Well, good afternoon. It's a pleasure to have you here for the benefit of anyone in the audience who didn't hear from me two weeks ago. I'm John Jackson. I'm the coordinator for the Issues in National Security Lecture series. I'm particularly pleased that Admiral Chatfield has been able to join us today and her husband David. This is the second of 10 lectures that we're offering this year. Before I introduce our guest speaker, I'd like to share a few administrative remarks. Our primary focus is on the scholarly lectures that we're going to offer in the series, but we're taking advantage of the opportunity that we've got a captive audience here and whatnot. To share some information, you may find helpful. First, we want to welcome back our friends from the Navy Fleet and Family Support Center, Ms. Laura Davis and Ann Chempney, who are in the back of the auditorium to offer their services and answer any questions you may have. Thank you very much, ladies. On my right is Mr. Jose Laura, the branch manager of the Navy Federal Credit Union here on base. He has some handouts and will be prepared to answer any of the questions you might have and also to accept any donations into my account. I will give you that number. And on my left we have Dean Whiteman, who is here from Morale Welfare and Recreation Department, who can talk about fitness options and other offers that are made by our terrific MWR program. So after the presentation, feel free to come by and ask any questions of any of them. I'd now like to ask David Scovel to come forward and tell you about another exciting opportunity we're planning to offer to you. So, David. So it's good to see so many new and some returning faces. I just wanted to say, for those of you that are on your second one, a real pleasant thought is you only have to make five out of the next eight to get that certificate. So you're well on the way. So congratulations in advance for those of you that we'll see at the end of the year. I did want us, we've talked about who's here, but jumping forward a week, we know that Dean's team has the Rec people here as well, and Teresa will be with Dean in two weeks. So we're looking at March 11th. I keep saying next week. February 11th. I'll get it right. So that will be February 11th is the next one. The only other thing that I wanted to mention, we're working on this. We think we're going to get a go ahead, but this is kind of exciting. About an hour before this starts, an hour and 15 minutes, we're going to ask for a boarding time of about three o'clock. We're going to have a 14 person comfort van to take spouses only. We won't invite guests at this point. We're going to work on the sign up sheets and what have you. But over at the O Club at about three o'clock, we'll depart for about an hour historical tour of Newport. So we want spouses to sign up for that. Please sign up for only one week because we'll probably have to run it to accommodate the need for probably six weeks, six of the eight weeks or so. But we want to make sure that everybody gets a chance to be on that. And that'll be just an hour and a half before the lecture series that day. So and then we'll drop everybody right off at Pringle Hall in time for the 430 lecture. And there you go. So we're working on that. And the only other note is, escape me for now and I didn't have it here on my nose. Anyway, so thank you very much for being here. We want to encourage you to bring others as well and keep coming back. And we'll look forward to seeing you at certificate time at the end of the year. So thank you so much. Our speaker this evening is Dr. Olinda Johnson, a professor of strategic leadership and leader development in the College of Leadership and Ethics. She joined the Navy War College faculty in 2010 after a successful career in civilian academia. In her primary role, she develops and facilitates leader development for flag and general officers and senior executive service civilians. A passionate teacher and educator, Dr. Johnson also works with other Navy units and military organizations, including the Army Special Forces, to support their leader development efforts. Dr. Johnson previously served as visiting professor and distinguished visiting professor at the U.S. Army War College and at the U.S. Air Force Academy. So she is purple through and through, so that's good to know. She currently holds an adjunct appointment at the Wellington School of Business and Government at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She received her doctorate and organizational behavior from the University of Pittsburgh, the Katz Graduate School of Business, and her BS and MBA from Florida A&M University. She will share with you this evening some thoughts about how leaders and how each of us can think about the many challenges we face. Dr. Johnson. Thank you. Good afternoon. So I have to show you this and this is a really sad story, but I had this beautiful necklace that was really working with my outfit. An AV person who I adore says it's interfering with the microphone, so I have to take it off, but I wanted you to see it first. So good afternoon. I am really, really, really excited to be able to engage with you today. I am a big, big fan of this lecture series. I think it is phenomenal that the Naval War College provides an opportunity for our students, partners, all of you and many more, to participate in this year of learning. So with that, are you ready to have class? We are having class. I have a cheering section over here too. I just need to point that out. Love it. So here's my first question for you. When you see the word leadership, what immediately comes to mind? What is the image or the thought that immediately comes to mind when you hear the word or see the word leadership? Now think about it for a moment. Maybe close your eyes if you need to. And then I want you to shout it out to me. I know we don't have microphones around here, so I will repeat it back so that everybody can hear your wonderful contributions. Leadership. What do you think about when you hear the word leadership? People, okay? Authority, someone in responsibility, trusted by followers, very good. Leading by example, knowledge, role model, right? Empathy, empowered. Oh, this is all good stuff. The technical solution proposed did not work. That's leadership. Well, you know, so leadership is one of those concepts that it really can mean different things to different people. It's also sometimes one of those concepts where you just kind of know it when you see it, but it's hard to define. So let's add another layer to this conversation. What do you think of when you think of leadership then in the context of senior Navy leaders or senior leaders in general? And what we're referring to here specifically are admirals or for our sister services, generals, or for our international friends, whatever is the highest rank in your particular service. Now how does your conception of leadership evolve? Decision maker, more experience, specialties, anything else? Power. For people who may not necessarily need power. So as we're thinking at the higher levels, there certainly is that power element. So yes, yes, yes in everything that you have said. So this poses an interesting challenge. Not only do we have these broad definitions of leadership, it also means something very different when you are thinking about the higher levels of leadership. And certainly with senior Navy leaders or again senior leaders within your organizations, we are talking about folks who are clearly accomplished. They succeeded in their own organizations. They clearly have quite a bit of experience as someone has said. And they likely have led at a variety of levels within their institution, maybe led a variety of units or other organizations. So this poses an interesting challenge for our team in the College of Leadership and Ethics. So that's another unit here in the Naval War College because our team has been given the responsibility by the Chief of Naval Operations, so the number one dude in the Navy, to develop and execute and teach senior Navy leaders, admirals. One of those things that makes you go, how's that going to work, right? So it reminds me of something a three-star Admiral said to me several years ago. And we sort of land on this question, can you really teach this stuff? And certainly can you teach this stuff to people who have an awful lot of knowledge and experience and power? It's an interesting question, not only in that context, but it's also an interesting question for all of you. The question is also interesting when you consider the background of our team that has this responsibility for developing the course design, the curriculum, and teaching.  So in my mind, on our team, there are really only two people who I would argue you are proven and established senior leaders who have all of those characteristics that you describe. The first is our Dean, Dean Pei Klein, who herself is a retired two-star Admiral. The second is our Deputy Dean, who is a retired Navy Commodore with significant leadership experience and has been focused on leader development for the Navy for quite some time. The rest of us, we are a rag tag team of folks with a diversity of backgrounds. We have on our team a retired helicopter pilot who is an expert in psychometric testing. So that's things like self-awareness and self-evaluations and coaching. We also have a military philosopher who studies military ethics and writes monographs on Aristotle's Socrates and the like. We also have a former colleague now retired but who contributed to our efforts, who is a cognitive psychologist who early in her career studied the neurology of children's brains. Go figure. And then we have our junior colleague, junior and tenure only, who has a doctorate in a field of study that I didn't even know existed and still have a hard time pronouncing. You ready for this? Udomonia. Try that for word for friends. Udomonia. It is the study of happiness and well-being. Who knew? Apparently it's a thing. And then you have me. I'm a behavioral scientist. I study people and organizations. I come from a business school background and I have a passion for teaching and learning. So I study the science of teaching and learning. So here's my question. How does all of that help us teach leadership to senior Navy leaders? What do you think? It doesn't. Let me help. So part of that conversation and this might be note-taking time that might be helpful for you is in the College of Leadership and Ethics we make the distinction between leadership versus leader. Anybody want to take a shot at what that difference might be? Leadership versus leader. And I have a titsy roll for the person who gives it a shot. I see somebody wants candy. All right, go ahead. Okay, close. Very close. Now I'm not very good at throwing these things. So if somebody else catches it, beat them up so they make sure they give it back to you. There you go. Generally speaking, we think of leadership as the process of leading. So that might be getting engaging in specific acts in order to fulfill your responsibilities in your leadership role. When it comes to leader, the focus is on the person as a leader. Who are we as persons and how does that influence our ability to lead effectively? We focus squarely on leader as a person, which allows us to leverage all of the diversity of our backgrounds that relate to the person side of leadership. Makes sense? All right. So with that in mind, let's think about leader through the lens of behavioral science. Behavioral science says that there are three different domains that can help us better understand ourselves as leaders. Following me? The first is the behavioral domain. That is what leaders do. So for example, that might be what are the actions a leader can take to motivate and inspire others. So behavioral is what leaders do. The second domain is affective. How leaders relate. That can be anything from emotional intelligence. It can evolve self-awareness. How we build trust. Effective. So think about it this way from the self-awareness standpoint. The better I understand myself as well as understand how I might be perceived by others, the better able I am to build and leverage working relationships. Makes sense? Effective. And then the third domain is the cognitive domain. How leaders think. It's interesting because in the field of leadership studies as well as among our very senior leaders in the Department of Defense, we're at large, there is a lot more focus and attention on this cognitive domain. This is where we're going to play today. But let's do a quick review. What are the three domains? What's the first one? Behavioral. And that is what leaders do. The second one is. And that is how leaders relate. And then the third one, hint, it's on the screen, is cognitive, which is how leaders think. So this is really interesting because more often than not, we don't really pay attention to how we think. We just do. It just is. It's like walking. You just do it. Well, it turns out that we all have different ways of gathering and processing information, which reveals our own thinking preferences. So the way that I might gather information and process information may be very different from the way you gather information and process information. So we have our preferences, but many times we're not really fully aware of them until we encounter someone who does not think like us. And then we have problems. So what I would like to do right now is to give us an opportunity to sort of assess our thinking preferences. We're going to do a little demonstration. Are you game? Are you game? Okay. Thank you. All right. What's that? I chart, right?  This one or this one? All right. Then they flip it back. This one or this one? All right. So I'm going to do the same thing. We're going to run that same drill. I'm going to show you a series of diagrams. And I want you to think about these diagrams in terms of which is most comfortable for you when it comes to how you might solve a problem or approach a problem or how you might think through a situation. And I want you to keep track of which represents you best. Follow. What makes you more comfortable? I'd like to define it as our cognitive comfort zones, right? We have a way of thinking that just works for us. So which is more comfortable? One or two? One or two? Three or four? Three or four? Five, so am I standing in your way? Or six? Five or six? Seven or eight? Seven or eight? Who lives here? Look around. Keep your hands up. Look around. There's a whole lot of people who live here, right? That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, right? You would be the folks that we would describe as being very comfortable thinking in linear ways, right? There's a beginning point. There's an end point. There are steps or processes in between to get you from point A to point B, right? Linear. Who lives here? Oh, there's a few hands. You are my people. I am so happy. I'm going to put up two hands because my squiggly's usually look even worse than that, right? So I have a few people here. We might be described as having a thinking preference for more fluid thinking. We're the folks who are very comfortable starting a story in the middle and we have no problem bouncing back this way and then bringing in another story from four weeks ago in order to get us to the point that we are trying to make. We are all over the place. We also happen to be the people who can wear stripes and flowers and rocket. That's all I'm saying, right? Very fluid in our thinking. One is not more right than the other, but they certainly have different ways of approaching a problem or an analysis, for example. So who are my people who live primarily here and happen to be live with or work with someone who is primarily here? What's that like? What's that like? And for those who are primarily linear and you work with someone who is fluid, what's that like? Frustrating. I was waiting for somebody to say, Frustrating. What did you say? The best. Hurting cats. Yeah.  Why can't you just put a thought together because you were just driving me crazy? Well, for my fellow fluid people, here is my statement for you. You are not broken. Contrary to what they might say, you are not broken. And vice versa. There's certainly those of you who I would imagine who are have a preference for linear thinking have found yourself on a team or in a volunteer organization or working where everybody else was thinking in much more fluid ways and you're just saying, can't we just stay on the plan? Because here's the plan. Mixed. Well, that means that you got it going on. Because, and I mean that in all seriousness, not everybody can do that, right? And in fact, as leaders, and we'll get to this, that's part of what we want to strive towards because one is not better than the other. If you already possess the capacity to think in linear ways as well as in fluid ways, then you are certainly much more evolved than some of us who are very comfortable in our particular preference. And that is, in fact, it's a great segue because that is part of our challenge as leaders. If we have a preference for linear thinking, then we have, I would almost say a responsibility, but I'm biased, part of our charge is to further develop the capacity for fluid thinking. If I am naturally a fluid thinker, then as a leader, it is important for me to stretch to also learn and develop the capacity for more linear thinking because the reality is you need both. It's not one or the other. In fact, what we're getting at is this need for the diversity of thinking, right? And lots of times when we hear diversity of thinking, we are referencing diversity of perspectives, diversity of opinions, yes, yes, and yes, and all of that. Here we're taking it to a higher level because we're talking about it in a cognitive domain is the diversity of how we think and process information. Does that make sense? Does that address your question? An observation? Okay. Yeah, you absolutely do. You absolutely do. And so to have developed the capacity to do that is an absolute strength. Not all of us have that strength. I'll be the first one to admit that is certainly not one of my strengths, but I have had to learn to really stretch over the years and develop some tendencies that allows me to think in ways that are not my predominant preference, right? The diversity of thinking. What that also suggests again is then building our capacity to think beyond what our preference happens to be, right? So how does all of this get us back to teaching senior Navy leaders? What do you think? Absolutely. All right, that's titsy roll worthy, but I know I'm not going to make it back there. So I'm going to take your titsy roll and I'm going to put it right here and then when we have time, I will hand deliver it to you. There you go. As leaders, we not only need to recognize our thinking preference. It is also important to recognize that the people that we lead have different thinking preferences. One is not more right than the other, but there may be circumstances under which one thinking preference is more valuable or enables one to thrive than in others. With respect to senior leaders in our context, admirals and SESs, we have this conversation in the context, as it relates to the context of the decisions that they will make. One of the things that we have learned from our research and the work that we do in the College of Leadership and Ethics is that the context for the decisions that a leader makes evolves as the leader becomes more senior. And here's what I mean by the context. I mean the environment in which the decision is being made. And this applies whether we are talking military, whether we are talking about different, whatever your professional role might be in another organization or even in volunteer organizations as your roles progress in those organizations. The context for the decision changes. In our particular instance, we make a distinction between contexts that are complicated and those that are complex. And here's the distinction. With the complicated context, there's generally a known starting point and a known endpoint. And predominantly, it's a context where the decision and the decision process is predictable. So in other words, even though there may be a lot of factors and a lot of things going on, I know as a leader what it is that I'm trying to achieve. And I know that there may be some policies, some processes or some procedures that will help me get there. Follow? With a complex context, the environment is what we describe in the military as bukkah, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. In other words, it is an unpredictable environment. You don't really know what the end state is. Things are changing all of the time. It's very ambiguous. Things are not necessarily clear for you. And so the leader is challenged in the way that the decisions are made. So which thinking preference is likely to thrive best in a complicated context? Well, I use the same diagram. Made it kind of easy. It's all I'm saying. Which one is likely to thrive in a complex? No, I said complex. There you go. Fluid. All right. What happens if I limit my decision approaches with a linear thinking process in a complex environment? People might disagree. What did you do? You might be taking might not be taking in things. Yeah, clearly it's not necessarily a good fit, right? Doesn't mean it's wrong. And I will be the first one to tell you that even in complex environments, you absolutely need some linear thinking. The challenge is when as leaders, we limit ourselves in a complex environment to only a linear thinking approach. In fact, what that usually yields is what we would describe as suboptimized decisions. Your decisions aren't as good as they could be. Yes, I've got questions. Yes. Although, Peg, would you agree, in some cases we're starting to see some changes in that. But that traditionally has been the case. We had an interesting cohort last year where we had many more fluid thinkers than we traditionally have had in the past. What do you mean? That's exactly right. I think what we are starting to see, however, as I mentioned earlier, this idea of even being aware of this cognitive domain and how that works is starting to expand that a little bit. Because the phrase we like to use is ducks pick ducks, right? So, as you describe, what's your first name? Joy. Okay, Joy, don't hesitate. I just wanted to address you. That's all because you made a good observation. Ducks pick ducks.  And I'm going to think that the fluid thinkers can't get on board, or there's something wrong, or I'm over-generalizing here. But what we are starting to see is there is an increased, I think it's probably the better word to use, an increased appreciation for the value of different thinkers. And the best leaders recognize that and reward that. Okay. So, when we are talking about, I'm going to just go back to this one, when we are talking about this overlap and sub-optimizing decisions, in order to move away from our limitations, we need to work towards further developing our mental agility. Again, we're still playing in the cognitive domain of leadership, right? Here's how we would define mental agility. Capacity to adjust our thinking or realign our thought processes as the circumstances dictate. And for some of us, that's a pretty natural thing. We can do that. So, it means that our charge then is to further refine and strengthen our ability to think in more fluid ways. Whereas for others, if our comfort zone, again, is a linear thinking, then we are challenged to further our capacity to be more agile in the way that we think and process information. At the most senior levels, I'd like to define it this way. The key here is thinking critically in the absence of predictability. When we are working in complicated environments, we can use our processes and we kind of know where we're heading and where we're going to get to. But in complex environments, when we lack predictability, then we are challenged to, in our approach, to critically think that way. So, we're back to this question. Can we teach this stuff? The answer is yes when approached through the lens of leader development, which is back to leadership versus leader, focusing on the leader as a person and furthering the person's strengths, capacities, abilities with respect to these particular capacities. So, we certainly, in the cause of leadership and ethics, approach teaching senior leaders through this lens or through this approach of leader development. So, what I would like to do now is to give you an example and give you an opportunity to participate in one of the learning experiences that we use with our admirals to further their capacity for mental agility. But let me set it up for you first. One of the drivers of this particular learning experience comes from neuroscience, big word, neuroscience combined with the science of teaching and learning. And what neuroscience says is that we can in fact help someone or facilitate the development of mental agility by doing a couple of things in the learning experience. So, the first one is to foster variation in the way the brain thinks. So, think about it this way. The brain is a muscle, right? And so, if we're asking the brain to do something different than it might normally do, then we've got to sort of train that muscle to do something differently. And in order to do that, you've got to kind of change things up.  I have long-distance runners here.  And you are transitioning to become a sprinter. Ooh. I see a head like doing this. What does that mean? Right? Two totally different set of muscles that you're using. And the way that I train to be a long-distance runner is different from the way that I train to become a sprinter. Well, that's a type of agility that we're working towards. So, it's the same thing when we're dealing with the cognitive. I've got to change things up and help people use their brain muscles in a different way. Does that make sense? All right. Along those same lines, work against the familiar, we know what we like. And we become very accustomed to what we like. And so, in order to facilitate this agility, I've got to change up what it is that you are most familiar with. So, I used to teach a critical thinking course here. And I would always start the course in a completely unexpected way. And every day, the class or every time we would meet, they never knew what was coming. And it was really frustrating for folks, particularly for my linear folks who were like, well, you're supposed to do this, this, this and this. Like, yeah, I'm not doing that. All right. But that's because our brain wants to work with the familiar. But if I am trying to get your brain to become more agile, then we got to work against the familiar. Then I'll just run through a couple more of these. Orient the brain towards fluid conceptualization. So, do things in a much more fluid way. Produce anxiety. So, it turns out that creating discomfort is a really, really effective learning tool when you're working to help develop this thing called mental agility. And then finally, it's just like piano lessons. Practice, practice, practice. If I am naturally oriented towards fluid thinking, you can't just give me one lesson on how to think linearly or show me one step and think that I got it, right? I've really got to continue to work on it. So, that's sort of the background. I will tell you that when we do this particular exercise with the animals, it's great because it's on the very first day of the class and the very first morning. And generally, what happens, you know, any of you when you participate in a training course, usually the most senior person, the person in charge begins the class and starts and says, welcomes everybody and tells them what the course is going to be about and what the week is going to be about.  Does that sound familiar? Instead, what we do is class starts, I walk in and I ask the first question and we just start this exercise that we are about to do. Which neuroscience indicator does that relate to? Yep, at least number two, right? At least number two, right? So, it's a great opportunity for us to actually put in practice the science that we have learned and we are seeing the effectiveness of that. So, with that, I have on, I'm going to call it the board, we have on the board four educational subjects, right? Literature, science, math and the arts. Let's imagine that we are back in our eighth grade biology class and we are studying the fish food chain.  I'm so proud of myself. All right, fish food chain, right? That is a fish food chain. So, let's imagine that each of those four subjects represents a fish. You follow me? Each of those four subjects represents a fish. Here's my question. If we consider the future success of our children, whether it's our own children or children in general, if we were to consider the future success of our children, which one of those subjects is the big fish? Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to think about it for a minute yourself and then talk to whoever is around you and share your thoughts. Not necessarily looking for one right answer, but I want you to share your thoughts. I'm going to give you a few minutes to do this. Which one of those is the big fish when we're thinking about the future success of our children? Go. You're welcome so much. That manner. Excuse me. What do you think? I want to ask you, but I got the mic on. I always nice to see you. You guys already know. No, the secret, don't you? Did you already tell them the secret? No, no, this is entertaining watching them go through this. I don't think this chart is, you can't, you can't just can't pick one big fish. It's funny.  Which one is the big fish? Art? Okay, someone said art. Tell me why art. Yes. Yes.  So I'll repeat it back because art actually embodies and can embody science and math and literature in many different ways, right? You might even think of the science of movement would be included in the arts. I got you. All right, somebody else. Which one is the big fish? Math, all right? You said math. Yes, ma'am. And tell me your name. Jewel. Beautiful name, Jewel. Jewel, why math? Jewel, you know what? I think I need to give you like a handful of tits and rolls. Everybody give Jewel a hand clap. And I'll tell you why. So it's really interesting because when we do this exercise with the admirals, no one ever gets that. And then at the end, I asked them, so what's the fifth fish? And they're like, what? You only asked us about four, right? Right? Good observational tools. Yes, sir. Okay, so you want tits and rolls? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's really interesting because part of the way that we process and we give information, if we are not allowing for agility, our tendency is to focus only on what's there. And our tendency is only to focus on what we've been presented, right? But being able to recognize and even define what that fifth fish might be, even though it wasn't a question that was asked, it wasn't a part of the discussion, is in fact an important part of being able to think at a much higher level. Let me ask you this. Why are the other ones not the big fish? So if you said art was the big fish or you said science was the big fish, why are the other ones not the big fish? Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. So if you think of it, if you think of the other three as the base in order to get you to what is the big fish, but it raises a really interesting question. How are you defining big? How are you defining big? Okay, so you said most necessary. Did everybody define it as most necessary? How did you define it? The biggest one on the screen, so you defined it by size? How did you define it? Here's one of our challenges as a leader. We often assume that we're starting from the same point of understanding. And it's particularly a challenge when we are presented with what we presume to be readily understood shared concepts is how I might define big. In this context, I could have defined big as, what did you say, readily necessary? I could define it as necessary, but I could also define it in terms of what I think success means or a whole host of other ways of defining it. So part of our challenge as leaders is to recognize or even ask the question, do we have the same understanding of this concept? Absolutely. Absolutely. Right? At the least understood. So that becomes the challenge. You have a definition. You have a definition. You have a definition. Now we're making a decision based on this assumption that we all have the same definition. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I'm sorry. You said literature. Okay. And so for your literature was the big fish. Okay. Yes, absolutely. Yes. So everything is in the literature. So if it's any, if it is helpful for you, you have another person down here who said it was literature as well. Right. So there are others who said literature. Let me ask you this. I'll get you in just a second. Can the smallest fish be the big fish?  Why? Sir? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Another way of thinking about that is we generally presume big mean size. So our assumption with the question is, I think this is a pointer here, maybe not, is that the most important will always be the most sizable. Well, if we're talking about a fish food chain, another way to think about it is if you don't have the small one, none of the others exist. Right. Which is what several of you have said. So the mental agility comes in that we are forcing ourselves to think about this in very different ways. Here's a question for you. You ready? What's wrong with the question I asked in the first place? What's wrong with asking you, which is the big fish? Oh, yeah. He has a mic. Thank you, David. I know, right? So that we can hear you. Now he gives a mic. What's wrong with that question? I think that everyone has a different level of cognitive comfort depending on the subject. So if my comfort is literature, I'm going to put it as the big fish. But you as the teacher or professor asking us which one are you most comfortable with? Everyone thinks we're going to have the same answer, but we're not because we're not all the same way. Right. So there's not necessarily one right answer, right? Absolutely. So you're about to get your exercise, David, because there is a hand all the way over there or you can yell. Go ahead and yell. Exactly. Exactly. It assumes that there is one fish, right? What else does it assume? It assumes that there are no other options that are on the board. Very good. What else does it assume? It assumes there's only one right answer, right? And that our understanding of big is all the same. So we've identified all these things that are wrong with the question that I asked. So why did you answer it? It's where our brain works. Our brain follows our normative expectations. Normative expectations in this setting is you have a teacher, teacher asks a question, you answer the question. Just the way that it works. We don't stop to think, is that the right question? We don't stop necessarily unless we're practicing it and saying, are we making assumptions in those questions? Is there another question that we should be asking rather than that one? That's what mental agility looks like. We are creatures of habit. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that when we are working in the cognitive domain as leaders, particularly as we advance, we are now challenged to recognize the limitations in our thinking and how we can go about expanding that. If it makes you feel any better, the animals will work. The first time we did it, we did this learning experience and I get to the point of, why did you answer the question? Yeah, because you told us to. Because you were the teacher. It was like, okay. So you're not alone. If you take something like what we just engage in, which essentially what we did, let me see if I can get us back to here, is we engage in some agile thinking. We did what was listed on that neuroscience list, right? We moved against the familiar. We changed things up. We did some fluid thinking. The question went from here to here to here. In our work focused on leader development for our flag and senior officers, we layer learning like this throughout our courses to provide the practice opportunities for developing these very important capacities for leaders. So here's my, I think, last question for you. What does this exercise mean for you? What do you gain from it? Or anything else that we have talked about thus far today? What does it mean for you? Yes, ma'am. I think he's going to give you. And tell me your name. Kimberly. All right, Kimberly. I think it applies right away. I start thinking about how it applies just in our relationships with ourselves or families or just everyone that you meet with and leadership doesn't necessarily have to be labeled. It just happens day to day. I could not agree with you more. I am a big proponent of saying we lead in our home in the same way that we lead. We may lead in organizations and a lot of the same principles apply. So very good. Thank you. Somebody else. What does this mean for you? Way back there, Dan. I have to be able to teach a variety of different people. And so now my brain is immediately thinking, oh, cool. How can I be more flexible in my thinking and how do I answer it? Very good. Very good. Absolutely. Somebody else. Where does this work for you? Where does this not work for you? Where are you challenged by it? Or give me another takeaway? Yes, ma'am. The fact that it's okay to switch back and forth from linear to fluid. Yes. I feel like throughout my, you know, childhood adolescence and into my teens, I was always a fluid thinker. But as adulthood came and career came, I became a linear thinker because that's what I was told to be. And so now in my household, husband being in the military, I feel like he is a linear thinker. And so I have driven myself that way. But I'm not broken, as you say. So it's okay to go back and forth, which, you know, I feel is necessary. Excellent. And the important thing about that, if I will extend that, if you don't mind me extend that a little bit, is recognizing how we benefit ourselves when we embrace both the diversity of thinking within ourselves as well as around us. There's a story I tell, and forgive me for those of you who may have heard this before. But here's my example, because I have always been in that fluid and never really understood why I couldn't grasp sometimes the, and it was very frustrating for me, or, you know, models don't come easy to me, steps don't come easy to me, and I'm always missing a step, or I'm always missing an instruction, because I just never live there. So when I join the Naval War College, I have a colleague who's very much a linear thinker off the charts, and I am a fluid thinker off the charts. So you can imagine that when we first started working together, it wasn't so much that we were in conflict, we just had a really hard time finding our rhythm, because I am always throwing out ideas. I have no idea how to make it happen, but I have a really good idea, or I'm making connections between things, or I'm thinking about possibilities, because my mind is always doing this. And he is very much oriented towards data and processes, and I define him as, and I mean this sincerely, an undiagnosed savant, because he can literally tell you what's on page 153 of a book that's out of print, Gene Anderson. That is where he lives, and so we had a hard time just finding our rhythm, and then one day I threw out some idea, and he said, well, that will work if you do A, B, and C. Oh, okay. And I said, well, how about if you do, if we were to do this and try this? And he said, well, if you do D, E, and F, then you will end up here. And for me, that was just like this huge moment of realization that where I am weak, he is strong. And we've also figured it out in the reverse, where he is weak, I am strong. So as a team, we become very dependent on each other. Sometimes I think too codependent, so if he has some process or some plan that he is working on, he'll actually bring it to me and say, okay, what am I missing? If I have something that I'm working on that's all over the place, I'll bring it to him and say, help me put some order to this, right? And so it's the same thing I would in our household sometimes, and I eat both, and it's okay, right? So that we get the best of one another in our circumstances. All right. Yes, ma'am. I said you had a hand? No? For takeaway? I thought you had a hand. That's all right. Okay, there. Yes. Okay. You mean, right. Yes. Yes. We engage all of that, right? So back to leadership versus leaders, so focus on leaders as a person. That's a very significant part of what we do. So we, most of them by that stage have done Myers-Briggs, I don't know how many different times, and so we actually have higher level psychometrics that help us dig even deeper. And what's most important I think about that is it's the coaching that helps them understand that the way that they led at their lower levels may not work as well for them as a senior level. And so our personality preferences, our thinking preferences, all those kinds of preferences come into play, and it doesn't mean you ever lose your preference. You're just more open to stretching beyond that preference. That's a good question. All right. I saw one over here, and then I see Joy back there. I think we have time for just a couple more. Is that right, JJ? I was just curious how you get the buy-in, because it's a reward system getting to Admiral, so doing the way they've done it always, why wouldn't they defaultly think, well, this is, I've always, this is what got me where I am. Right. So how do you get them to buy into that? I understand what you just explained that you, theoretically, you've explained to them, well, this is a different level of leadership, so we need, but what are you, I'm just curious, how do you get the buy-in? It's a really good question. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Let's just be honest. There are some folks who are just like, you know what, that was all fine and nice, but I got this, and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. It is others, sometimes, and this is true for any learning, particularly at you all's level and higher, sometimes stuff doesn't hit right away, right? Particularly the level at which we're having these types of conversations. So we have certainly had instances where there are folks during our courses who are like, okay, that was really interesting, but I got to get back to my real operational environment and do what I'm doing, and then something happens, a decision happens, or they find themselves face to face, and they realize, I forgot to ask what was the fifth fish. And they'll email us back and say, I just had a moment, I'm finally just getting it, right? There are others who sort of have their ahas while we're having the conversation. It just really depends on the people. There's nothing to say that everybody does, but lots of times the idea for development is if you expose people to where they can be better and expose them to an understanding of the environment that they may not have considered before, then there's at least the opportunity for them to evolve. So we've certainly had some who have said that they have found it very valuable. We just got a note from our most recent course. Well, I will tell you that this particular animal coming in the door told me on day one, I don't believe in this stuff. I'm not really looking forward to this. I mean, he was very direct in his feeling about being in that course, and just recently sent a letter saying, okay, I'm back, I get it. I get, thank you, I get it. You know, so sometimes it takes a marination time too. All right, I think we have time for one more. Yes, sir. In your judgment, how is the age of artificial intelligence going to affect all this thinking? Is it going to be linear, fluid, or see all of the above? Oh, man, I have no idea. I am, I can be honest enough to say I have no idea. We have team members who are well versed in AI, and they are looking into that and considering those types of things. I think AI is a big unknown for a lot of us. We'll see. We'll see. All right. Thank you so much for your time. I hope you found something, at least one nugget that was valuable for you. And now I get to my necklace back on. So I think some admirals have SC after their name, which means supply core. They have DC, which is dental core. I think maybe they all need to have like LT linear thinker or FT fluid thinker. So we know when we walk into a room who we're dealing with and whatnot. Any last minute questions that Olinda can handle or anything about the series or anything else you want to talk about? If not, we will conclude the event and look forward to see you on the 11th of February when I will be giving a presentation called Robots That Fly, Swim, and Crawl, all about what's going on in the world of unmanned systems. So I think you'll enjoy that. And in the past, we've had a few teenage children attend that event. And if you have a situation where you think there's a high school student or something that might find this of interest, bring them in. But no small children, please. Any other comments? I'll wait down front. If you have some other questions that you didn't get a chance to answer or you didn't want to ask in the bigger room. So I'll hang out down here for a little while. And make sure you talk to our folks from Navy Federal, from MWR, and from fleet and family support. David, one more comment. You do it right, you get a tootsie roll. Thank you. Don't need that. The one thing that I did mean to mention earlier is now on February 11th, we do have, we're looking forward to having military one source here. So I've been in touch with Melissa Fouimara, if I'm saying it correctly. And she's just a dean, I'll tell you. And I meant to give Dean a moment or two. I apologize. We'll make that up. But anyway, no, she's fantastic. And that's really a great place for you to get, excuse me, for all of your questions. Utilize that. So that's two weeks from now. February 11th, we'll have military one source here as one of our resources for you. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.


Hmm What's going on guys, mr. V here welcome to another video Into this video I want us to talk about to get symbol QS quantum skip So this is a stock that we cover here on channel as a matter of fact I posted a video about is on the channel. I told you guys this stock is going to explode This is the future of an electric vehicle as far as batteries go This is a solid state battery, which is something as is a technology has it never been done before and these guys are changing the industry I mean we're talking about Going from you know, you being able to charge a car about an hour to charge it get under Ten minutes these guys are changing the industry rapidly So I covered this stock here told you guys that if you don't already get some positions in this thing and boy Oh boy, I personally didn't even see this coming. It just happened and I'm so whoa, whoa wait a minute I could have bought more if I knew this was going to happen So here are the four things that or five things that this particular baddie covers and I already did a video about it So if you didn't I'm gonna post that video up here so you can go watch it Go back and watch that video because I went in depth So basically they talking about how this particular baddie can hold more charge can charge faster The life of the baddie can last longer. It's safer because it's solid state and it costs less I mean we're talking about the most expensive part of our electric vehicle right now It's the battery and these guys are saying they have Identified the solution to fix that so companies like Tesla and all these other guys They're gonna be looking up to this company if this thing goes to market if they can go to production That's why I'm pretty sure that's why bill gate is backing the company So you probably ask yourself about why are you doing another video about quantum escape guys? Here is the reason why I'm doing another video about quantum escape. Let's jump to the charts here Quantum escape if we go back just a week ago this thing was trading at about $60. Look at that December 15 This thing was trading at $60 fast forward to today December 21st. It's trading at 103. That is crazy And that's even before so if we go back if you look at what happened after hours so today alone the stack went up 21 dollars is about 28.7 percent and also after hours it went up 9.3 percent That's about nine dollars.  I want to jump right in Pass a little bit don't jump when this thing is at this peak right now because notice what happened initially when you start When high it actually hit about at one point. Let's let's go back about a month So notice like December 9 he hit about seventy five dollars almost seventy six dollars and then you know went up to seventy six dollars What happened a pullback that pulled back all the way down to about fifty six dollars, right? So after that December 14 now is squeezed back up So at this peak right now, don't anticipate that gonna keep going up So those of you that are gonna be fighting for more that fear of missing out You're gonna want to jump in right now. I'll say no no no don't jump it right now pass It just wait for it to pull back a little bit because after every magical run like this Your stock will come back a little bit and then you can start getting into but for those of you that are sitting in there Guys long in those profits as a matter of fact this company into me again They're just getting started. They haven't even really started doing production They're still like in a research and development phase right now That's why I think two weeks ago when their CEO actually came out and actually put their data How they how the company how they tested their battery and the results and everything just to kind of tell people like hey This thing is legit So I'm pretty sure by the time they get to the point where they can start production boy You start right now think about a hundred dollars. This thing is gonna be three four hundred dollars When they can actually get to the point where they do in production because why would you want to have to go? Build your own stupid battery when you have a technology like these that can do great things that can actually Cost less would make the prices of electric vehicles a lot cheaper It's safer because it's solid state the life of the battery is longer a charge faster Relatively under 15 minutes you can get a zero to 80 percent Barry charge and the energy stored in there is even higher So there's no reason why people would want to use this So I wanted to bring this to you guys again two things here This stock is on fire second one is that if you are not in guys This is not a good time to buy you don't buy at the pick because when you buy at the pick What's gonna happen is that it's gonna be a pullback that you're gonna sit there and complain that you are missing out So wait for a little pullback before you start picking up some positions So that would be my game plan for you guys. So that's what I know kind of present in this video So if you're new to the channel guys, we took about how to earn money how to save money how to invest and build wealth So that's something that interests you go ahead and hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new content Also, if you are looking to get started with investing guys we both again He's doing your promotion now where if you sign up and deposit a hundred dollars You get four free stocks just a signing up links in the description and as always guys Always do your homework do your due diligence and don't be a greedy savage stay motivated You


Okay, so the recording is on. Welcome everyone to our class on BC212, Christian apologetics. This is our final week, so it's going to be our final two lectures. We've got a little bit of ground to cover, and hopefully we should be able to cover that. Just wanted to request somebody in the class to lead us in prayer, and then we will get started, please. Jesus, we thank you for this beautiful morning that you've blessed us with, Lord. And thank you for this opportunity and for this time that we can come together and learn more of your word. And Lord Jesus, I pray that you will help Pastor Ashes as he teaches us more about the truth and that we will be able to gain the knowledge as well as apply it. Thank you, Father, that we submit this time into your hands. Jesus, I pray, amen. Amen. Thank you. Alright, so we were in our second last chapter, which is we're trying to get a biblical understanding of suffering. We've covered quite a bit of portions on that. We've got a few more, maybe two more thoughts to cover, which we will do right now. We'll quickly review what we have been looking at. So lesson number 15, we're talking about a biblical understanding of suffering. Why is there suffering and so on? How do we understand it? Theologically. So we said we have to begin with God's heart, understand the heart of God. It is not His intent to cause pain and sorrow and tears. We don't see it in the garden of Eden and we don't see it in the new happens and the new up. It's taken up. So that's the heart of God and we need to look at things from that perspective. Secondly, then we said, okay, yeah, it is a present reality. We are now in between those two here, between the fall and the glorious redemption that's there. And so it is a present reality. We are the people that there is suffering and there is suffering in all realms, spiritual, emotional and physical. So why is there suffering? What are the different reasons? And then what is our response? How do we look at it? How do we endure it? So we are looking at six reasons, biblical theological reasons that we can give for suffering by it's there. So we said first there is suffering due to the bondage of corruption, which Paul shares with us in Romans and also in 2 Corinthians. There is a suffering due to one's own actions. So we make mistakes, we do wrong things. There's the consequences of that. What about a man's soul? He will also read. There is suffering due to satanic oppression, meaning the devil is out to steal, kill and destroy. And so there is an enemy that's doing these things, causing these things. And so we must be aware of it. God has given us weapons to counter those things, to stand against those things. Then there is suffering due to other people's actions, including persecution. That means people do evil things. There is sin, wickedness and all kinds of jealousy and hatred and all these things. So people do things and there is suffering because of the actions of people. And we as believers may face that in different contexts. It could be the workplace, it could be in other situations where we will face it. But we must submit to God and trust God that he will bring us up. Now, in that context, there's this whole issue of divine protection versus persecution. Will God always protect us from what people do to us? And we see that we can and we should believe God for divine protection. But we also see that there are people who will face the actions of people. Almost all the disciples and Jesus, the apostles were martyred. That means God didn't protect them or God didn't prevent them from being killed. And God killed for the sake of the gospel and for the name of Jesus Christ. So there is both. There are times when you're experiencing divine protection. There will be times when the actions of people affect believers. Now, we don't always understand the dynamic. Why is it that some people suffer persecution, are killed, lose their lives? We don't always understand that, but we know that we can believe God for protection. But we do not love our lives even to the point of death. And if that's what's going to be required, we are committed to that. That means we will hold on to our faith and Jesus till that point. Why doesn't God always prevent people, his people from being martyred, protected, etc. We don't understand. We believe that to God. That's a mystery that we definitely don't have a clear answer for. So our response is we believe that God will protect us, deliver us from every evil work. And if we need to die, we would be ready to do that. Number five, there is suffering because of divine discipline and judgment. So divine discipline is when God is correcting us as believers. We are walking with Him, we are sincere, but in areas that we need correction, God will correct us. And He will correct us primarily through His Word, through the Scriptures, through the promptings of the Spirit, and through other people. So three ways that God lovingly corrects us. He brings the discipline into our lives. And even that discipline may not be easy to receive. Because we have the flesh to deal with and we need to be willing to yield to that discipline. So that itself is a process of suffering or yielding to it. In some situations it will be wonderful, easy to do. In some situations where the flesh is in the way, it's going to be difficult, painful. But that's part of God's loving correction for those of us who are walking in line with God. Now there is the other side where if people are out of the will of God. I mean they're wandering away from God, wandering in sin and so on. There we do see divine judgment in order to draw people to Himself. It's not judgment to push people away when God draws people to Himself. So even in judgment there is mercy. So this judgment could take place where God may use human elements to do this or get people's attention. And the whole thing is to draw people to Himself and not to push people away. But this is in the case when people have gone away from God. So there is mercy, there is grace. But then when we walk away from that place of mercy and grace, there are times when we see in scripture God will, there is divine judgment. And God brings people and we see that even taking place in the house of God in the church. We see an anise in Sapphira. We see the end man at Corinth at Paul says you've got to take action against him. Paul writes about Hymenius and Alexander. People who once were in the faith, they've gone away from the faith and now they're disturbing the people who are in faith. And so Paul says you know I give them up to Satan. So that means he's saying look now they're outside. You know I'm not here to protect them. God will just give them up and they're going to face the consequences of what they're doing. Hopefully they will turn back to God. That's how they respond to it is different. It's entirely up to people. But then we see that in scripture, divine judgment. So that's something we must keep in mind. The last reason is also suffering due to willing sacrifice. That means we are willingly taking this on. Jesus said you must take up our cross and follow him. The cross symbolizes or represents a place of suffering. It's a place of separation from the world. It's a place of sacrifice. That's the cross. So you take it on willingly. You carry your cross. I mean you're willingly saying Lord I'm willing to suffer. I'm willing to separate myself from the world. I'm willing to make sacrifices. So this is something we do willingly. And then we may suffer for it. So what do you mean? That means we give up certain pleasures. We face certain consequences of choosing to serve the Lord. Of choosing to pursue God's plan for our lives. So there is that suffering that comes in there. Discomfort maybe. Maybe even the displeasure of people or the disapproval of people so on and so forth. Suffering can come in those in those manner. So we see for example Abraham. He left his family left his own country. He went away. Moses. He gave up his privileges that he could have enjoyed in Egypt in order to step out and be with the people of God. Paul. He travels so much. He endured so much hardship, physical hardship in order to bring the gospel to people. That was something he chose willingly. And yes, there was demonic opposition. People attacked him. And there were things he did willingly saying I'm willing to take up this sacrifice in order to take the gospel to people. So these are willing sacrifices. They put us in a place of hardship. But we do it for the glory of God, for the purpose of God. Now, of course we must keep in mind that we need to do our sacrifices led by the Holy Spirit rather than our own fleshly sacrifices. What do we mean by fleshly sacrifice? It means things that I do just to make myself feel good and God really doesn't want me to do that. Example. Just given as an example. Some of us God may say, I want you to give your entire life to the preaching of the gospel. Some of us God may say, I want you to work a job and serve me. Now, if that's the call of God, and somebody God has called somebody to do that, but that person just gives up their job. They don't want to work. And they say, no, I'm going to serve God. And then they face the consequences of that decision, which is maybe they don't have enough money, they're struggling financially, et cetera. That kind of suffering is a fleshly sacrifice because that is not what God wanted them to do, but they did it themselves, their own choice. And they can think that they're suffering for the sake of Christ, but actually it's a choice they made out of the will of God. God's will was for them to work, earn and serve. But they chose not to do it. Now that's a fleshly sacrifice because that's not the will of God. Now would God help them in spite of it? Yeah, there's mercy. So in spite of those wrong choices, God would be merciful, help them through it. But that is a fleshly sacrifice because it's not something God wanted them to do for themselves. So we must understand that it's important for us and whatever we do, we understand God's will. Now there is suffering according to the will of God, which means that when we are doing righteousness or we're standing for the name of Christ, people will do things against us. That is what we would say suffering according to the will of God. That means God says, look, that's part of your life on earth. Just stand. Don't give up. People will persecute us for righteousness sake. People will persecute us for standing up for our faith in Christ. That's suffering according to the will of God. And it's God's will that we stand through that suffering. We don't give up on it. Then there is suffering that's not according to the will of God. What is it? Our own wrong doing, right? We do wrong things. That's not the will of God. Or suffering because of demonic opposition, oppression. The devil does things. God says, look, I've given you the weapons. You fight those things. Don't accept it. You fight those things. So understand the distinction. What is suffering according to the will of God and suffering not according to the will of God? This is not God's will for us as believers. So these are things we can correct ourselves. These are things we endure joyfully, knowing that it brings glory to God. And God is glorified through that kind of suffering. I'll cover the rest of this chapter and then we'll take questions. So this leads us to this part. Why? What is the benefit of experiencing or enduring suffering? Why does God love that? Why couldn't God have said, if you believe in Jesus, you will not suffer.  Why does He allow us to go through this? Why does He allow us to endure? What is the good that's coming out of this? Well, we need to keep in mind that, this is what the scriptures teach us that first of all, enduring hardship is going to help build character. And that is one of the important ways by which character is developed in our lives. That's the way we can prove our character. Of course, character is developed in us through the word of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit. The character of praise is formed in us. But how can you prove it? How can you show that you have that in you? The only way you can show it is by living it out and living it out through adversity. It's easy to say, oh, praise the Lord and everything is going good. That's easy. But can we still praise the Lord when things are tough, things are difficult, we've got challenges, we've got pressure. Can we still say praise the Lord? So that's where we actually prove our character. And we're able to do that, that reinforces or strengthens our character and we keep going from glory to glory. And the scriptures teach us about that. Secondly, this why does God allow us to go through these things? Because through these, God actually carries out the pruning that's needed for us to be more fruitful. What is pruning? Pruning is taking away the unnecessary things. So Jesus used the analogy of the vine and the branches and he said, you know, if any branch in me is bearing fruit, what am I going to do? What is the Father going to do? He's going to prune it so that it can be more fruitful. So your bearing fruit, the way to become more fruitful is to let God prune us. What is pruning? The unnecessary things. So how would God do that? Of course, he would do it by his word, by speaking towards by his spirit, through the influence of Godly people and also through the adversity, the pressure we face. Things will be taken out. The unnecessary things taken out, but it's always bringing us to a place of greater fruitfulness so we can look at the positive effects of going through adversity or suffering that it's actually going to lead us to a place of greater fruitfulness. And number three, what is a good that comes out of it? That somehow through that, what we endure, the kingdom of God is advanced through our lives. That we endure hardship, but God's kingdom is advanced. We may make the sacrifices, but God's kingdoms are God's. Other people are blessed. His word goes forth. Other believers are encouraged. So that's the good that comes out of it. We may face the hardship, but his kingdom is extended. His kingdom is furthered through our lives. So these are three things we should just remember. Look, if and when we suffer, according to the will of God, remember these three things, our characters being strengthened, we are going to be more fruitful in our lives, and the kingdom of God is going to be furthered or extended through our lives, through the sacrifices that we make. The last point, the last two points that we want to consider here, and then we'll take questions, is what should our posture be when we face them? How should we go through it? Well, some thoughts here. One, the scriptures teach us to maintain our joy. You know, count it all joy, brethren. James says, when you endure temptations, trials, tribulations, count it all joy because the trying of your faith produces patience or endurance, and when endurance has completed its work, you will come out perfect, lacking in nothing. So while we're going through it, through the hardship, we need to maintain our joy, stay joyful. Is there going to be, is it going to be discomforting? Yeah, of course. We press down. We feel crushed. Do we feel persecuted? Do we feel perplexed? Yeah, all those things will come, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Those emotions will be there, but we can choose to maintain our joy. You still choose to look to God and praise them and say, God, I know that these afflictions are temporary. I'm looking at what is eternal. I'm living for what is eternal. Therefore, I can be joyful going through what I'm going through. Second is, we consider the good that is happening and we pray. Is any among you afflicted that can pray? That's what James says.  What do you do? Pray. And you give thanks to God. You're many, sing songs. So think about the good that's coming out of it. And you just pray and say, God, give me the strength to stay faithful. Give me the strength to go joyfully through this. Unwavering in my faith as I go through this. And as Paul wrote, point number three is, we look at what is eternal. So Paul says, while we do not look at what is temporal, what is unseen, what is seen is temporal, what is not seen is eternal. So that's how we go through it. Our eyes are what is eternal. Our eyes are looking unto Jesus. Our eyes are looking unto the glory that God has for us. So we keep our eyes on that. So then we know that even as we go through these things, we can stay firm, stand strong, and endure it. So maintain your joy, pray, keep looking at what's eternal. Three things we do when we endure these hardships. Now, we talk a little bit about persecution. Persecution is when people are attacking us specifically for our faith and for righteousness' sake. That means because we believers in Jesus, and because we do what's right, we want to stand for the truth. We want to stand for integrity. We want to stand for uprightness. We don't want to compromise on those things. And we be persecuted. They might speak mean things against us. They might try to harm us. They might try to attack us in one way or another. That's persecution. For righteousness' sake or for the gospel's sake. What do we do? One, take needed precaution. So let's start here. Support those who are being persecuted. So sometimes we may not ourselves face it, but others may be facing it. Do what we can to help them. Now, of course, we can't help everybody that people being persecuted all over the world. We don't even know. But at least in situations where you know somebody is being affected, do what you can to help them. Support those who are being persecuted. Secondly, take needed precaution. Right? So Jesus said in Matthew 10, if they're persecuted in one city, you go to another. He didn't say stay there and get killed. No. If they're persecuted in one, you go to a safer place. Go to another city. Why? Because if you're alive, you can serve the purpose of God. You know. So it's not that we're afraid to die, but we want to take precaution. So that we can continue serving God, continue standing for the truth, continue proclaiming the truth as long as possible on the earth. So take needed precaution. It's not wrong to take needed precaution. Third, we are not terrified. Just, and that means there's no fear. Yes, there will be persecution. Those who are godly, Paul wrote in the Philippines 128, he says, those who are godly will suffer persecution. He says, know that you're called to suffer for his name's sake. So it's part of our calling. We know those who are godly, Paul wrote in Timothy, he said, those who are godly will suffer persecution. So it's part of our calling. We are not afraid. We stand firm. Be protection minded. That means don't say, oh, sorry spelling mistake here. Be protection minded.  Be protection minded, not persecution minded. Don't keep talking about persecution all the time. It's there. We know it's part of our calling, but we are going to believe in God who protects us. And endure to the end. That means you say, you're committed to the Lord.  One other point I will add is if needed, we can take legal action. Do whatever is permissible within civil law for your own safety, for your protection. And we see Paul the Apostle doing this. When he was apprehended attacked by the Jews and handed it to the Romans, his simple question was, hey, he told them. He said, hey, I am a Roman citizen. Immediately, they had to treat him differently because you cannot arrest and put a Roman citizen in the flesh. Paul said, I'm a Roman citizen. I was born in Tarsus. Though he was a Jew, because he was born in the city of Tarsus, those who were born there were given the privilege of being a Roman citizen. So he said, I'm a Roman citizen. Immediately, they took their hands off. They said, hey, we can't do this. So they released him and then he said, I'm appealing to Caesar. He had a right to appeal to Caesar. So they said, okay, if you appeal to Caesar, we have to bring you to Caesar. That means at their expense, at the expense of the Roman government, they had to take him all the way to Rome so that he could appeal to Caesar, which is like the Supreme Court, if you want to look at it. In other words, he was exercising his civil rights as a Roman citizen and Paul did that. So we also must understand that we can, whatever is permitted within the law we can exercise our rights as citizens of the country for our own protection and the exercise of our religious freedom. So that's perfectly fine. So these are some things to keep in mind all in the context of suffering and persecution. How do we look at it? What should our response be? And so on. Let me pause here and take questions from the subject. I know it's a big topic, but feel free to please ask your questions at this time. Any questions? Were you all following me? Or okay. Fine. Shall we move forward? Are there any questions? We can take them now. If not, we will move forward. Okay. I'm going to move forward and please feel free to ask any questions so that things can be clear. Okay. So let's go to the next chapter. I don't hesitate to ask questions. Just give me a minute. There's somebody at the door. I just need to answer. Just give me a minute. I'll be right back. Okay. Thank you. So there's a question here on the chat with friends saying can death also be counted as suffering? Where we may face many loss in our lives. So the subject of death can it be counted as suffering? So I mean one, how will that build our character? One Yes. Okay. Let's look at it from different angles. One is if a person is going to be martyred for Christ that is suffering for the sake of Jesus and how will that build character of obviously it will build character in the leading up to that as a obviously when we die we are no longer on this side of heaven but in leading up to the point of being martyred it's going to build our character. That means it's going to strengthen our resolve it's going to strengthen our commitment to Christ and it's going to increase our love for Jesus. I love you so much I'm willing to die for you and we stand that test until a person as we live as you're martyred. So in that sense that is a suffering for Christ we face the loss of our own lives what good has it done it has strengthened our resolve, increased our love for Christ and it has enabled us to demonstrate Jesus said it like this in John 15 greater love has no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friend and this is the highest expression of love and so in leading up to that our expression of love our commitment to Jesus is strengthened. So in that sense it builds our character. Now if you look at that as in a natural process meaning every person is appointed to die once so in that sense we would not look at it as a suffering but we would look at it as a natural process. Every person has to die. It is appointed unto man once to die. Now although that takes place could be not only different base but different people that itself just like the life on earth ends it will end for every person. So that itself we won't consider suffering for the person who died. Now obviously for the people who are alive they go through grief they go through loss it's part of our life here on earth for everyone. So again wouldn't it for that our response to the loss of a loved one is entirely it's variable and how people respond to it varies so and some look at suffering because there's so much of grief and so much of pain in it some are able to handle it more positively so that varies that experience varies but should we always say it's suffering I don't think so because we know it's part of life it's happened to everyone and it is appointed unto us once to die. So there's a follow-up question what about losing a loved one so some people they say it has a lot of meaning because you wanted to teach me something well the fact is when we lose a loved one there's always grief and it happens to everybody believer on believer on there is grief when you lose a loved one and and we all face it it's all part of life so I don't we find our comfort and strength in God but I don't think it's to say God took that person away in order to teach me something it's part of our part of our life on earth and I think it's wrong to say God took that person away to teach me something no what we should say is I'm learning something about God as I go through this loss right so we do learn more about God as we journey through life through all of life situations one of which is the loss of a loved one but we don't attribute that loss to God but we say I am learning it depends on God to my comfort my strength I think that's the right way to state it rather than saying God took that person away in order to teach me something so I think our perspective needs to change, it needs to be more biblical if we speak of it and yes we will learn sometimes learning to trust in God and depend on God as we go through loss and other situations in life is that okay alright let's move to our next chapter and then we will take some questions as well on that so the last chapter we want to talk about is social challenges no so there's a lot of things happening in society the world around us right so the question is how should the church respond to this and then different challenges and there probably are going to be new things coming up in days to come how do we respond to it how should we respond to these challenges as believers so what we want to do in this chapter rather than trying to address every situation we want to give a framework by which we can guide our thought in days to come if there are going to be new challenges different challenges at least we will know how to think about those challenges from a biblical framework right so what is the church's responsibility first Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 the apostle Paul tells us that the church is the pillar and ground of truth pillar representing upholding ground meaning foundation so the church must be the upholder and the foundation of truth in this world so while there's a lot of things happening in the world in society the church must stand strong it must uphold truth it must be the foundation of truth so if people want to know what is truth what is right the church must stand that way so the question is how do we uphold truth and still be a voice in all of these complex things that are happening around us the social challenges how do we uphold truth and still relate to people in a healthy way so that we can draw them to faith in Christ rather than push them away right and then it leads us to several questions meaning should the church be involved in trying to pass legislature make sure all the laws are biblical etc or is the church called to be engaged in the spiritual realm or should the church to vote so we need to think about those things and find a preferred answer so we'll give a framework for this a biblical framework look at how God is dealing with sinners so that how does God deal with the world that has gone away from him does he keep on draining fire and brimstone every day saying you people have left me so I'm mad at you and angry with you and every day there's fire and brimstone on every person or how does God deal with us as sinners we have wandered away from God how does it relate to us here are some things first he never overrides our human will from the time Adam and Eve were in the garden God didn't control human will he respected choice he respected choice you have the freedom to choose so when God put Adam and Eve in the garden and he said look here's a tree of knowledge of good and evil, here's a tree of life don't eat of the tree of knowledge he respected the freedom he gave them so when Adam and Eve chose to eat of the tree he said they shouldn't eat he didn't fire and brimstone or he didn't manipulate their will no he respected their choice and the outcome of the choice he let it unfold so God respects human will and so we must also be respectful of other people's freedom to choose then how does God work with people he communicates to us what's right and wrong then he invites us to choose what's right in Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 God says I have said before you life and death, blessing and cursing choose life and God is saying look I'll tell you what's right I'll tell you what's wrong and I'm inviting you to do what's right but the choice is yours so he expresses that he communicates it but he doesn't force us he doesn't condemn us he tells us what's right then he says you make the choice God is willing to reason with us so we are sinners but he says okay let's reason together you bring your reasons why you're doing what you're doing come let's reason together he says you bring your reasons so God is willing to even reason with us both even while we are sinners God treats us with love and fairness and Jesus put it like this he said look what God does look at your heavenly Father he gives rain, he gives sun to the righteous and to the unrighteous to the just and to the unjust so he says be like your Father that means he treats everybody with love and fairness even the sinners he treats them with love and fairness that's God and number five while God is doing all these things he does not compromise truth he himself is truthful, holy, just love that doesn't change right so this is a framework to say let's be meditators of God this is of God is dealing with people who have broken his heart who have gone away from him they're doing all kinds of people and yet this is how God works with them he does not override their will he tells what's right and wrong he invites us to make the choice he's willing to reason with us he treats us with love and fairness but he does not compromise himself he is who he is he doesn't change so you and I must now take that same approach and then we are dealing with people who disagree with us and we're dealing with people who they want to fight or they want to do all kinds of things they communicate truth and love be willing to reason treat them with love and fairness don't compromise you don't personally compromise your conviction of truth and you stand by truth but don't force it on them don't try to override their will because God respects their will God respects their choice whatever it may be He still respects it that's our frame now there are many areas for the Bible assignment so what do we do we can't point to a chapter in words specifically and say this is what the Bible is saying about gene modification of gene editing there was no technology in those days to go and edit the genes but people are doing it and the Bible doesn't say there's no chapter in words we can speak from the nature of God we can speak from the general revelation of scripture and we can also speak from this biblical framework that we have how does God deal with people this how he deals with it so that's how we're going to respond to these things so we're going to address certain common social challenges we cover whatever we can but remember there will be other things coming up and dished come and we just have to keep this framework in mind and from that basis we approach various situations so think about marriage homosexuality and same-sex marriage now this is just increasing all over the world we've even tried in our own country in India they tried made an attempt to legalize same-sex marriage of course as of now that's not come through in our country so but in other parts of the world it's legally okay the civil government standing behind these kinds of things so how do we respond to it so one we know God created marriage to be one between one man and woman the Bible does not approve of this same-sex marriage homosexuality sin there will be several scriptures on it so we know it's wrong with a girl so that's our stand right but yet we love the people who may be involved in a homosexual lifestyle or in a same-sex marriage we love the people we do not approve of the sin and yet we don't compromise our stand so that's how we have to maintain the balance but then there are practical situations for example if you're a business owner and you're running a bakery and somebody, a gay couple comes and says hey it's our wedding can you make a cake for us now you're happy to make a cake every month but in this case you're making a cake which is going which is going to be used in a wedding of a gay couple or two of that how are you going to respond to it what are you going to do now we can take one of two approaches I'll just make the cake what you do with a cake is your problem I'm not involved in it and that's perfectly fine because we're not going to control people's choices you're the baker you bake the cake whether people go and take the cake and smash it on somebody else's head or if they take the cake whatever you say well that's not my responsibility that's one way of doing it or you could say well I do not stand for such matters therefore I will not make a cake that is going to be used in that context that's also a perfect decision so I think that decision should come from the individual's conviction in this case that person as a believer is free to make the decision and I feel that either way is fine it's between you and God the Bible says that each man be fully persuaded in his own mind and in one case you can say well look I honor these people they want to eat cake but they may be in the same sex marriage that is their choice I cannot dictate their choice police them in their marriage so I'm staying out of it I make cake I'll give them the cake they want that's one way of looking at it another person may say I don't want to be involved because I know that this is going to be used in the same sex marriage I don't want to be a part of it another believer may take that position each one stand by their conviction and we can't say this is right that's wrong you stand by your conviction and you handle that situation the way you feel it's right before God but your conscience is clear before God but a situation like this has gone up to legally it went to because this is one refuse to do it it went into this is in the United States again the civil court had to decide what they do want to do like this there are other situations what if you are the HR in an organization where you have to hire people regardless of their sexual orientation so obviously working the HR of an organization you're hiring people not because of their sexual orientation you're hiring people because of the skill they bring so let me pause here coming to a break we'll pick up after the break on this and we'll take this forward so let's go for a 10 minute break and we'll come back to this and I see some questions coming up in the chat we'll answer them as well okay let's be back in 10 minutes thank you