Conditioning Conviction

Transcript

good morning brothers sisters family friends our Lord Jesus Christ

I have to apologize in advance for uh our av team fearlessly

setting us up and tracking on the camera for those online

I admittedly am a kinetic

thinker so if I move I think better it flows so I'm gonna try to move around a little bit exercise the freedom that we have in Sunday school to move just you know keep things

more dynamic

before we even start into our classes

I would try to ask that if you do have a writing utensil notebook pen and paper for those of you here those you online please come armed and ready with your pen in hand because we are going to be doing some writing we'll be doing some thinking some talking as our brother Rich Dineen says you know I could be the sage on the stage or the Scribe on the side so I I want to be described on the side here and and really have a a collaborative discussion and one that I hope is is thought provoking and to that end

we're going to start with y

start with why

first want to ask those here those online

ask yourself why am I here

Maya here

because fair enough now

there we go so that's exactly Steve just asked the the exact question you know at a macro scale how did you how did you look at this did you look at this on a macro you know is this why am I here why do I exist why am I breathing

how how did I come to be or on a micro scale you know why am I sitting here in this room right now

what's the reasoning behind it

we're going to ask some of these questions as to why

um first and foremost and and also when you ask why am I here on a macro scale generationally think about all of sequentially what had to happen in order for you and your genetic composition to be but then also you know generationally what came into play so that you're sitting in the seat on a micro level

um you know are you a third generation Chris adalphian are you here for the first time because you you you fell in love or you were just asking certain questions and trying to figure out how did uh how did all this come to be

and to prompt this iterative session of of considering wise allow me for a second to contextualize why we are having this class

so

I was asked

um last year to lead the New England cyc weekend and two thoughts immediately popped into my mind number one they are really getting desperate for speakers number two

what can I

engage what can I explore that is something that's really pertinent to our teenagers and our community at Large and last year

speaking for myself my family and likely the Ecclesia there was a lot of Heartache a lot of Heartache due to some attrition within this occlusion it was a conversation that we had we went to um in Ontario uh they called it the the cyc 25 plus I don't know if it was the the oldest young people of christadelphia are the youngest old people of christadophia we couldn't figure that out but point being is I I we had this conversation that they asked me to speak there for a lecture and I and I just opened up my heart and said this is where we're at and come to find out that

um this concern of attrition is pervasive across the entire spectrum of christadelphia in Canada and in the U.S

so I started doing some research and I come to find out that this isn't solely a Christadelphian issue that this is ubiquitous across the entirety of Christianity so I did some research and this is the Barna group in conjunction with the UCLA they pulled it was a significant sample size of teenagers I think it was something around twenty thousand um and I can I can get back to the exact number but it was it was significant this wasn't this wasn't hundreds and it was from uh essentially during covet 2019 to 2022. and then you and you look at some of these sobering statistics of

how the next generation are gen ziers perceive

uh just religion in general right

33 believed gender is how a person feels about the birth sex

uh half believe happiness defined by financial success

uh 34 believe lying is morally long wrong or two-thirds essentially believe you know what lying's okay

30 believe science and scripture are complementary meaning 70 percent

mean that science and scripture are diametrically opposed

that's a uh that's a sobering item that we really have to address

60 believe many religions can lead to eternal life there is no one True Religion you just live your truth just figure it out you know it's it's all we're all trying to I've heard this a lot we're all going at the same Hill we're all going to reach the same Summit

50 to 70 percent of young Christians walk away from the church by the time they're in their college Years 40 50 of students in youth groups struggle in their faith after graduation so this is the most vulnerable time is when our when our young people kind of go from inside the house right the parents rules we're going Sundays you know we're going to church and then all of a sudden they're they're given autonomy they're giving the freedom to make their own decisions and how do they How do they act upon those decisions there are there's some good news 90 of Americans essentially believe that there is some sort of God right on the whole we're still

um a spiritual country

60 of uh 30 18 year olds say that they are Christian yet gen Z is the least religious generation and then 46 of gen Z teens say that they need factual evidence to support their beliefs and so that's going to be the impetus for this talk we're going to talk about how why we're going to talk large scale and then we're going to start trying to substantiate our faith

um evidentially

facts

to be able to help mitigate some of these sobering statistics

and

the way in which we're going to to do this is to substantiate the what's with two y's

now what do I mean by that

what

is those are your Jeopardy questions right that is what we as christad alphians as a I would say an academic uh focused

brand of Bible scholars really do well as a Sunday School student I remember you know you go through the lines you go to lineage of of David you understand the the where's the the the hows things were happening but you ultimately the the locations the names the lineages right uh all of the what's we do are an exceptional job objectively of talking through this

and

um I'm not saying by any means that we should deviate from that that the what's is is foundationally

a great a great starting point

but if you think of what as well we'll use an example of you know a body right

the what is is the body but now you need two Y's for every what and those two y's are essentially your legs that's going to give function

to the what

now what are those two y's and this is by all means please um this is a good opportunity to write this down because we're going to use this after the fact that as part of an exercise so whenever we're talking about what we're discussing biblically to ourselves to our spouses to our children to our friends right we want to tether that to two wise

why is the biblical view true or why is this what that we're talking about why is it true

and if you can back that up then also

second why

why does it matter

if we're not tethering off these what's to two y's all of a sudden all of this this disinformation you know

sometimes there's there's no

there's no inherent value to our young people or to just anyone we're talking to unless we tether it substantiate it to a why

so think about that so your what is your body and your why why is it biblically true why does it matter in order to stand up our what's we need to substantiate it with two y's

so now this is going to be our our first exercise pen and paper ready for those here those online I'm watching you online

um please take a second to write down what

you believe what do you believe and the BASF while an amazing document we're not using that as a cop-out what do you personally distill your beliefs what do you

believe

so we're going to take a couple minutes and just write that down when I see the the Quorum of heads that look back up I'll assume that we're done but for the time being please just take a moment and and write down what do you believe and if this is hard good

that's that's the intent remember when I did this in cyc

um I was trying to I handed out all the the notebooks to the kids and I asked the the parents in the back if they want a notebook they said we don't need notebooks like no this is this is for everyone so please please write down

um what it is that you believe

all right hopefully we have at least some meat to work with and and by all means we can come back and and revisit this and and build it out further because this is going to be an iterative uh session

uh

but is anyone willing to share with how how so far where they've started on what they believe

Chris

so I wrote down for a what all the Earth shall be filled with the glory of God someday I love it it's a saint beautiful hopeful

and uh why that is important it tells us the end from the beginning oh Chris hold on a second look at you trying to get extra Stars we're gonna go we're gonna get into that Chris oh he's he's already he's already unbelievable we're gonna we're gonna jump right into the wise I love it

um but anymore on the what's I mean the glory you know all the Earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord I mean that's that's such a succinct uh

beautiful

distillment

of what we believe anything else anyone wants to add something supplemental to that

Gordon hold on let me get you let me get you a sphere here I can run it

in the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and then that belief everything else falls into place

I love the fact that the eyes were closed for that this is not the first time you've had to you've had to state that belief

I love it anything else any other takers

it's a great session Steve I'll let you hold on to this thing

all right

so Chris is dirty jumping into it you know why so we have our what now we're gonna put the first leg up first leg to our what why do you know that it's true you know it's for in First Peter 3 and 14 but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor Christ the lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you do not yet do it with gentleness and respect so we talked about our hope right

all the Earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord what's the reason why do you know that it's true

so take

all right Siri

even she's getting involved now

so this is our first why you can just write essentially a first why why do you know that beliefs are evidentially true

I knew I knew when we were actually practicing this on the way uh

when I when I asked when we were preparing this and

um

prepared to ask this question Cara spoke up she's like I know Butch is just going to jump at this one so I had to give you the mic first but do you have why do you know what you believe is true

but the scriptures are inspired by God and they prove themselves to be accurate

well said well said

anything else supplemental

there is no right or wrong on this but it's essentially how can you defend your position

I said uh that because the Bible tells us it's so uh I would then add that mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord and God has delivered me out of all these things as Paul says so I know that God is them so when we look from life's experience through service and uh worship of God that he has provided for us on our lives so he's given us ample evidence both within our lives and within the scripture I love that I love that it's so true it's so true there's enough evidence in and outside of the book right

there he is hey Mark it's on

um I'm assuming we're going on the basis that whomever we may be talking to has belief in Scripture

depends yeah because a lot of what we're saying

you know is based on scripture right and if the person we're talking to doesn't believe it

then you kind of defeated right there but if I'm talking which I'm talking to people at work and I have one person that is so

she goes to church every Sunday and her point is God should just wipe it all out and start over again yeah and our discussions are based on well

part of that is true there'll be a day of the Lord that comes and things will start new the Earth will not be destroyed and she goes well how do you know this and there are facts but one of the big things Italian with what we're talking about is one scripture tells us our God is not a god of confusion and he cannot lie

so if you talk to somebody on that basis and they accept that

then what Chris said and everybody else said is you know besides living and seeing it firsthand

you know you have faith in that absolutely so love it

bye

I just wanted a little clarification about we missed a few minutes so what about this generation what are they believing in regards to their faith yeah so we we can definitely we'll get into that and that's essentially we have to be armed to essentially bring them to scripture so how do we how do we verify and validate scripture outside of scripture right but when I listen to the young people speak what they're talking about is environmentally we're gonna we're going south

monetarily uh globally uh that there they have no hope and I think it's because people couldn't answer these questions get into a dialogue so especially during pandemic that create a whole mess and then now they still haven't found their way they're really kind of looking and they're holding on to things crazy in a kind of way the things I'm hearing they're involved in like they'll help animals but they won't help people and it so I don't mean to belabel this but I'm very involved and a lot of times it's a question you can ask like how are we doing with this you know and ask them well what do you think is going to happen and then offer them something and just something little not on you know what I'm trying to say 100 and get that out to them that wow what do you think is going to happen right right right and they'll often ask once you genuinely just begun a dialogue

the AV team is is they want to hear it

um no that's so what what ampani's saying um sister Bonnie's saying sorry I still have to get used to that she was my Sunday school teacher so she's always not bonded to me and she's always going to hand me a snack at the end of this

um so uh but it's a great question right how do you

how do you substantiate am I am on how do you substantiate um scripture when they don't even want to go there they're like hey I don't even want to get into the book right now because everything I see around me is is so dilapidated

um that I don't even want to go there yet because you got to meet me where I'm at we're going to explore that that's that's a very very pressing topic because we're so conditioned we're so and it seems like that was that was the battlefield of 100 years ago everyone was like all right scripture is Common Ground let's let's go toe-to-toe within scripture but now the the battlefield so to speak the the discussions have you really have to be able to

um solidify substantiate your argument for scripture first to get them into the book and then kind of build it from there but you have to Corral them uh and I say them I mean I was the same exact way this was this was very much something that I personally struggled with too is is making sure that I felt comfortable in validating scripture so we're going to get into that archeology uh science I think science actually really does a fantastic and we'll get into that in one of our classes

um prophecy there's a lot history there's a lot of ways that we can bring them to scripture without scripture and I think that's that's going to be the almost the art form of how we proceed with with trying to really uh rally the younger Generations Sandy you had something

oh come on you know I think of The Wonder of creation and The Wonder of Miracle of birth and all we see around us and I don't think for me I never

asked why it was almost why not you know what else is there and I think you live through life experiences and you get through things and reading of the scripture and God does not lie and you know and I think um you know what else is there what else can man do man can't fix anything and never has and this is why not you know and and you and uh you almost no it's not Blind Faith but you think just just just believe

you know it's so anyway

I had um I had put down as uh as my first belief that I believe in the one God who created the heavens and the Earth

and then for a why I said I believe uh the beauty and complexity of the world demonstrates that there's a Creator God and not a universe formed by chance

well said so there's our first why

and now

here's a second why right why does it matter to us in other words who cares

right so it's let's let's a couple minutes here and write down why

does the what we believe why we know it's true why does it matter to us individually and once we can substantiate that in theory that's that's how we can then make it matter to someone else so we'll take a couple minutes there and talk and and write through why does it matter to you

I apologize in advance at least who wants the first crack at the the why it matters Ben

yeah so the things that we believe matter

um you know I I think it's easier to kind of take approach from a negative perspective right there's this problem with sin and death that we have we have sinful desires and they lead us ultimately to death if you're not a religious person maybe you don't frame it that way but we all have this problem with mortality that's undeniable um so IT addresses that problem but I the better approach I think is that if it's true that there is a Creator God he made all things he made us and he's offering a relationship with us that's just a marvelous thing to take advantage of and to to be invited to participate in

um we have all these these problems in society that seem Unstoppable it seems like the bad guys win for whatever reason that's just the prevailing Trend that we've seen to know that there is the opportunity for for justice and real hope and and change in the world um who who wouldn't want that that's a great thing to believe in 100 percent why not yeah

all right sadly enough for the sake of time we're gonna revisit this but uh we're already running out of time which is heartbreaking because I I could talk about this for hours I love this stuff we'll leave this right here with you Ben um so this is so this is actually going to be the culmination of

um but what two wise right so we have our our body of our what we have the two legs we just stood it up two wise

what direction

Are We Now moving

with this what and two wise so we have our beliefs we we have what you believe why you know it's true and why it matters right we've just we just written that down those here those online

so now what are you gonna do with it

you know how does your faith impact your Paradigm your world view

so you you have the what the two wise what mountain is we see these Mountaineers summoning um a specific Mountain amidst all these other mountains why are you summoning this mountain relative to the rest of them you know wealth whatever it's glory whatever whatever it is Friends however you want to substantiate the value of your life how were you substantiating your mission your purpose essentially uh what is your mission statement what is your North Star what is the mountain

that you specifically are trying to climb

and this is a this is a great one for young people too but we'll get into that but first and foremost just a quick synopsis distill it what is your mission statement

all right hopefully we at least have a

a start towards the mission statement and before I I continue to ask people to share theirs which is certainly a personal ask

um I'm gonna take a quick moment to share mine

so

Proverbs 3 is actually a verse that really embodies

um the hard lessons that I've learned and it's something that we've actually uh wrote along the entirety of the wall in our living room trust in the Lord with all your heart and not on your own understanding and always acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight

so this photo right here this was taken uh on a return trip from the Branford Ontario Hockey Challenge this was 2016. I was six years into a relationship started it my senior year of high school all the way through college two years into my professional life I got baptized uh two years prior to that in 2014 after graduating college I was essentially the prodigal son woke up in the pigstyles metaphorically and realize this is not the way I want to live had some great Sunday school teachers along the way that really beat it into me like this is this is not

the way and I ultimately I committed myself to baptism but I was still stuck I was still lukewarm I was in this relationship where I was trying to convince her to come along and come to church and she wasn't for me but I still loved her

and I went to Brantford Ontario Hockey Challenge and I saw I tried to actually bring her she's like not I'm not interested so I went my sister and I saw couples that were yoked I saw that you know that the couples holding the same hymn book the same hymns talking about classes afterwards and I realized I needed that otherwise I will always be lukewarm I don't have the spiritual strength endurance to do this on my own

so I had a tear-filled conversation after seeing this rainbow which was which essentially that my way that was God speak to me I felt in my heart get your act together commit yourself to me

and I will make your path straight

I will you will find that evenly yoked person in your life so sure enough um drove home at an eight-hour drive went right to my girlfriend's house tears just pouring down on my face because I loved her I said listen this is my mission statement I want to go this direction I want to serve God you have to after three years of trying to convince you to get on board you're not into it and ultimately I I don't have the stamina to carry both of us

and then just an absolute uh devastating night remember just just crying all the way home we we had to we had to break up and what that did was it allowed me to be available to now commit myself fully and by doing that fast forward a year I met Cara

um and you can probably hear some of the squeaks underneath us in the in the uh in the the nursery

um so we all kind of know how that story ends so we actually Revisited that space on the way to that that um Ontario

cyc weekend over the summer and and I just I was floored to see the trajectory of the rainbow right I mean this is the lowest point of my spiritual walk it's like you gotta completely start from scratch in your relationships and now I'm with my brother and I'm with my beautiful wife Cara and we were able to

um you know see that the optimism how how different that whole dynamic is I mean here's Cara feeding Joel she's she's nursing Maddie she has

um and she's doing she's doing the slides I mean as if I could put these slides together it was all Kara we all know this so I mean that's that's the level of commitment that she has for our family we and we distilled our mission statement to this raise a family that reflects God's love acknowledging God's love our purpose and essentially saying you know we don't even really need to emulate it's it's essentially you just learn of God's love and you can it's it's really easy to start reflecting it we've actually since made an amendment that they gave this class uh in September and that was after a really edifying conversation with Stephen Sandy when they came to our house and we've actually the amendment now is raise a family that reflects God's love through Joy and this is something that God willing I hope to explore in my ex store in May but realizing that Joy ultimately has to be the vehicle in which we convey God's love no matter if there's if things are happening um that are that are challenging everyone has challenges right but are you embracing those challenges with Joy are you embracing every Sunday with Joy are you are you just just omitting the joy uh that that comes with knowing and sharing God's love so that's our mission statement try to be succinct to something that we can exchange to our kids that they can kind of start to memorize themselves so they know this is what we're about this is where we're heading does anyone else want to uh share their mission statement for for their family

or themselves what mountain are you trying to Summit

all right I can run it

um I I always try every day to remember the words of Psalm 19 verse 14. let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable unto thee O Lord my strength and my redeemer

um you know we I

you always try at least I do and and I try to stress this on my family and I'm sure we all think the same way every day when you awake is a gift from the Lord and every day I put my two feet on the ground I try to think of those words first and foremost before I do anything else uh because I think joy that mindset you how you start your days usually is how your day will carry through not that it happens all the time because you know work school everything else that we deal with tends to eat away at that but I think if you start your day that way by doing the readings I remember Uncle Bob Davis I used to he asked me when did you do your readings Mark and I said usually it's late at night and he'd say when you're tired and I said yeah so now I do it the other way I usually do it first thing in the morning while I'm awake you know so that's mine this is Psalm 19 verse 14. and I think it it might be yours too brother Steve I know you've quoted that verse many a Time

I am I actually chose a mission statement uh several years ago by accident I happen to notice way back when when email first started tell you how old I am um the people put quotes at the bottom of their emails so I thought oh that's a cool idea so I'll put a quote on that so I looked around I just chose a quote and I chose I can do all things uh through Christ

um and since then because people see it on my email I get presents I've got a couple different cups I've got t-shirts I've got I get all kinds of stuff from people and it's it has in essence become a mission statement without ever really uh giving it that title I love that a great way for just preaching with it let them know immediately what you're about

other mission statements

oh here we go Steve

this is not my mission statement but this is Paul's the Apostle Paul's so in Colossians chapter 2 he says my purpose

is that you may be encouraged in heart

and United in love so that you may have the full Riches of complete understanding in order that you may know the mystery of God namely Christ and whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

yeah so I like that

and he's certainly committed to that mission

anyone else interested in sharing

question was why do we come here sure yeah you know and I look at it deep inside and I say well what's in it for me

and just knowing in this crazy world that is so sad is so sick that God has promised us place that we can't imagine you know and it keeps you getting out of bed on Sunday you know and being with your brothers and sisters makes a difference too you know so

mankind does um look at what is in it for them you know it's just human nature human yeah human nature it's it's uh we're for donkeys too right I mean it's it's there's quite the carrot for this one and I always thought that was you know interesting that um you know with us clearly when you look at scripture you know the hell Gahanna not being a literal hell you know being that the pit so to speak here that the junkyard so to speak it's like what a loving God would he incentivize with a stick or a carrot right you would you would definitely it would be the carrot Sandy

I have a comment um I think it's our outlook on anything we do is is how it comes forth you know and

um a great example my parents are my mom um

uh

when my sister died Gail died at home my mom was with her I don't know is this weird to say no go Sandy so um

so my sister Gail died at home um

yeah

so she um bled

she so she

she had a tragic death and you know anyway my mom was there with her and she called my mom and my mom sat with her and my sister died and um and I remember coming back from the hospital with Steve and my sister and my brother-in-law Steve probably 2 30 quarter three in the morning just kind of like getting back to her house and like okay

deciding what we do and and my mom we're just standing there and she looked at us and she said I'm so blessed

and she's always said that and I think to come from a point of that

um it's a mentality it's how you look at things you know and it's it's whether it's your life experiences that you learn from but it's how you look at something that this has happened to me but I'm so blessed and I think that such an example and um that's all

thank you for sharing that Sandy Auntie Norma always I remember when I'm struggling most my teenage years right I mean I've candidly um you know parents forced me to go to church and I'm still trying to recover from the night before right and

whenever I'm at my lowest I would always go to Auntie Norma because she always exuded that Joy right that Resolute Joy

um and that just just so excitational

you know how Auntie Norma lived her life it lives her life as um mission oriented um that absorbing regardless of circumstance the ultimate blessing you know no matter what happens in the chapters 1 through 99 we all know chapter 100 is is going to ultimately be just an incredible incredible ending of each and every one of our stories so mark

told them loud enough to not need a speaker but I moved at home yeah at the end of the day you know on the selfish side you know I I want to be on the earth that day that it's filled with God's glory right but moreover I want everyone else to be there too I want them all to feel the same joy that we do knowing that that day is coming so selfishly I want to be there and I want others to be there too and you know we know that day is coming so

mark thank you so much for that

um

absolutely Gordon

we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling

to that end we need to put our trust in God

to help us because we are told that

if we diligently seek him

he will help us he will reward us

thank you

Gordon I thank you so very much for that

um we'll do it quick

uh recap and then

um I'll do a quick uh introduction of what we're going to be talking about God building next Sunday first Sunday school we'll do a quick recap here next class so just through a quick regroup you should have this all in your notes already um your what what do you believe why is it true why does it matter to you right and we're going to explore this and how it's pervasive throughout um all biblical spiritual Concepts uh and then for next class we'll talk about world view um we call it the tab world view and we'll go through that in detail but essentially that's a tab being the theology apologetics beliefs we're going to explore uh how that world view compares to other World Views out there um and what we can do to really ensure that we we condition our faith to have a resilient worldview around the theology apologetics and beliefs so I look forward to by all means after after memorial service if you want to continue this discussion what's your mission statement maybe even sit down you know for those of you with with kids at home uh have a dinner room discussion hey what is our collaborative mission statement have the kids have some buy-in on that what's what's the mission statement for our house you know make sure that there's a certain level of involvement that they feel some sense of ownership on that

um but certainly a really edifying conversation that we've had in our own families is we've evaluate it do we add what do we want to do um you know and make sure that we're all essentially walking in that in that an analogy in the same direction

Transcript

good morning brothers sisters family and friends our Lord Jesus Christ

the great morning is it a little fresh uh a little cold but but beautiful

um

so this is class two for those of you that noticeably that the attendance is a lot less for class two which you come to expect you know

um I've already worn out some some welcome but uh

for those of you who haven't been uh weren't with class one or actually haven't had your notes ready yet for class one we're going to do a quick uh Rich Dineen Lee Cap all right we're gonna get a leak happen

so we have two wise for every what

does anyone remember what the the two wise

for every what was what were those

what's the what what are the two whys

yeah

what do you believe or whatever we're discussing biblically you know it doesn't matter what whatever the what is but more foundational is what are the two whys

why is it true

why does it matter now we're up we're up and running today we have the two wise and uh the what that's exactly if we remember anything from the first class that was it two wise uh for everyone now we're gonna and we we talked also about the mission statement essentially now that we've stood up our faith our what has the two y's what direction are we going that's our mission statement I hope that prompted some discussion uh after class it certainly did for our family um and

you know certainly something that more than happy to dive into after meeting as well if we want to continue that discussion so now we're in class two

um in class two is a

uh we talk about it flexing faith you know so this is It's foundationally set the the stage

um we're going to be reading uh First Corinthians 9 24-27. do you not know that in a race all the runners run

but only one received the prize

so run that you may obtain it

every athlete exercises self-control in all things

they do not do it to receive a perishable wreath but we in imperishable

so I do not run aimlessly I do not box as one beating the air but I discipline my body and keep it under control less after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified

so Paul he presents a great analogy here right he he

highlights the discipline required for that of an athlete even of those age I mean you look at some of those those Marvel sculptors of uh you know the Romans they were shredded I mean like you know they they uh there was no Planet Fitness you know but they they somehow were able to maintain quite the physique and that came through self-control through discipline and and they endeavored just to have this imperishable this this sorry perishable wreath and Paul's using that analogy of discipline saying we can keep ourselves disciplined

to pursue a

a venture that's that's imperishable our hope right of Christ's return in his kingdom

and

it is uh no coincidence that the word discipline is foundational to the word disciple and that we as disciples need to be disciplined in how we approach uh our work right our our Pursuit

and to continue the analogy of athletes that Paul uses in Corinthians in order to flex or strengthen our faith like a muscle we have to push against the weight right it is uh there's not much we can do uh as far as muscle growth unless we are in fact exerting it pushing against a weight

that way it could be our own doubts

but even if we can't resolve our own doubts we need to contend with contrary World Views that's you know once you foundationally kind of get get through your own uh belief system your own you know what why why

and once you're moving towards something with your mission you're still going to be encountering a lot of resistance and that resistance inevitably is going to be uh contrary World Views now what is a world view

world view answers

three fundamental questions and by all means feel free to write these down because this is going to really help as far as our discussions with our neighbors our discussions with our co-workers our discussions with our own children grandchildren because everyone has to have an answer for these or at least consider the question

so when we talk about worldview or a paradigm it essentially it explains Origins

how did we get here

why are we here

what can we do about it

how did we get here

why are we here

what can we do about it

World Views are fundamental to how we as human beings interact with one another give you an example when I was in college

um there was a there was a big phrase YOLO you only live once right and that's what everyone was was shouting as they're doing keg stands right as as they're as they're you know just living for the Friday night

but then you also you contrast that with a world view of well actually no we have a hope and

we we are actually created right we weren't this wasn't it wasn't a YOLO it wasn't we just all just happened here by accident you know that this this this intricate just

just beautiful

um creation that we have within ourselves they've got our own bodies you look at the world around us we're like um that's not an accident right there was a creator so that makes us created and now we're trying to determine what that Creator wants of us and when you when you reverse engineer that it's like okay well what do we do with our Friday nights maybe we go to cyc maybe we spend some time with family all of a sudden it changes the way you approach your day-to-day

who here has heard the expression uh you are the sum of the five closest people that you spend your time with

only Jim okay fair enough well Jim I'm glad you heard it um who who actually believes that right who believes that the The Company You Keep really influences who you are as a person on a day to day

Jim Jim's

shoulders all right let's go I love it I love it uh and that ties back to you know the my whole story of that even the Yoke relationship um you know my spiritual my spiritual muscles I'm able to flex my uh Faith a lot more because I have Cara that's spotting me right versus before you know I was on my own I was I was suffocating under the bench press of contrary World Views I was suffocating under the pressures of the company that I kept my you know college lacrosse buddies

um you know they were not like hey Nate like let's do some Bible readings on Friday night no it was a very different environment

so our worldview foundationally starts with the relationships that we keep and by all means for those of you that have your notebooks ready to rock and roll this pyramid is going to be essential to how we contextualize the rest of the class so please you're welcome to do a quick uh triangle get your three lines in there so you have four sections

so foundationally the relationships that we keep

are going to influence our world view right the the topics you discuss

um I always I there's a another quote I'm going to butcher it here on the spot but uh said something like you know normal people talk about

um people

your

um

more intelligent more

insightful people talk about things

right and then your

more insightful more intelligent people above that talk about uh missions talk about principles talk about actions right so when you're talking with people are you talking about just you know people uh can you can you believe what happened with Sheila like that's unbelievable or are you are you elevating you're talking about spiritual Concepts you're talking about um less tangible intangible principles and and that really fundamentally boils down to the relationship you keep the discussions that you have and so then your world view how you perceive those three fundamental questions does anyone remember what those three fundamental questions are

Ben's checking you wrote them down right Ben don't fail me

don't have the third one

this guy got a perfect score in his SATs and he doesn't he doesn't have the third ques um unbelievable

any help from the crowd

what are we gonna do about it so like so what what are we gonna do about it exactly perfect

um so our world view it now shapes our priorities and our morals I just talked about that example of the Friday night you know the company that you keep are you a YOLO mentality or you hey I've I've been creative what does my Creator want for me well I could spend my Friday nights learning more and understanding more of what my Creator wants and how I can properly serve that Creator so I can serve my purpose understand my purpose

so that world view now all of a sudden dictates my values as I learn about this as I look through my Bible now all of a sudden the fruits of the spirit are going to start to manifest Within Me right and those values all of a sudden dictate our Behavior

they shape our choices they shape our actions and that is how we have Kinetic Faith that's how we have the faith that James the brother of Jesus wrote about in his in his uh book

you know that's faith in action

so there are other World Views and I remember our brother Jim went through this a little bit uh what was it two years ago Jim you kind of went through like the gnostics and uh kind of other pervasive World Views at the time um so that that definitely resonated as I was going through those classes those were some of the World Views that Jesus had to contend with

um during his life right uh during uh you know A.D we'll say if you know the height of his ministry 80 30. now other worldviews that are pervasive today

we have naturalism God does not exist and natural forces are sufficient to explain everything right it just everything just kind of happened in this you know uninspired yet providential

happenstance

pantheism all is God and distinctions are artificial and we're all everything's gone it's like it's kind of like this floating nebulous of you know divine

um really for me it's like that's that's that's really hard to conceptualize not only get conceptualized but what do you do with that right

individualism this is I mean you want to pull up cert you know social media as a millennial you want to you want to look at kind of the the millennial

um mindset

individualism life is about me that this new phrase that's coming out that that Cara's even seeing now in uh some of her like her chats and stuff uh I love that for you you know it's like I this is this is your truth this is your thing and you like that's everyone kind of has their own truth reality is is uniquely their own there is no shared reality

um and and you cannot your individualism cannot infringe on my individualism uh atheism you know that's that's the lack of belief in God so you know someone's saying hey uh

just don't don't believe you know not for me

um so

individualism kind of comes from salvation comes from finding yourself you find yourself you're safe and there's an irony in that too um where and kind of continue that thought process also humanism truth is subjective not objective it's your truth

um and so you you can dictate truth there is no common truth

so this is this is kind of what we're contending with here and and to that the whole atheism concept that's um that's an interesting one because I had a I had a lunch with a uh a colleague

um and she noted that you know we're talking about her her husband's name I think was like Jedediah I mean it was you know it way it was it was way past Nathanael as far as like old school Old Testament uh names I was like let's let's unpack that like you know of course she said that yeah it was a Jehovah's Witness of her time she said but he's he's no longer into it he's really into science now like he's more like science based and that like broke me a little bit because I found and solidified and substantiated my faith when I was in engineering uh when I was in college because I was learning about these thermodynamics principles I was learning about chemistry and the more I understood about science the more I realized this is not an accident like the complexities required

on all facets for us to exist

cannot be a coincidence so uh

that's really that's that's how knowledge can be divisive and it all depends on on how you have your foundational world view

and to that end for our Biblical worldview how do we know

that our faith-based worldview is right

but before we get into that let's define faith does anyone know the definition of faith

oh absolutely that's that's exactly it thank you so much

absolutely the faith the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen

so here's here's the beauty of of faith and knowledge we talk about kind of science more science based as if as if you know people sometimes people perceive uh Christians as a blind faith right like you're just hoping for the best this is not this is not a you know just a Whimsical like you know this is just better than thinking we're gonna die like this is substantiated

through knowledge so we look at this contrast right so knowledge facts information and skills acquired by a person through experience or education

the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject

classical definition knowledge is Justified true belief or true opinion combined with reason

so we talk about faith and knowledge

they're actually the symbiotic relationship between faith and knowledge

so anytime someone's like you have your faith I have my knowledge no no our faith is foundationally based on knowledge

that's why we get so deep into scripture that's why we look at historical context that's why we look at root words we're not here under surface level in hopes and dreams we are here substantively

now as a quick aside does anyone want to explain the difference between knowledge and wisdom

you want to take a crack at that

uh oh

it's on armed and dangerous I would suggest knowledge is information and wisdom is interpretation wisdom knowledge is information wisdom is interpretation I love that thank you I love that I aim to please let me give you an antidote right

knowledge

is knowing that a tomato is a fruit

wisdom is knowing to not put a tomato in a fruit salad

fair enough

fair enough okay so that's exactly it you know it's knowledge wisdom is is applied knowledge over time being able to to reason with it

and the reason why we wanted to contextualize all of this is because

there is you know when you look at scripture we're not just we're not just talking about this this is not cuddling devised fables like this is uh substantiated in Scripture so let us read a couple real quick uh Proverbs 9 uh Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10. the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding

first John 5 13-15 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and this is the confidence that we have towards him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know

that he hears us and whatever we ask we know

that we have the request that we have asked of him this is knowledge this isn't just Whimsical Faith this is substantiated knowledge continuing on Colossians chapter 2. verse starting in verse four I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught abounding in Thanksgiving

see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy an empty deceit according to human traditions

according to the elementary spirits of the world and not according to Christ we need to substantiate this right this is this is not pie in the sky just want the facts ma'am you know that's that's really what it boils down to the evidence of things unseen comes from

knowledge

all right

so with that with a discussion around world view

um the discussion around how we in our spiritual our Biblical our scriptural worldview is substantiated through knowledge through wisdom which is what every other every other Sunday school class that we we sit down in you know that's that's really what we're hammering here we're hammering what's we're hammering why we believe what we believe so what can we do with that

there's another there's another uh

hold on one second

I lost I lost a uh that's sad I lost the slide

um real quick because I want someone actually to look this up for us if they're if they're willing because it's a I think it's a really I don't know why we lost you buddy um who here can read for us First Corinthians

chapter one

18-31 and I'll yeah I'll

who's up for a good reading

Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 to 31. for the preaching of the crosses to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God

for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where's the Scribe where's this disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world

for after that in the wisdom of God the World by wisdom knew not God it pleased it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom

but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greek's foolishness

but unto them which are called the Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolish foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for you see your calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble or called

but God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised has God chosen yes and things which are not to bring to not things that are

that no flesh should glory in his presence but of him a ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and Redemption that according as it is written he that glories let him glory in the Lord

so that was uh King James

fantastic so quick translation here on the ESV

this is this is you know uh verse 31. so it is written that the one who boasts boasts in the Lord

you know this is how we apply the two Y's for everyone in our Biblical worldview right so he who boasts or or worry but I kind of like the the principle of boasting

um not of ourselves

but of the Lord the confidence that we have

so let's uh one second here here we go so with that in mind with with that whole uh reading and thank you Ben for that reading with that in context we're now going to develop our own worldview our our we call it the tab world view and for those of you with your notebooks and pens at the ready this is going to be essential to lay out our thought process here of how we substantiate how we boast in the Lord right how we apply not World realism but spiritual wisdom to flex our faith to contend against the contrary World Views that we that our children that are brothers and sisters will contend with on a daily basis

so how we boast we provide the tab world view so tab starts with uh the T and tab into the cross stick right so theology doctrine that points back to what We Believe okay so what we believe and then second apologetics defense this this brings back to why do we know it's true

we're going to go into each and every one of these but let's just lay this out in our notes right now

and then three Behavior we just talked about that um the worldview pyramid right It ultimately it the behavior is is the outcome of our world view so demeanor and deeds and that appeals back to why does it matter who cares

all right so we're starting with t theology

what we believe theology breaks down to uh two root words Theos which is God and logos word or reasoning

so does anyone uh subscribe to logos magazine

no

but you understand where the the the the word uh boils down to right reasoning

that's that's how that's how we got that's how they determined uh the editor to determine the title of that right so

what we believe is foundational to our two wise

so that again that what is that that's what our Christian Community does so well

um these are the concepts we learned in Sunday school excorts

um our readings you know this is this is what's outlined in our BASF right this is the theology what it is that we believe

and so I'm not going to on this topic because this is essentially what we're learning each and every uh Sunday school X sort

um you know even our Bible readings right that's that is foundational to our theology

and then our theology the what now needs to be stood up right

so that's where we get to our apologetics why is this true

so it's from the Greek word and I'm going to butcher this I wish we had Brian here that could that could help uh you know help us contextualize some some Greek words um it's a polygamy eye which occurs 10 times in the New Testament

um if the foundation just means apologetic speaking in defense this is not apologizing right apologetics is not like hey I'm sorry this is what I believe no it is defending making a case for your theology right it's actually uh

and we'll see in within scripture how it's applied it's it's kind of going on the offense not not apologizing but substantiating what we believe why is this true

so it occurs uh eight out of 10 times it's coming from the author Luke two occurrences in Luke his gospel and six more times in Acts once in Romans and once again in second Corinthians so apologetics the defense of why it's true you know when we talk about what we believe immediately jumping into substantiating why we believe it

and this was of the utmost importance

in the ancient world when you had all these types of spiritual Concepts floating around you had the Hellenist you had all these polytheism uh that's pervasive and now you have this you had appearance the Jews were uh essentially monopolizing the the monotheism market and you had this this kind of new interpretation of it and and so there's a there's a lot of mixture here and apologetics was of the Forefront

of Defending Your why in the ancient world and it's just as important today it really is

so we're getting into some verses here uh to discuss that Luke 12 and 11. so here's some of your examples of apologetics within scripture

and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers the authorities do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself it's the same root word or what you should say continuation Acts 26 1-2 so we'll grip us at the Paul you have permission to speak for yourself then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense

it's the same thing the Apologetics I consider myself fortunate that it is before you can grippa that I'm going to make my defense there it is again today against all the accusations of the Jews jumping into Philippians chapter 1 verse 7 it is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart you are all partakers with me of Grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel

one more time now first Peter 3 and 15. but in your hearts honor Christ the lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you you do so with gentleness and respect wouldn't that be great if like you know the millennial that's like clapping away in the elevator on his on the on their tick tock on the you know just just text him just say hold on put the phone down turn to you and says what do you believe and why

I mean pretty far-fetched right but

hypothetically if it happens are you prepared to respond

do you have your elevator speech are you prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you

and then continuing on uh Luke 21 and 14 settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer this is when giving a defense right so you have to kind of be prepared mentally to give a defense but also like how are you on your feet you know are you able to

dance around objections are you conditioned to make a defense

when teaching biblical principles to our Sunday school students our children our friends

do we focus on the why in other words do we equip our Bible school or Scholars the Apologetics or defense of the what

right do we do we give them that Buckler

so now we have our theology we have our apologetics and now we have our Behavior

why does this matter to me

now when I had the uh cyc class I had some verses for this you know the behavior again it explains who am I what is my purpose how I should live

but I am instead going to

ask that we first and as a collective Sunday School try to look up some verses that help answer who am I

so does anyone have a verse off the top of the head or at least wants to do a quick research to explain who am I you know what what are what's what's what are we what's the intent

who am I

and as you're searching I'll give you one to start and then I uh I welcome any supplemental

um verses for this so who am I second Corinthians 5 17-20. therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the oldest passed away behold the new has come

all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ

God was reconciled reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors

for Christ

God meaning that his appealed through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God so who am I I'm an ambassador no matter what

um I'm a new creation and I'm an ambassador for Christ

I'm gonna go grab the microphone just to make sure there's a

oh Jen has it you have one Ben

oh

saving coming in late just

give you Genesis 1. 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth so we believe in a Creator which defines who we are that we live in tensional lives we don't live a life based on a world that thinks we just happen to show up here and do whatever you want you live die and be happy um you know it's like Paul says uh if tomorrow we die then eat drink and be happy if there if Christ is not risen so it helps us to live an intentional life that we start with that Foundation that there is a Creator a sustainer with a plan and purpose for each individual on Earth not just haphazardly you know watching uh little Clips all day

for those of you at home I'll translate for you that's a Creator and a sustainer

we'll have to get subtitles here

there he is

thank you Jason all right this is from Ephesians chapter four uh verse 23 be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true Holiness so this is a renewed spirit this is is a spirit sanctification Holiness separateness and renewal

it's a beautiful thing I mean there's a

it helps us see past ourselves right it's easy to get caught up if we're just self-focused but all of a sudden if if all of a sudden you're a part of something greater you're part of a mission that's a lot bigger than yourself it really helps contextualize the day-to-day struggles

anyone else before we go to the next one

fair enough

what is my purpose

I'll leave this with you real quick

so while we look up what's our purpose why are we here what are we doing

um I'll read a quick one

just to get the juices flowing

what is my purpose Ecclesiastes

um 12 and 13. the end of the matter all has been heard fear God keep his Commandments for this is whole duty of man

Fair God keep his Commandments I mean I'm starting but very simple you know we're starting kind of the remedial distilled version but

um anyone else what's our purpose

Micah six and eight

can we get a reader from Micah can you read Micah 6 and 8 for us

Ben's flipping without tabs that's impressive

under pressure

Brett Nancy Micah six and eight he has showed you oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love Mercy to walk humbly with your God

well done that's that's a beautiful one

any others

Nancy just knocked out of the park because no need for another app with that one

love it

how should we live

right this is kind of this is this is really the behavior side

um first John two four and six whoever says I know him but does not keep his Commandments is a liar

and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected by this we may know that we are in him whoever says abide in him ought walk in the same way which he walked

walk in the same way Chris how should I live well look at look at the way that Christ interacted look at the way that the fruits of the spirit

um really just emulate

do

each and every interaction

anyone else on how we should live

Gordon let me get you

all right brother Gordon

there we go I'm sorry we are told to love God and keep his Commandments and that's our whole Duty

I love it love God keep his Commandments or you know you know Christ was saying as the number one commandment love God love others you know it's it really is

um very simplistic when you boil it down

any others

all right

so

we're going to exploit the time the timeline anyways uh as a quick context we're going to dump jump it right into class three this will be a four class series I'm not sure if a little baby Nora is going to give us four classes

um Cara's been she's definitely we got the she's the woman in travail right now so we don't I'll I'll feel I'll be blown away if we can um we can wait till mid April for for uh baby number three because it's looking like you know prayerfully

um

we're holding we're holding on so we'll see we're gonna try to get a four class series into three classes for the time being for that very reason hopefully we'll be done by the the end of the month um so we're gonna jump right into class three which is fortifying faith we talk about flexing Faith right this was the principle of

um how do we

use the world view our faith as a muscle to push against the weight of contrary World Views right so this is a class two lead cap right we're gonna do a little recap right now uh so we talk about theology you know your Doctrine what we believe

the Apologetics is your defense why is this true and through your behavior Dominion Deeds why does this matter so

um for those of you that's listening online or you guys can always go back we have a great uh compilation

of verses that help to answer these

so that's a really um that's key

that's key is that we're substantiating all of uh these discussions through scripture

so

with the world view being a mental muscle we identified that right a worldview is our mental our it's our uh Faith muscle right how do we train it

well as with all uh Concepts was first turned to scripture

Proverbs 22 and 6 train up a child in the way you should go and even when he was old he will not depart from it Deuteronomy 20 and 5. then the officers I'll speak to the people saying is there any man who lives with a new house and has not dedicated it let him go back to the house lest he die in battle and anchor a man and dedicate it so now this is this is interesting right so in Strong's the root word for training is

um it's properly to narrow figuratively to initiate to discipline to dedicate to Trend train up right so that same foundational word of training up a child is the same one that you see for dedicating a house right it's when you train up in that way you're dedicating yourself to a purpose

First Kings eight 63. Solomon offered a peace offering the Lord 22 000 oxen

in a hundred and twenty thousand sheep

so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord right they they trained they they there's a singular purpose to initiate the discipline

second chronicles seven and five King Solomon offered a sacrifice again same sacrifice the king all the people dedicated the house of God so this is this is the instances that we see of training right so the only time we actually see it as a that root word it's it's most often used as dedicating a house but that one time it's Proverbs 22 and 6 probably the most famous application of that work train up a child in the way you should go and even when he's old he will not depart from it dedicate that child to Christ and ultimately to God

question for the audience

what would you say is the common use of this word

you know how do you how do you envision this um looking at these this whole this whole implication of train of dedication how do you apply this in daily life

I don't know that so when I think about dedication I'm thinking um very much the idea of being devoted being given over to something and not necessarily um being split in my thinking or my commitments

the the dedication is very much about priority and uh

exclusivity hmm

so that could be you know Sunday morning is always going to be meeting you know this is something I'm determined that I will be here not because I'm virtuous or holy because I showed up on a Sunday morning but because it's something that I do that's part of my identity is to fellowship with my brothers and sisters and and be together it's just it's the way it is

yeah there's a sense of permanence

um towards this to your point like it's it's when it's dedicated when this house is dedicated when the house the Lord is dedicated when you when you're dedicating a child it's not Whimsical this is this is set anyone else

I heard some Whispers anyone want to jump in I'm okay

so for the sake of time we're not going to get too far into this but I'm going to give you a quick introduction to at least get this on your notebooks

to be prepared to really dedicate ourselves next Sunday God willing to getting into uh training in training foundationally means teaching towards a challenge

when we train when we train up our bodies you know we're training for something for me it's just uh trying to avoid the dad bod you know that's why I train that and I just got to make sure you know

God willing down the road

when Maddie you know finally introduces me to a new her boyfriend I want to make sure you know I still have some semblance of intimidation no no no I would never I would never think of that when I'm when I'm lifting weights never but training is towards a challenge so for me it's meeting Maddie's boyfriend in hopefully 35 years

um

but that's that's the the attention you know teaching towards a challenge but in reality how do we train our world view how do we train our faith

how we Flex how we fortify it

so we're going to go through by all means if you want if you want we're going to go through acrostic so when you when you put this in your notebooks which at least try to write this down first

um put it as an acrosse stick because then we're going to build these out God willing next week so T Test

you know start off with tests

um this is part of dedicating ourselves

um tests are being required

a being armed I involved and nurture so we're going to wrap up because I don't want to get too far into this but

um God willing next Sunday we're going to go through how do we test our faith how we test one another how do we require more of each other how do we arm ourselves how do we involve one another how do we nurture one another so

um looking forward to next Sunday God willing until then just keep training up your faith thank you

Transcript

good morning brothers sisters family friends and our Lord Jesus Christ and of course our visitors and those online

so

um I did get a little warning from Cara that we were going to have some visitors so I preemptively prepared just a quick

um lead cap

we're gonna do a recap

so the

impetus of this class was the

that originally was New England cyc they asked me to speak last year and what really I felt compelled to speak upon was substantiating our faith substantively

just inspired by the

sobering attrition that we are experiencing which apparently is ubiquitous throughout not just christophia but Christianity as a whole of those people that are saying I don't I no longer believe young people specifically so this is that was the focus um it started off with two Y's for every what so what being our uh biblical principle whatever it is and the two wise being why biblically is it true and why biblically doesn't matter we then jumped into a worldview pyramid you know how essentially our relationships the the company that we keep uh the people in our lives the influence our world view and our world view in turn influences and shapes the priorities morals and values that we have and those values in turn shape our choices they shape our actions they shape our behaviors from there we jumped into our class two which was that tab world view that's the acrostic the theology being the doctrine what it is principally that we believe a being the Apologetics the defense why is it true be being Behavior demeanor indeeds why does this matter

what do we do with our faith

and essentially saying a worldview is a mental muscle and that's how we are we're now training it we're training it that's our segue for for class three and we gave a little Preamble uh last week because I did not know if we were going to make it to this week so uh we went through some of these

verses you know essentially foundationally built on Proverbs 22 and 6 train up a child the way he should go when he's old he'll not depart from it and fortunately enough we don't have uh our brother Brian Lloyd with us but we did get an email from him after last class so we'll call this little subsection filling the void with Brian Lloyd uh chanaka is a dedication so this is this is all this is Brian's analysis as a trained Hebrew scholar dedication

um noun form of the verb you mentioned it's related to Hebrew word that we've all heard of channika your narrowing definition think about it think about how they were re-narrowing the focus of God's house after its desecration

it was not to be used for offering sacrifices to Greek gods but narrowed focused to offerings for the one true God Yahweh in the same way our lives should be focused dedicated to bringing glory to God not other gods and obviously baal's not as prominent but we certainly have other distractions of other gods in our lives

as the Proverbs verse you mentioned says we should train dedicate focus our children in the direction as well 2 and 14 for the Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea we eagerly await for the Fulfillment of this promise if we long for this we should dedicate

Our Lives to bring glory to God now too so just beautiful color commentary fill in the void with Brian Lloyd thank you brother Brian and with that mindset that train in uh in our frontal lobe we're now going to turn our attention to

another acrostic another acronym so train being will take this this this whole training mentality train up a child new ways you go and let's build on this all right so we're going to take it horizontally we're going to build it out vertically so T being test we're going to get into what all these mean are require a arm and for those of you still have your notebooks ready from previous classes you are most welcome to build this out because we are going to talk about this in more depth for each and every word I involve and nurture

so we're going to explore this train acronym it efforts to dedicate ourselves fortify our faith for that longevity

and if you don't have the time to write it all up and down don't worry we're going to explore each and every one of them in its own right so you can certainly take the time to do so after the fact

test

welcome challenges beliefs and expose weakness this is really where we're going to get uncomfortable here vaccines obviously has been a Hot Topic over the past couple years right it'll be the the whole principle of inoculation and understanding what is what is the value of inoculation what is the value of conditioning almost in a Petri dish conditioning at a small sample

uh your body to fight a virus um an exterior

um

something with mountain right and now

there's also this testing principle it's an opportunity for us to inoculate ourselves

spiritually with our doubts

think about that for a second this is a safe opportunity within the Ecclesia within the ecclesial conversations to actually raise and express doubts in a place where we can actually address them where we can discuss them rather than be like no everything's good what are you talking about there's no there's nothing there's no doubts to talk about there you go ship off our young people into the world best of luck no let's let's have a conversation where are you at truly where are you at make room um so this is this is gonna be an interesting one now so when we talk about tests we want to make room in our notebooks to actually for us to write our own personal strengths

and our own personal weaknesses you know what are they

but this is this is the value of tests right this allows us to have hard conversations with friends classmates co-workers

whether atheist Christian or another religion put yourself out there you know that's that's kind of the impetus of the testing it's not just within the Ecclesia but it's also outside wherever you are is it your classmates is it your co-workers is it your teammates that um some sort of event put yourself out there hey this is where I this is what I believe what do you believe and and bring it all back to the two wives for every what what's their world view how do you think we all originated how do you think we all got here you think everything came from nothing you think all of this was just an accident

and that's that's one that really starts to get the gears turning with some of my friends it's like honestly you know I've explored the whole atheism thing and I honestly frankly I think it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in a Divine Creator and if there is a Creator if we then we are created we are created what does that Creator want you start to reverse engineer get the gears turning for a proper discussion

so tests do you have your notebooks ready handy um we won't have the time to actually go through and individually list out the time um that the strengths weaknesses but if you can make some space in your notebook for your own personal strengths and your own personal weaknesses and it's the same thing as you know they talk about the combine this is the year of the um the combine every year the the NFL kind of goes to and they test all the prospects they see what the 40 yard dash is the three cone drill is see what they're bench press you know are they strong in their and the strength side they weaken the speed side and we have to be able to test ourselves in the same way spiritually to understand where our strengths and where our likeness is lie all right so we got the T down for our acrostic test now for the r require

raising the expectations of ourselves

and our peers

what do you believe is expected of you in the Ecclesia

in the cyc

in your own family

and I have to apologize because when we were at the England cyc

um weekend

I was busting them up because they you know I brought some notebooks and I was like I was going to bring pens but Cara said don't worry like they'll show up with pens and I'm kind of jabbing at Melissa was like I show up with big wheels yeah show up a pen he's gonna you gotta show up ready to play

but that's ultimately a function of requiring more of ourselves and more from others brainstorm ways for us to level up list up list out ways in which you can take responsibility how can you take supplemental responsibilities from what you have now

or to think about it you know kind of repurposing the famous JFK quote ask not what your Collegiate can do for you ask what you can do for your Ecclesia

bring the energy

challenging yourself and your peers

by serving those around you at meeting at school at home you know it's it's the same thing as like people so and I'm preaching the choir right of course everyone's here like hey we showed up right but it's the equivalent of like hey I just I just showed up to the gym I'm here now I'm like should I start get when do I start feeling the pump you know you just show up you're like all right well I guess I'm done here no like at the gym you're there good check the box but now you actually have to put the work in now is the opportunity to exert the effort put the weights on the bench and start pressing and it's the same thing hey guess what I'm in I'm at my Collegiate like check the box you know just you'll sit hang out on the back and as soon as it's done get out of here no

search around look for who's who's the one with their head down how can you put a hand up you know whose shoulder can you put a hand on and really engage with who can you check on you know that's that's really the the idea here this require what do you require of yourself once you get there right now you're at the gym you're at the the spiritual gym how do you push against the weights who's contending and really overburdened with a contrary world view a life challenge how can you help them through it and also if you're challenged are you putting yourself out there are you leading with vulnerability are you willing if someone says hey how you doing you say good and you know you're just trying to like hide it are you actually being real that's part of it too

so again commendment like absolutely great for everyone to showing up uh but now it's this is the opportunity for us to really put the energy in

so we just with uh previously with tests

we talked about strengths and weaknesses of our own personal self now for our require

D please make an opportunity to write strengths and weaknesses of your respective Ecclesia

so for those of you here our Travelers those of you online this is a really edifying exercise so strengths and weaknesses of yourself personally strengths and weaknesses of your collegia try to you know save spots and and feel free to come back we're going to try to consolidate two classes into one so we won't have a lot of time to go through this but please essentially make the Forum make the arena in which you can candidly analyze what are your strengths what are your weaknesses what are your Collegiate strengths what are your ecclesial weaknesses

all right so TR now we're on to a arm

no truth

so you can defend it that was the whole apologetics discussion that we had and be prepared for common objections

Ephesians 6 and 16 in all circumstances take up the shield of Faith with which you can extinguish all the Flaming darts of the evil one and take on the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God are you armed is your word of God are you are you spending time within scripture so that that sword right is sharp

do you feel like you have been properly trained to defend your faith

do you feel like your faith is fortified enough so that it's defensible

so equip yourself with the biblical knowledge to be able to control with common ejections the Trinity science in the Bible right how are they that's one hopefully we'll get to

um that we said only only was it I think it was like 30 percent of Jen's ears think that science in the Bible are complementary meaning essentially over two-thirds are saying like they are diametrically opposed you know that there there's really no space for science in the Bible within my belief system that's

that's horrifying as someone that foul like really solidified my faith through science

so a great example of this I was gonna give a personal example but we actually just had um a beautiful example from our sister Dana Pratt she sent me an email a couple weeks ago um and I'm sorry it's it's small letters here but she said we too have been concerned about our young people a lot of ideas being embraced and the attrition in our community in recent years over the past six months or so I have put together a work in progress library of a program called padlet in it I have listed various categories I think brother might need to brush up on or have some good resources to familiarize themselves with they address both what is being propagated in other World Views which we talked about

and a good Bible response to the same arguments right the cause and effect what are we seeing out there how do we you know in the same way we talked about the the arming ourselves right so if if the worldview's Striking this way you're blocking here and you're going it's essentially it's a play-by-play so if anyone wants the link I'm happy to share the padlet link after the fact she did give this also this quality this qualifier right this is probably we'll say for spiritually mature audiences only in the sense that you know some of these resources they're not Chris adalphian uh there are some false doctrines there's some Trinity in there there's you know there's some other kind of defensive

um items because there's not christad Alpha does a fantastic job of substantiating some of the whats but this is more of like a y oriented we'll get there as a community I'm prayerful of that um but she's saying this is a repository I do see a really handsome fella uh right over right over there

wow wow so there's there's definitely a lot of great information happy to share this so you talk about arm I mean what a beautiful thing this is our sister Dana Pratt's like hey I've you know for the past six months I see this we're aligned on seeing this as an existential threat to our young people this this kind of impingement of the world view but I'm starting to build a repository of Defense to arm our young people arm our Collective Community to combat these pervasive World Views that we're seeing out there so really great stuff

great example of that's that a that's arming are you arming yourself for the defense of

our beliefs

now to I

again train training in in principle we're saying teaching towards a challenge right so when we're training train up a child the way she goes we're training ourselves or in even the same way

um let's say you're

I have a buddy who says he has to schedule he has to schedule a marathon in order to actually get out and run like he needs to have some sort of like you know either he invites all of his friends and it says like this compels me to get out and actually get some miles in because I don't want to look like an absolute slob in front of my friends and family at this Marathon so it's the same Principle as us uh spiritually are we putting ourselves out there do we have a challenge do we say hey I want to go out there if I'm a college student I actually want to put myself out there and stand in the corner with the sign I want to be able to have a debate you know Cara's had we've we've um she's had Mormons over she's had Jehovah's Witnesses over and you kind of have like these debates I have a a JW friend great friend at work and like we're like we get into it you know and we hug afterwards but it's you know what's the challenge that you're training yourself for

so I involved set a challenge and event to work towards as a cyc as an Ecclesia get involved faith is an action sport it's kinetic just ask James the brother of Jesus putting your spiritual training into action the main differing factor between teaching and training there is no I in team

but there is one that involved naturally ask yourself could I be more involved in how

teaching towards a challenge are you doing something with your faith is your faith just a carry-on or are you actively utilizing it in your day-to-day interactions with the world

so here's the beauty of it right so we're going to look at the the list of personal strengths and weaknesses in the list of ecclesial strengths and weaknesses right just just start start to you know and I know we're not we haven't formalized the list yet because we don't have the time but we're at least going to start that process mentally

think about it for a second are there areas where the Ecclesia is very strong where you're weak you know is that academic what you're saying like and that's that's me first and foremost like I I feel this stuff I I felt God wholeheartedly in my life um way before it was really a true academic Venture so that's something where you know if I'm if I'm being candid some of the Old Testament stuff like I'm starting to like you know nod off if I'm if I'm really getting into you know some of the Lamentations it's like it's like you know I I struggle as a as a uh a true student of scripture so that's where I look towards

um our the ecclesial strength in that

but conversely we're areas where you perceive that potentially there's room for ecclesial Improvement and then where can you support that are you an extrovert you know do you think that you could be serving the youth do you think you'd be able to create some semblance of an Outreach a young people's Outreach committee do you think that you know maybe you enjoy interacting with inclusion members of all ages you know maybe maybe you want to contribute some of your time to help the cyc maybe you want to um even if you're a cyc member reach down and help those around you what else can you do to get involved

so that's a great opportunity here is you know comparing the strengths and weaknesses both individually and occlesially and then where do you help uh where's that symbiotic imbalance

now when you put yourself out there when you are challenged there is inevitably going to be

failure there's going to be disappointment there's going to be some heartbreak

there's going to be ultimately some bumps and bruises when we put ourselves out there I've had I've had so many times where I've tried to be the you know um the Apologetics right and I've tried wholeheartedly and I've been there's been times where I got to get back to you on that there's been times where I'm talking the person you could tell is just like they're zoning out there's going to be some disheartening experiences when you think about

um Paul the Apostle Paul how much you know or any of the Apostles really the amount of disappointment that they've had to experience the amount of sherylation that they were also able to experience but also

there was some uh there were some situations where they had to dust their feet off you know so that's that's ultimately something that we as an Ecclesia Community as we put ourselves out there are going to experience so we need to nurture one another put the arm around one another after a loss right

and and say ultimately you know guess what uh our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we you know we know no matter how tumultuous the chapters are in our lives our ecclesial lives we know how this is going to end and we you know and I usually the example of you ever just start reading a book like I don't know how good this is going to be and you just sometimes have to cheat and just look at the last page

you ever do that

no never me neither I would never

um

that's ultimately what happens in our lives there can be some really devastating chapters there can be some elating chapters there can be just some boring chapters but we know

as long as we continue on this path we can just we have the Blessed opportunity to skip to the end of our book and look at the last page and know that that is a happy ending beyond anything that we ourselves individually

could ever hope for our on our own right and that's that's the beauty and value of just God's love in our lives the joy that emulates from that

and the blessing of what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done

so around the principle of nurture though

when we support each other through bumps and bruises you know again preaching just by nature is a team sport you know John the Baptist I give him all the credit in the world but I don't think in today's day and age you get too far you know eating honey and locusts and and wearing camel skin and just walking around with the staff probably won't get a lot of traction but

we as a collective Community can be a force multiplier in our preaching efforts we have to make sure we're really doing that and and part of that really is you know Karen I have a

we have a verse above our bed three stranded core is not easily broken and talking about the fact that you know us and our in our marriage you know that third strand being God in our lives that really is what provides that strength and it's the same principle around preaching you know training teaching towards a challenge so essentially you have to figure out what's our training partner well if you guys ever had a gym buddy right like I'm not feeling it today and they're like no you we're going like we've already promised we're going right so identify who's your gym buddy in your business you're flexing your faith who are your spiritual mentors

who are your spiritual men tease

I mean think about that who are your spiritual mentors who are your spiritual mentees who's someone that's been there that's done that that has endured the chapter of your life that you're currently going through

that you can say what worked for you what didn't work

I'm immensely blessed to have a lot of uh brothers that have that have gone through the the early stages of a of a new family and there's a lot of great encouragement there's a really a lot of great inspiration that's coming from there but I also the value that I get from that

is also a compelling reason for me to look back and say hey who's just going through college right now who's going through this whole like dating scene and trying to figure out like is you know is this all that you know Chris Adelphia has to offer in in you know how do I put myself out there to like within my my pleasure like who do I date with my Ecclesia like how do you put yourself out there to go to different weekends to see what else is out there how do you put yourself out there you know potentially if you're someone that's trying to date someone and you're trying to stay strong to your faith when you're trying to figure out whether or not this person is actually interested for themselves or for you you know maybe identify someone that's gone through that and have that conversation what's worked what hasn't worked

so

that's something that we really want to focus on

um as

we go through this principle of training who's someone that you can tether yourself off to that has gone through the stage of life that you are currently battling and then who's someone that you can also tether off to that is going through a current stage of life that you've just went through and that you have this recency perspective of hey this is what worked this is what hasn't worked this is how I got distracted and caught up in college this is how I was actually able to endure

and put yourself out there to to reach out and ask for the help and not only ask for the help for your Mentor but also talk to the young people around you and ask if you know it doesn't have to be a formalized or it can be formal of a reoccurring meeting when do you want to set up a time to just have a genuine discussion to check in how are you doing I know this must have been tough I this is how I endured through it this is how I got over it you know where are you at how are you faring in this

so if we had time for the exercise we want to list the ideal Mentor characteristics not only like occlusially but also like not only scripturally I should say but occasionally in our own lives

um but brainstorm

as you're as you're making

notes in your notebook make a list a quick list who's someone that you have identified as a spiritual mentor

and then who's someone that you can identify as like this is someone that's in need of spiritual mentorship this could be my mentee

and it's amazing because if you just start just make make room for that list pray on it come back I promise you providentially you will find the right people on that list it is amazing how it works it is amazing make time for that list

so that's n that's nurture

so to regroup

train

teaching towards a challenge are we teaching ourselves ecclesially are we teaching our young people for what is this challenge right

we talked about where we're weak what are ways we can do to improve our training efforts

and where is your Ecclesia week

absolutely

someone's excited about it

which areas of the trained acronym are you currently neglecting in your own life

which ones are you personally most hesitant to participate in

which one feels uncomfortable if there's one that you has like a visceral reaction odds on it might be the weakness and odds are that might be the one that we need to start spending some more attention towards

what are the areas of your Str the strength that you have right

and then as we're thinking of this we talked about the first class having your faith elevator speech right

so

under normal circumstances we want to

um

go back and think about that elevator speech think about and in the Paradigm of everything we just talked about how

do we collectively

present

ourselves make ready uh you know be ready to have a defense

of what we believe

so that's trained and in all likelihood this is going to be the last class for us so we're going to consolidate class four into class three for a limited time uh that we have here so we talked about training now we're going to talk about tribe training though the fact that we collectively what we can do to condition uh conviction so Hebrews 12 1-3 let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and Perfecter of our faith

again we talked about the the pyramid the worldview pyramid as a regroup we talked about the tab world view then we went through our train

how exactly should we train now be persistent

in tab training

be balanced two wise for every what if we're just hitting people outside right with what's what what what this happened and this happened and this happened why does that matter why is it true why does it matter to me

if we can't tether our what's which we do so well with the two y's it's not going to be as sticky when you're talking to someone a younger you know one of our one of our our children

um the cyc member friend and family co-worker

in essence picture them asking who cares

why does this matter to me why is this important be ready for them to have those questions whether they're saying it or not substantiate those be practical

connect Theology and beliefs to behavior how is this good for you right I truly believe if they put the the positive byproducts mentally physically

um just just the the only benefits my my own mental health if they could put you know our hope and pill form it would be the best selling drug out there I'm telling you it is so good

but I can even I can directly contrast My Life as a prodigal son waking up in the pig's eyes you know of my college days and and being absolutely useless on my own

to

um by God's grace welcoming

um God willing baby number three any day now with just the most incredible wife

there's

this is this is all by God's providential love

and design and it's um

it is all it is is really inspired me to change my my behaviors who I am as a person and if you can connect that connect your own story with someone that you're talking to so that they can kind of they can see the practicality

of what we're talking about in our faith

that'd be advantageous in making it sticky

and then the fourth and final one and this is this is a great one be adventurous

point the training towards a challenge you know what is that our young people are talking about uh cleaning up for Christ um so our our sister Becca brother Seth they they were actually cleaned they put on T-shirts they go clean up the beach and and whenever someone like comes up they have a conversation with them like what a great genius way to not only just be doing something constructive uh but also have the opportunity to to

utilize that interaction to catapult our beliefs to spread the good news

all right so we have about 10 more minutes and I'm gonna do a quick tab example right so this is one that one that resonates to me is is a defense right and and this is something that you have to determine what resonates with you what's the defense that you can make in your own life so for me

um working in engineering dealing with Engineers on a day-to-day basis I need to be able to

be well conditioned I need to have my sword sharpened to be able to articulate and defend

um just the the harmonization of scripture with science

so here's a still being reality 30 of gen Z generation believe that science and scripture are complementary in other words two-thirds like now dude

not mixing oil and water and that points back it's not just gen Z it's ubiquitous it points back to my conversation with one of those one of my co-workers so I mean my husband

um he was a JW and now he's more into like the science thing as if like they're mutually exclusive and that was that was heartbreaking for me so we'll rip into this one quickly I did do this at the

um the New England cyc weekend our brother Ben link did approve the the I went through the science like this check out Ben he's like yep yep so as long as it gets Ben's seal of approval I feel a little better about it we're gonna go through some vasothermal Dynamics real quick

so zeroth law two systems in equilibrium with a third system are in thermal equilibrium with each other makes enough sense right so you open up a door if it's hotter in here colder in here

they're going to match within a short period of time they're going to want to be in thermal equilibrium same kind of thing as you know a cooler you put a ice pack in there something warm or even just you say something warm put it in the fridge it's going to to get cool because of the thermal equilibrium principle That's the zeroth Law first law conservation of energy energy can change forms but is neither created nor destroyed as in this total

energy right

it's also known as the law of conservation of energy so it States energy of a system can change forms but it's either created nor destroyed one way to State this law is you can't get something out of nothing

so we can go into a thermodynamics perspective but for the sake of time we'll just say essentially um you know you have all potentially the moment that this is why everyone loves the swings it's like when you're going back and then all of a sudden you're going you know you're going back and you're about to just go forward and you just have this moment of just weightlessness

so that moment of weight in this list you're not moving right

so all of your kinetic energy of the Swing has just been converted to a point of time where there is a perfect moment of potential energy

so it's converted but it's still so then all of a sudden that potential energy of your mass applied to 9.8 meters per second squared which is the acceleration of gravity then shoots you back down so that potential energy then just gets converted again to kinetic energy the reason why I love skiing so much it's just a harmonization of potential and kinetic energy

Second Law entropy of an isolated system can always always increases so it goes heat flow goes from hot to cold right

and then finally Third Law entropy of a system approaches a constant as temperature approaches natural zero that's not as

pressing for what we're going to talk about here the the key Focus that we want to really hit for the sake of time is entropy

now this is I wish I had this scientific justification when I was a teenager my mom was you know trying to put me in a headlock because I couldn't keep my room clean but essentially as time progresses the amount of just think of entropy as the measure of disorder in any enclosed system as time progresses

that disorder is inevitably going to increase it increases when you drive a car off the lot right brand new car everything works fantastic that first test drive like this is clean is it as clean at 120 000 miles 200 000 miles no things start to break down in a mechanical system or any system thermodynamically same principle with our rooms right you get it all tied it up everything is copacetic as time progresses your ladies go putting this down you get more mail it gets thrown down you know your kid you know spills inevitably a lot of crumbs on the on the floor do you pick it up maybe tomorrow next thing you know your room like this and then it requires energy effort

to

correct it

so what does this all mean so this is now going to break down to the what YY

so here's our theology here's our tab training science leads us to scripture

theology what we believe the scientifically irrefutable laws of thermodynamics prove that spontaneous generation and the intern eternality of matter are logically and scientifically possible thus the universe and all matter within it was created essentially thermodynamically speaking from the second law of Thermodynamics there's no way everything comes from nothing it just doesn't happen and honestly this is my Eureka moment right I'm I'm trying to just recover from you know the previous weekend in college you know like the the my my cheeks kind of like slip in from my hands my head's hitting the table and I'm hearing this my engineering class amongst other proofs and I was like wait a second

I gotta start paying attention here apologetics why is this true without an outside force God

no other options the existence Universe are available in order for the theory of evolution to be true thereby accounting for the existence of mankind either all of mass matter energy of the universe spontaneously generated right

or as always existed neither are scientifically viable

so all right this is why it's true and we can we can go into this a greater detail I'm happy to do so if you want afterwards Behavior demeanor and deeds why does this matter science proves that it takes more faith to believe that everything exists by accident than it does to believe that the universe is created if we are created then there must be a Divine Creator who has an intended purpose for us we should devote our gifted lives to the search and the practice

of our purpose

this is Lord Calvin the father of thermodynamics I I feel like he has a proper British accent I cannot admit that we in regard the origin of life I'm sorry science neither affirms

nor denies creative power science positively affirms creative power it is not in dead matter that we live and move and have our very being

but in the creating and directing power which science compels us to accept as an article belief there is nothing between absolute scientific belief and a creative power and the acceptance of a theory of a fortuitous Concourse of atoms

do not be afraid of being free thinkers you know that's and that's something too that we as an Ecclesia as Chris adolphians need to really encourage because that was the impetus of our entire belief system was free thinking right you are welcomed and challenged to think for yourself think vigorously because it's going to lead you right back to here

if you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God which is the foundation of all religion

you will find science is not agnostic but helpful to religion

we think about the kind of the whole tethering

mentality again let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as in the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day Drawing Near

and again as a real quick for those of you that haven't seen the previous lessons that was my attempt of attacking

um one of these pervasive will say gen Z one of these pervasive World Views but I'm going to revisit this is the why we're talking about this again if you see one of these and you say hey this is one that I feel like you know for me science is one that I'm very purpose oriented around because it's my background but if you see one of these that you feel like you're uniquely qualified to talk to

by all means you are most welcome to come see me afterwards I can give you this list but but use this as what what one speaks to you that you want to jump out and go get what's the challenge that you want to address what's the what's what's the training methodology that you want to work towards

so with that I think we're at time I also want to give a little extra time to to welcome our visitors which we're so excited to have

um any questions comments before we close out

Dan

where those so this is from where do those the question was where do those questions come from this was a joint venture between UCLA and the Barna Group which is a a great um kind of a pseudo-religious institution that that really works on aggregating Big Data I think this was like 20 000 uh Jen's ears from the time 2019 to 2022 so really heavy you know mid-covet influence

um but the Barnard group does a lot of great work around aggregating uh the insights of

our younger generation

thank you Dan great question