Okay, my name is Lydia Clements of the Clements Family Farm, and I'm very happy today to be with my colleague, Rajni Eddins. So this presentation is a sense of place how African-American and African diaspora arts and culture and a rare farm are improving mental health and community well-being in a amount of all places. Okay. So this is a creative place-making project. We won an award from Art Place America, a couple of years ago, which really enabled us to do a lot more intensively and a lot more loudly what our family and our farm have actually been doing for nearly 60 years. Since 1962 on this beautiful farm in Vermont, we've been engaging in arts, culture, and agriculture and celebrating our heritage. Next, African-American land ownership and why is this place important? These beautiful people here are my parents. Jack and Lydia Clements, 96 years old. I feel at home when I look deep in their eyes. Their age is quite symbolic of African-American history and land ownership. They're nearly one century old. When my parents were born in the 1920s, their families and African-Americans around the country owned a total of 44 million acres. Now, at the age of 96, African-Americans own 3.5 million acres. We've lost 93% of our land assets. Yeah, we own of all the farms in the United States, only half of 1%, 0.4% of farms in the nation. African-Americans represent about 13.2% of the population and we own 0.4%. That's nationwide. This gives you a little click again. You'll see the little puzzle, the pieces of the pie. When my folks were born in the 20s, the African-American owned land represented that piece of the pie. The pie is about a billion acres, 970 billion acres, million acres of farmland in the United States in 1920. In the 2012 Ag Census, that was the piece of the pie for African-Americans. All right, there are a lot of discussions we can have about why, what happened? But one of the big reasons, one of the first big reasons was called the Great Migration, beginning in the 1920s. When my parents' families and 6 million other African-Americans made a mass exit out of the South. And you can all imagine why. And left the South, left their farms and went to the Midwest and California to take up urban lifestyles. Other professional jobs to get the heck out of farming and the oppression that they're experiencing in the Southeast. 148 magnificent acres of prime farmland, forest land, and six phenomenal historic buildings that were constructed originally in the 1800s. Of course, this land I must acknowledge was stolen from the Adamaki people. And then established in the 1800s by white settlers. And then our folks came along in 1962 and purchased it. Our farm is one of 23 historic landmarks on the Vermont African-American Heritage Trail. And may I note that of the 23 landmarks on Vermont's African-American Heritage Trail, we're the only site that's actually owned by African-Americans and operated by African-Americans. We are in Vermont, but that is an important point to make. And again, we've been offering African-American arts and culture programming to Vermont since 1962 in a very informal family way. And then that Art Place America Grant, 350,000 big ones, boom, brought us up into a different level. Next. This is Vermont, 94.5% white. Vermont loves to say we're the second white estate in the nation, but we're really pretty much tied with Maine as the white estate in the nation. In our population, only 1.2% are black. And these are the six towns that we work with through the Art Place America Grant. These are six towns right around the farm. And the blue column is Charlotte, where the farm is based. You can see that's the least diverse of the six towns. It's about 97, 98% white. And then there's us. And our farm in Charlotte. Next. So what are we doing with this creative place making a sense of place project? Our big goal is to use place, arts, and culture to improve community, mental health, and social well-being in Vermont. That's our big goal. And we're doing that through three major areas. I'm gonna just say them first and then we'll go through the slides. The first area is creating a sense of place, creating an emotional attachment to a place for people who come to the farm and who know about the farm. The second area is to reduce the social exclusion of black people in this very white state through arts, culture, and place. Another objective under this community, health, and social well-being is to address white fragility. And a final objective, of course, is to build community, a multicultural community, place, art, and culture, and people. So on the first one about fostering emotional attachment, how are we doing this? Again, the farm has about six, seven historic buildings which each have their own stories and meaning and importance to our family and to the local community over 200 years. Again, our family has owned these buildings in this farm for about 60 years. One of the things we did to foster emotional attachment beyond what we'd already been doing informally as a family was to organize last year with our big Art Place America grant a place-making design charrette. And we invited arts and culture leaders including the Vermont Arts Council, the Vermont Humanities Council and about 40 architects and artists to the farm to engage in a day of visioning and place-making. To think about one of the buildings which is a beautiful, two-level historic dairy barn and think about what could this space become as a center for visual and performing arts for African-American and African diaspora culture and heritage. And so over the course of two days we had the adults and we also had kids come in and look at the space and imagine what they would do with that space. The second area that we're working in again is on this issue of finding our black people in Vermont. Our people of African descent and bringing them together to reduce that social exclusion.  The way you would look up at a night sky. Now in Vermont you can see all the stars clearly because there's not a whole lot of light. But in other areas you're gonna see like little moon. That's kind of what it is like for black people in Vermont, shining, but not in a beautiful sky where you can really see them. They're far apart and they're scattered. But when you bring them together, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness for the community and oh my goodness for the artists themselves or the African-Americans themselves. This slide says a thousand words in one picture. We have Chol from Sudan, Julio from Haiti, Mike from Jamaica, and McKaylin from Mali. They all live in the Burlington area. None of them had known each other before. Chol on the left here in the blue shirt is our program administrator. He declares that he is not an artist. But the other three are artists. And one of the joys was A, just coming together in the same room on the farm and starting to talk about school programs we're going to be doing together. And B, the joy of discovering the diversity and similarity of African heritage. A Jamaican musician watches a step dancer and listens to her rhythms and says, oh my God, that's like a traditional rhythm from Jamaica. Or actually he said, oh my God, I can't do the Jamaican actually. You know how lovely and belting it is? That's how he said it. He was amazed that her step dancing reminded him of some of the traditional rhythms of Jamaica. None of them knew that step dancing actually had some origins in South Africa and the gumboot dancing and all of that. So I started telling them about the history of step dancing. And then meanwhile, the Haitian painter started drawing and saying, this reminds me of, and so it was amazing just to get black people together in a room to realize how diverse and how similar and how rich our cultures are. And then we took all that into the classrooms. So in terms of dealing with social exclusion, to bring people together who are otherwise marginalized, to affirm their identities and their culture, and then to give them something wonderful and productive to do where they're reflected in the faces of these beautiful children.  They left that room unclogged now. When's the next one? I said, well, we'll see. We'll see. What's the next one? Next? White fragility. How many of you guys have heard of white fragility? All right, great, so I don't have to explain that. But y'all know what Vermont is like. Vermont, Vermont is voted for Obama. They voted for Bernie. They're progressive, they're liberal. They can't stand what's happening at the national level, at the administration, and yet how many have actually really talked to a black person? Okay, you have. You have progressive liberal white people who have never actually had to, it's kind of a cognitive dissonance thing, right?  And then who do you talk with? The colleague across the street who you've been like, just said hello to by the water cooler.  So how do you start? And often, unfortunately, I've been on the other side of the situation.  Something happened in the school, like what happened in my case. An angry mom comes into the school to confront the principal because something happened to her child. And that's your first interaction.  My childhood friend was a black person. I'm not a racist. When I never said you were a racist, however, this happened. And so immediately the connection becomes the confrontational and very negative one on both sides. Art and culture can help in that first step to addressing white fragility. Get past the white fragility, so you actually can have a meaningful conversation without people feeling stressed on both sides. Black folks not so stressed, white folks not so stressed, or white folks not feeling so fragile because you're engaged in something really cool. Co-creating, learning about a culture, perfecting your art with artists who are teaching you who happen to be black. When you get that first connection, the rest of the conversations come from. That first connection is creative, positive, affirming for both people, exciting. So that's what part of the farm's work is and the sense of places is creating an environment where white folks can come and not feel quite so fragile and can connect with black people the way they've been dreaming and desiring to connect and in a way that doesn't make them feel like, I hope I don't say the wrong thing, I'm not trying to be politically correct, I'm not sure how to even talk to you. You don't have to, just let's do some art together. Next. I'm waiting for the candy, no candy coming. Yeah. The next one is community engagements and community building is through the art that we're able to connect, build empathy, have a shared experience and actually feel like we belong together. Rajni Eddin's here as a collaborating artist with the farm is in this picture, you can't see him terribly well, but led a very powerful spoken word engagement with the community. One of the most powerful engagements we've had, usually our groups are about like this, little less, 40 people, where we bring art and then eventually some kind of conversation might happen. Not deliberate, but just happens and through the art and his spoken word poetry, we had some very powerful emotional reactions, a lot of healing, a lot of frank and candid discussions and afterwards a lot of hugging, but it was very real for people and it was interesting that after that engagement, let me see, most of the time, I started getting a lot of emails, white books have gone home and they started reading the newspaper with a different lens now and started sending the articles that they probably have been in the newspaper every day, the same kinds of articles, but saying, look at this, I just saw this, look at this, I just noticed this because now suddenly they've connected and they've felt some empathy and they've spent some resonance and so yes, these quality, small engagements, not huge amounts of people where you're sitting in a room, it's almost like a family room, feels like family and you can have those joyful conversations and also some hard and emotional conversations in a place that feels safe and with quality artists, quality people who are really engaging your creative soul as well and encouraging some conversations. Next please. So specifics, we are a black-owned farm in Vermont, are not even a 501c3 yet, we have fiscal agents. So, getting ourselves into the arena of the non-profit 501c3, even with a big brand, it's not easy. We're trailblazing in a lot of ways, there are not many black-owned organizations in the nation, let alone in Vermont and so one of the strategic things we did, quickly, was to find VIP champions. Let me tell you, this beautiful woman in the center surrounded by some Vermont Arts Council people I meet soon. Standing in our barn, she is one of the lead architects of the Smithsonian National African American History and Culture Museum in Washington, DC. How many of you have been to that museum? She designed that, all right? With a team of architects, she was one of the lead architects. Zena Howard, I cove called Zena. I said, well Zena we have no way, even with a big art place in America grant, there's no way we could pay your fees but let me tell you about this farm and I just cove called her and the story is pretty compelling and compelling enough that she waved her fees and came and spent three days on the farm with us to lead these kinds of conversations with arts and culture leaders, artists, architects about the creative place making and the importance of preserving a place that reflects cultural heritage, history and identity especially in a place like Vermont, especially for an African American community, what that meant, having Zena Howard as a champion is huge. It's huge for anybody but particularly if you're a black lead organization, a small family farm, to have someone like that come is an important tactic, you know, if you're starting out or collaborating with other nonprofits who are POC led, this is an important one in terms of gaining credibility and then also the storytelling and continuously telling the story about the place, the place itself and the people who created that place is another important tactic in terms of elevating the importance of what you're doing. We'll go on to the next slide. In terms of our reaching out to black artists who I said are those shining stars in a dark sky, you can't quite find them, how do you find them in Vermont? A call to artists proposal is a great way to find artists, any artists, but especially I think it was probably the first time in Vermont to my knowledge that there was a call for artists proposals that specifically said we want arts and culture proposals that celebrate African-American and African diaspora culture and heritage. First time, I think, specifically saying that's what we want. We didn't say you have to be black, we just said if your art is celebrating in a real way, African-American, African diaspora art and culture, please apply. That brought out the stars from all over the place. What was also surprising is it even brought out stars from other places in New England. And one of our criteria was it has to be within those six towns supported by art place. However, if you partner with an artist from one of those six towns, you will also be eligible for the grant. And so that brought people, even a guy in California, and he said I'm walking across the United States as part of my own art project, but I want to find someone in your project and partner with them. He didn't actually get a grant, but it was kind of cool that someone walking from California applied. So that was a great way to find artists and to be seen also in the community. Whoa, one of those family farm has given out grants. Okay, next slide. Also this is again back at the charrette. We had Art Place America representatives come last year to involve all these artists and architects on the creative place making, getting artists and the community involved very early in your project and saying hey, what are your ideas? I mean we got this money, we have a proposal, but we want to really hear from you really. And so actually according time, space, and funds to really hear people and spend quality time listening to their ideas a whole day dedicated to just thinking about potentials for that use of space. And you'll see it's a diverse crowd. We have our black artists and our white artists, our community members in that room all talking together. Next slide. I'm over. I'm over. Oh my God, you guys did do a lot of discussion, but let me just wrap up really quickly and say we did do a survey. We found that we are having an impact on mental health and community well-being. White folks are feeling less fragile. They're saying yes, I had some quality interactions for the first time with black people. Yes, I want to come back and I want to bring friends back. So we do actually have data that shows this and we think that we're developing a model here. It's very important in these times for how do we as arts and culture folks bridge the divide, address the hate, and create a culture of love. So thank you very much. So now I think we open it up for discussions and I also want to again highlight that Rajni is a wealth of knowledge and deep-lived experience as a poet and author who's lived in Vermont for six, seven years now. Nine years, goodness. So, opening it up, yes. My question is just, because we didn't get to hear from Rajni, what do you want to add to this presentation from your perspective? Oh my goodness, well, I've lived in Vermont nine years now and it has been a challenging place for me to be, you know, I've made a lot of connections. I come originally from Seattle, Washington. I was born in San Jose, California. So I came in 2010 because my godmother was ill at the time and my mom kind of pulled my ears.  I was like, I probably gotta go. So it was part of the culture shock when I first arrived here and most of my background is using spoken word and hip hop and theater as a tool to empower youth through self-expression and also to address implicit bias and racism in different capacity. And what I learned was that was a great need here. And I'm thankful for being connected with Liddy and the Clemens Family Farm because it is such a crucial resource for black folks and people of color. I mean, for community in general, for white folks too. But we need a space to be able to have affirmation of our mental health and our existence and creative expression to kind of find some solace in an area that can be pretty challenging. I worked in the schools probably for about nine years now. I started the fall of 2010 when I first arrived and I saw that there is a great need for youth to see themselves reflected. Especially children of color, especially children of African and African American descent. In positive ways and I've always had a great facility in working with youth because my mother was a foster parent over 70 children. And she was also the founder of the first black writers group of the Northwest African American Riders Alliance. So that connection between art and serving youth is like family for me. So those pieces being able to connect with youth in vibrant ways and holding space in areas where that might not happen otherwise has been beautiful. But it also shows me that there's work to be done. So I'm happy for this opportunity to work with Lydia in that capacity to see that we can develop more resources to hold space for community and tandem and also specifically for the equity needs of people of African descent. Right, so I'm from Leuphort, Rhode Island and we have, I wanted to know if you all had any pushback from the outside community on creating a space for people of color because where I live, it's like, well, why do you guys need that? Why can't all of us be, you know, and I'm really trying to carve a space because we don't see ourself anywhere in Leuphort and I don't know how to speak to that when they keep giving pushback of why you do need it. So what was your experience with that? Well, I think we've seen people just for showing up and speaking with truth to power in our own community and our own circle. And I think that speaks to what Lydia said earlier about white fragility, you know, you have a lot of people who are pretty glaringly ignorant about the historical and present-day reality of human beings' experience today and it shows, you know, but I think that the way that we can address it is by holding space for the teachable moments. You know, we have experienced that too, but that's not gonna stop us, you know, because it's more so about making sure that people have the opportunity to learn that everybody has value here and there are crucial pieces that some people who have always seen themselves reflected have gotten that other folks who have not are needing. So if we really care about the well-being of all people, we'll try to do some deep-seated consideration of those things. Otherwise it just continue to be the same reactionary response, you know, but that's why I love art as an import because it can take people into space and suspend disbelief, put yourself in someone else's shoes and empathetic space in your mind and see the bridge to that mutual understanding. I'll just add one word is that we have a leg up over you in that we've been in the same place, owning it, since 1962, so that we're established in the community and have an asset that, you know, everybody has to acknowledge, okay, that's kind of important what you've got there. However, even so, even so, even with our status in the community and the fact that we have, we own, we own this property. We still don't have that property conserved because we don't fit into land conservation and easement boxes. This land, this 148 acre property, which we have been trying for almost 10 years to get conserved is not conserved. So there are a lot of, you know, even so, even with all that we have, it's, we don't fit in the box often and there may be a bit of that institutional racism about, well, why is your farm so important? There may be that, so it's just to acknowledge that what you're facing is real. Even for us, it's a challenge. So if you don't have land that you own, that's going to be even more of a challenge. You had to. You had mentioned during the slides about the public dialogue, the community group that was there. I wondered if you could give us a couple of specifics about how that dialogue moved through its process to bring people to a space of being able to be vulnerable and building trust and so forth. I'm going to let Rajne again answer that because the best session we had was the one co-led by Rajne and also his co-speaker was, co-artist was Kaya Morris. You may know that name. She is also an artist if you didn't know that as well as being a former legislator who had to step down with his racism. She was his co-facilitator of that session. Can you hear me? Yes.  Yeah. I think that Kaya Morris and I, we did a really good job of being vulnerable ourselves and it wasn't necessarily about brow-beating white people or like, you know, it was some people think that whenever a person of color is honest, that's just taking place. I think it's more so about offering a genuine experience and letting folks know, hey, this is part of our story. You know, we both shared some pieces that were profoundly emotional for us, and visually so, and that offering is a profound gift when you share it with people. Because you're sharing a part of yourself that not everyone sees and it has a parasympathetic response in people when you do that. And people saw that and took it in and saw that we were almost moved to tears and then were able to ask some pretty insightful questions based on their resonating responses. And I think that's what it takes artistically and just humanity-wise when you hold a space, a dynamic container where everybody feels safe to express themselves and feel seen, valued, heard, affirmed, then growth can take place, and new understandings can be grown and that changes the dynamic of kind of keeping people with perpetual spaces of guardedness and then keeping ourselves separate and emotionless to present some type of professional posture rather than to be genuine and sincere. Great, thank you.  You said that the best was when he gets the open word. Do you have some for us, Ken? No. Do we have time, Lydia? I'm gonna ask the... We have five minutes. 15 minutes? Five minutes. Five minutes. Five. Woo! I'll do something real short. All right, this is quick. All right, this is a piece called Middle Passage. I wrote this when I was 17 for an event called the MAFA. To celebrate the ancestors who were brought in ships. There should be oceans of tears. There should be oceans of tears. This ink is not my blood. What right have I to speak? What right have I to speak? Think my words, the salty oblivion to swallow this globe. Submerging continents. Mother's one perfect tear for her children. There were children in that small cramped space giving birth in fetal position to stillborn cosmos. Tiny infinites with mayhem as midwife. Below deck. Below death. Below breath was hope, hidden in heartbeat rhythm. And now sometimes I see our children are. Below deck. Crammed in into small cramped space. But the wooden planks are blocks and stoops and streets. But our heart beating hope tells me to have to live that metaphor. But we're the lineage of stars and suns. Look at the sky and see your reflection. Forget for us to have a stinky ocean strengthen. But galaxies do litter the seafloor. No one can ever take away our before. They sunk so that we soar. They hung so that we soar. They sunk and sung with tears in their lungs so that we soar. This is not a metaphor. This is not a metaphor. This ain't no metaphor. Middle Passage. You said for all artists to celebrate the African diaspora and you open it up to white artists, how was that process? I mean, I can sort of see all kinds of possibilities and was there, was this a jurid thing or were the proposals specific? Can you share some of the criteria for that? Actually, the proposal is still, the call is still up online. All it is, all it is, cool. From last year, so don't apply. No, no, I don't, I'm not provided. Yes, it was open to anybody. We did have a few white artists apply and we had a jury, representatives of each of the six towns that were, are covered by our project. Some white, some black. And the jury decided, for example, the proposals there, maybe four or five that kind of were shortlisted which were five white artists, only white artists, but still weren't connecting their black art but not connecting the culture or the heritage part and not showing us how that art would build community. So some of the criteria were, you have to show us how you can build community with this with the black experience with black culture. So again, a lot of white people could be hard to do but it's not impossible to do. But that, those criteria they eventually fell off. We had a jury who reviewed and then we all came together to discuss the shortlisted proposals and then find the ones. Thank you. One last, I'm sorry, there were other people but one more, whoever has had their hand up along the side, can't say it. Question? Yeah, sorry, I didn't know if there was any more in the back. Kind of going off the proposals, I was just curious as to what methods you used to get. Call out, as you said that these stars were all very scattered around and it looked like you had a clip from the video but how did you get the word out to bring these people to end up applying? That is a really good question. It was amazing, because we were trying to talk to people. So we had posters, we had our artists that we were collaborating with, put posters wherever they went, where they knew the small public, some of the black people and artists and people in the diaspora were. We had it printed in seven days, which is the big state newspaper on the website. We did a lot of social media sharing and that's how we did it. Okay. All right, I think it's time to meddle in. All right, we can't even do it. Ha ha, I think it's time.


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Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining class this morning. Just give me a minute, please. Yeah. So, last Wednesday, we were looking at Titus chapter 1. Okay, we reached up to um, verse 15. So, can you please turn in your Bibles to Titus, the book of Titus chapter 1. And what was he Paul talking about in the last few verses in Titus chapter 1? Anyone has an idea who he was talking about? Who was Paul talking about in Titus chapter 1, the last few verses, verses 10 to verse 16? No one wants to answer. Who's Paul talking about in Titus chapter 1 verses 10 to 16? You can look at your Bibles as well. You can type your answer in the chat section. He's talking about bishops. We're talking about we are in Titus, Titus chapter 1, the book of Titus chapter 1. Who's Paul talking about in verses 10 to 16? He's talking about the false teachers. Hello class, if all of you there following, yes, who are the people who talk and win? They are the false teachers. So, he's basically talking about, you know, the characteristics of the false teachers and helping Titus to identify who are these false teachers. So, sometimes we think, you know, why are we studying these books? It was written, you know, so long time ago. It was basically referring to a particular cultural context, a particular situation to particular judges. We don't need it.  Yes, no. Yes, we do. We do have false teachers. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, Prince.  And so, Paul is telling Titus to be aware of these false teachers because these are not somebody who come from outside, who can really, we can identify, but they are within the church, those Judaistic believers, that means Jews, who have become Christians, who are teaching these false teachers, teachings and doctrines. Okay. So, we read verse 15. We look at verse 15 and verse 16 and with which we will end this chapter. So, can one of you please read verse 15, please? Can one of you please read verse 15? On to the pure. All things are pure. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their minds and conscience is defiled. Thank you.  Okay. So, here it's basically talking about food that got created for consumption. So, these false teachers basically choose, they're saying, you should eat certain kind of meat, certain kind of food in a certain kind of way. So, they're bringing in a lot of legalistic rituals and laws and saying, so, you don't just receive salvation by faith, but also by keeping all of these Old Testament rituals and laws and also by circumcision. Okay. So, these false teachers were teaching that Jewish food laws are still applied to Christian believers. And Paul is saying that all food is clean as it says in Mark chapter 7 verse 15. It says in Mark chapter 7 verse 15 that nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. Okay. So, Paul is saying to those who are eternally pure, all things are pure. And that means, it does not mean that, you know, including sin, sin is never pure.  The word defile here is a means a person who in the Greek, the Greek meaning of this word defile here, means a person who either rejects the truth of salvation by grace. Or somebody who forces someone else to receive salvation by any other means. So, here the word defile means a person who rejects the truth of salvation by grace, like an unbeliever who says, you know, after hearing the salvation message, preach them to the gospel of truth, preach to them, they reject it. Or it can also be those who reject the salvation by grace. Or, you know, because of what other people are teaching them, or these false teachers are teaching them, they're saying that you need to add to the work of salvation, or you have to maintain, or you have to add to the work of sanctification, or you'll need to maintain your salvation by, you know, keeping all the rituals and laws. And so he's saying that such kind of person, people who teach these things, they are defiled in their minds, that means their minds are polluted. And hence, not only their minds are imputed, polluted, sorry, but their conscience is also affected. And it's that their faith and their actions also are influenced. And hence, their actions and their faith is also defiled as well. Okay. So, when we think that, you know, we can receive salvation, or we can work out our salvation every day with fear and trembling by keeping rituals and laws. Or when we think that sanctification can be brought about, or we can be made holy, or, you know, the sins that we have done once we have become believers can be covered up or can be forgiven when we do some good things, you know. And many people think like this, you know, when they think that one of the good things is going to church and taking communion is one good thing. Or the other thing is feeding the poor, or giving to the orphans, or giving clothes, or money to orphanages, or helping those who are in need. And people think when they do this, their sins will be forgiven, you know, they will receive the blessings of God. And, you know, this is a wrong kind of thinking because we cannot, you know, receive salvation or maintain our salvation. Or we cannot be sanctified by good works. It's only, you know, by the work of Christ that he has already completed, which he has finished on the cross, on the cross Christ paid for our sins, he paid the full price for our sins, and no nothing else is needed for us to, for salvation, to maintain our salvation, or for our sanctification. But it's only our obedience to God, obedience to His Word, obedience in walking according to His will and fulfilling His plan and purpose. And also it is, you know, by consecrating our lives, by recommitting and resubmitting and dedicating our lives to God, okay? So here in Titus chapter one verse 15, Paul is demonstrating to us that true purity lies not in just observing external rules, but in the inner purity of the heart, okay? So we can also think sometimes, you know, we're serving God, we're doing so much for God, but God is not interested in how much we do, He's more interested in our, you know, how intimate we are in our relationship with Him. How much time is spending just reading His Word, praying, communing with Christ, fellowshiping with the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's how much we are doing His will. We can do ministry, but we can be doing what we want or what we desire, what we like. We can also be doing things that will give us a good name or favor or, you know, give us a place of good position or money, but it will not be a place that God wants us to be in or where He wants us to serve. So it is all about, you know, obeying God, the pure heart is about obeying God, living a life that is totally committed and surrendered to Him, okay? A life that has been cleansed and regenerated through our personal trust in the person, work of Christ that has been finished and completed for us, for our salvation, okay? So that is what Paul is stating here in verse 15. So it's not about keeping rituals, not about food, it's not about the way we dress, but what we wear, but it's about inner purity of our hearts, the motives, the attitudes of our heart that God is more concerned with and our relationship with Him. Verse 16, can one of you please read verse 16, please? They claim that they know God, but their actions deny they are head full and disobedient, not fit to do anything good. Thank you. So in verse 16 Paul is stating a fact here, which he's trying to sum up this whole matter that he's been discussing about in verses 10 to write up to verse 16, and it's the matter related to false teachers. He says these false teachers are not necessarily unbelievers, but here it says they profess to know God. It simply means that these false teachers, they simply profess to know Him as Savior, but it could also be the profession to know Him in a deeper and a more intimate way by observing rules and regulations which they are seeking to impose on others. So it's a kind of a false truth that they are portraying to people that they know God, they know Him as a Savior, but also they're saying that if you observe all of these rules and regulations that are in the Old Testament, it's a way that you know Him in a more deeper and an intimate way. And they're trying to impose this on others so that others will also come into this wrong kind of teaching and will follow it. And he says these are some people who profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. Denying Him means they reject or they do not accept Him. It means that they fall back on their previous relationship with Him. They fall back into unfaithfulness again. It also means that they abandon their fellowship with the Lord. In other words, these false teachers who are saved have actually slipped back into false legalisms or works and they have fallen away from the grace of God or the grace way of living life or the previous grace relationship they had with Jesus when they accepted Jesus Christ. So it's no longer by grace that they are living their lives or they have accepted Jesus Christ as a person Savior, but it is by rules and by keeping rituals and keeping certain rules and regulations. And Paul then goes on to use some very strong words here being abnormal, disobedient and disqualified for every good work.  So it basically means here that those who turn away from the grace that has been given to us freely in Christ Jesus by what he's accomplished on the cross and they move away from this grace into keeping just rituals and laws or move away from grace into legalism and teach others to do this. Paul is saying that they are detestable in God's sight. Now is this a problem only in the early church or is this a problem even in our churches today? What is your thoughts on this about legalism, rituals, laws? Do you think it's some problem that happened only in the early church during Paul's time or is it a problem even today? Come on, all of us are part of a church. We see things so we can then Dave says, yes, we still have it. It's even there today. So how is it? How is it there present even today? Can you mention some of your instances where you see legalism still there in the church where people are not receiving things by grace but by being legalistic? No thoughts. I think have you seen in your churches or in other churches, it would be nice if you can share some of your inputs of what you have seen, how people keep rituals and laws and make people follow it where they can just receive it freely by grace. Okay, let's talk about our own churches, the Protestant churches. In our own churches, whether we are coming from traditional churches or even independent Pentecostal churches, how is legalism brought into the church or still prevailing in our church today? What about Holy Communion? Is Holy Communion served to everybody who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior? So what are the criteria the church is put? Come on, this is a good discussion that we can have. Only those who are baptized, yes, thank you. They say only if you're baptized, you can take Holy Communion so they don't give Holy Communion to, they give them only to certain ages, not even to children who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior whose parents feel that they can take Holy Communion. So only if it's not, Holy Communion is not given to people who have accepted Jesus Christ but they should have been baptized and only then they can receive Holy Communion. Yes, anything else? You know, even if people desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, they, you know, they say you're just born again, you're not even baptized in water so you cannot be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you cannot speak in tongues. I know of one of our house helps who was a living maid and she's from one of the villages in North India and she came from a non-Christian background and, you know, she accepted Christ here in her family and she was very desirous of being filled with the Holy Spirit, being baptized the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.  How can you be received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? And they said, no, so, you know, they've just put all of these conditions but because she so desired it and she just kept praying about it one night when she was praying, you know, she started speaking in tongues and even if her mother was asking her or siblings were asking her any question, she opened her mouth to speak, she would only just speak in tongues and the next morning the same thing continued so her mother got really scared. They thought that she was possessed by a evil spirit and she ran to the pastor and the pastor said, no, you know, she's baptized in the Holy Spirit and all of them were shocked because how can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit?    So these are just few things. There's so many other areas where, you know, people bring in legalism when the grace of God is just freely available for people to receive and enjoy everything that Christ has purchased for us on the cross. So when Christ has not put any limitations, we as pastors, you know, future pastors of churches should not put any limitations or hurdles on people. Anyone else wants to share anything happening in your churches about how legalism is taking precedence over the grace of God? Okay, let's continue. Then he says about, you know, that these four teachers are disobedient. Disobedient means is a result of a lack of trust. They have a failure to trust or rest in the person and work of Christ as a Savior or just trust in what Christ has completed on the cross, His death, His resurrection, that He has, you know, what He has done on the cross and what they can receive. So they fail to trust or rest in the person and work of Christ as Savior as an unbeliever or to rest in the sufficiency of the death and resurrected life as a Christian leads to disobedience to the will of God. Okay. And he says that such people are also disqualified. That means they are, it means that they are rejected. They do not stand the test. They are unqualified, worthless and unfit to even teach or preach or, you know, to hold a position in church. Okay. And then Paul ends this whole verse in verse 16. He says that this qualified for every good work. So one of our purposes in life is, you know, to be useful in the service of Christ by ministering to others. So when we have received salvation, you know, we've received it not as just as a privilege, but it's a responsibility to share this with others as well, to be useful in God's Kingdom by sharing this with others and bringing others into God's Kingdom. So it's only through faith in Christ and through what He has done on the cross that we can be saved, that we can receive our sanctification and we can also become fit for every good work that we can do to minister in His Kingdom. Okay. So with that, he ends chapter one. Any questions, any doubts? Any thoughts on chapter one? Okay. If not, we will move on to chapter two. Okay. We lead chapter two. So please turn in your Bibles to Titus, chapter two. And like all of us to read a few verses, Titus chapter two. There's 15 verses. So I think, can all of you read or do you have some of you have issues reading? Who are the people who who are willing to read Titus chapter two, a couple of verses? Just give me a minute, please. So who would like to read? Okay, they will read anyone else? Siddharth? Okay. Anyone else would like to read? Prince? Okay, Erin. Okay. So since four of you have, no worries, Kiran. So each of you can read three verses each and two of you can read four verses each. Okay. So we'll begin with Titus chapter two. Dave, would you like to read the first four verses? Sure. But speak now the things which become sound of Him, that the aged man be sober, grave, temperate, sound-intrepid, in charity, in patience. The aged woman likewise, that they be in behavior as becoming holiness, not false accusers, not giving, given too much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the young woman to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Thank you. So, Erin, can you read the five, six and seven, please? To be, to be self-controlled and pure and to be good housewives, who submit to their husbands so that no one will speak evil of the message that comes from God. In the same way urge the young man to be self-controlled in all things you, yourself, must be an example of good behavior. Be sincere and serious in all, in your teaching. Use sound words that cannot be criticized so that your enemies, enemies may be put to shame by not having anything bad to say about us. Thank you. Slave art. Yeah, did you read verse seven? Till verse seven? Yeah, till verse eight. Oh, till verse eight, okay. Okay, so Prince, would you like to read nine, ten and eleven, please? So, excerpt point seven to be obtained to their own master, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not preferring, but showing all good, fidelity that they may, they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior in all things. Four, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live separately, righteously and godly in the present age. Thank you. Verses 13 to 15. Siddharth. While we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself, for himself a people that are his own. You got to do what is good.   Okay, thank you all for reading.  It would be nice if all of us can share one or two thoughts about what you picked up or what you learned or what caught your eye in Titus chapter two. Like to share, please. Summon or you can type it in the chat section, whatever you think you've learned. Just one or two things or just a verse you like to read. The God's grace for everyone, that is salvation. So, when we receive His grace, our life should righteously and godly in this. Thank you, Prince. So, He says that we have received salvation because of the grace of God. And as a result, we need to live holy and righteous, bright lives. Thank you. Karen says verse four, we must be an example. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, in chapter two, who do you think Paul is talking about here? Okay, Dave says verse eight was control what we speak and no evil should come out rather exhausting others. Thank you. In chapter two, who is, what is basically Paul telling Titus? Or what is he writing to Titus about? This would be easy because it's there in your Bible, you can just see and so what is he is writing to Titus about in chapter two? Character or someone who is in ministry, okay. Thank you. Anyone else? He's giving instructions about what? Or on whom is he giving instructions? He's basically instructing how older men, older women, younger men, younger women in the church and even slaves who are part of the church, how they should live their lives. And also he goes on not just to talk about older men, older women, younger men, younger women and also instructions for born servants, the church, but also how Titus as a young person, how he should conduct his life as a leader, okay. Did Paul talk about this in Timothy as well or to write about this to the church at Episcis? Yes, no. Yes, thank you. Yes, he did. Okay, so he's also writing here to the church at Crete because there is a need. So we look at what are the instructions he gives for older men and women in the church that we look for at the instructions he gives for younger men and younger women and also for born servants or slaves. So this is not something that is going to be irrelevant for us.  So we can see from what Paul is trying to, he's right, he has written to the church at Crete or he has written to Titus, okay. The worst one he says, but as for you, the things which are proper for sound doctrine. So he says, but as for you, is a contrast Titus with the false teachers that Paul has just described in chapter one, verses 10 to 16, where he says that these men are rebellious, empty talkers and deceivers who kind of upset whole families for the sake of gain, dirty gain. He also says that they are teaching Jewish myths, which are the commandments of men rather than the truth in God's word, which he talks about in verse 14. And he says such unbiblical teaching does not lead to godliness and to good deeds. So in contrast to all of these things that he has spoken, Paul is telling Titus to speak the things that are proper for sound doctrine. Does Paul use this word sound doctrine before? Yes, no. Has he used this word sound doctrine before? I think so. Yes, he's used this couple of times, this word sound doctrine he uses even when he's writing to Timothy. And he says the things, speak the things, the things Paul has mentioned in verses two, right up to verse 10, he says, speak those things, those things that are pertaining to truth, attitudes and actions that are based on biblical truths. He's telling Titus to speak those things. And he says, which are proper for sound doctrine. Now, just for us to understand this phrase, proper for sound doctrine, I've put in some different translations, what it says, the living Bible says, speak up for the right living that goes along with true Christianity. The new living translation says promote the kind of living that reflects right teaching. And the passion translation says your duty is to teach them to embrace a lifestyle that is consistent with sound doctrine. So why I've put these translations here is the idea behind this phrase is not just about right living. It's not just about sorry, right thinking, but it has to do with right living. So sound doctrine, we read in Titus chapter one verse nine, where he writes there about sound doctrine. It's more focused on teaching sound doctrine to refute those who are false teachers, who are bringing about false teachings and errors against the truth. But the focus here in chapter two was one, the same word, sound doctrine is more a practical application of the sound doctrine. So we see that all always ties together sound doctrine with practical Christian living that flows out of the teaching that we receive. So sound doctrine is yes teaching, which he mentions about in verse chapter one verse nine. But here when he's talking about sound doctrine, it more has to do with not just about teaching, but what you have been taught is to, you know, you need to apply that it's more practical application, practical Christian living as a, as a, which flows out as a result of the sound doctrine that you have received or that you have been taught or that you have learned. Okay. So in verse two, he says that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sounding faith in love in patients. So he's talking about how older men should be. And he says, you know, Paul wants Titus to know that older men must live with maturity and wisdom, which means that they need to live sober, reverent and temperate lives. And it's the command to, and he says, you know, come, he's commanding Titus to teach these things, because these things don't come automatically, even though these are older men, they're much mature in age or they're much older, not sorry, mature, but they're much older in age. All of these things does not come automatically, but they have to be taught these things. So if you are older, and these qualities do not describe you, then you need to focus on them, rather than going on as you are. So what are the qualities that older men should have? The first thing is sober. What is the meaning of sober? We talked about this in first and second Timothy being sober, reverent, temperate. What's the meaning of sober? Anyone? Sober means to be vigilant. That means to be watchful, older men should be watchful over themselves, watch over their conduct, their conversation, what they're saying, in case they act evil, or they speak things that are evil or live evil lives, then there would be a wrong example to the younger people in the church. He says that they need to also be reverent. That means they should live honorable lives in the way they behave, in their speech, in their dressing. They should be temperate. The word literally means here not to be intoxicated by wine or strong drink, but it also means to be sober-minded and clear-headed. And they have to be sound in faith. That means sound means be healthy in their faith. So the older men should be healthy in their faith in God, which comes from trusting God in practical matters of life, which they have lived or experienced over the years. They should be sound in their minds, in the doctrine of faith, so that they don't lead other younger people into error or in the wrong way. But their faith in Christ should appear to be right and genuine. And he says, in love, as older people grow old, they become very grouchy. They become very hard to live with. They're kind of complaining over everything, murmuring, grumbling. And Paul says they should not be like that, but they should be more loving. They should be more intolerant. They should be more tolerant to people, rather than being more intolerant and hard in towards others. They should be more gracious and compassionate. And then the last thing he says is they should be sound in faith in love and in patience. Patience means being steadfast, an active endurance, not like a passive waiting. Once you come to an old age, we see that older people just sit down, do nothing, just waiting for that to die.  But here he says, they need to be active, actively endure things that come, the challenges of life they have, the difficulties that they face, challenges of the old age that they face. And they should continue running their race with endurance, fixing their eyes on Jesus, the authentic perfecter of their faith. Like we read in Hebrews chapter 12, verses one and two. So he says, when older men who have these qualities, when they have all of these qualities, they will stand out in the world and they will reflect Christ's likeness or they will reflect the beauty of Christ. Verse three, when he comes talking about older women, how should older women be here? What does he say? How does he say that older women should be? It's given in verse three, you can how should older women be? What does Paul say in verse three? What are the characteristics they should have? They should live a holy life, yes, not given too much wine, teaching good things, yes. Thank you, Erin and Dave for not being slanderers. Okay, so older women, he's talking about those who no longer have child-reading responsibilities that children are all grown settled. So they must be typically around 60 years of age. And he says the older women should have these qualities, they should be reverent. So the Greek word here reverent is used only here in the Bible. And it conveys an idea of being priest-like. That means acting as a representative of God. And so this is a word that Paul uses to describe a devote godly character of an older woman. There should be someone who is priest-like, somebody who is acting like a representative of God means presenting God himself in the way that they live, the way they act, the way they speak. So the older women have to live holy lives, live like holy priests, serving in the presence of God. And their personal devotion to God or to the Lord will influence others and also influence every aspect of their personal life. So they have to give themselves a holy to serving God and be in the presence of God. And their behavior is basically talking about their inner character. They should not be slanderers. It's very interesting here that this word slanderer, what is the meaning of slanderer? Anyone? What's the meaning of slanderer? No idea, slanderers. Basically those who talk ill or bad or evil about others. It's very interesting to read that you know the Greek word here for slanderers is diabolos. That's this word, Greek word diabolos, bring back any idea about who diabolos is or who is referred to as diabolos. Who else is, who is called diabolos? The Greek word, Satan. Okay, Satan, the other name for Satan is diabolos, the Greek word. And this name of Satan is used 34 times in the New Testament. And we know Satan is called as the false accuser.  Okay, so when older women or anyone else slanders and gossips about somebody else, you know, talking bad about somebody else gossiping about them behind their back, they're doing the devil's work. So he says, godly women are never to surrender their tongues to the devil. So it's not only just godly women, but it's all of us. You need to remember that any time we're talking ill or evil or bad about somebody behind their back, we're actually doing the work of Satan. It's slanderers here is diabolos, the name of Satan, who's falsely accusing people. So we need to watch our tongue and we need to also surrender our tongues to God daily so that we can talk things that are pleasing and holy and acceptable in his sight. Okay, we'll stop here, we'll take a break and we'll come back after the break. Thank you.


Welcome to the 40's show. We're back again this week to look at the Premier League and a little bit of Champions League in there as well. I think City, if someone are up now, let's be honest, the Premier League is done, isn't it? It looks that way, doesn't it? It doesn't look that way, it is that way. United will still think they've got half a chance of getting there. Do you really think? If that was us, do you think we'd had half a chance? No, no. It's 14 points United have got a game on hand, haven't they? But even 11 points City aren't they? Yeah, they pretty much is done. They roll on. Yeah, so that being said, a lot of the chat is obviously about the top four. Who's going to make that top forward? Leicester winning again. Very, very comfortable winning against Sheffield United. Manchester United obviously got a very narrow winning against West Ham. Chelsea got a draw at Leicester. It leads, sorry, so that's then falting slightly after a very good run. But again, it didn't concede. Obviously West Ham getting beat. Everton got beat. Liverpool won. Spades got beat by Arsenal, but Liverpool won. So the race for that top four, I think, saying that the Chelsea position fourth is still, it's still there, isn't it? It's still ongoing. It's not over and done with at the moment. No, no. Obviously Liverpool were the only team in the top eight. Sorry, chasing those places outside the Chelsea. Five, six, seven. Who'd won full steps? He did. Obviously West Ham, Everton, Spades all lost. Liverpool were the big climbers with that win at Wolves, narrow win at Wolves. So they've got themselves. There's still five points behind Chelsea with nine games to go. Lester winning, United winning, means that Chelsea are the most vulnerable, really, for that fourth spot. But then Chelsea being in great form, they still haven't lost on the social. Again, clean sheets. They played, they beat Everton in the week and then through it leads, so it's on another four points on the board. But that is the one position. West Ham had three points behind them in the game in hand. Everton had five points behind them in the game in hand, so they're still in there. And Spades as well, so it is. That's the one that you're looking at and going. The European place is basically from fourth down to seventh, if that's where it goes, very much up in the air. But the top four is still on for quite a few teams. If they can put a run, a win and run together, they could get in there at Chelsea's expense, maybe. And obviously there's been a lot of talk recently about the big six. So it's become the big six now. We're getting all the chat about super leagues and the Champions League, altered in their numbers, possibly to fend off the super league. But obviously West Ham and Everton are breaking that big six up, aren't they, with Arsenal and Spades completely? No, no, but what I mean is Spades and Arsenal, two of them are behind Everton. So the three teams are breaking up that big six at the moment, or the big six that they're called. I mean it's become this big six, but traditionally it was the big four for years, the Sky Four, because obviously when the Champions League places come in, it helped them push that narrative that it wasn't just about winning the league, it was about getting the four. And now we're starting to get, well, who is the definitive big four? Who are the big four teams in the Premier League? Because a lot of people now are, especially if you're not in the big four at the moment, as in the big four places, you're going to start holding on to something, aren't you? So the lads over on Hold DL, they've been having a chat about it. It's the Sky Sports Super Six YouTube channel, that's available. We're the third most successful club in English history. You only have to look at what we've done over the Premier League era, and even before that, to sum up why you shouldn't even be in this debate, Flav. Arsynfengar, on his own, as manager of Arsenal, has won 475 Premier League games, sorry, 476. Spurs as a club in the Premier League era have won 475. You're not even bigger than Arsynfengar, let alone Arsenal. So DT there, I've always got a colourful opinion, but on that one, he's absolutely right. If you want to watch more of that video, check it out on the Sky Sports Super Six YouTube channel. He's absolutely right. The link is in the description. It is. When it comes to Arsenal, Arsenal, even though where they are at the moment, it's trying to find their way back. They are still in that traditional top four, aren't they? For me, it's Manchester United, it's Arsenal, it's Liverpool, and it's Chelsea. That's still the big four. Out of the Premier League. Out of the Premier League. In terms of numbers, that is the big four. For overall, in the Premier League. Overall, that's the big four. We had a tap before about it. Of points of mass, and everything since the Premier League started. They are the top four, aren't they? You know, they were the sky four. They were the team that was... All of those teams developed because they were on Sky more than anyone else and got extra payments, and they helped them build their squads and all that, but they are anywhere you want to cut it. They had the big four, and Arsenal definitely in there. Arsenal were brilliant. When that's DT set there, Arsenal vingers won more games or got more points than Tottenham, won more games, isn't it, by one, than Spares having the Premier League era, and that's having a dig at Spares. Spares over the last 10 years. Of 50 in the stats, they're still ahead of Manchester City. So, you know, it's... that's the fairest way to do it, really. When you're talking about... people have very shallow memories. People are looking at Arsenal now and go, Arsenal, no.  They're not having a great time at the moment, but they're trying to rebuild with Michael Arteta, but they've still been a fabulous team. They were brilliant to any of them. They were brilliant before the Premier League as a club, and they've been brilliant in the Premier League era. And even though they haven't been as successful as they were, maybe on the wenge, they've still won FA Cups and stuff, haven't they? But that's the problem, though, isn't it? People do have such short memories that winning anything and success is so short-lived that people want to move on to the next thing straight away.  In fact, Chelsea... Chelsea are very, very close to overtaking. Arsenal is the second most successful team in the Premier League, very, very close. You know, if they... if they make this decision, maybe with three extra wins or something, they go above them. And that proves it. Manchester City, like, talking to them, they're fifth, and they've not won it. They are where they are, and Manchester City will need probably three or four seasons to get a couple of seasons maybe to get above them.  And if they keep on this trajectory, I'm sure, into that top four, but it won't be... it won't be yet. I mean, they've only just gone past us. In fact, they've only gone... they're only above us by two points. Do you know what I mean? So that shows you where Manchester City are to be ever the seventh in the all-time... in the all-time Premier League list. It's not that much disrespect. Yeah, it does, it shows, you know, disrespect everything yet, but Manchester City are... you know, it was only this weekend, the weekend just gone that they've gone above us. I mean, so if Everton had been barely, Everton would still be above them. For Arsenal, it's not up for debate. No, it's not up for debate. Not for a long time, and that shows because you've got to look at it. We often say, or Liverpool fans would often say, you know, till this year, about what you've done in the past. So if we City, and we hold on to our record of being the fourth-most league titles, then you've got to pay respect to Arsenal and say, well, Arsenal have done that as well. And at the moment, there's a rebuild on. That doesn't mean that they're not part of that. Arsenal won the third-most league titles.  So you've gone us. We say it as we're the fourth, so until other teams win more than us, we've won it the fourth-most time. So that's why we demand, oh, you know, it's been a hell of a long time, but that's why it's still in a lot of Evertonians' mind that we should be doing better because the record's there for itself. While they're not winning trophies, like Premier Leagues and stuff at the moment, they're still up there now. It depends how much gravitas you want to put on to that all-time league table, because everything's now. Arsenal are FA Cup holders until someone else. I know they're out, but until someone else wins it, they're the last team to win the FA Cup. People shouldn't forget that. They're still in Europe and stuff like that. So you can't disrespect them. You might turn on and go, well, they're not having a great season. You know, we could turn on and go, well, we're at a better side than them at the moment because we're above them. And it's nothing wrong with doing that and teams can say that about, you know, they're having a better season than Liverpool are the champions. Does overall it mean less than a better than Liverpool? Well, this year they are. They might not be next year. They weren't last year. So whatever else you want to put into it, who is generally a huge club and who's generally certainly in the Premier League era done the best, the fourth best teams in the Premier League era, Arsenal are absolutely in there. The numbers prove it. Nothing else matters. The numbers prove it. Whether you say they played amazing football or they were terrible under George Gray or whatever, you know, the numbers prove it. And that's the fact at the end of the day. That's the fact. And, you know, since when they came anyway, so DT is right. They definitely deserve to be in there. Yeah, I think so. I think so. It just shows how short memories can be in football. Make sure to check out the rest of that video over on the Skysport Super 6 YouTube channel. The description is in the link. Back to the Premier League. Obviously you're looking at that. I mean, United. Skreg past. You know, Skreg past West Ham with the cradors and on goal of the weekend and big win for them. They didn't have a great result in Europe against Milan, but big win for them, you know, especially coming in the week where they beat City at the Etihad as well. Two big wins for Solcia. You know, the frustrating thing from an editing perspective is before that weekend we were really close to United and the games and the stuff and they just shows you those six points and now you look at them and go on to comfortably. I'm not saying anything, we're going to finish it above them but you always look at what teams are where and they've moved on to 57 points Leicester, as you've just said. You know, in the Atios first Premier League atre. They despatched it. I mean, just on Sheffield, you could go back to Leicester in a minute because I think they deserve a little bit of praise. Going on to Sheffield United obviously Chris Wilders departed. And it's not it's not because of where Sheffield United are because I think for a long time this season everyone at the club had expected them to be relegated but it's all a tendency of a mess. Clubs are a mess. Clubs are a mess from, you know, what we've led to believe there's so much going on there which is basically tearing the club apart and this is what happens sometimes when you get that little bit of success and everyone jumps in because at the end of the day people probably thought they were going into the Premier League and thought, right, we can build on this and this is where you've got to be very, very careful. You've got to do things in the right way. People look at other clubs, maybe like Norwich and see them bouncing around and it's like, oh, you wouldn't want to be like that but they'll eventually get it right and they'll stick. We've seen that with West Brom the last time they were in the Premier League they stuck around and it's strange, I've thrown it at me. West there? Yeah, it's about digging in. I think I've done maybe off the pitch just to start to grow too quickly and think, like, we're in the Premier League now and that's it. There's a casualty of that where everything should be draped. You know, we've seen one where everything was struggling and we had no money and slightly different circumstances but everything was for David Moyes to push towards him. You're the man in charge, we'll give everything we can and you run everything. Sheffield is delighted it just seems like there's different forces pulling them in different directions. Did they have the victims of their own success last season? Because I think last season a lot of people thought they would be this season if that makes sense. They got promoted, didn't really spend any money and people, I remember Chris Wilder when he got promoted you know, we're going to go and enjoy going and getting hammerings all of these grounds, you know, I'm feel good and old Trafford, like, and he was like having a laugh because he didn't have money to spend and yeah, I don't want to say over the chief because he deserved the points he got because he won the games but he done really well and exceeded people's expectations and obviously then, you're right then other people start going, if we do this and we do that, we can join the Premier League you know, gun chasing Europe and that and it's like you haven't spent the money yet like, slow everything down, you write everything to me should have been pushed through in but then at the same time we have gone out and made some dodgy bars but then people said other people are pulling against it so it's a bit sad I mean, Lester are the one that a lot of teams and you mentioned West Ham there and teams like that Lester are the example you look for because they are very disruptive to that big six they've been great Lester they've bought really well and it's funny because Vardy's sort of gone off a little bit and then the Atos really come to the fore recently so they've found their way out of it I think they'll get that place I really do there's a few weeks ago I was a little bit worried but not worried but you'd look at them thinking they'll drop out it wasn't worried for us because we thought we might be the captain but it looks like obviously Chelsea are in a great position and they're keeping clean sheets but Lester look like they've got the firepower and then they'll get it and obviously if Liverpool miss out that would be huge huge for them but then they're still in the Champions League so you can never say never with Liverpool when they're in the Champions League and obviously at the bottom of the table sheffie knight of the berry sheffie knight of the gun West Brom true with Newcastle Neil Neil didn't he so that's there gone Fulham obviously got beat by Manchester City which is expected so that's still going on goal Newcastle get that point Brighton got a massive win against Southampton Burnley got a big win against Everton so for me now I look at it and I do think it's routine I do think it's routine and Newcastle now for that third place West Brom lost the palace Newcastle was the beat I think West Brom 18 points they're gone it's Fulham you've got 29 games Fulham 26 points Newcastle played 28 they've got 28 points you've got Brighton we're obviously struggling Newcastle got the last minute equalising against Villa Newcastle got themselves a point and then obviously Burnley one of Everton which is a huge win for them because if they would not have won you'd have had Fulham on 26 and Burnley on 30 they'd have never been Burnley so Burnley would have been in it he'd give themselves that little bit of cushion and obviously Southampton have only got 33 as well Brighton won against Southampton the weekend so it's Newcastle Fulham or Brighton isn't it and Fulham had been doing really well up until Saturday but he played City so that's almost a free if for them they've got to be 3-0 City once they've got the goal they're always going to take it apart once they're ahead I think especially a team like Fulham who do try to play football playing to City's hands but it's going to be dead interesting because they are the four teams three four teams in it I thought Fulham Fulham to me still seem like he's got he can get points Brighton that was a not a shock wing because Brighton do play good footy but he just don't score a lot of goals but he got an important win at Southampton and like we said Newcastle got that lady who has it against Villaw it shows that they're still fighting for Bruce so it's going to be dead and we know the final game of the season is Fulham Newcastle so the longer those two teams keep on going in there then who knows what's going to happen who knows what's going to happen Eric Lamellus Rabona by the way in the North London Davies amazing but big win for Arsenal important goals that is a big win that keeps them just in contention doesn't if just in the outside places for I don't think they've got a chance for the champions no they've still got a chance but they're in Europe League as well of course they've had a great win in Europe against the Olympiad so it's going to be dead interesting at what plays out for them now some of the champions of Manchester City comfortably through Real Madrid through as well but City look just look really strong don't they it all seems to be coming together obviously you have a cup tie on Saturday against Devon but it all seems to be coming together they seem to be getting they've got a guero back now as well you score this first goal in that full-on game and they just seem to be coming together at the right time sometimes at this stage the season it's starting to get a little bit ragged they've obviously still got the league cup final as well to come against space so that might alter the you know might put a little bit more pressure on the league but then the league should be done and dusted by then you would imagine so by getting wrapped up so early they can get it wrapped up nice and early they're not going to have to worry about that fix the congestion with the Premier League and with the Champions League because it's all obviously all going to come together quite quickly in the next couple of months you know a cup final the Champions League, Premier League if they're still in the FA Cup we hope not but it's going to be interesting yeah you're right if they can get that sewn up then you can play his second string which is still obviously very strong League of Finals 25 of April so they might have the league so well you'd expect them three more wins I think it is isn't it could have the league done by then and also Champions League negotiating in the FA Cup hopefully they're not still in it but you know if they are if they beat Evan and they are then that's a different thing for them but I think realistically if you said to the FA Cup or the Champions League I don't think you'd be bothered about the FA Cup but everything is good for them I think this season I think they're playing really well I think if they can get a goerau firing a little bit it'll give them that just a little bit they've done it without him they've played at most times this season with our staff, Gabriella Zeus has been in and Staling's got gold you know they get gold in and Gondomans being incredible they're going to dish it scoring goals for funds they just seem to be pareding at the right time and if you keep the brain fit then you're not conceding goals are they well that's the big I mean about 25 cleansies they've just gone past I think there's only Arsenal in 06 now we've had a longer run and not conceding goals in the Champions League they went past last night which broke records as well so I think it's only Arsenal now in 06 when they got to the final they've had a longer run and not letting a goal in the Champions League so from where they were last year where they looked like they could get chased all over the gath you know at the back because obviously they had injuries they didn't replace company, LaPorte was injured and they were struggling at the back and that's what Liverpool took advantage this year with bringing Reuben Diaz in and then that brought John Stones' performance levels up, LaPorte back as well they just looked brilliant at the back I think that's key for any team that wins that they could still win four trophies no problem I think the draw is on Friday for the Champions League we'll find out who gets who and it should be interesting there you go let us know your thoughts and anything we've spoke about what is your big four what is your big four in the Premier League let us know don't forget check out the rest of that video on the lads it's over on the Sky Sports Super 6 YouTube channel the link is in the description and don't forget subscribe to the 40 show channel as well make sure there's going to be a lot more videos going on there during the week so make sure you subscribe to that as well for all your general 40 fix there you go, thanks for watching see you later


I don't really get the whole like, tarry obsession. It's weird that we do meditations to connect with our spirit guides when they're right there.   And they're just saying they're like, brought them right here. Jeep trucks are weird. I'm not like a huge coffee person, but I think the reason that Starbucks is superior is because when they give you the cup of coffee, you can drink it right away without burning off every single taste bud in your mouth. Comment below if you like these random shower thoughts and I'll continue doing them.


All right, new version here. Let's play this in full as always pop and Alright that's all pretty cool. It's a good update and Thank you for your breakdown. I'm gonna go in there One by one. So this is the spline version With a few more keys a few more details. There's more with the sets no colors yet. That's fine You're mentioning that you're struggling With the hands Don't mind too much actually like the detail There even just kind of the end gives it some it's a bit of difference and Contrast and complexity here how it opens up. I think I have more general body mechanics comments Compared to details detailed comments as well like there's some foot stuff I'm gonna point out but stuff like this and I'm starting at the end When you have movement like this, and I know it's just a dangling arm That wouldn't really you know, it doesn't affect the foot or anything major in the hips, but it would still be nice because even with this year when you have quite the Flop from right to left there would be good to have a little bit in that shoulder and then because of that Some residual movement there if that makes sense So it's not so even a good trick is to scrub through your shock And you can kind of see where things are moving just this there's a there's a very specific Kind of separated feel to this move Like when you have this here, this is nice You got all the ambient movement in there because she is leaning down and over that's gonna affect this It's gonna pick that and so on everything fans down in terms of the mechanics influence like that's nice But then you you're in the section with the arm, then it's a bit Just a bit too separated now the head note So generally when I watch this and this goes into some other things that you talked about and you haven't touched the ponytail you mentioned here, but There is a certain Speed to this and you mentioned that you feel like it's a bit fast Sometimes you feel like it's okay me watching this for the first time. I feel like this could be slowed down this whole Move and there are a couple reasons it might be okay to do it if you had a little bit of lean back in the body in the upper the torso and A little bit of rotate back into the side on the head as in if you're moving this fast The root over like that, then you would have a bit of drag in this not huge It's not going to be you know, like when you those cars at least in America Sometimes you have those car dealerships and I mean, you know, that's that's my car, but then you got those inflatable things with arms and there's the pump there and goes Am I completely move over? That's not what I mean like it wouldn't be Huge but just enough and that's my concern at the beginning when you frame through There's a drag in the arm, but the tricky thing too is that the drag is almost too Clean counter, but that I mean here. Let's see what it's getting on See how that wrist is the amount of forward movement you have in the body is the same amount that you have in the wrist So when you look at this you can see this bit of a stickiness in the hand Then it gets a bit bigger little pop to the left, but then After that pop it can draw a line here You can see how that hand stays put on that line too and then it goes a bit forward But then it goes a bit back and now we're back into stickiness here. We're kind of sticks in on that frame 2d space, so you got to look a bit more on your clean spacing of that arm going back and Just looking at this you can see that this whole section Visually actually including this arm See that everything is stuck until here And this final is moving and there's some movement here But then at that point is almost as if that head tilt and that arm swing are kind of happening at the same time I know it's because she stops and then the whole momentum carries over and then the looser part of the body But I would still find ways to offset things a bit more, but my main concern is yes speed And I think even if you would add some drag in here, I think it would still be fast Just a bit fast mainly also because you know, she is tired So Yes, you could combine some speed even if someone is tired because they're finishing You know rushing through and then they finally collapse, but given the overall rhythm of Yeah, it's like she has like a chain on there. I would slow this whole thing down Give this a bit more Breakup basically between chest, neck and head to loosen it up a bit And I would still bring that head back a bit And then down and especially on that step You would have a bit more compression even if it's a little bit in the chest down a little bit in the head That then goes down and up again and over into That move but then careful you have a move over this way And then bam, then we stop and actually go back And then over so this in real time It's not poppy But I think we can Take that looseness But bring it into the beginning where it's a drag and then compression it goes down And then goes into The right move over here because again once we hear she didn't again feels kind of stuck This is what I was talking about before she's always Leaning this way throughout the whole thing. I think this will give us a bit more contrast as well I don't I'm again this subjective, but I feel like we could start here further back right leading the head back Go forward and then she can always rest a bit more Straight on and then already start to go over there And then go back up. You mean like that could have some looseness through there as well This is a bit of a fast move right there That root movement and you can see this when you track this line Right there everything kind of stays put let me bring this When you're skating right you're kind of stuck on that line and then Suddenly goes to the screen right and then you have a bit of a pause through there Pause and then over so I think generally you need a lot of cleanup in your spacing So I will give this forward move a couple more frames Loosen up chest neck and head Give this a bit more Contrast in the head orientation Watch out your spacing in that arm I think even uh take this off here This arm here Is also a bit fast. I would give this a couple more frames And this is all based on here This kind of move and down Like all the intricacies here and it's cool. I like all of this. I like all of that. It's cool. Again Suddenly this arm Goes a bit fast right through there But generally this whole section from here to here and that And that It has a fairly realistic feel to it. It's not photo real, but it's more naturalistic and it's cartooniness And this is why sudden moves like And then that sudden body move and then that little speed up in that arm. That's why it sends out to me Now if you want to go fast here and fast moves, then I would still adjust this Here it's basically you want to have you want to have a consistent Feel and style to your animation in terms of timing and and exaggeration Now detail wise what I was going to talk about is that when you have your weight On the shoe here in the foot and then you're leaning over as you can see there's a big lean You can see how this section is completely locked There's a bit of a raise here and if that's just the body stretch or for some reason extended Okay, doesn't mean it doesn't get off the ground but watch out how Goes up here But it would be nice at this point to have a pivot off of here to lift this up Maybe a slight foot roll and then when she moves it forward like that. I like that back pivot here But still could have a little bit of off the ground Now that's like it's up a bit But then also ease in a bit more it's a bit of a linear key Boom how that foot stops now your foot roll seems to go in one axis you just dial down But she has a bit of a return this way in terms of the weight see this she goes this way And then this way so to me it will be down with a slight Move like you want a compression this way not just to roll down straight because that's what the channel does A little bit more now that you have to pivot off here and get this foot off the ground But I think you want to give this a bit more life Again here the pivot or the the foot roll is just dialed in Without a bank. I will give this a bit more movement over this way Again that foot that's a linear key right there. So I would peel off Pivoting off of here Peel off foot roll with easing into that move that feels a bit better That's nice get a little ease out of that lift of the of the heel there Into that So it's there every now and then I would just Go back and really look at every single section for your spacing And in timing wise you're getting into a bit of a slow even feel through here That whole section I know there's some differences in terms of them We'll suddenly now the head and chest are moving a bit faster compared to the whole thing But there's a general feel of Lack of contrast and texture to the timing just feels kind of Even till there So that these are to me the biggest things just little spacing issues some acceleration moments that I would watch out for goes back into your spacing a bit more Consistent contact here like your hand goes up again.  Are we already on the chair? So there will be some chair movements Then she starts to grab but then that grab has a lot of slippage here But now it feels like well, she's really putting all the weight on there So this would have to go down a bit. There would be some lean back This my thing might rotate over just a lot more Sense of I'm leaning on this. Yes, there's weight on this But needs a bit more on there and even on this pole Chair goes this way, but I feel like that thumb moves sort of right So there's a bit of looseness in terms of contact and then suddenly It feels like we're almost intersecting here. Watch out And speaking of compression When she's like this like all the weights here hips are like that But now she's going to put all the weight on here And I think you can you have a little movement here in the hips But then it suddenly stops. So I would just Start to ease in a bit more just a bit sooner And then have what you have here It's not just that separate section and we kind of feather into that tiny bit more Then you want a bit more influence here. I see it a little bit. I think it might be okay Maybe just a little bit, but the main one it feels like here But we're so off-balance. That means that there's weight here and there's weight here So I'm saying compression here and then I will put more force up on the hip on this end Especially now that we're lifting off the ground Could have a bit more again. It's subtle You don't want these two kind of sway back and forth like, you know, like a tipping boat all the time Just a bit more you have it here But even then I feel like it would be slightly softer through there And then continue bits because again all that weight continues. So just a bit feathering out a bit more Because you're already going down and I will keep that hip Up a bit higher I know she's lifting and stretching this but that means that it's still off the air off the ground in the air With more pressures. I would wait before you dip down with that hip there But you have compression here, which is good I do like the feel of the the plop and drop here boom That feels pretty good But then again a little bit of fast move in the head Although that I don't mind this could be like your last collapse of uh But then again look at contact. So when this the forehead side of the cheek everything is Going to hit the forehead the forearm It's going to have some compression some residual movement contact movement in the hand Just a bit more detail overall All right, that is that. Thank you All right, there's an email you can sign up you can start whenever you want you can submit whatever you want You get 16 submissions either way a like and subscribe would be awesome. All right. Thank you