Welcome everyone. This is the small business resources, assistance, and safety during COVID-19 webinar. I'm Andy Constable and I'm the Economic Development Manager for the County of Santa Cruz and I'll be your host today. Just as a reminder, today's webinar has several broadcast options. It is being broadcast live on CTV YouTube channel, the County's Facebook page, and also on CTV channel Comcast channel 25 and Charter channel 71, both of which will be available for replay. The slides and video links from today's webinar will also be posted on the Economic Development website or the County SCC Vitality.org. Today's agenda and speakers range from a variety of topics. With us today is Doug Erickson, Executive Director for Santa Cruz Works, who will be speaking about local business support programs. Lieutenant Roy Morales from the Sheriff's Office of the County, which will be speaking to Business Protection Program. Candace Elliott from Fortress and Flourish, who will be speaking about managing human resources in your business. Andy Stone, the Director of the County Workforce Development, will be addressing unemployment assistance. And Brandon Napley, the Director of the SBDC will be discussing small business funding sources. And at the end, we'll be answering the questions that are posted in the chat column as best as we can. We've added a disclaimer page before we get started and the reason for this is because although we make every effort to try to bring you the most current and relative information, it does change pretty frequently. As a matter of fact, we're seeing it almost daily. So before you make any final decisions or take actions, we recommend that you verify the information and also if possible, check with your local professionals such as your accountant or legal assistance. And with that, I will turn it over to Doug Erickson, the Executive Director for Santa Cruz Works. Hi, thank you, Andy. Good to be here. As many of you know, we had our first ride out the wave on April 2 through 4 and through the generous donations of Santa Cruz County Economic Development. Thank you, Andy and Bonnie with City of Economic Development. We had $10,000 of matching funds and we had Taylor Ray, a musician play, and during that time over $40,000 worth of gift certificates were purchased. We're going to do it again on April 24. And we have thanks for the generosity of our tech businesses, including Amazon, Santa Cruz, Looker Data, MBEF and Community Foundation. We now have $40,000 worth of matching funds and we'll have our endearing Keith Greeninger playing music for us. Our goal is to drive more than $160,000 worth of gift certificates for all of our favorite businesses. Next slide, please. We've established a new meetup called CEO works and this is a way to connect CEOs. It's sort of a peer-to-peer confidential way to get together and talk to other CEOs two hours a month. And we divided up by SMB in midsize. It's run by Silicon Valley Tech Veterans, John Marshall and John Dickinson, and the sponsors for this event include both Santa Cruz County Business Council and Santa Cruz Works. Next slide, please. We're proud of the tech community coming together and creating a group to produce PPE. And there's actually a site out there called PPE4CC.org, I believe it is, could be Tom, and they're producing both face shields and cloth masks, roughly 1000 per day. And those tech community, that tech community is made up of IDFAB Labs, Joby Aviation, Land Trust of Santa Cruz, Parallel Flight, Santa Cruz Bicycles, and there's a few more out there that are slowly coming to help out including San Gabriel College and UCSC. In our first week we delivered 1000 to New York City where they really needed it, and then some 400 to Indiana, 400 to the vaccine project up at UCSC. And we have another 20,000 on order for both Monterey County as well as for Santa Cruz County Health. Next slide, please. Lastly, on May 6, we have a fireside chat with a moderator by Guy Kawasaki, and it's the groundbreaking team of UCSC that will be, Guy will be talking to including David Housler, Rebecca Dubois, and Jeremy, and I can't think of his last name, but he's not on the slide here. They'll be talking about how they've modified the human genome browser to be able to detect RNA specific to COVID-19. They now have a one day test out, and they're working also on the vaccine. So please join us May 6 at 7pm. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everybody. So the sheriff's office has taken the approach of protecting our businesses throughout the county. And the way we're doing that is we've increased our staffing model for day shift and night shift where we have extra deputies throughout the county. And we've tasked them with identifying all the at-risk businesses. And by at-risk, I mean those businesses are kind of tucked away with large bushes in front and aren't as easily seen from the general street. So we have them doing some foot patrol, identifying security improvements for each business, and that can be cameras, maybe clearing things from their windows. So a deputy passing by can see through the window more easily and see if there's anything going on within that business. And then we also we drop off crime prevention cards that provide a phone number for future contact. And we try to coordinate with those business owners. So when we're through this pandemic, we can go back and meet with them and actually walk the business with each one. Next slide, please. So again, our deputies are, when there is someone there at the business, they're obtaining the name, the address, all their contact information, because many times they have a lead person or a manager that actually goes and checks on the business. So we're obtaining that information, the date and time of our visits, which we're logging, and the suggested security enhancements. And that can be from when they're there with the business owner or manager, or just things that are seen. Next slide. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office understands this is a tough time for many businesses, especially those that have to close for an extended period of time or have decreased their hours of operation. That's why we want to make sure business owners know what our office is doing to keep their businesses secure during this shelter in place. We provide extra checks for any businesses that are going to be closed long term. We also provide a team that can come to your business and help you out with security measures, like making sure you have cameras in the right places, making sure that your windows are uncovered. There's not places where it would make it easier for people to break into your business. So we provide all those kind of services, as well as the constant just everyday patrol that we do and extra checks that we do throughout the county. If you are interested in having someone from our office come out to inspect your business, please call<PHONE_NUMBER>. Thank you. Next slide, please. And that public service announcement actually went out both in English and in Spanish and it's gotten some good hits. That went through Facebook and then also went out through Instagram. And then as you see in this slide, these are the cards that we're dropping off, although it says home security inspection, the phone number is the same. And we encourage people to sign up on our home security inspection website where they can actually register their video cameras if they have any around the business, which we can then go in and help them out with or check for any type of theft in their area. Next slide, please. Again, we're providing security recommendation, enhanced business security plans. And today our deputies have contacted and been by at least 56 businesses throughout the county from Davenport all the way down to Watsonville and the part of Valley Community. Next slide. And what we've seen the amount of commercial burglaries has actually gone down some from last year at this time. So the numbers that we're currently seeing commercial burglaries reported to the sheriff's office are 11. And that's all that we've seen throughout the county. Next slide. Thank you. Thank you, Roy and all of our public safety officers. My name is Candice Elliott and I'm the owner of Fortress and flourish providing human resource management support, mainly to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. And over the past month or so I've become a specialist in managing human resources during COVID-19. Next slide, please. So I was asked to speak with you today about rebuilding and you know what it looks like when we rebuild our companies. And I think an essential piece of that is for us to lay a solid foundation, and I'm going to outline five components of this type of a foundation. Next slide. So the first thing is to look at your policies. So this isn't just your company handbook and your job descriptions and offer letters, but also the way that you bring your employees into your company through recruitment and onboarding the way that people exit your company through terminations and then through just normal offboarding. And these processes can tend to be chaotic for employees. And so this is a time when you can focus on these processes and to refine them. Another thing to look at is your company's employer brand. So like your company brand, it helps you to target instead of your ideal customer your ideal employee. So who are they, what do they care about, and then how do you connect with them. Next slide. So the next second step here is to refine your systems. I think in every single business that I've ever started or worked in or assisted. It's had some kind of clunky or inefficient system. And so the way one of the best ways that we can increase the effectiveness of our staff and to control our labor costs is by working on refining those systems and limiting the amount of duplicate work that has to happen. And so key systems include time tracking payroll, doing time off requests or, you know, medical leave vacation leave, and then our systems around training and development. Next slide. And so the next thing is to look at the changed economy. And, you know, I hear a lot of people talking about just getting back to the way that things were. And I think that realistically, we should consider more long term, we should be prepared for some form of shelter place through the summer potentially into the fall. And so when you consider that, that then how do you move forward, and you can always, you know, hop off that plan and accelerate that plan. But if you, you know, kind of consider what is happening right now, the way that you react will be different in each different type of business. So if you look at the current economy, what will serve your clients best in this current situation that we're in right now, rather than hoping for it to change and be how do we react to what there is. And so then how do you adjust your staffing to meet their needs. Do you start bringing people back as I've started seeing companies do. And, and then as you're considering rehiring, looking at the funding that you have available to you and the funding that you have been awarded or potentially may be awarded, and how that fits into your future plan. Please. And so the fourth thing is to connect with your past and your future employees. And so your, your employees, your past employees, your potential future employees have many needs they're experiencing a lot of uncertainty right now. And you, whether you realize it or not may have better access to resources than they do, and, you know, resources of information, and, you know, resources that can help them to get through this time. And if, if people are interested in learning more about your business or your brand or technical skills, you know, getting that information out into the community. And then when you are bringing people back into your company, issuing them a rehire offer letter. So that letter should outline the name of the position, the start date, the pay and any benefits. And this is this letter will help you to be able to prove that you have offered this person a position and in the future. Next slide please. So then kind of the last thing that I want to touch on is your capacity as a leader. So effective leadership during times in crisis has many different aspects to it, but a few of the key ones is the ability to hold multiple perspectives and multiple futures. So to be able to hold in your mind the different ways that things could move forward and to create plans for each of those different things to develop the capacity of your team. And when there is uncertainty to cross train to provide them with further development in their chosen field and to communicate your plan and or to communicate your intent to create a plan. And then to remember that we build resilience through adversity. And so during this time we're building our resilience for any future challenges that we will face. And next slide. And so if you're looking for any inspiration around leadership, I recommend these two books either leaders eat last and on becoming a leader. And I actually read them when I was doing my master's degree and each of them has like so many different like quotes that I've underlined and go back to in times of challenge. And next slide. So I'd like to introduce Andy stone with the workforce development board. Hey, thanks Candice. Today I'm going to talk to you about pandemic unemployment assistance. Next slide. So just and maybe just to step back from the slide for a second here but to let you know that the workforce development board does not oversee the pandemic unemployment assistance program that is overseen by EDD. EDD is not available to give a presentation now obviously because they're slammed with all of the unemployment claims that they're currently processing. But I wanted to share this resource with the community and I'm going to give you everything I know here today so there's going to be a lot of information but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to help you with like your questions about whether I am able to collect pandemic unemployment assistance so going back to the slide now. The broad overview of it is it was part of the CARES Act, and it really is intended to help the people that are regular unemployment assistance system left behind. We're talking about business owners self employed independent contractors, including gig workers have people who have limited work history so maybe someone who just got hired right before the shelter in place started, and you know as a catch all others who are not usually eligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits. So here you'll see a matrix. It's a it's a lot of information on one slide but I'll go through each column here starting with covered individuals. This is what I was discussing before which is really looking at independent contractors self employed individuals without sufficient work history to collect regular unemployment insurance individuals who have exhausted their regular and any extended income by benefits. So if you've been on unemployment insurance and you've maxed out on your time, you could still potentially apply for this pandemic unemployment assistance. And there is a requirement that you have to self certify that you're able to work, except your unemployed due to COVID-19 related reason, we'll get to that in a minute. So benefits. So the minimum weekly benefit amount is $167, but you could qualify for a higher amount based upon your earnings. So keep that in mind is you're putting together your application. Plus there's $600 available for the weeks between March 29 and July 25. You can actually apply retroactively back to February 2. So, regardless of when when you file a claim you can claim back to the time you were unemployed, going back to February 2. So you'll be able to jumping to the next column receive up to 39 weeks of benefits, minus any regular unemployment insurance that you receive from February 2 2020, all the way through December 26 2020. So before I mentioned it had to be a COVID-19 related reason. I put them on the slide here for you. I'm not going to read all 11 for you, but this presentation is going to be available later today at scc vitality.org. Next SCC is in Santa Cruz County vitality.org, and you'll see the reasons here. They basically just outline what what you need to show to prove that you're unemployed due to a COVID-19 related reason. Okay, next slide please. So other other considerations here if you're not a citizen of the United States you cannot be paid a pandemic unemployment assistance unless you were legally permitted to work in the United States. In addition, you must be authorized to work for any week of assistance that you claim to be eligible for. Next slide. So claims will be you can file your claim as of this coming Tuesday, April 28. So I checked right before we got on this webinar today and Edd still does not have a website dedicated to accepting these pandemic unemployment assistance claims. I know they're working on getting it together as well as some specific instructions about how to file the claim, but I put here Edds homepage Edd.ca.gov is a place for you to check before Tuesday, April 28. We anticipate that instructions will be on there and later in the presentation here I have slides with links in them that will take you directly to more information on this assistance. And also if you're unsure if you're an independent contractor and employee you may have been misclassified. Edd recommends that you file regular unemployment insurance benefits and they'll sort out what you're eligible for. Next slide. So how soon after you submit your application can you expect to receive your pandemic unemployment assistance benefits. So if you are approved and after completing the certification process, you may be able to receive your first payment within approximately two days. That's if you have an existing Edd debit card. If you don't, then you can expect within four to seven days when new debit cards and checks are mailed. Next slide. And then my last slide here is for more information here are a couple areas that I recommend you visit. Basically this whole slide presentation was taken from these two websites so I wanted to make them available for you here. Edds pandemic unemployment assistance website, which is too long to say and probably too long to write down so again this will be on the sec vitality.org website. I'll put it out and click on the links and then the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency also has some information on a PUA website that I recommend you check out. So next slide. And now I'd like to introduce Brandon Napoli from the SBDC. My name is Brandon Napoli. I'm the director of the Small Business Development Center, located here at Cabrio College. We have been here for a little over 30 years, focus on helping businesses in Santa Cruz County start and grow. And I'm going to be talking about the financial developments, specifically from the federal and state, and then a little bit locally as well. So as I'm sure everyone is aware of the CARES Act went into law on March 27. That had two different types of loan programs, the payment check protection program, known as the PPP and the idle economic injury disaster loan. The PPP has been exhausted on this first tranche. The idle continues. We see people in the queue for that. And I'm going to get more into details on each one of those programs right now. So a recent development actually just within the last hour, the president signed in what some are calling CARES Act 3.5 $484 billion and this is comprised of 60 billion for idle. And that's 50 billion for the loan and 10 billion for the advance. I'll get in the details on the difference between those two. The rest of it was for that PPP payment paycheck protection program, 310 billion overall, 250 billion is going to be dispersed through all types of lenders and then 60 billion is now being earmarked for the community based lenders and midsize banks and credit unions. The rest of it was geared towards the healthcare hospitals and testing. Overall, there are four different SBA products, the PPP, the idle, which has a 10 K advance, the SBA express bridge loan program and also SBA debt relief. I'm going to go into the weeds with the payment protection program. This is 100% federally guaranteed loan with the following goals of helping to keep your employees either, you know, ideally working but definitely employed. This covers near term operating expenses between February 15 and June 30. Most businesses are eligible if you have fewer than 500 employees. This includes now sole props and independent contractors, which I'll get in a little more detail, which were allowed to start to apply last week. Additionally, 501C19s can apply for this program. Loans are not supposed to be over 10 million. There's obviously been some backlash. I'll look into the news on large organizations taking some of these loans and with the CARES 3.5, 60 billion going towards the smaller credit unions and banks and CEFIs, there's been a move towards trying to get more of this money into the small business owners. Additionally, sole props and contractors can apply for this. They are the last to be able to. So when this reopens and what we've been told is Monday at 1030am Eastern time that the SBA will open up the faucet to allow banks to start to process this loan. But my recommendation is that you apply with your bank now and get into the queue as soon as possible. Here we'll get into a little more details if you're a sole prop on how you actually can calculate this amount. Again, these slides will be on the website sccvitality.org if you need to refer to the actual calculation. I didn't mention this, but the Small Business Development Center, we have advisors that provide free of cost services to small businesses to help them fill out this paperwork and apply. We have weekly conversations with several banks to understand where they are with processing these applications. To help with this, and by all means, please reach out to us, our website is SantaCruzSBDC.org. This program can be used for payroll expenses, primarily, but it can also be used for interest on mortgage rent lease payments utilities interest on other debt obligations. Regarding fees, there is no fees to the borrower. I want to make this a strong point. There are a lot of scams developing out there. You should not be paying any fees. If you're working with a middle person, that person may charge a fee to the bank, but they may not charge a fee to the business. You should not be paying fees for this type of a loan. The term is up to two years. The first six months are deferred. Interest rate is 1%. No collateral, no personal guarantees on this. And part of the most important thing is that there's a loan forgiveness. 75% or more needs to be spent on payroll costs. And the rest, the 25% can be spent on the rent utilities and interest payments, but what is spent on those items will be forgiven. Something to take into consideration. Some banks are asking that you set up a checking account. I do think that is a best practice that you really start to document and that starts with creating a different account of the money goes in and what you expense out of it. There's not enough guidance on the back side to know exactly how this is going to be audited. And so the more that you can keep track of the money that you received and the money and how you spent the money. The best case you have to not have a headache with having this be forgiven. If you don't have a lender, there is a website here, sba.gov, backslash paycheck protection, backslash find which has different lenders here in Santa Cruz. My recommendation is to go with the one that you have the best relationship with, probably go with the smaller bank as well. So typically I've seen from the clients that we work with, they have been more responsive to their clients as some other banks have seems to be overwhelmed with with trying to service clients nationwide. Also, there are online lenders that are offering their services. The one that I would pretty much only recommend is called funding circle. They've been endorsed by other nonprofits that believe that they are doing a fair job at processing this. Moving on to the idle loan, two parts of this. There's the 10,000 that's forgiven that can be really used for anything. This has been told determined by equating $1,000 per employee that you have that you're eligible for this. If you were, if you already applied and did not apply for this, you can go back through the portal. If you go on the SBA's website and asked to and click a box to actually request this $10,000 advance. Eligibility wise, you need to be in operations at the beginning of the year. Also meet the SBA table size standards and the rest of this list. You can also be a 501C3 with fewer than 750 employees to moving on maximum loan size of 2 million. We've seen the first tranche the average loan size was just over $200,000 in California. So we're pretty optimistic that those that are getting the loans are getting a decent amount of the working capital. We recommend that you do apply for six months of working capital for this. The terms 30 years, 11 months deferment on the payments, low interest rates. There are no prepayment penalties, no cloud requirements at the 25,000. If you're an owner 20% or more, you need to be involved in this, but you're not going to have a personal guarantee unless you you apply and get approved for over 200,000. As I mentioned, there's also other SBA programs, the SBA express bridge loan being one of them. We are looking for local lenders that are offering this. Most SBA lenders are overwhelmed right now processing the PPP loans. On our website, Santa Cruz SBDC.org, we do have a list of all SBA lenders in the county that you can take a look at and try to connect with another one. But this is a loan that's supposed to be very quick to access and up to 25,000. I also want to mention if you're in the city of Santa Cruz, they also have relaunched a micro loan program. And so you can look on their website to find out more information. SBA debt relief. If you currently have an SBA loan, a 7A504 micro loan, your payments over the next six months will be taken care of by the SBA. So that is a more recent development and one that ideally will help alleviate any kind of current debt obligations. Moving on to California, the California iBank has been set up to offer really two different products. One is their focus on micro loans. And this is being offered through different banks willing to participate and work with institutions that are guaranteeing their loans. One is Cal Coastal Locations Salinas is one of those that is guaranteeing loans. I have listed a couple of banks who have offered this in the past. Santa Cruz Community Credit Union Heritage Bank, Pinnacle Bank, Pacific Valley Bank, and California Farm Links specifically focused on ag. Again, I recommend you reach out and just see what they're doing with this product. This is one specifically geared towards those businesses that are ineligible or have been turned down for the PPP or idle loan. Several non-profits or ag would qualify or if you have credit issues may qualify if you weren't maybe in business during that initial start date of the beginning of the year. This might be a better program for you. The interest rate is fair at prime plus 1%. The last thing on this slide, there is a sales tax deferral program and I have a link right there. If you've made less than 5 million taxable annual sales, you can take care, you can take advantage of a payment program 12 months interest free for up to 50,000 of sales and use tax liability only for more information visit that website. Additionally, we were starting to see some grants come into consideration. Here's one Verizon offers. If you just look up Verizon Small Business Recovery Fund, you should be able to apply at this point. I was just made aware that Salesforce also looks like they were creating some type of a grant program. I don't have any information on that at this point, but again, look into Salesforce for their grant program as well as Verizon Small Business Recovery Fund. I understand that every penny really goes a long ways, especially if it's a grant. Thank you, Brandon. So what we'll do at this point is see if we can answer some of the questions that have come up in the chat. So give us a moment here for that. Looks like it's one from I have a small business self employed and had one employee starting on March 17 the day we went into shelter in place. I have not had received the stimulus or any response from the idle application or Edd. Do you know why? Brandon or Andy, could you handle that one? We've got a loan specialist as well on Scott Rogalski. Scott, you might be best to speak specifically into that. Yes, yeah, definitely. Can you repeat the question real quick? Yeah, they've applied for an idle loan and an application to the Edd, but they haven't heard anything. And I think, yeah, and they're self employed with one employee. Okay, cool. Yeah, it depends on when they apply for the idle. If they apply for the idle after March 29, then they're still in the queue and SBA is going to get back to them even though they shut down the web portal. And if they're a silver prider with one employee, they can also apply for the Triple P. Also, when it relaunches, actually, the monies don't come out to the marketplace till Monday, but they can still apply and get ahold of me or Brandon and still apply to get their name in the queue so they're ready. And then Edd, the whole thing about Edd as a silver prider, legislation hasn't really come out for that yet per se, but we're waiting on that. Okay. That pretty much is it as far as questions and we're pretty light this time. Look like I'm getting a couple more here while the PPP second wave has been launched. The expectation is that it will again be exhausted. I'd like to suggest surveying all Santa Cruz County small businesses to explore the needs so that we can present it to the leaders will definitely take a look at that. I called my bank where I have my business account and they said that they don't take any more PPP applications. I called my personal bank and they said I need a business account. How can I apply? So you're going to have to go to a lending institution that's not a bank or is a bank but they're taking non-customers. The best one that we know about is called Lendistry. You can go online and apply right now with Lendistry and they'll put your name in the queue. And the great thing about Lendistry is that they're not a Chase bank, so you're not going to be 100,000 person in the waiting list. You're going to probably be 500 or 1,000 or whatever, but not 100,000. But yeah, I'll put it in the link. If you need help applying and getting all your paperwork ready together for this is something that Brandon and his team can do at no cost. But I recommend that you go to this website and apply. The only thing about Lendistry is that their maximum for the Triple P is 250,000. That's their max that they'll do. Okay. After receiving the PPP regarding the eight weeks to start paying payroll, what happens if we are still not open for business? Do we pay employees for not working? Yes. The Triple P, if you get the money for the Triple P, the eight weeks start the day you get the money.  Unfortunately, that's the way the law was written. And that's why it's kind of a tricky loan. But if you get funded, the only way you're going to get it all forgivable or most of it is if you spend it mostly on payroll in the first eight weeks. Yeah, I'll just add to that because it's been a questions come up in a lot of different webinars. Paying employees for not doing their traditional work doesn't seem like it fits the box, but this is, you know, thinking outside the box here. What are the things that you would hope that you could have gotten accomplished that you didn't have the resources to do before, or just trying to potentially even start to think differently about the job descriptions and what your employees are doing. But, you know, overall, the employees may never come back to their exact job. And so to kind of think through what they could do, even start to do or start to prepare for and use that time wisely. Another PPP question regarding here it is bear with me a second. If I get the PPP funds, I will have to pay my employees even though they're home I understand that I am planning on paying them a fixed average amount for the eight weeks so that I qualify for the loan forgiveness is this advisable. So, I mean, whatever.  That's what you need to hire them back as. So, that's, that's the basic part of it. So I'm not sure if there was another question inside that. Kind of on the same frame of mind says can I pay certain employees more than they were and less money to another employee for example manager versus new hire is the PPP loan forgiveness looking at each individual payment. Yeah, so they are, they are looking we haven't actually gotten word yet on that answer. If you can hire somebody back and pay him more. So we'll have to parking lot that and get back to you. Lastly, I applied for B of a loan they said they would submit my app this time but I don't trust them should I start elsewhere. I would say so far you the big banks are going to be the hardest to get through. And as we mentioned the 260 billion is probably going to be gone. It's going to launch Monday but probably gone by Friday. So I would apply. I would apply it is at a bank that is not a brick and mortar that you can just go online and apply like industry or some other ones that exist. Like there's a bank called tea bank tea isn't Tom. They're out of Texas but they do national SBA seven a loan so you could technically go online and apply with them and there's some other ones too. I think we're going to wrap it at that point. I want to thank everybody for their participation all the speakers and also want to thank everybody for listening in. Stay safe, stay healthy and we will hopefully be back to you with more information in the couple of weeks. And I will look forward to it at that time. Thank you again for your participation.


Friday Night Football, behave yourselves, come on! Wait till five o'clock, how long is Villa away being in two hours? That's her my night, Jesus, that's her my night, it's a mission. It might just catch the last five minutes. Well, what I would say is that Friday Night Football, playing before anyone else does, it's a chance for Everton to... I'm not going to say what it's a chance for Everton to do, but... Gain an advantage. Gain an advantage on other teams, but it'd be nice to go back to Villa Park, one of the traditional old grounds of English football. They have been able to do what we can't do, which is renovate the ground, there's loads of space around there. And it's a final ground that I remember from my youth. That's where some of my earliest away games, semi-finals and stuff like that. A lot of fans are really excited to Villa. For me, a proper traditional football club. And when people talk about big clubs and they talk about Chelsea and Newcastle. No, for me, Villa are a big club. I think Villa are on it. I know they've spent a lot of time recently in the lower divisions, but for me, they're a club on par with Everton in terms of size. I've always had a lot of respect and a lot of time for Aston Villa as a club. Fans don't worry about that kind of thing. I don't think they're very much like us, I think, as a club. Although they are the biggest club around Birmingham, one of the European Cup and things like that. But I don't think they let that sort of get... They don't have a chip on the shoulder about that. I'm looking forward to this. It could be a really good game. Because I think Aston Villa have got the potential to be a good solid side in the Premier League. Obviously started the season with a couple of defeats, bedding on or a new players. But there's definite signs there of a decent side. Definitely. Spent over 100 million, I think it was, on the transfer window.  I think if I'm right in saying this is Everton Villa's the longest running game in the history of English football. They've got a point approved. They've not started the season brilliantly, but again, it's going to take their new players a little bit of time to bedding. They've got some decent quality there. In that last season in the championship, and this is where Villa should be. They should be in the Premier League. They should be competing. And out of the teams that come up, you'd look at it and people always like to say, which of the new teams will stay and which will go down. Villa were always one that I think we'd look at and went, I think they'll be all right. And they should be and you'd hope they'd be as well because it is a decent away fixture. I don't know whether they'll be all right. That's the answer to that. I don't know because the signs are early on is that they've got something about them. It just needs to work, don't it? It's not coming together. It's, you know, the first game they played away at space, counter attack, looked good, took the lead. And then just those little mistakes, second half, you know, Jack, I think it was 1-1, Jack Gleelish. 10-1 out with the ball. 10-1 out with the ball, got caught on it. That was the red-slop then. Well then that's the realism of the Premier League, isn't it? That's the realism. You've seen it on Saturday. First minute of the game, new goalkeeper in. And he gives away a penalty and the score.  And the Premier League is very unforgiving. I know they've got to go all back, but the Premier League is very, very unforgiving. And I think that what we've got to do Friday night is we've got to go there and try and put them to the shot. Because I don't think, even though they've been beaten a couple of times, I don't think their fans are, I think we've seen it earlier, I don't think their fans are expecting anything more than these players to work hard for them and try and get stuck in in, you know, where the shape of pride and all that kind of thing. And I think that's where we've got to be very careful, because they haven't won a game yet, but, you know, it's ever. It's ever. They'll be waiting for that win, and especially if it's a home win to get their season going. And we've got to be careful of that. We can't just go in going, well, we've been great at the back and all these things. At some point, something will change for Villar. I don't know whether it will be this early because of all the players they've brought in, but something will change for them. They'll get a bit of luck, and we've got to make sure that we go there Friday night, and we're professional. Yeah, definitely. And we use all that Premier League experience to our advantage. You know, and that's the difference. That's the difference at the moment, is that we've got Premier League players with that little bit extra. We've got a team that's been together now for a year, and we've got to make all those advantages count, but they won't if you are mentally not ready or mentally you make little mistakes. So I think we've got to be on it. Definitely. What we can do is approach this game like the Fulham game last season, I think we went there, and we shot and went, these crap relegated already, we'll walk through these, and we didn't. This will be a tough game, and if we get the three points on Friday, it'll be a fantastic three points. Obviously it'll make a really decent start of the season, but Villar have got something to prove. They've started the season, you know, some would say poorly, obviously there's reasons that the players will take time to bedding the new back into the league, but they've got to want to get that home win. Obviously everybody will be up for it. It's a classic Premier League fixture. This isn't going to be an easy game. We're going to turn up and walk through them. On paper, in hindsight, we've got the quality there, we've got that extra bit of quality in our squad that should see us through this game, but we need to turn up being fully aware that they could also turn us, they could hit us on the counterattack. They've got quality in their team as well. So if we go there and we put in a professional performance, and we use the quality that we've got, the likes of Rich Arlison, Bernard, you know, if Keane comes on a Wobie, and we use it to our advantage, and we go there, you know, give it 110% for the first 60 minutes, and if we're freeing it up, then you can go, right, okay, we can maybe, you know, not turn the gear down, but you know what I mean, but we can't go there expecting that. We're going to come away with the three points. I think we'll have a lot of the ball, but I think there'll be times in the game when Willard will have the ball, and let's be honest, our way performances have been out of Kelly's heel in the last two or three years, and that's the difference for me between. If you want to finish in the top six, that's the next thing we're trying to get.  We've seen that with Arsenal last year, but you don't want that. You want to be able to go away from home and be confident in turning those performances, because we should be going to six, seven, eight Premier League grounds every year and be confident of winning and turning up and winning, because we've got the players. We've got the players that's two playing away from home where a counterattack inside, when we're in full flow, we have the players to do that, but we've got to start doing that. We've been to Palace first game of the season, the first game of the season. You know there's going to be limitations physically. Sending off, isn't it? We've got to start going to these teams and doing what the teams in the top six do, which is flexing our muscles and saying we are better than you, but actually playing as well in that manner. Proving it? Yeah, exactly. Proving it is the big point where far too many times in the past we go to these games. Listen to these times that season when we were very unlucky in away games, we never always got the rubber to green, but we still only won five away games in the last season. I think so. We've got to start going to these games into these away games and just going out and playing the way we can. We'll get a lot of confidence from the back four, of course, but at the moment, as we record, I'm not sure about the status of Dean and if Banes has to come in, obviously the quality drops and Banes can't necessarily get up and down the pitch as much as Dean can and has the quality, so that's an issue, but I just want to see us have a little bit of that swaggy that, again, the sides and the top six go to clubs and not saying teams already feel beaten, but teams feel like they've got to do a lot. They're on the back four from the start. I think too many times in the last season or two, and this goes for everyone. We've been beaten by teams at the bottom of the table or the rubber teams at the bottom. Relegated full-on last season. We've got to go to these teams and straight away, their fans have got to be like, oh, these are a good side. As I still feel like, this might just be me, is that the opposition go, oh, I think we can beat these. We've got to make sure we change that perception of Everton away from home and not give people a chance. I think we need more performances like the West Ham one last year, to be honest, we were in a good run of form. We went to the brand spanking and batted them. It was a good mix of confidence but knowing full well that on another day they could beat us. I think the full-on game was more of, oh, this is be this easy and it turned us round. If we can do that more often, if we can go to the ground and like you said, puff our chest out so teams go a bit intimidating. One of the things that, and I know everybody talks about it and it's a little bit cliched. One of the things that's making good is that teams are getting intimidated.  The players jump on that, the fans jump on that. Obviously we're not going to get a shine away from home but we need that feeling away from home where teams are intimidated. The team have got to create that. The one you just mentioned, the difference in West Ham and full-on was West Ham, we came out the traps early. Straight away we got a corner and we were pushing them back and making them feel like it was full-on, we started so slowly and I remember doing the video afterwards and saying, big part of that was because of the atmosphere.  We still could have got 7th place in Europe and really that was on us that day and I think far too many times again, this is a thing that goes back four, five years. No, no, no, this is a culture where we've got to go into those games and be demanding from the start that our players straight from the off. No, you don't give it ten minutes because when you go to play, it's like real apart. If you give them ten minutes to settle into the game and feel comfortable about the game, the fans and the players then they get a feeling out of that going on.  No, we can get through the first 20 minutes and it's the same with these games as well. We should be going into this game and we shouldn't be letting them settle down. From the first whistle we should be on them, we should be pressing them and we should be pushing them, we should be creating opportunities because like you said, if you give them time to settle into the game, it makes it harder for us to then get the upper hand to then push because they'll grow only growing confidence and then look at that first ten minutes and go, well, maybe these arenas big and bad as we first feared and if we go out from the start and we attacked them and we pressed them it was similarly to Wofford on Saturday although we were at home we went out from the start and we pressed and we got that goal fairly early on and we set our stall out and that's what we need to do because it's not going to be an easy game against Phillip. Would you make any changes? Snydlan is available? No, I think a Baman stays. I think the only way a Baman is going to again carry on to playing the Premier League and get better and improve as if he keeps getting that game time. I think the difference is with Keen as I think he's a lot less fit, I think a Baman is. A Baman's now played what, 50 minutes against Palace and a full game on Saturday? I think the difference between the two of them I think a Baman you've got Snydlan I don't know how far away Delphys at the moment from playing and that would be a big bonus if we got them both back. I think a Baman playing next to Gomez he can lay in that position a lot better he's got a couple of good plays behind them as well defensively so we can lay in that role that's the only way he's going to lay in it. The difference with Moise Keen is if you're playing one off front you're on your own and I'm not, listen the manager will make that decision that is up to the manager I mean I'm not sitting here advocating one or the other but the manager has got to be confident that he knows the role because when he came on on Saturday he was erratic but he was erratic in a good way but when you're playing a game you've got to you've got a system you don't send plays out and just go do what you want you wake up all week on the training field and we know how silver, how it gets into the details and he'll stop plays and grab plays and everyone keeps on tumble how the detail is he's not going to overlook he's not going to look at Keen and just go go do what you want that's why he likes Dom it's because he's the kind of player you can drill instructions into and whether we as fans think he can he can do it the manager knows that whatever instructions he gives him he sticks to, he's a very disciplined player maybe with the discipline you lose that that little bit of something that Moise Keen's got but the manager just can't let him loose until he feels like he's got the basics of that down so that the system works so we're waiting to see do you think he'll ever play them both in the same team I think he will I think one of them will play wide I don't think he'll play I don't think he'll play two centre forwards I just can't see it but I think he might play in if he needs a goal from somewhere he might and we've got the options to change it but I could see I just think they complement each other and I think Dom would help Moise Keen as well the manager has a system the manager has a system, he has a way of playing I think if you did that you're going to have to start thinking with the personnel in Moise Keen we're getting more players we're getting better players systems are getting more fluid you can ask Dom to go over to the right or over to the left I want it so you want a front three actually so it's a proper front three like a certain other team I've got this fluidity in the front three because at the moment we don't have a front three we have a front one because while those two those two forwards swing forwards have to keep coming back into my field it's not a proper front three the wingers where is what you want is you want those two wide men to stay up there and move from one side to the other and be fluid you could have it to that and I think with Charleston Keen Dom Bernard can all change in those positions a Wobie as well maybe a Wobie a bit less because he is more of a midfielder but what that means then is more discipline in the midfield and then you don't have a then you can't afford the Guilfee but hopefully that should come and I think Moise Keen would benefit from that a lot more then we would have a nose two players around them and that's where they might play together and then that's where you might say well a Sigarton doesn't play and a Wobie does play and you have more of a solid three in the field that can get side to side rather than up and down and nose three or front can just play that position that's it side to side isn't it because what we've seen for large parts of the last season was with Charleston and Bernard coming back they're full back so we would need that midfield to do that role as well to allow those players to stay there and still have the defensive cover of course but yeah I think in terms of changing the team there's no need to change the back line other than of course if Lucadine isn't fit and then Bane's are coming I'd just keep gobamming in there next to Gomez I would and then I'd keep the front line as it is Moise Keen's not ready yet Richarleston looked tired he's only going to game fitness training and playing games and I would assume that we will see a Wobie at some point in the game whether it be off the bench even if it's for the last 15 minutes and then what we want really obviously we want to win the next two games but if we can if we can take four points from these next two games and go into that international break and then come back afterwards I think we're in a great position then in terms of you know pushing on because you get to that international break of all the players who were international go away they get a little bit of different fitness they get a little bit of rest they come back players who are a Finch fan who remain again get a little bit of get a break and stuff but it's interesting actually whether Richarleston has to go away on international break after them just playing the copper they'll probably stop friendly but it would be better if he didn't go but if we can get four points from the next two games minimal and then come back after that international break which yeah it's a great start and then you look at that and go that's a good start players are all bedding in and they're all getting up to speed and when you feel like the season is kicking off properly then everyone is going for it then you don't have necessarily the excuses of fitness you might have the excuses of people fitting into the system but you don't have the excuse of fitness as such and I still think we've got a little bit of that and then players can start challenging each other and you know I know there's a there's obviously a league cup game as well in between as well which will be good for some of those players just to come in and get a little bit more fitness so once all that's put to bed then hopefully the season go a little bit more but you know for me Friday go down there, puff our chest out and again it's one of those games where you look at it and go well if you want to finish in the top six if you want to compete with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United to get one of those three spaces because for me there's a top three and then there's another three and then there's another three and then there's everyone else and we've got to start closing that gap but the way you do that is go to these games and win, it's as simple as that I spoke about this before the Wofford game and I was saying we needed to win the Wofford game because we didn't want it to be one of those games that you look back at the end of the season and go and he would have won that game and I said you can make a launchers for the Palace game because it's an opening game of the season obviously he didn't have much of a choice as to back it up when Snadl and got sent off this is another game like the Wofford game where we have to go and we have to get three points and he said this is a game that maybe last year we would have drawn but he said we dug in today we were not our best and we dug in and we got the points and that's largely due to the back four not conceding stupid goals because that's the point we haven't conceded a goal we will conced a goal at some point but the point being is if we cut out the cheap goals and cut out the goals from set pieces teams will always score goals it can hit someone on the ass and bounce in of course it can but the form of the goalkeeper and the form of the back four has been brilliant so far but you will always concede goals keep on kicking the ones of people's legs this new phenomena you will always concede goals I don't think we can be under the illusion that we're going to go an entire season without conceding but you've hit the nail on the head again it's about cutting out the stupid goals it's about conceding less we know we're going to concede through all points in this season but if we can concede that we're out less than we did last season we're improving if someone's going to score past you make sure it's an absolute delta you know what I mean and it's not some cheap goal which we were giving up last season so let's hope three points on Friday night go into the weekend flying and then everyone's positive for the weekend and it doesn't become a really long weekend there you go big thanks for camp from the mighty blues make sure to check his stuff out over there and as well comes on after the show after the weekend's games and gives us reactions to our game thanks for watching make sure if you haven't already give us a subscribe give this video a like it really helps the channel we want more great videos including live videos join me on Patreon thanks for watching I'll see you later


So that's God's will for us that the word of God, the instruction in God's word, it's not an option first of all. So it's not an option to either remember, forget, be convenient, pick and choose. No, it's not that. We ought to remember. But the other part is also that you let your heart, your emotions, everything within you keep meaning. First of all, you obey and the word keep means to guard. To guard it, let it not be stolen. You guard it, let it establish you, let it, you protect it, you nurture it because the word of God has power. The word of God has life. The word of God is alive. The word of God is what brings us, changes us from the inside out when we respond. So let your heart keep my commands. So just mind it of that and let's pray and let's just tell the Lord, Lord, I want to keep your word.  It's so precious. I want to keep it from my heart. Let's, each of us, let's just pray and just tell the Lord that, Lord, I want to keep your word. I want my heart. Let my heart keep your word. Father, even as we come before you today, Lord, it's as in response to your instruction, Lord, we want to treasure your words in our hearts, Lord. We want to keep it, Lord, nurture it, protect it, ensure that we don't lose it, or whatever you're speaking over us, Lord. We want to ensure that we don't lose it, God. We want to ensure that it's protected, Lord, because the very reason that you've said, God, that your heart keep, God, it's possible for us to lose track. It's possible for us to be careless with it, to neglect your word, Master. And, Lord, what you have quickened to our heart, may we be careful to keep it protected and may we be careful to treasure it, Lord, esteem it highly as something precious. And may your word change us, may your word convict us, may your word refresh us, Lord, and may a word impart life to us in all those areas that we consider to be barren or consider to be challenging. Lord, today, God, may your word release life may your word release life, oh God, because your word is eternal. It is not temporal, God. May the truth of your word, God, lead us into freedom and liberty, God, even today, God. We thank you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay. Okay. So, seems like we're meeting after a very long time. In between 26 we, and the first time also was after a very long time. Anyway, so let's pick up from where we left. So, we're looking at, just to give a quick recap, we are looking at finances and how you saw in the first class, how God, there's a lot of teaching. The Lord Jesus taught a lot more on finances than on anything else, on money. And in the Gospels, you see a lot more teaching on money. And we looked at the importance of having the right attitude towards money, having the right attitudes towards finances. And that will actually liberate us, that will actually change our perspective of everything, how we do ministry, how we do life. It'll be actually life changing. And this is a very important subject. We saw this topic of money and how we handle it because we need it to function in the natural world. We need it. And God is not against money. God is not holding back, withholding money, but money can have a hold on us if we are not careful. So, we need to rightly handle money rather than money having a grip on us. So, we looked at what are the good attitudes to have about money? What is the mindset to have about money? And we also looked at some of the wrong attitudes that we could possibly have, wrong attitude about money. And we looked at a couple of those. One was covetousness and greed, because it's very easy to want more, more and more and go beyond what we actually need. And we need to actually have a distinction or difference between what is a want and what is our need. So, covetousness and greed is a wrong attitude to have about money. We looked at some scriptures and we also looked at competition in the sense, we compare and we want to compete in the area of money. And just because we are called to ministry or we are called to be men and women of God, it does not insulate us from this worldly or fleshly way of thinking and doing, thinking and behavior, acting. So, competition, comparing and saying, I want to be better. The person has this. I want this. I want to have more of that. I want to be better than this person in this area. Then the third one we saw was false spirituality. It can be about abundance, where we come to a conclusion and say, this person is really blessed of God and must be doing well spiritually because of the abundance or the opposite of it. Also, this person does not have any material possession and so must be a very great man or woman of God. Both are wrong. So, God does not measure spiritual maturity or even spirituality with this kind of a measurement by the things that we have. So, we looked at that. Okay. So today, let's look at another aspect of it, of money and how to have the, how not to have this attitude. It's a wrong attitude to have. See, when we money does give a sense of security, what does the word security mean? What? Protection, assurance. Like sometimes we, let's say we're going out to a hotel or somewhere. We normally check in our wallet. We make sure that the person is taken. Just pat the guys who just pat the pocket and say, okay, where I take it. Nowadays, of course, you have it on your phone. You can actually use Google Pay or whatever, phone pay, but you normally make sure that it's there. Just reassuring factor. So money does give that sense of reassurance, but the fact is the one who gives, the giver is the one in whom we should have our trust, not on what we have. Because scripture says that money can be here today and gone tomorrow. It can, it need not be there always, but the fact is the one who is eternal, the one who is a source of all wealth, he is with us. So our faith and our trust should not be in the material position, but be in the giver. So what is a false sense of security if I put my trust in money? If I put my trust in the riches, say, okay, this is my future is secure because I have so much in the back. We can do this, this and this, which is true. And when you're saying that, because I have so much, I can actually do it. Now that's a false sense of security. But the thing is this, we need to understand, okay, let's look at 1 Timothy 6 and verse 17. 1 Timothy 6, 17, command those who are rich in this present age. So this is Paul telling Timothy command. So which means it's not an option, command is, we have to do it. Command those who are rich in this present age. What is he commanding? Not to be haughty means not to be proud. Not to trust in uncertain riches. Okay, two things, not to be proud, not to trust in uncertain riches, not to be haughty because of material possessions. So I have this, this, this and I live here, I have this, not to be proud because of it. Not to put your trust in uncertain riches. Okay, saying the riches have this characteristic of being uncertain. So not to put your trust in uncertain riches. Look at the last part, but in the living God. Okay, so our pride should not be in material possessions. Now that's a wrong attitude to have. Nor should I have my trust, put my trust in these riches because they are, they are uncertain. So how, why should I trust in something that is uncertain? Right? So for example, we'll never do that with another human being. In the sense if a person is cannot keep their word, we cannot put our trust in that person. We cannot, we will not say, okay, I'm going to trust this person with great responsibility because that person cannot keep their word. They say one thing, they do one thing, another thing altogether. We will not trust. I'm not sure whether this person will actually come up or this person says that at this particular time, they'll be there, but I don't know if I can trust. Let's say you have some guests coming and at the railway station, this is the time the train comes and you won't send such a person to pick them up. Okay, what if they say I slept and I couldn't go? And they tell you one hour later, I could not go or I had something else I could not go. Uncertain. So you will not put your trust in something that's uncertain. So if you're putting your trust in riches, now they have this quality of being uncertain. So do not put your trust in that. What is the other part? It says, but you put your trust in the living God.  God's heart is what is a generous heart. So it says that God is the one who gives us richly all things to enjoy. So God is not the one who's holding back. God is not the one who does not want us to enjoy or make use of material things. He's the one who gives richly, which means generously all things to enjoy. So our heart, so we could make the mistake and say, okay, God does not want me to have things. God does not want me to enjoy. I have to go through life in pain, in misery, in, you know, with a long face. That's not it. It says here, God is not the one who's withholding. He's the one who gives us richly all things to enjoy. So what is my heart posture? God, I'm going to put my trust in you. I'm not going to put my trust in these things which are uncertain. These are material things. These are uncertain. So I'm not going to put my trust in these things, but in you who's the living God, you give me all things to enjoy. Okay, so that's the perspective we should have about money. Let's look at another scripture, Matthew 6, 19 to 21. Do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, where your heart will be also. Okay, so he's calling these material things as treasure. Okay, so treasure is something of great value or what we consider a great value. Okay, we might say, you know, I treasure these memories. I treasure these memories of all that, you know, of this particular visit. I treasure these memories. What does that mean? That means that you value it very highly. You esteem it very highly. You know, it's like something precious. Okay, so you say I treasure it. So where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Okay, so if you're going to treasure and value material things and they're going to be so much part of, you know, what your heart is captured with, there your heart will be also, you know, you're going to be there, you're going to be your thoughts will be there, your everything, your energy and everything is going to be there. Right. So he's saying, do not lay up for yourselves. So does that mean that you should not work? Does that mean that because work is going to be blessed with the return, you know, or does that mean you cannot be in business? Does that mean you cannot invest? What do you think? Huh? What do you think? Sorry? Yeah. Okay. Anyone else? Yeah. We should honor God. Okay, we should honor God, see him as our provider, the one who blesses. Okay. Yeah. We should not make them as our treasures. We should not make the treasures our treasure. Okay, that's a nice interesting way. Anyone online? Okay. So the context is Matthew chapter six, right? Matthew chapter six, the Lord is talking about worry. Okay. And verse 25 onwards. And he's also, you know, before we go into verse 25, he's also talking about no one can serve to masters. So it's, it's something that you are serving. It's something that you're giving yourselves to. And he's saying no one can serve to masters. And that's how he starts talking about money and worrying about providing for ourselves, worrying about legitimate necessities. Okay. So he says, during the course of that conversation and the teaching, the Lord Jesus says, your father knows that you have need of these things. Okay. So your father knows that you have need. What are those things? You know, what shall I eat? What shall I drink? What shall I put on clothes? The father knows that, which means that these are legitimate needs. My father, heavenly father, the Lord is saying, heavenly father knows that you have need of these things. Right. But what he's saying is do not worry about that. Because when you're worrying, your mind is always on what you are worrying. Your mind is always preoccupied with that. Right. So he's saying, do not worry. So in the course of that, he says, you know, this, right, your life is more than clothing and all that. So when we look at, we go further down to, sorry, up, sorry, 1921. And where he says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where these are breaking as seeds. So in that, that is the context of the whole message. So it doesn't mean that we should not work, we should not save, we should not invest. But is that something that is capturing your heart? Right. Or is that something that you're worried about, preoccupied about all the time? So it's a very fine line. And even the previous verse that we saw, 1 Timothy, chapter 6, it's a very, very fine line. You know, do not put your trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who richly gives us all things to enjoy. So he's the one who's richly giving. So it's not about, it's not about the money at all, but where my heart is with regard to the money. Okay. So if my heart is right, if I'm going to put my trust in God, then money cannot have a hold on me. I will be able to direct it. I'll be an instrument, just like how God has called us to be instruments of righteousness where he can do what he wants us to do in sharing the gospel and going and ministering to people. The same thing he can do with money as well. He knows that, okay, this guy is like a tube where I can just allow riches to flow through that tube and direct it wherever, channel it wherever I want to give. So many examples that we see throughout history and also in contemporary times, we see that people not being captured by money, but allowing God to let money flow through their hands. Right? Extremely wealthy, God really blessed them with riches, maybe their business, but they use that to actually further the kingdom of God, further the cause of the kingdom.  Right? You'll say, okay, this is going to destroy my son. This is going to destroy my daughter. Now why should I do that? So he's going to wait till that adjustment is made, that alignment is made and then he can say, okay, I can trust him. I can trust her.  Right? Okay, yeah, Sean. In Ecclesia Astrosa. Okay. Yeah. So can you just give me an exact verse, Ecclesia Astrosa? Can you just read it out please? Yeah.  So the thing is the, you know, again, goes back to the same thing. Where is your heart? You know, you can have greed, you can covet things and you can have more and more of it, but that's not going to bring in fulfillment because these are material things and these are not going to actually, that's a negative aspect of money. You know, these are not going to fulfill you and bring you to that place of saying, okay, I'm satisfied, it'll never happen. So, and also that was the sleep of a laboring man asleep, whether he eats a little or much with the abundance of the rich. Again, you know, we're going to look at that other verse where the rich man who actually says, okay, I'm going to build bonds, I'm going to do this, but then, you know, he doesn't know that his future is actually very limited, right? So if your heart is in it, in that abundance, you're constantly thinking about, okay, you know, will I lose it? Will I, you know, whereas if your heart is in the giver, you know, if my trust is in the giver, that I will not be, of course, I will steward it well. So the difference between stewarding it and, and be preoccupying, you know, so I will steward it well, but I will not allow that to capture me. Yeah, so that's the thing. Okay, so Jack in has a question. Is it really difficult for a rich man or a woman to know and understand the things of God? We see Jesus himself saying it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. We read about, yeah, and also seen the few men and women of God, the attitudes change once they are blessed materially. Previously, I've seen them God fearing with a broken humble spirit. This is my personal thought and question. So, so Jack in, yeah, so, so the difficulty is this, you know, for a person of great riches, for a person of great wealth, when, when their heart is again captured by that rather than God himself, you know, like, see, I know you might be aware of these kind of people who probably, their things shifted when they came into riches, you know, the whole thing changed, but that's not the ideal thing, right? So riches have that, you know, hold our influence, but that's why the Lord really warns us not to have that kind of a, you know, trust in the riches.  So, you know, people of great wealth for them, you know, we're going to look at typing a little later on the subject, but you see that they, they don't type 110, but they're actually, it's more, it's like 50% or maybe 64% or even more, because they know where their source is, right? So they, and their purpose is that God has given me the ability to get wealth, and I'm going to use it for the cause of God's kingdom, right?  So, so Paul writes, right? Paul says that he who steals should steal no longer, but work labor with the hands so that he might give to one who has need. So what does that mean? That means that in all labor, there is reward. So you're going to receive the benefit of laboring, but it's not, it's to take care of your needs, but you can actually bless someone with it. So if you have that mindset, then it's going to be very liberating and you're going to be a blessing in God's hands to other people, right? Okay, so it's like, so your question is, is it really difficult for a rich man or woman to know and understand the things of God? Well, the answer is no. It's not because of the abundance of riches, but your association with, association with it, if you're attached to riches, then it's, everything is going to cloud. It's like a work of the flesh. If you're kindly minded, then you cannot please God, nor can you understand the things of God. So it's the same thing, which is applied here, okay, right? Okay, yeah, if you want to, sorry? Yeah, yeah, it's difficult, difficult because your heart is pulling you in a different direction, yeah, yeah, okay, so can a pastor invest or do business? Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, so the question, okay, the question here is from Anandis, okay, can a pastor invest or run a business or have other sources of income, right? So that's the thing, so can he do that? Or should the pastor just depend on the tithes and offerings which come? Okay, so that's the thing. So the thing is, okay, so it's, there's no one answer. The thing is to ask, okay, God, what do you want me to do? It goes back to that, right? What do you call me to do? What are some things that you put in me? Okay, so if God says, okay, so that's, which is what happened in the case of Paul. So Paul had a tent making skill and because of which he provided for the ministry and the ministry team, that's what we see, right? So that does not mean that he did not take offerings, he did, people gave and he used that as well, but in certain cases, he would not take, he says, guys, I did not take from you, I didn't want to burden you, because I just wanted to do the work of my hands, so, no. See, the thing is this, okay, let's say, okay, so Anand's question is, okay, I'm getting tithes and offerings, now can I use that money to invest? Okay, so the thing is this, from the tithes and offerings, what is, let's say, it varies again, depending on the size of the church. I think you'll learn more in church administration about this in, I think next semester also. So, but the thing is this, like from the tithes and offerings that you're getting, okay, so how much of it is your salary? Okay, let's say if it's a small church, okay, tithes and offerings you get and that's all you have to live. Everything is what you use for, maybe the rent, maybe your, the church rent or saying, you know, all the expenses of running the ministry is from that, so you just use that, but if from that tithes and offerings, there is some amount of money which is yours, okay, which is like for your personal use, you do what you want with that, right, you want to give it to people, you want to invest in something, you want to buy some land, that is yours, but if it's the entire tithes and offerings coming in and the church's policy is some amount is to the pastor, some amount is used for this, then you need to get the okay, you know, from the thing, but I would say don't even go there, what is your personal tithing, you use it, right, so and also the topic of okay, can a pastor, you know, run a business, we know the answer is yes, you know, you can, you can do that. I know a pastor who was in Nagpur, who was actually, who was doing catering business, okay, there also you need to be careful, you have people in church getting married and all, then you say, okay, you take my business, you know, you can put emotional pressure, you know, I'm solemnizing my wedding, you know, I can't, I provide the thing, you should not do that, you know, so there's a danger in that, but he had this catering business, okay, because he had no other thing, church was also I think kind of small, not much, so running the software business, am I sorry, catering business, but the thing is this, you know, so is that taking you away from the primary vision that God has given you, right, what is the thing that he's asked you to do, it goes back to that, if somewhere that vision is getting diluted and you're all about, you know, building the next catering thing, and then you're not really involved in, you know, then you need to take a call, okay, some more thoughts from Nina, a little more on the treasures in heaven, that's what we have to store apart from seeking his kingdom, not to focus on earthly treasures is understandable, okay, so what are these treasures in heaven, lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, I really, I'm not too sure, you know, of course we see that God wants to reward us, and there is a reward for every believer, but what is it, I really, maybe I can just look into it, you can also check and see what are these treasures in heaven that, yeah, I'm not too sure about the details of that, yeah, okay, sorry, what worries, not to worry, right, I don't understand your question, sorry, not really, you know, if you're looking at verse 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasure honor, it's talking about material things, not really about worry, but further down he says, don't worry about these legitimate needs that you have, these are legitimate things, Father knows, don't worry about it, so that's like 25 onwards, he's talking about worry, so, yeah, okay, so yeah, any further questions or thoughts, okay, let's look at, you know, look chapter 12, verse 16, he spoke a parable to them saying, the ground of a rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops, there's a great situation to be in for the businessman, so he said, I will do this, I'll pull down my barns, build grater, and I'll store all my crops and my goods, right, this is also good, right, it's what any rational businessman would do, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, and be married, so the initial things that he thought were all very practical, this is what anybody would do, you know, anybody who's in business is there for the profit, is there for the growth, nobody's there for the loss, right, so till verse 18, it makes sense, verse 19, he says, you know, so you have many goods laid up for many years, so what is he doing there, what is he telling himself, what do you learn from that, yeah, he's basing his future on what he has gathered so far, right, his security, his surety is, I have so much in my barn, okay, so you just take it easy, relax, eat, be, eat, you know, marry, enjoy, so then God says, full the night, your soul be required of you, then whose will those things be which you have provided, so is he who lays a treasure for himself, look at that other part of the verse, and is not rich towards God, okay, so here's a selfish thing and on top of that, we see based on his response to whatever wealth he has got, his trust is in that, his confidence is that, confidence from a future is, hey, I've got so much, so that is all there is, right, so a lot of saying, you know, that is so short lived and it's going to be, it's going to be, you know, required of you, your life is required of you, your soul is required of you, and whose things will those be, okay, so you think about that, right, so you are not thinking in terms of eternity, right, and your trust is in the wrong place, okay, so Chaya you are saying, what are you, Matthew 633 is what, yeah, okay, just reiterating that seek first the kingdom priority, yeah, okay, okay, let's look at another verse, okay, so all this we are looking at, it is about security and the reason we are dwelling on it is to really know the difference, okay, we are looking at all these verses, we're looking at all this, really to know that God's heart is not for you to not have riches, okay, sometimes that's the thing, no, say I met recently a friend who was saying, you know, I'm glad that you are, you know, you are in ministry and not going in the ways of the world, okay, what that friend meant was the fact that you're not working anywhere else and you're working for the church or you're doing ministry, but really working elsewhere is not the way of the world, really not, because God would want you to be there, God would want you to be in, you know, to be in politics, to be in governance, you know, whatever, so the thing is not, the problem is not, you know, us having riches, God does not have a problem with that, but God really doesn't want those riches to destroy us, so where your heart, where is your heart? Okay, we need to be really, really sure, we need to be really, really convinced about this, because, you know, we, if we go into ministry and full-time, so-called full-time ministry, oh, you know, we need to be sure, we need to be clear that God is not, God is giving this so that I can use it, I don't need to, you know, have this, I need to protect myself from this having a hold on me, okay, so we need to have the attitude, okay, whether it's great riches or whether, you know, there's nothing at all, my trust will continue to be in God, okay, and I'm going to be willing vessel that God uses, okay, okay, one more verse, 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 and 16, okay, do not love the world or the things in the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world, okay, so question again, okay, how can I not love the world? John 3.16 says, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, okay, so we understand it as He goes on to clarify, right, for all that is in the world, which means He's talking about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, okay, and money can actually contribute or even fuel these things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, right, imposition and power and status and so on, money can actually fuel that, so all that is in the world, He's talking about the world system, He's talking about the lusts of these things, this is not of the Father, right, if you're going to have your love for this, then the love of the Father is not in Him, right, so again, it's a thing, you know, how can I have money and not be in love with it, right, how can I use money and not be held back by it, that's a great place to come to, right, like growing up, see we didn't have much money, okay, so I think I shared with you, right, my mother said, when I asked for the pencil box that my friend had in the class, said we are not rich people, so I always grew up saying, okay, we're not rich, I didn't have the wrong attitude towards money, but the thing is, I would hold on tightly, okay, now if there was any, I'll try to stretch it, if there was this thing, I'll use it for this, that and the other and really hold tightly to it, right, then I got married, then my wife also went through a similar background, like they didn't have much growing up, but surprisingly her attitude was, just give it, it's fine, okay, so I remember you're newly married and walking, and Brigade wrote, this was in winter, so I had actually bought a woolen cap for her, okay, so woolen cap and for her and saying, it's a gift, now this is, we got married in December, end of December, I'm talking about January, okay, when it's still cold and we are walking and then saying, so I just gave her this gift and she had that and then she, as we were walking, we saw a mother and a child, so child, it was very cold and then that, they didn't have proper warm clothing and so immediately she took the cap and put it on the child, okay, for me it was like, how can you do that, it was my gift to you and how can you do that, how can you just take it, in an instant she just saw the need, she took it and then put it and, it was nothing, she said, yeah, it was a gift, I'm not worried, it's not like I value your love any less or anything, but the fact is that there was a need, I'm just going to give it, so that's the difference, for me, at that point in time, I was holding on and I was like, no, this is mine, this is it, but the fact is that, yeah, so God had to actually take me through a series of events and incidents to really free me from that and say, I'm the provider, don't be caught up by my provision, I've given you something, don't just make an idol out of it, don't treasure it, make an idol out of it, I'm the one you need to trust, I can give you more of it, just give it away, right, so there are many examples, probably we look at one such thing that happened in our life also, yeah, so don't love the world, all the things in the world, this is the context, okay, okay, let's move on to, yeah, let's look at the last scripture that is listed there in the notes, sorry, Jeremiah chapter 9, 23 to 24, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, okay, so the Lord is saying, okay, you might have these attributes, you might have wisdom, you might have strength, you might have riches, nothing wrong, but don't take just pride in it or don't glory in it, okay, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, okay, so which means more than wisdom, more than our physical abilities, skill, talent, strength and our possessions, what we need to treasure and esteem very highly is that I know God and he knows me, our relationship with him is to be treasured above all else, our heart is really to be captured by, that he needs to be capturing our heart, we need to allow him to capture our heart, right, more than anything else, right, okay, so any thoughts here, any questions here, okay, so it is a challenging thing, right, this is completely opposite of what the world would believe and this could be completely, you know, opposite of even some, unfortunately ministries or, you know, people of God would be living their life, right, it could be, but we need to make that alignment early on, we need to, you know, really make that alignment safe, my heart is sold out for you, for your purposes, let nothing, we talk about okay people, we talk about, you know, let nothing capture my heart, let nothing come into place, right, okay, so next class we look at biblical prosperity and then we look at some very, very interesting, you know, incidents, we're going to look at some people in the Bible, many times we look at these personalities, we think they were poor, okay, or actually if you look at their lives, the kind of things, because in this one line Bible states, they had many possessions, they had flocks, they had this, if you actually translated to today's language, you would see that they were wealthy people, okay, so that will also change our mindset and, you know, the fact that we need to be humble, keep a focus on God, right, okay, so we'll stop here and we'll catch up next class, thank you, God bless, thank you all my students, bye-bye.