It's now time for our member statements. Recognize the member for Toronto St. Paul's. Good morning, Speaker. Today on International Women's Day, I recognize our St. Paul's women. You have disproportionately shouldered the brunt of this pandemic. It is why I am committed to a feminist recovery. Our frontline healthcare workers, you have continuously shown tenacity and courage throughout this ordeal. Essential caregivers, again primarily women, I've spoken with you. I know the weight of your care work. Our seniors in our rental apartments, many of you live alone. I thank you for our phone calls where you often remind me to dress warmly and keep fighting for you. I will. I stand with women with disabilities in St. Paul's. Many of you are injured workers, holding it down for your families, doing your absolute best.  I stand with women without children. You are no less important. I give gratitude to our teachers and education workers for your tireless work. Our women business owners, essential workers, local farmers, artists and creatives. I am so deeply grateful for you.  You give us color, our feeling and our vibe. To all of you, I will continue to fight for your right to housing, pay equity, paid sick days, your safety at work, your physical and mental health on International Women's Day and beyond. I stand boldly in this house because of you and for you, and I am deeply thankful. Happy International Women's Day. Thank you very much, Speaker. I rise today in honor of International Women's Day. Although women in Ontario have made great strides for equality in the boardrooms, political arenas and hockey rinks, they continue to earn less, face harassment, discrimination and in worst cases, violence. Almost three years ago, a man drove a rented van down the sidewalks of Yonge Street in Willowdale, killing 10 people and injuring 16. This heinous, cowardly act of violence was a deliberate attack aimed at women in my community. One of the eight women killed that day was 31-year-old Anne-Marie D'Amico. In the wake of the tragedy, Anne-Marie's family created the Anne-Marie D'Amico Foundation as a way to find light in the darkest of times and to honor her memory. The Anne-Marie D'Amico Foundation works tirelessly to create new spaces for abused women and children in the North York women's shelter. Of the 10 new spaces they created this past year, all were quickly taken by victims of domestic abuse. Abuse that, in many cases, was made worse by the pandemic, where vulnerable women already living in unstable conditions were being trapped in a house with their abuser. As we celebrate International Women's Day and the contributions made by women in our lives and communities, let us also acknowledge and thank organizations like the Anne-Marie D'Amico Foundation for the work they have done for victims of domestic abuse and let us all join the fight to end violence against women everywhere. Thank you. Members' statements. Member for Windsor West. Speaker, how do you summarize the life of someone like Walter Gretzky in the short time that I have? First thought is, you can't. But as my father-in-law pointed out, Walter's motto was, there's no such thing as can't, and so I will give it my best shot. Wally had a deep love of the game of hockey, a love he passed on not only to his children, but other kids too. He encouraged and nurtured the love of the game by instilling in others an ethic of hard work, determination, and confidence in oneself. Much like hockey, Wally had a deep love for his community and his country. He was generous with his time, whether through raising money for the numerous charitable organizations he was involved in, serving meals to those in need at a local church, chatting with or singing to anyone nearby, both adults and children alike. Wally opened up his home to anyone that knocked on the door, leading them into the basement to enjoy his sports memorabilia collection. He was honored with the Brantford Citizen of the Year Award, is an inductee to the Brantford Walk of Fame, a member of the Order of Ontario, and a member of the Order of Canada. Wally carried the Olympic torch and received honorary degrees from three universities. While he achieved much in his lifetime, one might say his most notable accomplishment was what he gave to others, kindness and the way he made others feel. Whether family or someone he'd never met before, Wally always wanted you to feel listened to, included and appreciated, like you were the great one. On Saturday, Wally was laid to rest, a crowd of people in hockey jerseys, and his kids tapping their hockey sticks and lining the street outside the church to show their respect. In my house, he was Uncle Walter. In Brantford, he was Lord Mayor. To many, he was Wally. To our country, he was Canada's hockey dad. His legacy will live on in every arena, backyard rink, and memory of those who had the pleasure of meeting him. Every time we hear a stick tap on the boards, it will be Walter Gretzky telling us there is no such thing as can't. Rest well, Wally. Member statements? Member for Whitby. Thank you, Speaker. The government is working to support the health and well-being of Whitby seniors during COVID-19. The recently announced funding provided to Whitby Seniors Active Living Centers in downtown Whitby and Brooklyn will help local seniors stay safe and socially connected through virtual and remote programs. Speaker, this year's investment focuses on interactive telephone-based group programming, online educational programs such as tax clinics, technology assistance, health and wellness, and COVID information. Speaker, given the social isolation that COVID-19 has brought to many seniors, it's important that we look to programs that will keep them safe and connected. And the government's significant investment in Seniors Active Living Centers will help Whitby's older adult stay virtually engaged with their friends, families and communities while combating social isolation during the pandemic. Speaker, Whitby Seniors Active Living Center programming will provide support for older adults and their well-being by keeping them active, socially connected within their own communities. What's clear, Speaker, is that the government remains absolutely committed to the safety, independence and well-being of Whitby seniors. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Next member's statement. The member for Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker. And today is International Women's Day. And, Speaker, I'm going to say first that women across this province deserve respect and appreciation for their work, care and sacrifice throughout this pandemic. We have seen women on the front lines across fields and jurisdictions, but we know that many of the vulnerable and essential worker jobs are predominantly female and many of those women are racialized and further marginalized. Consider the never-ending work of caregivers and personal support workers. PSWs who have been on the front lines in long-term and seniors' care, working with vulnerable neighbors in their homes who can't get fair wages or adequate training and who work relentlessly without fair or safe staffing levels. We call our healthcare workers heroes, but many of them are women, and they have had to fight for PPE and respect from the beginning. Education workers are predominantly female, and we've seen how diminished, disrespected and exploited they have been by this government during this pandemic. And why? Because they cost money to employees, Speaker. So they work in a field with children. We've seen how poorly regarded they have been over this past year. Women work in every field, and we need to ensure there are clear paths to employment, training and fair compensation for them. We've heard that we are in a she-session, and there will not be the economic recovery we all need without a feminist recovery. This government has to reverse the cuts to shelters, rape crisis centers, women's services and programs. Skills training, accessible employment supports, pay equity, child care and paid sick days all must be a part of this government's plan if they really want to raise the status of women in this province, and that is hoping that they do. On this International Women's Day, we must commit to ensuring a brighter and safer path ahead for all women. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for Orleans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Happy International Women's Day. Recently the cities of Ottawa, Brampton and Barrie have all concluded investigations into serious cases of workplace violence and sexual harassment by members of council. In these cases, the most severe penalty that can be imposed is the suspension of pay for 90 days. Municipal councillors can have their seats vacated for poor attendance or for spending too much on their election night parties, but not for sexually harassing or inappropriately touching their employees or co-workers. In Ottawa, the integrity commissioner found that councillor committed incomprehensible incidents of harassment against staff over many years. In Brampton, the integrity commissioner found that councillor engaged in unnecessary, unwelcome and unwanted sexual touching. Despite these findings, Mr. Speaker, these councillors remain in office. Brampton's integrity commissioner said she was displeased. There was no avenue that allowed for the councillor's immediate removal for office. And in Ottawa, City Council passed a resolution requesting the government make these changes to allow for this. The minister's response, Mr. Speaker, was to reject the idea outright. I've been working with stakeholders for some time and will soon be bringing forward a private member's bill that would allow a municipal council seat to be vacated in cases of workplace violence and harassment. I call on all members of the legislature to support this proposal and pass the changes swiftly to bring greater accountability to Ontario's local leaders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Carlton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today is International Women's Day and I want to wish all the amazing women and girls here in the legislature, in my riding of Carlton across the province, including my amazing staff, as well as my mother, grandmother, and sister, a happy International Women's Day. I'd like to take a moment to highlight the accomplishments of some of the amazing women of Carlton this past year, including Heather Larmer, who was recognized as one of five Canadian professionals under 40 by Canadian Defense Review Magazine. Estella Aversa, who made a fantastic video thanking frontline workers. Liz Elwood, who recently opened up her business, Mavericks Dota Company in Stitsville. Katie Zhu, who was the 2020 Special Olympics Ontario athlete of the year. Amanda Knox, who was a 2020 Ottawa Book Awards finalist. Brenda Miller, who won the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. Charlene Burnside, who spent hours making fabric masks for her community of Richmond. Kiera Dixon, who performed its corona time on YouTube for episode two of Kids Around the World. Danielle Barabay-Boussière, who was the 2020 Canada's photographer of the year in the craftsmen of photographic arts designation. The South Carlton Girls Curling Team, who are the National Capital Secondary Athletes Association Champions in 2020. Mr. Speaker, the list goes on and on, but unfortunately I'm running out of time. It's truly an honor to represent such amazing women and girls in Carlton. The future of Carlton, Ottawa, and Ontario is certainly bright. Happy International Women's Day. Member Statements. The member for Scarborough Southwest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past months, I have raised the need for a faster, more comprehensive vaccine rollout for Ontario and called on the Premier to commit to an equitable distribution of vaccines. Today, I want to tell this House about a constituent of Scarborough Southwest in hopes that my call will finally be answered. Thomas Cooper bravely served with Bomber Command in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a member of the 408 Goose Squadron. Bomber Command faced a death rate of 46 percent, and Mr. Cooper designed bearings for aircraft engines for SKF Canada and was involved in the Avro Arrow Project. His daughter, Catherine, contacted us. She's worried for her father and has no central place to get information as to when her father can get vaccinated. While other parts of the province get vaccines, Mr. Cooper's family is left in the dark feeling hopeless. Catherine asks, why is Scarborough being so neglected? It's been a hotbed for COVID-19 infection. Surely if the desire is to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in this province, the people of Scarborough should be a high priority. Mr. Speaker, individuals outside of Scarborough can get vaccinated. The former Premier can get vaccinated, and that's great. They should be getting vaccinated, but so should Mr. Cooper and the many others who have been waiting patiently for months in Scarborough. As someone who served his country and answered the call at the age of 19, Mr. Cooper deserves better. Mr. Speaker, Scarborough Southwest deserves better. Thank you very much. Thank you. Member statements? The Member for Kitchener, Conestoga. Well, thank you very much, Speaker. Last week, I had the chance to virtually welcome the Solicitor General for Waterloo Region for a roundtable with some of the organizations who combat human trafficking and support victims in my community. While we may not see it, human trafficking is happening all across the province in our small towns and our urban centres. It is a horrible reality, but my community is no exception, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank all the attendees for sharing their feedback on our government's new bill, the Combating Human Trafficking Act, which is the first of its kind in Canada. It is a real honour to be part of a government that has made putting an end to this heinous crime and the protection of victims a priority. It was just last year that our comprehensive $307 million anti-human trafficking strategy was launched, and we are now making changes to give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and deter human trafficking. As I heard during our discussions, these new measures will build on the ongoing collaboration in my region providing clarity and importantly to raise awareness about the risk of human trafficking. As a member of this House, we all have the responsibility to shed light on the fact that this is happening in our communities, to raise awareness about the prevention of this crime and to help the survivors and the people who support them. I look forward to continuing this ongoing conversation with the experts in my community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Burlington. Thank you so much, Speaker. Speakers, we celebrate International Women's Day. I'd like to recognise some of the incredible women in Burlington. Local leaders like Colleen Mulholland from Burlington's Community Foundation Anita Cassidy from Economic Development, Andrea Dodd from our Restaurant Association, Carla Nell from Burlington's Chamber of Commerce and Judy Worsley from Aldershot BIA. In our long-term care and seniors' homes, there's Sharon Bailey from Burlok Long-Term Care, Sherri Levy-Abraham from Bethany Residents and Marie Clark from Wellington Park. Women who connect people with jobs like Lisa Rosado from the Center for Skills Development, Kelly Hoey and Michelle Murray from Hayek and Kelly Duffin from Goodwill, the Amity Group. Women supporting our kids, including Alison Brindle from Learning Disabilities of Halton Hamilton, Cindy Ironson from Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services, Andrea Grabenek from Halton's Public School Board, Lita Berry from Burlington's Libraries and Janice Robinson and Lynn Barker from Halton Children's Aid. Women like Lisa Coller from Halton's Environmental Network, Lisa Lanzinsky from Wellington Square's Mailbag Program, Amy Scheer, Schner from Burlington Green and Bridget Sonja from Nuvo Networks. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my four children, Jennifer Courtney, Megan and Taylor. They blessed me and inspire me, not only today, but every day. You amaze me with your intelligence, compassion, humor, drive and capacity for unconditional love. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you very much. That concludes our member's statements for this morning. It is now time for oral questions. Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize. There is a point of order by the member for Windsor West. Thank you, Speaker. I seek unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence to pay tribute to the contributions and memory of Walter Gretzky. Member for Windsor West is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to observe a moment of silence to pay tribute to the memory of Walter Gretzky. Agreed? Agreed. Agreed. I'll ask members to rise. Thank you very much. Members may take their seats.


We'll be looking today at Ephesians chapter 5 verses 8 through 14 and so let me begin reading at verse 8. I'll read to verse 14 and as is the way I normally do things I'm going to be giving you some reminders just for those who haven't been with us you're going to be up to speed when I complete that and the rest of us will just move on in to verse 8 and pick up where we left off last time. So I'll begin reading here in Ephesians chapter 5 at verse 8 I'll read to verse 14 and we'll get into our introduction and our study. So Paul writes Ephesians 5 verse 8 for you you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light that sounds like one of my Sunday morning messages to the church awake you who sleep but anyway let's let's do a little bit of a background we'll remind ourselves of a few things and get into our study in chapter 5 verse 1 we saw how that that Paul had exhorted Christians and he had exhorted us as believers to be imitators of God I was pointing out that being an imitator of God means to follow him he's our model we are to emulate him we're actually to copy him so as Christians we imitate his speech we imitate his actions and we even imitate his motivations we hear his speech as we read the Bible we see his actions and what we read that he does and as for his heart he clearly reveals his heart for us in so many places in scripture one passage Deuteronomy 529 says it well here there the Lord says if only they had such a heart in them to fear me and keep all my commandments always so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever what is his heart that it might go well with us and with our children now we speak into the nation of Israel but we can apply that to ourselves in that we are his children also in Isaiah 54 verse 10 the mountains may depart at the hills be removed but God says but my steadfast love shall not depart from you and my covenant of peace shall not be removed says the Lord who has compassion on you so it's this kind of knowledge that provokes us as believers to seek to please him it's the knowledge that God loves us and we know the scriptures many of them that speak concerning his love for us the most famous obviously being in in the New Testament in John chapter 3 verse 16 we all know that scripture God so loved the world and it's demonstrated according to Romans 5 verse 8 in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and so God has revealed his love to us in what he has done to save us and it's that kind of knowledge that propels us to please him as well as propels us to share the gospel with those who are lost you see John 3 36 says whoever believes in the sun has eternal life but whoever rejects the sun will not see life for God's wrath abides God's wrath remains on him God's wrath abides on them and therefore we give them the word of God to set them free as they take it and and apply to their them their own lives by faith so Christians cultivate a life that is intentionally directed towards being pleasing to the Lord I read to you last time 1st Thessalonians 4 verse 1 where Paul said finally then brethren we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you receive from us how you want to walk to please and to please God so the desire for the Lord is to motivate us as believers to spend a lifetime not just a week not just a month just a day but an everyday lifetime until he takes us to be with him it's what motivates us to pursue him Psalm 42 verse 1 says as the deer longs for streams of water so I long for you oh God so in our desire to be with him our lives begin to become structured disciplined we begin to pursue the things that please him and we begin to habitually reject those things that don't in 2nd Timothy 2 verse 22 Paul said flee also youthful us but pursue righteousness faith love peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart so that's why we read his word that's why we pray that's why we fellowship and that's why we share our faith these are the basic things that we do because we love him and because we're pursuing him so we noted that Paul taught us to reject the inclinations of our flesh our sinful desires and he pointed out that our flesh is inclined to various sins he didn't give a whole list of them but he gave enough for us to understand what he's speaking of he said that we're to we're to reject fornication and sexual uncleanness sexual parasitism filthy speech empty headed talking sexual language that is filled with double meanings because that would exhibit a walk that is called worthy of the calling by which we have been called we've already looked at this but again our flesh wars against our spirit because we've had a lifetime of being molded by the thoughts intense and by the example of the world that has rejected God and so because of this we intentionally reject the desires that we wore against so he said we are to consciously reject fornication and that sexual uncleanness and all those other things and this way of life must never be associated with Christian living in Ephesians 5 3 he said let it not even be named among you as befits or as is fitting for saints so that kind of lifestyle that he said we're not to pursue and be part of it runs counter to what the Lord has taught us and it runs counter to how God is molding us into his own image now remember in verse 6 Paul had warned us that that people would try to deceive us with empty words in other words people will try to convince us that God allows Christians to live that kind of life it's okay they'll say to continue because God is gracious and and God is loving and he certainly will not condemn or judge you well according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 7 God didn't call us to uncleanness God call us in holiness and so he doesn't intend us to continue living unclean lives he didn't call us in that fashion but called us to live for him not only can others convince you that it's permissible to continue in sin but you can also deceive yourself you can convince yourself that what you're doing isn't wrong and even when your friends and family are warning you you just call them hypocrites and you say they're wrong they don't understand you they don't know your heart right well Proverbs 12 15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but he who heeds counsel is wise so why do we find ourselves defending sin in our lives it's often rooted in the lack of fear of God and it's also often rooted in a misunderstanding of God's grace you see when we don't fear God anything and everything can become permissible the bible tells us in Proverbs 16 verse 6 it's by the fear of the lord that one departs from evil in Proverbs 14 it says verse 16 it says a wise man fears and departs from evil but a fool rages and is self-confident so paul is speaking of that again in verses 6 and 7 and he concluded because of these things the wrath of God comes these are the things he's judging humanity for so paul would question us and say so how can the church continue in them therefore verse 7 do not be partakers with them do not join the world in its evil instead of imitating the world imitate God and so now we pick up at verse 8 where he says for you were once darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of light you were once darkness darkness before we were saved we were by nature walking in spiritual darkness we had no spiritual light within us and and it was our lifestyle and our habit to walk in the dark in Romans 121 it speaks of humanity and it says when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations their foolish heart was darkened you see before Jesus saved us we lived in darkness our lifestyles reflected that we saw in chapter 2 verse 3 of Ephesians that we we conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh we fulfilled the desire of the flesh and mind and he said and we were by nature children of wrath in the book of Titus in chapter 3 verse 3 he said we ourselves were also once foolish disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another so obviously it's always important to remember what we were without Jesus because when we remember what we were like we can we can have humility but we can also have sensitivity towards other people one of the things that we have to ask Christians be very careful about is getting to the point where we don't understand how people can do the things that they do one of the things I've heard Christians say in the past that I think is an unwise thing is when they ask somebody how could you do that I don't know about you but I know me and I know that I was able to do that very easily and without any regret without any remorse without any sense of shame I was able to do those things because I liked it and so when somebody says how could you do those things you ought to remember how because you used to do those things yourself it was your lifestyle too see but what happens is we start drawing closer to the Lord and as we draw closer to the Lord we leave those things behind to the degree sometimes that we forget what we were a long time ago I made a decision in my own life to never forget what I was to never forget that and it's helped me in my walk with the Lord it's not that I ever want to go back to that who wants to go back to the past who wants to be the dog who returns to the vomit or the pig that returns to the mud who wants to be that I don't have I done that yes was it pleasant no as a matter of fact it was sometimes when I in my early days when I started moving back to to the past is it's what awoke me sometimes to the reality of the fact that this is what I escaped why am I returning to it why am I going back to the things that I had forsaken because those things gave me pleasure for the moment but guilt for a long time why would I return to those things and so sometimes people have this tendency of saying oh I don't know how you couldn't do that how did you go back you need to always remember yourself my mom said to me you can point your finger one finger at other people but remember three fingers are pointing back at you and then that's true now again that's not that's not permission for somebody to go out and continue since nobody judges them who are you to judge me I mean some people say who you to judge me bro you know well come on shut up you know it's it's it's it that's not what is happening sometimes you're simply convicted but if we have a heart to see people say we'll be very careful that we don't come on as if we're condemning them that's very important to be aware of in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 beautiful scripture who makes you differ from another what do you have that you did not receive now if you did receive it why do you boast as if you had not received it who makes you to differ from another and what do you have that you haven't received what makes me different you know it nothing makes me different other than the fact that I'm a safe center washed by the blood of Christ moving in a new direction but aware of what I've been to the degree that I don't want to condemn somebody for what they're doing because they're blind they don't know the Lord they need to be set free does this mean that we don't speak that evil is evil no of course we will speak about those things yes we have to because that's how people can know because we're identifying the things that they're doing and saying God is not pleased with that that's what the word of God's intended to do but it isn't intended for me to become the judge of that person God is their almighty judge but what I do is I give him the truth and perfectly they'll hear it but I never want to get to the point where I don't understand how they did that or why they did that because you know without Christ we can do so many things and many of you remember that very well so it's with humility that we reach out to others the way that others reached out to us we share the gospel when given opportunity we do so with grace and love even as Jesus did so walking in darkness well walking in darkness was our former way of life but it is not the way we are now those things are no longer true for us because we've been rescued in Colossians 1 13 it says he has delivered us from the power of darkness translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love delivered and translated take it out and place somewhere else delivered from the power of darkness so he says it in verse 8 you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk his children of light once you were spiritually darkened but now you have a new spiritual condition Jesus is the true light and Jesus provides spiritual light in a sin darkened world he said in John 8 12 Jesus said I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life so we who are born again are actual partakers or sharers of the divine nature the nature of Jesus and we share in his light you say that sounds heretical pastor wait a minute you know I was with you up to that point but you say that we share the nature that Jesus has I didn't make that up 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 says it like this his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers which means partner companion or sharer partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through us that's what it means to be born again you have a new nature you have been brought into the family of god and this new nature is part of the reality of the born again experience so no when you got saved you were given the power of god dwell within you giving you the ability to serve him because you have been now transformed you've been taken out of this evil world and you have been translated into the kingdom of his son and you are now a son of god or a daughter of god through the born again experience and as a born again person we live as children of light and actually become a light to those in darkness in Matthew 5 14 Jesus said you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden so he goes on and begins to speak now of what our life is to be notice in verse nine he says for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth so a walk in the light is revealed by spiritual truth this fruit is the natural product of abiding in Jesus Christ the result is that we live noticeably different lives in the world Philippians 2 15 that you may become blameless and harmless children of god without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world now people aren't always impressed by this sometimes their desire may be to put out that light and because we're now in the Lord he provides the impulse to pursue him before if God said this is right you would say no this is wrong if God said this is sweet by nature I would have said no it's sour if God would have said this is high I just said no it's low I would do the opposite whatever he would say and it's part of my nature it's part of all of our nature and we still retain a battle against those things and you see this every day you just may not realize it what happens when you come to a stop sign and there's nobody around I'll wait but you don't a lot of even the small things this point I'm making even the small things like stopping at a stop sign you know in the in the last several years I have I have become much more aware that that stop to many people is a suggestion and it's not it's not a lot to do that I also I'm aware of those things when I come to a to a traffic light because sometimes someone's going to blow through a red light I'm aware of those things when I'm driving on the freeway when it says 65 once again it's a suggestion it's actually the start of the Indianapolis 500 when you get on that on the freeway and those kinds of things and you see that nice see that these are the small things these are really the small things these are not the hard things these are not the difficult things these are stopping at a stop sign watching the your speed limit showing courtesy to other people and yet it's something like they say no you're you're traveling my rights man I have the right who are you to tell me what to do and that's kind of the attitude that people have today there was a time when the Christian church was known for its its willingness to abide by the by laws and and we are the most law-abiding people yes there are times because I have to say this because of myself there are times when you need to resist those laws because the law doesn't make it right and there are things that we sometimes as believers will resist yes we do and of course we do and we should do but under normal circumstances we ought to be the most law-abiding citizens in in the planet we ought to be why because we live by a higher law and we understand what right is we understand what wrong is and all of that well at one time we were we were really to be blamed we weren't blameless we weren't harmless and sometimes when people see the way that we live they don't like that well what we do is we abide in Christ in John 15 verse 4 Jesus said it like this he said abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me the fruit of the spirit is something that is a natural production of being rooted and grounded in Christ you know I have fruit trees in the backyard some have survived my my ground thumb I don't have a green thumb I kill things very easily but I have some fruit trees in my backyard that have miraculously survived they have and and I have a lemon tree I have a orange tree tangerine tree I got some trees in the backyard and I like these trees they're cool and they produce fruit and that's cool too but I have never gone into the backyard ever when it's time to produce fruit I've never gone in the backyard and seen a tree struggling to produce an orange I just have never seen have you have you ever seen tree just I'm going to produce a big storm you've ever seen have you ever no why not because they don't struggle to produce because fruit is the natural result of a healthy tree that is is is rooted and grounded in healthy soil that's why so if you water it take care of it fertilize it you know if you prune it if you do those things that are are good to do or if you're like me you don't do anything they still produce fruit and and it's not a strain listen here's the thing that's a key and this has been a key in my life and I want to share it with you because this is basically what we're looking at in this passage speaking about producing fruit abide in me and I will abide in you Jesus said put your roots deeply into him be rooted and grounded in his love and enjoy him and I've discovered that you know the times that I have said I want to be loving I want to be patient I want to be kind are the times that I'm none of those things because I'm trying to force myself to produce fruit and sometimes I've produced counterfeit fruit it looks like it oh pastor David you're the most patient person in the world it looks like it but in fact no I'm not no I'm not I've shared this before I don't know why it comes to mind some of you have heard this more than once but you know it takes a living tree to produce a living fruit you could pretend all you want but when tested it's it's shown to be a counterfeit you can go to some of these shops and you can you can look at these this plastic fruit and and it looks so real you've seen it I've seen it when I've been dragged into shops to look at this stuff and I was pretending to have patience when in fact I was but you can go in there and you can take one of these counterfeits and you can put it in the midst of the real and when you look at the bowl of fruit it looks like it's real but all you need to do is pick it up and you know this is phony in the trying in the testing it's revealed for what it really is that's the way it works and some plastic looks real we had moved into a house and and the the owners before us had left behind a an IV and and you know I said well you know this is a housewarming present I don't know where they took off too so this is now mine and so I would go out truth a lot of you've heard me say this but it's true I would go out and water it I watered it every week and you know just wiring that plant man you know I'm gonna you're gonna survive I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of you little plant and it was so good sometimes I would even pat the leaf and I'd say you're such a good little plant and I still remember true that's true that I I remember one day I forgot I have not watered this plant for a month and I had forgotten oh my goodness so I went outside and I turned on the hose and I walked up to the plant and I was looking at it and I thought wow you're still green you're so green and I reached down you're such a good look it was plastic all this all this it's true it's true it was the only green thing I had and it was fake you know I learned a long time ago and it's true I can I can do all that's inside I can try so hard to be loving but I'm not I can try so hard to be patient but I lose my patience so I learned and I'm learning that it isn't me trying to produce fruit because I'll only produce artificial fruit but when I am abiding in Christ when I'm having fellowship with him when I'm looking at his word when I'm in prayer when I'm caring for people that's when the fruit is shown that's when the fruit is real it's because you're abiding that's why Jesus said abide in me and I'll abide in you don't try and produce something you don't have the reason you got saved is because you didn't have those things and now you're trying to run around like you know Joe Christian you know the best oh look at he's got a 200 pound Bible he carries and you know look at the size of that cross he carries on his back you know and and he's got 15 different stickers on his window that is a real Christian you know you you discover your real Christianity when you're pressed and so what we are as Christians is we abide in the Lord and the power of his Holy Spirit will produce the fruit and and it's not something you strain at it's just something that God naturally produces and so Paul is sharing this with us and he's telling us what this fruit is notice he begins to tell us in verse nine that the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth the fruit of the Spirit is in goodness righteousness and truth so that is what's produced by abiding in Jesus the true vine it's not produced through our own efforts it's produced as we rest in him and so the walk in the light is revealed by goodness that word goodness speaks of something that is morally excellent goodness is moral excellence it speaks of an uprightness of of a heart and life and that goodness is walking in love in other words it's demonstrated as we seek the best for others he speaks of righteousness the word righteousness is that which is morally right or just and that is often shown by opposition to injustice it is also revealed by a desire to be blameless now when he speaks of truth that speaks of being reliable being honest being filled with integrity being trustworthy it's not something that you only speak but it's how you live in Psalm 15 verses 1 through 3 the question is asked Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary who may live on your holy hill the answer is supplied he whose walk is blameless and who does who does what is righteous who speaks the truth from his heart has no slander on his tongue who who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man who may dwell in your holy hill the man who walks up rightly the one who is filled with truth and integrity it's like when Jesus and Matthew 537 simply said let your yes be yes and your no let it be no let us as believers in other words be so trustworthy that you don't have to sign documents proving that you will pay that you will pay that bill may it be so much in your heart that you can be trusted there was a time when we didn't have 15 different ways to show that we were able to pay a bill our word was our bond those days are pretty much gone now but there there that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be true to our word that doesn't mean that we should say yes when in fact we meant no and so what we have to have and what we should have is a reliability we need to have an honesty we need to have integrity and all of this he says in verse 10 is proving what is acceptable to the Lord well when he says proving that word proving means to test or to try it's discovering through effort what is pleasing to God so you're going to be continually seeking what is pleasing to him because you love him and as you continue to seek God your knowledge of God in his will will deepen over time anybody here who's married will understand this illustration you get married I feel sorry for you but you get married and the mask comes off I don't want to go too deeply in this I'll do that when we when we get into our marriage and family segment but the mask comes off who you really are is exposed over time if you had a proper dating relationship and all of that and you did the right things that you ought to be doing you know you're normally normally you're normally on your best behavior you normally I mean what guy wants the girl to think he's a jerk that comes after marriage so naturally you you you show up on time you open the door for her so she can get in car and all her her wish is your command you know whatever you want baby I'll do it for you I want you to know how much I love you I'll show you I'll show you I'll show you and you do you go home mad she's demanding but when you're with her you smile a lot you actually pay the bill for her meal for some reason she always thinks that lobster is a good thing but you'll do that you're polite you're respectful you winner and then you're married I've said this before but I say it now I'll say it quickly um what you were before you got married is the way you ought to be after you're married you ought to even be improving what she saw was a foretaste of what she was going to have for a lifetime so I wanted to be a better man see Marie when she met me and I began to ask her out it's so casual and so friendly we just enjoyed each other to this day that's really been the cement in our relationship is we actually like each other we actually into you some some people don't when you're gonna go back to work now I'm retired oh no lots of projects around the house baby I get you a little tool belt out and all of that when you're gonna go back you're driving me crazy but it for me it it took probably three or four years for me to realize that I needed to be a better man than I was I needed to improve my behavior for her sake because at a certain point I came to realize that she fell in love with a certain man but I needed to be even better than when she was dating me see one of the things with Marie and me and I really you know this is not in my notes and I'm just feel like talking about it I would I never I wasn't a dator you know I didn't go out with a lot of people I was nobody would go out with me so I I didn't I didn't have a lot of dates and for some reason she liked me and for some reason she'd actually go out when I asked her so what I chose to do is I chose to be the real person I wasn't going to be that person who said what is it you want to do I wasn't that person what do you I wasn't the one who said where do you want to go to eat you know I didn't pretend that I liked the food she liked I didn't pretend that I like the music she liked I didn't do any of that see a lot of guys do that to con the girl you know you like this kind of music so do I you like this kind of food so do I you like to do these guys so do I you know you wear Daisy Duke so do I I mean it's it's like I'm getting the look but you know what I mean and then when she finally puts that ring on you get married it's the I do and now the real you comes out I hate those things I never want to go there again I never I only you know what I chose to do Marine knows this and is I chose to be me and when I was me she actually liked the real one I never had to go back to pretending because I was real all along and I really think it's important for us to understand that in our relationships in our walk with the Lord we don't want to put something on as if we are a certain way we want God to produce a genuine fruit in us a real fruit of goodness a real fruit of righteousness a real fruit of truth we want the real deal we don't want to pretend we have those things when in fact we don't what we really want is we want to be real with God and that's where honest integrity comes from that's where it comes from it's the I want to please you Lord so what is it that pleases you and it's getting into his word he says I I approve of this okay I want to do that he says I don't like this okay then then I won't do that and that's what happened to me as a believer is I started to read and as I was reading and I started to study as I started to study I tried to share over the years I began to see things and I began to say Lord I want to please you Lord I want to seek you Lord it's because I love you it's like what it says in Psalm 27 verse 8 when you said seek my face my heart said to you your face Lord I will seek so that's evidence that you're born again it's this growing desire to please him so he says that we're not to have in verse 11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness he says but rather expose them when he says so when you're walking in this integrity this goodness righteousness this truth when and these are the fruit that is being produced in your life then you're not going to have fellowship that word fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness the word fellowship speaks of partaking or sharing in it speaks of part participation when goodness and righteousness and truth exist in your life then sin is actually revealed for what it is so we are not called to simply tolerate sin by our lives we expose it for what it is we are actually producing the contrast in the society that we live in a society that promotes and and favors and actually says this is good by the life that you live you're actually exposing that these things are not good and that's what the the Christian life is intended to do what happens though is when we compromise the standards of the Lord we will undermine our own witnesses we're going to quench the power of God's word to change lives as we're crunching the Holy Spirit because if we say oh yeah I'm a believer I follow Jesus Christ but you're out doing exactly what everybody else does why would they want the God that I say they need when he's obviously done nothing for me he hasn't changed you you're the same way I remember when I got out of the army I um I took a I had a girl I knew before I went in the army and I went out with her a couple times and and I you know and I was still a new Christian that's no excuse but the truth but I remember that one day she said to me um oh you haven't changed at all and that hit me so so deeply I never saw her again and I took that to the Lord and I said God what a horrible indictment on the way I'm living for somebody who's known me since I was 12 years old who is saying to me now that I'm 23 you haven't changed at all in all of these years I'll never forget that I'll never forget being in my room just laying there in the dark thinking God I don't want to be that guy I don't want somebody who knew me in the past to say I haven't changed I don't want to be living like that talking like that doing that I don't want that God help me God help me to be real God help me to be different God help me to know you God help me to to live for you in front of people so that they know the sincerity of my faith I don't want to produce this in myself I want you to produce it I want to walk closer to you and so I I read his word it was before I began teaching the Bible she had said this to me and so in September of 73 I actually began to teach the Bible I want to know what you're saying and I want to communicate that to people and that's how it works and so I don't want to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness I want my life to be of such nature that it actually exposes what it really is he goes on in verse 12 and he says it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret shameful that's a word that we don't use today anymore do we a lot of people have forgotten this word this word is blush and a lot of people have forgotten what that word actually means people don't blush there used to be a time when you would actually be embarrassed but a lot of people are not and no condemnation just a statement of fact they're not they actually take pride in the things that God condemns and so the Lord says no it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret it's shameful to speak about that some things are best left unsaid it's not necessary to give details of some secret sins because God who sees those things that are being done being done in secret while he judges those things openly Psalm 90 verse 8 says it like this you have said our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your countenance Jeremiah 23 24 can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him saith the Lord do I not fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Ecclesiastes 12 14 God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil and so there are things that people think that they're hiding well and nobody knows it's done in secret but God sees they think that they're getting away with it but God sees and so God who sees that which is done in secret will judge those things openly and finally he says this in verse 13 all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light therefore he says awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light the word of God and the lives of the people of God by contrast expose evil for what it is the difference between the one who loves Jesus and the one who doesn't should be obvious the sinful nature of the things exposed can be plainly seen and that's the work of the light and it's the light that reveals the works of darkness and the darkness is exposed when we share the gospel and the darkness is exposed when we live the gospel before men and so he finally says in verse 14 awake you who sleep arise from the dead Christ will give you light this is an invitation awake out of spiritual sleep wake up and Christ will give you the grace to live a new life in him it's an invitation to awaken from spiritual sleep it's an invitation to repent it's an invitation to come to Christ Psalm 1828 you will light my candle the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness Christ will give you light I'll close with a couple of thoughts one of the things that I've noticed in our day in our brand of Christianity in the 21st century is very simple let me share this with you many of you are too young to know this so I'll share it with you as somebody who's lived for a while and experienced the difference it's very simple in many ways the church of the 21st century has lost its way there are too many blogs that are written by immature Christians that are giving people permission to continue in sin so that grace may abound there are so many people some of you see this on social networking who present themselves as teachers of the word of God but they don't understand what they're saying and they don't communicate what the scripture actually means but they'll write long things and I've read them so many times I've seen so many of these things where I'm just scratching my head as I read it saying that's not scripturally sound that's not true and then they get all these likes from people saying yeah you said it well and I'm thinking no you didn't I don't want to get on and argue I could be doing that all day it wouldn't be hard because there's so many things that are being said that are wrong and so I've been asking the Lord what should we do I can't speak to the entire church throughout the world so I have the opportunity to share with you those who stumble through the door and give me opportunity to speak to you what do I want to see in our church I want to see God's love I want to see the love of God I want to see a heart that is willing to receive people who are a bit different than they are but can make the difference up by the love of God and the willingness to accept one another I want a church that hates sin but loves people I want to I want a church that loves God's word and hungers for Bible studies I want a church that has people who want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and to see God move in wonderful ways listen when I first got saved there were so many odd weird God things that I experienced that it's kept me on the same track for all of these years because I saw things that I only read in the Bible and I was seeing these things in the flesh these things were happening people were I won't start telling these stories now but I can tell you it was just such remarkable things that were really weekly events in many ways and I came to realize that the God of this book is still alive and I also saw revival I see see people who are when I was saved I was 20 so people who are my age we all became evangelists all of us in Calvary Chapel the people who are solid were evangelists you hear of some of the guys who have gone on to legendary status in terms of what God has done for them you see the the raw Reese's who's done wonderful things the Greg Laurie's who've done great things and others like them Mike McIntosh so many but what was the heart what was it with these guys what was it about them what was it about those guys that made people like me say I want to be like that it was their hunger to see people saved it was a belief that God would move it was an awareness of his presence and it was a way we did we did not take God lightly we respected and reverenced him we felt church was a place not just to hang around church was a place we came to know God you were fed and you'd go out to tell other people we were very very evangelistic all the early Jesus people were evangelistic in one way or another we didn't know how to evangelize so we would bring him to church so that Pastor Chuck or Lonnie Frisbee those were my first guys that I have listened to they would they would tell him how to know God I was one of these who said you know like the woman at the well come in here a man who told me everything I've ever done can this be Messiah that's the best I could do come and hear a man I don't know how to tell you about it yet I'm gonna learn how and one day I will the best I can do is tell you this I was blind now I see but this person can explain how that happened and that's how it was see we weren't we weren't once a year Christians oh it's Easter let's go it's Christmas let's go but you know we have soccer every Sunday that's the way it works now and but my kids will know Jesus because I do devotions with them no they're gonna do what you do and Sunday is going to be a play day that's what it's going to be that's what it's going to be because they do what you do not what you say that's the truth and so what do I want I want our church to know Jesus Christ to walk in the light of God and to love one another the way the Christian faith is supposed to be expressed and I don't want you ever to come in here expecting me to be perfect and then getting mad if I'm not because I'm not and I don't care to be I want to be what God made me to be not what somebody expects me to be that's what I want to be and so I will do what I do and if I say something dumb and it offends you tough that's just I don't care I don't care it's not that I don't love you it's that I'm not going to be what you want me to be that's simple see that's how come God uses people like me it's true you know what I fear God but man's opinion doesn't matter that's a fact that's just a fact and and it's not that you don't love it's I think by now I've I've kind of proven to you that I do and I do care but at the bottom of the at its foundation and fundamental is all I want us to do is enjoy God and enjoy each other and I read the Bible and I see that they had fellowship I read the Bible and I see that they prayed I read the Bible I see that they shared their faith I read the Bible I see that they prayed with one another I read the Bible and I see that they were filled with praise I read the Bible and I see that they saw God moving in miraculous ways amongst them I read the Bible and I see people who are willing to lose their head for the faith of Jesus Christ that's what I see when I read my Bible and so all I want is to be one of those kinds of people and so I don't want to walk in darkness I walked in it long enough I want to walk in the light I want to abide in the vine I want to produce the fruit of goodness and righteousness and truth I want that in my life I want to be like Jesus Christ and I want us as a group to be that way as a family of God loving God together sharing his good news with others and having an evangelist heart a willingness to tell people where Jesus can be seen and met and where their lives can be changed you know you may not be able to to give all the things you'd like to give right now neither was I and I still am not where I'm supposed to be I want to be much more than I am but I tell you this when you just begin to put one foot before the other and keep walking with the Lord over time your life changes you begin to taste and see that the Lord is good you begin to see how he opens up divine appointments and that you share with somebody you didn't even know and they hear and they actually want to know more about Jesus Christ you discover one day you'll say to yourself I haven't had a drink in months I haven't smoked a cigarette for a long time I haven't desired dope for a long time and you wake up to that see I didn't sit down say one day sober two days sober I didn't do that I didn't get the little badges that say you know a 10 years fire whatever I didn't get that you know what I got I got born again and when I got born again it's a it's a lifetime of walking with Jesus Christ and being clean that's that's where the power came from and so yeah wake up you who sleep wake up you who sleep rise from the dead Christ will shine on you it's an invitation for the church and for others but the church let us awaken at a stupor let us be aware that the time is late Jesus is coming look around you and look at the signs of the times and get on fire for Jesus Christ so that people will know you're serious about Jesus amen amen father we ask that you would


Welcome! Have you ever been interested in the structure of English? Would you like to know more about syntactic categories and functions? Or are you even afraid of grammar? Well, if you do, then in each case, this is the perfect linguistic option for you. The Virtual Linguistics Compos Repository, BLC 2 or 1, the structure of English, with all details about present-day English, a course which is based on the comprehensive grammar of the English language written by Sir Randolph Quirk and his colleagues Sydney Greenbaum, Jan Swartwick and Geoffrey Leitch and the Cambridge grammar of the English language written by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum. It is thus the perfect equivalent to many grammar classes offered within teacher or BA programs with a focus on present-day English. Let us see how you can use VLC 2 or 1. If you have an account on the Open Educational Resources VLC website, which is of course free, accessing the repository is simple. Just log in with your personal data and you will find the repository on your personalised dashboard or in your course overview. A click on the bottom of the VLC 2 or 1 tile leads you to the repository start site, where you have access to all modules starting with the content description and the preliminary section with advice and help on how to use the units. And here are the current content units of VLC 2 or 1. The first part discusses the underlying concepts of grammar, that is, syntactic categories and functions. Part 2 is dedicated to the English verb and its formal and functional properties and the third part focuses on noun phrases, head nouns and adverbials. The final two units are special. One deals with the principles of subject and object selection in present-day English and a second one with an often neglected part of grammar, that is, orthography, hyphenation and punctuation. This list of units is growing, updated and quality assured on a regular basis. Are teaching a learning concept? Well, studying online on the virtual linguistics campus simply means go through each unit at your own pace, tick off an activity you have worked through and make use of as many VLC options as possible. And if you don't know what to do first, use the how to proceed options at the beginning of each content section.  Maybe you prefer using your mobile device. If so, feel free to download the Moodle app, log in and study where and whenever you want. Well, so much for now. Now it's up to you. Thanks for your attention and see you on the virtual linguistics campus and in particular in VLC 201.


What's the word y'all it's been a minute since we've done like a real traditional ramble And you know what it was the genesis of this channel and I'm just I'm just gonna do it The idea is to just talk basketball for having many minutes and try to not cut anything The only problem is I need losing train of thought So yeah, this will probably be edited and kind of defeats the purpose But I want to remind people if well, maybe you're new around here. These ramble videos basically have no structure I have a few topics that I want to talk about but these are just what goes on in my mind as an NBA fan and whatever I Know I shouldn't be uploading this on Sunday because it's football's day It's but I can't get I can't do the football thing anymore ladies and gentlemen This was supposed to be a year where I cared about football and for the first couple weeks I did we did fantasy fantasy football put some money in on it my team was a good and Who would have thought that not watching football for five seasons then immediately jumping into a money pool fantasy football tournament Wouldn't be a good idea. I did it anyway and Some people might Brandon cooks. Have you played at all this seat? Like it's a it's some people on my team I'm like damn what it anyway? Son is supposed to be for football But as enjoy your basketball and it be in my full-time job, I can't help but to talk and think basketball The first team I want to talk about is the Minnesota Timberwolves. I don't know what their record is. It ain't good and It's unfortunate if you've been around for at least a month You may have seen the video of me trying to predict the Western Conference standings for this upcoming season I said in that video something along the lines of the Minnesota Timbers are gonna win a ton of regular season games because they are built That way and through three weeks how that that's the L take that's what these ramble videos are by the way It's it's me a microphone a camera and lukewarm takes that usually turn out to be pretty bad My idea behind the Minnesota Timberwolves kind of made sense in the moment It was Rudy go beard is damn good and carries defensive teams defensively and Anthony Edwards and the playoffs looked amazing And current details was really good too So that right there should be a formula to win at least a good regular season games and then once we got to the playoffs I mean we still have really go bear is our back line defense So we'll see exactly what that looks like, but I thought the regular season they was gonna be fine in peachy But I underestimate it How long it would take for things to jail because here we are three weeks into the basketball season and they ain't yet a little bit Like I've watched every if maybe not every game But majority great majority of the games of season to guess what? They had one fun moment not one. I'm not even and I'm not even exaggerating The the best they've looked was last night or two nights ago against the Memphis Grizzlies And that's that's a game they lost ladies and gentlemen, and they didn't even have fun doing it You remember when when Carthage Towns was going against the Lakers and he was miked up This is towards the end of the season. He's saying 10 toes down We hear what you remember the celebration of making the winning the goddamn play-in You remember how happy Anthony Edwards was all season long when he dunked on you to why the knobby when he said Step back threes making people fall. He's he was a guy that enjoyed it. He smiled regularly pretty regularly I Legitimately could not account a time. He smiled this season. I can't I can't account a time or car. Anthony Towns was trash talk I could count him fouling a hell of a lot, but I can't account him Trash talking and having a bunch of fun Rick or bears always been a pretty stoic player on the course I guess that is still the same but the joy of this roster has completely gone away. What's what sucks? Because last year especially towards the second half of the season They were one of the most enjoyable teams and basketball. You didn't really know what you was gonna get you got v8 in the dunker spot You got Patrick Beverly running around and fooling people apparently and then Carthage Towns have a great moments And then we get to the playoffs and Anthony Edwards look like he hit another step And then the offseason comes around and of course the the biggest trade at the offseason possibly Going down as the biggest trade. I don't know that let me stop talking in extremes because off the top of my head I this problem. I don't know. It's probably more trades, but the really go bear trade happen and Even in the moment even with me believing that the Minnesota team was who went a bunch of regular cities games in the moment Go back to my video if you don't have you more receipts. I said that was an overpay I didn't understand who they were going against. Why did you have to give up this many first-round picks plus all the Rotational players? I didn't understand it, but in the moment. I was like, I don't understand it But I can see a path of this being good Underestimated how bad Carthage Towns will be on the perimeter guarding force I underestimated how long it would take for them to jail on the offside of the ball and I Overrated D'Angelo Russell's ability to play a high-picking role. So there's a lot of things that I Was wrong about a lot of things I was wrong about but even in the moment I was thinking to myself This is this is definitely an overpaying that is coming from Maybe the biggest Rudy go bear fan on the platform My boy TTW clips put together video That that's the reason why I'm doing this video by the way because I it made me think and I was this I thought it was extremely funny TTW clips is a channel that watches every episode of my podcast with me in the homies and just finds funny moments And stuff memes and whatever there's a video he dropped today that was called Kenny being a Rudy go bear fan for 38 minutes It is a 38 minute video of me arguing with my co-host about how good Rudy go barrier is compared to general consensus And and you want to know the super crazy part about all of that? He could have added another 38 minutes on top of that. I am about to add more minutes to that conversation Because I tweeted that I tweeted a screenshot from the videos like I'll do it again In the comment section under that to nobody's surprise it was like People were genuinely asking me Kenny why you such a really go bear fan considering You know how he performs yada yada yada and some people think that Rudy go bear is as a net negative To Ross to the roster right now and I that for me that cannot be the further from the truth I've been the guy that have defended Rudy go bear, but I'm not an ass So I'm not a jackass I can I can look at the deficiencies of him In the Clippers game in the in the second round in the playoffs a couple years ago Where the Clippers went small and he had no No bag.  Sorry. I don't know which one it is And they were going against Germany and he was guarded by Dennis Schroeder and Dennis Schroeder locked him up like He for for somebody that's been in league as long as he has you would expect him to develop one go-to move When a reality to go-to move is dunk the ball and he's been good at that four years before this one He led the league in dunks by the night He just doesn't space the floor obviously with his lack of jump shooting But he doesn't provide a lot on office side of the ball and what you would want from a guy of his size Is to be able to take advantage of mismatches and he wasn't able to accidentally hit the stop recording button Thank god I realized that um he hasn't he has not in the life for the life of him been able to take advantage of mismatches And um that has hurt them come play off time for sure like I'm not gonna be a jackass about it But I am a firm believer that when it comes to protecting the basket There's nobody in basketball That's as good as him and has not been anybody in basketball as good as him over the last five years The numbers say it the eye tests say it that people do not go to the basket Really go bare this on the court and when they do they get stopped. This is actually the lowest Determinance rate of his last five. I'm just gonna keep saying five years I don't know the exact number of the last five years or so This is his lowest deterrence rate Which means that people are challenging him more at the basket this year to any other season But guess what them of us they they still not finishing at the rim. They're attempting it. They're still not doing it So I've understood How bad he can be offensively But I just look at that defense and the paint being of course the easiest place to score in And be like he prevents people from doing that. So I am a fan of that thing. So that is my reasoning For kind of jumping on this video because that that is my belief and and I've been seeing people blame Rudy go bare For the lack of success through the first couple weeks of the season And again, everybody deserves their own blame because he's a part of the team and not only see a part of it He's a guy that that is is an all-star caliber player And they basically they have two all-star caliber players and one guy that people project to be there or wanted him to be there This season and they've been extremely underperforming But I I want to try to put this out there y'all tell me if i'm bugging, of course, it's always a conversation I think we should and not just in the case of not just in the case of Rudy go bare But in the case of pretty much every trade in my opinion We should be able to separate The player that was traded versus the trade And here's what I mean by that Rudy go bare this season has been doing exactly where Rudy go bare has done for the last x amount of seasons There's there's been no progression. No regression where Rudy go bare to play. He is doing the exact same thing Right So I can't in my mind and you again tell me if i'm bugging Say That he himself is the reason for the lack of success if he's doing exactly what you thought he was going to do And exactly what you traded for Now when I say you separate the trade from the player This is what I mean when you you got to look at what you gave up versus that I can't completely understand You can say that the team's lack of success is because they gave up all the depths who gave Rudy I understand that part but saying that Rudy go bare is the reason when he's doing literally exactly what you expected of him Is it it doesn't really compute? Now I can't understand you saying like hey Because Rudy go bare is on a Rudy go bare is on the floor the offensive suffer and that is that has been the case When Carthage town is a really go bear on the court together the offense is god awful When Carthage town is on the court by himself for no Rudy go bare the offense has been great But the defense has been one of the worst in basketball when Rudy go bare has been on the court The office has been dreadful but the defense has been one of the best in basketball So like when they're on the court together they cannot coexist and when they're on the court without each other The thing that they're lacking is a big like it's a big hole there So I can't say our Rudy go bare the Rudy go Rudy go bears the reason for his lack of success But I can't say Tim Connelly and the Rudy go bare trade Played a big part in this not necessarily the player and I think I would say this for I don't know a lot of different trades. Um I mean, I don't know some a lot of these other trades that happen this off season have somewhat been successful the Atlanta Hawks Have been hit or miss but uh above 500 team The Cleveland Cavaliers have been really good even though they're currently on the loser streak I think they go against minnesota tonight. So that's going to be a really really solid game But I want to go down there big four the the fantastic four and and talk about what they are doing That is bad for the organization slash same starting off with D'Angelo Russell I thought that when the Rudy go bare trade happened and and I'm a guy that does not do extra notes I don't understand that it is a level above my knowledge and a level above my IQ So if you put me in a room with a head coach a hundred percent of the time that head coach is Is the smartest man in the room just it's not it's not even close that that man got the IQ of six billion And I'm sitting in the corner with a three. You know what I'm saying? So in my mind pairing Rudy go bare and D'Angelo Russell On the court together no cat Maybe D'Angelo Russell, whatever or maybe uh, anything else, whatever I just thought that a high picking role D'Angelo Russell And Rudy go bear will be elites because in my mind The best moments I've seen of D'Angelo Russell Is when he had an elite level role man and Rudy go bear is still an elite level role man this season. Um So I thought that hey, he's got another one. He ain't had one since he got to Minnesota. Boom. Here's the moments Ain't really been the case D'Angelo Russell. Um has not been able to shoot the ball And even Chris Finch is talking about always maybe lack of um, what did you say lack of confidence and things like that? Which is something you never want to hear because once we start getting to the mental aspect of basketball is it's hard to To fix is really based on the player and getting out of their own slumps But his lack of shooting and his lack of I can't say lack of playmaking But I'm just I'm just gonna say that just because I'm dumb and can't think of any other way to word it His lack of playmaking has been a detriment to this team moving on to anthony erwards those plays Or the play I mean, I can't even I can't even play plural Pluralize it But like the play that went viral of him sitting on the wing with his hands on the shoulders and tarry eason is guarding Literally face guarding. What's this funny? Um and him not doing anything but just watching the play develop on the opposite side of the court Is is terrible and I think that a lot of young players in basketball It takes them a while to kind of understand what the hell to do when they don't have the ball Um and I think it will come around for anthony erwards because he's a really really talented basketball player But stuff like that obviously doesn't help Um, he has not taken that step that a lot of people expected him to take Remember before the season started when anthony erwards was the odds on favorites in vegas to win most improved player The guy that was drafted first overall two seasons ago Y'all went to vegas and put money on that man who already averaged 22 points per game to win most improved player You had a better chance of giving that money to me and me turning that into more money A post is just donating it to vegas.  I'm also talking about his playmaking Kind of a disappointing in his the way he's been reading the floor so far this season Um, and it's not like he was ever chris paul or anything But I always look at a guy like anthony erwards who is so talented on offense and think that a We know he can score. We know he can get to the basket at will a lot of cases We know what step back jump is looking nice But like in order to put it all together on the offensive side of the ball He has to make the people around him a threat because if you can make the people around your threat We'll also be an extremely lethal.  We don't I think we talking about luka maybe a little bit later Is like luka is such a good playmaker That he's he's making dorfini smith and like a real threat, which means that oh we got a guard dfs Which means that luka kept more matches from like so anthony erwards hasn't taken the next step As a playmaker cardin towns Has been a cone on the defensive side of the ball Keeping up a force A lot harder than I thought it was going to be for him a lot harder than I thought it was going to be Maybe it's the size 22 sneakers that he's playing in or maybe it is the fact that he came into camp Or after camp really late to camp because he was sick and lost x amount of pounds and yada yada yada But cardin towns is such an infuriating player to watch. Um, I will say I have enjoyed The efforts he's made on the playmaking tip to try to make it work with him and really go bear like and through the first Couple games of the season. I was like, oh snap.  He's I think he's averaging a career high in assist this season. So that's been fun But the reason he is infuriating is because his body language has to be bottom three in basketball Where when things are not going good for him personally or for the team You can see it and you can't tell me as a guy that is looked to be the leader because that's that's what he's trying to be When he comes to the podium and say hey, I need Anthony Edwards to stop eating goddamn papas He's trying to be a vocal leader and the leaker leader in the locker room If my leader is going back on defense with his head down and his shoulder slump I think that make me feel as his teammate his body language is bad His it's just I don't know.  He's found out twice or so That's unacceptable For a guy that's supposed to be the best player the building block of this team The one of the most impactful players in the organization. It is completely completely unacceptable and rudigo bear I think I already mentioned a lot of his deficiencies even wick karthin towns um And him on the court he has been negative spacing like like not posting up but standing on the same side as karthin Towns, I don't know if that's a chris fencing But I'm just gonna put that over to go bear because chris fence showed us last season. His offense is pretty damn good So I can't say he's telling rudy to stand on the same side It's Karthin towns for plays at a time You know, I can't I can't do it offensively He has been hurting the lineup on the other on off numbers and stuff say that so Everybody has had their own little thing to prevent this this team from being nearly as good But we even all that said I still want to give him more time before I start thinking about people Saying this is all people already saying this is the worst trade of all time And I can understand why it looks like that right now And I'm not saying it won't end up being the worst trade of all time But it's still too damn early for me to say that but if you do go to tank it down right now And you look at the lottery odds Um the jazz have a chance to get a victor women yama While also being towards the top of their conference right now Because that first pick is this year's pick and it is unprotected But I also think I think they gave up a pick that is to 20 29 to protect it Holy Bro, that is such crazy You know, it's look really good right now.  Remember that Back another seven He won't he will never This turns out to this is what we need to do we need to start adding this to uh GM's contracts If you if you blow a trade so bad and again This still has a lot of potential to be solid, but I'm thinking about the billy king Danny ain't Danny ain't been finesse the people for a long time And that's one of the reasons I don't I don't really mess with Danny ain't because he won't pull off a trade Unless he absolutely certain that he is the winner of this trade. There's no infancy much about it. Um, but like You need jail time Simple as that you need jail time if you said if you set an organization back half a decade you need jail time Um No, that's that's extreme But you give what I'm saying tip Connelly if he gets canned in two years He's got two years salary that he just made a then they give him partial equity in the in the the team Isn't him kind of like a part owner of the of the I gotta move on, but that's a lot of Minnesota temple's talk. Jeez. Jeez. Jeez. Um The pelicans have been interested and they almost lost the game to the Houston Rockets today Um shout out to hosie alvarado because legitimately he put his backpack on Um and won them this game with a couple clutch threes and then some some steals that led some emotions From kevin port of junior or whatever, but I continuously watched this this season And last season when they traded for cj mccullum, it was a match made in heaven They needed another spark somebody that could come in and score the ball And there's the first time you've seen cj in like a full point guard role and he was doing a damn good job at it I watched this game and I think he ended up with like seven or six or so I I I think they need a real playmaker. I don't know who that is I don't know how they even accumulate that especially when they tried to see j extended cj They extended this uh larenance jr. They extended a lot of people already, but when I watched them play I I think that there's no such thing really as a traditional point guard Chris paul has become a traditional point.  That's about as traditional as against um, and I don't know where you find a traditional pg Or anything or how you do such a thing But like I watched this team play and the fact that xion shoots I think eight shots today or nine shots today and he was damn efficient in those and I think to myself How how are we not getting him the ball? We ended up with 26 points on nine shots. He had 12 free throw attempts. It was amazing It was a good game from xion seven assistant cj But I feel like he almost shot them at it. Well, he kind of did shoot them out of this game And I also think about their defense and xion Um, I already said that car anthony towns has been the cone xion to the third degree I mean xion doesn't defend a goddamn thing. I forget what game it was It might have been against the portland trailblazers. It might have been jeremy grant tearing this boy Up and and teams whether we get to the playoffs or whatever it may be right now They have two players in their starting lineup that if i'm luka or if i'm tray yarn Or if i'm another Great western conference guard that's great in isolation I'm like xion whoever's guarding xion come set me a screen whoever's guarding val come set me a screen Because those are two dudes in open space. I feel my chances of scoring Is super super duper high I ain't got no numbers to back this up. I test why xion is like Maybe bottom five in the league defensively Which is crazy because I genuinely remember his days at duke Um, and yeah, you had to highlight plays of him jumping out the gym to block the shot It's in the third row. We don't get no blocks like that no more by the way Um And and things like that, but he he wasn't this bad of a defender He was not this bad of a defender and I understand he's coming back from some major stuff But even pre major stuff his defense was a lot to be desired So I can't look at herb and brandon ingram's length They'd be like, oh, are we going to be able to defend whatever in the playoff time? Uh, because it's just just not really it's not really the case man. Not really the case. Um, the next thing There's a tweet from a prominent mba twitter account That was tweeted a video of the miffus grizzlies The miffus grizzies won a game against the minnesota temple's and they were on half core doing a post game interview Dancing doing minnesota to nope doing miffus grizzly stuff stuff. They've done for the last three seasons And the caption is always the same with these it's like oh, I can't wait for somebody to humble this thing Um, and I just maybe I'm an oh head at this point in time I guess because I look at the miffus grizzlies and them enjoying wins and being like that's what I would want If my favorite team was winning games the clip that they're winning an ns fun Don't forget that they're winning games, but they're like they I don't know the spurs of old No disrespect to the spurs. We got a little for the spurs right here But this is they're legitimately one of the most fun teams of basketball They're a young team with some great personalities some great basketball And they they have fun when they have a random player like uh, dillon brook score off for 12 points in the first quarter And at the end of the game, he's still hot. They interject on each other's interviews and stuff That looks like good chemistry good team stuff and the idea of them needing to be humbled It's kind of wild to me because at the end of the day, they're just enjoying their jobs You know I don't see it as unprofessional I think that that word in itself is problematic as hell Especially when you're talking about the game of bad the game of basketball You remember when they told alan ira saying he can't wear jerseys anymore And he needed to wear a suit because he was being unprofessional Like let these boys hoop and let these boys dance Let them do they thing. You know what I'm saying? Need to be humbled.  I saw our article talking about jamarant's time management Um and and how more than any other player in basketball right now How he's he's got the refs about a collar And they linked to a video of in this game. It was fourth quarter It was nine minutes seven seconds left from the clock the Timberwolves just scored but the ball kind of goes it wasn't like a quick pickup inbound the ball goes underneath and Kind of around and instead of jamarant or whatever player jogging to get the ball or getting it back in play fast They walked and the clock went from like one a 906 To 850 because it was a running clock at that point. So they they ran off 16 ish seconds Of basketball that the Minnesota Timberwolves could have used to come back in this game They won't go come back in this game We just talked about the all the inefficiencies and the bad things about the team They won't go come back But like how if that was going to be the case for almost any other team It's a delay of game both the miffus grizzly slash jamarant. It wasn't they're like, oh Okay, let me start let me start looking out for this a little bit more a little bit more Maybe there's something to it. Maybe there's something to it. Maybe there's not a next thing on the list That I want to talk about was the brooklyn that's yes Um katie and the kids is what I always call it even though again It's not like they out here running with just a bunch of young dudes They do have a few But it's not really kids because let me let me look at this box score right now Rayson neo vet joe harris vet seth curry vet patty mills vet That's four of their top eight players have been in the league for like a billion a billion years But I call it katie and the kids because alliteration is fun to me and I'm I am personally a kid and I like alliteration But also it feels like katie doing it himself If you want to say that Um since the the dilemma the dilemma of this conversation is Is it's kairina's out there? Or is it because steven ask i find because this streak that they own This elite level defense and good all fence streak that they own right now Comma size of both of them And I and in due time because eventually kairi every will come back whether that's in a week or a month or However long it takes for joe sigh to reinstate that man Eventually he will come back. So let me let me look at the numbers right here Let me look at the numbers live on the show and the last two weeks The brooklyn nets are five and two pretty damn good They have the highest point differential in basketball with a plus 13.4 They have the 12th best offense in the number one rink defense in that time frame by a wide-ass margin number two for reference is the Milwaukee Bucks at a 106 and the brooklyn nets are at a 106 whole points Better than the number two defensive team in the last two weeks So I I and a lot of people are trying to figure out is that a nasty is that a kairi thing? I think my initial thing and say that was an that's a nasty Um because kairi ervin is not the difference between a very bad defense and the best defense in basketball Uh kairi's not a good defender. Don't get me wrong But it's his his um presence isn't From 25th in basketball to number one like it when kairi's on the bench I'm assuming for a good portion of his career the team has got better defensively But not not this much better. So I'm gonna assume This is a joc van in a post firing boost Because by a lot of reports Steve nas was calling our plays in his last game as the brooklyn nets head coach And they weren't listening And I guess they they respect joc van who's just again one of the most fun names to say They were talking about his beer on the broadcast today.  Um, but it seems like they're listening to joc and it's been so I made a tweet about this It's been so good. They've been so good that nobody cares. They've been sentenced to play 14 minutes at four fouls and hit a shot Nobody cares anymore We have a max contract. They have two max contracts not playing they have one and operational Organizational disciplinary action and the other one don't play and they're like, are we good, bro? We good because seth curry starting to hit his shots again and at kevin the rent is just Really ridiculous, especially when you start looking at what these opposing teams are doing to try to prevent kevin from being kevin A lot of the times they're sending two to three different bodies. I am there's Legit times where I was watching this clippers game and there was three people running at kevin And they found out away They found out away Um, so I'm really really intrigued now because now they're starting to look like a cohesive basketball unit And I wonder if that changes once re comes back Because right now they decided against More bad, uh publicity and not how they didn't hire e-mail and let zhokvandu was staying for the rest of the season And I'm guess I don't know but I'm guessing post kairi coming back All of the scandals are behind them But it is the brichonettes So that might be cap I mean they could just go out they could just go out there and who ebb and summoner When he's finally been on the court. He's been a revelation revelation yuta has been injured He was really good for them this season But like ben simmins I said I said in my tweet that ben simmins is like the I think ninth best play on the roster I was giving him just a little bit more love than maybe I should have because a lot of these people are out there right now Hooping they're just they're just there's this hooping. So we'll see what happens with the brichonettes when kairi comes back They said it was supposed to be a five game, but I think he's going to gate number six and joe sigh said he's not ready yet. So We'll see The last thing I wanted to talk about and this is not night This is idea that I want to spend more time on but I kind of want to put it on y'all plate As of right now and it has to do it has to do with player development And the reason this is on my mind right now is because the other day I was watching the spurs play and I made a tweet that was like charles bassey and his nba minutes has looked pretty good And that's been the case. I mean charles bassey Coming from the 76ers has been really good and this morning I woke up to a tweet from the senate's on your spurs that says charles bassey is the second player in nba history To to have 14 rebounds four blocks four assists and less than 20 minutes played And the first player in the league in the history to do that off the bench Pretty good and a pretty small sample size. So I tweeted charles bassey has been good because again, that's what he has been And there were a lot of 76ers fans saying that hey Somebody has to pay Somebody has to pay for this On a lot of people are blaming doc. This makes sense doc doesn't like to play young players But a lot of people are blaming it on the lack of talent development across the league And and like as some organizations Are damn good at it They pride themselves on whether it be a late first round pick second round pick on drafted players Putting them in the best position to become the best version themselves And people are arguing that the 76ers are not one of them organizations think about the process Think about everything post process How many of their draft picks have we seen under the two tutelage of the 76ers hit peaks and people start throwing out examples Like jeremy grand was there He didn't really do anything until he left robert covington was there. He played some of his best basketball post that um And just so on and so forth somebody gave like a whole list and not all of them Do I think are like yeah, that's a great example because like some players? You know this goes back to the bulls as well um Some teams give up on players so early that like Them hitting that next step 100% should be about the team that they went to once that helped them develop that but also was like damn He was only 22 when team a gave up on him in only two years of basketball Do his belt like we could have saw that he was going to get better. You know I'm saying, um, so it just had me thinking like What is some of the best Development teams in basketball versus the opposite the opposite point and then it got to my chicago It's like we had this player this player this player this player and the bulls I've had a lot of players large market and be in the prime example the one that owns top of everybody's head right now Or window carter who's been pretty solid um post trade to the urlendo magic Where the player will leave the organization and glow up Or a player that we used a pretty high draft pick on Fizzles out of the league because we didn't develop them the right way and I mean for every Three bad examples. It feels like there's one really good example, um of the opposite But but it's just it's just something interesting that i'm i'm thinking about doing For a bunch of different organizations and trying to figure out like Who has the best player development? um I can think of a few off top just based on What i've seen in the last couple seasons, but I think I want to dive in just a little bit more, um So that's my ramble Enjoy some football or don't i'm team don't so yeah