You're welcome back to the breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. President Mohamed Abouhari wants the United States to consider relocating U.S. Africa command, also known as AFRICOM, from Germany to Africa. He made the plea during a virtual meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday. The president cited security challenges in West and Central Africa, the Gulf of Guinea, Lake Chad region, and the Sahel, as reasons the U.S. should consider the relocation. A security expert with years of experience in American law enforcement, Mr. Sonny Dikbolu, is joining us from Lebanon. Good morning. Thanks for joining us on the breakfast. Good morning. Good morning. You're welcome. All right. Yeah, let's, you know, have a, you know, get into this. For the last couple of days and weeks and months and years, we've spoken about our insecurity challenges. We've spoken about what needs to be done. And of course, there are times when they've also mentioned mercenaries and bringing in more support from outside Nigeria. When the president mentions AFRICOM, do you buy into the idea that America setting up its base here in Africa or in Nigeria might be the solution? Well, it's sure we have. We need anything now that we can use to help. You remember, AFRICOM used to be in Africa before, was the previous, the last president that kicked them out of Africa, and when you have a new government, there's always chances for improvement. Everybody wants to be better of a life. So I really support the president pleading for every help in every way he could get because the security solution in Africa, even in Nigeria, is getting to the tipping point. Yeah, it's not, it's not because, you know, I mean, yes, we need help. But is AFRICOM the solution, seeing the role that we, as a country, have also failed to play, will setting up, you know, the US-Africa command here change anything if we, as a country, cannot play our role perfectly? Yes, it's going to change a lot because when you have a base somewhere, then you have, it's like a tree, you have branches everywhere. So they'll be able to be a boot on the ground when there needs to be a boot on the ground in any way, everywhere. So there's always possibility that when you put something new, when you put a boot or AFRICOM somewhere in Africa, then there will be a rapid deployment. If there need be for truth to be deployed anywhere in Africa, including Nigeria. So, Ms. Sadiq Paolu, I'm really interested into, you know, finding out what the US response to this might be, because, you know, like you rightly mentioned, in about 2008 the United States set up AFRICOM and said that they wanted to host this in other African countries. They approached Nigeria, called that then-president Musa Yardwa basically rejected them and said he would not have AFRICOM, you know, be hosted in Nigeria. Other countries also turned them down, South Africa, Libya, other African countries. You know, I think there's just one African country that's, you know, allowed AFRICOM to be based there. You know, but looking forward now, Nigeria is in a worse place than we are, than we were in 2008. You know, insecurity is on the rise and the president is now asking, you know, for the US to basically relocate AFRICOM from Germany to Nigeria. Looking at the, you know, the past, do you think the United States is likely to grant this request in the first place? Yes, I think so, and I support it. Why do you think so? Because looking at 2008, look back. Look at the situation with the security in everywhere in Africa. Back in 2008, then if the president opposed it, 2008 is quite a long time ago. Right now we have problems everywhere and the problem is going to split to even Nigeria if we don't do something about it as soon as possible. The AFRICOM will be a great help. It will be a big help. And with the new administration in the United States, I'm sure and hope that they will relocate AFRICOM back to Africa. Yeah, but why? Because the United States is not just going to, you know, transfer all those resources, human and financial resources to Nigeria, to Africa just because they like our smiles or because, you know, they like our food. So you, I'm sure you are aware that countries work with interests.  There has to be some level of interest. And so why do you think that the United States will be interested in this idea? Look, the United States have interest in everywhere, every corner of the world and they are there to protect their interests. This is not just monetary interest. There's a lot of interest. Age is part of it. If I can stop giving you age, if I can help you another way, instead of giving you age, giving you all this money, and then they don't believe in corruption. You know, all this money they're given to every country to support their security, some of them they can't account for it. So if the United States can decide to put on the ground, that would be a great plus. There's going to be a negotiation in everything. They're going to sit down on the table and negotiate. So let them agree first, then they work out the details. So I see where they're going to go from there. I can understand where my co-anchors coming from, because really international experts have said these chances of the United States relocating its, you know, African headquarters to Nigeria is very slim. And they consider, you know, even if you say that, in 2008, our security challenges, you know, was different for what it is now. And that's more reason why they should come here. But other people are saying, actually, that's the reason why they should not. And it just reminds me of the Saturday travel advisory that the United States issued to its citizens not to come to Nigeria. They basically want their citizens to stay clear of Nigeria because of the rising insecurity challenges. And we're talking about relocating over 3,000, you know, personnel, logistics, and all of that considerations. And, you know, the body language we're seeing from, you know, international experts, like I've said, from what I've read, you know, their thoughts on this is that it's really very slim. Now, even though the present administration of the United States seem to be, you know, more favorable to Nigeria compared to the administration of the North Trump, but it still is very slim. Do you, you know, see any logic to that? Of course. You see, the president know what they're doing, they add them straight because they consult a lot of people. It's not just one day waking up and say, this is what I'm going to do. They already consult, they consult with the Europe, they consult with some of the African president before the President Bukhari can ticket up on himself to stand up for all Africa. It's something that they already work out. So I'm pretty sure that he's going to do all his best to bring the African back to Africa because it's going to be a benefit for all, not just Nigeria. It's going to be a benefit for every African country. Help us clarify what exactly Africa is. Excuse me? Help us, you know, understand better what exactly Africa is. Is it a military operation? It's like, yes, it's a military operation, and it's like the United States is putting the military, their military somewhere closer to where they see fit that there's plan to be thrown so that it could be a quicker response that they'll be able to deploy, they'll be able to look through disguise and see all those deserts, what the problem that is going on around the globe. So they would advise the country and then work out details with the country involved and see how they could help. You can't call United States from 1,000 miles away when there's trouble in Africa somewhere, maybe in Guinea or even Nigeria, that you need help. And we've seen the result of private contractors. So if you decide you're going to use private contractors, there could be big problems. So I can see why they're trying to put more pressure on United States to bring a comeback to Africa because it's something that they'll be a quicker response when there's a problem in Africa, somewhere in Africa. Except, you know, we probably need to be sure exactly what the discussions will be like if this has been taken seriously. But, you know, setting up Africa from here doesn't necessarily mean commitment or 100% commitment to tackling Nigeria security challenges. It's simply setting up a base here. But I want you to respond to two things. Senator, former Senator Shea Husani describes this as an attempt at re-colonization. That's one. And then the second one would be the fact that President Mahmoud Abuari initially, when the talk of mercenaries came up, shut that down and said that we're not gonna be reaching out towards seeking mercenaries or help from foreign mercenaries, basically. So why is there a change of heart now? And do you also, what's your response to Shea Husani's thoughts? Look, to the senator, we told you respect. You know, we all have freedom of speech. And as a senator, he's in a better position to speak up. But this is a modern world, okay? What he's talking about is way, way, way back in the days, his past. Everybody need help in life. Are we just gonna look Africa to keep durating and keep all this, a problem keep growing every day? What's gonna happen in five years from now? Look back 2008 to now. So imagine what is gonna happen in another few years ahead. Nobody knows. So the better the earlier you talk to your problem right now is the better for your people. The president is a great leader. He took security as his number one priority challenge. So let us help him. All the senators should be able to help him, you know, to achieve his goals. So to be a better Nigeria. Once there is no security problem in the country, the country economy will grow. Everybody want to come back to Nigeria, go back to their country to do better. So I will advise the senator to support the president idea. So I look back at the news and I saw that, you know, just last year in 2020, Africa began pulling out some of its troops in Somalia and we know the state of the country right now, you know, Nigeria, some would argue is a lot, you know, better in terms of security when you look, when you compare that with Somalia, you know, but that goes to show that this issue of the likelihood of the United States considering to, you know, bring its troops to Nigeria is still very dicey. But really, regarding Nigeria security situation, what can we begin to do internally away from sticking external help? Of course we all need external help. We need professional, we need expertise. When you talk to Somalia, it's about fun. They pull out fun, located to Somalia security. And when you start pulling out fun, so people is going to start wondering what am I doing here? Everybody needs support. So Nigeria can benefit a lot from this. If they all sit, all the generals, the security experts, even the community, they have to reach out to the communities, to the state governors. So everybody is going to benefit from it because the security situation is, like I said, is getting to a tipping point. Yeah, but let me go back to what you think that we have gotten wrong, you know, in tackling our challenges with regard security. Where do you think that we have gotten it wrong, that we should be able to fix by ourselves? You see, the president and all the security people, they need somebody who, they could rely on, they could trust, it's all about trust. Because when you have a group, when you have a squad in security, that okay, this is what this challenges, this is what you want to do. They have to map up the whole area and know what they have to do. So it's not even because Nigeria is having problems. If federal government wants to tackle something, we have a state governor that is going to be a barrier. So they want the fund to come to them. But when the fund goes to the state governor, then they're going to be a lot of challenges and problems. What fund are you referring to, sir? Well, when you fund security, you know, in the security challenges, you have to find, like, okay, we're having problem in social, so Niger Delta. They need fund to tackle those problems. And then the federal government with the, through the state, they already allocated fund, then they're going to tap into that fund to tackle the security challenges. But if you can't really fund the security that you send out to go and do a job for you, then they're going to be a problem. Mr. DePaule, let me rephrase, just to kindly hold on, this is what I'm asking. In the last couple of years, we have had our security challenges grow beyond just Boko Haram. Now we're talking of ISWAP, we're talking of bandits, we're talking kidnappings, and religious or tribal clashes across the country. It's never, and I'm guessing you might agree that it's never been as bad as it currently is in Nigeria. The question I'm asking you is, why do you think we have not been able to tackle it and it has gotten this bad? Where do you think the Nigerian government has failed? Well, we can put economic challenges. There's a problem with our economy in Nigeria because, take for example, the kidnapped. You see a lot of people who don't have no job, who don't have no future. So they've been recruited. It's like back in the days in Iraq, you know? So they recruit people, innocent people, because they don't have no job, they don't have nothing to do. So the problem is that if the economy of a country is great, then the security problem is gonna be limited. But the problem with economy in Nigeria is becoming alarming. So everybody now is looking for alternative. So you see innocent people being recruited to join kidnapping, to be with the bandit, to go into the forest, start fighting, joining the Boko Haram. All right, aside the economy. Aside the economy, in what other ways do you think the Nigerian government has not done well enough to tackle security challenges? Well, apart from that, we have all these ethnically problematic problems. You know, when a lot of people, they spilled a lot of problems on the news, when you're talking about like Ariba, they're talking about the Southwest, and they're talking about the Ariba, then they start building, you know, building the drum on all those problems. So it's like, everyone they want the, everything is gonna collide together. Is that the problem? The problem with that is, you know, excuse me. Let's go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, I mean, I'm hoping that we can get, you know, to specifics. You've mentioned the economy. You've blamed the economy as one of the reasons why, you know, Nigeria is dealing with so many of these security challenges. You know, you've also mentioned people making statements on TV, you've mentioned Arewa.  Are these the reasons you would say this is happening? What I said earlier on is about funding. We need funding, we need technology, we need experts on the table. There needs to be a regional division, you know, what part of the problem that is where they could put a lot of boots on the ground and people, experts, where they could use drones, where they could use all this good technology. There's a lot of company, there's a new company, a Nigerian company that's coming up recently, which I believe that it was on the news a few months ago. So that could be a big help once they give them a license. And then it's gonna be incorporated with the government. They could use help, they could get help from that company because it's a great innovative, a great technology. So I believe that with all those equipment, with all those brain, then Nigeria will ship something because right now it's getting bad. And, you know, all the security challenges, they need to regroup. They just, you know, the government just put out those old genera, they bring in a new brain, a new genera. So let's see how they could map up the old problems and see what they could tackle. And they all need the help of everybody, including the security experts. Great, so you mentioned. Whatever they need to help them out. Great, and the reason I ask this question because I needed us to understand, you know, the role that Africa is meant to play. You've mentioned the economy. You've mentioned Narewa and statements that have been made across the country. And then you've also mentioned funding. So what role does Africa play here? The Africa is gonna be like a leader. They're gonna work with every country.  And then they're gonna make use of the technology. Technology is very important. If there's a problem somewhere in the desert and we're here in Nigeria, you need to be able to see the whole area. And you need to be able to see how you can deploy, you know, put on that area. And then you need to put intelligence, you need to gather intelligence. So and that is very, very important too. So Africa is something that they're gonna bring every country together when it comes to security challenges.  I don't need any help from anybody. No, this is a modern world. You need help. Do you think Africa would agree with, you know, reintegration of ex-book or RAM into the army and forgiving their repentance, terrorists? No, no. But at the same time, we need intelligence. We need sources, okay? Africa, they have sources everywhere. They have sources probably within the Boko Haram, people that is reporting back. It could be done to agents, but they have to work at the intelligence, people has to work out how they're gonna manage sources, the resources, getting from the Boko Haram or from the, all this abandonment. There's always intelligent person, you know, spying on everywhere, everywhere. So, but to just give amnesty to a whole group of terrorists, I don't think they're gonna buy it. But the details is still gonna be worked out by both sides. So we don't know what they're gonna work out. So let's wait and see. Mr. Dikpal, I asked this before, but I want us to talk about this more extensively now regarding security solutions. And I'm saying, what can we do internally as a country to solve this? Should we be looking at state policing? What measures should we look? I'm not saying let's not invite Africa, let's not invite, you know, other foreign powers that can help. But what can we do from the inside to solve our security problems? Well, the federal government used to, they need to call on the state governors and work out how they could work the state policing. They need it, we need it in Nigeria. I know that they're looking at the other side of it, that there might be a governor that's gonna misuse those powers. But there's always, you know, a law that they have to work within. So we need policing in every state because with that, the governor will be able to deploy police to every area, maybe where they see there's a trouble. Let's take River State for example. So the River State, they have the challenges. And then now the challenging is spilled into everywhere. You see Kignapun everywhere. So if the state governor could have their own police, then they'll be able to protect the border, their own border. They'll be able to deploy police to everywhere, even the waterways and air. So they need funding too. You can't be policing without no funding. And then they're gonna work with the community and see who are the bad eggs in the community, how they pick them out. So because right now, the criminals, they haven't found where they're having their funds. They need to investigate and shut it down. The criminal can't operate without funding. They have funds to buy ammunitions. And now sometimes you see criminal, ammunitions, superpolicies, the police officers. So all these things, they need to go back at this official age. So you don't think that over time, Nigeria should have been able to afford intelligence equipment in the last couple of years. We've spent billions of Nairabind, super to Canoe Jets and the likes. But you believe that only when Africa comes, then we will be able to gather intelligence better and tackle our challenges? Yes, I believe that because when you put a leader somewhere, a leader that is credible, that you can trust, you could believe in, then they will do the job for you. Okay? So when you have a leader here in Nigeria, you have challenges. You have governors troubling the guy. You have senators. You have the travel people. You have everything. It's gonna be a problem. But that problem is gonna stop as soon as the African comes. How? Their own job is gonna be tactical. What? They're gonna do what they're gonna do. There's no governor that's gonna have problem with them. There's no any... So what you're saying is, what you're saying is that the governors and the senators are troubling, President Muhammad of Buhari, but when Africa sets up on the continent, then the governors and the senators will not be able to trouble them and we will be able to sort out our security challenges. You see the problem in Nigeria, we all know it. It's about ethnic, the city, the Yoruba Arewa group, I mean, Oduwa group. You have the northern part of Arewa and you have the eye mob in the east. So you all have those problems that is knocking and knocking and knocking. Look, when the African comes, we are talking about abroad. Every country is not just gonna be Nigeria. So they have funding, they're not gonna have challenges with funding because they already work at details with every country. So they're gonna use that funding to do their job and they already have the technology, they're gonna, it's a plus. The technology is gonna be a beneficiary to every country in Africa.  And then, do you trust the people you are giving your money to to buy technology from somewhere? You don't know what they're gonna bring to you. Mr. Jikbalu, the majority of our conversation has been what Nigeria has to gain, how relocating Africa into Nigeria will benefit us. But the United States, they will think about this logically and the question would be, what would the US have to gain from coming to Nigeria, investing all their troops, relocating them when their security cannot exactly be guaranteed. So what will the US have to benefit from relocating to Nigeria? Look, before they even come to this, United States already consul, United States they consul, they're gonna consul people like Exxon, they're gonna consul those big giant company in Nigeria and in some African region that okay, what is your problem? What area you have a problem when it comes to security? We all know they have the security challenges. They're gonna put everybody on the table. United States just gonna wake up one day and say, oh, come on, let's go set up in Africa. No, there are some group of companies, the big players that is even knocking to drop. They already put it on the table that this is area we have in challenges. The ambassadors in United States ambassadors in every countries, they know the challenges. You mentioned a few minutes ago that there are some states that they put on the US website that the citizens should travel to travel allies. They all know those are combined with the group of intelligence at each embassy. So is it that Nigeria will be the only beneficiary of that military partnership? It's gonna be a beneficiary to all. So what will the US stand to gain? That's what we're trying to establish. It's gonna be, because if you're telling me to come over here in a, this is not a softer zone, this is a big problem. There's a big problem, big challenges, security challenges in every way. So if you ask, before United States take, I even put it on the table, that okay, are we gonna come or not? Then that's a progress. It's a plus. Then now let's everybody come to the table and then offer whatever they're gonna offer to seal the deal and bring them to Africa.  Believe me. Can Nigeria finance the relocation of Africa to Nigeria? A country that seems to be in debt. Nigeria can't do it alone. Like I said, the president already consulped some African countries, the presidents. They already sit down, they already taught a barry. They've been thinking a barry for a while. It's not something they just whip up in one day on what to do. All right. So they already agree on some area. Funding from each country, what each country is gonna offer. So either through gas or through monetary funding, everything they're gonna offer, they're already working out. It's not gonna be on Nigeria alone. All right, thank you. Thank you very much. And we can't show that you're funding alone. So Nidik Paolo, thank you very much for joining us on the breakfast this morning. We wish you a beautiful day ahead. All right, thank you. All right, stay with us. We're talking poverty next and the national poverty reduction strategy, which has been set up by approval, has been given by the Nigerian government the vice president will be head in that team. And that's coming up next on the breakfast. Yes, we'll be discussing in detail the NNPC and remittances to the FAAC with an energy expert to stay with us.


Hello, this is Reagan and Sean. Today, we will be exploring the Google Classroom Guardian Emails feature. It's a feature of Google Classroom where you can invite your students, guardians, to receive email summaries about their child's work in class. Before we get started, don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to enable notifications for our channel by clicking our logo during the video. Also, leave us a comment or check out our related videos by clicking the pop-up cards in the upper right corner. Here's how to get started with Guardian Emails. Hey guys, we're going to talk about adding guardian emails to Google Classroom, which is a pretty simple feature, but very powerful. So first thing you'll do is make sure that you're using the correct Google Classroom. Right now, we're using this test Google Classroom in the top right-hand corner. You're going to see the gear for the settings. You're going to click on the settings, and you'll have your class details, like the name, description, the code, and so on. And you'll see there's an option here for guardian summaries. It might be defaulted to be off, so it looks like this, and what you'll do next to guardian summaries is you'll want to click it so that it is on. It'll show you a prompt saying, add class to guardian email summaries. Guardians receive a summary of their student's work and class announcements. Let's also show some examples right here. As a checkbox, it says, add all the classes you teach to guardian email summaries. If you leave this checked, all the Google Classrooms that you currently have active will enable guardian summaries. If you do not want that, you'll just uncheck this, and you can activate guardian summaries for just specific classes. Right now, we're going to edit to all of ours. Once this is enabled, you're going to go to top right and click on Save. And now, assuming that you have students in your class that have already joined, you're going to go up here to the People tab, and under Students, you'll have a list of the students that have joined that specific Google Classroom, whether it be your Economic One or Block Two or AP class or so on. And next to the student's name, there will now be a button that says Invite Guardians. You will click on the button to Invite Guardians, and it'll give you a small text box where you just type in the guardian's email. The best way I found to do this is to use PowerSchool and access the guardian's emails that have been registered with the student. And you are also able to enter multiple emails for one student. So if they want, you know, four different emails to four different accounts, you could also do that. Once you have invited your guardians to be attached to that student, there will be a invite in parentheses next to that parent's name. You'll know that they have accepted the guardian email summaries when that little invite text next to their name has gone away. If it still says Invited next to their name, you'll know that they have not enabled it. The other cool feature of this is that once one teacher has invited guardians to their Google Classroom, any other Google Classroom that a teacher has that shares that student, all they have to do is enable guardian summaries and that will also be enabled on their classroom. So if that student shares teachers for math, science, socialization, ELA, as long as the other teachers have enabled guardian summaries on their Google Classroom as well, the parent only has to accept it once and they'll also receive emails from those other subject areas. Thanks for watching. Be sure to like, comment, or reply to one of our other videos or share the playlist below. Subscribe to our channel and enable notifications so that you don't miss out on the next episode. Don't forget to check out our other resources and see what else is going on in Ori County Schools. Be sure to follow Dear Dis is on social media or contact us via email or our blog.


What's the latest on treating memory disorders with the spice saffron? Saffron had evidently been widely used in the Persian medical tradition for memory problems, but it wasn't put to the test until this study, which I profiled, showing Alzheimer's dementia symptoms continue to get worse on placebo, but getting better on saffron over a 16-week period. The researchers concluded that, at least in the short term, it's safe and effective and mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. What about head-to-head versus the leading drug used for such patients? It appeared to work just as well, but with significantly less vomiting, a common side effect of the drug. So that's where we were as of 2010. What's the update? In 2013, we got the first glimpse at a potential mechanism.  Our brain cells can be killed by a buildup of tangles or the buildup of amyloid plaques, where aggregates of a protein called amyloid beta act is a poison. But in a Petri dish, at least, adding the red pigment found in saffron, called crocin, significantly reduces this amyloid clumping, an effect that can be plainly seen under an electron microscope. So the component of saffron that makes it so colorful appears to have the ability to prevent amyloid formation. What about the tangles? There's the amyloid, and then there's the tangles, which crocin also seems to be able to block in vitro. Again, as demonstrated with electron microscopy. So maybe that's why saffron helps in Alzheimer's disease? But do you have to catch it early? Note this was just for mild to moderate Alzheimer's. What about moderate to severe Alzheimer's? We didn't know until now, head-to-head against the leading drug for severe Alzheimer's and against saffron seemed to help just as well. And one might consider just as well better since there haven't been any serious adverse effects attributed to saffron, whereas the drug is so safe with an increased risk of sleepiness, weight gain, confusion, hypertension, nervous system disorders, and falling. And the saffron study wasn't funded by supplement or spice companies, non-commercial public grants, but all the studies were done in Iran, which controls about 90% of the saffron crop. So there's a national interest in promoting saffron consumption, just like the New Zealand government funds research on kiwifruit, though who else has got to fund studies on a simple spice?


As international students from China move to America for college, the image that often follows is of Balenciaga's, Maserati's and extravagant hot pot dinners. While this is only true for some, others are gritting it out just like any other small business owner. They're opening restaurants and food concepts in the most competitive market in the world, New York City. So let's check out 9 new spots that were opened by international students who decided to stick around. And we are in a seldom explored village, at least by us, the West Village. We are outside of Crop Circle. This spot just opened up and it is serving a Chinese street food that I have never seen been served in America before. Let's go check it out. Hello, hey man, nice to meet you. Fendo Guokui is a product that has a long, long history, but it actually got popular in the past, I'll say it's the recent five years. And we are looking at a Crop Circle original. Even in China, they're more like about the crawfish flavors, because they love like malachao, but this is a shrimp flavor more keeping in line with, you know, the traditions in America, the Northeast. Really excited guys, a shrimp guokui shrimp. So it's kind of like a shrimp paste that they put inside. Oh, this is the Cantonese influence I can tell. Wow. Wow. That's really good. You know what I like most about it? It's super easy to eat, it's super easy to carry. There is not a lot of meat, but I don't think there needs to be, because there's a lot of flavor. Spicy beef. Mmm, got a little malachao. You know why this is going to work in New York? This outer layer, this crust, does remind me of a thin pizza crust. This is kind of like a pizza crust. That's the best way I can describe it. It is. It's similar. I have the chicken guokui. I got the pork guokui. That's good. I like it better than pizza, to be honest. I said it, the pork one's really good. Okay, yo, Andrew, they got everything here at Crop Circle. Man, they are serving all the most popular foods. I'm going to try some of this beet salad, though. Shrimp churren bun. With the egg in it. Oh, last but not least, I got to try the version of the red bean. This one was actually done really well. I don't normally like this. Maybe I've just only been exposed to the white red bean dishes. No, everything was really good here at Crop Circle. Man, I am just glad to see street foods that I discovered in China make it to the U.S. It's good, man. Everything was good. You got a winner, manny. Shout out to you. Now, let's keep it moving. I'm excited to see what else we find. Yo, Andrew, we came all the way to Bryant Park. We're on 41st Street, Midtown. Andrew, we're almost never up here. We had to come to Junza, which is a homestyle Chinese kitchen. Junza refers to somebody with great integrity, and that's what they're trying to do with this restaurant. They deliver high-quality ingredients with very northeastern flavors. We got to see what they got. Let's check it out. All right, so immediately, I think you'll notice Junza is really modern on the inside. I know that a lot of the design work here, as Andrew, is actually done in Beijing. Is that the pepper beef in the middle? Yes, it is. Oh, we definitely got to try that. Do you recommend adding anything to any of them? I would say the middle crisp and the shallots, I think those are really kicking. This is kind of like sweet, greening eyes northeastern Chinese food. You can check out this. They sell their own chili oil here. So this is a mixture between the lion's head meatball and tomato egg noodles.  The lion head thing tends to be more of a Jiangsu to a Jiang-type thing. Guys, I have this pepper beef. It looks like it has so much flavor, man. Let's go. Oh, this is saucy. Very beefy. It's a little jalapeno kick. I would say almost it started to taste a little bit like Mexican. I see the tomatoes. I see the eggs. It tastes a little different. Overall, I like it. I would say I like this dish, but it doesn't really taste like Zhajiangmian as much as it does kind of like a Mexican fusion of Zhajiangmian. It's still tasty. Sort of in the way sweet greens doesn't taste like any salad you've ever had. I wouldn't say that fully tastes like any tomato egg noodle I've ever had, but I like it. You guys, our final two dishes is the firecracker chicken, and then that is a chilled Chinese chicken noodle, you know, very popular in Taiwan and other parts like that, but with more Yuzu Japanese influence. I would say overall the food looks really good, though. Very colorful. Looks healthy. Nicely put together. To be honest, this is actually really good lunch food. It feels healthy. It's not too heavy. When you're even thinking about a lot of like sesame sauce in Chinese noodles, it can get really, really thick and rich, but it's very refreshing. So overall, I feel good about eating Junzi. A lot of flavor in this food. For me, as much as I like tomato egg noodle, my favorite dish today was the Lengmian with Yuzu. I had never seen anybody take Chinese chicken Lengmian and mix it with Japanese influence from the Yuzu sauce. Firecracker chicken is my favorite. The chicken's tender, has a little bit of sweetness to it. I love the cabbage that's on the side. Overall, this is my winner. Alright, next up on our Chinese international student-owned restaurant crawl is Zilky Kitchen. What they really wanted to do was they wanted to serve Hunan-inspired dishes in a fast, casual manner. This is something that's not, you know, seen very often because Hunan restaurants can get pretty expensive, but here they're trying to deliver it to the masses and particularly the students at NYU right here. Zilky Kitchen. Let's go. You guys are doing it authentically. We're doing it authentically. If you take a flight, go to Hunan right now, you'll eat exactly same stuff. Do you think it would be possible if you could film some of the cooking? Okay, yeah, sure. We are here at Zilky Kitchen taking a look at fast, casual Hunan. You got a stir-fried egg and hot pepper dish with added pickle greens. I'm actually the most excited to try this. Oh my goodness. Yo, Anna, pour the soup in. Pour some of the soup in. Pour some of the soup in. Pour some of it in. And then here I have the sauteed beef with the fried egg. It's good. There's so much flavor. Spicy, but not too spicy. The peppers are nicely cooked. They're not too raw. Moving on, I'm going to try the Hunan Mi Shem, super flavorful too. I gotta try this egg one though, all that flavor. Man, the green peppers are crucial to these dishes. This tastes like China. Yeah? All right. This tastes like China. You know, the funny thing is I had never been to Zilky Kitchen before, but today, let me tell you this. Are you from Shanghai, but you're partners from Yunnan? Yeah. And this food is mostly basic, you know? Yeah, most of that tastes like Yunnan, yeah. All right, you guys. We are at South of the Clouds and we are about to prepare the Hunan Mi Shem. So she said that is how they do it in Yunnan. A hot-ass pot, Andrew, contained in a wooden container. All right, David, you're looking at a silky chicken, aka a black skin chicken. Yeah, the chicken just comes like this. Andrew, we gotta first try this Yunnan Guoqiao Mian, crossing bridge noodles. Then we're gonna get to the Xiao Guo. The little pot was cooked differently. It was only chicken broth, no pork broth, but pork pieces. They said it's gonna taste really different. Crossing bridge noodles, Yunnan Guoqiao Mian. It low-key has a lot of spice to it, even though you can't see it. This is authentic. So authentic. I burned this out of my hand. This is the pork meat noodle, except still in chicken broth. Little pot noodles. Mmm. You know, straight up, it tastes like loud food. Yeah, it has kind of this sourness that's gonna give you that Southeast Asian vibe.  They said they serve this to an U.S. president when he came to Yunnan.  So there was a lot of heat getting into this pot through this hole here. No, man, scoop that, man. I wanna try it. Yunnan chicken pot. Chicken flavor is so deep.  That touches the soul. Oh my goodness. Dave, I gotta say, that's gotta be one of the best chicken soups I've ever had in my entire life. It tastes like, there's like no other ingredients there. I can tell it's a very little soul. She cooked me up something that was good for my soul. Mama's chicken soup. Could I have another bowl? She worked late. Nice just to keep on the nut lights. Gave me training wheels so I could stay on my bike. Last but not least, Andrew, we have a dish that's not from Yunnan, but has some Yunnan touches on it. This is a Yunnan version of huangmenji, huangmenji originally from Jinan, Shandong. Shandong, obviously, that's where our mom is from. It looks like this version is a lot less saucy. It's a little bit more dry, but the potatoes are really well cooked. Huangmenji, yellow braised chicken, but the Yunnan version. I can definitely taste the Yunnan influence and how fragrant it is. Honestly, it tastes like half dapangji and half huangmenji, which is, I can't compare this to other huangmenjis, but this is good. Andrew, overall, what was your favorite thing? And I gotta give it to the chicken soup here. It feels pretty torn because I liked everything, but I gotta actually give it to the guochao to the crossing bridge noodles. That was fine. Andrew, what constitutes public village as a hipster Chinese spot? Hipster Chinese spots, what they're doing essentially is I've studied Chinese culture and food, and I like this from this region, this from this region, and this from this region. I know how to make a good version of all of them, and I'm going to serve it at one spot. This spot is opened by the LGBT Chinese community. And that is right there, non-traditional. We're here with one of the owners, Kio. How would you describe this menu? It's authentic Chinese food with a little bit of a modern twist. She made all the chili oil from scratch, and then all the noodles were also homemade. Food is the key to your soul.  Alright, so David actually had a meeting to go to, so for the rest of this segment it's gonna be me. Let me, first of all, start off with this traditional plum drink. I'm always interested to see how kind of new school hipster spots are gonna do a twist on their plum juice. Very authentic. I'm gonna tell you that. That is a traditional drink here. Here's their berry mojito. Got a little carbonation to it. Elderberry, delicious, very light, flowery. These are two dishes that you're really only gonna find at really, really Chinese spots. And this one, the Cao Leng Mian, I've only seen it in Beijing. This is the first restaurant in America that I've even seen and served. This is a street food off of Beijing. Basically what they're doing is taking these long, flat, pasta-like noodles.  Cao Leng Mian. Guys, it has a lot of hot dogs and cheese. I would say that's predominantly what I'm tasting. My favorite part is just the noodle and the egg actually. That's so good. This one looks a little bit cleaner, a little less messy, but it's still completely covered in flavor. Look at that. Yeah, we're doing a video on that. I love it. I want to watch. All right, so we got chicken neck right here. I don't want to be weird and rave about the chicken neck. It's honestly really good. What I like about the chicken rack is like you can just kind of bite at it. This is one of the must-get dishes. It's unlike any other Chinese food I've ever had. Okay, here I got the wanzai noodle. This is a dry noodle. It has like a lot of chickpeas, lots of vegetables. Oh, you got two types of noodles. Two tones right here. Okay, a little bit of soup at the bottom. This has that mala heat right here. All right, straight up, that is a tasty bowl of noodles. Man, I got to take one more bite. Dude, honestly, David is missing out a lot right now. Finishing off the meal, we have Bing Fun. This is a Sichuan dessert, but it's usually topped with a whole bunch of different things like crushed peanuts. You have a little bit of flowers in there. You have hall flakes, which are made from the hawthorn berry. You have a few goji berries in there, too. It's actually one of my favorite desserts. I don't even like growing up. I didn't even like Chinese scissors. That's because everything was just like red bean. But the Bing Fun came through, it's killed the game. Honestly, my God, that is so good. It's actually so good for cooling you down because the jelly is kind of thick and it kind of like soaks up all the spices as you eat it. All right, my favorite things here are absolutely the jigujang and the Bing Fun. I think this right here, these two, if you just got this, this is a meal right here. And to be honest, man, I think everybody should check it out. Public Village onto our next spot. All right, Andrew, we are in Greenwich Village. Essentially the NYU University Street area. It only makes sense that former NYU students opened up a Yunami Shen spot. David, I have a backpack on. I'm looking like a student. We're in front of a spot that was started by former international students. Let's go take a look. All right, you guys, this is rice noodle. It's a Yunami Shen spot, but I gotta say it's a little bit lower end. It's a lot cheaper than the other spots we've been going to. I feel like this is a student spot to me and I'm not saying anything about the food because the food actually looks pretty good. It feels like a student run spot. So I got Pidantofu, which is a thousand-year-old egg and tofu. I gotta say, Andrew, so far so good. They're packing the flavor. A little on the salty side, but actually overall very flavorful. Here I have the number one ordered item. This is the beef rice noodle with a fried egg and an extra drumstick. I got the soup right here. We pour this in. I got a tomato egg right here. I'm gonna be pouring it. Fast casual rice noodles at the rice noodle on the Google. Definitely tastes very homemade. Yeah, flavors aren't too strong. I think it's easy to eat, but I have to say the food is good. It's not complex and it's definitely not comparable to like Yunami Shen spots run by, you know, actual chefs, but it totally gets the job done. It reminds me a lot of China. Last but not least, Andrew, for 450 at the rice noodle, they have a osmanthus jelly. Not a bing fu. I've got to say, Andrew, that the rice noodle is maybe the most student-feeling place we've eaten on this whole crazy food crawl. Aren't you guys, we have arrived at one of our last and final spots, WT. WT was opened up by Chinese international students. It's sort of like the hottest new boutique boba shop in New York. And you know what I think is really cool is that it's on Thompson Street, which is really not an Asian street at all. But you see a lot of history here. There's like these dudes like playing chess right there and reading like that. What I can only assume is Ernest Hemingway. David, they're far past that. Come on, they've read all those books. I know, nice and boba. Now across from WT, there might be another new boba tea spot here. So they do coffee meats, juice, fresh milk tea, cheese foam. This is definitely Asian-owned. Now these people are doing a little bit of a different take. See that there's a non-Asian person working at the counter. Let's see who's behind all this. We do have boba, but that is not our specialty. You got owners of the spot on Chinese? Yes. They actually have another company in China. We actually have a sister store that's on... Oh, they do crop circle. These are the guys know Manny from Crop Circle, which is a spot that we're at earlier. Actually also has coffee meats, juice, which we're at right now. So we guys, I know a lot about boba. This taro was just slightly cold and it wasn't freezing cold. It gave me no brain freeze. Kudos to that. They got the temperatures on point. But the real test for the temperatures is the dragon fruit and the peach with the cheese foam in it. I think if they were a... So you're saying cold enough to be cold, but not too cold to freeze? I'm stressed, WT. They did a real good job. I can see why WT has been shutting the game down lately. Really get the real dragon fruit flavor without it being too sweet. Wow, real grapefruit, lots of cheese foam. It's not too sweet. Overall, I like it, but I can't drink it too fast. Andrew, I've got to say I was impressed by WT. No cap. All right, Andrew, we have to go to the battle of the international student owned boba chains because one is owned by economics majors. One is owned by engineering majors. I just made that up. And so both of these boba shops actually are right across the street from each other. One's Mino, one's WT. I would say Mino does not focus so much on marketing that it has boba, although they do, they're more of a coffee and juice spot. Pineapple coffee, my goodness. The pineapple strong, the coffee strong. Got brain freeze. I enjoy this a lot. I really like the fruit coffee drinks. I know they came from Japan originally and kind of got popular all around Asia. So as far as the fruit slushy with cheese foam, I would say it goes to WT. Mino is offering some products that WT doesn't even have. A boba warrants on Thompson Street. Who would have thought? Who would have thought three years ago you'd say that? Aren't you guys, thank you so much for watching that video. Please let us know in the comment section below. One, what are some other concepts you would like to see some international students open? Number two, what else you want us to cover? And number three, make sure you like, subscribe and turn on your notifications. Follow us on social media and until next time, we're out. Peace. Yo man, are you a fan of PG-1, the rapper? Cause I heard he's also from Dongbei. PG-1, oh my God. He's my favorite, yeah. Yo, shout out to PG-1, rapper China. Yeah, respect.


Amen. Alright, keep your place in Matthew chapter six. We're going to get back to Matthew chapter six later in the sermon. So we're talking about emotions and in this sermon series. We're talking about you know different emotions that we will experience in our lives and how do we handle those emotions. This morning I want to talk to you about an emotion that many people suffer from men and women in the United States today and that emotion is anxiety. I want to talk about anxiety this morning. So what is anxiety? The definition of anxiety is actually the body's response to worry and fear. So it's basically what your body does to you when you know you worry or you are scared or you're fearful of things. There's a lot of real-life problems that anxiety can cause people. Some real-life facts for you about anxiety. Anxiety disorders are huge today. First of all, anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or anxiousness because they involve excessive fear and typically cause reactions out of proportion to the circumstances. Meaning that people, this is a scientific quote that I'm reading you here, not something that I made up, is basically they cause, it's basically something you're fearful of something and then you get anxiety and it causes you to overreact to things. Basically is what they're saying here. Anxiety disorders can interfere with job performance, schoolwork and relationships. So basically there's all sorts of disorders or diseases or whatever they call them and I'm not saying I advocate naming all those different things, but this is what psychology will tell you today. Another quote here, anxiety can produce both physical and emotional symptoms. This is obviously true. People with generalized anxiety disorder experience restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, chronic fatigue, nausea, dizziness, worsening, worry or fear over extended periods of time. Once again, people just overreacting and they get even more worrisome and more fearful as anxiety steps in. So look, anxiety is something that has actual physical health effects and you can see that with people. It's not just a feeling. And some shocking statistics, nearly 50% of Americans are diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. So it's closely tied with this depression pandemic that's going on today in the United States. It's been going on for years. So it leads into depression, basically. We're going to talk about depression later. This sermon is not about depression. But look, anxiety can cause you actual sickness is what I'm trying to get you to understand.  It can cause heart problems, which is huge in the United States. So we see that, you know, even from a secular standpoint, anxiety is something that is serious today. So can you experience anxiety as a Christian is the question? And the answer to that is obviously yes. Okay. But should you? You know, plenty of people in the Bible were afraid. You know, David was afraid. Turn to Psalm chapter 23 and I'll just read for you Psalm 56.3. The Bible says, What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. So David here says in Psalm 56, he says, When I'm afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. So that's how he, you know, alleviates his anxiety. When he gets afraid of something, he just trusts in the Lord. Look at Psalm 23.4. The Bible says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 4. So he's saying, you know, David seems like he had, you know, a pretty decent handle, at least, you know, mentally on anxiety and how to control it by just trusting in the Lord. All right. Now the Philistine army even got fearful in the Bible. The Philistine army, the Philistines were known for war. They were known for having the most, you know, powerful, the strongest army in, you know, the entire, you know, holy land, the promised land. And they even got afraid in the Bible. In 1 Samuel 4, look at verse number 6. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid. And they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing here to fore.  These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues and the wilderness. Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men and fight. That, of course, they're captain, telling them to quit being afraid. So, look, it's not hard to find examples in the Bible of people being fearful. Christians and non-Christians. So, how can we solve this? Since Christians in the Bible, you know, we see that believers can even be fearful. You know, what does the Bible say? Does it have an answer for us that is better than a pill? Because today, you know, if you go to a doctor and you say, Hey, I just am experiencing a lot of anxiety.  Then it's causing me health problems. You know, they'll just give you a pill. They will not explore any of the root causes of your anxiety. Nothing. They will just give you something to take that will just calm you down, right? So, look, let's start at the beginning. The body's response to worry and fear. That's what anxiety is, right? So, the root cause is worry. It's fear. So, what's the main fear that we see that people have today that we're dealing with today? It's the actual fear of physically dying, right? That's what everybody is worried about today. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. I mean, that's what we've been dealing with for almost a year now is just people worried about physically dying in their life. Turn to Matthew chapter 10 and look at verse number 28. So, how should we handle this? How should we handle the thought, the fear of physically dying in our life?  Okay? Look at Matthew 10, 28.  So, look, I mean, ultimately the answer is this. Your salvation should comfort you. Your salvation should, you know, the only thing that we should fear is God.  But if you're saved, you don't even have to worry about that anymore. But we are to fear the Lord, right? So, you're to fear no man bodily. You're to fear no man physically. No physical harm should scare you. If it does, it's a faith issue. It's a faith issue. So, look, I mean, I don't want to be killed.  I mean, I thought it was a little bit funny. Maybe I shouldn't have thought it was funny, but there was like these cars chasing each other and like some kind of weird stuff was going on this block, right? And I told my wife at the end of the block, I'm like, yeah, we should probably move out of this block as fast as possible. She's like, why? What's going on? There's like cars doing cookies in the streets and people chasing each other angrily and all this kind of stuff. But look, I mean, I don't want to die, right? I don't want to like be physically killed. I mean, it's not something I'm trying to do, right? I'm not trying to go out and get killed. But, you know, we do have a biblical right to self-defense, by the way. Okay, I'll just read you a few verses. Turn to Exodus chapter 22. No, turn to Luke 22. I'll just read you Luke 11 21. The Bible says, That's it. All right. I mean, that's that's the bottom line. The Bible teaches very clearly. Look at Luke 26 36. The Bible teaches very clearly the right to self-defense, which is why we have that right. Well, for the most part, well, maybe not so much anymore, actually. But look at Luke 22 36. The Bible says again, it says, Then he said unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. Why?   So, but look, on the bottom line is the point of the sermon is you have the complete biblical right to defend yourself and your family against being killed, against being attacked. But the bottom line is should that fight go bad, you know, we shouldn't worry about it. We shouldn't worry about it.  It's actually a sin to be fearful for your life. The Bible says Proverbs 21 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. I mean, I love both parts of that verse where it says, you know, look, safety is of the Lord. How many times have we said that verse? Safety is of the Lord, safety is of the Lord. I think about that in situations like yesterday. Safety is of the Lord. And I mean, I believe it. I believe it.  I mean, you know, that's a pretty good way to get killed, I'd say. You know, I mean, that's a pretty good way to go out. I mean, I don't want to go out tomorrow. But I mean, the point is, safety is of the Lord, but look, the horse is prepared for battle too. So, you know, you should have a sword. You should be able to defend yourself.  I mean, the horse is supposed to be prepared for the day of battle, the Bible says. But in the end, safety is of the Lord. So you ultimately don't have to worry about it. You don't have to be anxious about physically dying. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 15. Romans chapter 8 and with verse number 15, the Bible says, Free have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Turn to Revelation 21-8. Very familiar verse for any of you that go soul winning. The Bible says in Revelation 21-8, but the fearful, it's the first one. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers. When I go out soul winning, I'm like, look at this horrible list. Abominable and murderers and sorcerers and whoremongers. I mean, there's some pretty bad things in this list, but the very first one listed is the fearful.  It's a lack of faith. You're not trusting in the Lord to be a Christian, to be saved and to be fearful. It's a lack of faith. Look at Proverbs 9 and verse number 10. What should we fear? I mean, it's really simple as a Christian on what we should fear. And the Bible says in Proverbs 9-10, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Psalms 33-8, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, Let all the earth fear the Lord. If only all the earth feared the Lord. I mean, if only all the earth feared the Lord, then we just, I wouldn't even have to continue with the sermon. But if only all the earth feared the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Now look, so we see that, you know, really, here's the thing. You don't have to be fearful. I mean, have you noticed the trend? I love trends. There is a definite trend on how godless someone is and how worried about coronavirus they are. If you haven't recognized that trend, you're not paying attention.  But look, as a saved believer, you can definitely tell that people who have faith in God are less afraid today than everybody else.   I mean, that's the bottom line. You can definitely tell that there's a difference in how fearful people are and how, you know, overreaching people want to be and how forceful they want to be on just making sure that nobody ever gets sick no matter what. And it's the godless that are doing that because they're afraid. They're fearful of everything. And I mean, for good reason when you think about it, I mean, they don't know where they're going, they're just going to go on the ground. Who knows what they really believe and not what they're just saying in a Starbucks philosophy conversation, you know?  But look, we could ultimately, the bottom line is you, all you have to do is fear the Lord. End of sermon. Let's go have coffee. But no, we're not going to end here. So look, fear of dying is an easy one. We should only fear the Lord is the easy overall answer here. Okay, but just a little bit of application this morning. I want to look at what Americans are anxious over. What are Americans worried about? So I went and actually looked up the top two things that Americans, people that we see every day, you're Americans, right? What are we worried about in this country? What causes the most anxiety for Americans? Obviously, fear of dying is one of them. We got that one out of the way. You don't have to worry about dying if you're saved. If you're not saved, see us after the service and we will get you saved. And then you don't have to worry about dying. Okay, so that one solved. But the two main things is what I want to talk about this morning. The two main things that Americans have anxiety over. And the first one is pretty obvious. The first one is money. The first one is money. Here's a quote from BusinessWire. I've been doing this for a long time because you'll hear this stat for decades and decades. I think this stat has been the same. But the number one leading cause of divorce other than infidelity is money. Is money problems. From BusinessWire, here's a quote. The number one issue couples fight about is also a topic many couples avoid discussing. Money. According to a new survey, money fights are the second leading cause of divorce behind infidelity. So it's basically someone's been unfaithful. That's item number one. But arguments over money or, you know, anxiety over money actually ends marriages. A lot of them. Turn to Matthew chapter six. This is where we just read. Matthew chapter six. So Jesus here pretty much gives us in Matthew chapter six. Jesus here pretty much gives us, you know, the philosophy that we should take towards money. Look at Matthew six verse number 24. So he's talking about things that you shouldn't worry about, but he's kind of talking about this in the context of loving money too. So he's talking about these things in the context of people who are just, you know, they just love money and they can't get enough of it. So in Matthew 26, 24 the Bible says, No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So he's like, look, you can't love me and money.  So look, there's a balance here and there's a philosophy to this that you have to understand. And I'm going to try to get that across to you this morning. Therefore I say to you, take no thought for your life or what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air for they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much more than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Verse 28. And why take ye thought for your raiment? So he's talking about first, he's like, what you're going to eat? People are being stressed out about not having enough to eat. And he's like, look, God feeds the birds. I mean, he loves you obviously way more than the birds. Why would he not make sure that you are provided for as far as having something to eat? Verse 28, he starts talking about clothing. I mean, these are the two main things that you need. I mean, you're saying clothing, really? I mean, you don't need that much clothing to live in California. But look, come in from where I came from. If you don't have clothes, you're going to die. So I mean, clothing is very important, right? Look at verse number 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? So he's saying, look, God's going to provide food and clothing for you. He said, for after these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth what that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So verse 33 is kind of important, right? So basically God is saying in Matthew chapter 6, he's saying, look, he's like, you don't have to worry.  That's what he says. He's like, I took care of the lilies of the field as far as what they look like. He's like, I took care of the birds as far as what they eat. He's like, I love you way more than that. He's like, don't worry about it. But then verse 33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God.  It says, seek the kingdom of God. So you say, okay, you're telling me that I'm not supposed to worry about money. You're telling me that just don't worry about it. But life is tough without any money. I mean, I can remember times when we were struggling financially and first of all, those are good times because I always relate back to those times. But what is the answer? Can I just lay around and not worry about money? No, I need to seek first the kingdom of God. Turn to 1 Timothy 5a. 1 Timothy 5a. The Bible says, but if any person died not for his own, especially of those of his own house, he had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. So there are things that we should be doing. There are things that we are supposed to be doing. You know, you're supposed to be going out and you're supposed to be working in 2 Thessalonians 3.10. The Bible says again, he says, I'll just read it for you. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. So the Bible says, look, God's going to provide for you. God's going to provide your food. He's going to provide your clothing. But you better be doing what he told you to do.  You better be doing what you're supposed to be doing. You better be seeking that kingdom of God. You better be following what the Bible says. You know, but the bottom line is you say, well, you know, I am working. I am doing what I'm supposed to do, but there's just no money. There's just not enough money. Well, look, first of all, let me point out that in Matthew chapter 6, there's not a Mercedes in there.  That's not what it says. It says, you know what, you'll have enough food and you will have clothing as long as, you know, you do these things that I tell you in the Bible. That's what he tells you. So look, if you feel that you're struggling, you know, the bottom line is maybe you just need to do more. Maybe you need to do more. You know, here's the thing, and I did a little exercise on this, but here's the thing and I've been dealing with this for years and you guys and families with small children are going to deal with this for years as you raise your family. But here's the bottom line. Raising a family on a single income is not easy today. It's not easy. It's not easy, especially when everything is priced and basically the economy is priced at two people working at this point. I mean, house prices, car prices, all these things, they are priced for two people to be able to work and have an income and afford these things. So that means, you know, look, I went to the Chevy website and I figured, hey, I'm going to, I've never had a new car ever and I'm sure I never will because I would never want to do this. I mean, who would ever want to waste this much money on anything no matter how much money you have. But I went and I built my own brand new pickup on the Chevy website. And you can spend, I got to the final price and I was picking all the options. Every good option, the 3500 duly with the diesel motor and I was just, I was shopping, right? $82,000. You can spend $82,000 on a vehicle and my dad told me years ago, he's like vehicle prices double every 12 to 15 years and I'm like, no way, don't believe you. $82,000, he was right. That means in 15 years, a new pickup's going to cost you $165,000. I mean, look, it is not easy but you'll still be able to buy a $4,000 vehicle, by the way. Right, so who's smart? All right, but that's another series for another time. Okay, all right, now, here's the bottom line. It is difficult, it is not easy in the country today because of the fact that things are just priced to be affordable because look, people are buying that $82,000 pickup. If nobody could afford that $82,000 pickup, it wouldn't be $82,000, it would be $40,000. Okay, but people are buying it because they can afford it because they're both working.  So here's the thing, do what you're supposed to do and if you don't have enough, do it harder. That's the bottom line. Look, the 40-hour work week, I know some of you guys are just getting into your careers and you're just getting started and you're working 40 hours a week and that's your first full-time job and that's awesome, but look, that's just the beginning for you I haven't worked 40 hours a week in 20 years and look, it's just, if I worked 40 hours a week and that was it, I'd be bored out of my skull at this point. I don't know what I'd do with all the extra time. That's where you're going to have to get. That's where you're going to have to be because that's what it takes.  So look, after you do that, after you do it harder and you're working hard just don't worry about it. Don't have anxiety about it. God's going to take care of it. If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing as hard as you're supposed to be doing it, you don't have to worry about it at all. That's the answer for money. That's the bottom line. You're not to be worried about it. You're not to be obsessed about it. You're not to start to love it. Maybe when you get a little bit extra and you just start to just become obsessed with it, that's going the other way. That's the other side of the spectrum. So just work hard. If it's not good enough, work harder. God's going to take care of you. Don't worry about it. Leave the rest up to faith. That's the bottom line with money. Here's the second thing that Americans are most stressed about. I was a little bit surprised about this one. Maybe not that surprised. I'm going to try not to rabbit trail this one too much because there's a lot of different trails we could go down here. But here's the thing. The second thing that Americans are stressed and have anxiety over besides money is politics and leadership in Washington. That's the second thing. So you say, I mean, why? Why are people so stressed? I guess I see it. I see it with a lot of people, mostly secular people. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why it can go too far. So let me just rabbit trail it for just a few minutes and tell you why people are so stressed about it. Here's my view on this whole thing, on politics and where the country is going and we talk about this here and we fellowship about this all the time. Look, I love this country. I appreciate the fact that I grew up in this country. But look, what's happening to it upsets me. And you know, usually I'm pretty good about it. Brother Jim really got me worked up yesterday. But normally, I'm pretty good about it and I don't have much anxiety about it and I'm going to tell you why. But look, the reason that it upsets me so much is because I know what it was supposed to be. I know where it started and what it was supposed to be. I know what it was designed to be. It's like a machine, right? It was a nicely designed machine and it was supposed to be used for this very specialty purpose of doing this job over here and then somebody is just wrecking the machine. And it was an awesome machine.  It doesn't even run right anymore without doing a completely different job that the machine is not even good at. I mean, I don't know where that analogy came from but that's really what it is. It's I know what it was supposed to be and what it was supposed to do and so it upsets me when I see it ruined.  I mean, the worst thing about it is the men that founded this country, whatever you think about them, they warned us about this very thing. I mean, hundreds of years ago they warned us about they warned us about the immorality about that specific thing.  They warned us about all of these things. As a matter of fact, you know, if you remember, you know, from school or whatever, you know, in 1776 when the Revolutionary War was over we didn't have the Constitution at that point. We had this thing called Confederation. It was a much less it favored the states more than the current Constitution does. So it was a much less overreaching document than even the Constitution that we don't follow today. But look, so there was this big argument that we needed a more powerful centralizing document to unite the states. So this argument went on for almost ten years. And it was this big debate in the country over the Articles of Confederation that eventually translated into the Constitution being ratified in 1789, you know, more than ten years after the war was over. Okay, but look, in these papers, there was something called the Federalist Papers where James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton they made an argument towards the Constitution and against the Articles Confederation. So they were trying to get people to adopt the Constitution because people were very skeptical of giving the federal government any control. All these states are like, no, no, no, so that's where these three men wrote these Federalist Papers. Now if you've ever read the Federalist Papers, first of all you should, but the bottom line is, in those Federalist Papers you see some of the arguments about some of the best arguments about what our country is supposed to be and how it was designed to operate. Now look, I would guess most school students today could not even comprehend the Federalist Papers. Okay, because public education has put our country in such a point where we literally do not have the aptitude to understand our own problems. I mean, the reading level that you have to have has to be higher than third grade. Fourth grade and fifth grade. So if you can't comprehend your own problems, what are the odds that you'll be able to fix them? I'm trying to get you frustrated this morning. I'm trying to show you where this anxiety over the state of our country is coming from. So look, as it went from, to finish the story, as it went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution in 1789, the number one concern was an overreaching government. Was it too much power would be in the hands of a centralized Federal government? You say, ah, nobody could have seen that coming. Let me read you some things here. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the current Constitution says this. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. Okay, now, people were freaking out over that statement. That was one of the biggest problems that people had with the Constitution, those two words, general welfare. But the government can just provide for the general welfare of the people. But then James Madison and these three men, they explained that general welfare in that statement, it just meant that all the states were to be treated fairly. It did not mean that the Federal Government was to have any more control than the Constitution allows it to have. Okay, so look, it's exactly what happened today is what everybody was worried about. Right, it was simply to state that Congress had to treat each state fairly and not favor one state over the other. That's what that statement meant. And according to James Madison, the father of the Constitution, the powers delegated to the central government, quote, are few and defined and those that remain are in the states. Those rights that are in the states' hands are numerous and indefinite. Federalist number 45. So he's convincing people that, hey, that's not what it means. James Madison in 1792 listened very carefully to this statement. Listened very carefully. He says, he made the following statement, if Congress can employ money indefinitely, he's again explaining away the concerns over this statement. He's like, if Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare and are the soul and supreme judges to the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands. They may appoint teachers in every state, county and parish, and pay them out of the public treasury. He's saying, there could be such a thing as a public school teacher. He's like, that's the kind of a horrible thing that could happen if this statement is mistrued. Is what he's saying. They may take into their, he continues, they may take into their hands the education children establishing in like manner schools throughout the union. He's warning people. He's saying, hey, that's not what it means because if it did mean this, this is what could happen. The government could create schools. He says. They, he continues, they may assume provision for the poor. They may undertake the regulation of all roads. In short, everything from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police would be thrown under the power of Congress. For every object I have mentioned would admit the application of money and might be called if Congress please provisions for the general welfare of the people. Is this guy a prophet? No, they weren't prophets but they understood what the Constitution was and was not. That's why, look, basically they were saying, hey, anything they could be called good for the people, Congress could spend money on and regulate because listen, folks, if the government gives it to you, they can control what you do with it. They can dead sure tell you what to do with it. Like, I don't know, you go to public school, you got to get these shots. I don't know, like public school, here's what we're actually going to teach you. Listen, public school is the state church. That's exactly what it is. Public school is the state religion of the United States. Why? Because they're teaching a worldview. They're not teaching math and history and, you know, how to read. Like, the kids can't even read. They don't want you to know how to read. It's like the Catholic church. Why would we want you to learn how to read? Because then you're going to realize that what we're teaching you is all wrong if you actually read a book. I mean, because all these things can be defined with the actual words of the men who didn't want this to happen, who warned us about this. So, look, as soon as the government can pay for your general welfare folks through health care education, they can control your life. They're like, hey, man, we're paying the bill, you do what we say. I saw this coming years ago with the government health care thing. Good luck. They're going to tell you exactly what to do. They're going to tell you what's healthy.  That's my opinion. They're like, you know what? We found that it's not healthy to have guns in the home. So, thus, everyone's on government health care. So, thus, if you do have guns in the home, you know, have fun providing your own health care. And there'll be no private insurance anymore because they've driven them out of the market. But anyway, that's another rabbit trail in itself. Alright. So, look, you should be educated about these things. You should be educated. Let me bring it back around to the point of the sermon. You should be educated about what the machine was supposed to be. Get off YouTube and read some books about where we came from.  Look, we are the ones that ruined it. Not them. I'm not saying they were all saved or they were all Christians. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is, we took it and broke it. Not them.  So, what's the point? What's the point? Should we be... I mean, I'm stressed out right now. Should we be stressed and have anxiety about it? The bottom line is, look, I mean, I'll give you another example. I went to Costco a couple days ago with Garrett and there's some like Booth out there. It's like Recall Governor Newsom.  I'm like, what? When did you sign this thing? But anyway, so anyway, we signed the thing about Recall Governor Newsom and all this and I gave them some church invites and all this kind of stuff. But look, it's the same thing. It's the same thing. You go to gun shows. I've been going to gun shows my whole life. Look, you're going to find some good, you know, like-minded sort of people there that, you know, are kind of fighting for freedoms and things like that.  So show support, yes, good people there, yes, but these are mostly misguided people, misdirected people. All right. You know, let's go back to third grade again and talk about cause and effect. Here's why they're misguided. Because everyone is fighting the effects. You see what I'm saying? There's a cause and effect, right? I mean, John got fired because he didn't go to work, right? So the effect is that he got fired, the cause was he didn't go to work, right? So look, everyone's fighting the effects, gun control, government overreach, wicked governors, turn to Proverbs chapter 28. These are all effects. These are all the effects of what's going on. Look at Proverbs 28 2. Proverbs 28 2. This is just great. This describes us so well here. Proverbs 28 2. I'm going to wait for everybody to get there. Because this describes our country to a T right here. Proverbs 28 2. For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof. You know what that means? That means when the land has many transgressions you're just going to have an overreaching government. It's like there's going to be many princes. There's going to be police everywhere, government control everywhere. Look, the land is a mess. That's just going to happen, right? I mean John Adams said we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. They simply didn't give us a government that was able to control the people that we have today. So what's the cause? The cause is the people. The cause is the morality of the people is gone. So as, I mean the Bible is the same thing. You know the Bible shows the same thing in the Old Testament again and again and again. When the people forget the Lord when the people go against the statutes of the Lord they go into bondage. When the people love the Lord and they're following the law of the Lord they become free. I mean it's so look at Hosea chapter 4 or turn to Isaiah 5. I'll read you Hosea 4. Hosea 4 6 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because that was rejected my knowledge. I will also reject thee. That thou shalt be no priest to me seeing that thou has forgotten the law of thy God. I will also forget thy children.  Have a nice day. Good luck running a country like that. I'm going to need many princes to run that country. Many princes.  See so I'm trying to make your anxiety go away by understanding the problem first of all. The problem is the people they've forgotten the Lord. Look at Isaiah 5.13. Therefore, I mean here it is right here therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. They forgot the Lord. They forgot the Lord and they went into captivity. So look don't miss the theme folks. It's the exact thing happening to us today with obedience to the Lord comes a free nation. That's the bottom line. Without it comes bondage and I don't care who defunds who or what happens with the riots and all this kind of stuff. As we forget the Lord we will go into bondage. It's going to happen because that's what the Bible says. We will have many princes. This is the effect and the cause is that we forgot the statutes of the Lord. That's the bottom line. So that's the problem. We understand it. We understand it. So what you say I'm still stressed. I still have anxiety. Well now I'm going to give you some action. I'm going to give you action what you should do. So you don't have to have anxiety. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I'm going to give you two steps to have zero anxiety about the disaster that I just told you about. And it's a disaster. It's a travesty. I mean we had this beautiful thing. We ruined it. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Here's the first step. Here's the first thing that you need to do. You're like there's no hope. No, there is hope for you. There's always plan B in the Bible. Always. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse number 17. The Bible says, Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. Here's the bottom line. Here's step one. Get out of it. Get out of it. Detach from it. Oh, they control me because they give me out. Take nothing from them. Take nothing from them. Get out. That's why. Get out of the public church system. Get out of it. There's no chance for success if you're in it because the government can control your life. They can control your kids. Look. Here's the thing. Here's some hope. It's not illegal to separate in this country. I mean, we here, and here's the thing. You can still homeschool. You can still give your kids a godly education. That's not illegal. Even in California, the laws here are very open to homeschooling. I'm thankful for that. The laws in North Dakota were worse and more overreaching than they are here. Does that surprise you? You have the right and the laws they do not touch you. Detach from it. Separate. Now look. Here's the thing. It's hard to separate alone. Look. We've done it. It's hard to do that. It's hard to separate alone. It's not hard to separate with a group like this. I mean, do you feel separate today? Do you feel separated today? Do you feel isolated today? No. I mean, you look forward to coming here because you get to see all your brothers and sisters, and we get to fellowship together. And I mean, it's great. Look. It's not hard when you're part of a good church. It's not hard to separate. You know, you here have more friends and better friends and more like-minded friends than, like, 99% of the rest of the people in this city, country, whatever. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. But hey, you know, I mean, we're like-minded. We see the problem. We understand the problem. Separate. Separate. That's the first thing. And look, you can pay attention to what's going on and not get anxiety over it. It's possible. You can pay attention. But just remember, we're not a political action committee here. So what is our action?  We're just not a political action committee.  Step two is this. Get involved. Now that we understand the problem, change the people. What's change the people? Because that's where the problem lies. You see, okay, you know, we recall Governor Newsom. Yeah, that would be cool if we could get that done. But guess what? The problem is still there. The wicked people that put him in office are still there. They're just going to put another wicked person in office. I mean, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she died. Thank God. No, I've been waiting my whole life to be weighed overturned. But the problem is the people. The problem is the people. I mean, Republican Governors have put in conservative justices for 30 years. And then they vote for abortion. I mean, so, look, like I said, Newsom getting thrown out of office would be great, you know?  But that's not a political action committee, right? So, look, wicked leaders understood, but we are to focus on the spirituality problem with the people. That's the bottom line. Look at Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4, look at verse number 7. The Bible says, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. This is wisdom right here.  We talked about that raising your kids.  So, people need wisdom. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. So, they need the gospel first. That's what people need first, right? They need the gospel. And then, after they get the gospel, they need the same thing that you need. In 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 18. The Bible says, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After people get saved, after we go out and we get somebody saved, they need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. They need to come to church. They need to learn the Bible. I mean, that's what will make them change their life and make a difference in this country. So, I mean, that's our action. You know, it's that spiritual battle.  It will change nothing in the country. And like I said, it can actually harm you physically.  Get separated, get involved and make an actual difference. I mean, you can do it. Look, I mean, here's some math. You know, if we started with a group of 100 people and each one of those 100 people got one person saved every single year. Just think about that. Think about Soul Winner, how many people you end up getting saved every year. Just think if you started with 100 people and you got one person saved every year and then those people came and they got one person saved every year. Within like 30 years, you'd have over a billion people saved. I mean, that's how that works. A billion. There's only 7 billion people on the planet. I mean, that's how that works. That's how it should work. I mean, good churches could literally save the nation. That's what could happen. So, it's just like money. It's just like money. Yep, understand the problem. Understand the problem. That's good to understand the problem. But your action is to go to the people and bring the gospel to the people. That is our action. Our action is not to just be this big political thing or whatever. So, it's just basically do your part and then you don't have to worry about it. You're doing your part.  We talked Wednesday.   You're blowing the trumpet. It's when you don't blow the trumpet. It's when you have blood on your hands. That's what the Bible says. So, look. Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. That's what we're supposed to be afraid of. Fear the Lord. But draw lines on the things that you worry about in this country. Our action, just remember is with the people. So, look, don't worry about your physical life, but defend your physical life if you have to and that of your family. I mean, this is what we talk. Money, take no thought about it but make sure you're doing what you need to be doing and if you're not doing it hard enough, do it harder. That's the bottom line with money. Politics, understand the problem, separate and then help us work to fix the people. That's the whole thing. And then you don't have to have anxiety about anything. I mean, you can pay attention but you don't have to have anxiety about anything if you think about it that way. Alright? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.