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Speaker 1: What's Up? Everybody? Welcome to the podcast and what is

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Speaker 1: if you're listening in real time as it releases the

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Speaker 1: last podcast of two thousand and twenty four. Now, if

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Speaker 1: you're like me, I usually am playing catch up on

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Speaker 1: podcasts and listening after they release. So most people will

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Speaker 1: listen after it's already twenty twenty five or beyond. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. Because as I was kind of putting

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Speaker 1: together this podcast, and I'll be honest, I didn't do

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Speaker 1: very much prep. I hardly ever do very much prep

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Speaker 1: on these because I want them to stay loose. I

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Speaker 1: want them to be able to pivot and shift and

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Speaker 1: be flexible. So you know, my after midnight radio program,

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Speaker 1: it's pretty structured, it's pretty I have I have certain

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Speaker 1: I have certain points I have to make every hour

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Speaker 1: in each six hour segment that I do seven days

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Speaker 1: a week, and this podcast, I don't have a requirement

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Speaker 1: to go any direction, so I try to keep it loose,

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Speaker 1: and so I didn't do much prep work. But the

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Speaker 1: normal format of this is I answer your questions and

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Speaker 1: you email me podcast at grangersmith dot com. And I

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Speaker 1: think there's a good chance we can get to some

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Speaker 1: questions on this episode. But as I was collecting questions,

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Speaker 1: I started thinking, you know, last show of the year,

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Speaker 1: maybe it should be some kind of reflection. So then

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Speaker 1: I started thinking, what if. What if the reflection was

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Speaker 1: if I were single and starting over, here's what I

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Speaker 1: would do, right, And that's kind of a good exercise

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Speaker 1: for me, And so if it's a good exercise for me,

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Speaker 1: I might as well unpack it in real time on

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Speaker 1: the podcast. Like I said, I did just I thought

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Speaker 1: for thirty seconds on this really and so I hope

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Speaker 1: to kind of unpack it later. But I think it's

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Speaker 1: I think it could be a good reflection for any

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Speaker 1: of us, whether it's going into a new year or

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Speaker 1: mid season of anything else. If I were single and

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Speaker 1: starting over, here's what I would do. And you know,

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Speaker 1: as I look back on this year, and there have

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Speaker 1: been a lot of things to reflect on. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's a major election, the Olympics, major hurricanes hitting locations

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Speaker 1: of the US that have never been hit by hurricane.

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Speaker 1: There have been strange things in the skies, whether that's

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Speaker 1: SpaceX or Chinese balloons or drones, a lot of unanswered questions,

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Speaker 1: a fluctuating economy, an economy that was once pretty decent,

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Speaker 1: and then it was horrible, and then it kind of

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Speaker 1: started flattening out in certain areas. The rise of AI,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the rise of AI has been insane just

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Speaker 1: in this year alone. If you think of back to

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, we didn't really have anything to do

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Speaker 1: with AI, and now it seems to be the talk

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Speaker 1: of the town. So many people are talking about AI

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Speaker 1: and what it's capable of, and so much so that

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Speaker 1: we're probably looking into the next year and thinking, most

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Speaker 1: of us are probably agreeing that by next year we

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Speaker 1: won't know what is real and what is fake, and

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Speaker 1: we won't know a video faked or a video recorded.

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Speaker 1: In fact, this very podcast, what I'm doing right here

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Speaker 1: can probably and will be most likely replicated some form

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Speaker 1: within just a few years, which brings up the point.

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Speaker 1: Here's my point. We should be training ourselves to see

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Speaker 1: hear truth so that when AI does the talking, and

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Speaker 1: it will in many times, many ways and many forms,

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Speaker 1: it will and it's not always a bad thing. I've

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Speaker 1: argued that it's not always a bad thing. It will

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Speaker 1: free up time and open up new avenues of creativity

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Speaker 1: for people. A little side note, for instance, here's an example.

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Speaker 1: If I was still in the music business and promoting

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Speaker 1: radio singles. I would imagine that here, just in a

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Speaker 1: few years, you will be able to start a prompt

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Speaker 1: on AI and create a visual music video for a

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Speaker 1: song in thirty seconds. So for an artist that doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a budget or is trying to get their feet

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Speaker 1: wet and get off the ground a little bit. Although

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Speaker 1: you could question the authenticity of it, I think that's

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Speaker 1: going to be just a thing. You know, Hey, make

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Speaker 1: me a video that a cool visualizer for this song

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Speaker 1: so that I could put it up on YouTube whatever.

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Speaker 1: So that that's coming and that's been a huge innovation.

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Speaker 1: And so I think for us learning truth, seeing truth,

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Speaker 1: even if it's AI, even if it's artificial, you realize

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Speaker 1: AI could either speak truth or not. It doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to be a human that speaks truth or lies. AI

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Speaker 1: could speak truth or lies. And so just because AI

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Speaker 1: says it, they could be telling you the biography of

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Speaker 1: Winston church and it could be actually really helpful. If

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Speaker 1: you're learning about Winston Churchill and AI is teaching you,

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Speaker 1: it's not helpful and it's hurtful if it's deceiving you

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Speaker 1: or hallucinating, like some people say, that's like the term

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Speaker 1: for AI messing up, hallucinating, And so it's a good

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Speaker 1: practice for us to be checking things, double checking things,

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Speaker 1: having multiple sources so that we can start training ourselves

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Speaker 1: to discern truth. That's important, right, and that that's something

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Speaker 1: that the last couple generations have had to learn with

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Speaker 1: the rise of big media. So that's what I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about. And partly it also comes because I

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Speaker 1: get these all these messages on my different platforms, and

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Speaker 1: everyone has some sort of religion and I'm not talking

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Speaker 1: about necessarily a deity. I'm talking about it could be

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Speaker 1: your religion is prepping. And when you get stuck in

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Speaker 1: this this rabbit hole of, for instance, prepping, then it

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Speaker 1: starts to feel like you must evangelize prepping to everyone,

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Speaker 1: and if you don't, then people will be unprepared and

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Speaker 1: you're going to be the only one with canned beans

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Speaker 1: or AMMO. Other people will message me about conspiracy theories

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Speaker 1: about like, for instance, the drones in the sky in

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, and they'll talk about the drones and they'll talk,

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Speaker 1: you know, they'll send me some Alex Jones thing. In fact,

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Speaker 1: I got an Alex Jones thing recently that Hurricane Helene

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Speaker 1: was completely manufactured by weather engineering, and it was weaponized

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Speaker 1: against the people of Appalachia. I am, by no means

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Speaker 1: saying that that is false or that it is true.

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Speaker 1: I am merely saying that there was a lot of propaganda.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that's completely true, maybe that's completely false, but either

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Speaker 1: way we need to learn to discern it. One of

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Speaker 1: these one of these things I saw. Here's an example

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Speaker 1: with the drones. I saw. It happened to notice on X,

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Speaker 1: which by the way, is is something that knows me well.

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Speaker 1: It sucks me in if I go to post something

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Speaker 1: on X that app knows me so well how to

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Speaker 1: grab me for the next thirty seconds. And that's something

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Speaker 1: I'm working on with my own self discipline really honestly,

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Speaker 1: that's a confession. But I saw this thing where I

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Speaker 1: noticed that with drones. People were posting pictures and saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, like comparing it to ezekiela one where the wheel.

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Speaker 1: Ezekiel's by the river and he sees the manifest station

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Speaker 1: of God's glory and there's a wheel and it's turning

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Speaker 1: in on itself and someone they were posting pictures of

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Speaker 1: the drones, going look is this Ezekiel one, and it

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Speaker 1: was like this very strange, weirdly moving orb It was

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Speaker 1: kind of turning in on itself, almost like fire or

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Speaker 1: smoke in the way that it moves, but it was

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Speaker 1: rotating in a very unnatural way. And X which for

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Speaker 1: all intents and purposes what I've seen with the X platform,

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Speaker 1: they're pretty good with their community notes, and it's said

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Speaker 1: on there on the community notes, it said, this is

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Speaker 1: not a shot of drones. This is actually a shot

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Speaker 1: through a telescope of the planet Venus. And the weird

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Speaker 1: movements you see are you know, like the sun's rays

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Speaker 1: or the rotation or the atmosphere, and the way that

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Speaker 1: it kind of moves and looks misty, and the focusing

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Speaker 1: in and out was the telescop of itself and so

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Speaker 1: it wasn't was not a drone. Someone was deliberately lying,

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Speaker 1: deliberately deceiving, and it's not hard to believe why they

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Speaker 1: would do that, Partly mostly probably because people want to

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Speaker 1: get clicks, they want to get views, and they will

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Speaker 1: deceive you by putting something that's completely false on the

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Speaker 1: Internet so they'll get retweets or repost as they call

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Speaker 1: it now on X which is crazy. But after they

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Speaker 1: did the community notes, and it was like, once I

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Speaker 1: saw that, I was like, oh, that that's obviously not

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Speaker 1: It's obviously not a video of a drone. That's obviously

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Speaker 1: a telescope focusing on a star or a planet. And

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Speaker 1: then I started seeing that same video pop up on

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Speaker 1: other platforms and people were saying the same thing. Here

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Speaker 1: is a close up from my phone on the drone

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Speaker 1: in New Jersey. This is stranger than anything we would expect.

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Speaker 1: Someone's covering up something, someone's lying to us, you know,

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Speaker 1: all these things about the government's lying to us or

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Speaker 1: everything you believe is now not true. It's interesting and

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Speaker 1: ironic that they're lying by saying that someone else is

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Speaker 1: lying when reality they just want attention. But on the

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Speaker 1: other platforms that were not on x, it wasn't always

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Speaker 1: getting flagged, so sometimes it would miss the community notes,

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Speaker 1: or maybe there's just too many of them in community notes,

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Speaker 1: can't keep up, And it was getting so much traction.

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Speaker 1: This one same video of the planet Venus through a telescope.

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Speaker 1: Bizarre stuff. And then you see other things that are

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Speaker 1: flagged by community notes. Whenever something big happens, we'll go

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Speaker 1: back to the drones, you know, for instance, people were

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Speaker 1: posting all these videos in the community. Notes would say,

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Speaker 1: this is not a recent video. This was taken at

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Speaker 1: a at a technology show, a technology air show in Orlando, Florida,

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. You know, because people are like

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Speaker 1: this drone is different than anything I've seen. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: because some other person took that video three years ago.

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Speaker 1: We have to be able to discern truth. And my

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Speaker 1: inbox gets flooded by these things. And I always think

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Speaker 1: to myself that me as a Christian, as a believer,

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Speaker 1: it seems so obvious that the water is constantly being

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Speaker 1: muddied so that we will fear things, so that we

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Speaker 1: will be confused about things, so that we will idolize things,

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Speaker 1: so that we will will do anything really to worry

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Speaker 1: and fret or idolize or worship or be distracted from

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Speaker 1: the reality that we are sinners in need of a savior.

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Speaker 1: And then we live in a following world. And yes,

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Speaker 1: there are going to be storms, and there's going to

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Speaker 1: be cancer, and they're going to be fatalities, and they're

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Speaker 1: gonna be awful things, and they're gonna be precious things,

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Speaker 1: and there's gonna beautiful things, and there's gonna be There

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Speaker 1: will be things in the news that just perplex us,

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Speaker 1: and the Bible says, yes, in this world you will

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Speaker 1: have trouble. But take heart. Jesus says, I have overcome

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Speaker 1: the world. He says, I say these things to you

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Speaker 1: so that in me you will have peace. So with

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Speaker 1: all the troubled hearts and all the news and social

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Speaker 1: media perpetuating it and making it bigger and bigger, bigger

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Speaker 1: and crazier, these theories and this, what's happened with the election,

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Speaker 1: what's happening with the deep state, And what's happened with Ukraine,

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Speaker 1: what's happened with Russia, what's happened with China, what's happened

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Speaker 1: with Iran, what's happening with these drones and these weather balloons,

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Speaker 1: and what's happened with weather engineering and her Ricane Helene,

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Speaker 1: and and what's happening with people had worried about their

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Speaker 1: gender and misunderstanding this and the racism here, and it's

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Speaker 1: just all this cloud of confusion and social media just

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Speaker 1: makes it louder and louder and louder, and Jesus says,

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Speaker 1: peace be still, And there was a great comb Jesus

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Speaker 1: is in the boat with his disciples and the storm

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Speaker 1: is raging and the disciples find him asleep on the cushion.

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Speaker 1: I've been to Israel. I've been to the Sea of

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Speaker 1: Galilee and the boats there. There's actually a fishing boat

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Speaker 1: from the first century that they have found. It was

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Speaker 1: in the mud, preserved, preserved by the mud, and they've

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Speaker 1: now brought it up. And it was this incredible process

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Speaker 1: of how they they because as soon as they hit oxygen,

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Speaker 1: it started it rose, and so they were able to

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Speaker 1: put foam around it and take it to the shore

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Speaker 1: and then and preserve it and then put it in

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Speaker 1: a museum, so you could see a first century fishing boat.

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Speaker 1: And my point is it's pretty small. It's about the

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Speaker 1: size of like a Chevy suburban really maybe maybe like

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Speaker 1: a Chevy Express Van fifteen passenger van. It's just not

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Speaker 1: that big. And so you think of the disciples in

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Speaker 1: there and Jesus in there, and they're in they're in

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Speaker 1: the middle of this deep lake and the storm, which

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Speaker 1: I've also seen storms rage across that little lake. It's

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Speaker 1: not little, it's it's a decent sized lake. But the

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Speaker 1: way that it sits in this bowl, in this valley,

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Speaker 1: and the storms roll over the mountains and they just

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Speaker 1: crash into the bowl and the valley in Lower Galilee,

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Speaker 1: and it just rips apart that that fresh water sea.

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Speaker 1: And I can imagine these, these disciples and Jesus out there,

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Speaker 1: these fishermen that are used to it. But this is different.

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Speaker 1: This is this is a aging storm, and Jesus have

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Speaker 1: all things. He's asleep, taking a nap right there on

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Speaker 1: a cushion in this relatively small boat. And I said,

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Speaker 1: wake up, aren't you afraid? Don't you know we're about

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Speaker 1: to die? Jesus gets up, he says, peace be still,

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Speaker 1: and the wind and the waves stop, the storm ceases,

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Speaker 1: and the Bible says there was a great calm. And

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Speaker 1: I believe in so many ways we are still those disciples.

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Speaker 1: And sometimes it is actually physically a storm, and then

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Speaker 1: sometimes it is a storm in her minds, perpetuated by

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Speaker 1: the inability to discern truth. And it goes further than that,

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Speaker 1: because it's it's not just the ability to discern truth,

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Speaker 1: because if there if there was something really bad happening

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Speaker 1: and it was true, we still need to be able

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Speaker 1: to compartmentalize this really bad thing in relation to eternity

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Speaker 1: and what what Jesus says, you have in him. And

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Speaker 1: when you when Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth,

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Speaker 1: and the Life, no one comes to the Father except

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Speaker 1: through me. Look to me. You will have peace in me.

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Speaker 1: You will have joy in me. My joy will be

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Speaker 1: in you. In this world you'll have trouble, but take

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Speaker 1: cart if overcome the world. Let your hearts not be troubled,

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Speaker 1: nor let them be afraid. You know, he says all

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Speaker 1: these promises because you'll be with me, You'll die in me,

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Speaker 1: You'll you'll be raised in me. You'll you'll listen to

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Speaker 1: the right and of the Father. In me, You'll be today,

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Speaker 1: You'll be with me in paradise. He's promising all these

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Speaker 1: things in perspective of this finite life that we live.

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Speaker 1: And so when the storm is raging in our lives,

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Speaker 1: and it does rage, and it doesn't take the fact

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Speaker 1: away from the actual raging of the storm, but Jesus says,

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Speaker 1: look to me, look to me. This is bigger. This

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Speaker 1: is this is a bigger thing. It's like when when

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Speaker 1: my kids are crying because they want ice cream, and

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Speaker 1: I say, look to me, I have better things planned

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Speaker 1: for you than ice cream. In fact, this ice cream

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Speaker 1: is going to hurt you right now, so you can't

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Speaker 1: have it. Look to me as a father, and I

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Speaker 1: will lead you on the right path. It's bigger than

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Speaker 1: ice cream. You say, Grange're why, man, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: The thing I'm going through right now is not It's

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Speaker 1: not a kid problem. This is this is an adult problem.

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Speaker 1: And I say, yes, you have an adult problem. Yes

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Speaker 1: I understand, but we have a great God who has

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Speaker 1: spoken and continues to speak through his living, breathing word.

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Speaker 1: Now through that, I still haven't said. If I were single,

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Speaker 1: starting over, here's what I would do. But that's the

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Speaker 1: setup for it. You know, maybe this season you forgot

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Speaker 1: to get someone a gift, or you didn't get them

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Speaker 1: something in time, or maybe they didn't like the gift

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Speaker 1: that you got them. Either way, I could solve that

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Speaker 1: problem for you if you go to cameo dot com

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Speaker 1: slash Granger Smith. I'll make you a video message. And

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Speaker 1: that video message could be anything you want me to say.

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Speaker 1: It could be a late Christmas gift, it could be

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Speaker 1: a happy birthday, a word of encouragement. Maybe sorry I

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Speaker 1: didn't get you the gift in time. Either way, go

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Speaker 1: to cameo dot com slash Granger Smith, and I'll make

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Speaker 1: you a customized video message however you want me to

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Speaker 1: do it, go to cameo dot com slash Granger Smith

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Speaker 1: and I'll make it right now. Okay, So after we've

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Speaker 1: kind of talked about the reasons, as we think about

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Speaker 1: a reflection on this year, let's talk about this. If

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Speaker 1: I were single and starting over, here's what I would do.

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Speaker 1: Number one, and this is number one, seek first the

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Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. In so many ways, if I were

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Speaker 1: single and starting over, I would anchor myself deeply in

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Speaker 1: Matthew six thirty three. Seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness,

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Speaker 1: and all these things will be added to you. That's

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the conversation. I would build my relationship

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Speaker 1: with Christ as the foundation before chasing careers or hobbies

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Speaker 1: or relationships or jobs or possessions, Grounding everything in that idea.

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Speaker 1: That's something I have not always done. That's something I

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Speaker 1: still struggle with today. But at least I have a

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Speaker 1: better understanding of that enough that I could put that

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Speaker 1: as the number one priority. And then when I start

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Speaker 1: kind of drifting away, I know that's where my anchor is,

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Speaker 1: and I come back there. Seek first the Kingdom of

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Speaker 1: God that goes with everything I've said about the you know,

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Speaker 1: the conspiracy theories and the troubles, and that the problems

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Speaker 1: as things come and go and fade, come in and out.

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Speaker 1: We worry and we get so strung out on the

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Speaker 1: world's problems, and then we forget that. Jesus says, in

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Speaker 1: this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I've

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Speaker 1: overcome the world, and we anchor ourselves in that. And

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Speaker 1: like I said, we think about the storm on the

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Speaker 1: Sea of Galilee. There's raging and the disciples are freaking out.

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Speaker 1: Jesus asleep on the cushion, and a relatively small fishing

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Speaker 1: boat rises and says, peace, be still. And then in

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Speaker 1: the waves are calm. There's a great calm. The Bible says,

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Speaker 1: So easy to forget that, so easy to drift away

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Speaker 1: from that. Seek first the Kingdom of God. In our

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Speaker 1: discerning of truth. Number two, be intentional about relationships, or

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Speaker 1: be intentional about who I spend my time with, whether

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Speaker 1: that's friends or mentors or dating romantic relationships. I would ask,

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Speaker 1: does this person draw me closer to God? Or pull

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Speaker 1: me away from him? Proverbs thirteen twenty reminds us whoever

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Speaker 1: walks with the wise becomes wise. Your circle of friends,

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Speaker 1: your immediate circle of friends, matters tremendously. They influence you tremendously.

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Speaker 1: The Bible says that bad morals corrupt good character. Do

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Speaker 1: not be deceived. So for you thinking it's okay, I'm

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Speaker 1: not affected by this, I don't get affected by people

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Speaker 1: like that great trip, you know, I could resist that stuff.

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Speaker 1: The Bible says, do not be deceived. Number three, I

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Speaker 1: would steward my time and my money better with a

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Speaker 1: clean slate starting over. I would want to develop these

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Speaker 1: disciplines early, these spiritual disciplines. Right reading my Bible every

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Speaker 1: single morning. That is an excellent steward of time that

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Speaker 1: I that I have not done until the last half decade.

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Speaker 1: Have been very serious about that. And and you know

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Speaker 1: what helps me is journaling. Is I've journaled the last

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Speaker 1: six years digital journal. I keep two journals. One is

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Speaker 1: my reflection journal that I reflect on the reading that

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Speaker 1: I've done in the Bible, and it allows me to

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Speaker 1: kind of have a little commentary to myself, meditate on

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Speaker 1: it a little bit. And then I have my daily

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Speaker 1: journal that's just this is what happened yesterday, This is

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Speaker 1: what's happening that I hope happens today, and what I

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Speaker 1: hope I might do in the future, And this is

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Speaker 1: what I think about it. I do that every day,

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Speaker 1: and I could listen to digital and I keep it

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Speaker 1: with me, and you know it's always you know, uploaded

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Speaker 1: on the cloud. I could keep it with me and

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Speaker 1: I always can trace. And I think to myself, what

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Speaker 1: if I had this thirty six years in a row

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Speaker 1: instead of six, How amazing would that be to look

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Speaker 1: back thirty years and see what I was doing. And

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Speaker 1: it helps you realize that the thing you think is

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Speaker 1: is a big problem, the thing that that you just

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Speaker 1: are convinced this is a huge problem. And then you look,

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Speaker 1: you look back on it in a journal and you

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Speaker 1: go that big a deal. And then the other things

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Speaker 1: that might seem kind of small, you look back and

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Speaker 1: you go bad matter that's still has ripple effects that

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Speaker 1: go even into today, And a journal helps us to

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Speaker 1: think about that. So that's a that's a steward of

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Speaker 1: time that helps with our stewarding of time, and then

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Speaker 1: and then budgeting wisely, saving consistently valuing these things time

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Speaker 1: and money as a gift from God. We're on loan.

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Speaker 1: You know, He gives us these things as borrowed. We

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Speaker 1: don't We don't keep it. We certainly don't keep any

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Speaker 1: of anything of this earth with us. We know that.

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Speaker 1: And then the even easier thing to understand is we

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Speaker 1: don't keep time. It comes, we have it, and it's gone.

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Speaker 1: When you say yes to something, you're always saying no

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Speaker 1: to other things. That's something I wish I would have understood.

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Speaker 1: I would ask myself, in dealing with money and time,

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Speaker 1: what is eternal and what is temporary? Right? Great question

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Speaker 1: to ask. Stewardships shape your future more than you think

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Speaker 1: when you're younger. Stewardships of time and money shape your

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Speaker 1: future more than you think when you're younger. Number four

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Speaker 1: learning to be content in every season. It's so easy

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Speaker 1: to believe. You know, I'd be happy when I would

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Speaker 1: just be finally happy if this that, when I get married,

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Speaker 1: when I get a job, when I hit a certain goal.

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Speaker 1: But you know, if I were single and starting over,

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Speaker 1: I would focus on Paul's words in Philippians four eleven.

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Speaker 1: I have learned to be content in whatever situation I'm in.

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Speaker 1: True peace doesn't depend on circumstances. And you know this

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Speaker 1: is coming from a guy I have seen the highest

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Speaker 1: of highs and the lowest of lows, whether in business

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Speaker 1: or in personal life. I've seen in my career the

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Speaker 1: biggest of stadiums with the most people, in the smallest

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Speaker 1: little bars where there's nobody but a bartender. I have seen,

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Speaker 1: you know, marrying my bride the happiest day than welcoming

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Speaker 1: children into the world. And then I've buried a son

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Speaker 1: and a father. It's a big spectrum, and it's so

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Speaker 1: easy in any of these spectrums to say, you know what,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be better. When it's going to be

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Speaker 1: better when we've healed after five years. You could say

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Speaker 1: after a loved one is lost, it's going to be

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Speaker 1: better when we get this new radio single out. And

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Speaker 1: you know what's so crazy about having a number one

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Speaker 1: song in the world is that you get to celebrate

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Speaker 1: that for a second, if you do. I don't think

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Speaker 1: I ever did. But the most overwhelming thought that's wrapped

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Speaker 1: around a number one song in the world is what's next.

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Speaker 1: We gotta go to, we gotta go to in a row,

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Speaker 1: we gotta go three in a row, we gotta go

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Speaker 1: four in a row. It's always the thought, no one

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Speaker 1: ever thinks this is great, number one in the world.

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Speaker 1: I guess we'll hang it up now, don't We always

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Speaker 1: want that from athletes. They break the record and we

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Speaker 1: go now, you could retire right, No, they keep going,

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Speaker 1: and then they get injured, and then they get traded

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Speaker 1: down to a lesser team, and then they just kind

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Speaker 1: of dwindle away. We want it for everyone else, but

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Speaker 1: when it comes to ourselves, we go no more more.

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Speaker 1: I've noticed in my career that the highest of highs,

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Speaker 1: the greatest feelings, the greatest excitement, the greatest contentment and

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Speaker 1: happiness happened at all the different levels. It didn't increase

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Speaker 1: as the situation increased. Me walking, let's take an example, stagecoach,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty thousand people, me walking out on

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Speaker 1: the stage, or Bristol Motor Speedway in the stadium, one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty foot catwalk, drizzling rain. Everyone's got their

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Speaker 1: cell phones up with the flash slats on, so much energy.

428
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: I'm walking down there in front of everyone. The crowd's roaring,

429
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: and I'm content right in that moment. I'm happy, I'm excited,

430
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: pumped up, grateful, for my band, grateful for the crowd,

431
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 1: and then rewind ten years before that. I'm in Norman, Oklahoma.

432
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: There's two hundred and seventy three people sold out in

433
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 1: this little venue, the catwalk. It's not one hundred and

434
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,040
Speaker 1: fifty feet instead, it's about seven feet and we built

435
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: it out of road cases. And I walk out and

436
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 1: the crowd goes crazy, and I'm excited and I'm content

437
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: and I'm happy, and there's my band and I'm grateful

438
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: to be with them. And then rewind ten years before that,

439
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 1: and I'm in College Station, Texas at Hurricane Harry's and

440
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 1: there's one hundred and twenty people and they're excited and

441
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,920
Speaker 1: they're they're you know, I'm pumped, and I'm grateful for

442
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: my band. And then rewind ten years before that and

443
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 1: there's thirty six people and they're not really excited to

444
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: see me. But I'm just excited to be playing, and

445
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: I'm happy and I'm content and I'm grateful for the band.

446
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 1: In every situation, it didn't increase the happiness, the excitement

447
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 1: didn't increase. It's always relative to where you are in

448
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: your life right then. But I always thought that it would,

449
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 1: you know, that's why you keep chasing it. You think

450
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 1: I love this feeling, I want to have it even

451
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: at a ten X level than this, And I bet

452
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: if I feel it at this level, then i'll ten

453
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: exit when I get to this level. And it's not true.

454
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: It's always relative to where you are. Learning to be

455
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: content in every season, being present, and that probably that

456
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 1: leads me to number five. Don't rush God's timing. I

457
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:34,720
Speaker 1: would trust God's timing more fully and resist this pressure

458
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: to force my own plans, whether that's a career, a relationship,

459
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: personal growth. I would remember Ecclesiastes three eleven that He

460
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 1: made everything beautiful in its time. God's delays are not

461
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: his denials. God's silence are not his unanswered prayers. Why

462
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 1: is that so hard for us to understand? It is

463
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: always his perfect timing. This is easy to see with

464
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: my kids as they want They want chocolate ice cream

465
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,440
Speaker 1: right now, and I say no because I know I

466
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: have something much better for them, and I also want

467
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: to protect them from belly eggs and rotten teeth and

468
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 1: whatever else. That that's the reason they can't have the

469
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,600
Speaker 1: chocolate ice cream at ten PM. I have something better.

470
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: I love them too much. To waste it on something

471
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 1: so trivial, And yet isn't that us don't rush God's timing.

472
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: Number six. I want to invest in my character over

473
00:32:54,640 --> 00:33:01,000
Speaker 1: my image. Invest in my character over my image. And

474
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: that's because what I've seen and what I know. The

475
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:13,000
Speaker 1: world focuses on appearance and perception, right, But instead I

476
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 1: would develop more of who I was on the inside.

477
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: Proverbs four twenty three says guard your heart. Guard your heart,

478
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: for everything you do flows from it, says the author

479
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 1: of you of Proverbs. A strong character rooted in Christ

480
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 1: will outlast all of the surface level success. Integrity is

481
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: a word that I could use over and over to

482
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 1: refine character. These are things I would tell myself if

483
00:33:55,600 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: I were single and starting over. Number seven. Prioritize the

484
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 1: local church and community. This is something that's very hard

485
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: to understand. I didn't understand it for a long time.

486
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 1: But a Christian cannot last. Will not last. You will

487
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: not make it as a Christian. You will not be

488
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 1: able to grow spiritually at all without the local church.

489
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 1: That's how it's set up. We are a body. It

490
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 1: is like saying the eye saying to the hand, I

491
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,760
Speaker 1: don't need you, or the hand saying back to the eye,

492
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,719
Speaker 1: I don't need you. I could see just fine, and

493
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 1: the hand says I could touch just fine. In fact,

494
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: the body comes together as different members, and we need

495
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 1: each other, to serve each other, to encourage each other

496
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,719
Speaker 1: Hebrews Hebrews ten twenty five. We have to remember, do

497
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:58,279
Speaker 1: not give up meeting together, do not neglect gathering, as

498
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 1: some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another.

499
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: The Bible says, this helps us with accountability, It helps

500
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:14,880
Speaker 1: affirm our profession of faith. It helps us, it helps

501
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: if we're lost. It encourages us to bring back another someone,

502
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: another member that's lost. The members of the body need

503
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 1: each other, and then that overflows into the community. Prioritize

504
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 1: the local church, which then outflows into the community. If

505
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:36,920
Speaker 1: the Bible says, if Jesus says the greatest commandment outside

506
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind,

507
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 1: and strength, if he says love your neighbor as yourself.

508
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,919
Speaker 1: If that's the commandment, it says, follow me, and here's

509
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 1: my commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. How could you

510
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: do that outside of community? How could you do that

511
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: outside of the context of the local church. You can't.

512
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: That's why a monasticism just didn't work. That's why you

513
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 1: can't be a monk. And they realize that the monk

514
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:11,399
Speaker 1: life failed because you're taking away the one strength that

515
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 1: you were given, the God given ability to love others,

516
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 1: to serve them with whatever special gift you have. That's

517
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 1: how you contribute to the body. But you can't do

518
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:29,800
Speaker 1: it unless you're in the body. Number eight learned to rest,

519
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: learned to rest and trust God. If I were starting over,

520
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:41,280
Speaker 1: I would remember, and I would remind myself that rest

521
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: is a spiritual discipline, not just something you do when

522
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,319
Speaker 1: you're exhausted and you can't move on, you can't go

523
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:55,720
Speaker 1: any further. I would learn to trust God fully, embracing

524
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: the rhythm of work, the Sabbath rest that He has

525
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: designed for us in christ proverbs or excuse me, so

526
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,759
Speaker 1: what is a psalm? It's I'm on twenty seven to

527
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,399
Speaker 1: two says in vain, you rise early and stay up late,

528
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: for He grants sleep to those he loves. That's that's

529
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 1: an interesting verse to meditate on. You think you wake

530
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: up early and go to bey. You think that's all

531
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: you Huh, He'll give you sleep it's the way you're

532
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 1: designed learn to rest. So many times I want to

533
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,839
Speaker 1: grind it out. This world, this culture tells us to

534
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 1: just grind it out, grind it out. That's so interesting

535
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,799
Speaker 1: because I think so many times, especially in the world,

536
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,160
Speaker 1: it's probably more difficult now than it ever has been,

537
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: just in terms of us having a grasp over time itself.

538
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,440
Speaker 1: You don't traveling. If I was going to travel one

539
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,879
Speaker 1: hundred years ago, maybe longer one hundred and fifty years ago,

540
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 1: I would say I'm leaving for a month, I'll see

541
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:01,399
Speaker 1: I'll get there when I get there, and I'll come

542
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,279
Speaker 1: back when I come back, And when you saw me,

543
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,720
Speaker 1: you'd be like grandeer, you made it back. And today,

544
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,359
Speaker 1: if I say, hey, let's do coffee at eleven oh five,

545
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,439
Speaker 1: then at eleven oh six you're looking at your watch, going,

546
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: is everything okay? Where are you? You're late at sixty

547
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: seconds past when I said it was going to come.

548
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: That's never existed in any time in history until now.

549
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 1: That hurts our ability to learn to rest. Number nine,

550
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 1: Be wise about dating and purity. That's a big one.

551
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 1: I would if I were speaking to myself starting over single,

552
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:50,359
Speaker 1: I would approach dating with more patience and purpose are

553
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 1: patients in the purpose, our purpose in the patience. But

554
00:38:56,360 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: I would be intentional about it, king someone who shares

555
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 1: my faith values. Purity guarding my heart that is that

556
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: is uh, that's an unbelievable truth. Purity of mind, body, spirit,

557
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:26,920
Speaker 1: actively guarding it like a like a great treasure. Remembering first,

558
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: first Thatsalonians for three, that says, for this is the

559
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,000
Speaker 1: will of God. And when the Bible says that you

560
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: stop for a second any time you see a verse

561
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:36,800
Speaker 1: that says, for this is the will of God, stop,

562
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:44,959
Speaker 1: gather yourself and be ready. And this one first Thatsalonians

563
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: four three, this is the will of God. Your sanctification

564
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: that you may that you abstain from sexual immorality. It

565
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:05,960
Speaker 1: matters to our creator because you were created in that way.

566
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:10,759
Speaker 1: Because when you don't look, let me, let me, let

567
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 1: me illustrate it like this. I've said this before. It

568
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:22,840
Speaker 1: matters to Ford Motor Company that you put gasoline in

569
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:28,840
Speaker 1: a gasoline powered engine. Not that it that it hurts

570
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: Ford Motor Company when you don't, but you're doing something.

571
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:35,799
Speaker 1: If you put diesel in that gasoline engine, you're doing

572
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 1: something it's not designed to do. So it matters to

573
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 1: the image. It matters the ones that are imaged from it,

574
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 1: the ones that are made in the image. It matters

575
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:56,759
Speaker 1: for them to put in the necessary ingredients according to

576
00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: the way it was made. So when the Bible says

577
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 1: abstain from sexual immorality, it's just as much for you

578
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,320
Speaker 1: as it is for God. You we have to understand

579
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 1: this isn't just like some crazy God to some dictator

580
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,239
Speaker 1: telling us to do things that take us away from

581
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 1: some fun, because we all know we don't have to

582
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,440
Speaker 1: look far to see. When you do break this and

583
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,200
Speaker 1: you step outside of this, you start to get hurt

584
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:27,759
Speaker 1: in ways that are very difficult to repair. I'm talking

585
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: about heart problems, and we've seen enough of that on

586
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: this podcast, right, And finally number ten focus on eternal

587
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 1: impact with a blank slate starting over, I would ask

588
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:45,440
Speaker 1: myself more often in every situation, does this have eternal

589
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:51,560
Speaker 1: impact or is it temporary? Where is the eternal value

590
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,560
Speaker 1: in what I'm doing right now? And if there is none,

591
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:59,000
Speaker 1: why am I doing this? But a great question to

592
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:05,040
Speaker 1: ask whether that's serving others, whether that's sharing the gospel

593
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: using God's gifts that he gave me for his glory.

594
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,279
Speaker 1: Framing that question in our minds helps us to make

595
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: those kind of kingdom choices, and it makes it less

596
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,879
Speaker 1: less about my comfort and my reputation and more about

597
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:31,000
Speaker 1: him and his glory. It's a good consideration. And these

598
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: are this is a quick list, and maybe I could

599
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 1: do more of these and you know, kind of expand

600
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 1: on it, but I think it's a good way as

601
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 1: we reflect on the previous year and we look forward

602
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,560
Speaker 1: into it another year, to think of it in terms

603
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 1: of if I were single and starting over, this is

604
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 1: what I would do. And as always, as I finished

605
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 1: the final podcast of this year, I say, we'll see

606
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 1: you next Monday. Ye thanks for joining me on the

607
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,879
Speaker 1: Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate all of you. Guys. You could

608
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If

609
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel, hit that little

610
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,720
Speaker 1: like button and notification spell so that you never miss

611
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 1: anytime I upload a video. Yigi