RLL Ep.37: Thanksgiving 2020

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00:24

Hey everybody Steve Matthews here with my first annual Thanksgiving Day live stream

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Yeah, I haven't advertised this a whole lot simply because well, I've not really done this a whole lot

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I don't want to make look too goofy when I'm on camera So I think what they call that business they call it a soft open

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You know when you're you're just trying to work out the kinks and you you kind of kind of open up But you do it on the down low

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You don't do a lot of advertising so you don't get run over with customers and that sort of thing and then you know after You've done it for a while at that point.

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Then you can start, you know, making a making things a little bit more public Anyway, hi to everybody who who is watching

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This is Steve Matthews And I just I wanted to to take a time take the time here today to talk a little bit about Thanksgiving Of course

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Thanksgiving. This is this is Wednesday evening Wednesday November 25th and tomorrow

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Thursday November 26th is is Thanksgiving And you know

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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, I've always loved Thanksgiving. It's where everybody gets to be a Puritan for the day

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And and as a as a as a reformed Christian as a as a as a Calvinist. I like that.

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You know, I it's it's it's very easy to to identify with the the

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Puritans who came to the United States first in in 1620 and And it was actually the following year.

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It was in in 1621 that they had the first Thanksgiving, you know, the the pilgrims the

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Mayflower, you know, the famous Mayflower They landed in you know, what's now

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Plymouth, Massachusetts in on December 21st 1620 So in just a little bit less than a month, it's going to be 400 years

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Since the pilgrims landed in the United States or what was to become the United States. That's a big deal

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And there really hasn't been a whole lot said about it. It's actually kind of surprising Well, you know maybe in today's political environment, maybe it's not all that surprising.

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I don't know But it's really it to me it's a little bit surprising that there hasn't been a bigger deal made of that than there has

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You know, I remember back in 1992 when they were was celebrating the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus Landing and discovery of the new world.

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That was a pretty big deal. And there are there is all there are all kinds of festivals and Displays and special programs and things that were put on that was a very big deal the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus But here we are at the 400th anniversary of of the the

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Mayflower landing in lending in Plymouth And almost know what nothing said about that I think probably a lot of people don't even realize that it's the 400th anniversary of that so I wanted to take time to mention that as part of my my

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Thanksgiving special now as I mentioned the The first Thanksgiving wasn't held in 1620

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It wasn't held actually until 1621 the the following year and it is it's a it's a very

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Puritan holiday, which is certainly I think one of the things as a Christian is very attractive to me now a little bit more on the history of Thanksgiving the

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It wasn't celebrated nationally until 1777 and at that time the

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Continental Congress proclaimed the first National Thanksgiving Day. That was in 1777 After the

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Revolutionary War and after the United States was formed a number of early presidents proclaimed a national

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Thanksgiving George, Washington Adams Monroe But the custom did of it did fall out of use.

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I think Thomas Jefferson wasn't a big fan of it I think he felt that it was too much of a a a

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Blending of church and state in his view and so he didn't push that and so it kind of I think fell out of use

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Apparently under under Thomas Jefferson who was the the fourth president of the United States? however in 1827

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I found out that a woman by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale began work on Making it once again in a national holiday and she petitioned president

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She spent a lot of time working on this from 1827 beginning in 1827 and later

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It wasn't until 1863 that she actually had some success. I mean, what's that?

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What 36 36 years later? Abraham Lincoln in 1863

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Once again proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving and let me read you a little bit.

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This is from Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclamation. This was actually a speech or a Proclamation was written by the

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Secretary of State Seward his first name and for whatever reason is escaping me right now

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But his last name was Seward and he's the one that actually wrote this but it was put out By Abraham Lincoln and I'll read you just the last few paragraphs of this

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So here we go quote it has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly reverently and gratefully

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Acknowledged is with one heart and one voice by the whole American people I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the

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United States and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands to set apart and observe the last

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Thursday of November next as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to her beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens

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And I recommend to them that while offering up the inscriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings

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They do also with humble penitence for a national perverseness and disobedience commend to his tender care all those who have become widows orphans mourners or Sufferers in a lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged and fervently implore the inter inter position interposition of The almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as it may be consistent with the divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace harmony tranquility and union in Testimony whereof

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I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed Then at the city of Washington this third day of October in the year of our

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Lord 1863 and of the independence of the United States the 88th by President Abraham Lincoln They didn't quote.

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So that's I think a quite a an eloquent

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Thanksgiving Day proclamation from 1863. Here's something more recent In fact, this was just from from yesterday there was a quote that I found out on Twitter by Thomas soul now

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Thomas sold if you don't know who that is he He is he well by trade He's an economist but for years and years and years probably a good 30 years maybe longer

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I don't know but at least about 30 years. He was also a very public intellectual He was a columnist and he was widely syndicated throughout the country

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And I think he retired from writing about four years ago and he's fairly elderly now he may be

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I think getting close to about 90 or so But he's one of the the most insightful writers.

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I think I've ever read and and certainly I think also just from a Style standpoint.

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I think he's also one of the best commentators and writers that I've ever read it seems like he has just a gift for For writing and for speaking in ways that are are both clear and and memorable and this was a tweet that Thomas soul put out

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This was just from from yesterday here and he said this quote Thanksgiving may be our most old -fashioned holiday

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Gratitude itself seems out of date at a time when so many people feel entitled to whatever they get and they

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Dignit that they didn't get more in quote That's some good stuff there I've always

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I've always really just admired Thomas soul and his work is his intellectual integrity and in brilliance and and and really again just his writing and I think he really captures the

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Thank Thanksgiving what it's about And and I think also why maybe it clashes so much with with the certain

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With the spirit the the spirit of our particular time It seems a bit out of place, but it most certainly isn't out of place

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In fact, it's it's maybe most necessary that idea of gratitude and I think that's something as Christians that that we certainly need to To ourselves talk about and project and live and believe we need to be thankful Yeah, I I don't know about you, but I'm a good griper.

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I'm a good complainer. I'm really good at griping Thanksgiving, yeah, well, maybe not so much, you know, sometimes

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I struggle with Thanksgiving So that's something when I say that I need to work on that, too And in in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here's a few things that I did want to to talk about Some things that I'm thankful for Now, so what am

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I thankful for? Well, I guess maybe for starters and it is a Christian I really do have to say this. I'm thankful for salvation in Christ Jesus the unmerited

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Forgiveness of my sins through faith in Christ alone, and that's you know, that that's not something that I earned, you know

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I didn't earn God's favor. It's not because there's anything particularly great about Steve Matthews or particularly wonderful about Steve Matthews Far from it.

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Yeah, I'm a sinner and and I'm lost and separated from God by nature But by his grace, he reached out to me and he called me to himself and he caused me to believe the truth

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The truth of the gospel and not just the gospel only what what Christ has done for me what Christ has done to save sinners but Also, he's taught me so many wonderful things in his word and it's just amazing the the riches and the wisdom of the

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Word of God So I'm thankful for that in the first place I'm thankful also to be born an

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American and Have the opportunity to worship God freely, you know this past year I had something really interesting happen my dad

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He's kind of the the family genealogist and he loves to go and study genealogy and pore over things well, he's done this for years and years and he finally this past year he

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Connected some things up that he always kind of suspected But he was able to confirm and validate this and in kind of an interesting story

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It's kind of how my family history is is kind of bound up with the United States when I say I'm I'm thankful to be

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American And this isn't the only reason but it it's certainly it's it's one reason

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I'll say that To have the opportunity to be an American there. He found out

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Well, I was talking about some of our early ancestors in the United States or actually they came over before Before there was a

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United States and my ancestors our ancestors in my family. They were Virginians and It turns out that there was a

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You may have read in your history books. There was a something called the French Indian War that broke out in 1754 and It was was fought

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Substantially by by the British Army, you know, it was in the colonies at the time and and also some some colonists as well but the the first battle in in the

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French Indian War took place in in, Pennsylvania and in this first battle there was a contingent of about 400 or so British troops under the command of a

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Of a young buck colonel some 22 year old kid essentially by the name of George, Washington and As part of the the

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British contingent there were 40 Virginia militiamen that had come up and this was in in Southwest Southwest, Pennsylvania And they were

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They came in as reinforcements and they were fighting against a combined French and Indian force of around 800 or so men well, anyway, they they built a force called

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Fort Necessity and as things went the the the

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French side the French Indian side they won they they shot up the the British and The Virginian garrison pretty badly.

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There were a lot of casualties, but they They did give George Washington his men terms of surrender and they were able to to leave

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But what was interesting? Was when dad was doing some research he found a there was a certain one of the

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Virginians one of the Virginian militiamen that came up was named William Bailey and William Bailey had a brother there also his name was

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Henry Bailey So there were the Bailey brothers and they were were part of that 40 -man Virginia contingent that that came up to to assist the the

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British troops well as it turned out, you know, as I said, there were a lot of there's pretty heavy heavy losses on the on the

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British side and one of the the men who was killed there was was William Bailey his brother survived his brother was injured pretty was injured and and went on to Survive the war but but William was killed, but he was killed even though he was killed.

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He was survived by a son He had a son by the name of Josephus Josephus Bailey now what's interesting is a

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Little bit over 20 years later. So this was in 1754 is when they fought this particular battle That was when the French Indian War started.

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Well just a little bit over 20 years later Josephus Bailey William's son he also served under George Washington only this time it wasn't

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Colonel Washington It was was General George Washington of the the Continental Army and they were fighting in the the

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American Revolution Well, the the records show that that Josephus served in a

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Virginia regiment During the war and he died in February 1777 now,

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I don't know that we have a lot of details at this point about why he died But he died in February of 1777 so fairly early on in the war which of course had just begun the the year before but before he died, or I should say he was survived by he had a daughter by the name of Marianne Bailey and Marianne Bailey went on to marry a certain

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John Matthews of Amherst County, Virginia Well, John Matthews John and Marianne Matthews are my five times great -grandparents

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So that's that that's an interesting tie -in you know when you talk about we you see your your family history sort of intersect with With with American history and and so yeah

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I had two generations of my family that actually served under George Washington and that Yeah, that's that that's pretty neat to find those sorts of things out.

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So yeah, I'm thankful for dad's work as a genealogist So I can add that to the things I'm thankful for that that was was really very meaningful we had the opportunity to go up and actually see the battlefield where where the the the

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Bailey brothers fought Alongside the British and so that was that was very interesting this past summer to go see that And thankful to be born in America not just to be born

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American but to live in this country and to enjoy the freedoms that we have to have the the freedom of speech the freedom of Religion the right to bear to keep and bear arms to have these these constitutionally guaranteed rights

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They're given to us by God, but they're guaranteed in the Constitution You know, the government doesn't give us our rights to speak.

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The government doesn't give us our rights to to own guns The government simply acknowledges that those rights exist and has put those into a written document a

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Constitution I'm very thankful for the Constitution of the United States of America I'm very thankful for the work of Gordon Clark and John Robbins You know those of you who maybe have followed their work as part of the

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Trinity Foundation what the both of them together they've sort of developed the the philosophy of scripturalism the idea that the

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The Bible has a systematic monopoly on truth and you know every everything that I do You know, I've had the opportunity to blog to be a blogger now for about the last 11 years

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Well everything that I've done just about everything that in fact I'd say pretty much everything that I've done over the past 11 years in terms of writing or speaking or or Podcasting or even live -streaming?

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It's really been influenced by their work in some way or the other whether it's it's overt and I'm quoting them or whether it's even maybe below the surface and just in terms of guiding my thoughts and giving me a

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Intellectual Framework in which to view things I mean the the work that Gordon Clark and John Robbins did was just Just wonderful and amazing stuff if you've never read their work if you've never seen them if you've never had a chance to experience

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The their writings I would really encourage you go check out the Trinity Foundation is Trinity Foundation org There's tons of essays out there.

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There's mp3 lectures all kinds of great stuff books You can buy and so I would really encourage you to go

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To go check out the Trinity Foundation if you think you might be interested in that I'm thankful for social media.

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Now. I know maybe that sounds a little bit weird, but You know the social media is an amazing thing

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I mean tech is tech can be absolutely amazing I mean just like what I'm doing here right now I'm live -streaming and I'm doing this on multiple platforms at once with a

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Program a new thing that I actually just found out about it's called a restream and it lets you do Let you go live on multiple platforms

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Very very cool stuff. Yeah. Now I'm old enough to be impressed by that. Okay. Now, you know, maybe if you're younger maybe if you're a

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You know millennial or a zoomer or something. You might say Steve. You're just some old fuddy -duddy You know,

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I've got a couple of good friends Tim Shaughnessy Carlos Montillo, you know, these guys are

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I guess you call them Millennials I suppose they were born in the 80s Thereabouts and so yeah,

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I guess they would be Millennials and they probably think I'm an old fuddy -duddy But I'm not a boomer, you know, you hear these these there's that Saying out there they talk about boomer tech, right?

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Yeah, and that's that's a term they used to make fun of you know, old fuddy -duddy's, you know, you know grew up, you know using 45

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RPM records and 33, you know vinyl and 8 -track tapes and stuff like this and they have a hard time getting a hang of you know

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Podcasting and YouTube and you know live -streaming and all this other stuff. Well, I'm not a boomer.

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I swear. I'm not a boomer I'm actually a Gen Xer Which actually means

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I don't exist. Yeah, I didn't realize this until a few years ago But apparently Gen X people don't exist now

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Gen X, you know, so what's Gen X? Well, usually Ye generally demographers will identify

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Gen X as people born between 1965 and 1980 Usually that's what

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I've seen. Yeah, you see some slight variations on that But that those are generally the the dates that are used for that Well, it's kind of funny when you you look at different surveys and things like that to say

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Oh, you know a certain, you know, let's let's break down people's views on a particular, you know political issue by by generations

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You know and their talk about the silent generation, you know, those are people born between before World War two

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Those are my parents for example, and then I talk about the baby boomers, you know Those are people who were born, you know from 1946 to around 1964

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Then also they start talking about people born from 1981 to you know, 1990 something

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Yeah, they talk about those are the Millennials right and then they start talking about the the zoomers And it's like I want to say, you know, excuse me.

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Hey, hey, excuse me What about all those people born between 1965 and 1980 do they not exist?

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It's like 65 million people that they just don't exist Well, you know apparently for the marketers and the demographers and the pollsters and in people and like that out there

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Apparently we don't exist. You know, it's amazing how many times you see things in You know, like I say see polls and in various surveys and things and they come, you know they're talk about the boomers to talk about the

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Millennials and Those people that were born the the Xers.

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Yeah, they don't exist So anyway, I don't exist so if you don't like my my my live stream you can just say well he doesn't exist anyway

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Just Steve. He's some Gen Xer and Gen X doesn't exist apparently But anyway,

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I I'm thankful for social media, you know back to my point because I'm still old enough

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Yeah, I didn't grow up with this stuff. Yeah, I didn't grow up with the Internet Yeah, I didn't

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I mean the that stuff wasn't I mean there were computers around but You know really personal computers were just becoming a thing in the early 80s

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I remember when I was in high school, they had a little computer lab there at school I I never did anything with it and I remember

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My dad bought a computer. It was a PC jr. I think it was in 1984 and Paid quite a bit of money for it

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In fact more than what you would pay for a computer today. That's you know, probably Many many many many multiples more powerful than what that computer was and it ran on DOS and it didn't really have

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I don't know If it had any memory at all, I don't think it did Used to use those 5 -inch floppy drives Anyway, but that's what

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I grew up on that's what I started on and I remember when I was even in college You know, I had a little dot matrix printer and there you always had to find out from your professors whether they would accept dot -matrix printing or not because some would and some wouldn't because you know the

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It was those dot matrix things and they're a little bit harder to read It wasn't what we would call letter quality now And of course now you can go out and you can pay, you know less than hundred bucks and you can get a decent letter quality printer

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That'll it looks great. But that printers were very very expensive and they used track feed and all this other stuff.

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Anyway, I Shouldn't be going on about old old -school tech, but that's what

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I grew up on. So I didn't have the Internet I didn't have all of this amazing stuff and You know,

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I know there's a lot of negative Things that go on about social media, you know, there's there's the censorship issue

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That's a serious problem and and I don't want to pretend that that doesn't exist You know, there's there's problems with people putting terrible things on social media things

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They say or things they show and things that shouldn't be out there. I mean these are issues and their problems

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There's no question about it. But Technology is just amazing. I mean, it's amazing how we can get on Online and share ideas and and videos and And audio files and just just all kinds of things

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I I can I've gotten to be friends with people as a reason say on from the blog that I've been right

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I've been writing a blog now for 11 years. There's a gentleman that I've gotten to know He lives on the literally on the other side of the world

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He lives in Australia and he and I have become good friends and it's almost as if we're next -door neighbors you know, but we can get on and we can do a

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Skype call or do a Facebook call or something like this and I Have to say

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I'm still blown away by that. I'm old enough that I think wow That's that's an amazing thing because there was a time and for a pretty good chunk of my life that wasn't possible

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So yeah I'm I'm very thankful for social media and in the amazing power That that can put into the hand to all of our hands to have us to give us a voice

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Do you have us the opportunity to speak out? In ways that I mean, you know prior to the advent of social media

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I mean the only way you could really get a message out I mean, you know Maybe if you owned a newspaper or maybe if you owned a radio station or a television station or I mean

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It was very expensive and it's very difficult and it wasn't something that just anybody can do But I mean quite literally anybody can set up a blog

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Anybody can go live on Facebook or YouTube or or something like that. Anybody can do that I mean it's in went through each of all of us and it's been an amazing revolution that puts power in in our hands

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You know regular people, you know, we have the opportunity to do things that that we never would have had before So yeah,

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I'm very thankful for social media I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have blogged and now we have moved into things like Podcasting and in doing videos, you know, it's it's been it was interesting

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I started blogging in 2009 and I was kind of an off and on blogger for for a good for a good while and you know,

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I'd write when I could and maybe the months would go by and I wouldn't have a post and I Remember in you know in in 2014 in the fall of 2014.

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I prayed to God and I said I want to want to be more Intentional about my blogging about my writing and I prayed to him that he would give me

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The strength the opportunity to write regularly and even more specifically to be able to at least produce

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One thing a week to be at least right once a week Now, maybe I could do it more often, but I prayed to him specifically

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I want to be able to write once a week and you know, he's honored that prayer Here we are six years later and I can tell you

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I have not missed a week In that six years now, sometimes I've written more or less but I've always been able to get out at least one post a week and I've never wanted for material either and and and I just I want to thank

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God for the the opportunity to blog and to thank my readers for for reading my my stuff and and for the comments and And and just for the opportunity like I say to be able to to set my thoughts in order and to get them out there

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That's such a privilege such an amazing thing to be able to do And by the way, you know if if you've ever thought about blogging and I see this particularly, you know

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To my to my brothers and sisters in Christ You know, there's a real

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Lack of truth out there right in in the media. I mean we've we've all seen it you know, we've all seen how bad the mainstream media is and in all of the

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How they distort things people are There is a tremendous need for truth

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And and if you're someone I mean if you've even thought just maybe even just a little bit Hey, you know, it might be might be interesting to blog

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Do it don't stop you can set up a blog for free You can actually set up a blog and be up and running within you know, probably at less than half an hour if that It's actually very easy to do and you know, if you're not sure if you have any questions about that.

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Hey Send me a comment or something like that so, you know put a comment in the video if you'd like and and I'll be happy to To work with you on that because it's actually pretty easy to do and there's so much work that needs to be done

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And and so I would just especially encourage, you know, my fellow believers they get out there and get in the fight

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You know, don't don't let these guys that that one to you know, send out misinformation scare you off Don't let all the censorship stuff scare you.

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I mean, yeah, I mean, you know The censorship is real it's a real thing I'm not saying it's not but there are still wonderful opportunities for you to be able to speak the truth

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To write the truth to get the truth out there and we need more of that I'm thankful for my health and for the health of my family, you know,

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I think You know, and this is something I'm certainly guilty of of of taking things for granted.

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I Know that I do that and I shouldn't But yeah, I take things for granted and I just went ahead a checkup at the doctor

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I guess it was about a week or so and got a good clean bill of health and I'm thankful for that I mean, that's that's a that's a great blessing to have that I've had actually two people close to me over the past year have had a very serious heart attacks

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Heart attacks that could very easily have been fatal, but they were not And I'm thankful that they have both recovered well and and are doing well

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I'm thankful for the health of my my folks my parents and No, they're

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You know, they've got their aches they've got their pain pains that sort of thing But you know, they're they're doing pretty well for their age and and not only that but they're all not just physically but they're there mentally as well and it's it's a great blessing to be able to to have them and To have them doing well, so I'm very thankful for that I'm thankful for my job as well.

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And You know what? Like one of the easiest things in the world complaining about is your job, right?

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Oh, you know, there's too much too much work going on. Oh, blah blah blah I don't like working with so -and -so or I hate this part of it or this that or the other thing and grumble grumble grumble

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It's really easy to do and you know again, I I know I'm I'm very good at it. I'm very good at complaining

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I'm not quite as good at giving thanks. So I want to just say that public I am very thankful for my job and for the opportunity to earn an honest living not just a living

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But an honest living and I don't have to lie cheat or steal You know I can can do an honest days work for an honest days pay and and I'm very thankful for that and and the opportunity to Have some health insurance and the opportunity to maybe do it to do a little retirement savings

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I'm thankful for those things and and I know that you know in in this particular time with all the the economic upheaval

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That's been going on and that's not something that's that's the case for everyone, you know And for those of you out there,

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I know that maybe there's some people that are watching to listen to this maybe that's been a maybe that's been something that's been difficult for you and and I I pray that that the

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Lord would bless you and lift you up and give you an opportunity to to find work and to be able to have the the money for the things that That you need and and that's you know

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God has promised, you know If we seek him first, you know seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things

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You know all that stuff into the stuff that we seek, you know The food the clothing the shelter all that will be added unto you and that's what

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Jesus said and it's true That doesn't mean that we're not gonna have struggles in this life, but we can trust in God to be faithful Well, you know, that's that's about about all that I had here for today

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You know as I said, maybe one closing thought that I was thinking about here is is just you know

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In this year when things have been there's been so much that's been negative I mean 2020 has been a tough year. Let's face it for all of us, and I don't want to sit here and be be

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Sound naive and say oh, well, it's everything's wonderful because you know, well, I mean there are some very tough things

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Everything isn't wonderful. This has been a very tough year. It's been a tough year politically. It's been a tough year socially

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It's been a tough year economically and all of these things promise to continue. I don't see these things going away immediately and it can be very discouraging and it can weigh on us and And you know, one of the things that I find personally so frustrating is it seems like that that Evil people get their way now that that's very frustrating to me.

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And I remember I was thinking about this a Pastor that I had many years ago, so it goes back about 30 years or so at 25 years maybe it was dr.

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William Hamrin, and he was a pastor a Baptist pastor at a church close to me and I was at the time

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I was just I remember I was at an age where I was I was kind of becoming interested in studying

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Christian theology and He actually agreed to mentor me in theology and we went through a systematic theology was written by Miller to Erickson Who's a he's a

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Baptist theologian and I would go and meet with him on Saturdays for about an hour And we'd read through a chapter and we talk about it.

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He was super gracious to me I mean, he was a very brilliant man. Very learned man. He had a doctorate in theology

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I didn't even go to his church and he actually volunteered to do this for me Eventually, I did join his church, by the way but but at the time when

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I started with him, I wasn't and he was incredibly gracious to me to To teach me and he was really my first instructor in theology and was somebody who gave me a lot of encouragement to continue my studies in that And I remember when he retired some years later from that From from the church and he retired from the ministry he for a couple months he preached a sermon series on Psalm 73 and I've always remembered that and in Psalm 73 is is is a

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Psalm that I think is Really speaks to the experience of a lot of us because Psalm 73 it starts out this way

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It says quote truly God is good to Israel to such as are pure in heart But as for me my feet had almost stumbled

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My steps had nearly slipped if I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked

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Now I think you and I have probably been in the spot of that psalmist Probably many times.

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I mean, I mean this is a very realistic thing, right? This is a very kind of a thing for for our own time for this very day you know you you look around and it seems like some of the worst people are the people that are getting their way and You say

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Lord, how can this be? I mean Lord, you're sovereign you you're in charge How can this be?

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I mean, it doesn't make sense but anyway, just to I don't I don't want to preach a whole sermon on on Psalm 73, but But the long and short of it is that the psalmist goes through his complaints and he sees how how well

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These these wicked people are doing but then he comes to realize when he comes to the temple of the Lord He realizes that those people who are doing so well now

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Well, they're going to have problems and they're going to end up, you know, if they reject God if they don't repent

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They are going to be destroyed And it's kind of a kind of a solemn thing

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But he realizes, you know, the the end of the wicked and it's it's not a good thing And he concludes the psalmist does by praising

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God He says whom have I in heaven but you and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you

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My flesh and my heart fail the God of the strength of God is the strength of my heart in my portion forever

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So, I mean he realized the psalmist eventually comes around to realize, you know, okay, you know, I've seen the wicked prosper

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I've seen things. It seems just unfair and I get so frustrated with it But he also knows that the

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God will recompense those who practice evil and he rewards He will reward those who trust in him as I just would want to leave you, you know

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I mean if you know if you're struggling with things, maybe you're you're frustrated with some things you see in the news Maybe you're frustrated with some things that are in your personal life

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Yeah, if you're in Christ You can have confidence that God is going to be there for you that he's going to provide for you

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And I don't know exactly what that means. I mean there are a lot You know that it that's you know

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How he deals with us in our own circumstances is gonna be a little bit different how he deals with me It's not gonna be exactly the same way he deals with you

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But his his watch carry is over you and you can trust in him And you can give thanks to him even in the times when things aren't going well even times when things seem pretty dark

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We can still as Christians give thanks to God because we know that he's faithful. We know that he's sovereign and we know that he's good

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So anyway, that's about all I had for tonight's the thing I want to just say thanks to everybody for for tuning in here to the live stream.

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I do appreciate that I'm gonna go ahead and save this audio. I'm gonna post it out to my blog as a

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As a podcast as well, I'm also going to be posting it to thorn crown ministries So anyway, as I said, thanks so much for for watching

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I do appreciate that and I wish you and your family a very blessed and very enjoyable Thanksgiving Day.