First name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. So we started the letter to the Philippians last week. We stopped somewhere in the middle of chapter 2. So we saw that the Philippian church was reached during the second missionary journey of Paul. Paul and his team were actually planning on going to Asia Minor. That was the plan which they had made humanly and so even as they were trying to go towards Asia Minor again and again the Holy Spirit stops them because the Lord has got something else in mind and then Paul has his vision in which he sees a man from the Macedonian region which would basically be our Europe today. So he sees a man in the vision saying come and help us and so in that way God directs them to go to enter into Europe instead. So it's during the third missionary journey that they reach out to Asia Minor. So it was not the Lord's timing for them to go into Asia Minor during the second missionary journey. Maybe the hearts of the people would not have been ready at that particular time. Maybe there was a greater need in Macedonia during the time of the second missionary journey. So these are all details which the Lord orchestrates. So if we in our ministry are sensitive the way Paul and his team were so sensitive to the leading of the Lord we can flourish in our ministry. You know the way they did because the Lord sees to it that you go to the right places to the right people at the right time. You know so these things are arranged by the Lord and if we are being guided by him our ministry will be more fruitful it will be more effective. So in this so the first church gets planted you know in Europe. So you have Paul and Silas on the team. Timothy of course is also there with them and then you have Lu. So we looked briefly at the background last time to how the church started. We saw that Lydia and a few other ladies were meeting outside the city of Philippi by the river and that's basically where Paul goes and ministers to them. So after that Paul moved on to Thessalonica is what we find in the scriptures. So from Macedonia here I mean from Philippi he goes to Thessalonica but Luke stays back. So Luke is the one who actually stays back in Philippi kind of develops the church over there in its initial stages. So then of course later on during the third missionary journey I think it's a couple of times Paul again visits Philippi. So he had good contact with this particular Philippian church. One thing that we see about the Philippian church, they have not yet been plagued by the judicers you know. So when we were looking at Galatians we saw that there was a large section of judicers in the church already who were insisting that salvation is through belief in Jesus as well as keeping the mosaic covenant. So we don't have that issue over here. Maybe a few people had come to Philippi and spoken about Judaism and the importance of that for salvation but that had not become a big issue as yet in this particular place. So last week when we started Chapter 2 and we looked at that section which talks about the mind of Christ and Paul tells the believers that they need to have the same mind as Christ. So we just saw that. Now we looked at how having the mind of Christ involves not holding on to our rights and privileges but being willing to give them up for the interests of the others. So we place others interests before our own and if that involves giving up our rights and privileges we should be willing to do that. That is what Paul conveys in this first portion of Chapter 2. Now last time you know we didn't really spend much time talking about Philippi, the city of Philippi and the background of that place. I thought maybe we could you know spend a little time looking at that because that helps us understand this passage better where Paul says we don't consider our own interests. We place the interests of others first because that is how Christ you know operated. That's the way he chose to relate with people and because you see the people of Philippi had special rights and privileges and so at least the rich among the congregation might have felt that they have a right to special treatment. So now what we learn from 2 Corinthians Chapter 8 is that these Macedonian churches were quite poor but at least in Philippi we know that there were some wealthy church members as well because Lydia was a merchant dealing in purple cloth. So she must have been quite well off. We also get to know that you know the jailer the one who releases Paul and Silas from the prison. So he too would have been well off because you know when we think of jailer we are maybe just thinking of about a guard in the jail but no this is actually the man who was running that entire prison system of Philippi.  So he too would have been well off. So at least the church in Philippi probably had a few rich influential church members but overall the Macedonian churches were quite poor. When we say Macedonian churches we are basically talking about three churches. Philippi the church in Philippi the church in Thessalonica and also the church in Beria. So these are the three places in which churches were established and most of them were extremely poor is what we learn from 2 Corinthians Chapter 8. So just to dwell a little bit upon the city of Philippi and the special status that the city had. Philippi you know it's there in your notes in fact. Philippi actually started off as just a small village which was called Crenidis which basically means water springs because they had all these water springs in that area. In fact there were two rivers on either side of the city. It was protected by mountains. It was very fertile. So this was a place, a location which was very attractive to all the conquerors. So Alexander the Great's father who was King Philip of Macedon. He decides to conquer this place and make it his own and so you know because his name is Philip he chooses to name this place as Philippi you know naming it after himself and the main attraction for him was the gold and silver mines which were there in this area. So Philippi right from the time it was a village it was rich in status you know so it was not exactly one of those backwater places but this was some it was an important place. So later on when Alexander the Great comes to the throne he introduces Greek culture into this into this entire you know region. So Philippi becomes very Greek in its culture and its thinking you know it had all these intellectuals interacting in the city. So it was like one of those more developed and posh places. So later on when the Romans took over you know when the Romans conquered this place it was when they had this battle of Philippi so that took place over here and anyone who had to study the old ICC syllabus you know where we used to have that Shakespearean play on Julius Caesar would be familiar with the details of all that took place. You know Julius Caesar had two friends whom he trusted greatly Brutus and Cassius. You know I remember we had to study all of this when you know in our school days. So he is very shocked when his when the people whom he has trusted most you know closely they betray him. So in fact as he's dying I mean at least according to the Shakespearean play even as Brutus is stabbing him he looks at him and he says you too Brutus and he just you know falls down and he dies. So all of that takes place. Mark Antony who is faithful to Julius Caesar he later on defeats Brutus and Cassius and so all of those things happen here. This is the arena where all of this takes place. So after the Romans took over this place Philippi they did not just give it to the local leaders to run it in most places the local leaders would just pay a monthly tribute to Rome but they would be in charge of the administration and the running of the place and the decision making and all of that. But Philippi was considered so important especially because of the resources it had that Rome decided to have a direct control over it. So it was not the local leaders who were running Philippi it was the directly the Roman officials who were stationed over there to run that city. So the people of that city had Roman citizenship you know like Paul who was born in one of those places where which had Roman citizenship. So like that even this Philippi the people living here had special citizenship rights. So it was a privilege to be part of Philippi which is why I believe that you know even though the Macedonian churches as such were highly poor in Philippi at least some of the members would have been from influential backgrounds they would have had some wealthy people among them. So therefore you know when Paul is talking to them he says Christ knowing his status knowing that he's equal to God instead of taking advantage of his rights and privileges he lays them aside so that he can place others interests before you know his own. And he urges these people of Philippi who probably have special rights and privileges knowing their status is high they should be willing just like Jesus to lay that status aside and you know serve the interests of others placing others interests before their own. So at least some of the congregation here would have adopted the you know the Greek culture and and their style of dressing and in fact they were fluent not only in Greek but also in Latin. So they had advantages which probably the you know the Thessalonian church members and the Berian church members would not have had. This was the place where agriculture was not a higher level because of the very fertile land. This was the place where they had a school of medicine a famous school of medicine so people would come from the entire region to study over here. Also they had these paved highways because of all the you know all the important people who used to visit this place so they had paved highways and roads and all of that. So if someone were to come to Philippi it would look like a mini Rome you know that's basically how it was. So in a place like that with all of its worldly stature Paul is telling the congregation to keep their eyes on spiritual things you know not to get puffed up not to get led away by the things of the world but to stay focused and centered on Jesus Christ. So most of the people of course were poor but the rich among them he is kind of urging them to follow the example of Christ and to have the mind of Christ. So what he is saying would have made sense to these Philippian believers because just like them he too had Roman citizenship you know so he knows what perks and privileges are involved in being a Roman citizen and many in the Philippian congregation also had that same status of being Roman citizens. So when he spoke to them about the kingdom of God and how your focus should be different and how you should have the mind of Christ they would have taken him seriously because he's speaking as someone who understands these things. So they would have you know taken him seriously. In last time we could not cover certain things I thought maybe we could just touch upon that you know in chapter 1 verses 9, 10 and 11 there's a point which Paul makes he says that this is what we should be focused on. So if anyone could turn to Philippians chapter 1 and if they could just read out for us verses 9, 10 and 11 let's look at what Paul says over here. Philippians 1 verses 9, 10 and 11 please. And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Yes thank you that was a good translation. It talks about how this love that these believers have you know he praises them right. He's very happy with the way they have conducted themselves so far. He's joyful whenever he prays for them because of their of their active partnership in sharing the gospel and all of that. So he says I want you to continue abounding and growing in love and all of this Christ-like love that you're abounding in it must lead to two things. First it must lead to an increase in knowledge and second it must lead to an increase in insight you know like that particular translation which brother read out it says in the NIV it says you know increase in discernment but I think increasing in insight is a better way of saying it because as a believer on a daily basis there are so many different situations that we would you know face in each of those situations how to handle it how to honor Christ you know what would be the right decision to take in that setting. So to have that kind of divine insight into how to conduct yourself in different situations that kind of an insight that kind of a discernment it comes if you're having a close walk with God. So here he says I and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. So knowledge wise you know like we have said again and again it does not talk about intellectual knowledge it's talking about experiential knowledge where you're getting to know the Lord more and more intimately where you know his heart and mind more clearly and because of that because you understand him his mind you are also becoming more like him you think like him your views are now matching his views you know so in that sense you increase in knowledge and you also increase in insight you're able to take decisions more wisely because of this closer walk that you have with the Lord and why do you need to increase in knowledge and insight it's because then you will be able to you know decide what is best how best to act in different situations in the NIV it says that you may approve the things that are excellent what is excellent what is best you would choose those things those would be your priorities so Paul even though he was a very highly qualified Pharisee even though he had very high status even though he had Roman citizenship even though he had all of these things he says see these are the things that have been the focus of my life and you need to follow that same example and be like that because then your priorities would be right and he talks about that in fact in chapter one in verses 19 and maybe from 19 up to 25 if we could read out we would see how you know having this kind of a knowledge and this kind of a discernment how it affected his perspective how it affected his outlook and you know what was value what was important to him in his in his life we see that in verses 19 to 25 of Philippians chapter one Philippians 1 19 to 25 please for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gained up to 25 all the way to 25 if I am to go on living in the body this will mean fruitful labor for me yet what shall I choose I do not know I'm torn between the two I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body convinced of this I know that I will remain and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith because Paul you know grew in knowledge and in discernment his whole perspective changed I mean he is not afraid of death he has no issues with being martyred in fact he says he says in verse 23 I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far I mean you know most of us believers we would like to continue here on earth at least for a few years if not many years because I mean we have families here God has given us a life here there are things that he has provided for us so we are quite happy to be here but Paul because of his close walk with God he has his entire world view his entire perspective has changed so much that he's perfectly content to be here I mean if God needs him to be here but he's also quite happy with the idea of departing and going and being with Christ physically so we see that his entire world view has changed so which is why when he's talking about how you know what has happened to him this arrest which has happened the court case which is going on when he talks about it he says I'm quite happy about this because as a result of this the gospel is getting advanced you know is what he says we looked at that last time so here in these verses which we read out now he says I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the spirit so is he saying that he's very very sure that he's going to be delivered that the court case will you know find him innocent and he would be set free is he talking about that not really because when you look at the next verse in verse 20 he says whether by life or by death you know so what kind of a deliverance is he talking about he's basically saying I don't know what the verdict is going to be here in you know in Caesar's tribunal on this earth I don't know what kind of a what kind of a judgment would be given to me but what I'm you know more concerned about is the heavenly verdict which God is going to give me so he says that it is his earnest desire that in nothing I shall be ashamed but with all boldness as always Christ would be magnified in my body so he's saying I don't mind you know what kind of a judgment is given to me over here on this earth even as this court case is going on maybe I would be set free maybe I would be killed it doesn't matter but when it comes to the heavenly verdict this will definitely work out for my deliverance because you people are praying for me you people are interceding for me and also the Holy Spirit is supplying you know his enabling grace and power to me so based on this I know that I am going to successfully handle this entire court case so he is confident about his outcome in the heavenly verdict so we as believers even as we are living on this earth we should always be more concerned about what is the heavenly verdict regarding my actions today what is heaven thinking about you know the the the choices which I have made today so we should always be more concerned with the heavenly verdict rather than the verdict which people may pass because sometimes you know the ministry efforts that we are making may be appreciated they may not be appreciated you know we may receive a plus we may not receive a plus there are ups and downs and it comes to you know human opinion so if we keep our eyes focused on what the Lord thinks how he views what we are doing it helps us to keep our priorities right so even if nobody is praising us for what we are doing we will have that joy that the Lord is pleased that Christ is being magnified in what I am doing on a daily basis and that becomes enough that becomes sufficient so even when there is no applause at all it will not matter because you are doing your best you know in nothing are you being ashamed but Christ your Christ is honestly being magnified in your choices in your lifestyle in your in your work and that will bring deep satisfaction so Paul has become like that his focus is so Christ centered you know he's not really thinking in worldly terms anymore and so he says in verse 23 I'm torn between the two it's like he would love to just go and be physically with the Lord to actually be able to see him talk to him physically he he he would love to do that but he's also aware that Christ has given him a responsibility down down here on earth and so he says in verse 24 it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body so for the sake of that he is willing to stay over here if need be you know even though it's going to involve more persecution it's going to involve more hardships he doesn't mind you know so either way he's is glad so he says you know it's more necessary that I should stay here so if that is how things go I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith so his entire priorities his entire value system is now centered around Christ so it's not important to him that he is the Pharisee of Pharisees it's not important to him that he's a Roman citizen because I mean those are the things which we value you know on on earth when people here in India they want to go to the US and become green card holders you know so it's like these earthly things which make us you know rank ourselves and they said okay how much status do I have in life I mean what is my wealth you know how much influence do I have what are the kind of social circles that I'm moving you know those are all the things which matter and even us believers we tend to rank ourselves according to those you know criteria but when you become like this you know into this kind of person that Paul is urging the Philippian believers to be when we become like this our priorities change it will not really matter whether you're a green card holder or not it will really not matter to you whether you know you have a huge bank balance and whether the the the best people in the city are inviting you to their you know social functions and occasions that will not be important you will be asking yourself what is the heavenly verdict what is Christ thinking about me is he getting magnified in the way I am living so Paul is drawing the believers eyes the Philippians eyes away from the special status that they have in Philippi on to more important things on to heavenly things so with this background in mind you know I having talked about all of these things with them now he comes into chapter 2 you know the portion which we just kind of started off last time and he says therefore my dear friends as you have always obeyed not only in my presence but now much more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling so he says do not get distracted by worldly things your first priority should be working out your salvation with fear and trembling that should be the main priority so that would be chapter 2 verse 12 so you know we read out that last time but then there was no time for us to get into the explanation of what that particular phrase means so if you were to look in the Greek you know it literally says your own salvation continue to work out your own salvation now over here Paul is not saying that you know just look after your own spiritual growth and don't care about other people no he's obviously not saying that he's saying that each of us has a personal responsibility for our own growth he means it in that sense in the sense we can't always have leaders chasing after us asking us you know have you read your bible today are you growing in the Lord are you you know accepting correction and changing your ways on a daily basis we can't always expect someone to chase after us and and force us to grow spiritually it's our personal responsibility each person has a responsibility to work out their own salvation you know God has given this privilege given us the privilege of being part of his family of being a part of the body of Christ so now of that we have received this privilege we need to work out our salvation we need to work on our own growth and whether we are you know magnifying Christ more and more in our in our life in our choices in our body all of that so in fact when we were doing Galatians also we saw that right there were two terms in Galatians chapter six it's Paul says he says carry each other's burdens and he also says everyone should carry their own load and over there we saw that there were two different Greek words that were being used there are some things which a believer cannot handle on his own you know especially if he has backslidden and he's not able to come back you know into the fold on his own then people need to go with go to him stand with him pray with him encourage him so in that sense we should carry each other's loads but he says just because you know you're going and helping other people with their with their burdens it doesn't mean that you're in any way superior please watch out for yourself test yourself on a daily basis make sure that you are also you know holding yourself accountable and growing on a daily basis so he says that very clearly in Galatians chapter six so he says each person must carry their own load so here in that same sense he when he's talking here to the Philippian church he says continue to work out your own salvation he says so what exactly is does this phrase mean working out your salvation does it mean that we have to add good works to the belief that we have placed in the Lord Jesus no it's not at all talking about salvation by works that term that is used over there is a Greek word it's kater gasomai or however on earth you pronounce that but that word that work out that word work out it's basically saying to create or to produce something that word kater gasomai it basically talks about creating or producing something so in what way do you create or produce your salvation it's talking about the works that you're producing let them be in line with the salvation which you claim that you're having so if you say that you're a believer if you say that you have salvation then please produce works create works which are which will demonstrate and show that yes you are saved so he says don't take the salvation which you have received lightly I mean a very great privilege has been granted to you so now show that you value this by living in a way which is producing fruits of salvation you know the choices that you're making the way that we interact with the people around us the passion with which the sacrifices with which we do our ministry work all of these things work out produce create fruits works which are in line with the salvation which has been given to you so if you truly have salvation it will show up in the kind of fruit that you're producing the kind of works that you are creating so in that sense we need to work out our salvation each person has a responsibility to carry their own load and work out their salvation in this sense because I mean we as we are aware you know we have the initial salvation experience when we repent and then the Holy Spirit you know makes us into a new creation that's the initial salvation experience and then you have the ongoing salvation experience which goes on on a daily basis that would be the process of sanctification where we are choosing to lay aside the old ways of life the old thought patterns and we are trying to become more Christ like like we read in Ephesians you know we are putting on the new thought patterns the new way of life so that's an ongoing sanctification process and that is basically what Paul is talking about so you in that sense you are working out your salvation you are getting more and more sanctified and bringing yourself in line with the salvation which has been given to you so in that sense he says work out your salvation create produce works and fruits which are in line with the salvation that has been given to you and then the final stage of our salvation experience will be the glorification which will happen when Jesus comes back and he would give us our resurrected bodies so salvation basically has three stages you have the initial stage when the person repents and the Holy Spirit makes them into a new creation then you have the ongoing salvation experience where sanctification takes place on a daily basis and the final the final the work of salvation is achieved when Christ glorifies us by giving us I know resurrected bodies the same the same kind of resurrected body that he has we too will have one day so so we need to produce and create works that are in line with our salvation experience and how are we to do it with what attitude are we to do it do it with fear and trembling is what he says over here it's not talking about being scared that maybe we will lose our salvation it's not talking about that kind of a negative fear at all so when he uses the term fear and trembling over here it's talking about something else this is the term which he uses four times in his letters Paul uses this term four times and in all the four places he means it in a particular sense so let's actually look at that if we could maybe look at the first occurrence of this term first Corinthians chapter 2 verses 2 to 4 if someone could please read out first Corinthians chapter 2 verses 2 to 4 yeah if you could have someone unmute and please read out for us first Corinthians 2 verses 2 to 4 first Corinthians chapter 2 verses 2 to 4 well I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified I was with you in weakness in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching were not with possessive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of this of the spirit and of power amen yes so look at the context in which he uses this term fear and trembling now obviously he's not saying that he's scared because he makes that very very clear you know when he's writing to Timothy he says we have not been given a spirit of fear so he's not saying that he's scared that he's timid he doesn't know what how the Corinthians are going to react when he goes and preaches to them no he's not scared of them you know so it's not talking about that kind of a fear rather he explains the attitude with which he has gone to these Corinthians he says in first Corinthians 2 verses 2 to 4 he says I resolved I made up my mind to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified you know you had all these preachers coming to the Corinthian church they were an influential church you know everyone wanted to to be the guest speaker over there you know it's like a it's like an honor to be invited to the Corinthian church to preach over there so you know people would come over there and give grand speeches and very you know very interesting sermons and teachings and all of that so if someone was it was able to have grand oratorial skills and be able to speak in a very impressive manner people would say wow the way he spoke the depth you know of of his knowledge he seems to know all about the latest philosophies he seems to know all about the Greek thought you know so they would they would think highly of people who are able to speak big things because for the Greeks in the Greek culture oratory was it was a very grand skill to be able to you know present philosophical thoughts in a very in a very grand manner with much depth and probably half the people would not even understand what is being said so you know the deeper it sounds and the more complex it sounds the greater you are something like that you know so Paul when he comes to them he says I resolved I made up my mind that when I come and talk to you I'm not going to be high five in any way I'm just going to talk to you about Jesus Christ and that too Jesus Christ crucified you know which is like a very humiliating thing you know we talked about that how that term cross was not even considered a respectable term and all of that so he says I came to you in weakness not in strength you know all these people they come to you and they preach showing off their skills I decided I'm going to come to you in weak am I am my only strength is going to be this gospel that I'm sharing so in that sense I'm going to be coming with great fear and trembling with great humility so that term that he's using over there it's talking about humility where he's not going to pretend to be high five like all these Greek orators he's just going to come and in weakness in humility and he's just going to talk about Jesus Christ and that too Christ crucified is that's what he's going to talk about and he says so he says that he you know he clarifies that in verse four he says my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so all he did was talk to them about the cross talk to them about what Jesus Christ achieved on the cross and then the Holy Spirit demonstrated that what he's talking about is the truth by you know doing works and showing the people that yes this is the truth so the Holy Spirit did miracles the Holy Spirit showed that what Paul is preaching this weak sermon of a crucified Christ which Paul was preaching the Holy Spirit backed up this preaching with demonstrations of power so he chose to be humble and he chose to present the plain the gospel not using any kind of oratorial skills or anything of that of that sort so that same term which he uses over here fear and trembling that is the that term is used over here in the Philippine letter and he says when you're working out your salvation take it seriously be humble you know understand how how privileged you are to be to be made a part of the family of Christ so now please produce works you know create works which show how grateful you are for what God has given you so live in that manner live in a way it shows that you truly are saved and that you truly have salvation just for our knowledge the other two places where you have this term fear and trembling mentioned one place would be second Corinthians chapter 7 verse 15 where it says and his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you are all obedient receiving him with fear and trembling not sure who's being received over here I don't know for that I would actually have to go over there and look it up but yeah so in second Corinthians 7 15 you know if anyone could just turn there quickly so there's somebody who is being received and they are receiving him with humility they are willing to accept whatever he's coming and sharing with them whatever he's preaching to them they are willing to humbly accept that so fear and trembling it's not that they're scared to receive him they are not afraid of him that's not the way the term is being used rather they are humbling themselves and with humility they're accepting whatever he has to share with them then the other place where fear and trembling is mentioned that would be Ephesians 6 5 there of course it's talking about slaves how they would serve their masters with fear and trembling again it's not talking about negative fear of you know being beaten or being whipped it's talking about humility humility and sincerity of heart with that attitude they choose to serve their masters because it's not just their human masters that they are serving but rather they are serving Christ himself so in all of these four places where the term fear and trembling is used it's talking about Paul's attitude of it's talking about an attitude of humility yeah so why are we supposed to work out our salvation with a humble attitude why because it says in verse 13 Philippians chapter 2 verse 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose so the determination that we need to obey is given by the Lord and the power to be able to obey is also given by the Lord so God is the one who's doing it he's going to help you to want to bring bring out fruits of salvation he's he's he'll give you the desire and the willpower and the inclination to to produce fruits of salvation he will do that he will give you the desire to do it the willpower to do it he will also give you the enabling power to actually act out and live out in that way you know to make those sacrifices to make the right choices so in fact everything is doing from his side all he needs from our side is a little cooperation so we if we can humble ourselves and say okay Lord I lay aside the things that you know you are against you and yes I am willing to make those sacrifices I will humble myself to the term fear and trembling it's talking about humility where you humble yourself and say okay Lord what you're asking of me I shall you know gladly sacrifice and give up for your sake so he's the one who was give us gives us the determination to do this he's the one who gives us the enabling power to actually make those sacrifices and step out in obedience from our side we just need to humbly cooperate with him and you know work along with him and producing those fruits and works of salvation so Paul is urging the people to live in this way so that they you know so that they will honor and glorify Christ through their lifestyle so now when we come back from the break maybe we can continue from verse 14 onwards all right yeah thank you


Thanks for staying with us. It's still a breakfast on Plus TV Africa. And right now we're looking at another headline that is Ghandu J. To be arraigned on bribery charges in Kano. Remember, Ghandu J. is a former governor of Kano State. And he was the reason that we had what we used to call the Ghandola. And we didn't hear much about that case. But right now the Kano State government is trying to probe what he did while he was the state governor of Kano State. Even some people have come up to say that a lot of other people needs to be probed. But this is the immediate one and the governor is interested in this. So we have, as I guessed, the National Spokesperson Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, or CUP as some people call it. Comrade Mark Adebayo. Good morning and welcome to the program, Comrade Adebayo. Good morning and good morning viewers. Back at the Salah. Same to you. And Ghandu J, who is the current National Chairman of APC, is going to be probed for what he did while in office in Kano State. Well, thank you so much. The first thing I want to say is that all Nigerians are aware that corruption in the body politic of Nigeria is a cancer. It's a malignant cancer that has divided all manner of attempts to stop it, to reign it in. And that is because of institutional failures. I had your immediate, the other guest before I came on talking about EFCC being a post-mortem organization. I agree 100% with him.    And then, pursuing the person is just for your own personal gain, because the collaborator of the person allows you to go. And that is the same way that EFCC has been leaving. They do not believe in the principle of prevention is better than cure. But of course, it's not necessarily, it's not totally absolutely the fault of the EFCC. Because we have an organization that is called NFIU, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit. That is the organization, that's the agency, principally responsible for monitoring financial transactions, movement of funds and rest of that, including issues that have to do with money laundry and go.  That is the, that Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit is principally and fundamentally responsible for the easy intelligence to the other corruption agencies like the EFCC and ICPs. Of course, the EFCC and the ICPs need to have their own intelligence units that are supposed to be monitoring. And that is why it bothers one that before there is going to be an issue, if someone, a central bank governor, if he could sit over a heavy and unprecedented corruption corporation for so long, to the tune of trillions of naira and dollars, and then nobody did anything to him, while he was in office. He didn't have immunity, the civilian governor doesn't have immunity. So, with that Nigeria issue, it goes a long way to tell you. Look at 2017, that issue, you know, that viral video. We are going to do, we only become gandola and was put in, you know, millions of mint dollars into Isibabariga and into some envelope. That was 2017, December, around December 1, 2017. That thing happened. Buari was the president then. Buari was, who purportedly came to fight a corruption. He looked at the, he was interviewed, he was asked a question about Ganduji, that you are supposed to be an anti-corruption president, but what is happening about Ganduji? The president loves, he loves it all. He said, I don't know the kind of technology they used to project Ganduji in that manner. Didn't Ganduji have aids and code that he could use to go and collect, but why would he be collecting them? So, the president dismissed it as a joke. And once that happened, what do you expect the EFCs to do? The EFCs didn't do anything about it, because the president had already said, and then put a lie to it that it was not real, that it was more or less like a kind of a cloning of a video. So, what did you expect the EFCs to do? The EFCs is under the purview of the authority of the Attorney General of the Federation. So, they couldn't have done something against the interest or the opinion of the president. Who fights corruption and says and comes to defend, and comes to defend corruption. And that was the one legacy for you. And the EFCs, in most cases, as we have discovered, your immediate past case spoke about a case lying for 10 years without the EFC as much as doing anything about it. That is it. Until they have political prompting, when they want to victimize and persecute an individual, probably a former governor, a former minister, it is when they want to politically persecute someone. That is when you see the EFCs going on overdrive, because they have instructions from above to go after this particular individual, to go after this particular person. That is when you see them working on overdrive to make sure they persecute, to make sure they arrest, to make sure they detain, to make sure they blackmail and do everything against one particular individual. The corruption that they supposedly fight in Nigeria is a kind of political corruption. It has been politicized. The operations and activities of the EFC, you know, often have been politicized. And then when you see them going after a former governor in the very bold manner and the rest of that, because there is a political interest from the power that be to prosecute that person, maybe that person serves as the kind of political interest to them, then they go after the person. And I must commend the cannot say government. Why? How do I mean? You know, we have been clamoring and advocating for a disambiguation. The EFCs and other anti-corruption agencies need to be on good good. Each state must have its own anti-corruption agency to be able to deal with the issues of corruption in within their state. Because if you are going to make some time to use the EFCs to, you can see that when the ambassador was in power, he used the EFCs to impeach and impeach the governors who are not doing his bidding. No, you know, that kind of thing cannot be allowed to continue. There must be a disambiguation. The EFCs must be on good good. Let EFCs and ICPCs, thank God the president said that they are managing it together. Let them deal with issues that have to do with federal corruption cases. Let states and corruption agencies deal with their own corruption issues. So that the federal government does not use the federal might to continue to oppress states. We operate a federal system. We have constitutional federalism as a country, which you allow that to happen. This idea of allowing... Imagine if you consider the EFCs could not even go after Gandhi. But now, the current state anti-corruption agency has the confidence to go after him now. Whether we appear in court on 17th or not, is left to be seen. But if he doesn't, some of us are at the level of the opposition and at the level of the civil society organizations that are coming after them because they need to do what they need to do. The current state government is now helping the federal government to do what they refuse to do. And that is why it is necessary in order to remove the partiality, in order to remove the persecution, in order to remove the political victimization of either president of former public office orders who might seem not to be the good books of the people in power. And then you go after them. Everybody is clamoring for state police now. Let each state also have its own anti-corruption agency. The legal state government has passed the national state assembly and I think the government has ascended to it for legal state anti-corruption agency. We have not been established today. I think the legal state government needs to tell us why they have not done that. Because it is necessary for each state to have their own. Look at what is happening inside for the state now. The current administration of the state has indicted the immediate past government of their state. Who is now the current minister of state for defense?   But I do hope that the issue of WJ would be laid to rest by proper prosecution at the court of competent jurisdiction because that is the law in Kano state and that law stands for that state and whoever has been caught to have promptly enriched himself or herself in that state. Look at what is happening in this issue. We have a former governor, his wife, his son or something. A whole family and friends, all of them now are being taught to have engaged in this corruption issue because we are talking about a bribery that $5 million video that went viral and then they are talking about some contract fraud and the rest of that amount of things. 500 billion error, he left 500 billion error debt for the current administration in Kano state. How do we expect the country to progress? Now it is the national shaman of the ruling party and these cases are not cases for today or yesterday or the day before yesterday. These are cases of three, four, five years that these things have been in public view but the past administration refused to do anything about it and then the current administration ensured that this man had become the national shaman of the ruling party. You know, you remember a phenomenon, a trend that was happening during the Guari administration. It really came into power. You saw that people that had either been addicted or a legion of corruption started moving into the APC. They began to move en masse into the APC, including the government.  They got away with so many infractions, so many corruption allegations. So there are pending allegations for over three years now that EFCC has abandoned but they are going after people they have been giving authorization to go and pass it to them. Nigerians are just wondering because you said for EFCC to behave like that, to go after somebody like the same in the local communities that when a small boy confronts you in the early morning know that an elder is somewhere backing him up. Otherwise he cannot talk to you the way he's talking to you. So now if we talk about EFCC being political, do you think this is an exercise that will come to fruition or it is an exercise in futility and we are wasting our time. We should move to something else that is better. He's the chairman of the ruling EFCC. Do you think anything will come out of this? You see, I just hope that the current state government will have the courage to go the overall about this matter and refuse to be cowed and refuse to be intimidated and refuse to be dissuaded from going ahead with this. We need to know the truth. We need to call it closure on this issue. So there must not be unnecessary political intervention from the field argument on this matter. It needs to go and answer to these allegations about him. So, yes, the Nigerian way, one is not totally optimistic about the fact that maybe something will come out of this but since it is the current state government that is handling this matter, I am sure that we use every instrumentality and improvement of the law to make sure to get to him because also that the public pressure, like I told you, the civil society will not be silent. Your position, parties will not keep quiet. It's necessary and important that we focus on everybody now to ensure that Gandhi goes and answers to those allegations that have been levied against him. The question now is does the state have that kind of power? Because you were just advocating EFCC to be in every state some kind of independence for the state EFCC as it is. So now that it has not happened that way, do you think with all the arsenal that Canada State might have, they can pull that off? This is our country where you find a governor winning at the Supreme Court and then even the opposition party coming out to congratulate and thank the president for not intervening, for not influencing the judgment, which means they know that it is a possibility and these things happen. And they were saying, oh, thank you, Mr. President, for not influencing it. I say, I mean, who does that? If the law has given someone the right to be whatever he is, then why are you coming to tell us that it could have been influenced by the president? Which means there's something fundamentally wrong that makes Nigerians to just look at it and say, will anything good come out of it? Because right now we have had some organizations coming to say, now you want to probe Ghanduji, probe all other governors that have come even before Ghanduji, that is on the other side now. So we are having opposition and the people for and against and all that. So if we are wasting our time, shouldn't we just move on to something else? You see, the good thing about all these things is that NMPP is the party in power in Karnu state. So it becomes very difficult for anybody to influence them otherwise, to influence the current governor otherwise. What I do know that Ghanduji might try to do. In fact, it is surprising, I was telling a friend, I called a friend in Karnu this morning, I messaged him that. He said, let me get going to Karnu to celebrate the future because I don't see him going to Karnu anytime soon. If you understand what I mean, because that is one good thing about this because he knows that he does not. He cannot move freely in Karnu state now. It's not like I would be surprised if he goes home to celebrate the future. So, you see the opposition parties of figures who are thanking the president for not intervening in their election and the rest of that, whatever the investigation they had. You know, in the euphoria of future, sometimes people misdrive, they just say things. I think it's in the euphoria of the moment that somebody will say that. It's the president supposed to intervene in the legal judicial process at all, whatever. But this also shows you, I mean, I'm not going to defend that because it shows you how our facade, our socio-political and judicial system has been. It's quite unfortunate because it shows. If somebody says that it shows that the president has the capacity to influence the outcome of the judicial process. And then we have to turn the president for letting go, for not doing. I mean, it's quite unfortunate. It's quite funny peculiar. It's part of the role in our socio-political system that we need to. It's part of the chaos element within the political system of the country called Nigeria. But you see, something like EFCC would not have been, would have had the temerity to go after Nigeria. The way the counter-state anti-colonial agency has gone after him. Because it is chairman of the ruling party. But now the beauty of it is that we have a state anti-colonial agency saying that we need to reinvestigate, we have reinvestigated, we have our facts, we have our evidence. It needs to be persecuted, it needs to face the law. And that's how it should be. That's how it should run. Because, you know, the beauty of democracy is that one party cannot perpetuate itself in power. If your party will defend you, another party will come tomorrow that is coming to open the books, open your file and it will go after you. That is the beauty of democracy. That is the beauty of law. That is the beauty of the mega-processes. That is the beauty of the rule of law. So I want to give... You will see that the state anti-colonial agencies will be more effective than the national one. That's why I said let the EFCC deal with... ...colonial matters that have to do with Federa, let them deal with their president, their ministers, the DGs and everything of federal government, ministries and power, citizens and agencies. And let the state deal with... Because when you give the state their monthly allocation is their money. It is their money. The Federa government has no right to dictate to the state how they manage their money, how they administer their money. Because, like I said, they use that. And unfortunately, you see that where a governor steals money from the state and that money is recovered. It is not returned to that state too. Sometimes, you know, you see that there will be banter between the Federa government and the state. You say, no, this is our money. The money you have recovered should be returned to our state. You know, I'm sure you have seen that before. The Federa government has no right to cover the government money. But the Federa government has to come at us and say, okay, well, all the money is stolen by a bachelor that we are recovering. We are also disreputing to the state. Of course, we don't have any evidence of how their bachelor route has been managed. What we are hearing is that the route has been re-arranged. So, unfortunately, let the Federa government deal with the level of the Federa government, whatever corruption allegations or issues or incidences or crimes that have been committed at the level of the government, let the EFCC and EFCC deal with that. Let every state have their own anti-cultural agencies to deal with local issues, to deal with their own local state issues so that there is no incident of political persecution that the president, your president, you say this person is a political enemy. This governor belongs to the opposition. Even within their own party, anybody that has fallen out of favor, they send the EFCC after them. So, the gossips, the gossips with which he goes after some individuals, sometimes you just say, no, no, no, no. This is the real corruption issues that we abandon those ones and go after probably people who have even done very well in office just because those ones are falling out of favor with you. For the sake of political correctness. And that is not how to fight corruption. What do I think? Everybody clearly used to believe that this man, because of our experiences in 1985, how he did it and everything, he was coming to reform the country, he was coming to fight corruption. We couldn't have been more wrong. We couldn't have been more wrong. This was a man. I mean, I don't know. Hopefully, we are not seeing anything too much different in the current dispensation. No, no. I was just saying, okay, because I was taking your final word. Maybe the lessons that we need to learn from here, with this probe of Ganduja, that he's going to be arraigned, the former governor and current chairman of APC, what lessons can we learn here? What can we build on as time goes on as we wrap up on the show? First and foremost, I want to encourage his excellency, former governor Ganduja, to be a man of honor. He has been invited to be a man of honor and go and defend himself in court. One of the lessons we should learn from this is that, number one, we know that corruption is building this country. We have to keep corruption. Number two is that the lessons we are learning is that the corruption agencies unfortunately are not doing what the consistency they should do. What they are doing is they are doing the political beating of those in power, which is very, very unfortunate. They are persecuting people that are putting out of political force and they should not be doing that. Another lesson here is for Nigeria to know that we cannot see back and the complaining only about bad governance and corruption. We need to do something about it. We need to condemn it. We need to be active in their focusing against corruption. We need to be able to help people to account who we know that have resources and properties that are far beyond the parts of their offices. If you are on 200,000 era, as a local government councillor per month, well, you don't get money to buy a 2024 Range Rover. It must be a process of corruption. And we don't have to wait for the FCC before we get to shout and make noise and petition the agencies to go after him. Once they know that they have no ID placed with their loot, they will stop looting. That's the middle lesson for all of us as Nigerians, regular Nigerians, activists, politicians, and everybody that means well for this country. But we do know that where we are today, the suffering in the land, the hardship in the land, the economic backwardness in the land, the development backwardness in the land is majorly the responsibility of corruption and corrupt public office holders.  That is the collective responsibility, not just that of anti-corruption organizations. And we must stop the political persecution of innocent people. Okay. Thank you so much, Comrade, for being a part of our program and sharing your thoughts this morning with us. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much. Yeah. We've been talking to Comrade Marc at the BIO National Spokesperson Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, and we were looking at the fact that Ganduja will be arraigned on bribery charges in Kano. This is where we draw the curtain on today's program, and we're hoping that you are going to join us again tomorrow for another edition of the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Until then, I'd like to say barqad-i-salla to you, and see you tomorrow. My name is Nyam Gul Aghaji.


In this case, I think the uncertainty is going to be much longer. The UK will have to decide whether to invoke Article 50 and when, when the negotiation will start towards a divorce. There is not just the concerns, of course, about the United Kingdom. There are questions about whether the rest of Europe is going to now, over time, integrate more or whether this is going to lead to a disintegration gradually over time of the European Union, even threats to the eurozone. There is even a risk of a breakup of the United Kingdom.


Hey, this is Brett and this 2019 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Short Box Lariat FX4 is stock number 13351Z. I am here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, you're new and used heavy duty truck headquarters this 2019 Ford F-250 has the 6.2 liter V8 gas engine. This truck has been fully safety and inspected by our service shop per the state of Wisconsin inspection process that has a fresh oil and filter change all the fluids have been checked and topped off and this truck is 100% ready to go. I'm going to go all the way around inside underneath started up and take a look under the hood ingot silver is the color and I shoot all my videos in 4K so if you have HD capabilities turn them on right now because it is your best way to check out the quality condition options and cleanliness of the truck before seeing it in person. Very clean down this side driver's side box looks really good didn't see any dents or dings the paints in excellent shape the cab and the doors all look really good as well those have the door code entry the tow mirrors front fender is in fantastic condition as well I didn't see any dents or dings on there and if you like the video you can subscribe to my YouTube channel which is youtube.com slash summit auto click the bell notifications and you'll get updates on the videos I do each and every day here at Summit Automotive this one comes with the 18 inch chrome dalloway rims and it has Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain adventure tires these are LT 275 70 R18s they have right around half the tread on them and I didn't see any corrosion on the frame or underbody looks like somebody has undercoated this was not us headlight lenses are nice and clear front bumper and lower valance are in pretty nice shape I didn't see any major dents or dings on there it does have the factory fog lights and the chrome tow hooks the front grille is in nice shape and the hood is in nice condition as well looks really good passenger side front fender is in excellent shape too and the passenger side front rim no major scuffs or scrapes on there those tires have just about as much tread as driver side as you go down this side of this 2019 Ford F250 take note of how clean the body is how reflective and mirror like the paint is I take these HD videos so if you are far away or even if you're close by and you just cannot make the trip down but you're still interested in purchasing the vehicle you can see the truck hear the truck and have confidence in the vehicle that you're looking at before you even get here so when you do get here there's absolutely no surprises and you can make a smart and informed buying decision from wherever you're at if this video helps you make that buying decision let your salesman know that you saw the video that it was helpful and that Brett sent you back rooms in pretty nice shape and the back tires have just as much tread as the front tires like the front frame and under body very little to no corrosion has all the remainder of the factory exhaust lower rockers and cab corners all look really good and it comes with a very nice set of chrome step bars those are factory chrome step bars FX4 off-road suspension package with the skid plates get the chrome tipped exhaust and the rear bumper is in very nice condition as well does have the backup parking sensors tailgate is in pretty nice condition as well one thing I saw is one tiny little tiny little ding right there as a factory soft tonneau cover I didn't see any major rips or tears on there so that's pretty nice and it comes with a spray and bed liner comes with the side box tie-downs LED bed lights and the bed itself is in really nice condition that spring bed liner goes on to the tailgate which is nice as well and it shuts nice and solidly for full disclosure this back rim is in excellent condition as well and once again down the rest of this side doors and cab all look really good does have the door code entry we do have the code for this truck if you ever wanted to find out what your code is for your 17 to 22 super duty in the upper right hand part of screen I've got a video showing you how to do that heated mirrors built in directional signals these are power fold in power telescope out and in inside the lariat package gives you the black leather interior there are no rips or tears on the seats they are in very nice condition both of these front seats are heated and cooled factory floor mats throughout auto head lamps tilt telescopic steering wheel LED side lights and power pedals memory driver seat power windows power locks power mirrors and these mirrors do power fold in I always like showing both sides so you know that both sides are working properly and then they do power telescope out and in once again both sides out and in take a quick look at the back seats back seats are just as clean as front seats no rips or tears back here it does have the latch child safety system for any child car seats you may have power slide rear window with the built-in rear defrost seats are in nice shape smells very clean inside this truck you get a storage compartment under here and that closes or that can lock into place and goes down like so factory floor mats back here these back seats are heated you can get two USBs 110 volt 400 watt max plug-in and then a 12 volt power point as well seats come back down like so child safety locks on the back doors and the bottoms of the doors all look fantastic we'll hop inside check out the miles the radio first I wanted to show you the tire and loading information sticker as well as the vin sticker we'll hop inside check out the miles the radio and everything that this truck has to offer on the interior get the built-forward tough animation right there comes with 51,140 miles you get the digital speedometer on there as well instrument cluster is very nice and clean comes with the leather wrapped steering wheel bluetooth and audio controls on the right cruise controls and information center controls on the left does come with the six speed automatic transmission with the optional tap shift turned out four-wheel drive has a factory brake controller you get the sync eight inch radio on this one gives the factory navigation system you can see there's highway 41 so that is working nicely for your audio you get M FM and serious XM radio capabilities that you saw there Bluetooth capabilities as well you have all your different settings including all your mobile apps and everything right there this is also where your backup camera shows up and you can see that that is working nicely this one does have the B&L premium sound system now you get climate controls and volume and tune controls down here as well there you're heated and cooled seat buttons you get your two cup holders there and now you have four cup holders and you get a 12 volt PowerPoint and 110 volt 400 watt max plug-in dual glove boxes and the passenger side format and seat are in excellent condition as well headliner is in great shape you do get six auxiliary up-fit switches power sliding rear window button and map lights up there we'll start it up and take a look under the hood starts right up no check engine lights or anything like that I would personally like to thank you for checking out the video today and hopefully from this HD video you've been able to verify the quality condition options and cleanliness of this truck all the way around inside and up under the hood we have the 6.2 liter v8 gas engine engine base very clean runs very smooth once again this truck has been fully safe eat it and inspected by our service shop has a fresh oil and filter change all the fluids have been checked and topped off and is 100% ready to go there is your the emission sticker shocks are doing a nice job holding that hood up and I would highly recommend this truck to make quality and condition standpoint and to see more pictures of this truck or one of our other 550 new and used cars trucks scvs minivans wranglers half tons three quarter tons one tons you name it we got to go to that website right there summit auto comm full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle from two locations all at summit auto comm and if you'd like to check out more HD videos you can go to youtube comm slash summit auto remember to like subscribe and share on this video and all the videos that you see there click the bell notifications you can update some of the videos I do each and every day here at summit automotive in fact in a second it was the link to subscribe to my youtube channel the upper left links more up to 50 videos like this one the upper right link to this vehicle on our website in the lower left and a link to one of our latest YouTube videos in the lower right those checks out we're super excited to help you with the sale to clean 2019 Ford F 250 crew cab short box larry FX4 in in got silver metallic thanks again for checking out the video remember to like subscribe and share on the youtube channel I really appreciate it thanks again