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My soul desire to be used by the Lord to build the Kingdom, thank you, Jubilant. I know you gathered up in that song my own heart, the hearts of many of us today.
I long to be useful to God. I can say that's my soul desire. I hope it is with you. But I can remember a time when I wasn't so useful to the Lord. Even though I was a believer there were things in my life, limitations in my life and my commitment that made me more useless that useful. When I think about being useless to the Lord I go back to my childhood. And I remember my father saying to me on numerous occasions when he gave me a job to do and I didn't do it the way he prescribed it to be done, he would say, "Johnny, you're...you're really just about useless." In fact, his favorite expression was, "You'll never amount to a hill of beans."
And I know that there were times in my spiritual life as well when I was well nigh useless to the Lord. I was unfaithful to be who I should be so I couldn't do the tasks He might otherwise have given me to do. But it's always been the desire of my heart, in fact I can say it's a soul desire in many ways in my life that I would be used of God.
Many years ago I learned a little song that was written by Audrey Meyer, it's lingered in my mind all through the years because I think it expresses what I feel. It goes like this, "To be used of God, to sing, to speak, to pray, to be used of God to show someone the way. I long so much to feel the touch of His consuming fire, to be used of God is my desire."
Every one of us should have that compelling desire. Every one of us should see that as the single reason why we live. And just the word "useful" is such a lovely word. And it's a word we find in our text today. Let's look together at 2 Timothy chapter 2. And in our ongoing study of this wonderful epistle from Paul to his son in the faith, we come to verse 20 of this second chapter. We're going to consider verses 20 to 26 as a unit, this Lord's day and next. And in it the Apostle Paul talks to Timothy about being useful to the Lord.
In verse 20 he writes, "Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also vessels of wood and of earthenware and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore if a man cleanses himself from these he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations knowing that they produce quarrels and the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will."
I want to just grab that little word in verse 21 "useful." It means serviceable, euchreston. It's used in chapter 4 verse 11, it says, "Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me." It's used in that wonderful letter from Paul to Philemon explaining what had happened to his runaway slave Onesimus. And speaking of Onesimus in verse 11 he says, "He was formerly useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me." What a compliment. He formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me. Could that be the story of your life? It certainly is in my spiritual experience, even since becoming a Christian. There were years in my life when I was useless but I have by God's grace and mercy alone found usefulness in serving Him. I know that was the deepest desire of Paul's heart. And reading 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 24 to 27 certainly affirms that. Paul writes, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self- control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim, I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I buffet my body and make it my slave lest possibly after I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified." His great fear was to become useless, disqualified by sin.
Paul's sole desire was to be used of God. He wanted that to be Timothy's sole desire and ours as well. This then is a call from Paul to Timothy to be a useful vessel, a vessel unto honor, as he calls it in verses 20 and 21...a vessel unto honor.
Now as he calls Timothy to this kind of honorable, noble usefulness he begins with an analogy. It's a simple one but a very very clear one. Notice verse 20, "Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver utensils, or vessels, but also vessels of wood and of pottery and some to honor and some to dishonor." Now that's the analogy. That's the illustration. It's a simple comparison. He speaks about a large house. The idea is that the house being large has many utensils. The word "vessel" or "utensil" as I translated it is skeui or skeuos and it's a very very broad term referring to anything that could be called domestic gear. It could be furniture, it could be furnishings. It could be tools. It could be utensils that would be used in a kitchen. Just about anything that would fit into a domestic environment. So he says there's a very large house which assumes that it contains very many furnishings, some of them, he says, are gold and silver, expensive, valuable, beautiful, clean, put on exhibit, used with people in public settings, prized highly, cleaned carefully and other utensils are made of wood and pottery, cheap, not prized, not used for public occasions, not put on display, ugly, unclean. If you know anything about past history you would understand that this was in a time when we didn't have the sophistication that we have now in our homes and all of the wonderful things that have been invented to place in our homes in order to make them as lovely as possible. And you would probably know that what Paul has in mind is a contrast between what was used for people to eat on, what was used to grace the rooms of that lovely home as decor and on the other hand what was used as garbage and even human excrement. Some of it was honorable and some of it was dishonorable. It all served some kind of function. But there were some that were useful only in things that were not even to be spoken of, just out-of-the-way behind the scenes things that you hope no one ever really saw. Some had noble purposes and some had ignoble purposes. Some the dishonor were disgraceful, contemptuous, ignominious.
Well the analogy is very simple. That's very understandable to people living in that culture. That would be understandable to people living in some other cultures today...cultures more primitive than our own. You say, "Well what is this depicting?" Well you remember last week that as we looked at verse 19 we said in verse 19 the Apostle Paul referred to the church. And he referred to the church in this statement, "The firm foundation of God stands." And would be possible to interpret that a number of ways if you just looked at it and read it without digging a little deeper. But with a little bit of careful study of both context and related context, we find that the firm foundation of God which stands refers to the church. In fact, back in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 Paul refers to the church as the pillar and foundation of the truth. So it is not uncommon even in these pastoral epistles for the Apostle to refer to the church as a foundation for the truth, the foundation of God which stands, the firm foundation. And I believe it is that that triggers Paul's analogy. He thinks of the firm foundation of God which stands, that is the church, and then he says in verse 19, "The Lord knows those who are His," and refers to election, one of the seals or marks of authenticity of the church is that it is elect. The second seal or mark is that it is abstaining from wickedness. In other words, it is an elect church from God's viewpoint. It is a righteous church from man's viewpoint.
And so, verse 19 then introduces the elect and righteous church. And then the analogy picks that thought up...the large house is the church. And in that large house there are all kinds of utensils and they're all degrees of usefulness with regard to those utensils. Some are gold and silver and there's even a difference between gold and silver. Gold is more valuable than silver. Some are just wood and pottery, behind the scenes, not to be seen, not lovely at all. Some are hidden and some are exposed to as many as possible. That's how it is with believers in the church. Some are useful and some are less useful. And some are hardly useful at all and some are useful only for tasks that no one ever sees. The church is mixed. It's not just mixed between believers and unbelievers as in the parable of the wheat and the tares and the sheep and the goats, Matthew 13 and 24. But the church is mixed with believers who are useful and well nigh useless. There are Christians who are not faithful soldiers, as he pointed we are to be in verses 3 and 4 of this chapter. Christians who are not faithful athletes, as we find in verse 5. Christians who are not faithful farmers who sow the seed and enjoy the results...who are not faithful to keep their focus as verse 8 indicates on the Lord Jesus Christ and suffer whatever might come as a he talks about in verses 9 and following. There are those christians who by virtue of their failure to live the way they ought to live are not useful to God...at least as useful as they might be.
So he introduces to us then this picture. The church is a large house. There are many in it. Some are put forth for the noble purposes and some are hidden behind the scenes for the ignoble purposes. Now it goes without saying that having established that very clear picture, the assumption would be that most of us would like to be used for the noble purposes. With that in mind, we come to verse 21 where he says, "Therefore that being true, if a man cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor." Stop at that point.
The assumption here is we all want to be vessels for honor. I don't want to be a spiritual garbage pail. I want to be useful to God. I want to be a vessel unto honor, not for my sake but for His sake. I want to be one who is prized, valuable. I want to be one who is eminently useful. And I really believe and I think it's so wonderful of the Lord to time things the way He does that what He has here in mind primarily is one who leads the church. This is written to Timothy who is the overseer of most significance in the church at Ephesus at this time. The other overseers of the church are struggling. Some of them have defected from the truth and are teaching error. Some of them had to be disciplined right out of the church, namely Hymenaeus and Alexander as we found in chapter 1. And Hymenaeus is still sitting on the edge of the church, having picked up with another man named Philetus and sowing seeds of lies and false doctrine that eat like gangrene as he said in the prior passage. So Timothy has been placed there to set the church right. And I believe that Paul is writing to Timothy saying, "Timothy, I want you to be maximally useful, I want you to be a vessel to honor."
If you will compare that thought to verse 24, he says, "And the Lord's bondservant," and I believe that too to be a technical term referring to the pastor, elder or overseer of the church. It says he must not be quarrelsome, be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. Verse 25 adds meekness or humility, gentleness. Those are a repetition of the qualifications of a pastor given in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus 1. So I believe in writing to Timothy, he's saying, "Timothy, this is what is required of those in spiritual leadership."
But, beloved, that does not eliminate the rest of us because the reason the leaders are to be like this is that they may set the example because this is the way God wants all the people to be too. There's no dichotomy there. Leadership is what it is in order that it might set the pattern.
Now I believe there must have been some major struggles going on in the life of Timothy for the reason that Paul repeats these things over to him so frequently. Having given him all the instruction he did in six chapters of the first epistle, he now seems to go back and repeat some of the very same things, almost as if he is deeply concerned that Timothy come around to being all that God would want him to be. Anyone who is a pastor or leader in the church, an elder, one who stands in the place of example must desire to be a vessel unto honor. We have to set that as the standard for all the rest of the church to desire as well.
But what's involved in that? Well he gives three modifiers that describe the character of this honorable vessel. Look at them in verse 21. An honorable vessel would be described, first of all, as one that was sanctified. An honorable vessel is sanctified. It's a perfect passive, literally having all ready been sanctified, one who is in a settled state or condition of being set apart for the worship and service of God. Sanctified means to be separated from sin, separated from the world, separated from the flesh, separated from Satan, separated from self-will. A vessel unto honor is separated in a situation of having already been set apart from sin. So we could say then that the first characteristic of a vessel unto honor is its cleanliness...its purity, its holiness. It has been set apart for holy purpose as opposed to those that carry the filth of the house away to the waste places. It's set apart for holy purposes. And if you want to be a vessel unto honor, you've got to get clean. Whatever might defile you has to be washed off, rubbed off, cleaned off.
The second aspect of describing a vessel unto honor in this house is that it's useful to the master. In other words, it's the kind of thing that is performing its intended function. It is a utensil that is of great use to the one who chooses to use it, here called the master. The Greek word is despotes from which we get despot, which is a synonym for dictator. The master of the house was the despot, he ruled the house. And he was in charge of the utensils. There was never a utensil that said I refuse to be used, they just did what the despot wanted done. And the second element of being a vessel unto honor is to be submissive. The first one has to do with cleanliness, the second one has to do with submissiveness. If we are to be vessels unto honor we must be sure that we are separated from sin, from the world, from the flesh, from the devil, and we must be equally certain that we are committed to an obedient submissiveness. This is the heart attitude of one who bows the knee to the master and the master here obviously if you compare Jude 4 has reference to Jesus Christ. He is the master of all the utensils, but sad to say not all of them are equally useful, for not all of them are equally clean and not all of them are equally submissive.
Thirdly he says this vessel unto honor is not only sanctified and useful, but it's prepared for every good work. The idea of prepared here has to do with eagerness. It's eager to be used. It has a zeal for noble purposes, agathon, which means intrinsically, inherently good, noble is the way it is often to be translated. In other words, you're in a condition of offering yourself for noble use. We could call this availability or eager service. So that utensil in the house, that article in the house, that instrument, that tool, that furnishing in the house which is clean, which is submissive, and which is eager to serve is the honorable one. Those are basic things, aren't they? If you want to be an honorable vessel, a noble vessel, a useful vessel and it starts with being separated from sin and it starts by being cleansed, purged, purified and then by being submissive to the one who rules over you and doing whatever it is he asks you no matter what it is, and also not doing that reluctantly but doing that in a spirit of readiness and eagerness. That's what the idea of being prepared means...having already been prepared. Or a better way to translate that perfect passive, having been put into a prepared condition, or just sitting there waiting to be used, no reluctance. No attachment to sin, no hesitation to obey and no reluctance, that is a noble vessel...an honorable vessel.
Not all believers are like that. Some hold on to sin and they're too defiled and dirty to bring out and use. Some of them don't want to be submissive and be fulfilling the purposes that God intends and some of them aren't eager at all, they're reluctant to even be called to serve. They're not equipped by holiness. They're not equipped by obedience. And they're not equipped by preparedness for every good work that God might grant them opportunity to do.
I want to ask you a question. You heard the song this morning. "My sole desire to be used of Thee." Is that your sole desire. That's the question I want you to ask because if that's not your sole desire, then you have to face the reality that you're in rebellion against God. I don't care how you want to work your way around it, that's the bottom line. And if it is your sole desire, then here are the means to make that a reality. The grace is there, granted by God to provide for holiness of life, submissive obedience and eager zeal to serve...the provision is there in the indwelling power of the Spirit and the Word of God. The only question is, what about you? Is your sole desire to be used of God? Do you see things in this world as either, one, things to be pushed out of the way so that you can get the work done, or things that could be used to enhance the work you do for God? Do you see everything around you in your environment and your world as something which hinders you're being used by God or something which can be used to facilitate your being used by God? That's the way you have to see everything...everything.
So if I ask you...do you want to be useful to God, if you want to be an honorable vessel...and you say yes, then you need to understand there are some principles that can make that a reality. This morning we'll look at two of them...the first one. Back to verse 21, "Therefore if a man cleanses himself from these he will be a vessel for honor." You want to be a vessel for honor? You want to be set apart from sin, useful to God, ready and eager to do His work? Then the first thing necessary is that you cleanse yourself from these. What does that mean? What does that mean? The word cleanse is a tremendous word. There is a Greek word kathairo from which we get the word cartharsis which means a cleansing. This is that Greek word kathairo with a preposition stuck on the front which always intensifies the verb and it means to thoroughly cleanse...thoroughly cleanse. So the first thing he says if you want to be a vessel unto honor you must thoroughly cleanse yourself. The word "from" means "out from or away from." And then he says "these." What does that mean? These what? The New American Standard translators put in "these things." What things? That doesn't help. What does he mean? And he doesn't mean things at all, really. What are the these we have to cleanse thoroughly ourselves away from? Starting at the end of verse 20, just listen to what is read. Some to honor and some to dishonor, therefore if a man cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor. What are the these? They have to be the vessels of what? Of dishonor. Very clear in the context. The vessels of dishonor. The nearest and only reasonable antecedent must be the vessels of dishonor. The first exhortation then is one, to stay away from fellowshipping with people who are contaminated. And we say point number one then in being a noble and excellent vessel, one that brings honor to the Lord is a pure fellowship. The noble vessel, the honorable vessel maintains a pure fellowship. He stays away from the defiled people in the church. I'm talking about other people in the church, other believers who are not clean, who are not submissive, who are not eager to serve.
You see, sin...sin is a contagious thing, isn't it? Beloved, you have to watch your fellowship. You have to watch who you hang around. In verse 16 of the same chapter, "Avoid worldly and empty chatter, it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene." That stuff spreads like gangrene and gangrene spreads so fast in the human body, as I said last week, they have to put people in pressurized sealed environments, inject them with penicillin in a sealed environment which doesn't allow the gangrene to move so that the penicillin can work because gangrene goes faster than penicillin does. Evil sin defilement is a disease that is highly contagious. And your associations are so very very important. And I'm saying in the church you cannot put the silver and gold plates in with the stuff that takes out the garbage and expect the garbage not to get on the silver and the gold. You've got to choose your associations.
Let me show you that for a moment in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 Paul writing to the Corinthian church on this very issue, verse 9, "I wrote you in my letter...this was another letter which we have not in our possession, it's never been found, it was not an inspired letter but nonetheless spoke the truth, no doubt, to the Corinthian church and Paul reiterating what he said in that letter writes here under inspiration...I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." Now what does he mean? "I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world." I'm not talking about staying away from sinners in the world...no. I mean, you can't do that. You can't get out of the world and you have to reach those people. But I'm telling I wrote unto you not to associate with any so- called brother if he should be an immoral person or covetous or idolater or reviler or drunkard or swindler and not to even eat with such a one. I'm more concerned with the people in the church that you hang around with then I am the people in the world because when they're in the world you know where they are, you know they don't believe, you know they're not in the family and you know their behavior is not acceptable. But if you hang around the garbage pails of the church, if you hang around the defiled people in the church, you'll begin to develop a tolerance for their defilement. Don't do that because of what he says in chapter 15 verse 33, "Bad company corrupts...what?...good morals." Somewhere along the line you may have to change your relationships even in the church...even in the church.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 14, "If anyone doesn't obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him so that he may be put to shame and yet do not regard him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother." Don't associate with him. For one thing it will contaminate you, for another thing it will make him feel comfortable and accepted. Separate for your own purity and separate so he will have a sense of shame over his own defilement.
When God was speaking through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 52 and verse 11, He said, "Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean, go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord." If you're going to serve the Lord you've got to stay away from people that contaminate you.
In Jeremiah chapter 15 and verse 19 similarly, "Therefore says the Lord, if you return then I will restore you. Before Me you will stand. And if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman." You want to be used by God? Then separate the precious from the worthless. It means a pure fellowship.
I don't want to hang around people even in the church who are defiled. I don't want to hang around people whose life style is a dishonor to Christ. Even though they may be brothers and sisters, I don't want to be around people whose language doesn't honor Christ. I don't want to be around people with bitter critical tongues. I don't want to be around people whose commitment to God is shallow and cheap. I don't want to be influenced by people who tolerate evil in their lives and name the name of Christ. I don't need that. I want to be around people who lift me up, people who pull me up, people who set a standard of holiness for me.
Proverbs 13:20 says, "The companion of fools will suffer harm." It rubs off. And in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 it says directly, "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled." You take one bitter person and they'll defile everybody around them with their defilement. Don't get near those people because if you want to be an honorable vessel, useful, set apart, prepared to serve, you have to be in a pure fellowship. The purer fellowship rubs off and keeps you pure. Hang around the clean vessels, you understand that? Not the defiled ones.
Secondly, not only does that vessel that would be honorable in the service of the Lord need to have a pure fellowship, but secondly a clean heart. Verse 22, a clean heart, "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a clean heart...or a pure heart." Now that sound just like 1 Timothy 6:11, almost identical. "Flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness," almost identical. In verse 11 of chapter 6, "Flee from these things." What things? Is that the same as youthful lust? Pretty much. He goes back and talks about conceit, controversy, disputes, envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, constant friction, love of money, all those kinds of things. He says run from those toward righteousness. Identify yourself with those of a clean heart.
Now the command here in verse 22 is really one command with two sides...shun youthful passion, that's the negative side...aim at righteousness, that's the positive side. Let's look at it a little more closely. Now, the word "now" is there which transitions us into these things which are going to make us a noble, useful, honorable vessel. First verb, "flee," that's an imperative, it's the Greek verb pheugo in the imperative mode, it's the word from which we get fugitive. Be a fugitive, be on the run, keep on continuously fleeing from youthful lusts. The word "lust" or "desire," epithumia is used many many places in the Scripture. It's a general term, it can be and is sometimes used for a good desire. The intent of the desire is dictated by the context and here the fact that he says flee from this unto righteousness puts it in contrast with that which is right, so he's talking about an evil desire or a desire for evil things. And this is typical of young people. It's not that old people don't have evil desire, it's just that young people have evil desire of a certain kind and Timothy was young and he was identifying with Timothy. Timothy was somewhere between 36 and 42 years of age at this time, probably on the younger end. He was 30 years younger than the Apostle Paul, had a long way to go in the maturing process. And Timothy is told here to flee from youthful lusts.
Now we might think of that purely in the sexual area but it's not just that. It can also include an inordinate craving for money, a tremendous compelling desire for power which leads to jealousy, envy, fighting, an argumentative spirit, a quarreling spirit, self-ascertiveness, self-promotion, ambition, pride, all those things that are part of the virility of youth as it moves toward finding itself and identifying its place in the sun. He says you've got to run from it...all of it. Running from youthful passion may be a physical things sometimes, like in Genesis 39:12 when Joseph ran from the hands of Potiphar's wife and literally physically fled. But it's not really that which the writer has in mind here. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 11, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." He's talking about running from the things that war in your soul. Sometimes the running can be physical but mostly the running is spiritual, mental.
Now I want to say at this point that I believe this deals with an issue in Timothy's life. I alluded to it earlier and I just point it up again, I think Timothy was in a very precarious position personally. I don't think he had sinned some gross kind of sin or he would have been disqualified and replaced by Paul who had already shown that he had replaced men who were unqualified. So I don't want to conclude that Timothy was at this point living in sin. I just think he was in a time of great weakness. As we saw from the first epistle he was timid by nature. We also saw that he was a bit ashamed of being identified with the Apostle Paul because of the price you had to pay to be identified with him. He also seemed to be a bit chagrined about being identified with the Lord who was mocked so frequently in his society. He was concerned about being persecuted. He was concerned about being young and some were no doubt condemning him for his youth because he was trying to step in and set in order a church that no doubt had older men. And in the midst of all this intimidation, Timothy was battling with his own desires as any individual Christian does, his own wrong desires, wrong ambitions. The tendency was to be quarreling and argumentative and fighting and striving rather than to be godly and virtuous. He was battling in his own life, his own integrity and credibility spiritually as well as the issues of the ministry to which he had been thrust. And I think he was in a time of great weakness, a time in chapter 1 of the first epistle where Paul has to say to him...stay away from all these errors and all these false things, hold on to what you know to be true. And he reiterates that to him again in the first chapter of the second epistle. In other words, don't jettison your doctrine. But he was in a very precarious situation, struggling greatly. And so he says to him, "Look, Timothy, run continuously and run fast from youthful lusts." And the flip side of that, "Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace." You can't run from unless you run to...is that not so? You can't run no place. When you left here you went somewhere. And when you ran from you ran to and you run from youthful lust to these virtues.
How do you do that? May I share with you what I believe to be the key? It's found in one lovely statement in Psalm 119 verse 9, "How can a young man keep his way pure? How can he? How can he flee youthful lusts? By keeping it according to Thy Word."
How do you keep your way pure? By regulating it according to the Word of God. Nothing mystical about that. That's submitting to God's Word. That's overcoming evil with good, as Paul says in Romans 12:21. The positive pursuit of what is right, the positive commitment to the Word of God is what keeps the way pure. And so we run from sin toward virtue. And you do that by knowing the Word and by ordering your way according to the word, Psalm 119:9.
Now as you move along, what are you pursuing? Let's look, four things. First of all, you are, present imperative, keep on continually following after...number one...righteousness. I know that word is a theological word but it's so simple, I need only to say it means doing what's right...doing right. By whose standards? God's, living in harmony with God's law, living in harmony with God's Word, living in obedience to God's Word, just what Psalm 119:9 said, by ordering your way according to His Word, constantly pursuing what is right in God's eyes as He has revealed it in His Word. You can't just stand around and run from evil unless you know where you're going and where you're going is toward that which is right as revealed in God's Word. Set it in your mind, beloved, to pursue what is right...to pursue what is right...righteousness.
Secondly, and we could say a lot more about righteousness but for the sake of the grasp of the text we go on to the second one, faith. It's translated faith, a better way to understand it would be to translate it faithfulness. He's not so much talking about faith as the essence of believing as he's talking about faithfulness, loyalty and trustworthiness. Pursue, if you will, integrity, consistency, loyalty to the Word of God, faithfulness to God Himself. What a lovely word is faithfulness. Run after doing what is right, run after being loyal to God, loyal to His Word, loyal to His church. Be a faithful trustworthy person.
The third word is love, agapan(?), there are several words in the Greek that refer to love but this one is the noblest of all because it is the love of choice...it is the love of the will, not the love of the emotion, not the love of affection in a family, not the love even of the impulse and the desires that we know as sexual love. It's not that. It's not that love which is compelled by sexual feelings. It's not that love which is compelled by emotions. It's not that love which is compelled by attraction. It's not that love which is compelled by family affection. It is that love which is authored in the mind. It is the will to love. It is the love of choice...the noblest of all love because it loves whether there is feeling or not. It loves whether there is emotion or not. It loves because it is right to love, it loves because it loves like God loves, who loved those who were His enemies and who loved those who were unlovely, who loved those who were unlovable because it was His nature to love. It's the love of choice, and the love of choice that results in sacrificial selfless service and self-giving on behalf of all those in need. We are to pursue that. We are to pursue doing right. We are to pursue being faithful, loyal, trustworthy people. We are to pursue love so that we are known as those who love God and love men. And our love is not conditioned by any human impulse but our love is built on a will to love, a will controlled by God.
And then peace, the beautiful word eirene from which we get the lovely name Irene...undisturbed harmony, tranquility. He's saying, "Timothy, you're in the midst of a volatile situation." Get this picture. The leaders at the church at Ephesus who having had the best teaching, Paul himself having been their pastor for a number of years and poured his life into them, taught them the whole counsel of God, they were used of God to found the other churches of Asia Minor, tremendous tremendous church. That church at Ephesus with all of that potential had fallen down so tragically. Its leaders were corrupt. Paul himself removed two of them and others had to be removed by Timothy. When Paul gives the standards for an elder in chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, it's polemic. In other words, he says use these against the men that are in leadership there and get them out and the right ones in. He had a tremendous job to do. He was confronting ungodly leadership. He was confronting ungodly living. That's way the word eusebeia or godliness is used so frequently in these epistles.
And in that conflict of bringing righteousness into unrighteousness and holiness against unholiness and godliness against ungodliness, he is reminded that he is to pursue that with an attitude that makes peace, that brings tranquility, that generates harmony. Is that not part of the fruit of the Spirit? Along with love and joy, is peace? And so he says you must pursue these things, righteousness, loyalty, love and harmony.
And then he adds this, "With those who call on the Lord." Now let me just take that phrase. "With those who call on the Lord." What does it mean to call on the Lord? That's another way of expressing salvation. That's the definition of a Christian. We are those who call on the Lord. We call on the Lord for grace. We call on the Lord for mercy. We call on the Lord for forgiveness. We call on the Lord for pardon. We call on the Lord for power and strength and wisdom. We call on the Lord for our needs to be met. We call on the Lord for the hope of heaven. We call on the Lord for life after death, for strength in trials. We are those who call on the Lord.
In fact, back in Romans salvation is so defined as calling on the name of the Lord. Romans chapter 10, "There is no distinction between Jew and Greek," verse 12, "the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. For...verse 13 says...whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved...verse 14...how then shall they call upon Him on whom they have not believed," and so forth. So calling upon the name of the Lord is the equivalent of placing saving faith in Him. We then are those who call on the Lord. So he is saying, "Look, along with everybody else who calls on the Lord, you need to pursue these things, and particularly you since you set the standard...you set the pattern."
In 1 Corinthians also, verses 1 and 2 of the first chapter, "Paul as an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes our brother to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ...their Lord and ours." That's just the definition of a Christian. A Christian is somebody who calls on the name of the Lord.
But not everybody who calls on the name of the Lord, not everybody who is a believer is doing so from a pure heart. Christians can sin and become defiled. And what he is saying is again reminiscent of the first point, make sure that you're doing this pursuing along with those who name His name and have a pure heart. That pure heart has to do with sincerity, genuineness, godliness. Clean hearts pursue righteousness. Clean hearts pursue loyalty. Clean hearts pursue love. Clean hearts pursue harmony. Those are the ones, he says, for you to associate with.
You want to be an honorable vessel? Is your soul desire to be used of God? To build His Kingdom? Do you want to be one who is useful, zealous? Then there are some things that have to happen. You must maintain a pure fellowship and you must maintain a clean heart. You must pursue what is right and run from what is wrong. You see, your usefulness to God has much more to do with who you are than what you know. It has everything to do with your purity, your holiness, your virtue.
I just really want to close at this point, we have several remaining points which we'll cover next Lord's day. I hate to leave the visiting pastors out so we have your names and addresses, we'll send you a free tape just so you get the whole thing. But I just want to ask one question in parting this morning, it's the question I asked you some time back, do you want to be an honorable vessel? Now be honest. Some of you are content with less. Some of you are indifferent. If you're indifferent to what I've said to you this morning, God help you. If your sole desire isn't to be used of God, there's something greatly wrong in your life. What else is there to live for? So ask yourself, do I want to be an honorable vessel, set apart, useful to the Master, ready to do every good work...every good work He would give? Let's bow together in prayer.
In the moment of quietness, you look in your own heart and ask the question...do I want to be an honorable vessel? A useful tool? And if the question doesn't even interest you, God help you. If the answer is yes, God bless you. If it's yes, then you know what the first two steps are and they're comprehensive enough to make the whole difference. Make a commitment to be a part of a pure fellowship, even if that means I have to say to some of my friends, "I know you're Christians but your influence is not good in my life," and bring upon them the shame that should be brought. And secondly, say, "I want to have a clean heart," that is to say I want to pursue with all my might in the power of God doing what is right, being loyal to God, loving God and others and everywhere I go creating peace and harmony. Are you a peacemaker? A lover of God? Loyal and trustworthy? Committed to doing what's right at all costs? If you are, you're going to be an honorable vessel.
Take a moment to just talk to the Lord and let His Spirit speak with you.
Father, we pray that You'll work in all of our hearts and give us a fresh commitment to be what You want us to be for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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This sermon series includes the following messages:
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text:
Every year I love to make handmade ornaments for my family and friends. Usually I plan what I am going to make, go out and buy supplies, then get to crafting. Not this year- I am going to use only what I have on hand! And I have LOTS of fabrics on hand. So here you are- some easy Patchwork Christmas Ornaments.
First off, don't limit yourself to Christmas ornaments on this project. You could make them into any seasonal ornaments you want or even into coasters. Make them a little bigger and they can be place mats! I thought doing them in fall colors and a pumpkin cutout I could make some really pretty coasters!
First off I found all my red and green fabric from my stash and started cutting. I cut my patchwork pieces into 3/4" squares in order to make a finished ornament of 3" X 3". Then lay them out in a pattern you like. I chose to off-set my columns so I didn't have to worry about lining up all those tiny corners.
First step- take two squares- hold them right side together- sew with a 1/4" seam allowance.
Then take the next piece, hold it right side together with the piece you want it to border and sew.
Once you get your first column done, press all seams to the side. I like to use spray starch to help get it flat.
Sew all of your columns. Place them right side together next to each other, line up the seams with the center of the adjacent columns squares. Sew with 1/4" seam allowance.
Once all of your columns are pieced, spray with starch and press seams flat. Trim around edges to make a square.
For the overlay I used t-shirt fabric so that it wouldn't fray. I cut out the square and centered a stencil of the shape that I wanted over it. I used hearts and stars. Trace the shape and cut out the inside portion so that you have a square with a heart cutout in the middle of it.
Use spray adhesive to hold the overlay in place on your patchwork piece. Stitch in contrasting color around edge of cutout.
Cut matching size square for backing on the ornament. I like to add a little bit of personalization so I embroidered "Love, Zoe" on the backs. Cut ribbon or cording for your hanger- pin in between the backing and your front piece. Sew around edge of the whole ornament. Use pinking shears to trim the edges.
Give as gifts or keep some for yourself. If you don't want to do the patchwork part, doing a solid or pattern as the background works well too. Or you can pieces strips or diagonals, however you want to do it! Have fun with it!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you can find some cute things to make out of this tutorial!
Linking with these great parties!

subset: commoncrawl


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Close tabs right of current
by schizunio
The extension provides functionality of closing tabs that are right (or left) of current (focused) tab, that is known from Chrome browser.
It's compatible with both Opera 11 and 12.
Usage: click the extension button on the toolbar, to close all tabs that are right/left of the current tab. To choose which side will be closed (right or left) go to the preferences page and choose one option.
It's not fancy, nor sophisticated - just to work.
Known limitations:
- you can't have both (left and right) buttons - Opera extensions are limited to 1 button only
- in Opera 11 it won't work when current tab is speed dial (or any other 'special' tab, because of Opera extension API - they can't be accessed); also, it won't close those kind of tabs
After installing, restart your browser (so it would work with tabs opened before installing).
About other things:
- no, I can't do a right-click (context) menu in the tabs, for this functionality - extensions in Opera can't do it
- no, I won't make a shortcut - it's somewhat hacking the Opera, and extensions in Opera don't allow it
- no, I won't make another version of this - because I don't understand the need for having both 'close left of' and 'close right of' buttons (can anybody present me a use case for using both?). Extension is free to modify, and you could make your own if you want.
- This extension can modify or add functionality to one or more websites.
Feedback from users
Reviews and ratings
Has previously worked well. Nowadays it happens from time to time that all tabs shut down when you press the button.
Tab Close Plus can close left and right tabs and much more.
See: https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/tab-close-plus/?display=en
I wonder what the most obvious use of this extension would be... heheheheh
Is it possible to create another version to close tabs left of current, (I know that it's possible to set this version to close tabs left of current) so I can install both versions (right and left) and then I could have 2 buttons and close tabs left/right with just one click.
не пойму, при нажатии на кнопку Close tabs right of current закрывается вкладка которая находится справа от активной и это супер кайф? да мне не сложно заглянуть на эту вкладку что там есть и если она не нужна тогда закрыть вручную нажав на крестик
Opera 15 please
This is a very useful extension when you have many open pages and need only a few of them. You can simply rearrange your tabs by dragging needed pages to the beginning of the tab bar and leave active last one of them. Now when all unnecessary pages are to the right of active one you close them all with this extension. (just as in Chrome)
5/5: You can't expect to throw every niche functionality in the context menu. Works just fine as it is.
Perfect this was the only but strong missing plus from chrome


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TORONTO — The Kashruth Council of Canada is defending itself against allegations that it's pressuring a group of mashgichim to give back money it was ordered to pay them by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
On Aug. 16, a ministry inspection found that over a five-month period in 2011, the Kashruth Council, which oversees the COR kosher symbol, had violated the Employment Standards Act with respect to minimum wage, public holiday pay, vacation time, work hours, and public holidays.
The ministry ordered the Kashruth Council to pay more than $10,000 in total to 58 present and former mashgichim (kashrut supervisors), which it did.
However, on Oct. 23, the agency's director of operations, Jay Spitzer, sent an email to the 58 mashgichim, warning of a "protracted mediation process" – a reference to its appeal of the ministry's ruling before the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) – and urging them to help shorten this process by signing a settlement agreement waiving their claim and returning the money.
The email said that "in order to complete this process, the OLRB requires that all the employees… sign the attached." It did not advise the mashgichim to seek independent counsel.
Two days later, on Oct. 25, Spitzer's email, along with the ministry's order to pay, was leaked to FailedMessiah.com, an anti-haredi blog. It published the documents and claimed the Kashruth Council was pressuring employees to give back the money awarded to them by the ministry.
The Kashruth Council told The CJN that its supervisors are paid above and beyond the law, that ministry inspectors made calculation errors in determining the $10,000 figure, and that there has been no pressure on workers to sign over the money.
Spokesperson Richard Rabkin said that as of last Friday, 55 of the 58 kashrut supervisors named by the ministry inspection had signed the document. (The organization currently employs some 100 mashgichim, mostly part time.)
Rabkin said the negative publicity surrounding this issue stems entirely from a personal vendetta by a disgruntled former kashrut supervisor named Morley Rand, who was not among the 58 named in the ministry inspection report.
In a separate but related case in 2011 involving Rand, the Kashruth Council argued before the OLRB that its mashgichim were "holders of religious office," which would have exempted them from the Employment Standards Act (ESA) entirely. The OLRB ruled that at least some mashgichim are regular employees and must be compensated accordingly.
In a statement on its website, the Kashruth Council said its overtime policy already meets the criteria for, in the words of a September 2010 ministry report, "a greater right or benefit to the employees" under the provisions of the ESA. It pays its mashgichim overtime after 10 hours on any given shift, instead of after a 44-hour week, as the ESA requires. It said it also offers mashgichim "generous" twice-yearly holiday bonuses. "Our mashgichim… are the lifeblood of our organization and our community."
The Kashruth Council told The CJN that calculation errors account for most of the $10,000 the ministry said it owed to the 58 mashgichim.
For example, Rabkin explained, in the case of "working mashgichim," who are paid in part by the Kashruth Council and in part by the establishments they supervise, the ministry inspector would have only seen the council's portion, making it look like those mashgichim were getting less than minimum wage.
In an Aug. 27 email to all Kashruth Council mashgichim following the inspection, Spitzer said that "[the Ministry of Labour] officer who conducted the audit made her best effort to understand COR's payroll/employment system, but the complexities of our setup are not easily absorbed."
In an email to The CJN, Rabkin explained that when "when they realized that most of the findings of the audit were due to clerical errors in how the auditor captured COR's data, a few of the affected mashgichim contacted the OLRB to inform the OLRB that they had no interest in pursuing the action. The OLRB itself raised the idea… that if the affected employees signed a release saying that they were not interested in pursuing the action, then the action would not proceed."
He said most of the 58 mashgichim named by ministry were owed "insignificant" amounts, generally $5 or less.
One was owed $3,000 and the rest were owed $7,000 in total.
"The one mashgiach… owed a significant amount [$3,000] was Michael Klein."
The Kashruth Council provided The CJN with a letter from Klein saying that he was "aware of the advantage of the overtime policy" and that he's proud to work for COR. The letter concludes, "I am hoping… 'Shalom,' i.e. peace, will prevail in this matter."
Klein, a current Kashruth Council mashgiach, did not reply to a request from The CJN to clarify the circumstances or reasons for writing the letter and returning the funds.
One mashgiach, who spoke to The CJN but asked not to be identified, said he was cautioned by a friend not to sign the document: "Who knows what you're signing?"
He said Kashruth Council staff then paid him a visit at work. "They surrounded me, they pulled out my [unsigned waiver]" and others' signed forms. "They're showing me this one, this one, 'You know him? Why don't you sign?'" They left, saying, "'I hope you'll do the right thing,' [but later, called] me back: 'We're still waiting.'"
The intensity of those demands seemed disproportionate to him. "Something must… be up if they really want my signature. That's the scary part… They're saying I'm the only one that didn't sign. They're really desperate… and it beats me. I don't have any idea why."
But Rabkin said no mashgiach was coerced. "COR… would never engage in any reprisal against an employee who chose not to withdraw or assert their rights."
A statement of support for the agency, which was posted on its website and signed by more than 40 mashgichim, reads, "COR pays us overtime pay. COR pays us public holiday pay, vacation pay and all other compensation… we are disturbed by the efforts of a few individuals to distort COR's pay policy."
Most of the signatures weren't from the 58 mashgichim named in the ministry order.
Suggesting that the online story was maliciously leaked by Rand because he holds a grudge against the Kashruth Council, Rabkin asked, "Why is one person… whipping up so much negativity towards a non-profit [community] institution?"
Speaking to The CJN, Rand replied: "It's simple: follow the law. Why are they any different than anybody else? If they change and become the agency they should be… honest, treating employees with respect and paying them properly, I've… won. That's my 'vendetta.'"
An OLRB spokesperson said the board can't comment on specific cases, which are confidential, but added it does advocate trying to reach a settlement in such instances.


text:
WeCareToo Home Page
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Placing an ad with WeCareToo is simple. You choose the size of ad you want and complete an online ad form. You can pay by Mastercard or Visa using secure online processing through PayPal. You can pay by check payable to TWT Marketing, Inc. TWT Marketing, Inc. will acknowledge receipt of your ad request and payment, post your ad to the WeCareToo site and notify you when it is up. They will also forward us as much as 80% of your ad fee for our use in carrying on our activities.
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BOSTON, June 27 (UPI) -- Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was indicted on charges of using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people, U.S. prosecutors said.
The federal grand jury returned a 30-count indictment against Tsarnaev, NBC News said.
Tsarnaev, 19, was accused of setting off two bombs near the finish line of the marathon April 15 with the help of his brother Tamerlan, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. The brothers were from the Caucasus region in Russia.
Three people died in the blasts. Investigators said they believe the brothers killed a university police officer in the days after the attack as they tried to evade capture.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured after a massive manhunt in the Boston area after Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police.


text:
University Marketing
Western Illinois University Marketing
The office of University Marketing works in support of the president and University Advancement. University Marketing works closely with University Relations, Document and Publication Services, the Internet Advisory Committee, Admissions, the College Marketers, other University unit marketers and is charged with the following functions:
- Establish and promote a consistent brand for Western Illinois University (WIU).
- Safeguard the integrity of the brand.
- Develop and promote a design and messaging strategy that supports the University's brand, including the University's core values of academic excellence, educational opportunity, personal growth and social responsibility.
- Communicate and integrate the University's brand and messaging strategy across the University including both campuses, the colleges, and other university units.
- Communicate and promote the University's brand and key messages to our internal audiences, and our external audiences of alumni, donors, and prospective students and their parents through a variety of advertising and promotional mediums.
- Serve as a resource for units across the University.
- Promote WIU and its Macomb campus locally, regionally and nationally.
- Manage the University's trademark and licensing program.
Quick Links
- Trademark/Licensing
Logo/Wordmark Request Form
- Style Guide
- Official Logos/Wordmarks
- Correct Logo Usage
- Incorrect Logo Usage
Logo Creation Policy
- Table Drapes
- University Marketing Working Group
University Marketing
Suzanne Pritchard, Director
Sue Schoonover, Administrative Clerk/Marketing Assistant
Sherman Hall 303
Phone: (309) 298-1861
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
The South Carolina Youth Soccer Annual General Meeting took place this past Saturday at the Doubletree by Hilton in Columbia.
This year's elections were for the positions of President and Secretary. Hans Pauling ran unopposed looking for a second term as SC Youth Soccer President and Clay Turner, who has been the SC Youth Soccer Midstate Commissioner for the past 2 years, was elected as the SC Youth Soccer Secretary for the next 2 years.
After a report from Rick Cunningham, SC Youth Soccer Treasurer, and Pullen Insurance we entered into our breakout sessions. As with every year these sessions were full of lively debate. Each group spoke about a different level of play, there was a recreation group, a junior academy/classic group and a challenge/premier league group.
We then recognized our award winners for the 2013/14 Seasonal Year:
Publix Parent of the Year: Karen Leader
Boys Competitive Coach of the Year: Kevin Roberts
Boys Recreation Coach of the Year: Dwaine Wilson
Girls Competitive Coach of the Year: Shannon Champ
Girls Recreation Coach of the Year: Jurgen Wagner
Male Youth Referee of the Year: Anthony Schultz
Female Youth Referee of the Year: Brigitte Rosier
Male Andy Stone Scholarship Recipient: Thomas Roberts
Female Andy Stone Scholarship Recipient: Caroline Cashion
Administrator of the Year: Alex Koutrakous
We had BY FAR our most ever nominations for each award, so thank you to all of those who submitted a nomination!
The SC Youth Soccer AGM is the official start to the 2014/15! Have a great year everyone and good luck to all teams in the state!


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You're smart, ambitious and focused. You're willing to invest the time to enhance or transition your professional career into something better. You know a graduate degree in business is your ticket to the job and the salary you want, in a field that excites you. For you, career success means more than just a financially rewarding job. It's about making a positive, sustainable impact on the world.
Career Services for Graduate Students
- Career Coaching
- Major Exploration & Career Direction
- Self-Assessments
- Developing a Job Search Plan
- HireSmith Online Recruiting System/Job Database
- The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants BlueSteps Partnership
- Finding an Internship
- Resume & Cover Letter Advice
- Networking
- Interviewing Skills
- Evaluating & Negotiating Job Offers
- Mock Interviews
- Walk-in Hours
- Peer-to-Peer Mentoring
- On-Campus Recruiting
- Target Job Search Management Technology
- Soft Skill Development
Placement Statistics
The employment data provided broadly groups students by their career choices as defined by industry, function and location. This report for full-time MBA placement statistics conforms to the MBA Career Services Council (CSC) standards for reporting MBA statistics.


text:
The food at Sunrise, which happens to be the first Okinawan restaurant I've ever visited, was good and I'll be back for sure, but the best part of lunch wasn't even the food. It was the conversation Shann, Marie, and I overheard. Seated at the table next to us that afternoon were three people: a mother, her child (about 4 years old?), and the grandmother.
When the bill came, the mom rushed to pay for it, but the grandma was also quick, pulling out her pocketbook and insisting on paying for lunch. But the mom refused to let her mom do so, saying, "Mom, it's your birthday. Don't pay!" The grandma still tried to pay, but the mom was faster cause she was younger, and mom ended up paying in the end. You could tell the grandma was really thankful, perhaps she was thinking in her mind, "I've raised a good daughter." And I hope that we all continue to take our mothers out for their birthdays when they're older, because I think it will mean a lot to them.
After the mom paid the check, the family sat there for a little longer talking and packing the leftover food in containers. The little boy was entertaining himself by playing with the little green crocs on his feet – such a cute child! And then all of a sudden he yells out to his mom, "I love YOU!" OMG. It was The Funniest I Love You of all time. He had all the emphasis on the wrong words so it sounded like he was yelling at his mom instead of telling her that he loved her. Our whole table cracked up. It was so funny. That totally made my day. The mom also laughed and looked at her son, "you love me?" she asked.
The son paused, glanced at the half eaten candy bar in his hand and said, "I love you CRUNCHY!" Bwahahahaha! The mom and grandma both started to laugh. It made no sense, he loves her crunchy?? We looked at the boy. And then at the candy bar. The mom did the same…ah-hah! The mom asked, "you mean, you like it (the candy bar) crunchy?" LOL! The boy paused. Confused. Then understanding. Ahhh. He had good intentions.
The yakisoba pictured above is different from your usual yakisoba in that this dish is made using Okinawan soba noodles, which are similar to flattened Japanese udon noodles. Read Reid's review here for a closer look at the noodles. Not too greasy, and a good helping of spam, this was simple and satisfying.
Sunrise is well known for their oxtail soup, but they were out that day. So instead we had the sparerib soup, which is cooked exactly like oxtail soup, and accompanied by a small dish of minced ginger. The soup was light, and savory, abundant with cilantro and four massive chunks of tender ribs. The ribs could have been cooked longer, but I've got no major complaints. Did I mention how friendly the service was? I felt like I was sitting in my grandma's kitchen…or something to that extent. The interior of the restaurant is well worn, but cozy and clean at the same time.
Simmered pork, tofu and bean sprouts in a shoyu-mirin based broth, this dish called for a big bowl of hot rice, which was promptly delivered with the dish. During the busy lunch hour we only saw two people working in the restaurant, an elderly father who did all the cooking, and his son who did the front of the house work. I love local family businesses like this. Even when the food is not up to expectations (which rarely happens), you still feel really good about supporting such restaurants.
Quite content with lunch, we strolled on over to Waiola's II next door for some shave ice. This location isn't nearly as good as the original Waiola's in Moillili. The girl behind the counter also seemed unhappy to be working there, never breaking the smallest smile. It never hurts to smile!
But the plus side to this location is that there is more room for seating. But our timing was a bit off as four boys took 'our' seats just as we walked in. "Awww man, poopy on those guys sitting in our seats," I thought. 10 minutes later I found out that it was my cousin sitting in that seat! He's the shirtless one on the right. Talk about small island!
I had the lilikoi and calpico shave ice, no mochi balls or ice cream this time, cause I was pretty full from lunch. It's always hard deciding among flavors, cause there are a TON of options. For the most part, my mainstay flavors are: lychee, lilikoi, haupia, calpico, green tea, POG…and once in a big while, I'll feel like getting a rainbow. There's seriously nothing better than shave ice on a hot day!
Sunrise Restaurant
525 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 737-4118
For me, leafing through a recently-released compendium of teas with many first-flush single-origin varieties is akin to salivating over those luscious photos of vegetables in a seed-seller's catalogue: Each entry promising something new, summoning a hopeful if guarded belief in Nature and the growing conditions of my garden. What will the … Continue reading
The post Teasing the Cocoa Notes Out of Tea appeared first on T Ching.


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Web Exclusive!
"I sort of wanted a Barracuda, but a 1970 Cuda was out of the question. This car was neat since you don't see too many of them around these days."–Jerry Hand
Mopar Power
- Engine: The motor is a 1970s-era 360, worked with a Comp Cams hydraulic bumpstick, Edelbrock intake/carburetor outfit, electronic ignition, headers, and dress up parts.
- Transmission: Rebuilt 904 TorqueFlite with reverse valve body
- Differential: 8¾ with 3.23 gear and Sure Grip.
- Horsepower and Performance: Conservative estimate is about 350 off the crank.
Sure Grip
- Suspension: Stock with air shocks
- Brakes: Rebuilt stock drums
- Wheels: Factory 14-inch Rallye road wheels.
High Impact
- Body: The body work was already done when Jerry bought it.
- Paint: Paint is a Red hue accented by a racing stripe over the top.
- Interior: The front buckets are now spaced by an aftermarket shifter by B&M. The original dash panel has been replaced, and is now full of Equis gauges to monitor the vital signs.
- Best Performance: Show awards, including the first-ever Ronnie Sox Memorial Cup.


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Ken Pattern is a Canadian artist currently residing in Jakarta, Indonesia. He attended Emily Carr College of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design), where he majored in printmaking. Having no access to printmaking facilities in Jakarta, Pattern creates ink drawings and paintings, and frequently returns to Vancouver to create stone lithographs at Malaspina Printmakers. He began documenting local scenes in Jakarta when he moved there in 1988. Since he arrived, Jakarta has changed dramatically, and his work has shifted to document these transformations. Pattern's work features finely detailed landscapes and narrative scenes of Indonesia and Canada that contrast modernity and traditional culture, and explores conflicts between humans and nature. He has shown his artwork in North America, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
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Baked campfire apples
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prep: 0:10 | cook 0:25
- 6 green apples
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- This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, Australia's best recipe finder.


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Twitter's New Prompt: A Linguist Weighs In
Twitter today announced it will prompt users to post by asking "What's happening?" rather than the old "What are you doing?" We asked a prominent linguist if this means anything. Turns out it does: Twitterers are no longer such loners.
In short, Twitter's new slogan reflects the microblogging service's evolution from a venue for self expression into a forum for conversation, according to Welsh linguist David Crystal. Crystal seemed an ideal expert to consult on Twitter's new phrasing: he has written or contributed to more than 100 books on language, including on internet linguistics, and examined the text-messaging culture from which Twitter was born in his most recent work, the appropriately-titled Txtng: The Gr8 Db8.
Here is what Crystal emailed us about the significance of Twitter's change in phrasing:
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So Twitter's users have, at the very least, moved beyond mere navel gazing and into arguing. Way to go, narcissists!


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Note: This Textkit Tutorial was originally published on Textkit September 24, 2003. Introduction This is a brief tutorial about the Latin Noun which seeks to accommodate those fortunate visitors who would like to experience the beauty of this immortal language. … Continue reading
Posted in Tutorials Tagged Dr. Biagio Vella, Latin Noun, Tutorials Comments Off on The Latin Noun by Dr. Biagio Vella


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Scientists have concluded the checkout period for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and are now revealing images showcasing the power of the much-improved observatory. In this zoom sequence, Hubble's new Wide Field Camera 3 focuses its attention on a group of five galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet. Three of the galaxies are interacting, while one of the galaxies actually lies about seven times closer to Earth than the rest of the group. The wide range of colors in the image depicts the varying ages of the stars.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
Publication: September 9, 2009


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Home > Glossary > Sound Production and Manipulation [SPM] > Amplification > English definition
The process of producing an increase in the energy of a sound or an audio signal. This may be accomplished by means of an electronic amplifier or by means of an acoustic resonator, such as the sound box of a musical instrument, an ear-trumpet, etc. Attaching (i.e. coupling) a vibrating object to another surface, such as a soundboard, wall or floor, will result in a more efficient transfer of energy, and hence this process may also be termed amplification. Amplification or gain may be measured in decibels. (Source: Barry Truax - Handbook for Acoustic Ecology CD-ROM Edition. Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999 - CSR-CDR 9901)
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Dont want deletion in logistic regre...
Mplus Discussion
Missing Data Modeling
Calvin Croy
posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 - 1:42 pm
I tried running a logistic regression by specifying "Type is Missing H1" and "Extimation is ML" in hope that this would let me avoid listwise deletion. Note that I did NOT specify Type is Logistic. Nevertheless, Mplus implemented listwise deletion:13 observations with missing values for the dependent variable were omitted, as well as 37 that had missing values for one or more of my 3 predictors.
I would like to find out why the listwise deletion was still implemented. I think it has something to do with what you say in the User's Guide: "In all models, missingness is not allowed for the observed covariates because they are not part of the model. The outcomes are modeled conditional on the covariates and the covariates have no distributional asumption. Covariate missingness can be modeled if the covariates are explicitly brought into the model and given a distributional asumption".
My questions:
1. Am I right that the above quote explains why the listwise deletion was implemented? Or did I do something wrong in my Mplus code (everything converged fine and I got all the parameter estimates)?
2. Could you elaborate upon the above quote? I'm still not clear what is going on mathematically that would allow FIML to work around the missing data for a MIMIC analysis but not for a logistic regression.
3. If the above quote is applicable to the logistic regression, could you explain why the covariates (predictors) are considered outside the model?
4. If I were to bring the covariates into the model and give them distributional assumptions, could I avoid listwise deletion? If yes, I would appreciate your showing me how to do this. In the analysis I attempted, all the predictors were dichotomous and in future models all additional predictors would be normally distributed.
5.Is there a way to print out the comments on this discussion board without having the rightmost margin cut off? I'd like to be able to turn off displaying the menu that runs down the left side (topics, last day, last 3 days, etc). Or is there a special print button for the discussion comments that I haven't found?
Thanks so very much for your assistance. I really appreciate your help.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 - 2:54 pm
1. That sounds like the reason.
2. When you say MIMIC analysis, I think you mean TYPE=GENERAL. If TYPE=GENERAL, all variables are treated as y variables and distributional assumptions are made about them. This is not the case with maximum likelihood with categorical outcomes. You will have to bring the variables into the model and make distribtional assumptions about them if you do not want them to be deleted.
3. As in regular regression, the means, variances, and covariances of the covariates are estimated as part of the model. This is the same situation.
4. Yes. Mention their variances in the MODEL command.
5. I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this. I would copy what I want to print and paste in Notepad and then print it.
Calvin Croy
posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 8:05 am
1. You say in point #2 of your response that I need to make distributional assumptions about the variables if I don't want them deleted. Could you please explain what distributional assumptions you are referring to? Whether the variables are dichotomous or continuous? That the underlying populations have particular means, variances, and covariances that I specify? Do I need to specify particular values for means, variances, and covariances that I believe are the parametric values in the population my sample came from? Do I use these as starting values? Do I need to include these assumed parametric values when all my predictors are dichotomous?
2. If I had 1 dichotomous dependent variable, 2 categorical predictors, and 1 continuous predictor in the logistic regression, could you please spell out for me what you mean in your response point #4 when you say "Mention their variances in the model"? Am I supposed to calculate the variances of all 3 predictors using my sample data and specify those variances in the model somehow? What should be the specific wording of the lines in my Model command? Sorry, I need a lot of hand-holding!
In my first request I am trying to determine what assumptions I need to make in order to avoid the listwise deletion, and then I can see whether I think they're reasonable. In my second request, provided I am willing to make the assumptions, I am trying to figure out exactly how to implement what you've suggested.
Thank you again for all your assistance.
posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 11:01 am
Missingness in covariates can be handled by adding to the original logistic regression model an assumption of (for example) normality for the covariates. Imputation techniques often use this assumption as a proxy even when some covariates are dichotomous.
Say that you have the logisitic regression model u on x1-x3. To bring x1-x3 into the model, applying the normality assumption, you mentioning their variances by simply saying
Calvin Croy
posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 3:32 pm
Thanks for your response. I am familiar with how dichotomous data are often imputed using multiple imputation methods for continuous data.
Could you please elaborate about what your phrase "mentioning their variances" implies?
If I just say x1-x3 in the model command as you show above, you indicate that I will be making an assumption that the predictors are normally distributed, which is fine.
However, what assumptions about the variances of x1-x3 would I be making?
1. If in my sample data x1 has a variance of 2, x2 has a variance of 10, and x3 has a variance of .703, am I building a model that assumes the population has these exact variances?
2.Or would I be assuming that x1-x3 each has a variance of 1 (i.e. they have standard normal distributions)? Or that they have some other particular variance?
3. If the answer to #1 is Yes (i.e. the model rests on the assumption that the population variances are 2, 10, and .703), then how can I tell to what extent the odds ratios and standard errors are accurate if the true population variances are far from these assumed values?
Once again, I appreciate your help!
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 9:20 am
saying x1-x3; is harmless. The variances will be freely estimated without any restriction. It is simply an Mplus "trick" to bring the x's into the model in terms of giving them a distributional assumption.
Calvin Croy
posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 10:04 am
This is very good news. Assuming I don't want to impute (which I have done a lot of and have published on that subject), I'm now faced with deciding whether to run the logistic regression in Mplus or use SAS/SPSS/Stata. I'm inclined to use Mplus since it would let me avoid listwise deletion, but want to check a few more things with you first.
1. So if I understand all you've said, the only "drawback" for running this type of logistic regression where I've listed the predictors to have their variances freely estimated (for example by specifying x1 -x3 in the previous example) is that I must assume they are normally distributed? This sounds too good to be true as a way of avoiding listwise deletion.
2. If I'm willing to make this normality assumption for the predictors, would there be any drawbacks to running the logistic regression in Mplus to avoid the listwise deletion compared to doing the analysis in SPSS or SAS? I'm just referring to computational algorithms here, not the output content or ease of use. Though I really want odds ratios, I can calculate them from the Mplus output.
3. Being able to avoid listwise deletion in Mplus would seem to give it a real advantage over SAS, SPSS, and Stata (which I believe always invoke listwise deletion for logistic regressions, but maybe not in Proc Mixed, Proc Genmod, Proc Probit, or Catmod). Do you agree that this ability to avoid listwise deletion gives Mplus an edge?
4. If I had normally distributed predictors where the missing data were Missing at Random (but not necessarily Missing Completely at Random), wouldn't I get superior estimates of the regression coefficients out of Mplus rather than using SAS with listwise deletion?
5. I assume I could also run multiple regression in Mplus and avoid listwise deletion too if I'm willing to assume normality and list the predictors so they're brought into the model. Correct? (i.e. what works for logistic regression would also work for multiple regression)
Thank you again so very much for all your help.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 9:26 am
Your statements sound correct. With logistic regression, bringing the covariates into the model estimation may lead to numerical integration which can be computationally heavy depending on the number of covariates, the size of the sample, etc.
Calvin Croy
posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 2:03 pm
Yes, I had to use the Monte Carlo integration to get my test program to run.
I have appreciated your help. Thank you!
Dustin Pardini
posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 6:46 am
I am running a poisson regression using an MLR estimator with missing data on the IVs and DV. I would like to use the "type = missing" command with numerical integration to handle the missingness. Some of the IVs are categorical (binary) and have minial missingness. However, when I bring all of the IVs into the model, this assumes they are all normally distributed.
Would it be more appropriate to use the categorical command to specificy the binary IVs as categorical? The model runs and provides sensible results when I do this, but the output describes the categorical IVs as dependent variables in the model.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 9:32 am
If you use the CATEGORICAL option, they are brought in just as in the first situation and treated as y's but in addition they are treated as categorical y's. In regression, covariates can be binary or continuous and in both cases, they are treated as continuous. So I don't think you should put them on the CATEGORICAL list.
Dustin Pardini
posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 10:22 am
Thanks for the advice Linda. However, when I bring the covariates into the model I get the following error message.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 11:04 am
You would need to send your input, data, output, and license number to
for me to answer that.
Amanda Barczyk
posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 - 6:07 am
I am doing CFA and SEM models for my dissertation. I was having a problem with the missing data (cases were being deleting instead of using all available data used). So, I used the technique you posted above "bring x1-x3 into the model, applying the normality assumption, you mentioning their variances by simply saying
I was hoping you could give me a little more information about what this actually does for my missing data. I am using weights and therefore am also using "ESTIMATOR=MLR;" and the model is not able to run without this syntax so I do not believe your above technique is a separate way of dealing with missing data other than maximum likelihood however I am not sure. Could you please provide a little bit more detail (or a citation) on what this does?
Thank you very much!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, February 03, 2011 - 1:00 pm
Including the variances in the MODEL command causes the variables to be treated as dependent variables in the estimation of the model rather than estimating the model conditioned on these variables and making no distributional assumptions about them. This is also done in multiple imputation.
I don't know why the model would not run without this syntax. You should send the output and your license number to
FN briere
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 9:22 am
Hi, when using FIML estimation to deal with missing data in logistic or linear regression by bringing covariates in the model, I typically get the following type of error message, which was already reported in this tread:
I am a bit surprised at how often I get this message, with different sets of covariates (which are mostly relatively normally distributed or binary) and not necessarily with a large number of covariates.
I don't know if this is a typical problem or not, but I'd be interested in knowing what tends to cause this and if there are general strategies to limit these types of problems (other than using MI instead to deal with missing data).
Thank you in advance,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 1:37 pm
This may be due to binary covariates. If so, it is because the mean and variance of binary variables are not orthogonal. This causes the identification message and can be ignored if this is the reason.
FN briere
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 3:21 pm
yes, this seems to be the case. I do not get these messages when binary covariates are removed.
What's tricky is that when they are included, the error message is not necessarily related to these binary covariates. Does not make it easy to identify the issue.
Thank you for the quick reply,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 3:44 pm
In most cases that I have seen, it points to the variance of the binary variable in TECH1.
FN briere
posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - 7:06 am
Hi again,
I've made several tests over the last week and results are constant. In my data:
1) Error messages occur automatically when one or more binary variable is included;
2) The error message does not necessarily relate to the binary variable. In fact, it tends to relate to the last parameter in the PSI matrix in TECH1, whatever the variable is as the exact parameter involved changes if the order of covariates is changed... This can be a non-binary covariate which causes no problem when no binary variable is included (whatever the combination of non-binary covariates is);
3) I do not get error messages when binary variables are not included, even if covariates are categorical variables with more than 2 categories;
Overall, this leads me to believe that issues of non identification are related to the binary covariates. Hope this helps the thinking of others who encounter similar issues
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 8:54 am
It is correct that the error message may not point to the binary variable that is the cause of the message. The issue is that for a binary variable the mean, say p, is mathematically related to the variance, p(1-p). That doesn't mean that the model is non-identified. It is a useful error message because with missing data on a binary variable, mentioning its variance the binary variable is treated as a continuous-normal variable and this can result in biased parameter estimates. Multiple imputation in Mplus may be better because you can specify that the variable is categorical.
Marie Nancy Seraphin
posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 - 9:13 am
I am new to Mplus. I have read the post here which apply to a problem I have running a logistic regression model with missing data on my covariates.
I would like to use the FIML to offset the effect of missingness. I would also like to specify the variance in the model statement as mentioned above to make distributional assumptions. However, I am not sure how to actually code these commands.
My model comment right now looks like this:
y on x1-x14;
Please Help!
Thank you
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 - 10:11 am
y on x1-x14;
Marie Nancy Seraphin
posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 - 11:22 am
Thank you very much.
Sara Geven
posted on Sunday, November 29, 2015 - 3:48 am
Dear all,
I want to predict a model which contains two endogeneous variables with missing values: ability of students and their socio economic status. As these two variables are related to each other, I was thinking about including a covariance between these two variables (instead of estimating their variances). In this way these variables also become part of the model, respondents with missings are kept, and I take into account their relatedness. Is this approach okay?
Thank you in advance!
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Sunday, November 29, 2015 - 11:05 am
Do you mean that the two variables are exogenous as opposed to endogenous?
Sara Geven
posted on Monday, November 30, 2015 - 12:33 am
Dear Prof. Muthen,
Yes, I am sorry. Stupid mistake. I meant exogenous.
I am also wondering whether it is advisable to predict other exogeneous variables on the exogeneous variables with missings (instead of just prediciting their variances/ covariances)?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, November 30, 2015 - 5:39 pm
Yes, you can bring covariates into the model. But note that your model then makes normality assumptions about them. And it helps the slope estimates only if some of those with missing on the cov's are not missing on y.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, November 30, 2015 - 5:40 pm
I don't understand your last question because it sounds like you want to regress some exogenous vbles on other exog vbles - but then they are not exogenous.
Sara Geven
posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2015 - 3:01 am
Dear Prof. Muthen,
Thank you for this reply. I indeed have data with missing on x's for which y is present.
When estimating the variance of exogeneous variables (to avoid listwise deletion) I noticed that the model fit sometimes becomes bad. This seems to be due to the fact that these variables are also related to other exogenous variables in the model. I understand you get a 'funny' model when predicting paths from other exogeneous variables on these variables. However, is there another way to do something with this issue?
Kind regards,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2015 - 6:36 am
You must bring all of the observed exogenous variables into the model. You cannot bring in only a subset. This can be done only for maximum likelihood estimation not for weighted least squares.
Sara Geven
posted on Tuesday, December 08, 2015 - 9:42 am
Dear Prof. Muthen,
Thank you for your answer. What should I do when some of the exogeneous variables are dummies. I do not want to make those part of the model, right? Only the continuous ones.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, December 08, 2015 - 9:47 am
You can't bring subset in. You must either bring them all in or none or them. When you bring in a subset, the correlations between the ones in and the ones out are zero which will cause the model not to fit well.
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