The title of our text this morning is Labor and Love for the Joy of Faith. This is part two, Labor and Love for the Joy of Faith. That title is an exhortation, if you didn't notice, right? It's an exhortation. We want to labor and love for the joy of faith. If you are here, you've committed to be a member of this church. You're serving this church. If you haven't caught a holy vision of that ministry and the life of the church, then that's what I want you to get from this text. We are engaged in Christian ministry. We are to labor in love for one another for the joy of our mutual faith together. Labor and love for the joy of faith. If you have had that vision, that holy vision of Christian ministry in the church, maybe you're lagging. I want you to consider Paul's example with me and fan that flame. Let's fan it together. We want to serve the Lord in this way and honor the Lord in the way that we serve one another in the church. That's our joy and our privilege again to come back to this text. In Corinthians chapter one, verse 23 runs down through chapter two, verse four. For part two of this in-depth verse by verse look at the example of the apostle Paul in his ministry to the Corinthians. We've established, we've well established the context and the setting of our text in prior sermons. Paul is laboring in ministry to the church at Corinth under extremely difficult circumstances. And from these verses, we've been unpacking the example of the apostle Paul as it relates to faithful ministry, faithful, fruitful, effective ministry in the Lord's church. Now considering Paul's example, we are drawing principles from this text to support four exhortations to us as we labor together in ministry to the Lord's church. We are to first, you'll find these points in your bulletin on your notes. We're first to labor by the rule of love. We saw that in verse 23. Secondly, we are to work for the goal of joy. We find that in verse 24. Thirdly, we must insist on the obedience of faith. In order for us to labor in love, in order for us to work together for our joy, we have to insist on the obedience of faith. We'll talk about that more today from verses one through three in chapter two. Secondly, we must minister with a testimony of love. We'll see that in chapter two, verse four. I've said it before, but it bears repeating, right? Every Christian is employed in ministry to the Lord's church, right? Can't be any clearer than that. The testimony of scripture are extremely clear. Ephesians chapter four, verse 11, apostles are given. Now pastors and teachers are given to the church for the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry. We are to be involved in ministry together. There has been through church history, this sort of unbiblical idea of a clergy laity split. And again, I want to emphasize that that's unbiblical. We're all involved in ministry together. We all have roles to fulfill, responsibilities to fulfill. And we see that from Paul's example here in 2 Corinthians. Now, last week on point one, we looked at Paul's authority, the authority that's expressed in verses 23 and 24. Look at verse 23 with me.  Not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand. So let's look at our text and let's review our train of thought, the argument here of the text to this point. One, jot these down if it helps you. One, Paul has authority in the church as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's been given authority. That authority is inferred in verse 23 as the authority to either spare them or not to spare them. Okay. But he has authority in the church either to spare or not to spare as expressed there in verse 23 to that authority does not mean does not mean that Paul has dominion over their faith. He is not the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He does not have dominion over their faith. One God has dominion over their faith, right? Paul, not having dominion over their faith, then is a fellow worker together with them for their joy in the faith. Paul is a fellow worker. He's not a dominating tyrant over them, right? Expecting that they would have blind obedience to his rule or his word. Paul is a fellow worker together with them. Number three, Paul's authority, that authority that Paul does have is a delegated authority. In other words, it is given by the Lord. It's a delegated authority and it's rooted and grounded in the word of God. His authority is a delegated or a derivative authority for because that authority is rooted in the word of God, it is a declarative authority. In other words, God reveals himself to us through his word. Paul's authority coming from the word of God then is a declarative authority. He has the authority to declare the word of God, right? The Corinthians are not going to stand before Paul in the judgment. They're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ in giving account. Paul is there to declare the word of God to them and it's by their own faith or lack of it that they stand or fall, okay? Point five, it's Paul's responsibility. It's Paul's ministry. Paul's calling then to exercise that delegated and declared authority in the church for the benefit of God's people, right? His responsibility then is to exercise the authority that he's been given. For the sake of the Lord's church, for the eternal good of the Lord's people, Paul must labor in the ministry that the Lord has given him, even if it means rebuke, even if it means at times church discipline, as it often has already in the church at Corinth, even if it means declaring that someone's no longer a part of the church as he has had to do already in church discipline, even if it means exposing false teachers, even if it means exposing lies and error and heresies as he's already done in the church at Corinth, even if it means naming those false teachers by name, right? Hymenias, philetus, Alexander. Paul's also had to do that. So it's in that sense, and it's with that authority then, that Paul comes and has the right either to spare or not to spare, expressed in verse 23, okay? So if they don't repent, if they choose not to repent, he's already threatened not to spare in chapter 13, verse two. He says in chapter 13, verse two, I write to those who have sinned before and to all the rest that if I come again, I will not spare. Paul has the authority to spare or not to spare, right? To spare or not to spare, that is the question of verse 23, okay? So now, from verses 23 to 24, the issue that we're looking at specifically from these verses is not whether or not Paul has the authority, Paul certainly has the authority, alright? He certainly does. The issue under our consideration from this text is how Paul exercised that authority. From verses 23 to 24, we established that Paul exercised that authority in love, in love, right? He exercised his ministry. He fulfilled the responsibility that the Lord had given him. He did all of that in love. He labored by the rule of love, right? Paul would say in chapter 12, verse 15, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. That to me is just, that sums up Paul, right? It sums up ministry of the church. I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Even if it means that, Paul says there, the more abundantly that I love you, the less I am loved, right? Ministry in the Lord's church is a labor of love, even when it's hard and it often is hard. Ministry in the Lord's church is a labor of love, especially when it's hard. It's to be a labor of love, even when that love is not reciprocated, as it is currently among many in the church at Corinth. We've been given a stewardship. We are to minister in the Lord's church with love. Now even though Paul has the authority to pay them another painful and corrective visit, right? Even though he has the authority not to spare in that sense, he says in verse 23, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Paul determined in love, Paul determined that it would be more to their benefit, more loving toward them, more for their good, to refrain from coming to them, right? To change his plans and to refrain from coming to them again in sorrow and Paul hopes in his mind, Paul hopes rather to see them again in joy, Paul decides in wisdom to write a letter instead of coming to them again in pain. Make sense? That wasn't an easy letter that Paul decides to write. The letter is called a severe letter for a reason. Sometimes, sometimes the most loving thing that you can do is to say some hard things, right? Paul determines in love that a letter would be better for them than a visit. Why is that? Why is that? Because verse 24, Paul is a fellow worker together with them for their joy. Paul's goal, Paul's aim, Paul's ultimate end is their joy in the faith, which brings us to point two on your notes. The second of four exhortations to us as we endeavor to minister in the Lord's church as Paul did, the second of four exhortations is this, work together for the goal of joy. Paul labors by the rule of love, working together with them for their joy. That comes directly from verse 24. Not that we have dominion over your faith, Paul says, but our fellow workers together for your joy, for by faith you stand. In verse 24, notice first with me, Paul's horizontal relationship to the Corinthians themselves, all right? Paul's relationship to them. Rather than being lords over them, Paul, Silas, and Timothy are fellow workers together with them. So rather than pridefully exalting himself over them, trying to control them, trying to manipulate them, trying to dominate or coerce them. Paul takes the attitude, heart attitude of humbly standing beside them, persuading them, pleading with them in love. You can imagine Paul even holding their hand, weeping with them, right? Striving together with them for their joy. Notice next that relationship of standing beside them, not dominating them, but standing beside them, that work, that relationship has a goal, an aim or an end in mind, and that goal is joy. Paul is not in Corinth for the paycheck, right? In fact, he has forfeited that right. Paul's not there for some ulterior motive. He's not trying to build up numbers for himself in Corinth so that it makes him look better. He's not trying to build his name or build his own reputation. He's not trying to get ahead for himself, right? He's working there together with them alongside them in these difficult circumstances for their joy. That's Paul's goal, and it's the joy of faith. He works in service of their joy, right? The last Lord's name, we looked at the negative of this joy. We discussed how the dual diseases of legalism and license or disobedience can rob you of your Christian joy, right? So this week, we want to begin with point two here by considering the positive aspects of this joy, the positive aspects of this joy. And that begins with a little phrase at the end, the very end of verse 24 there, where Paul says that for by faith you stand. The emphasis there is on faith. Rather than a firm standing, there are a couple of translations, your ESV or NASB, that tend to emphasize their stance as firm. The emphasis in the verse is on faith, right? Rather than a firm standing, but on faith. And if you stand, essentially if you stand, the only way that you're going to stand is by faith, essentially what's being communicated. If you stand, the only way that you can stand is by faith. That little conjunction four there at the beginning points back in contrast to the domination referenced at the beginning of verse 24, look at the beginning of verse 24, right? Paul is saying, they don't have dominion over your faith. In other words, we can't force your obedience. We can't force you to agree with us. Or it is by your own faith that you stand. Calvin said that faith, genuine saving faith should be completely free of any bondage to men. Faith should have no master, but the word of God. Paul is not master of their faith. Their faith, they stand by their own faith, right? The word of God is to be Lord over their faith. Lord Jesus Christ, God himself, Lord over their faith. Paul and all pastors after him are no more than fellow helpers, no more than fellow workers, not lords. And faith is an individual matter between the believer and God. God is the author and finisher of our faith, amen? So here then is the logic of Paul's statement in verse 24. Paul essentially says in verse 24, we don't lord it over you because you stand by your own faith. We instead work with you in the service of your faith for your joy. Make sense? We don't lord it over you. You stand by your own faith. We instead work together with you in service of your faith for your joy. In other words, working together with them for the building up of their faith is for the goal of their joy and a strong faith produces joy. Because Paul labors in Corinth with the Corinthians as he works among them and prays with them and pleads with them and rebukes them and corrects them and encourages them. All of that work is a labor of love that builds up their faith. The end of a built up faith is joy. The end of genuine saving faith is joy. As Paul works together with them for their faith, their joy increases. Now Paul essentially says the same thing elsewhere in Romans chapter 15 verse 13. Paul says to these believers in Rome, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, right? As they believe, God fills them with joy and peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul in the same letter describes the kingdom in chapter 14 verse 17. He describes the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And he, Paul says, he who serves Christ in these things, serves Christ in what? In righteousness, in peace and in joy of the Holy Spirit. That one is acceptable to God and approved by men. Paul told the Philippians chapter one verse 25. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for, Paul says, your progress and joy of faith. As Paul works for their progress, as Paul works in service, in the service of their faith, they have joy. And we think about all these things together now. You and I, you and I, as members of his body, the church, we are to work together for one another in love for the aim of that joy produced by the Spirit, which is the fruit of a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. I know that's a mouthful. I want to repeat it. And I would encourage you to jot it down and think about it. We are to work together for one another in love for the aim of that joy produced by the Spirit, which is the fruit of a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. Now think with me for a moment about the fruit of joy in the Christian life. In Acts chapter eight, those who were scattered after Stephen was martyred for his faith, the Bible says that those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. They went everywhere preaching the gospel, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip, one of the deacons of the early church. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. Bible says that the multitudes with one accord, you can imagine, right? This is in Samaria. The multitudes with one accord heated the things preached by Philip. There was a Samarian Pentecost, so to speak, a Samarian revival. The Samaritans were gloriously saved in that city. And Acts chapter eight verse eight says that there was great joy. It was great joy in that city. That's what happens when the gospel breaks down. People get saved. There's great joy, right? Philip, on the heels of that experience in Samaria, Philip is then taken away to witness to the Ethiopian unit in Acts chapter eight. The Ethiopian unit is riding along in his chariot. He's having difficulty with the scroll of Isaiah. He needs someone to explain it to him. The Lord drops in, parachutes in, so to speak, Philip. Philip runs alongside. He's invited up into the chariot. He sits down next to the Ethiopian and he explains the scroll of Isaiah, preaching, as the word of God says, Jesus Christ to him from the Old Testament gospel, Isaiah. The Ethiopian unit is gloriously saved. He's baptized right then. And Luke records that he went along his way rejoicing, rejoicing, right? A joy of salvation. If you think about those texts of the Old Testament that say that the Ethiopian will not be accepted. No foreigner accepted into the temple of God. No unit accepted into the temple of God. And here from the scroll of Isaiah that this Ethiopian unit had purchased, purchased in Jerusalem, Philip comes along preaching Jesus Christ to him. He gets gloriously saved, forgiven of his sins, accepted by God. And what does he do? Of course, he rejoices. He rejoices at the preaching of the gospel. Isaiah 61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. Why? For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom. Decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. The Philippian jailer rejoiced at the preaching of Paul said to rejoice having believed in God. Peter, Peter says, though you do not now see him yet believing, Peter says you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.  A joy of believing, a joy of genuine salvation, having your sins forgiven? To be reconciled to God, you who are once an enemy of God by your wicked works now reconciled at peace with a God who made you to worship him forever. One day now in the kingdom, God dwells with his own. You dwell with him. One day in the new heavens, the new Jerusalem, we will dwell with him forever. He will be our God. We will be his people worshiping the Lamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world. We worship him for all eternity. That's joy, the joy of salvation. What is the chief end of man? We talked about that earlier, right? What is the chief end of man to glorify God and to rejoice in him forever? We were created. We were created to rejoice in the Lord. David says delight yourself in the Lord. We're to delight ourselves in the Lord. We're not sufficient in and of ourselves to find joy in us or to find lasting joy in our pursuits or our interests or our desires. We're not created to be an end in and of ourselves. We're to look for true and lasting joy in him alone. The only true and lasting joy is found in him alone. It's the only place you're going to find it. Not in the passing pleasures of this world. You know that kind of joy. Have you lost it? Has it become cooled or dull? If Adam never sinned, there would be perfect and undiluted eternal joy. But Adam did sin. When sin entered the world, death threw sin. Therefore death spread to all men because all of sin and sorrow and despair came with it. That which most interrupts our joy as Christians, that which most interrupts our joy is sin. Is sin. And so when joy is interrupted, man goes looking for his joy and creaturely pursuits. We are hell-bent, so to speak, to look for joy in all the wrong places. Man goes looking for joy and entertainment. And that joy is fleeting. For our like entertainment obsessed culture, that joy is transitory. It's fleeting. It's temporal. It's like a mist and it disappears. And yet we pour all of our hope for joy into entertainment. People that play video games for hours on the day watching movies all the time. It's just that's not where we find our true and lasting joy. Men go looking for their joy in drinking, in drugs, right? Drowning out the truth, doling their heart and mind to the truth. They go looking for joy in clothes, looking for joy in money, looking for joy in parties and friends, loved ones. They look for their joy in work. They look for their joy in sex. In comfort, in pleasure, in leisure. Man labors and strives for his own gain, thinking that whatever he can gain will bring him joy. In the end, in the end, Solomon says that every last bit of that is entirely and utterly vanity. And there was a guy who tried it all, right? Nothing truly satisfies, but being found in him. And that's why joy comes in salvation. When the Lord changes your heart, when the Lord changes your heart, changes your mind, you see the futility of your existence apart from him.  When you see that, you're made to see it because God gives you eyes to see, right? Ears to hear, a heart to perceive. And joy, true joy comes in salvation from that. True joy is found in him who loved you and gave himself for you. That joy is only produced in the believer by God's spirit. It's only possible that way. It's only possible in a genuine believer, a genuinely saved, reconciled, redeemed sinner, only possible in that person by the work of God's spirit. Joy is the inexpressible work of God's spirit. And that joy, that work is where a genuine believer is made to rejoice in God, the God of his salvation, and rejoice in the blessings that God gives them in his redemption. All of that accomplished by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all people simply don't experience that. Joy in this life, joy in this world is fleeting. God promises, God promises through Isaiah the prophet. God says, behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart. But you, unbeliever, God says, shall cry for sorrow of heart and wail for grief of spirit. Remember hearing an illustration one time of someone jumping out of a plane, right? Over the joy, the exhilaration, the rush of jumping out of an airplane, you know, they went and they put on a parachute and they're all excited. I'm going to go skydiving. Skydiving, I'm going to jump out of an airplane. All right, the doors fling open, the excitement rushes in, they jump out of the airplane, right, and just, you know, unutterable joy as they plummet. And that joy is only fleeting if your chute doesn't open, right? That's the joy of this world. Those born in Adam, which is every man, woman, and child alive, they are plummeting toward a termination. And there may be passing, fleeting, temporary experiences of joy or happiness along the way that is fleeting and temporary because the termination is coming. You're going to hit the ground at some point, some sooner rather than later. And all of that temporary, missed, vanishing, vaporous joy, that happiness, that worldly pleasure is going to come to an abrupt end and there is only left sorrow.  True joy, the only lasting joy, that joy which is not vanity, true lasting joy comes in being the beneficiary of His love, grace, and mercy in Christ. Counterfeit joy, counterfeit joy is that joy that is fleeting, right? That joy that doesn't proceed from a vital union with Him, that joy that is just passing, the joy of this world. And so many drown out the truth of Him, suppressing the truth in their unrighteousness.  Now, the opposite of this joy, the opposite of this joy is expressed in sorrow, sorrow. Now, Christians can experience sorrow, we know that from this text, it's sorrow that even believers may occasionally face. Pain, illness can cause sorrow, fear can cause sorrow, the loss of a loved one, right? It can cause sorrow. Jesus Christ tells the disciples in John chapter 16 that when He leaves them, they're going to experience lamentation and sorrow, weeping. But then He turns, then He turns to His disciples in John chapter 16 and He says this to them in verse 22. Therefore, He says, because He's leaving, you're now going to have sorrow, but He encourages them with this. He says, but I will see you again and your heart will what? Rejoice, your heart will rejoice and your joy, your joy no one will take from you. That's the joy of a Christian, right? We will see Him. We will see Him and our heart will rejoice and that's a joy that no one can take from you if you're in Christ. It's promised by God. The joy of a genuine Christian may be interrupted, but it's interrupted only for a time. One of the chief marks, one of the chief marks of a genuine true and lasting Christian joy is that it perseveres, is that it lasts. In the parable of the sower, our brother mentioned earlier, in the parable of the sower, the stony ground hearer immediately receives the word with what? With joy. The stony ground hearer immediately receives the word with joy, but He has no root in Himself. Because He has no root in Himself, He endures only for a while and when difficulty comes, He stumbles. What happens to His joy? It is out the window, right? For the Christian, for the Christian, that joy lasts. Now for the Christian, sin, persistent disobedience, as we talked about last Lord's day, sin will rob you of your joy. Sin will take the joy out of serving. Sin will take the joy out of loving your brother, loving your sister. It'll take the joy out of those things that you did for the Lord out of love and out of joy previously. Now you find no joy in them because sin has robbed you of that joy. Sin will take the joy out of serving. Sin will cause the Christian to feel exhausted. I can't do anymore. I'm just so tired or to cause the Christian to be exasperated.  His strength was dried up. Sin puts a halt, so to speak, a persistent, consistent pattern of sin. It's not done in faith. Results when the Christian becomes faithless. And if they're faithless, they are joyless. It will rob you of your joy. It will cause you to cease being thankful, cease being grateful. A lack of joy or sin will cause a lack of joy. Sin will cause you to lack love for your brother or your sister. It stifles your growth. Sin is oppressive. In all, sin is joyless. Sin produces sorrow. The Lord expects this joy in his people. Lord commands us to light ourselves in the Lord. We're to glorify him and enjoy him forever. So what do you do? You seek the joy of the Lord. You seek the joy of the Lord. You seek the joy of the Lord through the means that he's appointed through his word. Serve the Lord with gladness, the psalmist says. Come before his presence with singing. Well, how do you do that? You repent. You repent of your sin. You turn from your sin. You trust the Lord. A sorrowful person might object. How can a person rejoice who commits sin like I do? It's impossible for me to rejoice when I'm such a terrible sinner. Repent of your sin. Put your faith and trust in Christ. For the Christian, the genuine Christian who falls into patterns of sin or better yet walks headlong into patterns of sin. For the genuine Christian that does that, the foundation of your joy, the ground of your joy is not to be found within yourself or within your circumstances. The ground of your joy, the foundation of your joy, the root of your joy is to be found in Jesus Christ alone. And it's by faith in him that our joy is restored. So when you're busy as a genuine believer and you're busy being morbidly introspective, you're looking at your own heart, right?  You're no longer trusting in him. You're no longer rejoicing in his work. You're no longer expressing gratefulness and prayer to the Lord for what he's done for you.  You're not going to find joy in yourself. You're not going to find joy in your own holiness. You have none of your own. You're not going to find joy in your own performance. You can do no works that please him apart from faith in Christ. You have to get outside yourself and look to him, right? If a person had to wait for perfection or holiness within themselves for them to be joyful, you will never, ever, ever be joyful. Never. Our joy is found in him, in him. There's a great difference. There's a qualitative difference, if you will, between the one who is mourning over their sin and repenting of it and turning to Christ for forgiveness and times of refreshment. There's a distinct difference between that person and the person over here who is despairing and introspective and morbid and inwardly focused. Make sense? Or to turn from our sin. When someone mourns over their sin, when they humble themselves before the Lord and turn to Christ truly like asking for forgiveness and seeking grace, seeking mercy, Lord Jesus Christ promises, right, that when you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and your joy can be restored, not to be inwardly morbid. Don't yield yourself to a pattern of sin in your life. Don't yield yourself to a pattern of sin in your life. It will rob you of your joy. Incidentally, this, this, this, what we're speaking of is why hard preaching and sometimes hard conversations are necessary and good in the Christian life. One of the reasons that hard preaching, exhortational preaching, preaching against your sin, preaching that stands on both of your feet, on all of your toes, is because it directs us away from our sin to repentant faith in him.  So working together with one another for the goal of our joy involves hard preaching, hard conversations, confrontation sometimes, rebuke sometimes, reproof sometimes. It involves confrontation sometimes, right? It also will involve encouragement and comfort and support, but it's necessary that we are confronted with our sin. Hard preaching, tough talks with a brother or a sister against your sin or confronting you in your sin is what leads you to forsake it. It's a means that God uses to lead you to repentance. Solomon said this, Ecclesiastes 7 verse 2, better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter in this respect. For by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. We see that in Corinth under the ministry of Paul. Paul working together with them for their joy sends them a very hard and a very painful letter. That letter rebuking them for their sin certainly leads them to repentance and their ultimate joy in the faith. So back in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul explains in verse 23 that he changes his travel plans in order to spare them. He's working together with them for the joy of their faith and now he explains more fully what he was avoiding by sparing them. Now ignore the really poor placement of a chapter division there and look with me at chapter 2 verse 1. Paul says this, chapter 2 verse 1, but I determined this within myself that I would not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? And I wrote this very thing to you lest when I came I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. Now something has arisen in the church at Corinth that has brought sorrow rather than joy. What is that? Sin, right sin. The apostle Paul labored in Corinth, right? He worked with the believers there together with them for 18 months preaching the gospel to them. Pagans in multitudes are turning to Christ, the Spirit of God, knitting them together in that church. And it's evident that in that time, in that 18 months that Paul spent with them, Paul developed a great love, a great affection for those people. So what is the Christian response of love? What is the response of Christian love to sin? The response of Christian love to sin is sorrow, is grief. And so there's sorrow now in the church at Corinth, and there's sorrow and grief over their sin. Sin has leached its way into the church, it has ruined their joy, it has ruined Paul's joy over them, and it's given rise to great sorrow. They have, think about their sin. They have despised Paul, they've rejected his authority, they've spurned his leadership, they've abused their so-called liberties, resulting in division, resulting in immorality, in idolatry. There have been divisions among them, there's been discord, Christians taking other Christians to court, bringing reproach on the name of Christ. There were divisions over baptism, right? And ungodly, and ungodly observance of the Lord's Supper. There was gross abuse regarding the gifts of the Spirit. There is confusion and disorder in their public worship. They were steeped in carnality, behaving like natural men. They were succumbing to error regarding the resurrection. To top it all off, there was this deplorable case of incest that they failed to discipline, a case that even the world would see as evil, unacceptable. And now they're beginning to fold under accusations against Paul that he couldn't be trusted. The result is great sorrow. And Paul has had it. The result is sorrow. And Paul has had it. Look at chapter two, verse one. I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. Not going to come again to you in sorrow. The word again there implies a previous painful visit. And now because they've not repented of their sin, he's faced with another painful visit. And Paul cannot enjoy his fellowship with them due to their sin. Their sin has come between them. So instead of joy, instead of joy, sin has brought grief and sorrow to the Corinthians, and sin has brought grief and sorrow to the apostle Paul. Now Paul loves them. If Paul were indifferent toward them, there would be little concern here, but Paul's not indifferent, right? This is, again, this is the labor of love. Paul loves them. And so Paul is not indifferent. Their sin has certainly become burdensome to Paul. And this experience isn't limited to Paul, is it? Right? Many of you have been grieved, as I have been, over the sin of someone who professes to be a brother or a sister. Right? They plunge themselves into their sin against all of your pleading and crying and praying. You've experienced that, some of you, when someone you love departs the faith. Right? When they're heading in the wrong direction and you see every ditch and pothole along the way, and they will not turn. Right? Many of you have experienced exceeding sorrow over the sins of your child, over the unbelief of your child. How heart-wrenching is it when they reject the Gospel, reject the Lord Jesus Christ? You want to rip your heart out of your chest? Over the sin of your spouse, the grief, right? The sorrow that that brings to your heart, that's caused by sin. That's what sin does. All that sin as grieving and as heartbreaking as it is to you, all that sin is ultimately against God.  One of my favorite hymns says that mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung him on that judgment tree. Right? That sin, that sin against God, sin against the one who died for sinners, sin against grace. Those who fall away into sin, the Bible says, they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame. The Bible says it's impossible, it's impossible to renew those to repentance, again to repentance. They insult the spirit of grace, they have counted the blood of the covenant, a common thing. They've trampled the Son of God under foot. If you're in sin, if you're in sin, you're causing sorrow. You're causing grief. It's not that you sin against me or sin against your brother or sin against your sister, you sin against God.  You're grieving that brother or sister who's laboring with you for your joy. Your sin causes sorrow and sadness and disappointment and discouragement. But most importantly, your sin grieves the Lord who died for sinners. So what does Paul do here? What does Paul do in response to this? No doubt, Paul's heart is broken over these Corinthians. Sin has robbed them of their joy.  Brings us to point three on your notes, insist on the obedience of faith, insist on the obedience of faith. Paul must deal with the sins. The Corinthians must repent for their joy to be restored, right? David says that, restore to me, God, the joy of my salvation. Turn from your sin. Paul desperately wants them to do that before he visits them again. Verse two, if I make you sorrowful, Paul says, who is he who makes me glad, but the one who has made sorrowful by me? In other words, Paul's joy is wrapped up inextricably with their joy. Paul says, if I visit to rebuke you and cause you all sorrow and pain, then who is there left at Corinth who can make me glad? The one that I just rebuked, right? That's sort of Paul's mind here in verse two. It doesn't make sense if one is grieved, the other is grieved. Mutual joy here isn't possible until the sin is dealt with. Paul's decision not to avoid the sin, not to sweep it under a rug, not to avoid it, Paul's decision was to deal with sin by writing a painful letter. Gonna write them a letter instead of going to them and give them gracious time to repent, rather than visiting them again, risking the added sorrow of alienating them further from him or alienating them further from the Lord. Paul decides I'm gonna give them time. I'm gonna write them a letter instead. Now, Paul has explained all this in his letter to them. Look at verse three. Paul says, I wrote this very thing to you. He explained it to them, lest when I came I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy. In order for there to be genuine joy, the sin must be dealt with. There must be repentance. Paul must insist on the obedience of faith. So he writes them a letter, a letter confronts them, calls them to repentance. That letter has been lost. We don't have it. We can only assume what Paul wrote in that letter, but certainly Paul confronts them, calls them to repentance, and he does so in hope. He does so in faith. Look at the last part there, verse three. Having confidence in you all that my joy, the joy of genuine saving faith, is the same joy of you all. In other words, I have confidence. I have confidence you're gonna respond rightly.  So Paul's hope, Paul's confidence is well placed in the Lord. We know from chapter seven that Paul's difficult and painful letter, at least in some part, has had the desired and prayed for effect. Look quickly at chapter seven and drop down to verse eight. Chapter seven and verse eight. Paul says there, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it, though I did regret it. Do you see how that makes sense in the context? I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice. Why do you rejoice, Paul? Verse nine, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. You want to know what godly sorrow looks like? Read on. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.  Paul's explaining it right here. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner, what diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what anger over sin, right? Righteous anger over their own sin, what fear it caused, what vehement, fervent, earnest desire, what zeal it caused, what vindication and all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. That's repentance. That's repentance, right? Therefore verse 12, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. He says essentially the same thing in chapter 2 verse 4, right? Sometimes a loving confrontation, a loving rebuke is the clearest evidence of genuine love. Verse 13, therefore we have been comforted in your comfort, we have been comforted in your comfort and we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. He got a good word back, good report back from Titus, and upon their genuine repentance, their mutual joy is restored. Verse 14, for if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I'm not ashamed, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true, and his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you rejoiced, you received him, therefore I rejoice, Paul says, that I have confidence in you and everything. Paul wrote to them with confidence that he expressed in chapter 2 verse 3. Now he can write further with even greater confidence and joy hearing from Titus about their repentance. We must insist on the obedience of faith. We must aim for, right, hope for, pray for, labor for, strive for the obedience of faith. Why? Why? Because that the obedience of faith is the path forward to restoring genuine true Christian joy. It's far easier not to get involved, isn't it? Paul could have just hunkered himself down in Ephesus and not concerned himself with what was going on in Corinth, right? The Lord is sovereign, all I can do is pray for them. Far easier not to ask questions, far easier not to confront, far easier to let things slide. No one likes conflict, right? No one likes confrontation, sweep the sin under the rug, right? Let's just pretend it's not happening, to turn a blind eye to Corinth. I've got work to do here in Ephesus. Somebody else has got to deal with that. I've got work to do at home. I've got work to do at work. I've got work to do at school. Somebody else can go after that person who's straying, that person who's in sin. Better yet, better yet, right?  Let's just maintain really superficial relationships in the church. Let's just sort of pretend to be really close friends, so that we don't have to deal with stuff like this, right? If we don't know, if you begin to get into a conversation that they start revealing a little too much, let's just change the subject really quickly. I don't want to know too much. Let's just be really superficial with one another. You come up with some really holy sounding justification for why you won't get involved or minister in the Lord's church. It's like all we can do is pray for them. Well, yes, certainly you can pray for them, but you can do more than just that. It gets bad enough. You stop talking to them.  Happens all the time. It may be easier. It may be easier, but it's not loving. Paul didn't do any of these things. Paul labored with those people in the trenches, so to speak, in Corinth. Why is that? It's because he loved them. He loved them. Point four on your notes, we're to minister with a testimony of love. We're to minister in the Lord's church with a testimony of love. Verse four, Paul says, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but so that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. This was no heartless exercise for Paul. He didn't correct them because they were making him look bad. They weren't quote unquote hurting his reputation. You can imagine Paul writing this and having trouble writing because he couldn't see what he was doing through his tears, right? Having to stop, wipe his eyes and write again. Having to pray and write, stop and pray and go back to writing.  Paul does what is necessary. He does what is hard and he does it with the right heart. Paul pours himself into ministry, spends himself as he says on the sacrifice and service of their faith. He laid his heart there and Paul uses his mind. He considers them, right? He thought about those people under his care. He thought about their needs, thought about their personalities, thought about how they might react, thought about their scruples. He thought about their sin and the state that they were in. Should I go now and visit them again? Should I go and see them when I know I'm going to have to rebuke them? Is that what's best for them? Or should I write them a letter instead? I want to do what's most helpful, what's most beneficial to them. What would be most loving? What would be most considerate? God help me. I want to labor for the benefit of these people. What do I do now? Paul decides to write the letter. What should I say? How should I say it? Should I say it this way or say it that way? Paul's loving heart is considering them, certainly. He wants them to hear his heart in this letter. Considering Paul's approach here, Calvin says that it would essentially be remarkably unbecoming of the Corinthians to take offense at Paul's letter. Even though it's a severe letter, Paul wearing his heart on his sleeve, it's here in this particular example of Paul that we see the heart and mind that should precede and accompany any rebuke or discipline. That's the heart and mind that should accompany any hard conversation, any confrontation, any active discipline. We see in the Corinthians the repentance that should accompany a Christian's response to sin. Here we see the example of Paul's heart and mind. Let your loving pleading, let your ministry in the Lord's church, let your loving confrontation, your loving rebuke, let it be with much affliction, with much anguish of heart and with many tears that they might know the love, the abundant love that you have for them. Paul didn't avoid them. Paul wasn't superficial with them. He didn't neglect them. Paul wasn't heartlessly harsh toward them. He labored with them in love for the joy of their mutual faith. You and I, we've got to be involved in this kind of ministry, amen. Labor by the rule of love, work for the goal of joy, insist on the obedience of faith, minister with a testimony of love. All praise, honor, and glory to him who has shown us such grace, amen. Let's pray. Take a few moments. Pray silently. Examine yourself. Then rejoice in the Lord for his grace. Let's ask the Lord what he would have us do in ministry in the Lord's church for his glory. Let's pray. When you're done praying, you are dismissed.


Articular cartilage damage can lead to osteoarthritis, a debilitating condition that affects millions of people globally. Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach to treat this condition by creating artificial cartilage tissues using scaffold technology. Recent advancements in fabrication techniques have enabled the development of scaffolds with complex, biomimetic designs and properties, such as hybrid and zonal designs. These scaffolds have shown promise in cartilage tissue repair and may provide a viable alternative to current treatments. This article was authored by Xiong Biaochen, Zara Zatafar and William Kulik.


Item number bending. Temporary designation, SCP AQUA. Object class bending. Description. SCP AQUA is an underwater city populated by somewhat humanoid entities.  The entities inhabiting the city of SCP AQUA are designated SCP Mermaids. SCP Mermaids have weapons which may be able to destroy human civilization. As this anomaly has only been recently discovered, command is still formulating a defensive strategy.


If you had a chance to change one thing in Africa, what will it be? Mind set to change. What is it about our mind set that you're going to change? We were born and grew up in Africa. So our mentality is totally different to Chinese, different to Asians in general. So our friends, they believe in making things done. Well, here we believe in who is going to help me. I have this problem, who is going to help me, I have this problem. So our minds are dependent. So our friends' minds are dependent. They know that each problem which comes to them, they have to find a solution and break through. When we got back to land, we got like Malawi. But inside, we got like Zombe. And like Zombe did not exist in 2005. Yeah, well, there was no rake. There was just a small stream, but I managed to excavate all this area to make it into a lake. So I've done this for almost 10 years. Finally, here we are. What's an island? Yeah, we have 11 islands. 11 islands? Yeah, we have 11 islands on this lake. And we have also what we call a floating list right over there. And two more luxury boats. Yeah, we are just waiting for certification. As soon as we get the certificates next week, then we have them on the lake. How is this feeling knowing that this dream came from your head? Well, whenever somebody has fulfilled his dreams, it becomes very happy and excited. And I think it's very encouraging that now I will start building 1000 fish bones so that we could also be raising as much fish as we can to feed the whole entire nation. There are fishes in this lake? Yeah, we have a lot of fish. And most people who come here, they eat fish from this lake. Yeah, and all those beds, they're just there for the fish. Yeah. Did the islands have names? No, not yet. Okay, so that's an island that I just was perfect. So I'm going to put my name on it. You know that this is my first time to be on this boat. What do you mean? Your first time? That's my first time. Maybe I was waiting for you. You sure are. He built a whole mermaid lake. He got boaties in here, but he has never been on the lake himself. So for the first time, so as I came in here, we had to come along with me. That's beautiful. What is your definition for sausage? Well, my definition is we have to work for success. Sure, there's no way we can be successful. We have been spoiled as Africans, because most of the people have been supporting with us with the little, little things which cannot change our lifestyle. So instead, we become dependent depending on some people. But if we need Malawi or Africa as a whole to be independent, then now we have has to have it. What is our destination? So the moment we have our destination, then we have to plan for it. After planning for it, then let us all come together and we will be successful. For them, after 12, 24, each state work hard and become a leader, be lazy and become a slave. So will you say your secret to success is work hard? Work hard. Nothing else. But you have to work hard. But when you are working hard, you have to work smart. I have to think and work according to your plans. He built a whole agriculture college for families in this village. Kids in this village were not left out. You see this block right here? It was donated by a same person. What a great man he is man. I love this code. One man donation, Dr. Napoleon Zombe from aid to trade. He's a big fan of Africans, not dependent on aid, but rather trade to make money to take care of themselves. Self-governance now, self-reliance now. So this is a banana plantation? Ya, this is a banana plantation. That's where everything started from. So I bought two bags of fertilizer and 16 packets of maize seed. Then I had asked my father and the family to join me to grow maize. I went to another district to get some four guys on the contract. But if they help me, this is how much I will give them. So we worked. Finally we had harvested 63 farm cuts of maize. After sharing some wheat, we came up with 300 bags. So we sold. Then we ended up making some good man. Then now I said what next? I think now we have to start growing tobacco. My father had cleared all the trees and he did the plowing. After that he failed everything. So because he failed, then when I came back as a young man, then I discovered that it was my father who did everything. So I called this place Zeruza Bambo means Father's Wisdom. So the name of this place is Father's Wisdom because it's the father who blots me here and he is the one who opened this garden of this farm. So I had to use his land in order now to start what I started. So everything that I have comes from here. This is where you grew tobacco? Yeah, that's where I grew maize first. After maize, tobacco. So from this farm, then now I have over 23,000 acres of land coming from this small piece of land. This is the first ever green pitch in this village and it was done by the same man. It's not done yet but I will come here when it's done to play football with the villagers. I wanted to ask you what at all in life have you not planted? Because he seems to have planted everything. That's what I said that I'm doing everything. Yeah, I have thousands and thousands of trees, fruit trees, have I don't know. You're planting trees because you used to cut down trees before? Before I was cutting down trees. So now I'm replacing the trees. Secondly, every demon jack doesn't need a fruit. So it's advisable for me to have lots of fruit trees in order to provide something to our country for export as well as local consumption. So how many mangoes have you planted? These are guavas, mangoes. These are mangoes. All these are mangoes. I have planted over 11,000 mango trees. So some trees have already grown up that you have started harvesting already. These trees I think next year we will start harvesting them. You can see them flowering. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we have some mangoes this year next year that's when we are going to have many mangoes.  So I just bought some liquid which they use to make the road strong. So those drums, one drum is about $6,000 so I bought a few drums. So from next week onwards we will start improving this road so that it would stand for at least 20 years. This man can't stop blowing my mind away. The moment I thought it's all over then he starts something new. Currently we are his plants. This is what we call the rice processing plant but apparently he got six different processing plants over here. I think he needs to tell us more. I'm excited man. Can you please like this video and share it so that others can see it but please we need to get this channel to $2,000,000 so if you haven't subscribed, please come on. I have not yet entered but what I'm seeing is super crazy man. Wow! So most of the machines are not yet those are incubators. I was telling you that we need some farmers to be raising chickens so these are incubators laid for the chickens and this is a plant for rice part of which is outside. So those guys are working on extending the building so that all the machinery will be inside. So you grow the rice here? Yes, we grow rice here. And you process it? Yes, I grow it. This is some of the rice. Made in Malawi rice. This can feed the whole country. It's amazing man. I feel like a kid in a candy shop because I'm so excited to be here seeing what Africans are doing in Africa. No one can tell me anything else again. We need to grow big anyway. And I'm so glad. This is already big but if you still want to grow big, I'll look to continue on. Yeah. My slogan is grow big or go home. That's your slogan? Yeah, that's my slogan. So you don't want to go home? Or go home? Since you don't want to go home? No way. You are growing big? Yeah. So these are some of my toys? They're toys? Yeah, some of them. Some of the toys? Because they have many. You have many toys like that? Yeah. It's fish feed. Oh, you process fish feed here? Yeah, I have many machinales. Is it for the fish pond? Yeah. This is crazy. They are currently making fish feed for the man-made lake. I mean, there are fishes in there so they need to feed the fishes. So this is the fish feed they are making. Also, he's a big fan of fish ponds in the village. So these fish feeds feed them. Also anyone who wants to buy fish feed he provides it. One man touching so many lives. The best video I've ever made. Hands down. Did you train the workers on how to use the machines? Yeah, we have some people with the experience so now they are teaching them how to trade. And he's a local? Yeah. He's empowering the whole village. No one is left out. Like, you see the people you're seeing? He got an aspect, that trend, the local villagers to do what they do. I'm the oldest good robot. You're the oldest good robot. This place is more like an industrial hub with different machines doing different things but belongs to one person. Will you say this place is an industrial hub? Yeah, it's industrial park. Industrial park? Yeah. Is that another machine? Well, we have many machiners. This one, that's what? Those are harvesters and we have machiners for peanut butter. We have machiners for flour, machin for cooking oil. We have many machiners there. So you add value to that?  Every demon has to bring his crops here. Then we process and do packaging. Then we're ready for export and local perception. That way now we can find a way to generate for an exchange. You believe in value addition? That's what I believe in. What do you think is the problem of Africa? We don't have a vision. Many people don't think about tomorrow. What they need is they have to do business today. Someday they have to make profit. Wow, what is this? This is the ground nuts. The ground nuts? You make peanuts? The peanut butter? So all these are from the farmers? So they bring it here? You buy from them or from your own farm? I buy from them. You buy from them? Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. You still feel like you're not done? You're not satisfied? I know it yet. When will you be satisfied? When I see people have money. That's it. Just want to see people have money. Because I can see all of them are so happy to see you. Did you have a job before? No. Now he has given you a job. What do you do here? What do you do here? You work and you are happy. This is real work and happiness. That's the meaning. That's the meaning. Does it mean you used to be a farmer or something? Farm. That's it. Now you have a farm and you also have a factory. God bless. Doctor and zombie man. Like I've never done any video like this before. I've met incredible people. But this one blows my mind. And I'm just giving you a raw reaction. I'm not even faking it. I mean I feel like this video is not supposed to be one day as you spend a whole month with him. And maybe I need to come back again and spend a month with him. And every day I'll tell you a different story on what he does. Because I'm just in the car and he's just showing me stuff. And my mind is just like no way. I now understand and believe what Kwame Kuma said by saying a black man is capable of managing his own affairs. Do you believe in that statement? Yes, I do. But there are so many people who don't believe in that statement of Kwame Kuma. Well, wise people, they take wise ways to be wise. Fulish people take wise ways and wise ways. So it depends who the guy was speaking to. If he's smart, he will know smart ways. If he's not smart, we will not be smart to him. Do you believe that Africa is independent? I don't believe because our minds still depend on where they live. He's a living legend. Believe me or not, this man is a living legend. I've never seen anyone like him. This is my country number 30 and if I tell you that I've never seen anyone like him, believe me. I'm doing this video but I'm so emotional because I've never seen anyone. The love that he has for his people, the passion to change the lives of his people. As a businessman, it's all about making money. But it's all about impact you make in the society. And I believe that when you make an impact, that's when the income comes in. Like this video. Subscribe and be part of this awesome channel and welcome to Warm Heart of Africa. But if this video inspired you, please share this video.  Come and see it for yourself. When you come to Malawi, touch down in the long way. Just ask them. Just the name. Type it. Napoleon Udumbe. It will take you here. And you won't be disappointed. I think before you leave, you better read this verse 9. Verse 9. Better to be an ordinary... Okay. Proverse 12 verse 9.  I read again. I read again.  Do you want to explain that to me? Well, I think it's self-experimental but what it all means is we Africans, if we love our continent Africa and we put much effort on hardworking, I think that is going to help us to come out of dependence rather than having big calves, having big houses while we are not here to do that stage. What we need first is we have to establish a platform where every jim and jacket now can stand and go forward. So that's why this guy says it is important for somebody to be self-servant and work than just to be self-important and have no food. When you hear the name Africa, what comes into your mind?  Many people from all over the world they live in their countries, they come here in order to find something which can help them in their countries. So because of egunwas, we feel that they have come to help us yet they have come to get what we have. So, let us come together and work hard so that we can be successful. Otherwise, nobody will come from anywhere to develop our African continent. It's up to us to do it. What does agriculture mean to you? Agriculture. Well, agriculture is a science of growing crops and the animals on land for the benefit of the people. But many people who have been trained for agriculture, well, they live in a school with a very good certificate. Instead, they go to look for a job instead of implementing what they have learnt in their various places. And it's the people who are beginning to agriculture investors who can help us to reach where we want to be. But those guys, they just get the certificates. Now they say, I have a diploma, I want a job. Instead of them creating a job. So if those whom we think that they are educated, they are just looming around with their certificates. Now who is going to create the jobs? It's a responsibility of every African? It's a responsibility for every African to see to it that those who have been to good schools now they have to start their own businesses. So that those who have never been to school can be learning from them. But now, you dad did not go to school the one who is employing the graduates, the diplomas, the people with the master degrees and all of that. Well, I think after leaving school I have been travelling across the world. So I have seen what people are doing practically. So now what I have seen is what I am implementing. You learnt from the streets? Exactly. We have so many young people that watches this video and if you have a message for young people, what would that message be? My message is success comes from hardworking. So if you young generation you need to be successful then forget about handouts. Let us concentrate on working hard. The moment we work very hard then we will be independent and we will make the right decisions because we will not be afraid of anybody. Instead we will be independent and do the right decision. But if you are not a hard worker you always need just to please somebody who is helping you. And that will not take us anywhere. So my advice please you young guys let us come together and work to develop our nation. No angel will come to help us do and accomplish what we want. It's up to you as young generation to do all what you can so that 5 to 20 years to come Africa should be an independent continent. But is there anything you are doing to empower young people across the continent? Or even in Malawi? Well in Malawi they have been inviting me to go to different places to teach these young guys and mentor them so I have done that so when I have a chance I am more than willing to help other people across the continent. Let me tell you something I have not known him for so long I just spent a whole day with him but he is a billionaire of ideas man. But I don't know they are trying to find out if you are a billionaire of ideas does it make you a billionaire in cash? Well I think according to scripture probably chapter 14 verse 24 it states wealth is a crown for the wise so if wealth is a crown for the wise then you need to be wise in order to get wealth so that's it That's the best answer I've received in a very long time and I want to tell you you are amazing I'm so happy to meet you I'm so inspired and I hope each and everyone watching this video is inspired just like I am inspired Thank you Well thank you so much We wish you good luck and I will see you again Well let us be reading so that we should be sharing ideas for the benefit of our continent Thank you Thank you so much


Hi everybody, I'm Chris Lethem and this is another episode of The Economy and You and today we're going to be talking with a guest who's a correspondent, he's been spending some time in Turkey and we're going to talk about some of the issues that are going on in that part of the world because it's, you know, I think the impact of what's going on in Istanbul, in Turkey and their neighbors, what's going on with Syria and so on, I think it deserves commentary and some discussion. Then I think today we've got the perfect guest. Today's guest is Russell Kohler. Russell is visiting with us today through Skype, through technology, of course that's what we do so well here at ThinkTechAway and so I want to welcome Russell to the show. Thanks Chris, it's great to be here. Nice to have you Russell. So anyway you, you lived in Turkey for a while. I did. Yes and now you're currently, where are you currently, where are you today? Currently I'm living in Washington D.C. I've been, I've moved there from Istanbul, Turkey, having worked there this past summer and I've lived there for about a year, a year and a half, two years ago so I spent a couple of years in the immediate region and so it's a great place, very interesting, very exciting but I'm glad to be back. Well Turkey certainly is an area where East meets West. It's positioned just west of the Caspian Sea and provides the only real outlet to the, what do they call that, the sea there, where Russia connects? The Black Sea, yeah okay there it is, the Black Sea. I don't know why I have a hard time remembering the Black Sea but anyway it's, it is a land of contrasts over there, right? I mean you've got, you've got a country that's supposed to be practicing democracy but we have a president who currently now in Turkey has, he's been playing, playing a new, new game and we saw a recent coup and so I'd like to get some of your feedback on what do you think or what do you think he goes from here now? Absolutely, I mean you're absolutely right to point out that Turkey is a country of different contrasts. It's a country with a very tumultuous history and it's really a country that you know it lends itself to being really the epitome of pluralism. There are dozens if not a hundred different cultures, religious sects within Turkey and you know the governments of the past have reflected that based upon practicing policies of intense secularism so as to not create or intensify sectarianism within the country. Now unfortunately this, the current government has been utilizing and propagating conservative policies, consolidating its political power within the country and really legitimizing its actions through this more Islamic ideology. Well there is, yeah there is that sort of Islamic ideology that has been a part of Turkey's you know culture for a very long time and now that we see Erdogan and his policies and the impact of his policies of course is the pushback that we had with the coup d'etat or the attempt at the coup d'etat. We've seen thousands of people being arrested and I think we're seeing a further dissolution of what we would call part of a secular democratic structure, whereas you have an independent court system, you have a free and functioning legislature, you have a military that answers to the government but most importantly to a citizen government. So the question is is that was this coup, does this help him more than hurt him from where you look at it today? Is this something now that is going to make it harder for him to, or easier for him to dismantle the democratic structures? That's a great question. I mean for a long time since 2003 when, or 2002 rather, when the AKP, the Justice and Development Party within Turkey, Erdogan's party came into power in 2003 when he became Prime Minister, there was a real struggle for this new conservative party to overtake and eventually dissolve the military's political power within the country and over time along with some mock really pretty ridiculous trials based upon fraudulent evidence and really to destroy the power of the military in the country, they've been able to do that and this now, this new coup d'etat which is one of four that have happened throughout Turkey's history. So this is a country that's not, it's not a regular development but it's certainly, you know, it's not absent of this, of this happening but this coup, it's what seems to have happened is this has given him sort of the final, sort of final justification. Exactly, yeah, the final justification was allowed him justification to really take the gloves off and go after his political enemies once again, wherever they may be, whoever they may be. Now is this necessary? Is this necessary because of what's going on in the surrounding area? I mean is it an imperative that he needs to take sort of take on a totalitarianistic bent in order to protect Turkey from what's going on with ISIS and some of the concerns or considerations with the sort of the recent empowerment of the Kurds because we've seen the Kurds who were previously part of the PKK and considered a terrorist organization, they're now taking and pushing back against ISIS, I think quite effectively and as you were saying when we talked earlier that they have sort of solidified their position east of the Euphrates, is it important or does Erdogan see this as a part of or a rationale for taking and putting himself into a more a a dictator type role? You know I think given what's happening in the region and more so than not what's happening within Turkey itself, this has given him especially the justification for this further political consolidation. Now this has happened in the past, in 2013 we had the massive Gezi Park protests which really were the first time the Turkish population had risen up against Erdogan, President Erdogan's policy at that time, Prime Minister Erdogan and then of course you had in December 2013 you had the corruption scandal protests which really that was the final straw between Fethullah Gulen who was apparently the leader of Kudatah according to the Turkish government and you know this has been sort of an ebb and flow over time with President Erdogan. Well Erdogan is blaming this Muslim cleric that's been living in the United States. Now is this guy just a this cleric is he just sort of the goat and again further justification of Erdogan's actions or is this guy really, does he really have an interest, has there been any proof that he is in fact driving a different agenda to get rid of Erdogan? Well there's definitely a tense relationship between the two, you know they were former allies, political allies, former ideological allies during the time of the AKP's rise during the time of you know the type Erdogan's political rise but you know eventually when it when it did fall apart the two did become very bitter and use any in all means to diminish each other's power within the country. It sounds like an ugly divorce. Exactly yeah yeah yeah but going you know whether or not Fethullah Gulen was actually a part or a main plotter within this this coup d'etat it is you know analytically hard to believe it's when we consider you know looking at autocracies and authoritarian governments you know whenever there is the need for a distraction especially in times of crisis the first thing you do is externalize the threat and more or less what ended up happening was a very disgruntled group within the military had actually organized itself and planned this coup within the actual institution itself not necessarily had any form back and it's actually come out that these military officials including actually the the commander of injury base which is the air base we use to strike right siri and striking off they'd actually use WhatsApp to to plan this this entire operation and the reason for that is the end-to-end encryption and so to think that you would have now a outside actor from the United States communicating that's a lot of technicalities that would be hard to believe in an operation really seem to be insular and seem to be military to your right right well but is it plausible that he may have had some role to to play in this even if it was just you know what a role of simply you know cheerleading these the military's attempt to take power because the military has had power for quite a long time they've always had a very fairly political military and and they have been sort of maybe maybe they were given too much authority perhaps he was concerned about them having too much clouds absolutely I mean ever since the founding of the Turkish Republic and the death of Mustafa Kemal of the Turk the you know the father of Turk the first president of Turkey he had really given the role to the protection of the Turkish constitution not to the political leaders but to the Turkish the institution of the military in Turkey right and so they had taken that role up and had really executed that role quite a few times now in the in the past in the last six seven decades so do you think we've seen the last last we've seen the last attempt at a coup by the military you know that's a that's an interesting question because from talking to from hearing talking to studying all the experts on Turkey uh not a single person would have would have predicted this could have happened this was probably the biggest surprise of any real global development that that could have been because this was a this was a country seemingly prosperous from the outside that had gotten control over its institutions its government had already started to purge people over the last five or six years or so and you would have expected that well this sort of level of planning you know given the given the political consolidation would not have been possible but that's that's quite amazing yeah well you know when we come back I want to talk a little bit about some of the current things that are happening today there was an announcement by Russia that they had taken out Abu Muhammad al-Adnani which we are saying uh no that they weren't responsible for that but we think that we were so we're going to take a commercial break and we'll be right back and let's talk about some of the current other current events going on in the region okay this is Hawaii the state of clean energy a wonderful show we do uh four to four thirty every single Wednesday and the progenitors of this show uh Sharon Moriwaki race darling to my left so how's it going how's it going Sharon do you like the show I love the show and I hope everybody watches the show and joins in and gives us their comments on clean energy yeah every week every week with incredible guests and topics and discussion and mostly candor this month is all renewable energy and next month we're going to look at procurement each month we have a different series uh and so it's it's going very well learn so much we keep the public so well advised the best we can right what do you think well I think this is the place where it's happening this is where we discuss the latest of what what is going on in the energy world and it's a great place to be a great place to meet some new people that are into the energy world that uh we uh we haven't talked to you before so I'm happy to be here okay this is a you know energy is the biggest thing happening in hawaii where they realize that it's not going to affect all of our lives is affecting all of our lives and it's like a million things are happening in energy how could you possibly understand what's happening unless you are informed this is your way this is the deal hawaii the state of clean energy every wednesday four o'clock right join us i knew you'd say that and hey hi i'm brisley the man we're back here with the economy and you at think tech hawaii uh today's guest um we've been talking to rustle polar rustle is in washington dc so this is sort of one of those sort of weird and wonderful shows that we do with think tech where we actually have an interview with somebody over skype um skype still has his challenges but we i i think it's always interesting when we have an opportunity to gauge people outside of hawaii um and rustle thank you for being on the show today we're you know one of the things we're talking about is is uh is some of the current activities that are going on and turkey's role you know turkey um is probably no lover of asad syrians president asad and we're seeing lots of activity going on of course isis has made a move into that region um in their attempt to create a uh a caliphate is a caliphate i think the word is caliphate to create a caliphate and uh and then there's been a lot of pushback and we've got a lot of different players in the field today right there on turkey's border we've got um you've got fsa we've got the curds we've got the russians of course who um who are supporting al-asad we've got the iranians apparently the iranians are are in the middle of this battlefield as well over turkey and are over syria and so how is this impacting how is this impacting turkey and turkey in terms of their economics in terms of what they're doing politically um what is the fallout from all of this absolutely that's a great question and you know turkey you know other than syria which of course is has been the greatest victim and the syrian people have been the greatest victim of this horrific civil war oh sure turkey turkey has has probably been the second greatest victim within all this and the reason for that is with the um the intensification of the of the war of the involvement of outside actors and the inclusion of course of of more advanced weaponry more and more people being pushed out of syria and leaving and run and running between syria and more and more of those people if not i believe turkey now has almost three million refugees within its borders and so you know over the last four years for a long period of time turkey had actually been paying and financing the the housing and really the asylum of those refugees um itself and really been fitting uh fitting the bill but there was sort of turkey was a bit of a conduit though for those people who wanted to go fight either against or for isis their their border was rather fluid for quite some time i think it's only recently that they've started to tighten up their border to mitigate um the opportunity for people to come in and out of out of uh southern border exactly and you know i was you know a couple months ago i was out of at a briefing regarding the syrian refugee situation there was a a former turkish national police official who had actually been the director of their border security the national security and he had actually stated that you know it's difficult to close down a border at this time the united states was telling us you know requesting turkey you need to shore up your your war security and he said you know to the audience that you know it's difficult to shore up your border security when it's a government policy not to do so yeah um and and it had been that way for a couple years which was turkey was allowing these these fighters and these volunteers to move through this territory in order to bolster the numbers and the ranks of syrian rebel forces uh of course many of those as we now know ended up fighting for isis many of those ended up fighting for al-musra um for turkey you know they've not been supportive of isis or al-musra in any any way or any fashion in any financing or or security or or any any of those aspects thereof but um they are very supportive of specific turkman groups within syria and wanted the border to be open so that way a very easy flow of supplies could go back and forth well that's interesting because you know you get a collateral consequence of having allowing supplies to go through is that you allow people to go through as well and i would it would seem to me that this has exacerbated the situation on some level because if supplies are going through that could also mean that military arms are passing through absolutely and you know historically the turkish syrian border you know is a is a place for smumbers the turkish syrian border has always been a place whereby the pkk and moved its fighters back and forth across the border the pyd which is the syrian northern the northern syrian Kurds they moved back and forth across the border and so historically this border is extremely difficult to manage extremely difficult to secure nonetheless and so securing it in any way or any fashion is is a monumental task unfortunately it seems like over the past couple years there have been no political will to do so because it really was the agenda in order to support these specific so now we know that russia's president putin has been has been sort of snuggling up to iran lately what do you think is the motivation behind this and i think people would like to know i mean this is sort of the dynamic that's going on in that region is that we're now seeing turkey which has been a nato a member of nato for quite some time now sort of cozying up to russia and i guess the thing that if i would were somebody wanted to understand these issues is is why would they want to have a titan or or a an improved relationship with russia at this point you're right and it's a very complicated situation it's one of those instances where two states compartmentalize their you know their their problems and their you know their periods of cooperation for instance as you know we briefly mentioned you know we while we cooperate or wish to cooperate with russia on you know within syria we don't cooperate with them within ukraine and so it's one of those it's one of those issues specifically for turkey for a long period of time that they had been able to manage their disagreements with russia regarding regarding bashar all of syria but also have a burgeoning trade and economic relationship between each other between their two countries unfortunately the the term from all that was note this past november the downing of the russian fighter jet in turkish airspace that's what really broke the relationship for a long period of time between two countries that really were looking to align their interest economically and regionally um fortunately or unfortunately um it's seen exactly it seems as though they've as you as you said they've started to restart this new relationship and the reason for that for both parties is you know both are hurting financially both are hurting economically both are hurting politically uh even though Putin has uh very much politically consolidated his country he still is a man that has personalized politics and he always needs to seem strong he needs political interests the same for regent ty bird along in turkey but and so but there are also russia still has an issue too if they want to be able to move goods in and out of uh in and out of the black sea they have to go through istanbul absolutely yeah absolutely so it's really important it's an imperative for them to maintain a working relationship with with the turks exactly and you know as as again as we spoke earlier the um russia phone the russian atomic agency is actually helping build and construct a nuclear power plant uh the akku plant in southern turkey which it will provide a base power supply for pretty much all the southern turkey and on of course very low rates because of the state-owned industry um there along with that we have the new south stream pipeline which is has been installed but will most likely be restarted which will be a a russian natural gas pipeline going through the black sea into northern turkey and then to assemble which will supply the european union and so there there are many uh there's a few uh issues of disagreement where there are many possibilities for cooperation between these two countries what that means specifically for united states or what that specifically means for uh the region as a whole is is really unknown at this point do you think that this is a foreshadowing of perhaps losing turkey as part of the the european union uh do you think that that could be a potential fallout at some point it's i along with along with certainly the um i think that the european union would would welcome any any possibility for turkey's um prosperity and turkey's ability to right the ship unfortunately more so than not it it's it's been the reaction by the erdogan government of the latest coup d'etat in um detaining tens of thousands of people purging the country of of political enemies um that has really uh put a uh put a wrench in the in in that process it sort of gives off a smell of something like north korea i think that the sort of same sort of fragrant uh of what we've we've been seeing in north korea lately um yeah it's and what would with amazing is that turkey over the last 10 years have had the worst record of a press meteorite in the entire world um and this is a country that considers itself a a socialist democracy yeah considers itself of course um even more so than north korea when it comes to uh uh clamping down on press media freedoms because well germans don't really go to to know pretty well but they think they generally work out very well but yeah but they go to turkey yeah and they find themselves many times in prison beaten find uh or fire well rustle i want to thank you for being on the show today um it was very interesting doing this over skype i hope next time you make it to hawaii we can actually do a live interview and bring you into the studio but i want to thank you for for coming on think tech away and being my guest on the show today i think uh it's a it's an area of the world that deserves observation and again thank you thank you chris it's great to be okay aloha and everyone i want to say aloha to you and uh hopefully we'll see you again right here back on think tech hawaii in two weeks with the economy news thank you