Our sermon title this morning is Your Voice in the Wilderness, and this is part two in a brief sermon series here on the testimony or the evidence or the bearing witness, the example of John the Baptist, Your Voice in the Wilderness. And we are looking at John chapter one and looking through this paragraph beginning in verse 19 in the section that runs through verse 28. And as is our custom each week, we want to hear from the Word of God, and we want to be instructed by the Word of God. We want to learn more about God from His Word, and we want to obey the Lord more fervently from learning His Word. And the way to do that is just to work verse by verse by verse through text of Scripture. We hear from Him that way. We don't get the opinions of men. You don't want to hear my opinions. We want to hear what God has to say. We want to learn from Him. And that's the way frankly that we study our Bibles. When you study your Bible at home, you want to study verse by verse by verse through Scripture, looking at what the words mean, what the Lord intends to say through the text, and then how that text applies to us personally. This is not just information, right? This is information for transformation. The Lord intends to change our lives through the preaching of His Word and in accord with the work of His Spirit. And we need to be transformed by the truths that we find here. We're looking at John chapter one beginning in verse 19 at the testimony of John the Baptist. This is the first week, beginning in this narrative, the first week in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. And as we come to the beginning here at verse 19, this is the first three days of John the Baptist's testimony of Christ. There's much to be learned here from this testimony. We began last week in verse 19 looking at the many temptations, the many persecutions, the many circumstances that John the Baptist faced in his preaching of the Gospel. In these verses, we see what it means to be a disciple of Christ. We see in these verses what it means to bear witness of Christ, what it means to be a good evangelist for Christ.  That mission is to bear witness to Christ. As long as we're here, we're on this earth, we need to be preaching Christ. There won't be any evangelism in heaven. Have you thought about that before? We're going to be there with the saints worshiping God in glory, and that redemptive work of God is done. And the bride will be around the table together, will be worshiping and praising. But now is the time to labor in God's vineyard. Now is the time to labor for the Lord and preach Christ. And so that's what we see John the Baptist doing. And as we look at John the Baptist's example in being a good disciple, a good evangelist, a good testimony of Christ, we're to take his example and apply that to us in the same way that John was a witness for Christ, we're to be a witness for Christ. And so we see in John's example, several examples that were to follow. As we looked last week, we saw in verse 19 that John the Baptist, who called himself a voice of one who was crying out in the wilderness, that John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness in the face of great opposition, in the face of great persecution.  And John the Baptist certainly did. It says in verse 19 that this is the testimony of John when the Jews and priests, ascent priests in Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? And when you're faithful to preach the gospel, you're going to draw persecution. John here, it says, is in the wilderness. Now he's physically in the wilderness, but he's also spiritually in the wilderness. And as he's in the spiritual wilderness, he's garnering a great deal of attention from his preaching. His preaching was bold, it was unafraid, and it was garnering a lot of attention from the folks in Jerusalem. In verse 19, the Jews in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, sent a delegation of priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John, who are you? Now as we talked about, this was no friendly visit. This was an ominous foreshadowing of the persecution that John the Baptist was going to face for preaching Christ. This was no friendly visit. John the Baptist faced great opposition for his witness. He was the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, though, in the face of that opposition. And that gives us instruction from the Word of God that we're going to face the same. When you preach Christ, you're going to face persecution, you're going to face opposition. Don't allow the opposition to silence you. You're to preach Christ. We must do the same. We must cry out in the face of opposition. But as we looked at point two last week, John also was a voice of one crying out in the wilderness in the face of great temptation. He says in verse 20, John confessed and did not deny, but he confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. So are you the prophet? And he answered, no. He said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? So John, it says in verse 20, confessed. He didn't deny, but he confessed, I am not the Christ. Now, woven into the fabric of these verses, there are two primary temptations that John the Baptist certainly had to face in his preaching of Christ. The first is that considering the multitudes that were coming out to him, considering the effectiveness of his ministry, the impact of his ministry, certainly John may have faced the temptation to pride, the temptation to pride. Secondly, there's another temptation that likely John would have faced, and this temptation would have come at the hands of the opposition, the persecution that came out to confront him, and that's the temptation to fear. You have to ask yourself the question, as you study the Scripture and as you study this passage, why would the Holy Spirit take care to emphasize that John did not deny the confession that he made? You have to ask yourself that question. And well, in the face of both of those temptations, among others, you have to think about it. John might have withheld the good confession that he made, or lied with the purpose of protecting himself due to fear, a fear of man. He might have denied his own role. John might have made the decision to assume the role of the Christ. There were people that thought he was and do that for the sake of personal gain. There were prophets throughout the Israel's history that did just that, prophesied for personal gain. He might have responded with pride, prideful indignation. When they came out to ask him or to interrogate him, so to speak, John might have said, who do you think you are? Do you know who I am? I'm the greatest man born among women. He could have responded pridefully. He might have compromised his message so that they would have approved of him. Come out to question John. John might have caved so that they would have approved. He might have changed his methods to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the folks in Jerusalem. He might have reveled in the good attention that he was getting. And he was in doing that, fail to glorify Christ. He might have compromised in order to just go along with the status quo to avoid any problems altogether. He might have caved under pressure to the self-appointed authorities that came out of Jerusalem. He might have compromised his role as the forerunner, as the herald of the Messiah. He might have begun preaching for his own gain, his own interests, his own desires, his own fame, his own agenda. And there were prophets in Israel before that had done just that. It's interesting, in Jeremiah chapter 6, the prophets so-called to the people of Israel prophesied peace, peace when there was no peace. And the prophet Jeremiah, a true prophet, said they did that for personal gain, for their own gain. In Isaiah chapter 30, get this, in Isaiah chapter 30, it is said of the people of God that they desired the prophets not to prophesy right things. They said, don't prophesy to us right things. They said, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Can you imagine the people saying that? Tickle our ears. We don't want to hear truth. Just tell us what we want to hear. It's crazy, but not John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a true prophet of God. John wasn't going to cave into that pressure. He took the role that he was given. He was faithful to his God, given responsibility. John made the right confession. He preached the right message. And John the Baptist consistently denied himself. And although he consistently denied himself, he never denied Christ. So in the face of opposition, in the face of temptation, to pride or to fear, John just kept pointing people away from himself and pointing lost people to Christ. So now as we continue our study of this passage together, we come to point three on your notes. John was the voice of one crying out in the face of opposition. John was the voice of one crying out in the face of temptation. But number three on your notes, John was the voice of one crying out in humble submission. Crying out in humble submission. Hear humble submission to God. Look at verse 22. The Bible says, then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? And John said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. And those who were sent were from the Pharisees. So this delegation now from the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem wanted John to give an answer for himself. So that they could give an answer to the folks in Jerusalem. The good old boy network in Jerusalem wanted to know who John was, what he was doing. That phrase there in verse 22, give an answer is one word in the Greek and it carries the sense of making a judgment. They wanted John to tell them about himself so that they could make a judgment about him and go and report that to the authorities in Jerusalem. This is a move, if you will, of authority. And they're exercising their authority. So John answers them in verse 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. So now first, we see the humble submission of John, even in the way that he describes himself. John was a humble man and he's in humble submission to the Father. Even in the way that he describes himself, we see his humble submission. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word, the Word who was with God and the Word who is God. John here simply a voice, just a voice. A voice is simply the means by which a word is made known. Jesus Christ is the Word, John is just a simple voice. Now as a voice here, John is performing the function of a herald, a herald. He's just a mouthpiece for God. Now think about the job of a herald for a moment.  And John here is announcing a message of the king or proclaiming his coming. And God would certainly see to it, wouldn't he, that his son had a herald. There were angels that heralded the coming of the king, the coming of Jesus Christ. And here John the Baptist, the greatest man born among women, is a fitting forerunner, a fitting herald for the coming king. Now this word used for voice, that John was a voice, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That word often refers to a very loud voice. As Isaiah chapter 40 says, a voice lifted up in strength. It was a crying out voice. That Greek word for voice there was the same word that was used to describe God's voice at Mount Sinai. And if you remember that account of God's voice at Mount Sinai, the Israelites didn't want to hear from God anymore. Moses, you speak to us. We don't want to hear from God. His voice was booming. It says even Moses was fearful to hear God's voice at Mount Sinai. It's a booming voice proclaiming a message of the king. Now a herald, remember the story from the Old Testament in Daniel, where King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a herald before him to announce the demands of the king that the people worshiped the golden statue. That was the role of a herald to announce the message of a king. It's interesting that Peter in the New Testament calls Noah a herald of righteousness. Translated there, a preacher of righteousness, but that word for herald. So we see the job of a herald, a role of a herald. And this is the role that John the Baptist is fulfilling. All right, so John, the voice in the wilderness, a herald in the wilderness crying out, boo-la-oh, booming in the wilderness, follow Christ, prepare, make the way straight. As we said last week, he's out in the physical wilderness, but he's in a spiritual wilderness as well. The way that we're to see this is that the Lord came to his own people, his own people did not receive him, and this was, still is, true today, that we're preaching in a wilderness ourselves, a spiritual devastation. But the spiritual condition of the people was like the wilderness that John was preaching from. It was a wilderness, a devastation. We're preaching in a devastation, a wilderness ourselves here today in Orlando. This herald, think again about the role of a herald, didn't preach to the people a message of his own devising. He didn't get to preach whatever he wanted to preach. He didn't preach the imaginations of his own heart, the imaginations of his own mind. He was given a message to declare. A herald then, if you think about it again, is just a voice, just a means of communicating a message and the exact message of the king. So what was the message that the king gave John the voice to herald? He says there, make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. This make straight the way of the Lord is a direct quote from Isaiah chapter 40 and I want you to turn there with me. Isaiah chapter 40, let's take a look at this message from the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 40, we're going to begin there in verse one. This is the humble submission of John and how he described himself. And now the humble submission of John in his calling to preach and the message that he's preaching and the way that he preached. John associates himself with the voice here prophesying in Isaiah chapter 40. Now if you look at the book of Isaiah, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are filled with judgment. The people have sinned and sinned greatly against God and their idolatry and they are going into captivity. And the prophet is prophesying their eventual captivity in Babylon. People of Israel are going to be carted away to Babylon and are going to spend 70 years in captivity. Chapter 40 is the first then of three sections where the Lord seeks to comfort his people in the knowledge that he is now going to restore them from captivity or deliver them from bondage. So beginning in chapter 40, we see the Lord's deliverance. We see the Lord preparing to redeem the people, bring them back from captivity, so to speak. And so these are, in light of judgment now, words of comfort. As we go through chapter 40 to 49, we see that deliverance. Beginning in chapter 49, we see as Mark discussed earlier, the coming of the suffering servant then and even greater deliverance that follows. But here beginning in chapter 40, we see now the comfort of God. Look at verse one. Comfort, yes, comfort my people says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now God didn't forget his people in captivity. When they were going through hardship, the Lord didn't cast off his people because of their sin, didn't reject his people because of their rebellion here.  And here he's commanding the prophets in the land to preach words of comfort to the people, to preach words of deliverance, restoration to the people. Comfort my people, God says. He says tell the people their warfare is ended. That word there is a word that's best translated hardship. Their hardship in Babylon and their captivity was so severe it was like warfare to them. It's like being in a war, a constant war, a continual warfare. Their captivity in Babylon was devastating. But God now in restoring his people says that Israel has been forgiven. They've been pardoned and in part now they've been pardoned because the full measure of God's judgment against them has been fulfilled. To say that they have at the Lord's hand been given double for all their sins is not to say that God was unnecessarily or too harsh. It's a statement saying that they deserved a double hand of God's wrath from the Lord for their sins and they got exactly what they deserved. They received a full measure of God's wrath for their sin. And so God now after this has been fulfilled, so to speak, is restoring, delivering his people. So we come to verse three. In verse three Isaiah chapter 40 verse three. Now we read the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Here's this voice crying in the wilderness to make preparation for the Lord coming in the deliverance of his people. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. So notice here in verse three, the voice, the identity of the voice is concealed. We don't know who it is. Simply a voice, right? But the identity is concealed. It's just a voice crying. However, if you can picture with me, isn't it a glorious blessing to be a voice for the Lord? There's a glorious calling. He's got a glorious message. Here, this herald, this voice goes before the Lord to make sure that the way by which the Lord is to go is to be put in good condition. He's to make sure that the pathway, the highway for the king is prepared. Now we are to imagine this, this voice going out into a pathless desert. Think about it for a moment. The voice goes out from the people into a pathless barren wasteland into the desert and cries out to the people of God. Now God is going to deliver them, but he cries out to the people of God, come out into the desert, prepare a roadway for God. God is coming to deliver his people, make the paths straight. Chop down the high places, build up the low places, straighten out the crooked places, make the rough places smooth, prepare a path for the Lord. The Lord is coming. And so in verse four, these instructions are given for exactly what's to be done. And here's how we are to understand this. Every valley shall be exalted. Encourage those who are cast down. Every mountain and hill brought low. Humble those who are self-righteous and self-secure. The crooked places need to be made straight. Those who have been dishonest, be honest. Those who are liars, speak the truth. Those who are sinning, rebelling, repent. And it says, and make rough places smooth. Those who have been rebellious are to be submissive. This is repentance. This is the preaching of repentance. We're to encourage those who are cast down. Humble those who are self-righteous. The people of God are to take care here that the God who is coming to deliver them shall find them in such a state of heart that is befitting the Lord's return. That is befitting the Lord's deliverance. That is befitting the Lord's blessing in their restoration. We're to be in such a state of heart that is worthy of His purpose, worthy of His exaltation, worthy of His worship, worthy of His praise. The Lord is coming to deliver them. And that's what is to be expected. Now, do you see the connection there to John the Baptist's ministry? John saw himself as a fulfillment of this ministry, a fulfillment of this prophecy. It says in verse 5, The glory in all of this, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The deliverance of God is a revelation of God's glory. The redemption of God is a revelation of God's glory. Rescue of God out of bondage, out of captivity is a revelation of God's glory. Christ, the great deliverer, the King, the promised Messiah, is a revelation of God's glory. And in all this, God's glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And it won't just be the Jews that see it, all flesh will see it. Gentiles will see it. You and I have come to see it. The nations, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, coming before the Lord to worship. The glory of the Lord has been revealed because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The Lord has made glorious promises. And all of those promises in Christ are yes and amen. In chapter 40, verse 6, it goes on. The voice said, cry out. Again, lift up your voice and strength, right? And he said, what shall I cry? Cry this. All flesh is grass. And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. And surely the people are grass. The grass withers. The flower fades. But the word of our God stands forever. The voice. The voice that has been given a message from the King, the herald that is to proclaim the coming of the King, is to preach the perishable nature of all men and the imperishable nature of God's word. Men are impotent. Men are weak. Men are frail. Men are perishing. God is omnipotent. God is sovereign. God is eternal. God is alone, wise.    And the voice of one crying in the wilderness proclaims the forever-enduring words of promise. The word of our God stands forever. It was on in verse 9, O Zion. You who bring good tidings. Get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem. You who bring good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength. There's that word for herald again. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. This is interesting here. This is God's command out of the people. The Lord has come. The Lord is going to deliver his people, make a path straight for the Lord to come. And in God's deliverance then, he commands the people to do something very interesting. He commands them to bring good tidings. Get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem. You who bring good news. This is the command of God for the people of Israel to evangelize.  So here are the people of Israel. They're to lift up their voice with strength. He says, lift it up. Don't be afraid. And say to the cities of Judah, to the Jews first, right? To Judah. To Judah. Behold your God. This is a herald. Again, the people now. Heralds of the coming Lord. Heralds of our God who delivers his people. This is a herald of the coming Lord. People of God are to be messengers of good tidings, were to be messengers of good news. This was evangelism, even here in Isaiah. The, as many say, the gospel of the Old Testament. This is preaching of good news. Look at verse 10. Behold. The Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. He is the Lord God. The incomparably exalted one. This is the consolation of Israel. Let me ask you now in light of this. As we look at Isaiah chapter 40, we see the ministry of the herald. The ministry of the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. In any of this, in any of this, is there any glory attributed to the voice? No. The voice here in all of chapter 40 is just swallowed up in the glory of God. Swallowed up in the glory of God's deliverance. The glory of the Lord in Christ.  But does any glory go to the voice? Just a mouthpiece. Just a messenger. And you've been given the message.   You imagine the blessing, the privilege of being a voice for God that way. You are. You are a voice for God that way. You've been given that glorious privilege. A glorious blessing. Did we despise that? And the way that we live and the way that we neglect that ministry? Now, take joy, rejoice in that blessing from God. In all of that, there's no glory for the voice. We have faithfully discharged our service. When we have done all that we have been commanded to do, we must admit at the end of the day that we are unworthy slaves, as Luke says. We've done only that which we ought to have done. The voice is only a useful means and only useful as a means of declaring the majesty and wonder of the exalted Lord. Our Lord, who alone is worthy of worship, prays glory, honor, majesty, dominion. We're just the voice.  In their context now, in Isaiah chapter 40, this prophecy was a prophecy for them and their physical restoration, their physical deliverance from exile in Babylon. In their context, this passage meant their deliverance from Babylon. However, in Isaiah 49 and following, again, we begin to see the coming of the suffering servant. And in the coming of the suffering servant, we see pointed to a prophecy of an even greater deliverance, a greater deliverance of God's people from their sin. And one day, that great deliverance will be consummated in the new heavens and the new earth. We see that at the end of Isaiah. But here in Isaiah, we see a foretelling, a prophecy, if you will, of a future and greater deliverance, and that is the deliverance that comes when Christ comes. In that context, Isaiah 40 prophesies the ministry then of the forerunner also of Christ. And it's a ministry in chapter 40, in verse 3 with the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, that John the Baptist himself sees as himself being the fulfillment of that. But also, Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the Evangelist all see John the Baptist as fulfillment of this prophecy. And for one example of that, turn to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. This is in all of the gospels. To the book of Acts, that John the Baptist is a fulfillment of this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40 of a greater deliverance, a greater fulfillment of this prophecy here with the coming of Christ. And that John the Baptist fulfills this ministry or this prophecy of the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Look at Luke chapter 3 and look beginning in verse 1. And here, testifying of this, the Bible says, Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Eurya in the region of Trachonitis, and Lysinias, tetrarch of Abilene, while Anas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, and here's what he did. Preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet saying. Now, as we looked at Isaiah chapter 40, that passage and the message that John preached was a message then of repentance. And here we see this affirmed in Luke chapter 3. This was a message of repentance for the remission of sins. He says, So, preparing the way of the Lord, making his paths straight, we need to see this, is preaching repentance. Preparing for the coming of the Lord, preparing your heart to hear from Christ, preparing your heart for the coming of the King to rule and reign over it, is the preaching of repentance. It was heart preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The hearts of the people are a barren wasteland. The hearts of the people are a desert, a wilderness, a devastation through which a straight path needs to be made. There needs to be repentance. The proud heart must be brought low. The self-righteous heart must be made humble. Obstacles that keep people from coming to Christ must be removed. And sin is the great obstacle. And with sin as a great obstacle, there must be the preaching of repentance. That's why often when we evangelize to someone, we begin with the law. That hard, prideful heart needs to be humbled by the law of God. That self-righteous heart needs to come to grips with the fact that they are unrighteous before God. There must be the preaching of repentance. Repentance is the royal road. It is the royal highway through the wilderness. And faith is the vehicle that runs on that highway. The Lord saves us by grace through the vehicle of faith. Faith being the flip side of the same coin with repentance. It is a faithful repentance or a believing repentance, and it is a repenting faith or a repenting belief. Faith and repentance. There must be preaching against sin. Our wicked hearts need it. We live, think about it for a moment, we live in the most decadent and most self-indulgent time in the history of the world. We live in the most decadent and most self-indulgent country, place in the world in all of history. We need the preaching of repentance. And the preaching of repentance is so seldom heard. It is often abandoned, forsaken in churches all over the world. Very seldom we hear preaching of repentance. But continuing on, if you're in Luke chapter 3, John continues preaching in verse 7. Listen to what he preached now, listen to his message. John said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him. Listen to this. Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore, John says, bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John here in Luke chapter 3 is correcting the idea that baptism could save them. They needed to repent and then bear fruits worthy of repentance. Being a descendant of Abraham was useless apart from genuine repentance. John calls them, they say to themselves that they're offspring of Abraham, descendants of Abraham. John calls them the offspring of vipers. You brood of vipers. It's basically equivalent to calling them children of Satan. That's what he meant by the phrase. And just like snakes that scatter before a fire, John sees all these coming as just attempting to run from hell, flee the wrath of God. That's interesting, I want you to get this in verse 7. That word there for warned. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? That word there for warned refers to revealing something that is hidden. It is to show or to indicate. So now the meaning, if you take that word there, the meaning would be closer to who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come? John the Baptist is preaching. It's like who showed you how to flee the wrath to come? And the assumed answer is John saying, certainly not me. I didn't say that you could be saved by your baptism. I didn't say that you could be saved by your descendancy from Abraham.  This is John being harsh with them to wake them up. These men are guilty before God. All men are guilty before God. And John is saying basically, it's not me that told you to flee the wrath of God that way. They need to repent. Their greatest need wasn't simply to be washed with water. Their greatest need was the inner heart cleansing that baptism symbolized. And he says, verse 9, listen, the axe is about to fall. Repent now and believe in the gospel. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. If John's hearers really wanted to escape hell, then let them show the appropriate fruit. That's what John was saying. If they want to escape hell, then go and let them show the appropriate fruit of genuine repentance, the appropriate fruit of a heart change wrought by God. Their actions, their conduct, their life, all of that is to be evidence of a change in heart, a change in nature that only comes from God. And that is the preaching of John the Baptist. It's interesting that incidentally, back to John chapter 1 in verse 24, that those who were sent out to him, hearing John preach this message, it says we're from the Pharisees. That word for Pharisee translates an Aramaic word that means separate or separated. These Pharisees, many of the Jews at that time, thought that they were separated, that they were true Israel because of their devotion to the law of God. They thought that they were separated, true Israel, because of their obedience to the law of God, and they thought that they were safe from the wrath of God because of their obedience to the law of God, because of their works, because of keeping the law. They knew nothing of genuine repentance. They knew nothing of that from the heart that John was preaching. They knew nothing of the grace and mercy and power of God in Christ to save. The glory of his person, his work, his love, his forgiveness. They just didn't understand the gospel. This was works righteousness that they believed in, works righteousness that they preached, and it would be works righteousness that they would be judged by on judgment day. All John did, as Jesus would later do, is describe them as of their father, the devil. By the way, if you have a voice as John did, which you do, you've been given one. If you have a voice as John did, and you are to preach repentance as John did, this world needs that preaching. This world needs preaching of repentance. So, preach Christ crying out in the face of opposition. Preach Christ crying out in the face of temptation to fear, to compromise.  Don't be silent. Don't be silent. And when you preach, point four on your notes. Cry out on the authority of God's word. Cry out on the authority of God's word. That's what John did here. This was an issue of authority, verse 25. They asked him, this delegation from the Pharisees in Jerusalem asked him, saying, why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? The questioning simply revealed an issue or a problem of authority. They're basically saying, listen, on what authority do you do these things? What is the authority to stand out here and preach this way? John wasn't recognized as a part of the establishment. He didn't get trained in their schools. He was outside their religious system. He wasn't a part of the good old boy network. He wasn't one of them, right?  Today, you might hear the same kind of thing from people within even the church or evangelicalism. You might hear, don't ordain those men without our approval. Don't practice discipline in your church without running it through us first. Don't practice discipline without us. Everything should be run through us. That is absurd pride. We stand on the authority of God's word as John the Baptist did. And that's what we're to do. You're to stand on the authority of God's word. Furthermore, they would have taken great offense that John was baptizing, that he took it upon himself to baptize. Now listen to this. The baptism of John was different than the baptism of Christians. Christian baptism is a symbol of our identification with Christ, with his death, with his burial and resurrection. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, right? A baptism of repentance. John's baptism basically flowed out of proselyte baptism in Judaism. When someone outside the covenant community of Jews wanted to be a member of the covenant community of Jews and worship the one true and living God of Israel, that person had to basically become a Jew. They became a Jew one by getting circumcised but also in addition to that by being baptized. They practiced baptism in Old Testament Israel light history. So they were to be baptized. Now, the Jews at this time accepting John's baptism were basically acknowledging that they were outside the covenant community of the children of God, the people of God. They had been behaving like Gentiles and that they needed a repentance from the heart to be the true people of God. That is an amazing acknowledgement on the part of the Jewish people. The Pharisees that came out to, you know, the Inquisition that came out from Jerusalem to John would have seen this as undermining their position as the chosen people of God. They would have seen this as ignoring their descendancy from Abraham. They would have taken great offense at this. So this was an amazing acknowledgement for a Jew and all of that in anticipation of the Messiah's coming. This would have been offensive to the Pharisees. Now additionally, proselytes when they came into Judaism would have baptized themselves. But here John is in the River Jordan baptizing them, administering this right of baptism. So this is no light matter. No light matter. Combine all that with the fact that John insisted on faith, insisted on repentance. You've got a recipe for a showdown over authority. The authority of those in the religious elite who were self-appointed authorities and the authority of John the Baptist standing on God's word, crying out in the wilderness. This is no light matter. Baptists throughout history have upheld the fact that there is no ecclesiastical authority outside of Jesus Christ, the head of the church, who administers his authority through the Word of God. This is the autonomy of the local church. There is no higher authority. In faith and in practice, we stand on the Word of God and we're to stand on the Word of God alone. When you take a stand on the Word of God, you're going to draw what? Persecution. That's right. You take a stand for God, you're going to face opposition, get used to it. The Good Old Boy Network is alive and well today just as it was back then. And if you don't look, act, and play like the rest of the boys, you're going to hear about it. And listen, that's when, in the light of that, in the face of that, you must stand on the authority of God's Word and be faithful. When they don't evangelize, when they don't preach it, when they don't lead it, when they don't exhort it, when they don't do it themselves, and they sit back in their disobedience and hurl false accusations at you because you do, that's when you stand on the authority of God's Word, you rebuke them for their error, you keep being faithful in evangelism.  When they don't preach on sin, when they don't preach obedience, when they don't act because you do, you stand on the authority of God's Word, you rebuke them for their error, and you keep being faithful to preach the whole counsel of God. We must do this. We cannot compromise. This is an age, today's an age of biblical compromise in the name of tolerance, in the name of unity, in the name of so-called Christian fellowship. In any unity, any Christian so-called fellowship on compromise with the Word of God is a sham unity. It's no unity at all. You cannot compromise. Many of those churches that you walk into are dead. Their lampstand has been removed long ago if they ever had one to begin with. They are dead churches. And here, John, we just see a stalwart example of a prophet of God who stood independently on the authority of God's Word and it seemed like all the world was opposed to him. And he just stood. He was a man under authority, and under the right authority. We need to take heed to John's example and stand on the authority of God's Word. But point five on your notes, in addition to standing on the authority of God's Word, John the Baptist was crying out as one under the authority of God's Word. He was under the authority of God's Word. John said in verse 26, John answered them saying, Listen, I baptize with water, there stands one among you whom you do not know.  And these things were done in Bethlehem beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. These Pharisees, the priests, the Levites were all preoccupied with John. However, there was one that they needed to be preoccupied with that was coming after. And there's a contrast implied here. John baptizes with water, but there stands one among you. And the contrast implied there is that he baptizes differently. And we saw this back again in Luke 3, where John says of Jesus.  His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. The contrast here implied is the contrast between John, a baptism of repentance, and the baptism of Jesus Christ, a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire. And this was a baptism of judgment. There's coming, a great division among men. And you must make a straight way in your heart to prepare for that coming division, where the sheep will be separated from the goats, the wheat will be separated from the chaff. If you've ever seen wheat separated that way, got a guy with a shovel. He scoops into the wheat and chaff, he throws it up in the air, you've got someone off to the side with a fan, blowing a current of air that blows away the chaff and the wheat falls to the ground. The wheat then is gathered into the barn, the chaff is collected and burned. And it says here, burned with an unquenchable fire. That means an eternal fire, eternal torment, eternal judgment. This is a great division among men. And the chaff is separated by means of the wind. There's often a reference in Scripture to the Spirit. Those who fail to respond to John's call to repentance will face a baptism of judgment which will devour the adversaries. And John, under authority, on the authority of God's word and a man under authority, just preached that message. He preached it to his death. Just a humble man. He says in verse 20, just another amazing statement of his humility in verse 27, it is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not even worthy to loose. It was a teaching among the rabbis in Israel that a disciple was to be in all ways to his teacher as a slave with the exception of one form of service. And that was one of removing the sandal. There's a rabbi in 8250, Rabbi Joshua B. Levi who wrote this. He says, in all manner of service that a slave must render to his master, the pupil must render to his teacher accept that of taking off his shoe. That was considered the lowliest duty for a slave, taking off the shoe, washing the feet of his master. It's a great statement of humility on the part of John.   I'm just a voice. That's an awesome thought. I'm not worthy to be the lowest slave, but I can be a voice for the king. Here you have the greatest man born among women, the son of a priest, indwelt with a holy spirit from his birth, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, born by a direct and miraculous work of God, drawing multitudes out to hear him in the wilderness, and yet he looked up to Christ in great humility.  That's the faithful herald, the faithful forerunner. Not worthy to lose a sandal strap. Not worthy to lose a sandal strap, but enabled by the grace of God to march out into the wilderness and preach the gospel. It would be an awesome privilege to lose a sandal, but what an awesome privilege to preach Christ, amen. It says in verse 28 that these things were done in Bethlehem beyond the Jordan. Many of your Bibles say Bethany. There's some speculation about that. Bethany was a town that was very near Jerusalem where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived, but there was another Bethany across the Jordan, and this is where these things took place. The word Bethahem in your New King James possibly refers to the region that Bethany was in, but there were two Bethanese. It clarified for us where Christ would be born. It wasn't just Bethlehem, it was Bethlehem Ephrathah, right? Two Bethlehems. There were two Antiochs. There was an Antioch in Syria, and there was an Antioch toward Pisidia. Just two cities of the same name, and all this took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan. It was about 20 miles, a good hard day's walk from Jerusalem. So two separate locations here. This is the testimony of John the Baptist. This is the testimony. And follow his example. If you're not a Christian, you've never submitted yourself to the Lord, you've never turned from your sin, put your faith in Christ. Will you heed what John is saying this morning? There is a divine judgment coming. Now is the accepted time. Now, today is the day of salvation. In John chapter 10, verse 41, the evangelist says that John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about Christ were true. And it says there that many believed in him there. Will you believe in him this morning? Isn't he worthy to abandon this wicked life that you've led and follow Christ and earn an inheritance in glory to be a child of the king? Will you heed John and believe? Will you heed John and repent? Turn from your sin. You can do it now. Isaiah chapter 55, we looked at this morning. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.  Yes, come. Buy wine and milk without money, without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Why do you spend your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live. Take an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. That's the heart of the Lord toward you. The Lord desires that all men are saved. That's what Paul says to Timothy. The Lord wants you to be saved. Turn from your sin. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Turn to the Lord and live. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. In the unrighteous man his thoughts. Return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.  God is rich in mercy and abounding in grace.  Turn to the Lord and live. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for the example of John the Baptist. Lord, thank you, God, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for this teaching. I pray, God, for my brothers and sisters here, for myself, Lord, that this word, your word, Lord, would find deep root in fertile soil in our hearts and that we would God, reinvigorate our fervor, our zeal for you, for the gospel. We are voices for the king, God, and that we would be faithful heralds to preach your word. Lord, if there's someone here who isn't saved, who's never repented, their heart is just full of high and low places and crooked places and deceit. God, I pray that you would break their heart over their sin in a rebellion. God, that you, by your grace and mercy to them, Lord, would bring to their understanding that wicked, terrible condition of their heart and that you, Lord, would grant repentance and faith and save their soul for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.


What's up everybody, Jason here for jazby's casebricks.com. We just sold out twenty one twenty two panini impeccable basketball This is a three box case break pickings number four and again guys We had to do a couple random number blocks, which we did but here's everybody in here first straight up All right, thank you guys Now we have two rmb's like I mentioned first one here was okc Milwaukee Miami, Chicago LEC Charlotte and Washington So there's that and then we had Detroit Cleveland, Brooklyn and New York Knicks and there's the case Yeah, it was a lot of slap by Tommy Pham. You need to read into that Rex. It's so funny. I Think they also suspended Tommy because of the slap I guess One of them called out jock for like cheating in their fantasy league or something and then I guess Tommy I don't know he talked about it right now like but I just remember it was basically like that and then That's the reason why he was slapped. All right, we got for the Lakers Shaquille O'Neal Shaq diesel 33 Wow one off the jersey number out of 49 Tyrese Maxie to 49 and Rudy go bear to 49. I know right slap them because of Will Smith So that really go bear you tell jazz is going to Rudy actually and Tyrese Maxie to 49 is going to Rudy as well with the 76ers Malcolm Brogdon That's Indiana Pacers going to Eric First one is Adrian Danley for the Utah Jazz tonight and I'm Yeah, I think it was strictly foot fantasy fantasy football or fantasy just in general baseball whatever it was and then obviously Just just heated 76ers Charles Bassie so everything's going out to straight up teams Rudy man Rudy just getting hits back to back Jesus first Right on our block Bob Dandridge To 99 for the Milwaukee Bucks. It's going to OKC RMB 32 spot two winner Nick Smith last Bob Mojo. We have Jason kid for Dallas Maverick's going to Ryan C that's that Hall of Fame anniversary autograph and last one here is Magic Johnson number four out of ten Impeccable selections from nineteen seventy nine All right next one guys. We have Davion Mitchell number two ninety nine Sacramento Kings that's going to Derek Gordon We have a out of thirty five Sadiq Bay have Luka Donchich to seventy five for the Mavericks So Sadiq Bay actually out of twenty twenty eight out of thirty five. That's gonna go to spot eight RMB Going to Jeffery and then Dallas Mavericks is straight up Ryan We have a Zaire Williams from Memphis Grizzlies Paul Norm to ninety nine Jared Butler numbered six out of ten Utah Jazz winner Rudy Cam Reddish to forty nine for Atlanta David Bill Walton that is a San Diego Clippers Clippers part of the RMB that's twenty seven out of ninety nine Clippers seven what a haunts Rick Barry Whoa 75th anniversary 12 out of 75 Golden State Warriors That's a really really cool autograph right there, and I believe we pulled one of the 75th anniversary cards as a redemption I forgot who it was Whoops art Golden State Warriors Andrew and whoo Jaylin Green Autograph seventy five out of ninety nine going straight up to Han and the Houston Rockets very nice Actually, he bought this right when I was about to take it out of the website for an RMB So technically it was his before I took it out All right Last box here and should be the Metal card Start there Julius Randall to seventy five and Bones Highland tonight forty nine So New York Knicks that is RMB eight going to Barry Roberts Nuggets Ky-hoon All right. Good luck guys last box Kailari for the Toronto Raptors or sorry not Raptors. That's Miami Heat Edition, sir Miami Heat's actually part of the RMB And that is 42 Nick was bought to James Richardson or Jason Richardson sorry for the 76ers extravagance autographs to ninety nine going to Rudy a couple more guys couple more Clint Capella illustrious ink For the Hawks. It's going to David Bazzarino 65 out of 99 We have Corey Kesspert for the Washington Wizards that is 40 out of 49 spot zero going to Jeffrey That's a purple and then we have a Gary the glove Peyton Super Sonic's edition so technically this is going to go to okc, which is a random number blog, but There is no numbering on this car. So that means everyone's gonna have a shot at it at the end in a randomizer So everybody will have a shot of that Gary Peyton Let's put there right over here and last one is a very nice Jonathan Kaminga 14 out of 25 Playing really great in that Western Conference finals series and Golden State Warriors Andrew Song Very solid Very nice. All right guys. Here we go metal carton So Jalen Green and Kaminga were the two big rookies we got nice Vince Carter Toronto Raptors Six out of ten Troy ounce of fine silver Very solid Toronto Raptors that's going to Jeffrey But the Raptors straight up Nice little metal card there Let's put that in the slider box already There you go Perfect. So there you go guys that was impeccable So the next case break is already on the website if you want to buy your teams But again, we have to do one randomizer there for the Gary Peyton so switch scenes and Everybody in the R&B for the Thunder will have a shot at that Rollets two and a one three times one two three Boom three times Barry Roberts. Congrats man a little extra something coming your way Appreciate it guys. That was impeccable number four fives in the website. Jasper's case breaks calm


that hearted up. She is at a game doing mommy duties and I'm glad to be here in her stead. We will have the invocation presented by Pastor Chris Wright from South Hills Baptist. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of allegiance. I'm a Baptist. Thank you so much. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for our Mayor, our Mayor Pro Temp for this wonderful council that works tirelessly to serve our city and God for them and for Chief Noakes and our officers that you would guide and direct them, first responders in this city, all other city's officials that strive to make Fort Worth the best city in the country and God I pray that we continue to rise above the rest and be on the cutting edge of all that's needed to help this city to grow and flourish and prosper and God I pray for this council and others that you give them wisdom, that you give them prudence, that you give them tenacity to endure and serve in the best way possible under your guidance and under your care and God I pray for myself and for our church and fellow pastors and churches that we can have wisdom to know how to partner alongside this city to help make it a better place and to improve any and every way that we can helping anyone that comes along our path. God grow this city, watch over, protect, keep those who are safe out on the streets to provide everything that they need and God we're so grateful for the chance to enjoy this beautiful day that you've given us of all that we're thankful for more than anything we're thankful for your son Jesus and it's his name that we pray. Amen. And please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Texas Pledge. Thank you. Now to proceed with the orders of the day. I need motions for the minutes from the April 11th, 18th, 18th public comment and April 25th council meetings. Moved approved. It has been moved and seconded. All in favor, please use your finger and vote if you can. Looks like we're missing Melissa more than we thought. Ron, can we do a hand vote? Thank you. You just earned your pay. And with that, our public comment session has started. I'll let the staff call the names and give the rules. First speaker will be Bob Willoughby. Okay. Leigh Ann, the attorney here. I sent a video in for the night to play about co-compliance thing. Anyway, they stopped my video for this reasoning. In the video, I stated that co-compliant officer Cisa Bell will abuse the power she is entrusted with. Now that's why they stopped my video because I said that. And I have reasons why I believe she will trust it and this is a comment meeting. We should be able to comment, but I wouldn't allow to. Okay. Anyway, also, Leigh Ann and the city, what they do now, when you say stuff like that, they call it an attack and it's not an attack. That's the way they protect these employees. If an employee is doing something wrong here and you say anything about it, let's say you're attacking and that's how they protect the employees. So that's what this is all about. But anyway, I asked the attorney, can you defend that it is not an abuse of power, that this is not an abuse of power by the code officer Cisa Bell. I say it was. I want her to defend that it wasn't one. Okay. To give a command to me, to me, or a $300 fine, if my campaign sign is not removed, even though it was sitting right next to another campaign sign at the same spot. Okay. But this is no abuse of power. Okay. Anyway, she only gave me six hours, no notice. So I called, we got that stop by Tony Hill or he stopped it. All this is recorded. It's on the video and you can email me and I'll send you the video. You can go to my website and see the video to explain a whole lot of this right here. But what I'm after here tonight is that we need guidelines. I've been asking, this is what got me started 13 years ago. Code Compliance has no guidelines. When they go out and give you a ticket in six hours time, you need at least a five-day notice. The officer should have said, okay, Mr. Willoughby, but you have five days but you had to take care of it. I'm running out of time. Here's why it's so important to get back to City Council on the Council agenda. Here, what makes it different? They do not answer questions here. You get us on the Council meeting before zoning and these questions will be answered. Okay. Just like me asking five days for Code Compliance before they write a citation, some kind of guideline. What is abuse of power? Leanne, if she asked me 30 minutes to get it done, would that be abuse of power? Four hours? Six hours? Where's the line at that you would call it abuse of power? There's not a line. Okay? We need a line. And this city is full of stuff like that. Best of luck. I'm going to start a long time with Code Compliance to find out if they won't do a thing. And this here is worthless. It's a waste of taxpayers' money, our time and everything unless they make it a Q&A because they do not answer or do anything they don't want to do. Now we should be over on the City Council agenda before the zoning and we'll get answers and we'll start taking back our city. Otherwise, we're under government control right now. Thank you. Call the next speaker. Next speaker is Jim DeLong. Good evening. I'm Jim DeLong, Fort Worth resident. I've entitled this bullet number three. So I'm on a little bit of a series here to recap. My first one I talked about if you get shot with a bullet, don't just dress the wound. You need to address the bullet. Last time I talked about the bullet is man's compulsion to dominate. We have, history is full of that. And then I mentioned that we've spent over 20 trillion dollars since the Civil Rights Act. That equals 20 trillion dollars. That equals 20 million dollars for every man, woman and child in our city. And what have we got for that money? So the point is, how can we be effective? What we've been doing in the past has not been effective because we still have the racial problems that we do. And so tonight I want to address the bullet. Every one of us has a bullet in us. Every one of us is born with a bullet inside of us. And how we deal with that bullet will depend on whether we turn and become angry, cause division, cause strife, cause anarchy, or if we address the bullet within us, then we can bring unity and work with people and reconciliation. And that's the main reason why I'm up talking about the subject. We've gone too long in our country, too long over hundreds of years at least. And we fight one another. We fight one another. That's just man's propensity. Unless they'll take stock within themselves, first we have to deal with the bullet inside of Wilson. How are we going to act and react? Am I going to get mad at you guys? Cause I don't like what you do.  Am I going to get mad at you because of the color of your skin? That's one way, but you're not dealing with the bullet.  We are all men and women, and hopefully I'm hoping to make a point where let's address the bullets that's in us. I can be nice to anybody. Like I've said before, I could come into agreement with anybody. And maybe the starting point is you like ice cream and I like ice cream. We can start there. If you start with the big issues, we'll never, we'll never span the chasm. Let's come together. Let's be men and women and grown-ups. Look at ourselves, address the bullet, and be nice to one another and kind to one another. Thank you. Next speaker is Stephanie Halstern. Go ahead, please. My name is Stephanie Halstern. I am a resident. I've been here in Texas for several years, most of my life. I lost my 16-year-old son during COVID, and it wasn't due to COVID. It was due to fentanyl. My son thought he was trying a percocet pill for the first time, and it wasn't just laced with fentanyl. It was pure fentanyl. I'm not sure if you know about what fentanyl is. It is a leading cause, number cause of death right now between ages of 18 to 45. Two milligrams, two milligrams kills you. My son died with 12 in his system, and no one's talking about it. My son's death was not even investigated. It was immediately closed, and they acted like because it was an acute fentanyl intoxication, they saw my son as an addict. He was not an addict, and even if he did, nobody deserved to die in that way. I haven't had a lot of, why I'm here today is I haven't had a lot of community and people and councilmen coming to any of my events. I've thrown three events here at the Tarrant County Courthouse, and on Saturday I'm throwing another event. I know it's election day, but I'm just rallying, trying to bring people and awareness because we need education, as well as Narcan. If you don't know what this is, this is a preventative of to reverse this side effects of it. Right now, two out of five kids, it was two and five, now it went to three and five kids, are gonna die from fentanyl. And can you tell which pill here is a fake one? You can't. So we need to educate people about this. We have several brochures, several things that we're gonna be giving out at our event. I have now started the North Texas Fentanyl Coalition. I have over 60 members in my group. It first started with just a few of us, and now it's just grown and grown and grown. So like I said, I'm here today because I am asking everybody to come and rally upon and come to certain events that you notice, but I'm also trying to get into the schools and everywhere else. It seems like here I'm not having much precedence, but my governor, I've been on his panel twice, and he has now have, we worked on all these different education awareness. There is emojis that our kids are using and they're literally you can buy drugs or alcohol or anything from Snapchat, social media, and there's codes that our parents and everybody needs to know. There was a crisis in my school and I was not aware of it. Thank you for coming. You still have time. So just like I said, I'm just trying to bring awareness to not only the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, or anybody that has kids. We need to be talking to our kids as young as three and four that fentanyl is being mixed in with gummy bears, nerds, everything. I know there's false facts and things coming out there, but it is being mixed with everything. It's actually in vape pens right now too. It's coming from China. Thank you for coming and you do have our sympathy. I see your phone number signed in. I'll put you in touch with the president of the school board. Thank you so much. Next speaker is Kenner George, Mr. George. Next speaker is Gerald Banks. Both of them John liked ice cream, too. He got a bullet. When a cop named James Matt, number 4645 and a cop named in Sonny's or whatever his name is, and number 4570 of the South Division, Nettles District, refused to give their names and badge number. Upon request, I filed a complaint. Upon filing the complaint with open and the police department of which I detected Matthew B. Price, number 39, threatened me after I refused to sign a complaint form that he filled out in the area that I left blank because my complaint was three sheets, three sheets, and I had attached them so that there was no reason for him to write in the box. Besides what he wrote was a lie. They did nothing to the cops and open was just a joke because they can only recommend after the cop do after the cops do what they want. Just the front, I have proof. What we need is a real oversight board with citizens from the community nominated and voted in to get justice in this city. How can this city be safe with thug-like cops who cover up for each other? A drunk driver hit my car or hit a customer of mine's car, knocked it into my truck almost killing me and my son. The cops were called. This is about two o'clock at one. Cops were called and after two hours they still hadn't arrived. The drunk driver, we had to go ahead and let him go. This is still in Nettles District. This is the three ring circles in this rotunda and it's the shame what's been transpiring. Childish like acts displayed from city leaders and to walk out with a temple tantrum is showing the lack of respect and to get respect well that's surely not the way. We all know that racism exists and that Klan and the Klan has been a part of white folks' lives and there is no denying it. The Willie Lynch and Jim Crow era still lives in each day but in different ways. Police uniforms, suits, roads, even teachers in school. We have to understand the dignity and professionalism no matter what is being said must remain intact. Your character is who you are and will eventually show the truth. Atati and adjusts. I appreciate you listening. Next speaker is Tara Rice. Are you in the audience? Good evening. I didn't expect Mary to be here as always. She likes to walk away. Well, I'm glad the chief is here because his officers are the reason why my son Javier Rice is sitting in detention right now for over 30 days. He was picked up. He was the only one arrested out of five children on March the 25th and the whole time they go there and they see him they're talking about my family. We had to move the plano to escape the footwork PD harassment. They made they changed the narrative and made it look like they changed the narrative of the report. So many lies that it changed the whole narrative and made it about me and my family. The retaliation of them speaking of them retaliating against my family for me speaking out publicly of the criminal injustice that they did to Jalen Rice. Vivins, I don't walk I don't teach my children to walk away from their problems and I don't understand why this council council walks away from theirs. And they like that you had so much to say to Peyton. You got something to say now about the officer lying about my son and not to mind you March the 20th. I mean back in the summertime he was having a mental health crisis. The footwork PD took my son to the police station to give a false statement against me. It's the one same one that's sitting in Kimball right now said I was trying to shoot him in the head if that was the case then why would y'all send what he was supposed to go to JPS they kidnapped him and took him to the police station. That is kidnapped. He was never supposed to be in the back of a cruiser. Never. I never gave this permission to write in the cruiser. That is my son. He was supposed to be in the back of MedStar going to JPS to get a mental health evaluation.  You don't take it out on children. Maddie is the most weakest person and she runs her household like she runs the city. I feel bad for her children feel bad because you guys are complicit to the acts of the footwork PD officers. Every last one of y'all they use CPS they use your neighbors. This lady they got her a victim from her home they told they told her a landlord that lives in California that the police been on there they're 20 times and she had to move within 30 days and yes she has proof to back it up. They told her that the house was raided. What is that footwork PD's job description? They come into Plano talking to my landlord. They're taking their way out of line. The retaliation and harassment.  Next speaker is Adrienne Smith.  You all don't have to give me your attention but as long as you can hear my voice hopefully something that I'm seeing or individuals who come to this podium we got the week says something that pricks your heart. Now Mr. Williams you know I call people out when I'm standing here and I don't see anything funny considering what you're facing. So remember sir there are people who support you but there are just as many as people want to see you from off that seat and we know where it comes from but I have nothing personal against you sir. So check this out so the mayor is not here like we expected that you know we expected that right before election you know it got a little hot for we know it did we got a little hot for but something I take issue with was something that was said at work session today and I quote Ms. Vivins you you brought up an issue regarding this new technology that they're trying to implement and her particular quote was I'll just say on the record that this may seem a little cross but I do not want to be compared I do not think we want to be compared to Chicago when it relates to gun violence. I would like to ask the question of this council and the mayor because I know she's somewhere listening she's probably watching what's the difference what's the difference between Fort Worth and Chicago when it comes to gun violence we know that violence in the city is not going down it's really on a continual uptick and Chief Noakes your presence sir where is the quarterly crime data report that hasn't been submitted up on the Fort Worth PD website since the mayor since the mayor is talking about crime is down where are the numbers at we know that's not the case but anyway I digress from that I want people to know this May 6th keep that in mind you have an opportunity you have an opportunity to change whatever it is you do not like concerning your elected representative if you haven't voted vote if you haven't voted vote there's nothing wrong with change until the lady that's the woman who stood up her in regards to the fentanyl situation God bless you and the loss of your son but let me be want to say that this council is not ready to handle the fentanyl crisis thank you is James Smith in the audience yeah we've tried him three times and he's not answering and he hasn't called called us back next speaker will be Maria Lena Tillman right good evening everyone I am here on behalf of the Waterview Tenants Association again our issues with the landlord and management company have not been resolved in addition to arising issues with Fort Worth code compliance they have no idea what they're doing I would like to pray first that the Lord would give each of you on this panel ears to hear in the spirit that follows suit I'm here just to make a statement just to say that the businessmen that are providing our basic necessities in Fort Worth are actually price gouging it is written in article 17 section 46b of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act that it is a false misleading or deceptive act or practice to take advantage of a disaster declared by governor under chapter 418 government code or the president by one selling or leasing fuel food medicine lodging building materials construction tools or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price or two demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel food medicine lodging building materials construction tools or another necessity tri-county electric and their wholesaler is in violation of the Gas Price Gouging Prevention Act passed in March of 2022 they still provide service to residents that were drawn into Fort Worth District 4 the rule of thumb for a cap on price increasement is set forth by the state of california at 10 percent the cost of electricity natural fuel and rent are in excess of a 50 markup specifically in district 4 of Fort Worth and the former district 2 of keller before i make my request i would like to make it very clear to everyone in this room that this floor belongs to me as much as it belongs to everyone in this room and all the residents of Fort Worth it is my understanding that the government is employed by us and it is impossible for me or us to impose something on a system that is already mine or ours we have been in a state of emergency since the year 2020 i i really need an additional three minutes because i am proposing a solution to what i'm complaining about there is no additional time well i'm proposing that the city of fort worth declare as local state of emergency in order to get a local rent control in ordinance next speaker is patin joxson miss joxson good afternoon council i'll keep it short i'm actually yielding until parker is back so no no no no it's okay i'll wait i'll wait till she comes back thank you guys next speaker is carolina rodriguez if you're looking online so lizis my my lady up there so carolina so we just spent a million dollars on a report i'm just to tell us that the police were using excessive force and that there were punks right has anything changed since we got that report oh yeah we spent a quarter of a million dollars on somebody named abraham perrano last week somebody know about that we had the city had to pay him a quarter of a million dollars for some kind of excessive force from the police quarter meal and beat my ass up for a quarter meal i'd take it so i was looking at the excessive force report for march of 2023 i saw that the excessive force was used 192 times on the self on the monthly um um brutality or force excessive force report that they put out 192 times but of course they self report so the number is probably much higher than that since it's done on the honor system um last month in in uh march they brandished their weapons 132 times but they didn't have to use any kind of weapon on brandon zapata all they had to use was a knee on the neck that's all they needed for that so i guess that i don't know what part of the excessive force report that's going to be on um we got a body cam footage but we had minutes that were blacked out redacted i wonder if those what was on those redacted minutes um we can't rely on the numbers for the car reports that's not how you judge they can manipulate those numbers too you gotta you gotta rely on excessive force reports and how many people are suing for a quarter meal a cool quarter meal and plus the way they falsify reports i just happened to have Manuel Matas a arrest report from his last arrest um where he was arrested over um a very street i think it was or alan as on alan and it was it's written by deputant rodriguez it took them nine hours to write this because they had to get it right he was arrested for uh he was arrested for interference with public duties and interference with public duties is written as interference with like an officer you impede them you um interrupt him uh that's that's how that's written so deputy rodriguez she was on routine patrol and she she stopped it she got an lpr hit on a gray dodger she conducted the traffic stop she approached the vehicle advised the reason for the stop the driver stated she would identify herself only only she would identify herself after i told her why i stopped the vehicle with an upset tone i responded with no problem how her vehicle was hitting the lpr system that my patrol car is equipped with and alerted me that someone in the vehicle um has a warrant the driver identified by herself to sultanapo the the passenger refused to even look at me making my awareness and safety more heightened she immediately pride it brought pride it's me i had the warrants like she like that like that machine knew that she had warrants because she was the passenger but anyways it goes on and um there's no interference written in here she starts saying that i was on the phone with her warrants office confirming active warrants i heard a male voice loudly walking up from behind with the vehicle and the front passenger window of my mark patrol car i'll have to put this on my website so you can see it thank you for coming and with that the meeting is adjourned for this evening you have a half hour to vote if you haven't voted today have a great evening


Tissue engineering, TE, has made significant progress over the last few decades, with advances in the development of 3D scaffolds and hydrogels providing a platform for the regeneration and reconstruction of damaged tissues. These scaffolds and hydrogels can be composed of naturally occurring or synthetically produced materials, and can be tailored to meet specific needs. Additionally, these materials can be combined with bioactive molecules, genes, and cells to create a more robust environment for tissue growth and repair. This combination of materials and components provides a strong foundation for the development of functional engineered tissues, which can then be implanted into the body for successful regeneration. This article was authored by Sandra Pina, Viviana P. Ribeiro, Katerina F. Marquez, and others.


our speakers are, I want to say that's right, Yaza Rubio and Felix Preto. All right. Yaza is intelligence analyst with the background in information sciences, defense industry and cybersecurity. Felix is a computer engineer with a PHD in computer science and telecommunications. They're well known as trainers of several law enforcement agencies in Europe and regarding OSINT and also cryptocurrency research. Let's give them our attention. Their theme is heavy diving for credentials towards the perfect fishing. So thank you for representation for us. It's like a great being here in Vegas. Just trying to show you one of the latest research that we have performed in 11 paths regarding fishing techniques and fishing methodologies just to try to make a fishing attack more anonymous and just to try to protect the identity of the fisher in this case, in this case of the attacker. So we know that it is the last talk of the day and we know that it's going to be just about 30 minutes. So it's going to be great and we're trying to make some exercises with you with some board of tracks. Now we ask for your collaboration because we have prepared some exercise for you. And there is a price of $25 for the winner in Bitcoins. In Bitcoins. So maybe if you're lucky the Bitcoin price rising in these moments it's not $25 but maybe $30 or $35. I think that it's increasing since yesterday quite a lot. First of all we need to know which infrastructure will need a fisher. So the typical fishing attack is always compounded by an infrastructure which has been rented, hacked or somewhat hired by the attacker. The attacker will clone the website just to try to imitate the real website, okay? The fishers usually try to register a domain that is similar to original one just as a trick to try to trick again the victim. These links are also being served using social media platforms and emails. From the point of view of the victim, the victim will get connected to that fake website and the fisher will get the credential and then the fisher will be able to connect, to get connected to the legitimate domain. The registration of the is a key point for the researchers because the registrar will have the information about who has paid and depending of the spreading method use, his identity, the attacker could be exposed when he sign up in several platforms. So from the point of view of the attacker, there are some problems that he has to face. First of all, the infrastructure that he has been using, it can say a lot of things of who he is and this is something that he has to protect. He has to hide any kind of footprints that this process, in this process, there may be. So this is an important issue that we are going to face in this sort of talk. Related to creative and credible, each attacker will need to be as creative and credible as possible. So the point is that when spreading the malicious links and you will have to find well-known platforms that will maximize the number of victims that you want to get if it is a massive fishing attack or if it is a spear fishing attack, you want to make it as realistic as possible. So these issues are the ones that we are going to try to solve for a fisher in the following minutes. The attacker's identity will need to be anonymous and thus we are going to run a hidden services in TOR. We are going to show you an example, but it is very easy. In fact, it's really easy. Have any of you deployed a hidden service once? It's really easy. Once you have a TOR installed. First of all, we have to TOR install and then we have to deploy a TOR as a service. The next thing that we need to do is just to verify that we are connected to TOR so we can get our public IP address without being connected to TOR and we can TORify them the connection. We are running just the same command, but with TORify, TORify command before, just to include, to send this connection through the TOR network. Really easy. Two commands to do it. Then we have to modify several lines and we have to uncomment two lines in TORRC file. Specifically, we have to uncomment these lines, hidden service deal and hidden service port. Two lines, two commands, so it's really easy. And then we have to restart TOR as a service again. Because if not, the new configuration wouldn't have been loaded. So this is not a problem. What we are doing right now is starting an Apache 2 server, which is the one that is being mapped in port 80, as we have seen in the configuration file. So it's quite straightforward now. If we want to know which hidden services we have, we have to go to a hidden service path and here we can find two files and the file of this file, hostname, we can find this, our dotonion. So if we want to launch a petition to dotonion domain, if we did it with CUR and the dotonion domain, we will not be able to resolve that. But if we do it with TORRify, like in the example, we will be able to grab and to collect all the information from that hidden service. But we have this approach. We have a problem because most users are normal users and that do not use TORR. Yeah, so this is a point because although TORR users have increased quite a lot, there are several studies that say that even in the countries with more penetration, like Moldova and Iceland, TORR users only represent 300 users per 100,000 online common internet users. So the figure is unfortunately quite slow. So we will have to find something different to try to make these hidden services available for a wider number of users. To solve these TORR gateways, when we spread the malicious links through social network, we can use a gateway to redirect the victims to our hidden service. The point is that we are very lazy sometimes and if we don't want to have TORR installed in our system to access to a hidden service, we can use dotonion.to, dotonion.link, dotonion.plus, which are TORR gateways that will let you access these domains even if you don't have TORR browser bundle installed or a TORR connection configured in your system. The point is that we found out when we were doing this research that some TORR gateways were providing additional information that we were not expecting and we are using it for fun and for profit, maybe. Information is exposed by gateways? Okay. We are going to see it in an example that we have released, the search code we have released in GitHub. So you will be able to download it and perform your own test. Okay, so maximize. First of all, we are going to, first of all, we are going to download the hidden service that we have prepared for this demo and it's created with TORR and with Python and Sten. Sten is a library to interact with TORR from Python. What we are doing right now is deploying a very simple but very simple, very simple hidden service that the only things that do is just showing the headers that each and every request to this hidden service is being sending. Why? We are going to see it why. So it's very easy. You get cloner and you install the requirements and then you press Python and start the application. It's really easy to do. Then we are going to see which is the IP address of the victim. It's this and then we are going to verify the connection and with the aim to see the headers of this. So stop there. Stop there. So you can see there that the headers sent by a simple core are almost five, five or four headers. So almost no information regarding the user that got connected to this domain using TORRifyCore. But what happens when we do this using, stop there. When we do this using onion.link platform. Well, we can find something really interesting because amongst the headers, one of the headers that was being sent is xreal IP. So onion.link was sending to the hidden service the real IP address of the guy that wanted to get connected to it. So you can think about how this information can be used if there is a user that is getting connected to, for instance, a pornographic website. The administrator of the pornographic website will know which is the real IP address of the guy. TORR was not intended to be used in that way, but if you use a TORR gateway, maybe your information can be exposed. So please avoid using them and download and install the TORR browser bundle or configure your own TORR connection because you don't know what kind of information can be sent. This first problem, we have addressed it, but we have a hidden service. We have a server that is exposed in a hidden service. And with a TORR gateway for the surface users. Yes, now we have deployed anonymous phishing, but now we have another problem. Now we have another problem related to creative and credible of the attacks. So the problem is that onion links are too long. So it's very easy to see if you are being directed to an onion website. Well, there are some tricks that we are going to use just to try to make the exception better, okay? First of all, we ask you to go to Kahoot. Does anyone know Kahoot.it? Kahoot.it is a platform that we are going to use to give you $25. So we encourage you to go to Kahoot.it. And the only thing that you will need is to insert the code that Jaiza is going to show you. Because here we will ask you some questions regarding these facts. If you want to win the bitcoins, you will have to go to this platform. Kahoot.it. Wait there because we will need to show you the play. Okay, so you will need to insert the following pin code that is going to be shown in the screen. And we are going to put you. I think that they are very easy challenges, but just the fastest one will be awarded with a $25 price. Okay, so hold on a second. We are deploying it. If you are in Kahoot.it, it is requested for a pin. Insert the one that is there. We have here the pin. Four, five. Kahoot.it. Okay, Kahoot.it. And we have to internally. So very simple pin, four, five, eight, seven. Okay, and insert the nickname, whatever you want. The point is that it will be shown in the screen. Please do not use any kind of things strange. Okay, so, wait, wait. We have three users. We have three users. Now we are going to do a test. Have we understood the game? Okay, if you have understood the game, press yes. And we don't have to understand the game. Press no. Okay, four answers. Fill the moment. Any more answers? Okay, ask for six. Six, okay. Time's running out. Well, six answers. So most people, we have controls here. Most people have understood the game. Okay, so we are going to put some challenges here. You have to pay attention to what we are going to see here. Because the skills that we are going to show are the ones that we are implementing the phishing attacks that we are using later, technically, okay? The next challenge is related to attention. In which quadrant is located the only W in this image? Okay, upper left. It's difficult, right? It's really difficult. Do you know why it's difficult? It's difficult because lighters are very similar. So this is a technique that most features tend to use when cyber squatting, when performing cyber squatting attacks, just trying to emulate the original domains of common trait marks. Some people change the M for R and N. So it looks like the same in most browsers. So this is something that we may be using, would be useful for us to see an appropriate phishing. Please don't close the app. Don't close the app. We are coming back in a couple of minutes. Okay? Okay. These type of prattie exercises are needed when conducting a phishing attack. But we have to improve the image of the dot-onion domain because it's so long and so long. We have two approaches here. The typical approach is using a vanity domain, you know, vanity Bitcoin addresses that tend to use, well, users tend to create a Bitcoin address that starts with a given word. We can do the same with onion domains. We can use tools like shallot that are available in GitHub and just saying to shallot, okay, I want my domain to start with Twitter or Facebook or whatever. And we can let the tool try to generate as many domains as many onion domains as he can until he finds a domain that matches with this approach. So this is one, generating vanity domains, okay? It may take a lot of time. In fact, we try to do it with Twitter, which is Twitter, which is six letters and we were waiting for eight hours and we couldn't generate it in our computer. So it's a difficult task. However, there is also another trick to simple works using a cool soft domain before the blah, blah, blah, blah dot-onion. Now we are going to see one example with DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that many of you know. DuckDuckGo, DuckDuckGo, the point is that it also has a hidden service, a dot-onion version of the browser that can be reached only using Twitter. Okay, we can see... This is the domain of DuckDuckGo. And we are going to do a very simple trick that many people don't know about onion domains, but that can be useful for us when we want to conduct a fission attack, okay? We only have to put before, for example, Twitter dot com dot blah, blah, blah dot-onion or another example, for example, Facebook dot com dot has dot blah, blah, blah, blah dot-onion. And you may be asking, this is happening only in DuckDuckGo? No, because the point is that for discovering where a hidden service is inside the third network, the only part important is the domain, not the suit domain, okay? So we can put whatever we want in the suit domain part. So in our cases, we would like to put some things that look like the original website just to treat the user. So for instance, if we want to emulate a Twitter domain, we can put twitter dot com dot blah, blah, blah dot-onion. Okay? So this is a very simple trick that simply works and it is something that happens because of how tor is structured and how tor was conceived. So two approaches, vanity domains and this small trick with subdomains. This problem we have addressed, but we have another problem related to spreading the attacks. So we're going back to the cahoot. Just the ones that have taken part until now. Go back to cahoot, okay? We can see that Jmax is in the lead with 826 points and we're going to put two more challenges regarding misdirecting the attention of the victim as usual, misdirecting and the other one is regarding movement. So it is just a matter of answering the question that is appearing at the end of the video that you are going to see right now. Okay? Anybody of you been in London before? Have anybody of you been in London? I have been in London, but only once. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was just tricking you, just trying to misdirect the attention, because the question that we are putting there is what time was in the big bent hour that was shown in the photo? Okay? So the trick is just a matter of misdirecting the attention that we are going to do in the fission. The answers are 6pm, 7pm, 9pm. If you have noticed, if you have remembered which was the hour in the clock, well, you should guess which is the correct answer, which was 8pm. Okay, sorry for the trick, okay? But misdirecting the attention is a very important issue when you want to conduct also a fission attack and we are going to go through a technique that works very well with this. The third challenge is the movement challenge, because the human mind and the human eye works in a way that makes slow changes be very difficult to be noticed by the eye. The question is, in the photo? They are going to start changing right now. Keep an eye on the photo, keep an eye on the photo. Keep an eye on the photo and try to find the elements that are being changed. Okay, keep an eye. Have you seen them? Have you seen any of them? Have you seen any changes in the photo? No changes in the photo? Well, at least... From 0 to 3? Okay, they are having some changes. The plane has been removed, the factory was removed, the colors of the houses were changed. There were some windows that were changing too. The point is that the changes were taking place slowly. So they were taking place slowly and it was really difficult for us to see the difference. If something happens very quickly, it's very easy to notice. So these two... By the way, Jane Max, which is Jane Max? Okay, Jane Max, congratulations. We will... You have been awarded with $25, about $25 in bitcoins. Later, we will pay for them at the end of the talk. But the point is that these two ideas, movement and misdirection, are really important for conducting an appropriate phishing. And there is a technique that can help us like reverse thumbnapping. But what is reverse thumbnapping? It consists of modifying the content of the browser tab that stays in the background. That's when the user goes back to the tab, he will be in another website controlled by the attacker. So the idea can be implemented really easily with just... And it's through a couple of lines of JavaScript code. You can copy that JavaScript code. We have some POCs that we are going to see in a few seconds. And it's really easy. What we are doing here is just exploiting the way in which new links are being opened in new tabs. Some websites like Google Plus are not properly configured to prevent a newly opened tab to modify the original tab in which it was clicked. We are going to see it with an example. Now we are going to see how it works in Google Plus. First of all, we have Publix. In our own website, a POC? This POC, this URL, when the user presses on it, he will redirect to Defcon.org, for example. But the previous tab has been changed. So this is an issue because any link that is opened into a new tab in Google Plus, this does not work, for example, in Twitter because they are protected in Instagram, because they are protected in the Facebook original website. It doesn't work either, but it works in the mobile version of Facebook. It works in the Outlook light web app version. It works in mail.ru light application. And it used to work even in LinkedIn until we reported all these small bugs to them. LinkedIn thought that it was not a security issue. The point is that many platforms have already modified it, and they answered that this is something that cannot be prevented. In two weeks' time, they modified it, and they said nothing to us. So please say hello or something. Now we are going to put all the pieces together with the problem we have seen before. Now we are going to see the POC. The final POC with all of these parts. The parts of the demo are three. First of all, we have to create a malicious website with the malicious link in a hidden service. So if we have a hidden service, it's okay, but we would only be targeting towards users now, but we don't want that. We want common users, normal users, to be vulnerable to this issue. So what can we do? We have seen it. Using an ator gateway, like onion.link, onion.to, onion.plus, or whatever. And we are sending the URL into a common platform. Like in this case, it is Google Plus. The publication in Google Plus will have to be relevant for the user with the aim to spend some time there. And then he will redirect to... While he reads all the news and all the articles. What happens in the background? In this case, he will redirect to telegraph. And the previous tab will have been changed with the phishing domain. With the phishing that will be hosted in a hidden service using onion.link, onion.whatever. So we are going to see it and we are going to analyze the consequences of this approach. So in the example, we have a URL that we are sending a URL with something that we find that can be clicked by lots of people. So while the user clicks on it, the telegraph article is there. The user is reading that. And what has happened before in the previous tab, in the tab in which it was the Google Plus publication, it has been changed onto a hidden service. So from our point of view, it's really good because we have deployed a hidden service. We have deployed a phishing website into a hidden service. And when the researcher wants to... Who is behind that? Who is behind this attack? I want to close down that phishing website. He can't because he doesn't know where the hidden service is located. Why? Because it is on tour. So it's a nice approach, just combining different techniques and reverse tabnavin and tour gateways and tour. And this is really nice because phishers will be somewhat protected. But it's true. We have to recognize that this has some limitations. Still the onion.links are too long, so we have to fight with that. Tour gateways are sometimes too slow and stable and may become too clear indicated of the attack. Yeah, so these websites are not always as fast as we expected. If you are used to tour connections, tour connections are sometimes slow. So we have to find an article in which the user will spend at least some seconds until the fake website is being loaded. And what else? And the other one? Okay, we have published the link into a social network with our own user. So this is still a problem because I will need to find a social network and a social profile that has to be created anonymously so as to be perfectly anonymous. So this is still an issue that has to be dealt. There are a lot of tour gateways like onion.plus or onion.link or onion.2. The best gateways to do this attack, in our opinion, are onion.plus or onion.link because it permits dot-onion subdomains and leak personal information about the victim. Yeah, because onion.2, onion.guide and so on, when you use the subdomain trick, they raise an SSL error and so on so they are not as good as the other ones. But meanwhile, onion.link and onion.plus are good approaches to perform this vision. So it's everything for our side. I think that all of us want to go out tonight and it's so late. We are hungry. Even for Spanish guys who tend to have dinner too late. So we are waiting for your questions and comments and anyway, you can contact us later. Thank you so much for attending.


Coral reefs are highly vulnerable to environmental stressors such as climate change, water pollution, and overfishing. These stressors often lead to changes in the coral's microbiome, which can have both positive and negative effects on the coral's health and survival. In this review, the authors found that despite these stressors, the microbial richness of corals was often higher rather than lower, suggesting that corals may be more resilient than previously thought. Additionally, certain types of bacteria were found to increase in abundance while other types decreased, indicating that the coral's microbiome may be adapting to the changing environment. Finally, the author suggests that microbes may be used to identify resilient corals and could provide insight into how corals respond to environmental stressors. This article was authored by Jamie M. McDivider when Julia K. Baum, Melissa Garan, and others.