We are in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in this text, certainly this text that deals with the Christian ministry as a whole, but specifically now in this paragraph that runs from verses 16 through 19. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14, Paul makes a clear and defining statement pertaining to Christian ministry. He says there, for the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all that those who live, those who now live in him should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. For those who have been united together with him in the likeness of his death according to Romans chapter 6 verse 5, their old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with. That we, those who are in him, should no longer be slaves of sin. Those who are said to be in Christ are dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. They no longer live for themselves. That old man is dead. Those in Christ walk in newness of life. They now live for him who died for them and rose again. So before the Spirit of God gives them life from dead, from the dead in new birth, before someone is united together with him by faith, before Christ loves for them, displayed at the cross, arrests them, constrains them, compels them to live for him, all that a lost person can do is live for themselves. And to prove this point, I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, a lost person does not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as king over them. Someone who is not genuinely repented and genuinely put saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ does not honor Christ as king. They all ultimately do what is right in their own eyes and God gives a damning diagnosis of the human condition clearly laid out for us in Romans chapter 1. Look at Romans chapter 1 verse 18, the unbeliever, the one who rejects Christ as Lord, the unbeliever suppresses the truth of God in their sin. Romans chapter 1 verse 21, the unbeliever, the unsaved person, they know God but they do not glorify him as God nor are they thankful. If they were truly thankful, they would follow Christ by faith. If they were truly grateful, they would turn from their sin. They would turn from their rebellion and they would turn to Christ in faith. Their thoughts are futile or vain or worthless. Their hearts are darkened. Romans chapter 1 verse 22, thinking themselves to be wise, they are fools. Romans chapter 1 verse 24, they are given over to uncleanness, the lusts of their hearts. They dishonor their bodies in which they are to glorify God and they use their bodies in sexual immorality in all manner of ungodliness. Romans chapter 1 verse 26, their passions are vile. Some of them, even to the point of homosexuality, that which is unnatural and shameful. Romans chapter 1 verse 28, they forget all about God. They don't want to remember God.  They don't want him influencing their thoughts. They don't want him influencing or oppressing their actions. Romans chapter 1 verse 29, they are filled with unrighteousness. Their unrighteous deeds include sexual immorality, which includes pornography, it includes lustful desire. They are filled with wickedness, covetousness, which means jealousy or greed, wanting something that belongs to someone else. Something that you are willing to sin to get. Example, you want someone's approval so bad that you're willing to lie to them to have it. They are malicious. They are envious. They are murderous. They cause strife. They cause contention. They deceive. They devise evil plans. They whisper. They gossip. They slander to divide. They backbite against those who get in their way. Some of this sounds like professing Christians we know. Romans chapter 1 verse 30, ultimately the lost person hates God. If not by their words, certainly by their works, right? They do violence. They are proud. The unbeliever is boastful. They invent ways to be evil. They're inventors of evil. They're disobedient to parents. They're undiscerning, untrustworthy. A lost person is unloving. An unbeliever is unforgiving, unmerciful. Romans chapter 1 verse 32, they know the righteous judgment of God. They have a conscience. They have the laws of God written on their heart. They know that both those who practice such things as well as those who approve of such things are deserving of death. The problem is that the lost person just doesn't care. The unbeliever doesn't care. Romans chapter 2 verse 1, they have no excuse before God. Romans chapter 2 verse 5, they are hard-hearted and in their impenitence they are storing up wrath for themselves. Many say to themselves, I'm rich. I've become wealthy. I have need of nothing. I've become comfortable.  I don't need to change. They do not know that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.  By their thoughts, by their actions, if not by their words, the lost person cries out against the knowledge of God. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. Some might say to themselves, I know a nice unbeliever. He's not like that. What's likely then, you're not married to him. It's likely then that he doesn't live under your roof for any length of time.  Crawl into his heart and mind and this diagnosis is what you will find to be true there. Many will protest. I love Jesus. Many will say that. John chapter 14 verse 21, Jesus says to the one who loves me, he's the one who keeps my commandments. Luke chapter 6 verse 46, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say? First John chapter 4 verse 20, how can you say that you love God whom you don't see when you don't demonstrate biblical love for your brothers here in the church whom you do see? No. You don't love Jesus if you live that way, if you live for yourself. God's diagnosis of the human condition is grim. We are not inherently good, despite all of this world would try to tell you. To the contrary, you are not inherently good. Solomon says that life lived for yourself is vanity and grasping for the wind. Solomon says I've seen all the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from pleasure. My heart rejoiced in all my labor and this Solomon says was my reward. I looked on all the works that my hands had done on all the labor in which I toiled. Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no prophet under the sun. Why does Solomon say that?  It happens to both small and great. It happens to those who try to do good and it happens to those who do not do good. It happens to rich, poor, it happens to male, female. It happens to imprisoned, free, strong, weak.  You can be certain that you're carrying nothing out of it.  All is vanity and grasping for the wind. When you put your priorities in work, when you put your priority in pleasure, when you put your priority in comfort, when you put your priorities in the things of this life, it is vanity. You are grasping for the wind. It slips through your fingers and it's gone.  Solomon says, remember your Creator.  Fear God, Solomon says. Keep His commandments for this is man's all. This is not your best life now. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. And understanding that we know that in Him there is hope in Christ beyond the grave. There is no hope beyond this short, vaporous, fleeing temporal life if you're not in Christ. But there is hope in Christ beyond the grave. As we'll see from our text this morning, that hope is not grounded in a work done by you. That hope is only possible based upon a work done in you by Almighty God. We must be radically transformed from the inside out. We just heard a damning diagnosis of our condition apart from any work of God in us. We need to be radically transformed. This is our nature's overhaul. For those who give up living life for themselves and turn to sin, turn from sin to entrust themselves to Christ and to live for Christ, behold, Paul says, in Christ all things have become new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. God, in and of himself, according to the good pleasure of His own will, in great and abundant grace and mercy to us, God reaches into our wretched condition and He creates something new from the old. And Paul talks about that blessed reality in the text before us, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 16 through 19. If Christ died for us, then we died to sin and self in Him. We die to ourselves and live in Him. And He died for us so that we who now live in Him live in union with Him. We should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. Therefore, therefore verse 16, from now on living for Him, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Verse 18, now all things, now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Behold, Paul says, all things have become new. Amen. Referring to the outline provided for you in your worship folder, I want you to see that in Christ, Paul has one, a new perspective. Two, he is a new person. Three, Paul has a new position in Christ. And four, he has a new priority, a new perspective, a new person, a new position, and a new priority. Look first with me at Paul's new perspective, our new perspective if we're in Christ from verse 16, where Paul says, therefore from now on, since we have died in him, since we now live to him, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Notice with me from verse 16, that those in Christ have an entirely new outlook on the world. They have a new perspective. We have stopped considering people, considering others in ways in which we used to consider them. We have died to sin and self in Christ. The old man has been crucified with him. We now live in union with Christ and the way that we see the world has been transformed. If you are in Christ, you have a new outlook on the world. You have a new world view. Your mind in Christ has been renewed and you just see things differently, right? You see things differently, the things that we value, the things that we love, the way that we think about marriage, the way that you think about your spouse. Tell me, when you are converted, do you think about your spouse then differently? Yes, you have a new mind, a new heart. The way that we think about work, the way that we think about family, about child-rearing, the way that we think about our finances. Our priorities change. They should change, right? They will change if you are in Christ, if you are in new creation. Our goals, our desires, our plans, the things that we want, right? The things that we desire change. Those who have died to send himself in Christ have been given new values. It's an entirely new value system. This is not something you can do in yourself, right? This is something that God, by His Spirit, does in you. He transforms you. You in Christ have new affections, new desires, new goals, new priorities, new plans. That new perspective, that new outlook on the world certainly includes here how Paul views other people. Paul now no longer regards, he no longer perceives them, he no longer views them according to the flesh. He doesn't appraise anyone according to worldly or external standards. He no longer judges people according to outward appearance. That's a person I'd hang out with. That's a person I wouldn't. She looks pretty good to me. We don't regard someone according to outward standards. According to the flesh, our perspective has been transformed. This once hateful and racist Pharisee was freed from prejudice, from wicked racism. The one who persecuted Christians, the one who consented to their death, the one who hated Gentiles, hated Christians, now would say we are all one in Christ. In Galatians 3 verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. For Paul the Pharisee to say that, that is a paradigm shift in Paul's thinking, right? There is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In verse 16, Paul once viewed Christ according to these worldly standards. Paul saw him as a traitor to the Jews. Jesus Christ was a rebel. He was an insurrectionist. Christ was a heretic, a rule-making messianic imposter. And Paul was set on his eradication. Jesus Christ in Paul's eyes deserved to be crucified as did anyone who followed after him. He was cursed of God because cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. And Paul says in verse 16, that yet now he knows him thus no longer, right? An encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus changed Paul's perspective, changed his understanding of who Jesus Christ is. It radically transformed the way that he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, his Savior, God's promise deliverer. It just changed the way that he viewed the Lord. When the light of the knowledge of the glory of God blinded Paul, knocked him off his high horse on the road to Damascus, when the Spirit of God caused his spiritually blind eyes to now finally see. Imagine the picture, right? Paul physically blinded on the road to Damascus by the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, physically blinded. He now has spiritual eyes to see as he should. When his heart of stone was crushed upon the rock of our salvation, Paul saw the risen Christ no longer according to the flesh. Paul saw the Pharisee saw much differently than Paul the apostle, right? The one whom he had persecuted is Lord of heaven and earth. The one whom he had sought to destroy any remembrance of is God the Son, crucified for sinners, raised from the dead in glory. Lord Jesus Christ transfigured before the sight of Paul. When Paul's view of Christ changed, Paul's view of everything else changed. And that's a lesson that you and I need to take from this part of our text. When Paul's view of Christ changed, Paul's view of everything changed. Philippians chapter 3 verse 7. But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being conformed to His death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. If someone says, I've been saved by Christ and they don't have this affection for Christ, they've not been saved by Christ. They haven't had that perspective transformed. They've not been given spiritual eyes to say Christ is precious. He is the treasure in the field. He is the pearl of great price. He is the one for whom you will count all things lost to gain Him. When a sinner is born again from being dead in sin, when they're knocked off their high horse in the course of living life for themselves, when they are given a new heart and their blind eyes are opened, they see Christ no more according to their foolish and worldly standards, right? He's no longer the one who gets in the way of what you want to do. I'm just trying to live my life here and you're getting in my way with your Christianity, right? He's no longer boring. You're no longer indifferent to Him. You could no longer just take Him or leave Him. The joy of heaven will be the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ among His people. The worship of Him, the praise of Him, the love of Him from a pure heart and a clean conscience with no sin getting in the way. The worship of Him, not someone you merely pay lip service to on a Sunday morning. He is the Lord of glory. He is altogether lovely, adorned with majesty and splendor and glory and beauty. One for whom you would gladly suffer the loss of all things to gain, all sufficient, all satisfying Savior of your soul. And when you see Him that way, when your perspective of Christ is transformed, when you see Him no longer according to the flesh, you suddenly see your sin as exceedingly sinful. And Peter's on the boat in Luke chapter 5, and he sees a glimpse of a glorious God in the face of Jesus Christ. Peter's first response was, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, right? Do you see your sin as exceedingly sinful? And you see Christ as the one who has paid the price to save you from your sin. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. When you get a new perspective, that's the response of the Christian. That's the response of renewed heart. That's the response of a renewed mind. That's a response to the spirit's work in the heart and in the mind. When you see Him with spiritual eyes, you suddenly see others also, don't you, in relation to Him. They're just not any longer. An object of lust, an object of greed, an object of covetousness. You see them in relationship to Him. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus was preaching to the multitudes. When he was told that his mother and his brothers were outside wanting to speak to him, Jesus answered, Who are my brothers? Who's my mother? For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. He no longer regarded his mother, his brothers, according to the flesh. He saw them in the right perspective. Jesus Christ always regarded them the way that he should. He did not regard them according to the flesh. Every true Christian, for every true Christian, skin color is a non-issue.  You do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Skin color is a non-issue. When you're in Christ, it doesn't matter if they're attractive or unattractive, if they're rich or if they're poor. If they're like you or not like you, the one in Christ sees the world relative to Christ. Are they in Christ or not? That's how you see them, right? That's the basis on which we are to assess those we meet. Is this my brother or is this someone I need to evangelize to? Like every genuine Christian has a new perspective. Where does that new perspective come from? Where does that radical change in the heart and in the mind come from? What's the cause of that? That's our second point. Paul is a new person. He's a new person. We see that in verse 17. Paul says there in verse 17, If anyone is in Christ, Jew, Greek, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, male, female, those worldly distinctions are gone. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now notice first that Paul begins here in verse 17 with a conditional statement. It's a conditional statement. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Literally in the Greek, if anyone is in Christ, new creation, right? If someone is turned from sin to saving faith in Christ, if their faith is genuine and their faith is saving, then they are, they are a new creation. No exceptions, no excuses. There is no such thing as a carnal Christian. There is no such thing as an in-between. If they are in Christ, they are a new creation. Someone in Christ who is not a new creation is defined by the world now as a carnal Christian. No one can claim to be in Christ who has not been radically transformed by the Spirit of God. No one can claim to be in Christ who has not been transformed. The distinguishing mark of every true Christian is that they have been made a new creation. Those who say, I'm in Christ and nothing happens to their life, there's no change, they profess to know Him, but in works they deny Him. You see, there's no power in that quote-unquote gospel. The call of the gospel is not behavior modification. The call of the gospel is not to make your decision. The call of the gospel is not improvement. The fruit of the gospel is not salvation without transformation. The salvation of sinful man necessitates an entirely new creation out of the old. Our condition as we are born in Adam, being totally depraved by nature, children of wrath, like sons of disobedience, that reality necessitates an entirely new creation out of the old. Spurgeon said, He is not the old man purified. He is not the old man improved. He is not the old man in a better humor. He cannot be mended. He must be ended. The scripture does not say he must be improved. The scripture says you must be born again. Notice next by implication. If anyone is not in Christ, then that one is not a new creation. Nor will he ever be renewed. Nor will he ever be changed. Nor will he ever be a new creation, apart from a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, all things grow old, and all things are ready to perish as a fruit of this new creation, verse 17. Old things, your old way of life, old desires, old affections, old values, old priorities, old goals, all those things, all of those things which characterize the old man, which was growing corrupt according to deceitful lusts. Paul says all these things, all these old things have passed away and behold. There's a sense of joy, exuberance, delight. There's a sense of delight in that word. Behold, Paul says. Put three exclamation points behind it. All things have become new, not some things. The transformation of heart and mind is an entire break with the old. It doesn't mean you're automatically saved as sin was perfection.  They're changed, and then by virtue of that new birth, being made alive in Christ, the Spirit of God goes to work in the heart of man to conform that one into the image of the Son of God, separating Him day by day from His sin, working in Him to do into will according to God's good pleasure. The Lord describes in Ezekiel 36, verse 26, is getting a new heart, a new heart, a heart transplant. He places a new spirit within you. You have a new heart within you, a new spirit within you that inevitably, inevitably results in new attitudes, new affections, new desires, new priorities. You yourself are under new management. No longer living according to the flesh, but now walking according to the Spirit. The doctrine that is being spoken of here by Paul is the doctrine of regeneration, the doctrine of the new birth. Paul explains that beautifully for us in Ephesians chapter 2. Turn there with me. Ephesians chapter 2, and we see here in verse 1, the doctrine of regeneration. In his conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, the Lord refers this as the new birth. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. It speaks of inability. You're unable to, you can't. Apart from new birth, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1.  What can a dead man do? Stink, right?   A stillborn child can't birth themselves. We are born, and we live physically, but by virtue of Adam's fallenness in, we are stillborn spiritually. We are walking dead, like zombies, right? Now we can see verse 2, this spiritual death is easily seen in how this walking corpse lives. Look at verse 2. In which this walking corpse once walked according to the course of this world, in the flow of this world, has this world's opinions, shares this world's viewpoint, argues this world's arguments. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, they have a different spirit, right? There is a spirit which works in them, sons of disobedience. Verse 3, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. You get into a conversation, if you're a lost person, you get into a conversation with a believer, and they just absolutely make no sense to you. Their arguments, like, what are you talking about? This person is crazy. They don't think the way that you think. They are by nature different than you. Where are your loyalties? Where are your allegiances? What is it that you have affinity for in this world? If you are by nature a child of wrath, you will be budding heads with the Lord of the Universe in His Word when it's preached to you. You won't think like a Christian. And those Christians, in the way that they argue, in the way that they think, seems entirely counter-cultural to you. And that's because it is. It is entirely counter-cultural. Listen, they are by nature children of wrath. We didn't become that way because we sinned. The condemned man is that way by nature. Titus adds in Titus 3 that we were once foolish, once disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Again, here we have this diagnosis from Paul in Ephesians 2. Same diagnosis of Paul in Titus 3. Let me ask you, can that one who is by nature a child of wrath change their nature? Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? No. Neither can sinful man ever change his nature. He needs a radical recreation. He needs new birth, new birth. I can't remember where I heard this example. But I heard the story of an obstetrician who was converted, saved. He was an older man when the Lord saved him, working in a hospital as an obstetrician, delivering babies for years, and he got converted. As the days and weeks passed by after his conversion, he meditated on the blessing of the new birth. I would commend that, right? Meditating on the great joy, the great blessing that is the new birth. And he thought about the new birth as he delivered babies in the hospital. And it dawned on him, as he was delivering babies, that these babies being born had no past. And they had an entirely new future. They were entirely passive in their birth. He didn't have to wait for the baby to do his or her work so that they could be born. And they were being given a new start. He concluded that in thinking about the new birth. That's what sinners need more than anything else. A sinner is in a hopeless condition, unable to birth themselves, unable to do anything for themselves. God describes the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 16 as wallowing in their own blood. They're just a baby, they're wallowing in their own blood. And they need their past entirely obliterated. Drop into the sea of God's forgetfulness. They need an entirely new future. They need to be born, right? The sinner needs to be born again. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But this new creation results in a new perspective, a new view on the world, a new view of others, a new view of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But this new creation also results in, point three on your notes, a new position, a new position. We see that in verse 18. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. We have a new position in Him. This new perspective, this new person, this new heart, this new renewed mind, these new affections, this change of heart and mind regarding my sin, this new change of heart and mind regarding God's Word, this new love for Christ, this new love for His people, this new birth, this new life from the dead, this new creation, all these things are of God. This start to finish was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes, amen? Salvation, start to finish, is God's sovereign work, and it is God's work alone. In other words, salvation is monogistic from a compound Greek word meaning to work alone, monogistic, monogism, rather than synergistic. Salvation is monogistic, it is not synergistic. The word synergistic is also from a compound Greek word meaning to work together. Salvation is entirely of God. All things are of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 that it is by His doing that we are in Christ Jesus. And that's so that we have no ground for boasting. It's not of work that anyone should boast. God will get all of the glory for our salvation. There's several texts which speak to this, and I want to take a little bit of time to look at a few of those. Start with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, remember hearing a sermon a while back where a false teacher who doesn't know his own Bible made the comment that there's only one text in the whole Bible that they've got, and it doesn't mean what they think it's it. Listen, this doctrine is taught throughout the Bible. It is all over the Bible. You just have to know your Bible, read your Bible to see it. Romans chapter 8, look at verse 28, verse 28. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We are called according to His purpose. There's no room there for human autonomy, no room for potentiality, no room for a mere possibility. We are the called. Why are we the called? Because it is according to His purpose. God purposes, and then God calls. You see, no room for human autonomy. Verse 29, for whom he foreknew, those whom he called he foreknew, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. When did that foreknowledge and predestination take place in eternity past? Before you and I were ever born, before you or I had ever done anything good or evil, so that God's purpose according to election might stand, he foreknew, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, and notice these personal pronouns, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Where do you see man in any of that? There's no room for man in any of that. These things are all of God. Salvation is entirely of God. Look at Romans chapter 9. One chapter over and drop down to verse 10. Drop down to verse 10. Using as an example two couples here from the Old Testament, the Lord is going to make the point that salvation is according to his purposes, his will, and his elective calling. His election. Look at verse 10. Not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, or having done any good or evil, that so that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, that's what counts, right, that the purposes of God, according to his election might stand, not of works, not anything that you do. Do you understand, right? We see that. Not of works, not anything that you do. Not walking an aisle, not saying a prayer, not making a decision, not anything, not breathing, not going to a church on a Sunday morning, not taking masks, not anything that you do. It is not of works, but of him who calls. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Ethel I have hated. What should we say then? Verse 14, is there unrighteousness with God? Is there to me? Is that what we think? Paul is answering that objection. Certainly not, Paul says. And he gives us another example. Verse 15, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him who wills. It is not of him who runs. Who strives. Who makes the even the most diligent effort. It is all of God who shows mercy. Wow, you know, this was the only, if it was the only text in the Bible, that's enough. I don't know how much clearer you can get. Look at Ephesians chapter one. Macchina Ephesians chapter one. No room for human effort. No room for human decision. In other words, you can't make a decision to regenerate yourself. You can't make a decision to change your nature. You can't make a decision to be born again. That's called decisional regeneration. Decisional regeneration is essentially the same heresy as baptismal regeneration. You just change the mechanics. You know, a person that be baptized, he's going to be baptized because he's washed away his original sin and it's going to cause him to be born again. Well, you're doing a work to be born again. You just change the mechanics and now it's walking out to make a decision. It's the same heresy dressed up in different garb. Do you see? There's no room here for human effort. There's no room here for human decision. Of necessity. Because of our depravity, because of our incapacity as a resident sins, our sinful condition necessitates that we are born again so that the Spirit of God will work in us so that we will respond in faith and in repentance. Regeneration of necessity precedes faith, doesn't come after faith. Do you see? Ephesians chapter one, look at verse three. Paul worshiping here in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. If you're thinking to yourself from Romans chapter eight that he foreknew us and that somehow that foreknowledge simply means that God looks down the quarter of time and he's going to accept me into his heart and so I foreknow him and I elect him to salvation. It's not what it's talking about. Here's what it's talking about. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, right? To foreknow essentially God choosing to set his love upon objects that he has chosen in and of himself according to his own good will and good pleasure to love, right? He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Before we were born, before we had any opportunity, Romans chapter nine to do any good or any evil, right? Verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, speak to God's purpose in our election, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made bound toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together and won all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to our own will, no? According to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Wow! Amen!  Praise God Now listen having done all that having done all that in him you also trusted After you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed were sealed pasted with the Holy Spirit of promise no room for human autonomy no room for human effort all these things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ Acts chapter 13 verse 48 upon hearing the gospel the Gentiles heard this they were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed there are a couple of reasons why God alone must work to affect our salvation one it's because we're incapacitated by sin we are by nature children of wrath unable to do anything for ourselves if it's going to be done God has to do it two so that man would have no grounds whatsoever for boasting God will have all of the glory for man's salvation I walk an island to the prayer just something about which you can boast I was a faithful Catholic my entire life are you going to boast of that before God boast of that before your friend who goes to hell who wasn't the faithful Catholic all his life no if our salvation comes through any work of our own Paul says in chapter 2 that Christ died in vain any work of our own how much clearer can it be baptismal regeneration guys decisional regeneration guys what has God sovereignly done himself monergistically in grace and mercy for us Paul says here back in second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 that he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ the word for reconcile originally referred to an exchange or a substitution originally an exchange of money for example but this word eventually became used for the exchange of peace for war or the exchange of love for anger the exchange of amity for enmity we Paul says by nature were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works as Colossians chapter 1 verse 21 yet now Paul says he has reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight notice that it always speaks of God being the one who reconciles us because God doesn't get reconciled it's not that you go not today's the day I'm going to go reconcile God to myself by doing this that or the other thing no he has reconciled us Romans chapter 5 verse 10 for when we were enemies we were passive reconciled to God through the death of his son this reconciliation is of God all things are of God when we were enemies we were reconciled to God to the death of his son it is through him Romans chapter 5 verse 11 that we have now received the reconciliation the goodness the kindness the mercy of God a loving relationship now replaces former hostility this is closely related to our justification isn't it we are declared innocent declared righteous by virtue of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ we are then reconciled to God through Christ reconciliation is possible through forgiveness of sins reconciliation is possible through the doctrine of imputation our sin imputed or credited to Christ and he bears that sin on the cross in his body on the tree he bears the punishment that we deserve in our place he bears our sin the righteousness of Jesus Christ who perfectly fulfilled the law of God and the just demands of God's law in his perfect life that righteousness imputed to us so that we are in Christ righteous as if we had done nothing wrong and as if we had done everything that God commanded us to do that is imputation and all of that is a monogistic work of the triune God monergism that new position in Christ then results in a new priority and that new priority given to us as a stewardship by Christ in light of these things 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18 now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation point 4 on your notes we have a new priority a new priority verse 19 that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation now again let's take a look at verse 19 and what's being said here the word world in verse 19 cannot refer to everyone in the world otherwise everyone in the world would be reconciled and there would be no hostility between God and anyone do you see it cannot mean that because there are those who are enemies of God by their wicked works they are alienated from God there are those with whom God is angry God is angry with a wicked everyday to reconcile if reconciliation is only potential or only possible then what does it mean that Christ was reconciling the world to himself if there is no reconciliation that's just crazy isn't it it's weird there is no reconciliation reconciliation is only possible or potential but God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself that's not possible either the world does not mean all people without exception the world here refers to all people without distinction we need to understand that again Paul doesn't view anyone doesn't regard anyone any longer according to the flesh the world does not mean all people without exception the world refers to all people without distinction Jew and Greek barbarian, sithian, slave and free male and female the world we don't have time to get into it today but there is also a sense in which a very real sense in which in Christ through redeeming sons of glory that God is also reconciling the created world to himself worthy of some study on your own when you have opportunity here we see reconciliation verse 19 dependent upon the doctrine of imputation God was not imputing their trespasses to them by faith in Christ your trespasses are imputed to him in your place look down at verse 21 here is the great exchange the doctrine of imputation second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 we'll get to this text next week for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him if the world without exception if every person in the world without exception does not have their trespasses imputed then what in the world do people go to help for if the world has their trespasses imputed to Christ that would include unbelief even in everybody from Stalin to Hitler any normal unbeliever would go to heaven that's not what the bible teaches we cannot have contradictions in the word of God God's word is inerrant he has reconciled the world without distinction to himself meaning all of us who are in Christ from every tribe every people every nation every tongue you see now what is the result of that verse 19 that was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation God being the source of reconciliation Lord Jesus Christ being the agent of reconciliation you could say that ourselves we are instruments of that ministry of reconciliation now he has committed to us he has deposited to us this word of reconciliation notice verse 18 that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is a gift it is a privilege it is a blessing it is a delight he has given us the ministry of reconciliation and verse 19 that ministry involves him entrusting to us committing to us the word of reconciliation it is both a gift of his grace a blessing of delight and it is a responsibility a stewardship and that ministry given to us is the ministry of the proclamation of the word do you see he has given us the ministry of reconciliation and that ministry involves the proclamation of the word to those who are not yet reconciled to God that's our ministry that's clear the apostle Paul now speaking to himself of his co-workers in Corinth and of the church at Corinth and us by implication the Lord has given to us the ministry of reconciliation the word of reconciliation has been entrusted to us verse 20 now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us to implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God we're all ministers of reconciliation if we're in Christ for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him that's our ministry that's our mission that's our responsibility that's our work and Paul here is elucidating the blessings Christian ministry to motivate us to compel us in this work these things should cause us like Paul to lay down our lives in sacrificial service with the gospel to the loss to preach this word of reconciliation so that lost people can be saved we are ambassadors for Christ let me ask you a question are you a new creation have you been radically remade radically renewed renewed according to the image of him who created you anew do you have new affections do you have a new hatred for that sin that you once loved do you flee from sin do you hunger and thirst after righteousness are his priorities now truly your priorities if his priorities are truly your priorities then this ministry of reconciliation is your ministry of reconciliation if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation old things have passed away behold all things have become new there's a popular story that's told about St. Augustine after his conversion in 386 AD and the story goes that Augustine was walking down the street when he recognized a woman that was walking toward him it was a former mistress a woman that he had been immoral with when he saw her Augustine immediately bowed his head diverted his eyes and crossed the street away from her the woman called out to him Augustine but he would not look up and he wouldn't answer so she began to call out with more urgency to the point where those around Augustine began to take notice and she said, Augustine do you remember me? don't you remember those nights that we spent together Augustine in his eye and finally Augustine shouted in reply as he trotted away from her yes but it is no longer I if you're in Christ you can proclaim with Augustine it is no longer I proclaim with Paul it is no longer I who lived but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me God in Christ has given us a new perspective he has made us a new person we have a new position in union with Christ we have preached the gospel behold all things have become new this new reality drives the apostle Paul in the Christian life it fuels and motivates him to lay down his life in sacrificial service to the one who laid down his life for Paul it should do the same for us compelled by the love of Christ put off the old man put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him do not live any longer for yourself but for him who died for you and rose again if you're not in Christ then this is impossible for you it is not a work that can be done by you it must be a work done in you by God he can raise you from the dead and even now you can cry out to him to do just that and once you are a recipient of this glorious reconciliation brother sister preach it preach it that's our ministry all glory, honor and praise to him who makes all things new let's pray pray silently consider whether or not you this morning are a new creation consider your perspective consider your position consider your priorities ask the Lord even now to work in your heart by His Spirit to conform you into the image of His Son


Yesterday, I was down the road in Vancouver to launch our 2024 budget. It was a great announcement about how we're going to make the economy fairer, fairer for every generation. We talked about key housing measures supporting renters because we know that having a place you can afford is a foundation of our economy. But another part of that foundation of a fair economy, a part that Canadians have always taken great pride in, is a strong social safety net. That promise that we will take care of each other, that we invest in each other, that we make sure that everyone gets a fair shot. That means dental care, where we help people and allow themselves to go to the dentist. That means a medical insurance regime that will allow millions of people to get free contraceptives and insulin. It's about how no matter your income, your health, where you live, or what you earn, you have support for the essential facts of life. And no matter your age, that's what our Canada-wide $10 a day child care plan is all about. It's support that starts at the youngest age. It's giving every kid the best start in life because we know that access to high-quality child care can help them do better in school and is a building block to success in life. It supports young parents so that they can afford to give their kids the best shot and afford to keep building good careers at the same time that they want and that can leave their family better off. It supports everyone in the economy. It's estimated that for every dollar invested in child care, the economy gets $2.80 in return. Well, three years ago in Budget 2021, we made a generational investment in child care. We want to take another moment to recognize the leadership of the government of British Columbia on this initiative. We signed the first affordable child care agreement with them. And today we're announcing that as part of last year's budget, we're investing in new child care spaces for BC families. That investment, combined with the investments and hard work of the province, means that families across the province are saving up to $6,600 per year per child, or even more if you already have a space that's reached $10 a day. Accessible and affordable care services give more opportunities for families. The federal government continues to make sure affordable child care is delivering for families. So are a lot of provincial partners because families are counting on us. And in this year's upcoming budget, we're going to make investments to expand and grow the program. We'll do this by providing over a billion dollars in low-cost loans and grants directly to public and non-profit child care providers. This funding will be through CMHC, a common-sense approach that will help child care be developed alongside housing, helping us build livable, accessible communities. We've funded 100,000 spaces so far, and we're going to keep going. We're also going to be supporting the amazing early childhood educators who care for our youngest Canadians by increasing training opportunities for them and by increasing student loan forgiveness for those who choose to work in rural and remote communities. That means more affordable spaces and more access in more communities across the country. I want to take a moment to talk to young moms, many of you millennials. You've grown up with so many pressures in this economy, the 2008 recession, COVID, climate change. You're a huge part of the economy, and we want to make sure that everyone, especially moms raising kids, has the best chance to succeed and thrive. We've invested to create more space in the Guardiaire, everywhere in Canada, to create well-trained educators in a larger number of communities. We're doing this work so that all families have the opportunity to succeed. Guardiaire is not just a social measure, it's an economic measure. And that's what we're doing to support workers who also attract investments from all over the world. For us, it's very clear, the prosperity of our workers favours the prosperity of our businesses and our economy, and so everyone takes advantage of it. We all depend on Canada's future success, and Canada's success depends on the youngest generations doing well. As Canada grows, as families grow, we want to make sure more kids can access high-quality childcare. Everyone deserves success. Whether you're a six-month-old with a wonderful early childhood educator, or a parent who gets to go to a job they love, or a grandparent watching your family thrive, that's what fairness for every generation is all about. Thank you very much.


All right, here we go. This is optic basketball two box or number four four even don't one single one of these wow People just don't trust you with the optic Joe 30 spots. This is one box of 1920 and one box of 1718 So here we go six times on both lists There's one two three four Five and six but a maybe a little too much hand sanitizer my hands are kind of slippery might be dangerous here on this randomizer Bam and six times on the teams all 30 teams in one to remember. This is to draft class rookie so Maybe the 1920s not so good for your team, but 1718 could be so keep that in mind All right six times look at that the lake show on the top down to the Philadelphia 76ers to classic teams All right, I'm not gonna read through the teams, but you can see on the list there And if you're watching live I can share it for you Yeah Yeah, I don't I don't it doesn't take me it like takes me like five ten minutes to get home Especially nowadays Very easy Right down Pacific Coast Highway The traffic lately has just been Maybe the only bright Good thing. I mean, I'd totally rather have it the other way But if there's any positive spin that you could possibly make about this whole ordeal is that you know The environment may be taking getting a little Breath from all the smog and stuff and pollution and then from the cars and the traffic's been a lot easier All right positive video. We'll be right back All right, no trades Maybe some trying to trade couldn't trade mojo for you Jed Never know We're gonna start with the 1718 and then we're gonna do the 1920 Remember we do have the hundred dollar break credit. Give away at the end too. That's for all 30 names so Everyone's entered into that. All right, 1718. This is actually kind of a sleeper class a lot of people kind of Thought it was kind of a bust since like Mark Wolfson stuff, but Jason Tatum looks very legit He could be a superstar My guy John Collins, I like a lot in Atlanta Lonzo ball played Pretty well with Zion What is this 30 of 39 that is a pink no black velocity of Malcolm Brogdon Bucks is Tony Barkie 30 of 39 Got a red David Robinson Admiral 92 of 99 the champ is here for the spurs. That's David Bruns There's a hollow Malik Monk Phillips There's a John Collins right a rookie. I think he's pretty good At the basketball There is hollow all clear for takeoff Blake Griffin There's a hollow Dylan Brooks Yeah, I'll be sleeping all the hollow rookies for sure. There's a Kevin Durant hollow. That's a nice one for Golden State There's an orange. Oh gee for the Raptors three of 199 someone said this guy is pretty nasty I've never seen a plane really Glenn has that one nice orange Got a green Josh Hart 82 of 175 for the lake show That's going out to Bradley K Lonzo right a rookie There's Dwayne Bacon Jimmy buckets hollow Redemption hopefully it's not expired These are expired or not Carmella Anthony Oh There's a red John Collins 94 of 99 a little bit of white on the bottom left corner It's still a nice one. Atlanta Hawks is Robert W Take a look at John Collins. What are you averaging when he got back from the He had like a PED suspension All right, the redemption is expired 1020 10 for 2019 Right a rookie to hollow Tony Bradley that Grizzlies Might not be able to Redeem it anymore. I don't know. It's worth a shot at doing it though. We'll still ship it to you. Looks like Tony Bradley is a Jazz He's a jazz So that one's from Brandon Pinnini just recently announced they're not doing expired redemptions anymore, but Like I said, still worth a shot. Maybe after all the COVID stuff. Maybe it's just for COVID and people misunderstood. I don't know What's kind of a bummer seeing that though? Yeah, Carmella Anthony was kind of playing sort of decent too, right for Portland It kind of sucks for him. He was just just you know had a whole year off, right? And then just getting back into the groove and then all of a sudden basketball stuff stops Yeah, rookie ship for sure inserts Just no veteran base Unless it's like, you know, I know like LeBron sell for like 20 bucks right now. It's crazy out of this So I'll sleep on top of LeBron, but that's the only exception Well, I mean all the hollow ship all the inserts so Good portion of it A lot of these are rookies anyway And then all the veteran bases When we had our store running we were doing like five and ten dollars Kind of like grab bag mystery boxes of veteran base and then we donate all the money. So That's what usually the veteran base go to Or just kids come in the shop, you know Like what we do with the flawless briefcases So, I mean, hopefully we can reopen our shop at some point this year I don't know about, you know, we're we had trade nights. We had like At least probably 30 people here Pretty cool, but I don't know I have another one this year Yeah, you got who Zach Collins there, too. Yeah Portland's pretty good Yeah, they just kind of need to get over that That like what second round hump. All right, there's a hachimura. There's a hollow Jordan pool That's a nice one for the Golden State Warriors right there LeBron That would ship anyway. That's an all-stars insert But like I said Droid Powell We have Alonzo Trier I don't know why that was upside down Kristoff's elite dominators Kendrick none no name There's a Cam Johnson lime green for the Phoenix Suns It's going out to Nicholas L. 101 of 149 Got a blue Luka Donch, it's nice 30 of 49 very nice one there for the Mavericks Matt D Blue Lamarcus Aldridge used to be a blazer Good like I mean, I don't need mean to be mean by kind of feel like after he left Portland. He kind of disappeared He's been hurt, I don't know. There's Darius Basley orange for the thunder that's going to Number 199 that's going to Christopher Bay And there is the autograph it is for the Hawks Robert gets the Bruno Fernando Rookie dominator signatures 31 of 49 Zion nice Insert Bridges There's a red. There's a hornet Nicholas Batum 91 99 It's gonna touch the head He's kind of rated there is a hollow stargazing towns Terry Rosier hollow for the Hornets Buddy he'll base so there you go. That was the break But we do have one last thing to do. We got a randomized hundred dollars to all 30 names So good luck. All right, we're gonna roll the dice gonna go nine times name on top wins $100 in break credit one two three four five six Seven more times eight Last and ninth and final time. Good luck David Bruins Congrats Don't think I called your name out much. So there you go Dave I'll be sending you $100 of break credit. Appreciate everyone getting in that was optic basketball two boxer number four


What's up and welcome to Realtalk. My name is Jason Flood and as you've seen in my last interview I interviewed George who is also about to drop his latest music video So check that out. But I got the chance to speak to Fiona Garvey recently another musician I really really like and has done a few bits herself Fiona has performed on stages like the House of Blues in Chicago all the way to the Grand Social in Dublin just recently. She has also released her debut album titled Crooked and she's going to talk about all that and more in my interview with Fee. Check it out. Me and Fee did an interview before. Me maybe use it another time maybe but it's not appropriate because Fee has some news and the news is that she has released her debut album. Yes I have. So Fee talked us about the album. We know it's Crooked and we know that how many tracks are there? There's four tracks on it. So tell us like what was the inspiration behind these tracks? Like you wrote them yourself? I did. Yes so I guess it's kind of a funny one because two of the songs on the album I'd written ages ago like same heartbeat the last song I think I wrote when I was in fifth year. In fifth year? Yeah secondary school. And what was the inspiration behind it? Was there any reason? Well that song I'm taking it's very much kind of about society and it's not as pretentious as this is going to sound. There's no Taylor Swift like stuff going on here where Fee has a breakup and then she like writes music about it. Well which one? Which one are we talking about? Well I suppose you could kind of say that Crooked is a little bit like this. Oh really? Well it wasn't about a relationship breakup but it was about a breakup. Very well. It's all I'll say. All right right. In general but you know so same heartbeat I'd written a long time previous and then kiss in the cheek I'd also I wrote I think my first year college and it's more upbeat like if you like someone. The album isn't the only thing you've also performed recently at the Grand Social so tell me about that gig what was that like? Essentially so I was really excited but when I got back from Chicago which is where I decided I was going to do the EP once I got home. Where you performed with the host of Blues? Yes indeed. I actually performed up there and then was like I think I'm ready now to record some songs and so when I got back I spent kind of well I mean my final year college yeah so between doing that and way too many things I recorded the EP and then coming up to Christmas I was like right I really want to do a big gig. I hadn't I've been I don't feel small gigs since I've been back but I hadn't done a really big one since summer and I was like once the CP is out I want to do a proper big event with like a band behind me and everything and just get to sing all my own songs pretty much basically and just see how it goes and when we had JJ Bloom he's a really cool up-and-coming artist as well and he performed a kind of funky sort of set and when he actually he performs with a band but he performed just with himself in the keyboard on the night and he was fab. Are you going to just write the momentum that you have now from Crockett or you already got into writing new music or do you have music you've already written because five years are a long time yeah so essentially the kind of plan is to continue promoting that EP and then I also have a music video coming out for one of the songs for Vendetta it's going to be coming out at the beginning of March you can also find Crooked on Spotify, Tidal, iTunes, Apple Music and pretty much everywhere pretty much everywhere and then I was actually just back in the studio last week recorded a new song that I wrote in January right basically I hadn't planned to be back recording so soon but at the Grand Social Gig and afterwards I was talking to people and this new song that I kind of at the very last minute decided to perform on the night and people seem to really like it just seem to I think he's sometimes fine because you don't really know when you're writing your own songs going to connect to people or not you're just like I'm going to write a song today but it comes out naturally yeah yeah but this song seems to have just like so many people said it to me so I kind of took it as a sign I was like right let's go and record this now so that coming up to summer I have something to release as well to keep them just as a single can you give us like a little hint about it like what is this one about can you give us a name can you give us a feeling something well the song is called Waterfalls Waterfalls right yeah um kind of like TRT Waterfalls you have no idea TRT Waterfalls no I was like I don't know what you even it's don't go chasing like just oh right yeah it's been really weird the last few gigs I played hearing people kind of singing my songs back to me so weird like really nice it's really I will hear it for years to come like you're really putting everything into it that's the plan I kind of like if this is the time I'm going to push for it I may as well give it a bit of welly you're going to have to follow for you to see how she gives it welly as she says but Fiona it was great it was great catching up with you like it always is great catching up and I wish you all the success with everything you're doing I really liked crooked and I was saying to Fiona is that sometimes when you're a presenter or in your creating content it's a lot about bullshit where you have to tell the person that you like what they're doing when you may not like what they're doing but you are our exception I actually like what you're doing so congratulations so it was great having you and that's a wrap so that was my interview with Fee which was really interesting I really like talking to her and I got to learn quite a few things about what she is doing in the future so on March Fee is going to drop her music video for her song Vendetta but she is also working on a new song called Waterfalls which she will drop sometime in the summer so to keep an eye on this talented artist make sure to follow her social media accounts all left in the description below from all of us here in the real media content channel thanks for joining us


Over the past year and over the next year, there will be plenty to talk about on whether Boston is capable of hosting the 2024 Olympics after winning its bid. But while 2024 is the year that everyone is discussing, it is not the only year that is of focus. The city of Boston has an agenda to upgrade this city. The completion date? If you guess 2024, guess again. We have a plan for the city of Boston, a city-wide master plan will be rolling out soon that is a vision for 2030, the year 2030. John Fitzgerald is the senior project manager for the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Olympics liaison for the city of Boston. He is the mayor's eyes and ears in driving force behind Boston's bid for the 2024 Olympics. The idea is it's not so that the Olympics can fit into our city so that we're able to hold them, but rather do the Olympics act as the vehicle to advance our vision for that plan of 2030, be it transportation, infrastructure, security, affordable housing, a number of different fronts that the Olympics could help with. Part of Fitzgerald's job is to go to town meetings like these and answer questions from local Bostonians. How do these things go together? After my 50 minute Q&A, a lot more people are open to the idea when I explain the benefits and the way that the mayor is thinking about using these games to accelerate the city of Boston and put it on a world stage more and get the investment into the city. I love the Olympics. The idea for Boston is after you leave an event like the stadium or something, you're not in the secure area as a park where all the events happen. You actually come out of the stadium and you'd walk into the city of Boston. You'd walk right down and literally downtown Boston becomes your Olympic park. And we think that's a huge asset for these games and for the markability of the city on an international stage as well. According to Boston 2024, the Olympics is estimated to cost approximately $9.1 billion. Boston residents are not thrilled with their tax money paying for these games, but Fitzgerald explains what their money would actually be paying for. The mayor has said that no tax money will be used for building of the venues of the Olympic games, but there is a clarification to be made sure is that no tax money would be used for infrastructure. And these are things that we already have planned, be it transportation, bridges, sidewalk, you know, a number of different things, improvements to the city of Boston. As is the case with previous Olympic bids, there is always going to be an opposition. John Fitzgerald wasn't received well at that meeting given the fact that he wasn't giving people answers. This is John Cohn and he is a volunteer at No Boston 2024. And that's what you see at a lot of the city's meetings, that people want to have answers. They might think it's, people who might be willing to consider it are getting increasingly irritated by not having any of their questions responded to. While the city sees the Olympics as the vehicle for their 2030 plan, Cohn and No Boston Olympics see the games as having enormous opportunity costs. It's a simple fact that if these are such great goals that you want to achieve, you shouldn't need an Olympics to accomplish them. You should be accomplishing them for their own right. So like actually making genuinely affordable housing, let's say investing in the tea, those are things that you should do on their own right. And the Olympics will divert from other things. People ask do we need the Olympics? We don't need the Olympics. We are a world-class city and we're going to go forward with our city-wide master plan, our vision, with or without the Olympics. What we see the Olympics is doing is fitting as a catalyst in making some of that stuff happen faster. For Fitzgerald, there's still a lot of work to do by December 21st, 2015. The date Boston 2024 has said it will release its bid to the public. It should be clarified that all of this is still going out to the community to talk to them to make sure this is what they want to see and how it will impact their quality of life. We don't have all the answers to all the questions yet. There are some complicated things that we're working on. And when we do have the answers, we're going to get out to the community and we're going to make sure they know. John Fitzgerald and the city of Boston have scheduled nine community meetings, four of which have already taken place. The next one will be May 19th at the Cleveland Community Center in Dorchester. Now these meetings are open to the public and meant for residents to voice their concerns or show their support.


Aaron Luis Severino made a couple starts to close out in the season. What did you see in those starts that leaves you confident that he is going to be a successful pitcher for you in the postseason? First and foremost, health. He's looked good really going back from the first time he got on the mound and making his way back in a side session, feel like he progressed how we would have hoped, wasn't rushed, and kept bouncing back to how we would have hoped. And then really from his first start in the big leagues, felt like his delivery was good, felt like the stuff was really good, and overall the command was pretty good. So I feel like he's ready to roll and gives us a really good chance any time we hand him the ball. Are you anticipating the same lineup tomorrow? Probably, yeah. When first having been able to write out the same lineup three days in a row, and the bottom of it being Sanchez, Deedee, and Arshela, you've talked about depth all year, but that seems even extreme for what you guys have. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're not fully healthy, obviously, but about as healthy as we've been all year. And I think so far through the first couple of games, they've represented really well. And I think kind of see the strength that they bring when they're all together. I think they all benefit from having one another in that lineup. And so far, they've done a really good job of making it difficult on the opposing pitchers. When Severino came back, was there a point where you thought that this him starting in the playoffs would be possible, that there was something he did or something you saw from him that you were like, OK, he's good to go? Yeah, I would say right away. The first start, to me, was really encouraging. In kind of watching his minor league starts, which I did on video, I thought they were fine. But what was nice is I thought he was getting better each time out. And that first time, his first start back in the big leagues was another huge step. And I thought coming back in that game at home, there's going to be some emotions there. I thought he did a really nice job of kind of controlling his emotions himself, being real clean in his delivery. And as a result, he commanded the ball, yes, but he also had the Velo we normally see with him. The stuff was coming out like it does for Sevill. And it made me feel really good about where he was at that point in the season. Aaron, you've said DJ LeMay, he was probably your MVP for this season. How would you summarize what his presence has been like in that clubhouse? A lot of different personalities in there, but it's a group that's very close. And I think one of the really good things about that room is guys, I mean, they get along really well, obviously, but guys that are able to be themselves. And I think from day one, I feel like DJs felt very comfortable here. There's a way he goes about in his work that is really efficient and obviously works really hard. But I think it's been something that's rubbed off on guys, too, and been a nice one of the tone setters in a lot of ways. And I think guys look to him and appreciate just how he goes about it. Anthony, in the second room? Aaron, when you first heard that Yankees were possibly to get Enconarcion, if you were asked your opinion, was it like, yeah, Gimmie? Or was there, hey, do we need another hitter? Yeah, that came together. I didn't know much about it till the very end. I don't know how long I'm assuming it came together fairly quickly with Cash. But I remember it being a possibility that 24 hours before I feel like I was alerted to it. And I mean, very excited. And I think a lot of people at the time were wondering if we were going to go get pitching. But I think, as Cash has said, this situation presented itself. And to get a guy the caliber of Edwin to add to our team, I think everyone has seen, when he's been healthy and in our lineup, what a difference maker he is right in the middle.  He's a great hitter. And he's shown it every step of the way. And to your right, Dave Linden. You spent a lot of a made the point of emphasis during the regular season to protect the bullpen, make sure guys weren't overused. You got a lot of guys involved. The way things are broken for you guys over the course of the season and the first two games, how well do you feel set up for a game three? You have a lot of weapons set up. You have Chad Green in the position to help you. We're in a good position. We're in good shape, obviously. But it shifts venues now all of a sudden. We understand still what a really good team we're up against. So we're set up just with the off day and guys being rested that we can shoot everything at you in a game three. And hopefully we're in a position to do that. So that feels good. But there's always that trepidation walking into a game knowing that it can get sideways at any point too. So we'll be looking forward to our workout today. And hopefully we'll come out tomorrow. And Sevi sets a nice tone. And obviously we won't hesitate to go to our guys that we feel like are pretty well rested. Where do you think Giancarlo Stanton is? Your assessment of him offensively? Is he close to where he needs to be or where he usually is? Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with where he is considering as much time as he has missed this year. Feel like his at bats towards the end of the season where he got into a handful of games were mostly good. And he's carried that into the postseason. Feel like he's doing a really good job along with the rest of our guys of really controlling the strike zone and swinging at strikes. A number of walks already for him. Just missed a ball on the sack fly where he got the guy to third also with less than two out. So I feel like his at bat qualities been there. And just another guy in our lineup that's so far been able to make it difficult on opposing pitchers. Lindsey, second row on your left and then Marley. There's obviously a lot of attention and pressure on Aaron Judge. How have you seen him handle all of that? And when would you say you really started to see him take a leadership role with his teammates? Ask that again. Sorry. Just curious how you've seen Aaron Judge handle all the pressure and the attention and how he's kind of become a leader within that clubhouse. How he handles pressure.  I mean, the bigger, the more important now that we're in the playoffs, I think you've seen just he's one of those guys that you feel like ratchets it up a little bit more. I think he lives for this kind of thing. And to see him out there in every aspect defensively, running the bases, at bat quality, pitch to pitch has been great and feel like he's at his best right now as he has been at any time of the year. As far as a leadership role, he's so well respected in there, so well loved in there, and does have a big voice in there. And guys listen to him when he says something, whether it's a younger player, whether it's a player that's older and more experienced to him. I think he respects and defers some things to like CeCe and Guardi, but there's no question that Aaron is our guy. And when he speaks up, everyone in that room listens. Marley, I think. Aaron, when Severino was up here before, he was asked about his performance, his poor performance against the Twins in 17. And he joked that he didn't remember and that it's a none. But then we saw him in the playoffs last year the way that he performed in the playoffs, and it was pretty bad, too. What kind of guy is he going to be inspired the way Aaron, Justin, all the other guys have been talking about failure? How do you think he will handle being back on a mound? Well, I think, first, I think Sevies had good and bad in the postseason. He talked about the Minnesota, and then last year, I mean, he pitched the wild card game and pitched great for us. I expect him to handle it. I mean, this is a guy with loads of talent and the ability to go out there and pitch at a very high level. And I think he expects that of himself, and I think he will handle it. And whether he uses, I'm not sure exactly how guys take experiences with them, whether it's highly successful or they failed or whatever, that's all part of it. And the one thing I've always kind of said with Sevies for being a young man, he's been through a lot at the big league level. He came up as this huge phenom, had some struggles, went to the bullpen, kind of had a lot of success, then emerged as this psi young candidate, has had huge successes in the postseason, has had some times where he stumbled, now been through the first major injury of his career where he was out a significant amount of time. And I think all those things that he's gone through hopefully serve him well moving forward because he has, for being a young man, a lot of experience. And Sevies is a smart, thoughtful, talented player that hopefully that's something that benefits him moving forward now. I think a couple last ones starting with James on your left, Aaron. Sevies might be interconnected, but would you go back to Hap after two days off and then if there was a game four, would he be an option? Would he start a game four? I would say that anything's on the table still. And we're gonna pour everything in, Hap will be available in game three and we'll just see how it unfolds and then we'll go from there. Hopefully we're in a position to where we're not making the decision, but we'll cross that bridge if we have to, but we're going into game three with the old all hands on deck and Jay will be part of that mix in the pen force in game three.


Dr. Brett, February is heart month. What's the importance of that? February is heart month and it's an important month in that we recognize the importance of heart disease as a major cause of death in our country, both for men and women. It's the number one killer. And it's a time where we can make sure our patients are educated as to things that they need to know about to prevent their risk of developing heart disease. And also educating our patients so that they know what to do if they develop symptoms of heart disease. And what are some of the risk factors for developing heart disease? There are some risk factors that are not in our control. So unfortunately genetics does play a role. As does age. Those things are not really under our control. So we don't spend too much time worrying about those things. But there are several risk factors that are within our control. So patients that have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smokers who are inactive or who are obese, all those are risk factors that are theoretically preventable or can be modified to prevent the risk of heart disease. Among those risk factors are some more important to reduce on your own than others. I think smoking is always just such a huge risk factor for developing vascular disease. We really emphasize that as much as we can. Smoking cessation is just so important. And then the others are right underneath that. And so one of the important things is for people to understand what their numbers are. A lot of people we see had no idea they had high cholesterol for years, had no idea that their blood pressure ran high, and might not have had some of these routine screening tests before. So it's very important for people to know what their numbers are so that they can begin the process of addressing those risk factors. When you say people should know their numbers, what numbers are we talking about? The numbers that they should know are the numbers that really define what their risk is. They should know what their cholesterol profile is. That's a measurement of their total cholesterol as well as the different levels of good cholesterol, bad cholesterol. These numbers are critical to understand what their risk of developing heart disease is. So that's one set of numbers they should know. They should also know whether their blood pressure runs high. They should know whether they have that entity of hypertension or high blood pressure that is a risk factor for developing heart disease. And they should also have a blood sugar measurement at some point so that they know whether or not they have diabetes, which is a very potent risk factor for developing heart disease. Heart attacks, it's about 17 million people a year will die of heart attacks around this time. And that's expected to rise over the years. Do you know the reasons for that projected increase? Well we have an aging population and we have an obesity epidemic. And with obesity comes some other metabolic abnormalities including lipid or cholesterol abnormalities that all contribute to this increase in the prevalence of vascular disease. And what are some of the symptoms of heart disease or heart problems? Symptoms can be variable, but there are some symptoms that are common. The classic symptoms of people who have developed the most common type of heart problem, which is coronary disease, is chest pain or chest pressure or tightness, particularly when the heart is being asked to do more. So with exertion or sometimes just with emotional stress. A lot of times other symptoms go along with that chest discomfort. So, sweatingness, nausea, shortness of breath, all can be seen along with those chest symptoms. Not everybody presents with those classic symptoms. Those are the easy ones to recognize. But some people and particularly women seem to have a higher instance of this will have symptoms that are less classic. And they might just feel poorly. They might just feel very weak and nauseated and think it may be something not related to their heart. So you don't have to have all of those symptoms to think you're having a heart attack? That's absolutely right. And particularly in people who have several cardiac risk factors, if they do develop some of these symptoms, they should be thinking that this might be something related to my heart. And how does someone distinguish let's say indigestion from chest pain from a heart attack? Gastrointestinal problems like heart burn and reflux are notoriously difficult to differentiate from more serious types of heart problems. And there's been countless examples of people who come in with their heart attack and say, I thought it was just heartburn. So again, I think people that have risk factors for developing the problem who develop heartburn where maybe they haven't really had it before or there's something about it that feels different or it's more severe, they should think maybe I'd better get checked out and make sure this isn't my heart. What goes into an evaluation? If a patient comes in and they haven't had a heart attack but they think there might be something wrong, what sort of goes into that evaluation process? We have very good testing for heart problems here at Mercy. If a patient were to come in with chest discomfort, a combination of an electrocardiogram, which is an EKG, a very easy test to do, along with some simple blood tests, often make it clear right off the bat whether their symptoms are related to their heart or not. And if somebody has the symptoms, what should they do? Well, time is of the essence if people are having symptoms that reflect a heart attack. A heart attack means a coronary vessel, a blood vessel feeding the heart is obstructed or clotted off and the heart's not getting good blood flow. And the longer that happens, the more heart damage there is and the deadlier the heart attack can be. So time is of the essence and if patients have symptoms that they're suspicious maybe related to the heart and are lasting for more than just a few minutes, that's the time to call 911 and come into the hospital to get checked out. And if somebody does have a heart attack, what sort of the post attack treatment and lifestyle changes that they need to go through? Lots of different treatments for a heart attack. The treatment of heart attack has evolved fantastically so over the last several years and decades. But so it's very variable depending on what type of heart attack somebody has. After somebody is treated acutely for their heart attack, then there's lots of things that they need to do in terms of lifestyle interventions, so correcting risk factors. Sometimes that can be just with modification of their lifestyle. Sometimes it's with medications, usually it's with both, become paramount. And what's the trend in survival rates for people who have had heart attacks? We've done really well treating people with heart attack and the survival rate has just gotten better every year. Partly because of educational programs like this, people being quicker to understand the symptoms of heart attack and coming in to get help. And partly because our treatments have gotten better and partly because this emphasis on prevention has become so strong. February is heart month but people need to be cognizant of these things all the time. That's exactly right. It's not the only month we see problems obviously but that's right. But it's a good time for public awareness and I think there's no question that if patients know what their risk factors are, know what their numbers are, the goal is to actually have them come in and see us before their heart attack so that we can prevent that from happening. Here at Mercy Cardiology, we see patients like that quite a bit. They'll come in concerned that they might have some of these risk factors or concerned that somebody in their family had early heart problems. And there's lots of testing and therapies that can really change the course of them having a heart problem. If people want more information about Mercy Cardiology Program, where can they go for that information? Well, I'd recommend our website or to call our department and we'd be happy to see them. They can also talk to their primary care physician about setting up a referral to see one of the Mercy Cardiologists to help them with these prevention efforts.


Hey, everybody, Dr. O here. So I want to make an argument that sitting disease is a key cause of the obesity epidemic. Obesity was rare a century ago, and our DNA has not changed over that time. So what in the world has changed? We now live from our seats instead of up on our feet. We sit more than ever, and we are living with obesity as a result, as a consequence. Moving less has become the new default, the new normal. We have sedentary jobs. We work in cubicles at offices. We work from home. We drive. We have sedentary hobbies. We play video games. We watch TV. We spend time on social media. And sedentary forms of entertainment. We go out to the movies. We go to concerts. We go out to eat. Isn't it odd that the biggest sports fans you know don't play any of them? Our national pastimes involve sitting on our butts while watching other people be physically active. We sit for work.  The default is to find reasons to sit, not to find reasons to move. We drive more and walk less. We push less shopping carts and more shopping buttons. We order in more food, and we go out less. But why is this a huge problem? This lack of movement could be enough to explain the entire obesity epidemic that we're facing today, all on its own. Let's see what the science has to say. Obesity, abdominal obesity, physical activity, and caloric intake in US adults from 1988 to 2010. So between 1988 and 2010, obesity in women in the United States went from 24.9% up to 35.4%. Abdominal obesity in women went from 46% to 61.5%. So big increases. Obesity in men went up even more. Obesity in men went from 19.9% up to 34.6%. And abdominal obesity in men went from 29.1% up to 42%. So similar numbers can be seen all around the globe. This is just US data. Here's the amazing thing. This huge jump in obesity rates and abdominal obesity rates cannot be explained by our diets at all, at least according to this data. I still believe that diet is the best way to get into a calorie deficit. Don't get me wrong. But during this time, between 1988 and 2010, the average woman in the United States went from eating 1,761 calories per day to 1,781 calories per day, increase of 20 calories. The average man went from eating 2,616 calories down to 2,511, while their obesity rates went up. So this comes from NHANES data. This is the best data we have. So if eating more doesn't explain it, then what does? We need to look at something called leisure time physical activity to find the answer. So leisure time physical activity is any physical activity you do when you're not at work. That's why it's called leisure time. The number of adults in the United States who reported no zero leisure time physical activity went from 18.1% all the way up to 51.7% in women and from 11.4% all the way up to 43.5% in men. So in that period between 1988 and 2010, we reached a point where about half of Americans are doing nothing. If they're not at work, they're not doing anything. And the problem is they're probably not swinging a pickaxe all day where they're at work. They're probably sitting at a desk job and then coming home and doing nothing. We didn't really start eating more. We started moving less, much less. Our main problem isn't that we eat like an elephant. It's that we move like this sloth here. So back to the same study. Our findings do not support the popular notion that the rise in obesity in the US can be attributed primarily to sustained increases over time in the average daily caloric intake of Americans. We found no evidence that average daily caloric intake has increased over the last two decades. BMI and waste circumference trends were associated with physical activity level but not caloric intake. So it was more about how little you were moving being linked to your large belly than how much you were eating. And just so you know, things have gotten a lot worse. The US obesity rates currently in the United States are now up to 41.9%. So let's look at another study that shows the difference between lean and obese people is 350 calories of movement per day. So you see myself over 400 pounds and myself currently and physical activity changes are some of the main changes I've made, not the only ones. So non-exercise activity thermogenesis, the crouching tiger hidden dragon of societal weight gain. So I already showed you a study before that said the difference between two people can be 2000 calories, but that's taking occupation into consideration. So here in this study, obese individuals are seated for two and a half hours per day more than the sedentary lean counterparts in this study. And here's a quote, if obese individuals were to adopt the lean NETO type, that's what they called it, the NETO type, they could potentially expend an additional 350 calories per day. And then another quote, to reverse obesity, we need to develop individual strategies to promote standing and ambulating time by two and a half hours per day. And also re-engineer our work, school, and home environments to render active living the option of choice. This quote is the reason I built this course. The entire second half of this course is going to teach you how to do that, how to get you standing, how to get you moving, and how to re-engineer your environment so that movement is the option of choice. That's exactly why we're here. All right, so that 350 calories per day 2,450 calories per week, 127,400 calories per year, that's the equivalent of 36.5 pounds of fat per year. Non-exercise physical activity, or NET, is literally what separates the lean from the obese. So there are key takeaways here. The calories that we are eating are definitely a problem, but the calories that we aren't burning appear to be a bigger problem. Notice that I've said that physical inactivity, or I call it sitting disease, is a cause of the obesity epidemic. I don't think it's the only one. Junk food, poor sleep, stress, a lack of structured exercise, all these things are huge players, but inactivity is what I'm going to tackle in this course. I've already done a course on intermittent fasting to get into a calorie deficit and improve health. I've already done a course on sleep because I think sleep is a massive roadblock between you and your weight loss success, but this is what we're going to tackle here. All right, so what are our action steps so far? Well, if sitting and a lack of leisure time physical activity are the problem, we actually know what the solution should be. So we live in a world where we don't need to move, so we have to find ways to want to move. All right, in the next video, I want to show you why just adding more exercise doesn't appear to be the answer. All right, I hope this one helped. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.