs, wonders, and very often clustered together because it's a demonstration of the power of God pointing you in a certain direction and it affects you with wonder. And so Jesus and his works were demonstrating that he was from the Lord. Remember in Luke chapter seven, verses 20 through 23, it says this. When the men had come to him, come to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the coming one or do we look for another? And that very hour he cured many, many, cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits and too many blind, he gave sight. And Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things you have seen and heard, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear. The dead are raised. The poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me. So his works intended to communicate that he was from God. A third thing that we know about miracles is that John recorded miracles of Jesus to encourage faith in him. We saw in John chapter 10, verses 37 and 38, where Jesus said, if I do not do the works of my father, don't believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works. That you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him. In chapter 20 of John, verses 30 and 31, John goes on to say this. Truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. So he did miracles so that people might believe in him. And so as we're looking at this, and having that as a backdrop, notice with me again in verse 37 how he begins here. It says, although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him. When it says he had done so many signs before them, when it says before them, it speaks of before their eyes. He had done so many signs in their presence. And it's speaking of this multitude that is gathered around that he's speaking to. He did many signs, but notice the result, they did not believe in him. In spite of so many amazing things, they rejected him and they rejected his message. John 111 says it like this, he came to his own and his own did not receive him. No matter what it was that Jesus did, no matter how miraculous the work was, they still refused to believe. They still refused to accept that he was who he said he was. John says that Jesus performed various miracles of great quality and lasting effects, but they were blinded by unbelief. They were hardened in their hearts against the truth. And so he says that he had done so many signs before them and they did not believe in him. But he goes on to explain, verse 38, that the word of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke. Lord who has believed our report and to whom as the arm of the Lord been revealed. And therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he's blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts. Thus they should see with their eyes, thus they should understand with their hearts in turn so that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. And so John gives the cause of their unbelief. He actually traces it to a prophecy of Isaiah. Notice verse 38, when the questions asked, who has believed our report? To whom as the arm of the Lord been revealed. So what he does here, notice with me, is that he distills salvation into faith, into God's message, into God's strength to save, as well as revelation. Who has believed? So when he's speaking concerning this, who has believed our report? He's distilling salvation into faith. Who has believed our report? Faith is to be working together with the message. Who's believed this? You see in Isaiah, this is Isaiah's amazement at the rejection of God. Who has believed? I mean, you've heard what we have said and yet you still reject it. Who's believed our report? Who's believed our testimony? Who's believed our message? Who has believed in New Testament terms? Who has believed the gospel? You see, Israel was given a message, but they voluntarily refused to listen to it. In spite of God crying out to them over the centuries, they continued to refuse to listen. It's a message that reveals how God sends Messiah that they might be saved. You see, later on Paul is going to quote the same passage and he's going to make a comment on it in Romans 10, 16, and 17. He says, they have not obeyed the gospel. Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? But he goes on to say, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Who has believed our report? They need to believe it in order to be saved. And so that report, that message, who has believed? And then he speaks concerning the strength of God to save. He speaks of the arm of the Lord. And that speaks of God drawing man to himself in order to save them. The arm of the Lord is a picture of the strength of God. And God is very strong.  We were in Israel. Oh, I don't think I should tell you, but why not? It's embarrassing, but I'll tell you anyway. So I'm dragging our suitcases because God knows that that's my job. And as I was dragging the suitcases with Marie's things in mind, one suitcase was heavier than the other. I won't tell you which one. But as we're dragging it, we have a couple of, it's like you're walking, and then you have to go up some stairs. Then you walk in up some stairs, and that's what you're doing. So by the time I'd gone to a series of these things, I'm getting tired. And I'm thinking, oh, man. And we came to this where it's kind of went up a few steps and then a little platform up some steps and another platform. And I'm thinking, oh, I'm tired. I don't want to. And I'm thinking to myself that. And I'm saying, oh, I guess I'll just have to take one up at a time and I'll drag it up. One of the women, one of our girls, says, let me take that up there for you, Pastor David. She picked up both of them, walked up two flights, and put them down for me. And I said, I am old. I am officially over the hill. When I have my ladies carrying up bags for me. So anyway, why did I tell you that? I've been laughing about it for a couple of weeks now. Marie should have done that. Anyway, the arm of the Lord. The arm of the Lord speaks of strength. And God's arm is not too short to save. And he's not too weak to save. And so when he speaks of the arm of the Lord, he speaks of the strength of God. God draws him, draws man to himself. As he draws him, he's saving them. Psalm 44 verse three says it like this. They did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arms save them. But it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance because you favored them. Isaiah 52 10 reads, the Lord has made bear his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. So the arm of the Lord, the strength to save, he said, had been revealed. So God's strength to save has been revealed. How? Well, it is seen in the incarnation of Christ. God took upon himself human flesh and dwelt amongst us.  And it's seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension, all of this encapsulated in what is called the gospel message. And so the arm of the Lord has been revealed. His strength to save has been revealed through the incarnation to the gospel and all the good things that relate to that. And so Lord, verse 38, who has believed our report, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Well, it says, though, they couldn't believe, verse 39, because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn so that I should heal them. And so notice how verse 39 says they could not believe. Now, this was not the purpose of Isaiah's ministry. It was the effect of it. His purpose was that they would understand that they would turn, that they would be healed. That was the purpose, but they could not believe his miracles were of God because they would not receive the message. They couldn't believe that. And so in the day of Isaiah, they rejected voluntarily what God was revealing to them and that applied to the days of Jesus Christ. They would not recognize that the miracles Jesus performed was validating his ministry, that he was sent from God to be the savior of the world. They couldn't believe it, they rejected it. They refused to believe it. It was something they just would not accept. When you read your Bibles, you're gonna see that the nation of Israel habitually rejected God's call. In the Old Testament book, in the prophet Jeremiah, in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah chapter 35 verse 15, listen to what it says. I have also sent to you all my servants, the prophets rising up early, sending them saying, turn now everyone from a evil way, amend your doings and do not go after other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land which I've given you and your fathers, but you have not inclined your ear nor obeyed me. That was what took place in the time of Jeremiah and continued. You see, prophetically, this explains the lack of response of the nation to Messiah because Israel habitually rejected one prophet after another until they ultimately rejected the savior. In Luke 11, verses 49 through 51, it reads, therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles.   So though they had God's word, they failed to see Messiah in it and they did not believe. In Hebrews four, verse two, it says it like this, indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, listen, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. You might wanna mark that down, Hebrews four two, somewhere on your Bible and you might wanna read it again because the last phrase in that verse is a very powerful one, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. I wonder how many Bible studies I've heard that I didn't mix faith with. How many times I've heard a preacher, a teacher give a message and I heard it, but I didn't mix faith with it, I didn't receive it by faith, I didn't apply it to my life, I didn't say, yes, this is God, I'm gonna do these things. You know, if you hear something long enough, you get used to it and you begin to ignore it. I was in Switzerland many years ago in 1975 and I was in a city called Montreux and in Montreux, Switzerland, they were having what is called the Montreux Jazz Festival. I wasn't there for it. I just happened upon that Montreux on that week that they were having it and I say that because I got off the train because I didn't wanna go any further. I was by myself at that time, I was traveling with a friend of mine but we had separated, he had gone somewhere else and I went off by myself to Switzerland and there I am in Switzerland in a place called Montreux and I start walking. I have a backpack and I'm carrying my backpack and I'm looking for a place to stay and I can't find a motel because it's the Jazz Festival and it was the International Convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Interesting combination, you know, the Jehovah's Witnesses were listening to the jazz going, cool daddy, but you know, as the... And so all the rooms were taken. They were all taken and I couldn't find a place to stay and I'm walking back and forth through where all of these, we'll say motels are and finally I came upon one, everyone was already booked, all the rooms are taken and I finally find one and I remember going in and the fellow behind the desk speaks French, I don't speak a word of French, you know, other than the word sack and French fry, that's pretty much my vocabulary and so I don't get it. So he says, he's got a room and he takes me to a room, I'll never forget it, nice, clean room and I sit down on the bed and I'm putting my stuff down and he has a little container and he holds it up like this and he speaks to me, I don't get what he's saying, he's speaking French and I don't get it and I make that, I don't know what you're talking about, he's a gesture, you know, and so he points it like this and then he points to his ears like that, I'll never forget this and he puts it down, walks out of the room and I'm thinking, I don't know what that is so I'm sitting there looking at this can and I lay down on the bed and as they lay down on the bed, the whole room starts to shake, it's vibrating like an earthquake and then I hear a sound of a rumbling and then I hear the sound of a train and I stand up and I walk up and I open up the drapes and 10 feet away are tracks and it's the tracks that are slowing down to enter into a train station and so now I get it, those things in that can were made of wax that you're supposed to put in your ear so that you can sleep because the trains kept coming every 15 minutes, yes, but do you wanna know something? I got used to that within an hour. I got used to the sound of trains, 10 feet from my window and I didn't use those little wax things, I already had enough wax, I didn't use those wax things to sleep because I discovered that you can get used to almost anything, the noise you can get used to and guess what, I also discovered in my spiritual life you can get used to anything and you can hear something over and over and over again and still ignore it and the gospel message is that way to some people. Some kids were raised in Christian homes, they went to children's ministry, they did all of the things from when they were small until they were in high school, they've heard Bible study after Bible study, sometimes even raised in homes where mom and dad gave them devotions so they're in church, they have devotions, they've heard the gospel, heard the gospel, but it was not mixed with faith and they never received Christ and that's a very distinct possibility and it isn't a difficult thing to harden yourself against the grace of God and Isaiah says that's what happened to Israel. There were prophets who rose up early, spoke the word of God, called them to repentance and God said, you didn't listen. Why, the word of God profited you not. It was not mixed with faith. So when the Lord speaks, isn't it wise to receive? Isn't it wise to believe and act on it? Absolutely. And so he's blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes unless they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. It wasn't that God intended for them to be blind is that his message being spoken to them so many times they were blinded voluntarily. They didn't want to hear, they didn't want to receive. What's interesting also, and I'll point this out for just a moment in verse 41, is how it says, these things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. When he saw his glory and spoke of him. That reveals to us that when Isaiah in chapter six of the book of Isaiah is speaking there. That reveals to us when he says in the day that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, he was high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And it speaks concerning the winged creatures and how they were saying, holy, holy, holy and all of that and his glory filled the temple and all. And that's interesting because it says these things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. This is actually a word that's prophetic related to Jesus. It shows that Jesus is the Lord who was revealed to Isaiah there in Isaiah chapter six. And in Isaiah six, verse five, it says, I said, woe is me, I'm undone because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Who was he referring to? Jesus. He said, I have seen him and that's what verse 41 would be speaking of. Now in verse 42, nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, when it speaks of the rulers, those are the religious rulers. It says, notice how it says, among the rulers many believed. Now we only know of two. We know of Nicodemus. We saw him in chapter three. We see him other places. And we also know Joseph of Arimathea was part of that ruling class. It's interesting to note. Now look at it. It says many were convinced of who Jesus was but were secret in their belief. They were aware of who he was but they also were afraid to be excommunicated. Now, that's common knowledge what would take place if they were to confess Christ they would be kicked out of the synagogue remember in John 9.22 how the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ he would be put out of the synagogue. And so these people were secret. They were secret believers if you will. It says in Proverbs 29.25 the fear of man brings a snare but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be saved. The fear of man brings a snare. Listen, if I can encourage you in any way in this let me do it this way. When I first got saved, I always have to go back to this. When I first got saved, I was taught something that I never forgot and I've been saved a long time now and I've still never forgotten. And it's very basic. It is something I want us as a church to always remember. Don't be afraid to speak for the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be afraid of man.  Now, be wise. Don't be argumentative. Don't be belligerent. Don't pick fights with people. You know, if you're in a college class with a PhD in philosophy, the guy's got a PhD in philosophy and you're somebody like me, I have a high school education. And don't go on and start trying to out, you know, philosopher him. It's not gonna work. It ain't gonna work. You're gonna end up looking pretty foolish if you do that. So I'm not saying pick fights. You know, I'm not saying argue. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is seek opportunity. Look for an opportunity to share because you will be blessed when you actually learn that because as intimidating as people can be, and they can be, and educated people, extremely educated people can be extremely, extremely intimidating. I know that at my age. I still know that. I realize, you know, and I say this in all truth, I realize that I'm not that sharp. You know, I know that. But I also know that I have seen God open doors when you just are willing to speak. And Jesus said, if you obey me, you love me. And he said, and I will love you. And my father, we will manifest ourself to you. God will manifest himself. God will show up. There's hardly anything more exciting than when God shows up. I have to tell you, that's true. That's true. It's hardly, I don't know what's more exciting than God showing up somewhere. And we've seen him do that. We've seen him do that, where he just is there and there's a sense like, whoa. You may be talking, you know, that's a Greek word that means, whoa. So, because as you share, and here's the thing too, you know, I will give you words of wisdom that none of your enemies will gain, say, no resist. Jesus said, it is not you, but it is a spirit of my father who speaks in you. Jesus said, and he does, and he does. And you happen upon a conversation that's taking place in the workplace, and you have a freedom to speak and you just kind of stand there. And then the person turns, you say, what do you think about this? And you go, thus saith the Lord. No, you just kind of look. And you say, you know, as I was listening to you, I couldn't help it. And the Lord begins giving you, have you had that? He begins to give you things that you're saying, wow, I wish that this was on tape. I'd go on radio. This is good stuff.  Doesn't have to be 25 minutes. It doesn't have to be five different scriptures. And it just learned to open your mouth. Learn to say, God, here am I, use me.  You go to work, whatever. I would do that when I was working secular. I'd say, Lord, you know, use me on the job. If it means just being a good worker, because you don't give me an opportunity to speak because I shouldn't, then I won't. But just use me. I just want to be used by you. You see, there's nothing more exciting. There's nothing more rewarding than being used by the Lord, being used by God.  And I probably will share this. So I'm giving you a preview of it. I really don't want to because I want to share it Sunday, but it comes to mind, Marie and I were, we were in Israel many, many years ago now. And normally your Jewish guides will, if you don't have a believing Jewish guide, they're respectful. They walk away and let you do your devotions, but they don't listen. You'll see your Jewish guide just walk away and stand over here. They don't want to hear it. Many of them have already heard it from better teachers than you anyway. So they'll walk away and they'll, so we had a new guide and this particular new guide was standing there and we were in the city of Capernaum and we're in the synagogue of Capernaum. And I opened the word and I shared out of the particular passage there and shared some things about Jesus in this place. And all it was just, it's a devotion that you have and shared certain things. I'll never forget this. It has stayed with me. How after I closed, my guide walks up and says, what he just said was true. What he said is true. And you need to know that and you need to know this and this. And he started adding some things because he had, he's been a guide to many Christians. And so he's quoting other pastors in that passage, exhorting the people to do what I had just encouraged them to do. And I looked at my wife and I went, whoa. Have we ever seen anything like this before? We're shaking our head like, amazing, amazing. And he eventually, and I'll tell the story this Sunday in more detail, he gave his heart to Christ, not then, but later on. And I'll share about that. You never know when you're sharing the impact. But if you refuse to share, how can they hear?  Just share, you know. And I really believe that's really important. You see, because these people notice again, even among the rulers many believe, but because of the Pharisees, they didn't confess them. They were afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue. And why wouldn't they not notice verse 43? They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Because they cared about the praise of men. They didn't want to lose their positions in society. So they secretly believed in him. But Jesus and John 5.44 said, how can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? In Matthew 10, 32, and 33, he had said, whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my father who's in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my father who's in heaven. Don't deny him, speak openly when given opportunity. And so he says in verse 44, it says, Jesus cried out and said, he who believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I've come as a light into the world. Whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. If anyone hears my words and doesn't believe I do not judge him, I didn't come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. I have not spoken on my own authority, but the father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say, what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting in life. Whatever I speak, just as a father has told me, so I speak. And so he cries out and he says, whoever believes in me, doesn't believe in me. Well, what he's saying is he's really calling out the desire of God that they might be saved. And he's making it very clear to them, if you believe in me, you believe not in me, but in him who sent me. In other words, it's God's desire because he's crying out. And he says, I want you to be saved. In second Peter 3.9, it says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but his long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And he's crying out. He's making it loud enough for people to hear. And what is he saying? Well, he's saying that Jesus was giving his father's message and that he's performing the works his father gave him to do. And so to trust one is to trust the other. To receive one is to receive the other also. To receive Jesus is to receive his father because they do not exist independent of one another. In Matthew 10.40, he who receives you receives me. He who receives me receives him who sent me. And so we honor the son just as we honor the father. And in John 5.23, it said he who does not honor the son doesn't honor the father who sent me. And notice in verse 45 where he says, he who sees me sees him who sent me. So to perceive Jesus as the one sent from the father is to perceive God. You see, Jesus gave the message of his father faithfully. In John 3.34, Jesus said, he whom God has sent, John 3.34 reads, he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. In John 17.8, it said, I have given to them the words which you gave me and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from you and they have believed that you sent me. You see, it's receiving Christ and it's seeing who he actually is because Jesus is God in human flesh. Always remember that. In Hebrews 1.3, it says the son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being. In Colossians 1.15, it says that he's the image of the invisible God. To look at Jesus is to see the father in human flesh. To receive Jesus is to receive the father. They're not independent of one another but work together. Now notice verse 46, I have come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. This will sound judgmental, it's not in my notes but it's true and many of you understand this and it isn't intended to be a judgment against people. It's an observation of reality. Being in the ministry as long as I have and being a Christian as long as I have, I know that it's, I know that none of us is perfect and I know that every one of us fail. Every day I fail and the rest of us too because we're human beings. It's not like you wake up saying, how many times can I fail today and what can I do that's really bad? You know, maybe you do if you do, but most of us don't. Most of us don't, most of us, most of us, most people don't wake up in the morning as a believer and say, I wanna do something today that will cause everybody to question whether I'm saved. But sometimes you blow it, don't you? Sometimes you do things you might even wake up late into the next day saying, how in the world did I get there? How? So you know, there are things that you can sometimes do that break your heart, you repent, you're so sad and sorry about it, you never repeat it. But then there are others who don't seem to have a single bit of regret over it, a single bit of sorrow over it, a single bit of remorse over it.  And they live in the darkness. And there are many, many today, and I think we need to examine our hearts. There are many today guys who habitually live in sin. That is their lifestyle with no sense of regret or remorse or repentance whatsoever.  You can't make it your habitual lifestyle. You cannot do it every day without any sense of conviction. It doesn't happen that way.  It's like what David said after his sin with Bathsheba. He said, my sin is always before me. It's something that you can't escape. Where can I flee? Where can I hide? The conviction, the hound of heaven is follow me wherever I go. I have to repent because I have been wrong. And so it's very important for us to understand that, that we're not to live in darkness. That that isn't to be our way of life. That your friends and your family and those who know you best on the job or in the neighborhood, that just the quality of life that you live ought to be so different that it impacts people. I was on a plane and I opened up the seat packet before me and it looked like an Etch-a-Sketch. Anybody even remember what that is? That was our computer back in the 50s, an Etch-a-Sketch. And I looked like an Etch-a-Sketch and I thought, poor kid, some kid left his toy in the back. And I looked at it again and it was an iPad. That was in an Etch-a-Sketch frame, but it was an iPad. And I opened it up and, oh wow, this is an iPad. Thank you, Jesus. No, it's an iPad. And so I got off the plane when we landed and I walked up to the steward and I handed him the iPad and he said, I was in this seat. And this was in the seat packet. Because I'm gonna assume that he's gonna find out who owned it. I'm assuming that. That he's gonna find out who owned it because it's easy to trace the seat, the passenger and get that to him. That's the honest thing to do. So I handed it to the guy and I said, could you make sure that this guy gets his iPad back? And the guy behind me, some young man says, whoa, hey, hey, there it goes again. Whoa, he goes, he goes, I've never seen anybody do anything like that before. Because the world is that way, isn't it? It'll take what's not theirs. Because guess what? When we got back from Israel, I had my backpack. I had two iPads in it, my Bible, and I had a sweatshirt and I left it on the conveyor belt that goes through the X-ray machine. And someone decided that my Bible and my iPads were really theirs. They took it, they stole it. They took off with it, stole my things. I pray for them every day.  Break their teeth, oh Lord. No, because that's the world, right? That's the world today. I'll take it if I want it. Doesn't matter if you bought it. Doesn't matter if it belongs to you. It's now mine, because you left it here.  That guy who was behind me, he said, I've never seen anything like that. Well, that's called being a light in a very dark place. And that's what you are. Just remember that, because we're not to live in darkness. We walk in the light, and that's what Jesus is speaking about. I have come as a light into the world and whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness or in sin. If anyone hears my words and doesn't believe, I don't judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects me and doesn't receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. So the primary reason Jesus came was to save, he's saying, and not to condemn. You see, judgment must occur and it's based on how his message is responded to. Men will be guilty of judging themselves because in rejecting Jesus, they reject the one who could save them. In Matthew 7, 26, and 27, it says everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell. And great was its fall. So men will be guilty of judging themselves because they hear the sayings but do not do them and their life crumbles around them. And then finally in verse 49, I have not spoken on my own authority. The father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say, what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the father has told me, so I speak. So the message of salvation is not originating from a Jewish carpenter turned creature. The message comes from God the father, he's saying and I'm delivering it to you. And if you believe it, you shall be saved. But if you reject it, you will be condemned.  I speak what the father says. To receive it is to live, to reject it is the word that I gave to you that ultimately will judge you. So obviously it's wise to accept, to believe and to do what Jesus taught us.


You guys know I'm a big believer in getting stuff done on the weekend thanking planning I'm gonna give you something so some specific strategy that you can implement into your business right now do me a favor Take two hours on Sunday night. Maybe it's four to six. Maybe it's maybe you go to church on Sunday night So maybe it's four to six. Maybe it's five to seven. Maybe it's maybe it's it's six day Whatever time it is take two hours on Sunday night to book appointments You can use a small amount of time Every week to fill up your schedule take two hours To fill up your schedule for the entire week set yourself ten appointments call some leads cold call Call your one market whatever it is take those two hours To actually start to fill up your week because if you do that and you're consistent about that every single week You've got a way better chance of legit booking appointments making sales getting hyped, right? Put put that in your practice every two hours every Sunday night spend time booking appointments working leads I don't care if you work our leads work somebody's leads because leads are what you need and leads will help you be consistent week in a week out So I'm gonna challenge you right now Sunday night from either four to six five to seven six eight take two hours To fill up your week because it's so much easier to be consistent if you walk into a complete full schedule Every single week and if you need leads you're like hey, I don't do that I don't know where to get them secure agent at your comm that is all we do We've got 20 team members here that make sure that you have fast incredible exclusive real-time Ridiculous insurance leads. Thanks for watching. Do something great on Sunday night to fill up your week