I often talk about the importance of creating, posting content on a regular basis, but what have I told you that you don't have to keep creating new content forever? That seems to be one of the fears that I hear from some of you. This concern that, oh my gosh, how do I sustain this consistent rhythm for the rest of my life? And here's why you might not need to, not might not, that you don't have to keep creating new stuff forever. It's because your older, best stuff deserves to be reposted again and again and again. Just think about one of your favorite bands and think about a song that you really, really enjoy from them. All right? You got one in mind? Now the next time you go see that band in concert, wouldn't you love for them to play that song? Of course, you would be so overjoyed that you finally got to see that band play that song that you've probably heard dozens of times, but you got to hear them play it live in concert. And even better, maybe they played it towards the beginning of the concert and then they play it again at the end. It's called a reprise, but they play it somewhat differently. It's like the same song, but they did it unplugged or they did it just a short version of it or they did it with more band members or whatever it is, or they invited some audience members to come up and sing it with them, right? So why is it that you've heard a song dozens of times and yet you enjoy, and probably the next time it comes up on the radio, you enjoy it again, right? Well, same thing with your content and your audience, right? Every time you bring back your greatest hit, essentially, or one of your hits, your audience says, yes, I love that. I'm so glad you said it again. I needed to be reminded of that again.  This time I finally, I've heard you say this 12 times and this time it finally sunk in given what's going on in my life. Just the timing was just right for me to hear it again. And well, you know, what about you and me? If you have been following my content for a while, you know that I talk about the same things again and again. But every time I talk about it, it's slightly different. Now, sometimes I'll say even the same thing again and again, but I don't hear you complain. Now, usually hear you say, wow, I needed that reminder.  So know that as you continue to create, you're going to come across your greatest hits. But without creating and experimenting and putting stuff out there, you won't know what your hits are. Do you think that when musicians put together an album on music, they're like, do you think musicians are like, yeah, these are all crappy. We're just going to put it out there? No.  I'm so happy to put this out there. And then they put it out there and they're quite surprised which songs go viral and which songs they thought were brilliant, but didn't really make an impact. Same thing with you. Do you think that just because you have an idea for a blog post or a video, you put it out there, it's going to go viral? Well, if you have that idea, welcome to reality. And as somebody who has made over a thousand videos and blog posts, I will tell you that I have become more and more unattached to what the results of each video or blog post is. The first time you put something out there, you know, you have so much emotional attachment to it because this is the first time you do something. The second time, the third time, the 10th time, you still have some emotional intensity towards creating and publishing. But by the 50th time, by the 100th time that you create and publish, you're like, yeah, it's not a big deal. It's just another piece of content that I put out there. I don't know which one is going to go wild. And I don't know which one. I think it's brilliant, but the audience doesn't really understand it. You oftentimes are ahead of your time. You are ahead of your audience's perspective. That's why they follow you, because you are giving them something that is on the edge of their thinking. And sometimes, of course, you remind them of what they already know, but you do it with your voice so that they find it fresh. So again, keep on creating and publishing without attachment to which one is going to be your greatest hit, and you will find over time that you will keep creating like I have. I've over well over. I've stopped counting at a thousand, but I have well over a thousand pieces of content, unique pieces of content in blog and video format, both. And I have my best hundred. And my best hundred are the ones, and I should mention to you, this means that you need to track and compare your content. The simplest way of doing that is once a month. OK, try this out. Once a month, you go back and look at your content that you've posted and write down of the content you posted, how many people did it reach and how many, how many likes did you get for each piece of content? So let's say you reached 100 people on your Facebook business page or on Instagram or whatever you reached 100 people with that piece of content. And this time you got 12 likes for that for reaching 100. So that's 12% likes. Another piece of content you got, you reach 50 people, and you got nine likes or let me make it easier for myself, 10 likes, OK, you got 10 likes for 50 reached. So that's 20% likes. Well, which one is better? Now it's better if you can compare your content with about the same amount of reach. So it's not like, wow, this piece of content reached 500 people. I'm going to compare it the same with a piece of content that reached 50 people. So you can track your content on a regular basis before something goes too viral. So you can go like, yeah, I'm usually tracking my content somewhere between reaching 50 to 150 people. That's when I like to track it. Then you have an overview over time. You start to see, oh, OK, this one did better than that one. This one had a higher percentage of likes than that one. If you're interested, I teach a class called Authentic Content Flow and you might want to study that class to get into a consistent rhythm of posting content, getting content ideas, how to track content. I share with you my spreadsheet for how I track it and give you a simpler version of it, etc. Anyway, so the first step, as I've mentioned, well, I would say the first step is really to have hope, to have hope that you don't have to feel the burden of having to create new things forever. To have hope that as you put things out there, even putting 10 pieces of content out there, one of them is going to be a hit. Now, George, you might say, how do I know which one is a hit? Well, if you put 10 things out there, whichever one did the best is by definition a hit. You have one hit out of 10 pieces of content. And as you put out 50 pieces of content, you may have 10 things that are hits. Yes, these 10 did the best out of the 50. So I'm going to consider these 10. And as you track your content over time, you'll see, oh, wow. This one did definitely above average. This one slightly above average. This one's average. This one's below average, whatever. So you might want to just take the ones that are definitely above average that you can tell is really making an impact. Now, I do also want to mention that some people say, well, George, I get the best hits when I post a picture of myself or I post a picture of my kids or my aunt, my pet, or I post a picture of a nice scenery. OK, that doesn't count. You need to take that stuff out of your analysis. Do you notice that I never post? Well, I was going to say I never post selfies. The only time I post a selfie is when I put a thumbnail of a video. My video thumbnails are basically a picture of me that day when I'm making the video plus a title. But I don't post selfie photos on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn. I don't post nice sceneries or animals or anything like that because I know it's too easy to like those things and it just builds an audience that's not relevant. So I prefer to post ideas. I prefer to post my thoughts. And that way, all the content is more even, even keeled. And I can really compare what this idea or the way I talked about this really made a difference compared to that idea or the way I talk about that. So take out the things that are too easy to like. That's not fair. You post a picture of yourself. Of course, everyone's going to like it.  Of course, everyone's going to like it. That's not fair. You're not judging. But anyway, so back to the step by step I'm talking about here to give you some idea here. So one is have hope that you don't have to keep creating forever. That as you put stuff out there, you're going to have, you're going to analyze and notice what your what your hits are. OK, so step one, have hope. Step two, post things consistently. Step three, analyze on a regular basis, which things seem to make more of an impact than other things. And step four, repost your best hits on a regular basis. And how often is a regular basis? Well, it's up to you. In the beginning, when I didn't have that many things, I was reposting one of my hits every three months. So something that I that was a big hit three months ago, I reposted it three months later. Right. So it's like I would have that rhythm of new stuff, new stuff, new stuff, and then a best hit from three months ago. New stuff, new stuff, new stuff and the best hit from three months. Some rhythm like that that I did. Now I have so much content that I'm basically reposting the best hits from two years ago. So therefore, it really feels fresh to me too, because I sometimes read some of my best hits. I'm like, I don't remember writing that, but I do remember. But I'm like, wow, I'm glad I wrote that. I kind of remember writing that. So all right, let me also mention that when you're getting into this content creating and having your best hits, it means that it really helps to have a regular rhythm of posting like you have a TV show. You know how television shows, you can always count on them, well, that everybody counts on them. Oh, a new episode out on Wednesdays or new episodes on every weeknight. Like if there's no new episode and the fans have expected it, that show is gonna get a lot of flack. People are going to complain. And if that happens again and again, they're gonna go on to another show that's more consistent. So what about your show? Is your show consistent? As you'll see what I do, and I'll give you, there is a blog post associated with this video, it might be above or below this video. Click on it, depending on where you're watching this. And in that blog post, I give you my Monday through Friday rhythm of my show. And basically you'll notice that I only, because I have so much old content now, I only now create one new piece of content every two weeks. Like I said, I'm trying to give you some hope here. I don't create new things every day anymore. Now when I started, I used to, when I first began and I had no content out there, I was posting, I was creating and posting a new idea, new piece of content, five days a week. So five times a week, I was creating something new. Five times a week, I needed to do that to really overcome my perfectionism and my resistance to creating, which I know some of you probably have. You probably resisted because you have self doubts, perhaps you have maybe some trauma from the past, from creating and having some troll say some mean things. I don't know. I, if you've heard my story before I've mentioned, I've told you about my trauma growing up and having difficulty communicating. And anyway, that's for a different day. But I used to create five days a week, new things five days a week. And over time, after about a year, after about six months of creating five days a week, I went down to creating three new things per week, three new things per week and two things were repurposed from before. And then I went down to two new things per week after I think a year or two of doing three new things a week, something like that. I went down to two new things a week and then three things that were redone from the past. And then I went down to one new thing per week with four new, four existing things from the past. And now I have one new thing every two weeks. In fact, this video and the blog posts associated with the video is one of my new pieces. And the rest of the things that I do on a regular basis are old stuff. And so let me explain when I repost and this is what I recommend to you as well. When we repost our old best hit, okay, one of our good hits from before, let's take a few moments and improve on that old piece a little bit. Now, it's kind of like, yeah, back to the musicians. They will do, whenever they have an album, they might rerecord a hit from one of their older albums and this time they record it differently, just slightly differently. It doesn't have to be dramatically different. Just, some slight changes. So all I'm asking is just half an hour. If you wrote an article in the past and it did well, this time when you repost it, before you repost it, just take half an hour to add some edits to it. Maybe make it, add another new story that's relevant or take away some parts of it that you feel are redundant or add another paragraph or two, or maybe try using a different beginning or different end to do something a little different about it, just to try to improve on it and see if it does better than last time. Because if it does better than last time, you actually have improved on it. If it does worse than last time, less likes, definitely less likes than reach, then you know, okay, maybe the previous version was better. Let me see, compare the two and see what parts of the old version are probably better. Okay, but at least do a little bit of grammatical editing with fresh eyes after having not seen it for three months. Okay, and or maybe this time when you repost it, you now add a video to it. You keep the same article, but now you add a video to it. That's also repurposing, reposting. So that's what I do. So what I do now is like I said, I only create one new thing every two weeks and I'm also continually updating old pieces that I turn into Instagram carousel posts, for example.  It's been an item, I think a year or so. So anyway, have hope that you don't have to keep creating new stuff forever, but get into a rhythm of creating, knowing that not all of them are gonna be your best hits. That's, you know, don't wanna expect that. That's too much pressure on yourself. It's just like a band saying, God, every single time we publish a new record, it's gotta make it into the Billboard top 10, top 100, top 500 doesn't, that's too much pressure. Just say, we're gonna put stuff out there, not really knowing if the audience is gonna love it or not, we have to see what they think. So have hope, create consistently, especially in the beginning, when you have not that many pieces, you got to have 1,000 to have your best 100. You got to have, you know, 100 pieces to have your best 10. Okay, so you gotta keep creating until you get to 100 pieces of content and then 500 pieces and then 1,000 pieces. I want you, I encourage you to have that goal for yourself. So how soon can you get to 100 pieces of content? If you want to make a commitment publicly, feel free to chat below, comment below, say, I think I'm on track to get to 100 pieces of content by this month, this year, I'd love to see where you're at with getting to 100 or and then getting to 500 and then getting to 1,000. Now, some of you say, well, George, I already have 100 pieces of content. Well, then the next step, as I said, have hope, create consistently, analyze your older content to see which ones have higher likes than others so that you can see what your hits are, right? If you don't analyze, you won't know. Just like if musicians didn't have like a billboard top 100 or just be able to see their iTunes stats or whatever, they won't know what's popular, what's really making an impact. So are you doing that? Are you analyzing to see which of your pieces, which of your ideas and framings makes an impact? Okay, step three and step four is to continually repost your older stuff, remembering that your audience appreciates you repeating a popular idea again and again and again. All right, so I hope this is helpful. I hope to inspire you to have this rhythm of creation and repurposing, knowing that, you know what? Over the years, this is, I'll end on this, over the years, you will just appear smarter and smarter and smarter to your audience.   How is George's content so good? Especially those of you who follow me on Instagram, which is where I post my carousels, which are really my old hits, right? It's like, wow, that stuff is so good. Well, it's because you don't see the stuff that wasn't good, okay? You see what I mean? I only give you like the top 10% on Instagram, you know? And you don't see the 90%, that wasn't very good. That I had some commobuted thinking or I didn't communicate clearly or it was just a bad idea. You don't see the 90% on Instagram, right? So know that you are also doing that with your content, your body of work. It's just gonna keep getting more and more brilliant over time with this method I just gave you that I hope you are doing or that you'll commit to doing. So I look forward to see if you have any comments below or any commitments to doing something like this. And as always, if you have any questions, I always am happy to see it. Maybe I already have a blog post I can turn you to. So feel free to post your questions below. If I don't have a blog post or something, I will note that question for a future blog post to write on. So thank you for joining me for this video. I am George Cao, that's KAO, authentic business coach. And I love to talk about how do we create an audience of true fans and a business that we can really feel is coming from our heart and soul that we really enjoy working on every day. So with that, I hope to see your comments below if you'd like to and see you in the next video. I wish you a joyfully productive day. Take care.


John, the current global situation is obviously very uncertain and there is this kind of historic pattern that Labor governments tend to deal with things like depressions and recessions and global financial crisis. Is that where we're headed, do you think? Well, a couple of points. I mean, I've been analysing and predicting economists since the late 60s and I think the risks today, the unpredictability today is greater than any time I can remember and we've had some pretty big shocks through that period, whether there were oil price shocks or recessions or stock market corrections or Asian crises or whatever, we've had big, big shocks and I think the risks though are much greater than I can remember and last weekend the yield curve as I say in the US inverted, short rates went above long rates which in using Federal Reserve data suggests that there will be a recession in the United States within three to 24 months. So I think the US is slowing down, Europe is definitely struggling and slowing down, China's slowing down and on top of that you've got Trump, which is the main source of volatility in the system and unpredictability, you've got... And China, the whole issue of... China's debt problem, it's around 300% of GDP, a lot of structural issues, their growth rates are a lot lower than probably 4% or 5% rather than 6% or 7% which the government keeps announcing but it's not a real number. And so if global growth slows and we have some of the weaknesses in the system come to the fore, particularly the over valuation of the stock markets, bond markets, currency markets, property markets in different stages but different countries, I mean they're all bubbles and they'll all burst so you could have another global financial crisis in the near term. And the cupboard's a bit bare as far as the Australian government goes for dealing with this, I mean interest rates don't give you much scope these days do they? They don't have much capacity because the Reserve Bank's got the interest rate, I haven't changed it since I think August 2016 but and I've been saying all through that period that they'll probably, the next change of any would be down and I think they might put it down but you're in a world where when it's as low as it is, it's not going to make much difference, people aren't going to rush out and spend or invest so you're not going to get much effect from lowering interest rates even 50 basis points or so.  Obviously education health commitments are significant, they are moving into the 2020s big numbers, you've got the NDIS which is the disability insurance scheme which is, I think they've predicted a 600% increase through to the end of this decade in the costs of running that and that's going to blow out and then you've got a whole host of infrastructure commitments and you get a lot more in this budget that are unfunded and you've got hundreds of billions of dollars of defence commitments that, you know, submarines, frigates, fighter planes, you know they're all unfunded and they're big numbers so if you look look around the literature there's a book recently been published by Mike Keating who used to be Secretary of the Department of Finance I think in Prime Minister and Cabinet and he's predicting sort of a 3 percentage point increase relative to GDP in the tax burden over the 2020s. I don't hear anything about that and of course we'll hear more tax cuts and mine's bigger than yours, none of them are affordable. And the revenue stuff's kind of all the revenue projections are kind of fictional aren't they? I mean it's based on sort of projections of commodity prices and so probably won't hold up and I mean we're still dealing with, you know, Treasury forecasts about growth that really don't reflect any. Treasury's been, one thing they've been consistent about has been consistently wrong in their forecasts and very ambitious in some of those numbers particularly a turnaround saving wages which is supposed to give you the big bracket creep base of the system. They have underestimated some of the commodity prices in the last budget so now they've come in higher that gives them a revenue boost but that's not sustainable particularly if the world economy is slowing down I mean we might have seen better iron ore and coal prices but they won't be sustained so I think the budget will be scrutinised as to what numbers they actually pick going forward for the next several years and you know so they don't, the revenue looks better now than it has partly because of forecasting errors of the past and partly because they've picked up a bit of additional tax revenue from the corporate sector, some catch-up tax and you know some of the bigger companies where they hadn't paid much tax but basically the corporate tax system has been working like a resource rent tax, high commodity prices, they've had a better return that we also see evidence of how few of the big companies, you know ExxonMobil was you know I forget what it takes out of the system every year but it's well over 30 billion dollars don't pay any tax you know and the those who are in the LNG sector aren't going to pay much tax for another decade or so so the corporate there's an issue as to whether the corporate tax base is really sustainable. And all this is coming on the back to the Banking Rule Commission where there are real issues of trust I suppose and uncertainties about precisely what a new government is going to do with the recommendations that rule commission which were quite modest and in some ways conservative but the findings the rule commission were of course incendiary in a lot of ways so I mean that seems to me to be another uncertainty too. You see they don't, what neither side is doing is really admitting the reality, the economic realities I mean they're spinning it to favor their particular position and the fact is that you know the narrative say of the government doesn't match the lived experience of most Australians I mean most Australians are really struggling to meet the cost of living week in week out and that's housing or that's electricity and gas prices or it's medical insurance costs or childcare costs or whatever all those elements the big elements in a family's household budget are rising much faster than the measure rate of inflation and people's wages have stayed flat I mean and under 2% of the last several years. This is a big issue, it's a very big issue. Wages thing, I mean for those of us of a certain age the idea of this being a problem it's a bit bizarre really but it is these days and they see that what the households have had to do is is both run down their savings and run up their debts to show you how ridiculous some of the rhetoric of the government has been when the household savings rate fell to pre-GFC levels. Friedenberg went out there and said see that shows you how confident people are you know they're spending because if you look at the consumption numbers they're not spending for the retail sales numbers they're not they're not spending they're pretty pretty flat so basically we've now got a record level of household debt it's about 120% of GDP it's nearly 200% of household disposable income so households have to run up their debt run down their savings just to survive and they're doing it unlike in the early 2000s they're doing it at a time when the value of their houses is stagnating and their houses falling house prices are falling so they're well they're getting a negative world effect and go to the Royal Commission that showed basically that a significant percentage of the bank lending books of mortgage books of the big four banks are subprime they knowingly lent people much more money than they could afford and now the idea there is of course that you know they've got a bit of initial equity in the house as the house price continues to go up they get more equity and they can ultimately service that loan and a lot of those loans are interest only loans but they fudge the the household expenditure numbers income numbers and expenditure numbers to get to give them a big loan then house prices fall their equity falls the pinch is real I mean mortgage stress is becoming very significant as an issue and it's only going to get worse the banks themselves are exposed now of course they've got subprime quality loans on their books you know what are banks like they say oh you're not really meeting your covenants you're not meeting your interest payments and so on where you know we we can't have a fixed interest or so interest only anymore you've got to come to principal interest that kills most people but when your house prices falling your equities disappearing your net position in your house can be negative you bought near the peak and the house's house prices come off 10 or 15 percent you're behind and that's a significant percentage of people because we had really a substantial housing boom now the government's done nothing about the cost of housing and you know it took a couple of decades to create this problem where millennials can't afford to buy a house in Sydney and Melbourne you're not going to fix it in under a decade or so you're going to work on both supply and demand side it's like electricity prices we've had a couple of decades of climate wars scoring points on each other bottom line is electricity prices gas price gone through the roof and people are still getting very large electricity bills despite the government saying I've got a big stick I'm going to belt the power companies or whatever it's not making any difference a couple hot days and your average price goes up because you go you know you really are paying super high prices on peak days and this sort of thing so you know there's a lot of a lot of misrepresentation in all that now I think the average voter knows all that that's one of the reasons why I think the the standing of both major political parties has gone down and even in the last two state elections Victoria and New South Wales and all those by elections the aggregate voter Libra and Labor went down there's people just you know jack of it they've given up on on the two major parties so independence and minor parties are getting nearly 20% of the vote starting to see independence emerge in the lower house now you know this is an interesting interesting situation when neither of them are being believed neither side is really being believed and you know although they don't expect an independent or a minor party to make that much difference to government it's a way of registering a protest vote it was up about a quarter it was around a quarter I think of just under a quarter at the last election in the lower house the other thing I noticed the other day in the New South Wales state election is a very high percentage of pre-polls nearly 20% people are made up there mine don't want to hear the arguments don't listen to the campaign that's all rubbish you know I'll just I've already decided I'm going to vote I did man a polling booth last week and I found a very high percentage of people said I don't want the paper you know just walked in and voted so people are kind of made up their mind that they're basically given up on both sides of politics and it's a choice for the vote of the lesser of two evils and then when they've made that choice they've got to live with the evil of two lessons because they don't have any policy positions right that are really going to solve the problem. I'm interested though I mean some of the the most contentious of economic policy differences between the parties at the moment are very generational that they're sort of about the one you mentioned before housing affordability the franking credits one is you know in many ways about retirees and you know who essentially provides revenue and who gets refunds and all the rest of it. Superannuation is another one it seems to me there's a range of issues that really bear on the different experiences and opportunities of younger and older voters and I wonder if this is the first campaign certainly in my living memory where that's the case where generational differences matter. Basically a lot of the policies add up to intergenerational theft you know you kick the problem down the road you leave it to the next generation to deal with and it's going to be a lot harder for them to do with that whether it's the budget you need to be repaired in the 2020s as we've been saying or climate change for example you don't want to meet your Paris commitments or you duck and weave around it and actually Paris is about half what it ought to be in terms of you know meeting a sensible 2050 emissions reduction target that's a big legacy to push down to your kids. It is when you think about yes if the taxes are going to be going up in the 2020s that's when you know current folks in their 20s and 30s are going to be going to higher tax break. Just imagine if wages stay flat unemployment starts to become an issue and and cost of living still continues to go up and then the tax burden goes up rather than down you know the it's sort of a multiple number of whammies on the average average person and the younger generation those that are supporting the older generation are really carrying quite a load. So none of that amazingly features I noticed a few years ago when Costello introduced the intergenerational report I'd brought it down at budget time the budget that he brought down didn't reflect one thing in that report there was no medium term strategic thinking and it's never been any different and we know what's happening to population and what will go. Some of these are reasonably hard numbers in terms of the number of people that you know the costs of age care that shift to the older population age age makes shift and some of these things are well known they're well documented they don't factor them in and as you're saying by not dealing with it they push the problem against the older Australians for example or against the younger Australians and it's amazing to me that that doesn't feature more as an issue and Howard gave a speech yesterday saying you know inequality doesn't exist in Australia exaggerated well you know I'm not sure which planet he lives on but I don't this one you know because it is really is an issue and people feel it and you know when you ask a politician why are you in politics I say oh you know to make a difference what most people believe that to mean is they make a difference for themselves and you know they're in there for the sister they're probably earning more money than they'd earn outside they're not skilled for the jobs they get and you know so in those circumstances is not surprising there's a loss of a mounting loss of trust and belief in government do you think I mean one argument would say that a change of governments not going to make an enormous difference and I suppose one of the things you said before yeah I mean I'm thinking of some of these big economic policy issues so the housing affordability is an interesting one I mean how much would something like the negative gearing changes that labors advocating you know what kind of difference is that likely to make I mean my assumption would be not terribly much in the short term given the and it is this grandfather's going to be phased you know but and it's only you it's only on on new houses so they've constrained it quite a lot so but it don't forget it was introduced when the housing prices were running away and there was a lot of foreign demand and speculative demand and so on in the system which is making it harder and harder for the average Australian a particularly younger Australian to buy a house and now of course we have a situation where the markets turned house prices are coming off real mortgage stress and okay you make a negative gearing change it probably won't have much impact I suspect they might delay it further grandfather you know phase it whatever the time is not yet right they don't want to get hit don't want to get hit with the accusations and okay the house prices are falling and you're going to kill it now you know and that exaggeration is there in the system already so yeah some of the policies look from a tax point of view tax reform point of view I don't like any of those small changes while you can defend them as part of a broad review I mean go through all the tax expenditures go through all the concessions that are in superannuation and housing so on that are skewed in favor of the wealthy you know and yeah sure you would fix that as part of a general overarching reform but if you're just doing bits ad hocly you don't necessarily improve the situation and you actually make it more complicated when people want a simple tax system you're making it much harder for the average person to understand their tax and the effects are not necessarily what you assume they will be and you know so I think while they've taken some clear positions on a couple elements tax capital gains tax discount negative gearing you know franking credits they're not necessarily now going to have the effects that I hope they would have when they when they announce them so I suspect when they get into government they'll say oh you know well you know realize it was what it wasn't you know they'll change it and but in some areas they can make a big difference if they really did adopt the idea that we need to make the transition to a low carbon society low carbon's economy and accelerated that process and that created all these jobs and billions of dollars of investment that are presently being lost they could make a huge difference and okay they'll have to accelerate the retirement of coal-fired power stations but seventy percent of the existing coal-fired power stations already beyond their you know their design life so look it's possible for them to do that and that would make a huge difference and we'd stop all this nonsense


in our text this morning, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 11 through 2 Corinthians 7 verse 3, the title of our sermon, Undivided Devotion. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 11 through 7 verse 3. As we come to our text this morning, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 11, I think it's important to begin by reminding ourselves that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth which is a true and biblical church of the living God. In Corinth they are facing tremendous difficulty, tremendous difficulty. They have significant problems to overcome, not the least of which is pervasive sin in the church, the spread of false teaching here in our text. We see their affections for the apostle Paul waning. We see many making shipwreck to their faith, many who are trailing off after false teachers. There is division and there is discord, there is error. However, despite all this, there are genuine believers in Corinth. Genuine believers who are living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are indwelt by the spirit of God, they are serving the Lord, they are gathering for worship, they are administering the ordinances, they are praising and singing hymns, songs and spiritual songs together. This is a true biblical church. Paul, Timothy, Silas, Priscilla, Aquila have been preaching the gospel there. Many have turned from sin, many have come to faith in Christ. There has been genuine conversion experience at Corinth. This church may be a mess. In fact, it may be one of the largest messes of all the New Testament churches when we read the pages of scripture. However, this is a genuine church in Corinth. They are, chapter 1 verse 1, a church of God. In Corinth he calls them brethren in chapter 1 verse 8. They are epistles of Christ in chapter 3 verse 3. They are the temple of the living God in chapter 6 verse 16. Paul says to them in chapter 5 verse 18, God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. In chapter 5 verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sinned for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. This is no synagogue of Satan. This is a true church, an embattled church to be sure, a church having difficulty absolutely, an immature church as Paul has already written, but nevertheless a true church. However, Paul knows how easily we can deceive ourselves right? We believe this to be a true church of God. Now there are people here, many of you, love the Lord Jesus Christ.  You're preaching the gospel. You're discipling one another. There's been genuine conversion. The wind blows where it wills, right? And we hear the sound of it. We don't see where it's going or where it comes from, but we see the effects of it. We see the effects of the spirit of God in this church among God's people here. Where God's people are gathered, where His ordinances are administered, where there is the worship of God's people, there's the biblical church. But Paul knows, we know, don't we, how self-justifying our hearts can be. We know how easily we can be deceived that which grows like wheat may later be exposed as a tear. We know that there are many who will call upon Jesus as Lord and later be revealed as those who practice lawlessness cast away from His presence. A genuine Christian is someone indwelt by the spirit of God. Be sure, as Paul says, that if you have not the spirit of God, you are none of His. And where the spirit is at work, where the spirit is at work in the life of a genuine Christian, and where the spirit of God is at work in the life of a biblical church, we will see fruits of the spirit. We'll see evidences of the spirit's work, right? The one who has the spirit will see, experience fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, not always perfectly, always falling short. You're going to see those marks, aren't you? You're going to see those fruits. And as that church matures, as they are conformed, as they are sanctified, you'll see those fruits abound in the life of God's people, abound in the life of God's church. Saving faith will produce good works, will produce obedience to the Lord's commands. Why? Because we're indwelt by the spirit of God. Because God has changed our heart. He's taken out the heart of stone. He's given us a heart of flesh.  God does that work. It's the grace of God that appears to all men that teaches us to deny ungodly and worldly lusts, right? Which wage war against our soul. Where there is the spirit of God, we see the fruits of His work. The people of God will persevere in faith. They will persevere. They don't fall away. The people of God will grow in conformity to Christ's image as they are sanctified. They will perfect holiness in the fear of God, becoming more and more and more like Him as the Lord, the spirit of God, works in them, both to do and to will according to His good pleasure. As we pursue sanctification, as we perfect holiness in the fear of God, there will be fruits of the spirit. There will be evidence of a work of His spirit. But be sure, as Paul knows, right? And what fuels Paul's admonition here, what fuels his commands, what fuels his instruction, what fuels his zeal, his concern for this church in Corinth, is that he knows we can easily deceive ourselves if their faith in Corinth is a sham, right? If your faith is a sham, if your faith is fake, if it's counterfeit, if your faith is a dead and damning faith, so to speak, false faith, then those fruits will be fleeting and hard to come by. There's a sense in which the lost person can produce kindness in their own strength, in their own effort, isn't there? To be externally kind to someone else, to show external kindness, there's a sense in which a lost person can show external love, external compassion. There's a sense in which in their own strength, in their own power, a lost person can be gentle, can be good. But in no way, former fashion, can the true fruit of the spirit be produced apart from the work of God's spirit, right? Those things are not produced, those fruits are not produced in our own strength by our own effort. That list unattainable to one apart from Christ, to one apart from his spirit perceived progress will be inconsistent at best or non-existent to one who doesn't have the spirit. It'll be only that which is possible through human effort, only that which is possible or attainable through their own efforts. Those fruits, any fruit that is produced, any love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, gentleness that is shown, will only be shown. Those fruits will only be those that are possible or to the extent possible in their own strength and by their own effort. But what is lacking is that true fruit that we see in the life of a person who's been transformed by God and indwelt by his spirit. That heart holiness, those true and genuine, deep, persevering, lasting and genuine, heart filled, faith filled, Godward worshiping and Christ praising fruits are only possible by his spirit. And ultimately, ultimately, perseverance will eventually fail. Apart from the spirit of God, a person cannot persevere in those things that are only possible through the spirit of God. So Paul, with this wisdom, with this understanding, Paul then turns to this embattled church at Corinth and says to them in 1 Corinthians, you are saved only if you hold fast the word which I preach to you unless you have believed in vain. Now is that teaching that somehow their perseverance merits God's favor? No, it's not saying that at all. I had a conversation with a couple of Mormons, yes, more Muslims, further in the same boat. A couple of Mormons yesterday, they wanted to say that, right, that our perseverance in the faith merits the grace of God. You're saved by grace after you've done all that you can do. What an abysmal, abominable heresy that is. Paul says that this perseverance is a fruit of the spirit of God, is an evidence of the spirit of God at work. It's an evidence of God's preservation of the Christian by faith through the work of his spirit. And if you don't have that, you believe, you set out, you have presumed to follow Christ in vain. He turns to this embattled church at Corinth, which he's concerned that there are many there who are deceiving themselves. And he turns to them and he says, the sorrow of the world produces death. It's the godly sorrow, godward sorrow, faith-filled sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation. He turns to this embattled church at Corinth and he says, examine yourselves as to whether or not you're truly in the faith. Test yourselves, he says to them. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter one that in much wisdom is much grief. In much wisdom is much grief and Paul is demonstrating wisdom, much wisdom here. But this wisdom, understanding these things, has Paul grieved, has Paul in anguish writing this letter in tears, he says over this church at Corinth. Paul sees the ditches, he sees the cliffs, the pitfalls, the potholes that are spread before them as snares for their feet. He knows that they are even now entangled in sin. He knows that they're unable to run with all that weight around them, right? They're unable to run their race with endurance. He's already seen many in Corinth, makes shipwreck of their faith. There's been one who has turned against him and opposed them to his faith, falling away after false teaching. They have failed to press on in cutting off worldly influences. These false teachers at the time of this writing are leading an insurrection in the church. It's had the effect of cooling, even restricting or hindering or impeding their affections for him. It is undermined the efficacy of his preaching and teaching, the efficacy of the word of God among them. They've failed to press on in cutting off worldly influences. They have failed, in other words, to press on in sanctification. They have failed to press on perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Their sanctification has come to a screeching halt and Paul knows what lies at the end of that path. All you have to do to begin falling back is to stop pressing forward, you see? And so he writes to them, chapter two, verse four, out of much affliction. He writes to them out of anguish of heart, out of many tears. He pleads with them not to receive the grace of God in vain, chapter six, verse one. He pleads with them. In chapter six, verse 13, open your heart to me, he says, in chapter seven, verse two, cut off godless influences, pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Be holy, he's telling them, pursue your sanctification, cleanse yourself. He says, from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, open your heart to us. Give God undivided devotion. That's where we get the title of our sermon.  I want to take a look at the outline of this passage in your notes. And from our outline, I want to show you how this is communicated by Paul in this text, how the text fits together and how this concern is being communicated and how Paul will, in the grace of God, how Paul will instruct them for how to overcome this waning of their affections, this trailing of their faith and perseverance, how they can protect themselves in the power of the spirit from this danger. First, I want you to see from your notes, Paul charges them to fuel or to fire godly affections in verses 11 through 13. Fire or fuel godly affections. He says in verse 11, O Corinthians, we have spoke openly to you. You know our love for you, right? We've held nothing back from you that would be profitable, nothing we've held back that would be for your good. Chapter three, verse two, you are our epistle written in our hearts. Our heart, he says in verse 11 is wide open. Verse 12, you're not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. In other words, there's no restriction in our affection for you. There's nothing that we're doing that's hindering your affections, but there is a problem with your affections for us. And Paul certainly takes this personally. There's a problem in your affections for me, he's saying. There is a problem in your heart. So in verse 13, now in return for the same in return for our affections to you, this time speaking to you as my spiritual children as a spiritual father, you also now be open to Paul, exhorting them to fuel godward or godly affections, particularly for him and his ministry. Paul returns to this very thought again in chapter seven, verse two. And if you put both of these sections of texts on either side of the instruction, the promises of God, the theology in the middle, you have two bookends which begin and end this section of text that we're going to be studying together. Paul returns to this very thought again in chapter seven, verse two and says to them once more, open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have cheated no one. I don't say this to condemn you. Paul says in verse three, but I've said before that you're in our hearts to die together and to live together. What's Paul's concern? Paul's concern is that chapter six, verse one, that the Corinthians are in danger of receiving the grace of God in vain. They're in danger of receiving the grace of God in vain. The first evidence of that, maybe what you could say would be the low hanging fruit, so to speak. What was obvious? What was apparent in the circumstances at Corinth that would have led anyone to that conclusion is the fact that their affections for Paul, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, their affections for him have cooled. Their zeal for the message that he preaches has been dampened, camped down, undermined. Their zeal for the word of God has cooled. They are turning away from the Lord's apostle. In turning away from the Lord's apostle, they're turning away from the Lord, turning to that in Corinth, which would destroy the church and lead many to hell. And Paul says, open your heart to us. What is going on in your heart in Corinth? Fuel godly affections. And what lies between those two bookends then is the instruction and exhortation of chapter six, verse 14 through chapter seven, verse one, and point two on your notes. One, fuel godly affections to douse or extinguish worldly affections. Douse or extinguish worldly affections. How do we do that, Paul? How do we do that? First, there is disunion with the godless. Disunion with the godless. Verse 14, do not the unequally yoke together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with belial? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. Five rhetorical questions framed in antithesis to make the point that it's not possible. Cut off godless influences. There must be disunion with the godless. Second, there is communion. There must be communion with God. Cultivate communion with God. Verse 16, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. There's going to be communion. If there's going to be fellowship, let it be with God and God's people. Amen. Verse 17, therefore, what's Paul's instruction in light of those glorious promises? Verse 17, therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to God, right? To these promises. I will be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty. What fellowship with God? Third, there must be a devotion to godliness, a devotion to godliness. Therefore, chapter seven, verse one, having these promises with an eye to those promises, trusting the Lord for those promises, beloved, he says, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. As we'll see by working through this text, Paul is calling for undivided devotion, undivided devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ by through the instrumentality of through the means of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. When the Bible speaks of holiness, there's often a twofold sense to that word. One, you are to be holy, meaning set apart to God. We're to be holy. We are set apart to God, set aside to God, consecrated to God, for God's use, for his service, for his worship, for his purposes. Things that we are unique in the world, so to speak, distinct. Those things that were common were set apart for common, unholy, you could say, use. Those things that were uncommon set aside for God's use. We are to be uncommon. There were vessels that were set apart for use in the temple. The Levites were set apart to serve in the temple. The priests were set apart to make sacrifices on behalf of the people to God. They were holy to God, set apart for his use, separate from the world, not in league with the world. Do you see? Not in league with the world, separate from sinful influences in the world, but not of the world. Set apart to God, set aside to God. Secondly, you are to be holy, meaning set apart from sin. One sense of the word set apart to God. The other sense of the word set apart from sin. In other words, living a holy life, putting off sin, putting on righteousness, pursuing holy or righteous living as Paul would say here, cleansing yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. And we'll see Paul in our text, exhorting us regarding both the senses of the word as we work through this passage over the next couple of weeks. For many, there is a pattern in their quote unquote Christian life of believing that now that I am saved, now that I've been forgiven, now that I've been reconciled, now that I'm no longer in enmity with God because of wicked works, now that he's brought me into fellowship with himself, I can coast in the Christian life. I can take it easy. There are those that would say, I just need to rest in my justification. I don't need to strive. There's no struggle. Why would we struggle? Christ has done it all for us. We just need to sit back and rest in our justification. In other words, in the Christian life, I am passive until I am received into heaven by him one day in the future. Now there's a sense in which we absolutely rest in and trust in and rejoice in and relish our justification. Amen. That finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary that secured for me my eternal right standing with God. Amen. But there is nothing passive about the Christian life. Paul says, no, the Bible teaches that failure, failure to move on, making progress in increasing holiness in both senses of the word, making progress in increasing holiness in both senses of the word is receiving the grace of God in vain. If you don't make progress in holiness, you receive the grace of God to you in vain. If you're not being sanctified, you are in danger. The Corinthians were in serious life-threatening danger. They're in danger of receiving the grace of God in vain. That prompted Paul's exhortation in this text, his exhortation to holiness. Come out from among them, Paul says, and be separate, says the Lord, quoting the Old Testament. Touch no unclean thing, cleanse yourself from all filthiness, striving toward complete holiness in the fear of God, diligently, earnestly pursuing your sanctification. So at the outset, I want to ask you this morning, think about the pattern of your own life. What about you? Think about what your Christian life looks like. Paul says, Paul teaches this in great love for the Corinthians, right? This is loving for us to call ourselves, call ourselves to an examination of these things. It would have been unloving for Paul to have turned a blind to their plight and Corinth, right? To be pridefully embittered against their rejection of him, and so then to turn away from them in cold, heartless indifference and let them wallow in his sinful condition. So it is right for us to think about these things, brothers and sisters, amen? It's right for a brother or a sister to come to you when there's a concern. It is loving. It is affectionate toward you to do that. What about you this morning? What does your Christian life look like? What does it consist of? Can you say, brother, can you say, sister, that your Christian life reveals a persistent and earnest and diligent pursuit of holiness? Can you say that your Christian life is a pursuit, a diligent pursuit of sanctification through the means of grace, in the strength of his spirit, by the power of God, in the fear of God? Is that what your Christian life looks like, or have you have your affections, has your zeal, have the fires that once kindled your heart in that direction, have they become cold? Have they been dampened? Do you have a wet blanket draped on your heart right now? What does your Christian life look like? Are you coasting? Are you floating on flowery beds of ease? Are you passive? And if you say no to yourself, right? If you say no to that, remember, remember, our hearts can be deceitfully self-justified. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. If you say no, then what exactly are you doing? What exactly is it? This is not mystical. It's not ethereal. You don't walk into your room and just sort of place your hand on the Bible and say, that's not sanctification. What are you doing? What steps are you taking? It's not in your own strength, but in the power of the Spirit of God, in faith and dependence upon Him. What are you doing? Are you preaching the Gospel? Are you discipling? Are you loving? Truly loving your brothers and sisters, right? Evidence and action. Are you loving them? Are you loving the lost, preaching the Gospel to them? This is the mission that we've been given. We are ambassadors for Christ and we plead with them as though God were pleading through us. What are you doing when a person turns from sin to trust Christ alone for salvation? At the moment of their conversion, they are declared by God to be righteous in Him, righteous in Christ. By virtue of the finished and substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are no longer guilty. No longer guilty. There is no sentence of condemnation which hangs over our head any longer, praise God.  I am a citizen of the Kingdom of the Son of His love. I am the righteousness of God in Him. My sins have been forgiven. I've been reconciled to God. Having been declared righteous by God, brothers, sisters, now standing as it were in that righteous position, that positional righteousness must now result by the power of His Spirit, by His grace to me through faith, must result in practical righteousness in my life. Holiness will be perfected in me. Holiness will become my daily pursuit, my daily practice. That's the life of a genuine Christian. You'll talk to many that will argue with that. It's because they're not genuinely Christians, if their life doesn't look that way. There is power in the gospel. Is there not? There's power in the Spirit of God, and it is life transforming power. The reality of indwelling sin, the reality of my inward fleshly corruption, the sinful influences, the sinful pressures of this sinful and wicked world, the activity of Satan, the adversary, all ensure this pursuit of holiness. In other words, because my own inward corruption remains, because I live in this world that is wicked and puts pressure upon me to conform to its pursuit, because there is an adversary that stands opposed to me, my three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil, and my remaining corruption ensure that this pursuit of righteousness, this pursuit of increasing holiness, must proceed. It ensures that it is a necessity, and it necessitates diligence. It necessitates zeal and effort. We have formidable foes. Do we not? They are conquered foes already. Conquered foes already. And who has conquered them? Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his power that we triumph, right? Paul's statement of glorious promise in chapter 2, verse 14. He always leads us in triumph. But it requires diligence. It requires effort, striving against sin, a constant struggle. That's the teaching of the New Testament. The Christian life is a striving. To cease to fight is to be swept backward by the tide that presses against me. In this life, there is no escaping this pursuit. There are no exceptions. Our pursuit comes to an end when we are glorified in him. And Paul says, speaking of being glorified in Christ, Paul says, we are saved in this hope. And it's hope in the future, right? That which is seen, Paul says there, is not hope. If it's seen, it's not hope. We're saved in hope. Hope of what? Hope of a glorified body, finlessly glorified to be like our Savior. We're saved in this hope. The best is yet to come. Hope for the future for what is not seen. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, 11, verse chapter, through chapter 7, verse 3, Paul then gives us the means by which we pursue this holiness. By which we pursue that endeavor, practical righteousness in the life of the believer. We have to fire godly affections. We have to douse or extinguish worldly affections. All that is accomplished by cutting ties with the godless, cultivating communion with God, and committing yourself to the pursuit of godliness. That's our outline. Let's look at the text in depth now as we examine point one. Paul calls us to fuel godly or godward affections. And he begins in verse 11, O Corinthians, we have spoke openly to you. Our heart is wide open. You're not restricted by us, but you're restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same, I speak as the children, you also be open. The Paul begins here in verse 11, not dispassionately, not coldly, not heartlessly, but Paul demonstrates great emotion here, great affection on his own part. Anytime Paul moves from speaking generally to using a direct address as he does here, Paul's wearing his heart on his sleeve. Sometimes that results in a rebuke, like it does in Galatians chapter 3, verse 1, where Paul says, oh, foolish Galatians. Do you remember that text? Who's bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Here, it's an emotional plea as well, but it's fueled by affection, right? It's filled with affection for the Corinthians, and filled, fueled by his concern for them. O Corinthians, he's saying to them in verse 11, essentially, why is it my love for you reciprocated? Why is it my love for you reciprocated? You can see this isn't dispassionate, right? His genuine love for them would not allow for such a thing to take place. Paul loves them. This is an example, beginning of verse 11, of the pleading and the begging that he exhorts them to in chapter 5, verse 20. We plead, we beg you, implore you, be reconciled to God. It flows out of the anguish of his heart. He is grieved. In all this while, consider the context, all this while, wicked opponents in Corinth were accusing Paul of being heavy-handed. Paul has shed tears over them, pleaded with God in prayer on their behalf, and they accused Paul of being heavy-handed. Paul's teachers would have said that he was abusive, that Paul was authoritarian, and Paul is reaching out to them in love. Do you see? We've seen that already as we've worked through 2 Corinthians, haven't we? Paul's heart for them. He's not abusive. He says what they need to hear because he loves them. He's not authoritarian or heavy-handed. He's wearing his heart on his sleeve. They would accuse Paul that he had no real affection for the church at all, that he was out for himself. That is certainly not the case, clearly not the case, and the Corinthians knew that it wasn't the case. They're being persuaded by these accusations. In chapter 2 verse 4, Paul said that he was writing to them out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears. For the purpose that they're in chapter 2 verse 5, they might know the love which he has so abundantly for them. His heartfelt plea is motivated by the love that he has so abundantly for them. He refers to them as beloved in chapter 7 verse 1. That's a tender expression for the family of God beloved. This is warm. This is pastoral. This is affectionate. Verse 13, like a father would be with his own children, and Paul is a spiritual father addressing his spiritual children, you could say in this way. Verse 13, Paul's love, Paul's affection toward them is demonstrated in two ways, beginning in verse 11. One, Paul says we have spoken openly to you. Paul's affection toward them demonstrated in his open communication with them. Literally the word there means that our stomachs are open to you. That opening in your face that leads to your stomach is wide open, and it carries the sense of speaking freely. I speak freely, unhindered, unhindered, not superficially. I speak freely. The truth and love. I don't hold anything back. That's what you get from Christ's true ambassadors. You get free speaking, full disclosure, full transparency, hard on his sleeve, streams of tears, shouts of joy. He would have said that he spoke to them what was necessary for them to hear, even if it was difficult for them to hear it. Sometimes you have to say hard things. Generally speaking, an indication that your affection has waned is when you receive those hard things pridefully and defensively and with hostility or anger. Paul says we've spoken openly to you. Nothing. They refrained from saying nothing that would have been profitable for them. We have spoken openly to you. That kind of open and free communication is loving. It shows genuine affection, true affection, not fake, worldly, superficial affection. When you genuinely love a brother, when you genuinely love someone else, you have, don't you, that if it's biblical, if it's godly, especially if it's spirit-empowered, you have that kind of open communication, don't you? Parents, let me ask you, why do you correct your kids? Why are you open with your kids in that way? Why do you discipline them? Why do you instruct them? Why do you plead with them? Why do you shed tears for them when they trail off? Why do you pray for them? Why do you anguish over them? Why parents? It's because you love them, right? Because you love them. Why are you so transparent sometimes? Why do you say what needs to be said? Why do you not withhold that which for them would be good and for their profit? Because you love them. If you didn't love them, you wouldn't do that. You don't hold back what is necessary for their good.  That's what we see in the example of our Lord. Hebrews 12 says that it's those whom the Lord loves that he chases. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and look down there beginning at verse 8, Paul here saying what they needed to hear, doing what was necessary for their good, even if it was painful to them. Verse 8, even if I made you sorry with my letter, Paul's referring here to that severe letter that he sent to them, rebuking them for their sin, calling them to repentance, Paul saying, even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, even though I did regret having to send it in the first place, right? But I did regret it, for I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while, but now I rejoice 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 not suffer loss from us in nothing. But what was Paul's motivation for sending that? Look at verse 12, therefore in verse 12, Paul says, 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 I did it so that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you, might appear to you, so that you would know that we love you and that this is because we love you. And it's because of love, because of our care and our concern for you that we say hard things sometimes. Paul spoke openly to them. Secondly, in verse 11, the second way that Paul demonstrates affection for them, Paul says that our heart is wide open. Not only is our stomach, so to speak, our mouth wide open, but our heart is wide open. Speaking as a spiritual parent of the church in Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 7, Paul said to them, we were gentle among you. Paul wasn't heavy-handed. Paul wasn't tyrannical, dictatorial, manipulative or abusive or authoritarian. Paul says we were gentle among you. Just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children, so affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you would become dear to us. Paul says our heart was wide open to you. Now notice here, especially in that passage, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, that it's not mere feeling. It's not mere emotion. There is certainly emotion involved. There's certainly feeling involved, but love takes action. Affectionately longing for you, Paul says. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel, we certainly did that, but in addition to imparting to you the gospel of God, we imparted to you our own lives also because you had become dear to us. Love takes action. So here we are again, chapter 6 verse 11. Here's Paul once again speaking freely with his heart wide open. That's what he's doing here. Speaking freely with his heart wide open. There's no hint of hypocrisy. This is not fake or manufactured or superficial or tamped down. And consider with the texture that we're looking at. Consider the context with me. How have the Corinthians been treating him? Think of Paul's love for them, his affection toward them in the context of how they themselves were treating Paul. It led Paul to say in verse 12, you're not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Paul says it's not me, it's you. The problem that Paul is addressing in Corinth has nothing to do with his affection for them. It has much to do with their failing affections for him. The word restricted there refers to being cramped, constrained or impeded. They have pressed or squeezed Paul out of their heart and mind altogether. There's no room in their heart for Paul. It's entirely opposite and intentionally contrasted with Paul's wide open or enlarged and broadened heart for them in verse 11. There's plenty of room in his heart for them. He told the Philippians in chapter one, verse seven that I have you in my heart. I have you in my heart. Paul is saying there's no restraint. There's no impediment in our love for you. We're not doing anything to hinder or constrain your affections. Nothing that we're doing is hindering or impeding your affections, but there is restraint there. There is an impediment in your affections for us. What's the reason for this lack of genuine love, Corinthians? What's the reason for this? Paul says it's not my conduct. It's not my conduct. Look at chapter seven, verse two. We've wronged no one. We've corrupted no one. We've cheated no one. What accusation is there against me? Paul says that can actually stick. In what way have we failed to show godly affection, godly love toward you? Paul is saying the problem is not with me. The problem is with you. The affection Paul says that I'm demonstrating toward you is not being reciprocated. Your love for me is not comparable to my love toward you. This is unrequited love, isn't it? Unrequited love. Unrequited love is painful, isn't it? They had already departed from Paul in their heart. There was now something between them. Think with me. They forgot, and therefore they despised. Through a lack of affection, they demonstrated that they despised his labor of love among them. Many of them had forgotten that it's a preaching of the gospel by Paul, that God saved them. They have been persuaded by the lies, persuaded by the accusations, and now they looked at Paul with doubt. They looked at Paul with suspicion. Something has come between them. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? You have warm brotherly affection in the church, warm sisterly affection for someone. You see one another during the week. You pray for one another. You've shed tears together. You've been out witnessing together. You've been through the trenches together. You've been through much together. You've seen one another grow in the Lord. You've rejoiced over one another. You've enjoyed one another's fellowship. You look forward to coming to a group during the week so you can spend time with those sisters, spend time with those brothers, praying with them, loving them, sharing their burdens. And then one day, you're in church and that brother, that sister, comes through the door and what used to be a big smile come across your face, right? Because they see you and as you are, they're looking forward to seeing you and they love you. And there's a warm affection between, there has been warm affection between the two of you. Now, when they come through the door, they don't have a smile on their face any longer. In fact, they make an immediate right hand turn and they're headed for the bathroom. And so you think to yourself, there's obviously a problem, right? Why has your countenance fallen? Why has your countenance fallen? There's something between them. And so you think to yourself, I'm going to talk to them immediately out of the service. Maybe I'm going to corner them in the stall. And I'm going to talk to them in the bathroom. And I don't want to let another moment pass. This is grieving to my heart, right? So you corner them in the stall and they're angry maybe because you corner them in the stall. But let's say you corner them in the hall and they're angry or they're hostile or they show bitterness towards you. There is obviously problems. I just noticed that you acted toward me differently and I'm concerned, have I done something to offend you? Is there anything I've done that, right? As soon as the service is over, they bolt for the door. That's what the cartoon, right? They bolt. There's a little puff of smoke and the hat spins and the hat is always left. And if you listen carefully, you can hear the tires screeching as they pull out of the parking lot. They don't return your text. They're not returning your calls. What is going on? What is going on? The thing about it with me, right? From our text. How does Paul respond? How does Paul respond when this takes place? There's obviously a problem. There's obviously a problem. But does Paul respond with anger? No. Does Paul respond with coldness of his own? No. With indifference? Then they'll get over it. No. Does Paul respond with distance? Well, he's not going to call me. I'm not going to call him either. He's going to avoid me? I'm going to avoid him. I'm going to sit on the other side of the church. No. Does he respond with impatience? Does Paul become embittered? Does Paul become defensive? Does Paul become angry? No. Why? Because, 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4, the fruit of love that is produced by the Spirit of God in the heart of every genuine Christian suffers long. That love is kind. That love does not envy or parade itself. That love is not puffed up. That love doesn't behave rudely. That love doesn't seek its own. That love is not provoked. That love thinks no evil. That love refuses to rejoice in iniquity. In fact, that love will point out iniquity and call to repentance. But that love rejoices in the truth. That love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Paul would later say in chapter 12 verse 15, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, even though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. That's amazing on one side, right? The fruit of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit of God. And it's also tragic. I will spend and be spent for your soul, even though the more I love you, the less I am loved. Tragic. Paul may not have responded with bitterness, may not have responded with anger, but Paul was hurt. Paul was sorrowful. Paul grieved at how they were conducting themselves toward him. But his love for them endures. We see that in the text, don't we? Why? Why does his affection for them? Why does his affection for Christ endure? Why does his affection for the brothers endure? Because it is spirit wrought, spirit empowered, spirit produced love. It may grieve, it may sorrow, it may weep, but that love endures. However, and worse yet, more to the point of Paul's writing here, their lack of love reveals a problem. Just like that person in the foyer, their lack of love reveals a problem. Something is wrong in Corinth. Paul says that problem lies with your affections. The problem here that you have is a heart problem. Verse 12, you're not restricted by us, you're restricted by your own affections. The Corinthians have become ensnared or embroiled in something. They've become entangled with something or they've become entangled with someone that has influenced them. It's had an influence, a negative influence on their affections for Paul. It's had a negative influence on Paul's ministry among them. The reality is that this impediment will also dampen or have a negative influence on their love for Christ. It'll have a negative influence on their love for the things of God, their affections for the Lord. Worldly affections, chapter 6, verse 14 through chapter 7, verse 1, have crowded Paul out. Worldly affections have crowded the word of God out. Worldly affections have crowded Christ out. They have no more room in their heart because sin and idolatry have filled it up. Worldliness has filled up their heart. He's going to address all that with them in this text, but he begins here low-hanging fruit, you could say, with their own affections for him. We've seen it, haven't we? He says in verse 13, now in return for the same, in return for the affection that I've shown you, and I speak to you as a father would speak to his children, you also be open. I'm speaking to you in love, Paul says, as a father would do his own children. Open your heart to us. The word return here means in like manner. It's a fair exchange. In other words, in fair exchange for the love that I've shown you, you now open yourself to me, right? Recompend my love. Show me love because of the love that I've shown for you. I've been open with you. Now you be open with me, right? The affectionate towards me is I've been affectionate toward you. I read a book a while back. It's been a while. The title of the book is Comeback Barbara. It's a good book for you to be read by your parents. But the book is essentially about a Christian mom, Christian dad, who don't lose their daughter to an accident. They don't lose their daughter to disease. They don't lose their daughter to death. They lose their daughter from the Lord. They lose their daughter. She turns away from Christ. She turns away from desiring to follow after him. And she begins to follow after the dictates of her own heart, begins to pursue her own sin, and has no interest in following the Lord. If you're a mom or dad, we may, at least through empathy with a brother or sister who's lost a child, see the pain involved in losing a child to death, losing a child to disease, losing a child to a car accident, those kinds of tragic events. But there is, isn't there a unique pain involved in losing a child to this world? In losing a child to, at least for the time being, losing a child to Satan, losing a child to the enemy, so to speak, when you know that the only hope of their eternal well-being is turning to Christ in faith. And the book basically entails how this mom and dad sort of dealt with the reality of that. And ultimately, as a father, a loving father would in love for his child, they simply continue to love. They continue to love, they bear long, they're patient, they're long suffering, they plead, and they pray, but they are kind and gentle. Like Paul is being here, right? Don't turn away from me. Don't turn away from the Lord. It's Paul's concern. Don't be deceived by your own wicked heart. Don't be deceived by these false teachers. Don't be deceived by this world. Don't be carried away in worldliness. Don't be carried away in laziness or indifference or apathy. Don't allow your affections to cool. Don't allow your heart to grow cold. Don't turn from your first love. Repent and do the first work, right? Follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't turn away. And there is a unique or distinct pain like that of a father for his child that Paul feels for them. It's the unique or distinct pain that I felt for some that you have felt for some as we have lived and ministered in the Lord's church. Paul begins with their affections for him. Don't do this. We know with much wisdom comes much grief, right? We know where that path leads. We know the ditches and the precipices that they are walking along. We know the danger. He says, open your heart to me. Open your heart to me. Fuel godly or godward affections. Ultimately, how was it or why was it that Paul loved them in this way? Why is it? I would submit to you that it's ultimately because Paul is loved in this way, right? Saul was violent. Saul was hostile. Saul was a hater of Christians. Saul was a hater of Christ. Saul's heart was closed off to Christ and yet on the road to Damascus in grace and mercy. Saul became Paul. His heart was changed, his eyes though temporarily blind, temporarily blind were opened. And Paul was given affection for the Lord. And Paul, seeing with new eyes, with spiritual eyes, what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for him, now knew what love looked like. The reason that Paul could love them in this way is because ultimately he is loved in this way. We love him because he first loved us. That's right. So, brother, sister, listen, when we realize that our love has grown cold, if you take stock of your own heart and you consider my love has grown cold, if you come to realize that you have left your first love, or maybe you're on the way out the door, maybe you've departed in your heart and in your affections. Revelation chapter 2, verse 5, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent, do the first works, fire your affections by cultivating a love and gratitude for Christ and what he has done for you.  All praise, honor, and glory to the one who first loved us.


Chicago. In the midst of a war. Not a war between nations, but a war between races. Whites versus blacks. Riots in the streets and dozens left dead. This is the story of the event that would be remembered in history as the Red Summer. The Red Summer of 1919 was the breaking point of the ever rising tension surrounding the migration during World War I of African Americans from the south to the cities in the north. Once the war was over, thousands of soldiers returned home to find their jobs and factories filled by previously southern blacks. Radical and ethical prejudices were all over. Adding to the tension was how little freedom African American soldiers had once they returned home, being denied basic rights such as adequate housing and equality under the law.  During the summer of 1919, riots across the US would break out in areas like Washington DC, Knoxville, Tennessee, Omaha, Nebraska, and many more. None, though, were as dramatic as the events that occurred in Chicago. It was July 27, 1919, the fateful day that would cause the next week to reign violence on the streets of Chicago. Eugene Williams, an African American citizen, had gone with some friends to swim at their local beach. In the midst of everything, Eugene crossed the lines between the blacks and the whitesides, and soon Eugene was being stoned from the beachside by a group of white men. Eugene was struck and then drowned. When the police arrived at the scene and were informed of the situation by several eyewitnesses, the officers refused to arrest the white men. Instead, the police arrested a black man. Black bystanders watched and objected only to be met with violence by the whites.  Lasting nearly a week, the Chicago riots were finally coming to a close after the government had deployed 6,000 National Guard infantrymen. These men were stationed around the black belt to prevent any further white attacks. By the evening of July 30, most violence had ended. The majority of the rioting, murder, and arson was the result of white ethnic groups attacking the African American population in the city's black belt on the south side. Most of the casualties and property damage were suffered by the black Chicagoans. Over the five days, a total of 38 people had been killed, 23 of those being African American, and 15 being white. Along with 537 injuries, two-thirds of that being African American. By the end of the riots, approximately 1,000 residents, mostly African American, were left homeless due to arson attacks. Many African American families had left by train before the rioting ended, returning to their families in the south. It was suggested to implement zoning laws that would formally segregate housing in Chicago, and place restrictions preventing blacks from working alongside whites in the stockyard, though these measures were rejected by African American and liberal white voters. President Woodrow Wilson publicly blamed the whites for being the instigators of the race-related riots in both Chicago and Washington D.C., and introduced efforts to foster racial harmony, including voluntary organizations and congressional legislation. The summer of 1919, later to be known as the Red Summer, marked the beginning of a growing willingness amongst African Americans to fight for their rights in the face of oppression and injustice.


All right, what's up internet? Reacting today to PC memes, pero para naman educational will also be explaining the memes. Actually, the PC memes are a really good way to understand PC hardware and just PC culture in general. But I'll try to keep the memes fun. Ayaw ko naman maging kia masyado. Opens Chrome again.  I'm tired. Puchya, simula pa lang bastos na sino pumili nito. Pero pro tip, you don't actually want to be using Chrome for those kinds of sites. Use something like Brave Browser which cuts out all of the tracking. It makes things load much faster. Learned from... Not a pro. I heard it from a friend. Why would I enter your bedroom? You're always looking at the wallpaper. Usagot lang dyan tayo. Alt tab lang malakas. Pro tip number two. To find Siri, right? So it's a take off on the Anakin Padme meme from episode two. Usually the way the meme goes is that Anakin says something and Padme has a good spin on it. But Anakin just looks at her like, what are you talking about woman? And then the genius of this particular meme is that they made it Witcher. And instead of having to save his adopted daughter Siri what Geralt or slash Anakin is going to do in this meme is to play Gwent which is a shout out to the game within a game that they included in Witcher which became super popular that they made a separate game just for Gwent. And Anakin as Geralt kind of works actually.  As you can kind of guess from the meme this is from one of the Rick and Morty episodes where they think it's just going to be a quick adventure and when they get back it's like, oh, I got to claw my eyes out. I can't unsee what I just saw. And the meme is funny because PC building is kind of like that. You know, you're super campante after watching the YouTubers, you know, build and like sobrang bilay, sobrang linis. To be honest, ang linis talaga tingnan kung panorin mo lang yung YouTube but when you're the one actually putting in the CPU and having to arrange the fans and doing the wiring five hours will not be enough.  I know nothing about custom keyboards although a lot of people have been telling me to try them out and I don't know which movie this is from with Mark Wahlberg pero sorry na lang sa mga keyboard enthusiasts but this is exactly how I feel about the custom keyboard scene na parang sobrang complicated. But I hear it's worth it. Everybody keeps telling me it's worth it. So I might try it out eventually. But to be honest to an outsider, the scene is completely undecipherable plus expensive as Avatar meme, ganda nung avatar. If you guys haven't watched that series yet, it's really recommended. Anyway, this particular meme refers to the avatar state where the current avatar can talk to all of his past incarnations and get advice and it's sort of like that when you jump into a forum. Like, you know, you have a problem in 2021 but with the magic of Google, you go back to a forum from 2015 tapos nandun yung sagot na kailangan mo. Tech forums like thumbs hardware are the avatar state of PC troubleshooting. And that kind of thinking is also why we put up our own forum site pm.hwsugar.ph para searchable siya. Yung ibang forums kasi locally, parang Facebook groups lang, hindi yung searchable by Google. So if somebody has the same problem as yun, din niya mahanap yung solution even though nasagot na yan by some long ago poster years ago.  You know, you'll find everything there. 99% of the time.  Great series. How long I thought the pandemic was going to last? How long the pandemic has actually lasted? This is actually a very witty meme. Kasi yung generic PSU, pshota lang yun or kung mag-short term, you think that it won't last very long. So yun yung sinisabi niya, kala ko mabilis lang tong pandemic, pero it turned out na sobrang t-bind niya and that's the 80-plus rated PSU at the bottom. The pandemic is lasting a lot longer than we or a lot of people thought it would. Can't do a meme-share act without having a Simpsons meme and this one doesn't need much explanation.  Sakalin kaya akad ayan 3070, sarap batukan. It's the same logic here na, oh, kawa naman ako naka R9, 5950X, RTX 3090. Ano po kaya pwede baguin ko dito? Yung cables? Hashtag humble brag. So obrang on point ng meme na to in any FPS game, kung di ka nag-reload and you're ready to fire, wala akang mahanap na kalaban.  Another great show, Invincible from Amazon and I don't want to spoil anything but it's a Superman story gone wrong. Here, the Superman character is talking to his son and he's telling him na tinan mo yung mga yan prefering to the Earthlings to the humans na the power we have in one little pinky finger is more than these guys will ever have and they need all their technology to just get a fraction of the power we have. I like this meme because parang binaliktad niya yung Apple products parang tumitingin sila sa PC products and the Apple guys are saying, andami kailangan ng PC para lang umabot sa fraction of our cost.  Apple, effortlessly expensive. My dad couldn't find Google Chrome so I did this for him. You know, it's a mash of different memes. You got the Spider-Man meme pointing, you got the nagwawala na White Lady pointing yung nagwawala na parang wrestler type pointing and of course, you have the Sistine Chapel God figure pointing. It's just really funny. It's a parang kids ka na poke fun at the elders na ito na what seems so simple for us because we're used to tech is actually or can be quite difficult for non-techies chakay yung medyo mas senior na sa atin pero grave naman to. Ito na yun. Just double-click. Kapos tatanoyin ni tatay. Anak, panu mag-double-click? Classic meme from Tom and Jerry what it feels like when you turn on the PC that you built for the first time and that's really how it sounds like kahit siguro na kailang builds ka na that first time you turn on you press the power talagang ganin yung feeling mo na poo cha, sasabog ba to? These are like the stages of grief alam mo when somebody dies supposedly you go through stages of grief ganin to yun. It's fine to watch the cutscene for the first time, second time baka maliw ka pa the third time, yun nga escape, enter, space bar hold space bar I don't know why developers don't give an easy way out of the cutscenes. Spot-on tong meme na to. Back in the day, multiplayer in the 90s there was such a thing called hot seat where kung turn-based yung game you would take turns so upo yung isa lalaro niyo yung turn niya tapos tatayo siya the next player would sit in the chair so literally, iinit yung upuan kasi hot seat although in this meme it's like they're sharing a keyboard that also used to happen and you can imagine if you're trying to play something like first person shooter sharing the same keyboard tapos hindi pa wasdi yung gamit mo ikaw yung na iwan dun sa kanan automatic handicap take my money meme from teacher Rama and it's true we spend so much on computer hardware pero pagdating sa actual games grab it, $30, mahal naman hintayin ko na lang yung steam sale pero kasala na din yung steam sale yung mga $30 na yung babagsak to $5 epic games, babagsak to zero ginagawa ako tong meme na to palagay na sa wish list at hinihintay ko talaga yung steam sale kasi niyipon rin yun ne the games you buy on steam sale the free games you get from epic games hindi mo rin na lalaro ka agad so pagdating yung next steam sale andang yung upang bala na niyo pa na lalaro so okay man you spend on your rig buy strategically the games excellent advice from this meme to be honest, I don't know the origin you see this meme a lot like oh, I did ah please let me know in the comments pero spot on tong advice na to you're doing dual monitor it's not cost efficient if you have two good monitors you get one good one as your primary monitor top sa yung second monitor mo nagagamitin mo lang naman pang check nung stocks pang secondary screen for email that can be a cheap ass monitor hindi kailangan mahal yun so on point itong meme na to punch bob meme and it's true malakas PC mo makina raman internet mo skaibigad mo baliktad naman when you finally get online like an hour, two hours later so broong litong litokan na hindi mo alam like ba pangit ng performance ng game lag ba yung sa internet mabagal ba PC ko kasalanan ba nung kasama ko even in 2021 playing on the internet can still be a real mess jet revive me I also don't know which anime this is from but this really hits me in the feels kasi as some of you know sobrang lumanan ng computer ko pero still going strong and that's how I feel about it at the end of the day or paminsan after running it for 36 hours kasi ayok ko patayin mo na yung flex I just pat it and say good job war machine ba hang on just a little bit longer walang I'm tired boss dito keep going man finally for the last meme the images are sort of self explanatory it's a chick in the armor you've waited so long to buy your expensive computer tapo your Achilles heel the one chink in the armor is that out of stock na palalahat ng parts kaya don't wait come on down to hardware sugar and let's see what kind of PC we can cook up for you thanks for watching and thank you to our top fans na affordo namin to kapua na ito ande joke lang thank you to Leah Magnaya Ian Meru Richard Longkinko ITX Addict John Ruben Odcha Christian Espinoza and Rafael James thank you for supporting the channel


This study compares the effectiveness of various non-surgical treatments for androgenetic alopecia, AGA, separately for men and women using randomized control trials, RCTs. The results show that platelet-rich plasma, PRP, the level laser therapy, LLT, 0.5 milligrams deutasteride, 1 milligram finasteride, 5 percent minoxidil, 2 percent minoxidil and bimetoprost are the most effective treatments for male AGA in decreasing order of efficacy. For female AGA, LLT, 5 percent minoxidil and 2 percent minoxidil were identified as the most effective treatments in decreasing order of efficacy. However, the evidence quality of these treatments is low and further validation by future RCTs is needed to confirm their effectiveness. This article was authored by Ditya K. Gupta, Mary A. Bamemore and Kelly A. Foley.