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Well let's open our Bibles together to 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 Timothy chapter 4 and we're looking again at the qualities of an excellent minister of Jesus Christ...the qualities of an excellent minister of Jesus Christ in verses 6 through 16.
A couple of years ago on an Easter Sunday, I was asked to do a television program with a local network affiliate. We were out in a park in Glendale. I remember the setting very well. It was Easter Sunday afternoon and they wanted a little bit of religious flavor to their program so they asked if I would do an interview.
We sat on a couple of high stools, myself and a well-known local newscaster by the name of Paul Moyer. And we were talking about religion and he was asking me questions. And trying to identify where I fit in this sort of evangelical framework, he said, "Are you like..." and then he began to list every media preacher he could think of, all the way down the line. He got..."Are you like..." And I kept saying no, no, no, no, no, not like any of those. "Well," then he began to ask, "what's your ministry, or what's your emphasis?" And I talked about teaching the Word of God and working within the framework of a church. And he said, "Do the things that they do to raise money and the personal sort of wealth and prosperity that some of them are indulging in," and on and on he went, "do those kinds of things bother you?" Yes, they bother me.
"Why don't you do something about that?" he said. "How is it that so many people can take the name of Christian, the name of Christ and get out there and do all these things that you feel misrepresent what you believe?" And then he asked this question, he said, "Who is in charge of your movement?"
That's a very insightful question. I said, "From a human viewpoint, nobody's in charge. There is a standard by which all of us who minister are to be measured and that standard is the Bible. But admittedly there are people who do not bother to set their life against that standard or their ministry."
Then he said this, and I thought this was equally insightful, he said, "Why don't you police your movement? It's really getting you bad press. In other words, there is an awful lot of negative attitude about Christian ministers and Christian ministry because some people have so greatly abused it and perverted it and twisted it and are doing it in an unbiblical fashion and an unchristlike manner. Why don't you police your people?" he said.
Well, I thought that was a good idea and I'd be happy to do that, I just don't know how to pull it off. By the way, God is policing it and ultimately will deal justly and properly with every violation. But for the time being, it's very difficult.
How do we police our movement? How do we measure these people? What standard do we use? Who is in charge and how has he laid out the criteria? Well the answer is we have to go the Word of God. We have to have a biblical standard by which every ministry and every man in ministry is measured. And we have every right to measure them against that standard.
Now first of all, in chapter 3 we saw some personal qualifications that were necessary for men in ministry, blameless, one-woman man, temperate, sober minded, good behavior, given to hospitality, skilled in teaching, stays away from wine, is not violent, is patient, not a fighter, not covetous. Then we saw some family qualifications. He rules well his own house, has his children in subjection with all seriousness. Titus adds has believing children. So we saw some personal qualifications by which any man in ministry must be measured. Then we saw family qualifications by which any man is measured.
Now in chapter 4 we are looking at the ministry itself. If the man is right, and the family is right, then here's how to measure the ministry itself. Here are the standards by which we evaluate a good minister in terms of his function of what he does, of how he ministers.
The key phrase is in verse 6, "Thou shalt be a good minister, or a noble or excellent servant of Jesus Christ." What is an excellent servant of Jesus Christ? The emphasis here on the ministry part, not on the personal qualification, that was covered in chapter 3. But what are those things that should mark his ministry? Of course they overlap with his personal life but they are the things reflected in his ministry that make him an excellent servant...qualified to bear the name of Christ and serve in His behalf.
First of all, we saw...we'll review briefly...that an excellent minister warns his people of error. He warns his people of error. It says if you put the brothers in remembrance of these things, the things he refers to are in verses 1 to 5, doctrines of demons, seducing spirit, lying prophets, hypocrites, all that false teaching, if you remind them of these you'll be a good minister. In other words, he is to be one who warns his people of error. He is not a milk toast person. He's not someone who accepts any view, any doctrine. He's not wishy- washy, limp, he's very aggressive. He is somewhat confrontive when it comes to error. He is skilled enough in the Word of God to be able to identify error and refute it from the pages of holy Scripture. He warns his people of error. He draws lines. He's definitive in what is right and what is not.
Secondly, and this, of course, is very essential to fulfill the first one, he is nourished up, verse 6, in the words of the faith, that's Scripture, and of the good doctrine, that's the teaching that flows from Scripture, unto which he has already attained. In other words, he has an ongoing feeding on the Word of God. He has a high intake of Scripture which allows him to be skilled at the direct ministry of the Word.
I spent two days this week with a layman, a Christian layman. He said, "I want you to read a paper that I have recently written." He gave me a paper which he had written on the subject of the Rapture of the church in relationship to the sequence of events in the end times. The paper is about 30 pages long single spaced. This is a layman. He said to me, "I got into the study of the Word of God and I have spent three hundred and fifty hours studying this particular theme in order that I might understand the Word of God better." That is a layman, a very busy man in business who manages multiple corporations, who spent three hundred and fifty hours on one biblical issue. I know men in the ministry who have never spent three hundred and fifty hours on any issue in the Scriptures. But this man, who is an excellent servant of Jesus Christ, as Paul writes to Timothy and wants him to be, is an expert student of Scripture. He is very skilled in handling the Word of God.
Thirdly, an excellent minister avoids the influence of unholy teaching. He stays away from unholy teaching. I had that emotion in me as I read my latest edition of "Christianity Today," and I was so grieved lately, the latest issue advocates women to be ordained to preach and minister. And then on one page is another advocation of a book recently written by a man who does not think premarital sex is sinful, it's just...it's just a poor timing of premarital bonding, whatever that is. And he said he came to that view because of certain surveys. Well, surveys notwithstanding, the Word of God is pretty clear about premarital sexual activity.
But the point again was, here we are sitting there at our desk and in the name of evangelicalism comes a steady parade of things intending to hit us right in the stomach and soften up our muscle on the matters of conviction. It's just a steady, steady stream. And at some point you say to yourself, "I really don't need that anymore, that has no purpose, that serves no good end for me except to soften up my spiritual muscle and steal some of my convictions. And when they're thrown at me by supposed experts who have a string of degrees along their name so long that it has to bend and go down the column, these people must be right, maybe they know what I don't know," and away it goes.
But the one who is an excellent minister cultivates a pure and devoted mind. He feeds on holy truth, not lies that create doubts, questions, suspicions.
Fourthly, an excellent minister is disciplined in personal godliness. And these two go together. Verse 7 says refuse the profane old wives fables, and exercise yourself rather unto godliness. Avoid the unholy and pursue the holy, is what he's saying. Go after the godly things, have a reverence for things holy, divine, a worshiping life. Don't exercise for the body, it profits for a little time and a little effect but godliness profits all things not only in the life that now is but is...in the life to come, the eternal life. And this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. This is something everybody knows. Exercise unto godliness. An excellent minister is disciplined in personal godliness. He seeks to draw nigh unto God with a holy life.
An excellent minister is committed to hard work, we saw that last time, verse 10. We labor, we suffer reproach simply should be translated we strive unto agony, we work hard because we are serving the living God. We are serving in eternal matters. The God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. In other words, we recognize eternal salvation is the issue here, we are serving an eternally living God who offers an eternal salvation. And so eternal destiny is the issue. That's why we work so hard, that's why we endure pain and difficulty because we understand the consequences are eternal.
Then last time we closed with the sixth quality of an effective or excellent minister and that is in verse 11. An excellent minister teaches with practical authority. These things command and teach. There is a place for teaching, the articulation of truth, but it is in a command mode, an aggressive confrontive commanding of people to obey the Word of God is coupled with instruction on how to do just that. That's command and teach...command and teach...command and teach. Do it and here's how...do it and here's how.
Now I said last time that that kind of authority is built, first of all, on your view of holy Scripture. If you believe in an inspired and inerrant text, you know it is authoritative.
Secondly, it's built on your understanding of the Word of God.
To preach authoritatively you want to believe it's God's Word and then you have to know what it means. If you don't know what it means, how can you authoritatively speak it? That's why in seminary it's so important to teach people the principles of hermeneutics, that's from the Greek word hermeneuo which means to explain or translate or interpret. They need to know how to explain the Bible, how to interpret the Bible. They need to understand the principles of interpretation. How do you find the meaning of a passage? How do you work with the language and the context and the culture and the geography and the history and all of the factors that go into interpreting the Word of God? They need to learn that in order that they can rightly divide the Word of truth and not be a workman who should be ashamed of what he does.
Authority comes then from a view of the Bible that says it is God's Word and secondly, on top of that, you have to build another foundational level on the basis of understanding what it says. If I believe it's God's Word and I understand what it means, then I can speak it with authority.
Third thing would be the urgency regarding the need of men to hear it. I will speak with conviction and authority when I understand how urgent it is for you to hear it and fourthly, obedience to the Lord. I speak with authority because the Lord commands me to do that and I want to be obedient.
Now if you don't believe it's the Word of God or if you're waffling on that view, you can't be authoritative. If you're not sure what it means, you can't be authoritative. If you don't think it's that big of a deal for men to hear it, you're not going to bother to be authoritative. And if obedience to the Lord isn't a priority, you may not bother to do it either. But if those things are in place, you're going to teach in a command mode. There's going to be a firmness and a strength and a boldness and an aggressiveness to your teaching that says this is what God says, this is demanded, you must respond or suffer the consequence.
So, the excellent minister has authority, pursues godliness, studies the Word, warns his people, works hard and avoids unholy teaching. That's all in the past. Let's go to number seven.
And this is the one I want us to focus on this morning. It's a very important basic truth, an excellent minister is the model of spiritual virtue...the model of spiritual virtue.
In other words, he is the tupos, the word example in verse 12 is tupos. It means the model, the image, the pattern. It's a pattern laid down, you put a piece of paper on it and you draw on that paper the pattern underneath that's coming through. It's the model that you set up when you're going to paint a picture and you paint exactly what you see, like still life on a table.
You set it there and that's exactly the way you paint. It's the example of setting a pattern of living that others can follow.
That is really at the very heart of excellence in ministry.
In fact, Thomas Brooks said, "Example is the most powerful rhetoric." Somebody put it this way years ago, "Your life speaks so loud I can't hear what you say." Your life is your most powerful message. And men in the ministry somehow need to learn that. Recently a friend of mine visited his alma mater, a well- known seminary in our country. And he suggested to them that the thing he noticed when he was there and the thing he noticed in the graduates coming out from there was a lack of an understanding of true godliness. And he said, "I would like to suggest that the seminary add a class along the lines of holiness and godliness in personal life." And the rebuttal of the professor was, "That wouldn't have any academic credibility."
Well, academic credibility isn't the issue in the ministry.
The issue in the ministry is a godly life, is the model of spiritual virtue, that's the issue. Give me a godly man and I'll show you someone you can pattern your life after. Give me a man whose head is full of knowledge but doesn't have virtue in his life and I'll show you a man you better run from because you're going to get confused and you'll start to live like he does, having all the right truth and none of the right behavior. And that kind of a dichotomy is deadly and frightening.
The single greatest tool of leadership...the single greatest tool of leadership is the power of an exemplary life, it's the bottom line. Notice verse 12, Paul writing to Timothy again whom he wants to be an excellent minister says, "Let no man...that's comprehensive, let no one...look down on your youth." How you going to turn that around? By being an example of the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Some versions say in spirit but that was added later in the manuscripts, doesn't appear in the earlier ones. Just five: word, conduct, love, faith, purity. You're to be an example in those areas.
Now all the authority and preaching, beloved, you need to understand this. All the authority and preaching is useless.
You can command and demand and speak and so forth, it's useless if it isn't backed up by a virtuous life. It's useless.
I heard a man on television the other day and this man was calling for godliness and a prayer life and this...he was saying, you know, we need to be committed to the Lord and we need to get our lives right with God. And I know that guy, and I know that guy committed adultery, divorced his wife, ran off with a young twenty-year-old girl, came back four years later, started his ministry all up again. He has nothing to say to me. There's no credibility in what he says. I'm not interested in hearing that from him. It just smacks of hypocrisy. I'm not interested in that. There's no conviction and he can't move my heart, see. I don't buy into it.
Whenever the pattern of godliness isn't in the life, it sucks the power out of the ministry and it becomes hollow and shallow. Sometimes people ask the question, you know, "So-and- so's such a good preacher, so forth, why doesn't anybody go to the church?" Well, it might well be that the people who've been there have seen the lack of living out what is being preached and the loss of integrity is more than they can handle. The excellent minister, see, is to be a pattern of godly virtue that can be imitated.
Thomas Fuller, the Puritan, had a great idea. He said, "Teaching is like putting nails in the wood. Example is like hammering them deep." He's right. You can stick the nails in the surface but if you want to hammer them deep into the hearts and souls of people, it's example that does that. You set the pattern.
Now the New Testament is replete with this kind of injunction. And I just survey briefly the text because the Word of God carries the power and authority to convict our hearts. In 1 Corinthians 4:1q6, Paul writes, "Be ye followers of me." And he says, "I beg you to be followers of me. I am the pattern."
Now you say, "Isn't that egotism?" No, that's not egotism.
That's simply the character of a godly man who knows his spiritual responsibility is to be an example. Obviously he knows he's not perfect, but he is saying to them I am as much as is humanly possible what you are to be. No man should have to say less than that and still be in ministry. The word is mimeti(?), we get the word mimic, mimic me, do what I do, pattern your life after me.
Later on in the same 1 Corinthian epistle, chapter 10, he talks about giving glory to God in whatever you do, 1 Corinthians 10:31. And then he makes himself kind of the example. He says in verse 33, "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved, I do everything to glorify God and to reach others." Then he says in chapter 11 verse 1, the next verse, "Be ye followers of me even as I am also am of Christ." In other words, you just do your ministry the way I do, live your life the way I do.
Philippians chapter 3 verse 17, "Brethren, be followers together of me, be followers of me as you have us for an example," he says. We've set the example, now follow it.
In the fourth chapter of Philippians verse 9, "The things you have learned, received, heard and seen in me, do them." Do what I do. Say what I say.
In 1 Thessalonians, again the same idea. Verse 5 of chapter 1, "Our gospel came not unto you in word only but in power and the Holy Spirit, in much assurance as you knew what kind of men we were among you for your sake and you became followers of us and of the Lord." We follow the Lord, you follow us.
Second Thessalonians, he says it again. Chapter 3 verse 7, "You yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly." And down in verse 9, "We have made ourselves an example unto you to follow us." Just common for Paul to enjoin people to follow his example.
He says in 2 Timothy 1:13, "Hold fast the form of sound words which you have heard of me. Hold on to what you've seen, heard in me."
Now this is basic to all ministry. In Hebrews chapter 13 it tells us in that seventh verse, the ones who rule over the church who have spoken the Word of God are to have their faith followed.
Now when you come into ministry in the church, you are to have a life that can be followed by other people. That's a tremendous challenge. That's why James says stop being so many teachers, theirs is a greater condemnation. Not only because of the seriousness of teaching error, but the seriousness of living hypocritically. The life has to match the message. And tragically this is violated, just constantly violated in ministry, constantly.
Be specific. Verse 12 with me, look what Paul says, what areas are the issue? First of all, "Let no man despise your youth but be an example of the believers." Now that's the general thing. What he is saying here is, now watch this, you are young, with youth comes a certain amount of questioning.
You've got to have respect if people are going to follow you, right? But if you're young, you're going to have to earn that respect. The Greeks subordinated youth to age. If a man didn't have age, he had to earn respect. So he says to Timothy, "Timothy, you're going to have to earn respect. You're not going to get it by your gray hair because you're not that old."
Now you say, "Well, how old is Timothy?" Look at the little phrase "your youth," just how young was he? You might think he was sixteen, or fifteen or twenty-one, but let me give you some background. When Timothy joined Paul originally on his second journey, his second missionary journey, Acts 16 records that meeting with Timothy, and he took Timothy with him. Timothy was probably in his early to mid twenties. Okay, 22 or 24, 25, 26, somewhere in there. It is now fifteen years later. So very likely he's in his late thirties. He's in his late thirties.
You say, "Here it says of him, `Let no man despise your youth.' You mean late thirties is youth?" Yes, in the Greek culture it definitely was. In fact, Luke calls Paul young. Luke speaks of Paul as young in Acts 7:58 when he must have been over 30. And this is supported by the word here neotes which is translated "youth," which was used to described anyone up to 40. So 40 was the breaking point. You were young until you were 40, and then after 40 you were mature, skilled, wise, and old.
So here is a young man Timothy, under 40, and Paul says to him, don't let anyone think down, look down, underrate, show contempt on your youth. Now how are you going to turn that around? How you going to gain their respect? It's a question of showing yourself an example to the believers. Reveal yourself to be a model of spiritual virtue. That's the key...that's the key.
The word "example," tupos means pattern or model. And if you are to offset your few years and have authority among your people and be believed and followed and honored and respected, it's going to have to be because the flock ignores your age and sees your example. They have to see the virtue of your living.
Now this is to be comprehensive in five areas. Notice those five areas in verse 12. One, in speech, in word it says. That just means what it says, in speech, conversation. The conversation of the servant of God is to be exemplary, exemplary.
Jesus said in Matthew 12, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...the mouth speaks." Whatever comes out of the mouth is a revealer of the heart. And that's why Jesus said by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. In other words, just let me hear you talk and I can tell you the state of your heart, right? The speech of the servant of God is to be exemplary speech.
What kind of speech? Well, let's look at Ephesians 4.
We'll dig into this much more deeply when we come to James 3 in our Sunday night series, and get into that whole chapter on the tongue. But for the moment, in Ephesians chapter 4 it says regarding conversation, verse 25, "Put away lying." So the first thing that should never ever come out of the mouth of the servant of the Lord is a lie. Should never be any falsehoods, untruths, never any talking out of both sides of the mouth, telling one thing to one person and another thing to another person. No lying. Speak every man absolute truth with his neighbor. Tell everybody the truth.
Boy, I'll tell you, it just destroys leadership credibility when people begin to compare notes about falsehoods that have been passed around. Somebody telling one thing to one person, another thing to another, they meet, compare notes, and know you're a liar. There is to be absolute honesty in speech. A man should be able to stay in a ministry year after year after year after year and never ever be thought to speak anything but absolute truth.
Furthermore, verse 26, "Be not angry to the point of sin."
There's a place for holy wrath and holy sort of righteous indignation, but no place for the sin of anger. And especially that smoldering anger that goes past one day into the next and so forth. And that's another thing reflected in speech, anger. No man in the ministry, no excellent servant of Jesus Christ will ever speak words of wrath, speak words of anger, will never get to the point where he is frustrated, upset to the sin level in terms of his speech where his words are angry, bitter, vitriolic, vengeful, ungracious, or whatever. His speech is always to be filled with grace, seasoned with salt to the purpose of edifying other people, not angry.
And then in verse 29, obviously, "Let no filthy talk come out of your mouth." First of all, no speech that is less than true. Secondly, no speech that is less than loving. Thirdly, no speech that is less than pure. Nothing is more tragic to me then to be in the association at some point with some person who says they serve Jesus Christ out of whose mouth comes some dirty talk.
That just shows a dirty heart. There's no place for that. No place for corrupt or filthy communication.
But what is coming from the mouth, he says in verse 29, is good, to the usefulness of building up and that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Your speech should bring that which builds them spiritually and that which brings them grace.
There's a place for fun. There's a place for joy. Laughter does good like a medicine. A merry heart, says the Scripture, is beneficial. But there's no place for dirty talk, no place for angry speech and no place for speech which is less than true.
You have so many illustrations through the history of the church of men who in anger have really destroyed their credibility. Men who have told stories that are dirty, double- entendre, low-level conversation and they really set a standard, not only in my mind and the heart of God are those people disqualified for a ministry, but they lower the standard of ministry to that level. And everybody who knows they're like that says, "Well, that must be acceptable kind of Christianity," right? So that just drops the standard to an unacceptable point.
Colossians 3:8 says the same thing. You might look at it for a moment. Colossians 3:8, in almost the same kind of context, seeking to help us understand what it means to put off the old man and put on the new, just as Ephesians 4 did, says, "To put off," verse 8, "anger, wrath, evil...and the idea is evil speech...blasphemy, dirty talk out of your mouth and lying,"
verse 9. All that has to do with the mouth. And there should be no anger, wrath, evil, blasphemy, filthy talk or lies coming out of the mouth of anyone, any believer, especially someone in spiritual leadership.
So, first of all, Timothy, if you're going to be an example, it starts with your speech. Secondly, you should be an example not only in speech but in conduct. May I suggest another word?
Life style...life style, behavior. This has to do with a righteous life. You're to be a model of righteous living, a person who lives out their convictions, who lives out biblical principles, who lives out godliness in every area of life. The things you do, the places you go, the things you possess, the way you spend your life, the life style you live, your manner of living is really a sermon. It is so loud a sermon that it will over power or it will come along side what you say.
Some people have come to our church, told me about a pastor they had who is in the Los Angeles area who was so deeply involved in materialism, and so forth...in fact, I've heard a couple of them recently...one pastor was given a new Rolls Royce from his people who wanted to give it to him, I guess, as a gift, I guess they knew that's what he wanted so they gave him a Rolls Royce. He told them to take it back and redo the whole interior, he didn't like the color of it. I recently heard about another situation very similar to that...that's not uncommon in the ministry...the ministry can be a place where men can feed, they can feed like the horse leech, talked about in the Old Testament, sucking blood out of people for their own self aggrandizement.
Paul said I have coveted no man's silver, no man's gold, and no man's apparel. I don't want anything from you except to give my life to you, that's all. That's all I want.
But you take a life style like that and match it up with a biblical message and you've got blatant hypocrisy...blatant hypocrisy. And the undermining of everything that is being said...and you say, "Which is true?" I'll tell you which is true, the man is what he lives, not what he says. That's always the way it is. But when a man says it and lives it, then you have power in the message, then you have authority in the message, you have believability.
What about life style? It's basic. It's absolutely basic.
If we are to set the kind of living style that others are to follow, then it has to be right. James 3:13 says, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with meekness." Who is the wise? Who is the knowledgeable man? The man who shows you with his life how to live, that's the man you want to follow. That's the man. And in Hebrews, as I mentioned earlier, chapter 13 and verse 7, it says those that are over you, who rule over you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, follow their faith considering the result of their life style. That's the kind of life style you want because that's going to lead to eternal reward.
Peter really nails it. First Peter 1:15, "But as He who called you is holy, so be ye holy in all your life style." It's a holy life style. Verse 18, "You were redeemed from your former life style, now unto a holy life style." First Peter 2:12, he says it another way, "Having your behavior, or your life style, honest among the pagans that though they may speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation." Your life should be so good and so virtuous, your life style so honorable, so biblical, so Christ exalting that your critics have absolutely nothing to say.
First Peter 3:1 says to a wife with an unsaved husband, you will win your husband not by your words but by your life style, by your behavior, your conduct, your godliness, your chaste conduct coupled with reverence, he says in verse 2. In verse 16 of the same chapter, having a good conscience whereas they speak of you as evil doers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good life style in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? It's how you live. It's where you go. It's what you do. It's how you spend your money. And I'm not saying you should be poor. I'm not saying you can't accept what God wonderfully graciously gives you, it's a question of what you pursue.
I've said so many times that I've been blessed beyond most people. And sometimes I feel so bad about it until I consider the source of it. And if I can look in my own heart and say I haven't sought it at all, I haven't sought it and if God in His grace has chosen to give it, then I can accept it. It's a question of attitude. You can have a bad life style even though you don't possess a lot. Your bad life style is you just want a lot and the pursuit is wrong whether you ever get your end or not. On the other hand, God may choose to bless you and your heart is right and you use everything you have for His glory.
Well what is your style of life? Where do you spend your time? Where do you spend your money? Where do you spend your energy? I see the life style around us in the world today so absolutely incompatible with everything that is biblical. I see families being absolutely disintegrated because everybody in the house wants to work. And so the family goes to pieces while everyone goes to work so they can buy bigger houses, bigger cars.
And then when they do have spare time, they're down working on the physical body instead of working on the spirit, the soul, the family, the children. So much confusion in life style. Instead of the church maintaining an alternative, the church gets sucked up in the same stuff. So those in spiritual leadership are to be a model of life style, behavior, conduct.
Thirdly, this is so wonderful. You're to be an example, Timothy, in love...in love. You better be a lover, and by that it doesn't necessarily mean that you're a hand-shaker and a back- slapper and a baby kisser, although all that's fine. That's kind of the fun part of the ministry. But when you talk about love you have to use a biblical definition, we're not talking about spiritual goosebumps and emotions and feelings and the fuzzies and the warm and fuzzy kind of feelings that sometimes you get in a fellowship environment. What we're talking about in biblical love is self-sacrificing service in the lives of others.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man...do what?...lay down his life for his friends."
I believe in my heart that's ministry. You just lay down your life for your friends, that's all. And it's no sacrifice because you understand the goal is eternal, you're back to verse 10. You know, I said that to Patricia the other day, where did my life go? I mean, I'm 47 and that's good, I'm happy to be 47, I don't mind. And I still have a lot of energy and a lot of things I'm excited about, but I look back over the last 20 years and where did it go? It went. In a sense, I just gave it away.
I don't...I can't even remember it. In fact, somebody said, "Do you listen to your own tapes?" And I said, "Only to find out what I believe about something." Because I preached them so long ago they went by so fast I can't remember what I believed about it.
But everything went by so fast in my life. And it's okay.
I said to myself, "But that's all right because this...isn't this what love is all about? Isn't this what God calls the servant to? To love his people to the point where he just gives away all of his energies and his time for the purpose of communicating the things of God to them and seeing them strengthened and built up in the Lord. I mean, that's what it's all about. That's all there is for life...nothing else. God so loved that He...what?
That He gave, and anything less than that isn't love. There are the givers and the takers in the world, the true lovers are the givers not the takers. And ministry is all about giving and giving and giving to meet needs. Paul says to the Thessalonians that wonderful wonderful testimony of his affection for them, that he treated them like a nursing mother cherishes her children. What devotion. First Thessalonians 2 verses 7 and following, we were affectionately desirous of you, willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only but our own souls because you were dear to us. And so you remember that our labor and our travail was day and night, we worked and worked and worked on your behalf. We exhorted. We encouraged. We charged every one of you that you would walk worthy of God. And we gave our life to that, he says. And even he did his own work to earn his own living.
There was Epaphroditus, chapter 2, who nearly died in the service of God's people. He gave himself so strenuously to service that Paul says he was near unto death, but God had mercy on him. Why was he near unto death? For the work of Christ. He didn't regard his life to serve me, he was expendable. That's love. Give yourself away. Paul says, "If I'm offered on the sacrifice of your joy, I rejoice. I don't mind giving my life for you." We've only got the one life, you know.
I've thought that so many times through the years. You just ask yourself that. Should I stay where I am? Or should I go somewhere else? It's a big wide world and there are lots...there are lots of opportunities. I remember when I was contacted to pastor a church in Scotland. And from time to time on some other foreign land to go and do some ministry or some other city in the United States, or Canada, or whatever. And you say to yourself, "Should I stay and spend myself in this one place?" And you have to just wait for the voice of God to answer that, but it's all bound up really in the sense that God's called me to give my life. And this is the people I'm to give my life to, then this is exactly what I'll do, that's how love is expressed. That's the biblical kind of thing that is referred to when it says, "Timothy, you're to be an example of love." It's self- sacrificing service on the basis of others.
And you have the same responsibility. As I said all the way along these things, they're not just me but they're you, too. So you're to serve your love to others in terms of self-sacrificing interest in meeting their needs.
Fourthly, he says in faith, and that's in verse 12, in faith. The word "faith" really could be translated "faithfulness" or trustworthiness or loyalty, fidelity, unswerving commitment, consistency. The idea is be consistent, Timothy, be faithful, loyal, trustworthy, believable because you don't swerve off the track, you're not in and out, hit and miss, up and down, back and forth. You're there. You're solid.
You're moving, unswerving, consistently, always committed, never deviating. Boy, that's the kind of thing people can follow, that's the kind of bandwagon they get on.
"Moreover, brethren," Paul says in 1 Corinthians...in 2...yes, 1 Corinthians 4:1 and 1, Paul says, "Moreover, brethren, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." The real...the real thing that separates men in the ministry from those who succeed...who separates between those who succeed and those who fail is this idea of consistency, who are the loyal trustworthy faithful long-term people who hang in there unswervingly consistently serving Christ through all the years of their life? That's the faithfulness. Timothy, just be consistent, unwavering. It's so important.
You know, there are always the flash-in-the-pan approaches, but we're to be consistent, faithful, never ever deviating. Paul had that reputation, the reputation of absolute faithfulness. He mentions some of his friends who were the same, Epaphras, Colossians 1:7, who is a faithful minister of Christ. Colossians 4:7, he mentions another of his friends, Tychicus, who is a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. That's the key, just consistency and faithfulness to the things of God.
So, Timothy, you're to be an example in all these areas and one more, finally in verse 12, in purity. The word is hagneia, it means purity in the area of sexual chastity and also implies purity in the matter of heart intention. If your heart intention is pure, then your behavior will be pure as well. There is to be purity in the sexual area.
History has shown and it's just obvious to all of us that ministry is devastated by sexual impurity...just devastated. And I believe the men in the leadership of the church are vulnerable in that area if they let their guard down because I think that's a primary area of occupation by Satan, because of its devastating effect. So there must be a maintenance of absolute moral purity, fleeing lust. We want to be, 2 Timothy 2, don't we?, vessels fit for the Master's use. Then he says, "Flee youthful lust."
Now let me sum this up, and listen carefully. If a person to be an excellent minister of Jesus Christ is to be a model of virtue in speech, life style, sacrificial love, trustworthiness, and moral purity, then listen carefully...anybody who isn't a model in those things has no business being in the position of spiritual leadership. Why? Because if he lives at a lower level, that's where he sets the standard. And the responsibility of spiritual leadership is not to live in isolation, like some outer space kind of saint, but to live at the level where God wants everybody to live...and the standard has to be maintained.
Now how can you do that? How can we change what's going on in our country? Well, I think several things. One, men who are disqualified ought to get out of the ministry and do something else. Maybe God will bless them and use them even more if they don't try to be hypocritical. I'm sure He would. Two, we need to pull together pastors from all around the world and reinforce to them these truths. We've got to police the movement.
Somebody has to do it. We have to get control of this thing.
And so that means two things. We've got to demand that men who aren't qualified get out. And then we've got to call the men who are qualified to stay pure. We've got to get these guys together like we do at the Shepherds Conference and we've got to pull them together and set the standard, whether personally in counseling with them or preaching these things to them or giving tapes to them, we've got to keep setting that standard up.
And then the third thing is we've got to train a whole new generation of young people who are totally committed to these standards. And I believe by God's grace He's put Grace Church somewhere in the forefront of all of that. I'm not willing to accept a lower standard, and I don't think you are either. And I know the Lord isn't. But if we're going to have the high standard, we've got to set it out there again, we've got to start measuring people by it. And if they don't qualify, that's got to be made known. And if they do, they've got to be called to an ongoing holiness. And then we've got to raise up young men who are committed to these things.
We do have to police the movement, folks. We should be as eager to put the wrong person out as we are to put the right person in, right? Well, let's bow in prayer.
Father, there's no intention in our hearts, and You know that, to set ourselves up as the model of all spiritual virtue, for that would not be true of any of us. But, Lord, by Your Spirit and Your grace and the application of Your holy Word, we know we can be what You want us to be, as much as is humanly possible. I thank You for the leadership of this church. I thank You for the modeling of speech and behavior, the modeling of love, the modeling of loyalty, trustworthiness, the modeling of purity. I thank You that You have set many examples before us. And as a result, the people here have come to understand the standard which You require. You require it for Your glory and our blessedness. And what could be more wonderful to us than those things.
So, Father, I just pray that where there are those men who name Your name and stand in the pulpit, and, Lord, their life is not right and their ministry is not honoring to You, I ask, Lord, that You would remove them from that, that they might not detract, that they might not destroy, that they might not lower the standard. And, Father, I ask that You would take that great host of godly faithful men and that You would bind their hearts even more closely to the standard that You have revealed and make them more zealous than ever in the power of the Spirit to live to that standard and to keep that example high. And I would pray for a new generation of young men who can be the leaders in your church around the world who have that high standard. Help us, Lord, to train them at the Master's Seminary and other great institutions. Help us to build them in our churches, to nurture them in our personal discipleship so that we can see days ahead should Jesus tarry a great ministry for Your Word in the church and in the world.
And we would pray, too, this morning for some who've gathered with us who've never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Maybe fighting battles against committing themselves to Him, maybe just shy on their understanding of who He is, maybe reluctantly holding on to their sin while wanting Christ but yet afraid to let go. Lord, whatever it is that holds anyone back from Christ, we pray today that the Spirit of God might break them free from chains that they might embrace Christ and come to the fullness of eternal life.
And the rest of us, Lord, help us to live these kinds of lives. Call us to that ever higher and higher standard to be like Christ.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 23 (UPI) -- Four in 10 U.S. parents give children age 4 and younger cough/cold medicine that is not recommended for young children, researchers say.
Dr. Matthew M. Davis, director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, said children can get five to 10 colds each year, so adults often turn to over-the-counter cough and cold medicines.
However, a University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll showed more than 40 percent of parents reported giving their children age 4 and younger cough medicine and multi-symptom cough and cold medicine. Twenty-five percent gave decongestants.
In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory that over-the-counter medicines -- cough medicine, multi-symptom cough and cold medicine and decongestants -- should not be given to small children.
They have not been proven effective for young children and may cause serious side effects, said Davis.
"These products don't reduce the time the infection will lasts and misuse could lead to serious harm," Davis said in a statement. "What can be confusing is that often these products are labeled prominently as 'children's' medications.'"
However, details are often on the back of the box, in small print. "That's where parents and caregivers can find instructions that they should not be used in children age 4 and younger," Davis said.
The side effects from use of cough and cold medicines in young children may include allergic reactions, increased or uneven heart rate, drowsiness or sleeplessness, slow and shallow breathing, confusion or hallucinations, convulsions, nausea and constipation, Davis said.

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text:
Digestive disorders can be uncomfortable, but they don't have to control your life. Follow these tips to ease your symptoms and manage the condition. A few simple changes can make a big difference.
Dietary changes can help ease the symptoms of many digestive disorders. For some conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, nutrition is a very important part of managing the disease.
Different digestive disorders have different nutritional requirements:
For gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): Avoid eating or drinking things that make heartburn worse. Common culprits include coffee, spicy foods, alcoholic beverages, and greasy foods. It can also help to eat smaller meals more frequently.
For celiac disease: It is very important to avoid foods and drinks with gluten. Gluten is a protein found in barley, rye, and wheat. In people with celiac disease, gluten triggers an immune reaction that damages the small intestine.
For Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis: Your doctor may recommend a special diet, such as a dairy-free diet, depending on your symptoms. Your doctor may also recommend supplements if you have trouble absorbing nutrients.
For irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): Large meals can trigger cramping and diarrhea, so eat small meals throughout the day. Low-fat, high-carbohydrate foods, such as rice and pasta, may be easier to digest.
Talk with your doctor or a dietitian to learn which diet changes could help you.
Writing down what you eat can help you learn which foods cause you trouble. This is especially helpful for disorders such as IBS and Crohn's disease, for which certain foods can trigger serious symptoms. A food diary is also a key part of diagnosing food allergies.
In your food diary, write down everything you eat and drink during the day. Record how much you consume and at what time. In the same diary, write down what symptoms you have and when they occur.
Share your food diary with your doctor. You may need to cut out foods that cause you problems.
Smoking contributes to many digestive diseases, including cancers of the digestive system. Here are a few ways smoking affects digestive diseases:
If you have GERD, smoking can make symptoms worse. That's because smoking weakens the muscle that keeps stomach acid from backing up into the esophagus.
In peptic ulcer disease, smoking delays the ulcer's healing process and increases the risk that ulcers will return.
People with Crohn's disease who smoke tend to have worse and more frequent symptoms.
Smoking damages the liver's ability to process medications, which can affect the treatment of other digestive disorders.
Ready to quit? Visit www.smokefree.gov to learn more about stop-smoking methods and to create your quit plan.
Work closely with your doctor and specialists to get the best care possible. Tell your doctor about all your symptoms, even if you think they're embarrassing. And make sure all your doctors have a full health history, a list of all the medications you take, and all your test results.
Together, you and your health care team can help manage your digestive disorder so that you can live a full life.


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Crabbing off of TidalWalk's pier.
Anyone who has ever boated the Intracoastal Waterway as it rambles its way along North Carolina's stunning seacoast, already understands the allure of TidalWalk. The moon, the tides, and the marsh set the pace for a boutique new home community that lives like no other.
When homeowner Catherine Szuch and her husband Mark brought their two children to TidalWalk, the kids instantly wanted to move there, even though it meant leaving their friends in Durham. "Being here is like having a dream that you're always on vacation," Catherine Szuch says, "I keep expecting someone to knock on the door and say, 'Okay, time's up. You have to go home now.'"
At TidalWalk, you can begin the day with a picnic breakfast in the gazebo, perched right at the end of the community's pier. The kids can watch fish jump in the Waterway while you bring the boat around from your own private slip, or from the Inlet Watch Dry Dock just a quarter mile away. In two minutes flat, you can motor over to Masonboro Island, the largest uninhabited barrier island in North Carolina, or head for the excitement of the open Atlantic Ocean or Cape Fear River. Even without a boat, you will soon be able to walk right over to TidalWalk's private island, Green Turtle Hammock Island.
Inspiring Amenities
On a sunny summer's day, The TidalWalk Club beckons with 3,700 square feet of charm and comfort, plus a nine-foot wide porch that captures summer breezes and provides for four-season socializing. Szuch says the team in charge of neighborhood events does a bang-up job in planning everything from pig roasts to Dive-In Movie Nights at the pool. Best of all, with less than 200 total homesites in the community, the resort-style amenities will never seem crowded.
Coastal Opportunities Everywhere
TidalWalk's own quarter-mile beach on the Intracoastal Waterway doesn't have crashing waves like the Atlantic, so kids can easily explore the natural environment, fish from the sides of the pier, go crabbing, or watch for dolphins. On days when you want a full beach experience, head to Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach or Kure Beach, visit the North Carolina Aquarium and Fort Fisher, or even hop a ferry bound for the Brunswick Islands.
"This great community is located in a very unique setting in Wilmington," says Kyle Corkum, managing partner at LStar, the real estate investment group developing TidalWalk along with Mountain Real Estate Capital. Like most of the companies' holdings, which are spread through 11 states, the investment in TidalWalk is debt-free and backed by a strong capital commitment, which provides substantial stability to ensure the success of the community for generations to come. "When we came into the Wilmington market," Corkum says, "we saw very little undeveloped quality waterfront property. We were astonished to see that we could create so many homesites with full, direct, panoramic water views, plus many more that would give homeowners effortless access to boating and beaches."
The community has welcomed 27 new homeowners in less than a year. "There's no doubt that the market has voted in favor of TidalWalk's unique lifestyle with its checkbook," Corkum says. According to Harold Chappell, whose company Realty World Cape Fear is the listing agent for TidalWalk's premium homesites, "There has been a great deal of interest as people re-focus on coastal living. TidalWalk is nestled in the only original maritime forest in New Hanover County, and its proximity to Wilmington makes it different from anything else on the North Carolina coast."
In many places along the Carolinas coast, enjoying a waterfront lifestyle means foregoing the social scene and culture of city life. Living at TidalWalk puts you 10 minutes from downtown Wilmington's vibrant waterfront, lined with restaurants and shops, as well as UNC-Wilmington, and places that have become favorite shooting locations for Hollywood moviemakers.
Choose Your Bliss
You can choose from a selection of homesites that range in price from $99,900 to over $1 million and collaborate to build your dream home with a custom builder, or opt for a home and homesite package. Four great builders, D.R. Horton, Plantation Building Group, Mark Johnson Custom Homes, and Tongue and Groove are busy crafting homes in five TidalWalk neighborhoods. The Cottages features traditional Southern and classic Coastal architecture from the $280s to $350s. The Hammocks offers the perfect blend of coastal living and affordable high-quality construction, with homes priced from the low $300s to the low $400s. The Sands neighborhood has custom and semi-custom homes with partial views of the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean, priced from the low $400s to the $700s. The Marshes' custom and semi-custom townhomes are priced from the mid $300s to the high $500s, and The Beaches is designed for custom homes, priced from the mid-$500s to $2.9 million with panoramic views of the Intracoastal Waterway and extensive views of the Atlantic Ocean. For more information, visit TidalWalk on Myrtle Grove Road at Carolina Beach Road, call 888-767-4681 or visit TidalWalk.com.


text:
Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spy survivors from a sinking ship.
"Follow me, son," the father shark says to his son, the younger shark.
So they swim over to the mass of people. The father says,
"First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing."
And they did.
"Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with all of our fins showing."
And they did.
"Now we eat everybody."
And they did.
When they were both gorged, the son asked,
"Dad, why didn't we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?"
His wise father replied,
"Because they taste better without the **** inside!"


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Ireland 24-8 England, Six Nations, Lansdowne Road, March 19
Ireland expose England's flaws
Graham Jenkins in Dublin
March 19, 2011
Ireland players celebrate Tommy Bowe's try against England © Getty Images
It was extraordinary, but we should have seen it coming. Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll has been telling us that his side were on the brink of something special for some time and that is exactly what they produced against Grand Slam-chasing England on Saturday.
The hosts gatecrashed England's party with a brilliant display that barring something spectacular at the Stade de France will rank as the best performance in the entire Six Nations. They did not just beat an England side rated by many as the best in the northern hemisphere - they totally out-played, out-fought and out-thought them to shake up the world order.
The key to the victory was an unprecedented level of intensity for this year's Championship and England could simply not live with them. A superior hunger and work-rate rattled the visitors early on and they never recovered. Ireland stole the initiative and from that point the pressure was as relentless as the drumming that accompanied each foray deep into English territory.
The composure and the possession that England targeted coming into the game were noticeable by their absence. Those players short on experience of such gladiatorial contests were fodder for a Lansdowne Road crowd that came of age.
'Bring back roar' urges the perimeter advertising at the revamped ground, hoping to stir the emotion that echoed around the old ground on which the new stadium was built. That rallying call has gone largely unanswered since Ireland made their bow last year, but not on this occasion. A rousing national anthem set the tone before the crowd roared into life, fuelled by the energy and courage of their side.
In return Ireland's heroes upped their game and banished the errors that have plagued their best efforts in this year's Championship. Leading the way was fly-half Jonathan Sexton, who silenced his doubters with a Man of the Match display. An early quick-tap penalty illustrated his mindset and the team's determination to play and dictate the contest. He continued to torment England and reaped rich rewards on the back of a ball-hungry pack.
The crowd rose as one to salute the Leinster playmaker when he left the field with the game won but there was no let-up for England, Ronan O'Gara turning the screw with some superb touches as the rain threatened to spoil the game as a spectacle. Two touch-finders in particular twisted the knife in England's gut and told them, if they didn't know already, that their Slam dream was nothing more than that.
It is never a surprise to find captain Brian O'Driscoll at the heart of an outstanding Irish display and that was the case again. The talismanic centre set the bar in defence and also crossed for a record-breaking 25th Championship try - eclipsing the mark of Scotland's Ian Smith and adding further weight to his status as one of the sport's all-time greats. Compounding England's woes, he and his midfield partner Gordon D'Arcy, who was another of those to rise to the occasion, equalled the record for centre combination appearances held by England's Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott.
This was a compelling team effort peppered with brilliant individual performances. No.8 Jamie Heaslip was at his ball-stealing best, lock Donncha O'Callaghan was a constant thorn in England's side and fullback Keith Earls was a valuable spark. Take a bow one and all. As is the way, coach Declan Kidney will not get too carried away with this victory as he is well aware that the goal is to produce this week in, week out - a task that has so far eluded a side that has a limited amount of miles left in the tank.
England can have no complaints. They came up short on all fronts and while they may have been a little unlucky to see scrum-half Ben Youngs yellow carded for throwing the ball away the game was already escaping them before that point.
This was not the side that announced themselves as a potential world power with victories over Australia last year. They were bullied from pillar to post by an Irish side that thrived on the pressure of the occasion, while England suffered from stage fright and were not up for the fight. England will not be looking for excuses but the relative inexperience of their side cost them dear. You do not know how a player will react to such an intense environment until they step into the arena and while certain players failed to deliver the scars of this defeat will serve them well down the line.
Youngs' sin-binning brought a welcome end to a poor display from the talented No.9, who has lost his way in recent weeks, having earlier threatened to spearhead this new generation's quest for glory. The indiscipline and wayward kicking will not make for happy viewing when the analysis and post-mortem begins.
Fly-half Toby Flood was also off his game just when his side needed his steady hand most. An early missed penalty proved to be a warning of worse to come and perhaps Flood sensed it was not going to be his day as he stood and stared at his kicking tee as if expecting it to apologise. There were also question marks over his game management, although his failure to make an impression on proceedings was largely down to Ireland's dominance of possession and territory.
They were not the only ones to have wilted in the heat of battle. The centre pairing of Shontayne Hape and Matt Banahan failed to make any headway in the face of O'Driscoll and D'Arcy while captain Nick Easter's main role seemed to be to question the repeated blast of referee Bryce Lawrence's whistle.
Replacements Danny Care, Steve Thompson, Jonny Wilkinson and Tom Croft injected life into a battle-weary side but did not have the beating of a resolute Irish unit. Chances came as Ireland's monumental effort began to take its toll but the defensive toil had also knocked the stuffing out of England, errors littered what creativity they could muster.
That will not be Martin Johnson's main concern. He knows his side has the capacity to turn it on - what is not clear is if they have the mental strength to weather such defeats and emerge stronger for the experience. He will take hope from his own experiences as part of a side that flunked three Grand Slam examinations before sealing the deal in 2003. Time will tell if this group of players can find a similar resolve.
The Six Nations silverware - if they are to collect it in the low-key setting of the team hotel - will not be much comfort. Their achievements to date have come largely at the expense of limited opposition - be that of mind or body, and Ireland were not wanting in either department. This England side simply did not deserve a Grand Slam. To be the best you have to beat the rest and they are clearly some way short of both of those goals.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Graham Jenkins is the Senior Editor of ESPNscrum.
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ReleasesBack to
Walter Bishop Jr.
One of Jackie McLean's earliest Blue Notes, Swing, Swang, Swingin' parts company with the vast majority of his output for the label by concentrating chiefly on standards (only one of the seven tunes is a McLean original). Perhaps as a result of Blue Note's more prepared, professional approach to recording sessions, McLean sounds invigorated here, catapulting each melody forward before launching into a series of impassioned improvisations. Not that every track is a mind-blowing meltdown -- McLean's playing always fits the mood of the song -- but his total commitment to the material is evident throughout the album. He's also very much the focal point of the quartet, which includes pianist Walter Bishop, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Art Taylor. McLean's unique, cutting tone -- always threatening to go ever so slightly out of tune -- lends a particular urgency to his melody statements and extended notes, highlighted by an intense and swinging version of Cole Porter's "I Love You" and an exuberant take on Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance." Though Bishop and Taylor are less well-known than their compatriots, they offer active support that helps push McLean even more. Swing, Swang, Swingin' may not be as groundbreaking as McLean's more modernist work, but it's a solid session from an artist just beginning an incredible hot streak. ~ Steve Huey


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WASHINGTON — How do you stack up as a potential mortgage candidate in this year's increasingly tough underwriting environment? Do you have the right stuff — credit score, debt-to-income ratio, equity or down payment — to get you through the minefield?
A new statistical analysis, based on a large sample of all mortgage applications approved and denied in recent months, offers valuable benchmarks for anyone thinking about financing a home purchase or refinancing an existing loan. The study taps into data from the loan processing software used for roughly one-fifth of all new mortgage applications nationwide, supplied by the technology firm Ellie Mae Inc.
To fit the profile of just the average successful applicant for a conventional home purchase mortgage in February, the latest month for which data are available, here's what you would have needed:
•A FICO credit score of 764. Not only is this higher than the average score for approved loans as recently as November, it's far beyond the 620-640 FICOs that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once considered the minimum for a conventional prime mortgage. It's also well above the median FICO score nationwide, which is currently 711, according to a spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp, developer of the score.
•A loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 78%, signifying a down payment of 22%. This is higher than even the controversial minimum of 20% proposed last year by Obama administration financial regulatory officials who were seeking a standard for "safe" loans offering the lowest available rates and best terms.
•Debt-to-income ratios of 21% for housing expenses, 34% for total household monthly debt.
How about the profiles of people who applied for conventional loans to buy a house but were rejected or didn't get to closing? By historical standards, they were a fairly impressive group on average as well, with 732 FICO scores, 19% down payments and debt-to-income ratios of 24% (housing costs) and 41% (total debt).
Homeowners who refinanced existing conventional loans had the best profiles of all: average 770 FICOs, 65% LTVs indicating 35% equity stakes, and debt-to-income ratios of 22% housing and 32% total debt.
The main alternative to conventional financing — the Federal Housing Administration — requires much smaller down payments, is more generous on credit standards and will stretch much further on debt-to-income ratios than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mainstays of the conventional marketplace.
What's the profile for success — and denial — at the FHA? You might be a little surprised.
According to Ellie Mae's data, successful applicants at the FHA had average FICO scores of 701 during February and debt-to-income ratios of 28% for housing expenses, 41% for total household monthly debt. Although the FHA accepts down payments as low as 3.5%, successful applicants threw in a bit more — an average of 5% down. People who didn't make the cut had average FICOs of 666 and 6% for down payments, and had debt ratios of 30% (housing costs) and 46% (total debt).
Successful FHA refi applicants had 722 FICOs, 12% average equity stakes and lower debt-to-income ratios than purchasers — 26% on average for housing costs, 40% for total household debt.
What to make of numbers like these? First observation: Ouch! It's "pretty pristine out there" in the mortgage market right now, said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. Even those rejected for loans appear to have what used to be considered solid and acceptable credit-risk profiles.
It is still possible to get conventional financing with lower down payments — say, 10% or even 5% — but those loans require nearly flawless credit and come with steep private mortgage insurance premiums and add-on fees by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as stringent debt-to-income limits. For cash-short buyers with good, but not outstanding, credit scores who are looking for a low down payment alternative, FHA is the way to go, unless they qualify for VA (veterans) or USDA (rural housing) loans requiring zero down.
Another thought about the numbers: Even though the profiles of successful borrowers may look challenging to match, keep in mind that these are averages. Many home buyers make it through the application gantlet with FICO scores and debt ratios that don't quite meet the current benchmarks — often because their full financial and credit-risk pictures are good enough to get them accepted by Fannie Mae's or Freddie Mac's automated underwriting systems.
So don't fret if you don't measure up to the averages. You still may have a good shot. But know this about today's mortgage standards: They're arguably tougher than ever.
Distributed by Washington Post Writers Group.


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Ideally located near Utrecht Central Station in the heart of the city, the stylish Park Plaza Utrecht puts guests an easy walk from the conferences and exciting events at the Jaarbeurs exhibition centre. Featuring 120 guest rooms, including fully refurbished Executive rooms, Park Plaza Utrecht is replete with time- and cost-saving amenities such as free Wi-Fi, a business centre and on-site parking.
The well-equipped fitness centre is perfect for relieving tension after a long day of meetings or sightseeing. Flexible event space makes hosting on-site meetings easy, and our dining options offer plenty to savour throughout the day. Our location in the centre of Utrecht's Old Town plus our first-class amenities keep business and leisure guests coming back.
100% non-smoking hotel
|From USD $204 per night
|Rate Details


text:
Game has been tested on Linux and Windows. Under the GPL. Written in Python.
Requires: python, pygame, and numpy.
Requires: Nothing
Requires: Nothing
There is a bug with the Mac version. Please turn off the day/night cycle until we can fix it.
Just drop into the music subdirectory. (You may need to start the game first. Linux users use ~/.endgame)
Send comments/suggestions to endgame-singularity at the domain googlegroups.com. (Public list, anyone can post. More details at our Google Group Page.)
Development: All development is through Github. Use
git clone https://github.com/singularity/singularityfor anonymous checkout of the current Git. (Git required, of course.)
Version 0.30c (2 mb) 06-11-2011. Linux only, as this fixes a Linux-only bug.
- Fixed crash in Python 2.7 due to different handling of locale strings. (Phil Bordelon, Roger Pixley/Daskreech for bug report)
Version 0.30b (2 mb) 07-28-2010 Windows version (11 mb)
- --nosound properly ignores the sound system.(emh, Cyclotron / Daryl for bug report)
- Better appearance when no items will fit in the slot. (emh)
- Knowledge screen is refreshed properly when loading a game. (emh)
- Time Capsule English text no longer assumes the Antarctic. (Phil Bordelon, Avaera8820 for bug report)
- Game pauses when random events occur. (Phil Bordelon, captainsegfault for bug report, justapawn for initial implementation)
- Savefiles are now in sorted order instead of an arbitrary arrangement. (remur_030)
- Additional corrections to de_DE translation. (Christian Gerloff, Developer-KI)
- Really make the Projects do something. (Phil, WvWisokee for bug report)
- "news" and "media" are only synonyms to humans. (FM, captainsegfault for bug report)
- Support the Delete and Keypad Enter keys properly. (Phil, Yoshi for bug report)
- Stopped building additional CPUs from refunding the money previously paid. (FM, Yoshi for bug report)
- Location name fix. (Phil, pederick for bug report)
- Fix a crash with handling scrollbars. (Phil, netantho for bug report)
- Fix a bug where the finance report wouldn't always display. (Raymond Martinau)
- Updated (but not fully complete) es_AR translation. (Guga)
* New it_IT translation. (Daniele Sapino)
- Fixed a bug where building 0 CPUs made the game crash whenever time was unpaused. (FM, don.ridge for bug report)
- Font sizing has been improved. Most dialogs should no longer appear "bloated". (FM, Gastón Alonso for bug report)
Version 0.30 (2 mb) 01-26-2009 Windows version (10.6 mb)
* Complete rewrite of the graphics system, shiny new widgets and dialogs. Arbitrary resolutions now supported. (FM)
- Fix to de_DE intro text. (booiiing)
* Individual bases no longer have their own tasks, only a power state. The research dialog has been substantially improved to compensate. (FM)
* When building or researching, CPU, cash, and labor (time) must be spent in approximately equivalent amounts. (FM)
* The AI has learned to estimate how quickly its bases are detected. (FM)
- The AI pays no attention to the humans until they notice his actions. (FM)
- Color-coding has been added to the AI's global estimates. (FM)
- Winning the game has become more permanent. (FM)
- Events no longer happen when they're meaningless. (FM)
* The AI has discovered a network of light sensors around the globe. You can now see day and night on the map. (dvrasp, FM, Anne M. Archibald)
* Added support for running the game on an OLPC XO-1. (FM)
* fr_FR translation (Philippe Grenard)
- Make two Projects that didn't do anything before actually do something. (Phil, FM for bug report)
* Reduced the number of savefile formats supported, but make attempts to load bad saves less problematic. (Phil)
Version 0.28a (1.3 mb) 05-12-2008 Windows version (5.5 mb)
* Three new win/loss tracks for the game, including the Psycle source! (Max McCracken)
- Error logs are handled more sanely on *NIX systems. (Phil, kaol and FM for the idea)
- Replaced Bitstream Vera Sans with DejaVu Sans to facilitate future translations. (Phil)
- Localization fix for locales with non-ASCII number formats. (FM, Henrik Phil for bug report)
Version 0.28 (1.3 mb) 05-11-2008 Windows version (5.5 mb) Mac version, experimental (4.4 mb)
- Minor text cleanups. (Phil, FM; Cory Hickey and gglouser for some fixes)
- Minor dialog behavior fixes. (FM)
* New non-research task: CPU Pool. Performs maintenance, construction, jobs. Bases with no other task assigned will contribute to the CPU Pool. (FM)
* New non-research task: Sleep. Bases assigned to Sleep will remain idle and be harder to detect. Note that even a computer can't sleep through construction. (FM)
- The CHANGE buttons inside the base dialog now show their hotkeys. (FM)
- The location buttons have had their on-screen positions tweaked. (FM)
- Start location is randomized to any of the 5 available continents. (FM)
* CPU is now used to design constructions, Cash to buy the required items, and Labor (time) to assemble the final construction. (FM)
- Location and city names can now be localized. (FM)
- Numbers automatically localize to the correct comma-vs-period usage. (FM)
* Added a new difficulty level: Ultra Hard. (FM, emh for suggestion)
* Build times are now difficulty-dependent. (FM)
* The grace period applied to a new base is now difficulty-dependent. (FM)
* The suspicion gain per discovery is now difficulty-dependent. (FM)
- Bases in a location are now sorted by size, then name. (FM, emh for suggestion)
* The global grace period now expires on Normal and above if you build more than a certain number of bases, and on Ultra Hard if you build certain types of bases. (FM)
- Locations with recently-discovered bases are now more likely to have other bases discovered. (FM)
* Base detection chances and overall suspicion are now unknown until certain new technologies have been researched. (Phil)
...except on low difficulty. (FM)
* Incomplete bases no longer support the AI. (FM)
- It's possible to get lucky when hacking some random computer. (FM)
* Seconds, minutes, and hours now matter much more than they used to. (FM)
- Major events cause the game to pause, instead of going to real-time. (FM)
- You can use the Enter on the numeric keypad like the regular Enter key. (Phil, gare for suggestion)
* Continents are no longer identical. (FM, Phil for suggestion)
* New continent: Australia. Ocean moved to make room. (FM)
* E:S now has an intro when you start a new game! (FM)
- New item: Warning Signs. Useful for keeping out curious people. (FM)
- CPU display on Finance screen centered (Jorge Vargas)
- Time capsules can now be built anywhere sufficiently remote, with varying degrees of stealth. (FM, emh for suggestion)
- Internet Traffic Manipulation and Hypnosis Field techs have been rebalanced to better reflect their effects. (FM)
* de_DE translation (FM, Thomas for native proofing [still in progress])
* sv_SE translation (Anders Andersson)
Version 0.27 (1.2 mb) 04-17-2008 Windows version (8.1 mb) Mac version, highly experimental (4.4 mb)
- Display the actual discovery percentage when preparing to build a base. (Brian, Phil)
- Minor text cleanups. (Phil)
* Support events that can happen throughout the course of the game, changing things in interesting ways. (Brian, Phil)
* A number of new items and technologies to ease gameplay. (Brian, tweaks by Phil and emh)
- Building new machines informs you how much CPU capacity you will receive from the new systems. (Brian, Phil for suggestion)
- Idle bases are harder to discover. (Brian)
- Allow keys to be repeated when held down. (Brian, emh for suggestion)
- Fix the constant "CPU complete" dialogs when low on money. (Brian, numerous people for suggestion)
- Added research item for construction. Still needs actual implementation. Weird time code is blocking. (Brian, ? for suggestion)
- Return to base menu when exiting base screens rather than returning to map. (Brian, emh and Max McCracken for suggestion)
- Implemented Security and Reactor values obtained from data files. (Brian)
- Implemented "Destroy" feature from base list (Brian, Max McCracken and emh for suggestion)
- When building, items are sorted by their cost to make picking the best one easier. (Phil, Gustav Bertram for suggestion)
- Keep the game from crashing when it cannot create a 'music/' directory. (Phil, Andrew McMillan for report)
- Added checks to avoid key error crashes related to unfinished Construction code. (Brian)
- Added check to avoid crash when hitting 'Destroy' button in an empty base list. (Brian)
- Preferences have moved to 'prefs.dat', and now follow the standard Python ConfigParser format. (Phil)
- Added difficulty choice dialog handled by pgu. (Brian)
- Increased robustness across the board; E:S should be harder to crash. (Phil)
- Various strings shortened to fit dialogs. (Phil, Joey Hess for suggestion)
- Fixed bug that kept music from playing. (Phil, Brian Warner for suggestion)
- Keep running if the mixer can't load. (Phil, Rafal Czlonka for bug report)
- Fix up the handling of music paths. (Phil)
- Added support for win and losegame music. (emh)
* Three new tracks, 'Deprecation', 'Awakening,' and 'Inevitable,' including the Psycle source! (Max McCracken)
- Research screen will no longer assign an extra base to research. (emh, blog... for report)
- When naming base, text will take up the entire box. (emh, blog... for report)
- Fixed a potential crash with display_base_list self-recursing. (Phil, Josh Triplett for report)
Version 0.26a (1.2 mb) 08-09-2007 Windows version (9.2 mb)
- Made Very Easy mode actually playable. (Phil, Simon Goodall for bug report.)
Version 0.26 (1.2 mb) 08-09-2007 Windows version (9.2 mb)
- Added CPU indicator to the main screen. (emh, John DiMarco for suggestion)
- Research screen will now automatically prune bases. (emh, John DiMarco for suggestion)
- Fixed slight flicker when toggling options. (emh)
* Added difficulty selection. (emh, many people for suggestion)
* Added simple background music playing ability. (emh, Matthew Robinson for initial patch.)
- Single-CPU bases have CPU power listed. (emh, robaal for suggestion)
* Delicious retro-futuristic music specially made for Endgame: Singularity, including the Psycle source for the tracks! (Max McCracken)
- License change of the various data that the developers control to BY-SA 3.0 (from BY-SA 2.5). (Phil, emh)
- License change of the Acknowledge font to 'free to use for any purpose;' thanks so much, Brian Kent! (Phil, Brian Kent)
Version 0.25 (457 kb) 08-20-2006 Windows version (8.4 mb)
- Default language changeable via option screen. (emh)
- Finance screen shows CPU usage now. (emh, multiple people for suggestion)
- Options screen can be accessed after game start. (emh)
- New item/techs. (emh, editing by Phil)
- Add up free CPU properly, for use in maintenance. (emh, bugreport by Simon Goodall)
- Change starting bases/cash. (emh)
- Save directory will be created in the right place now. (emh)
- True cost of constructing CPU items is now displayed. (emh)
- Future cost of techs displayed properly when multiple bases are working. (emh)
Version 0.24 (454 kb) 07-13-2006 Windows version (8.4 mb)
- The Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End keys work in all listboxes. (emh)
- Modified money displays to keep them from overflowing. (Phil)
* Suspicion loss is now quadratic; different groups "forget" quicker. (Phil, Ticho for the suggestion)
* There are now restrictions on the building of items. (emh)
- Fixed a couple scrollbars that weren't working right. (emh)
- Spruced up text. (Phil)
- Fixed a bug with the item cost display. (Phil)
- Fixed a bug when running in NetBSD. (emh, reported by Reno Reckling)
* More items/techs. (emh)
* Bases can now be lost due to disrepair. (emh)
* Added ability to examine items and techs. (emh)
- Added in-game "help" in the form of information on various concepts. (emh, tweaks by Phil)
* Added preference system. (emh)
- Updated es_AR translation. (Borg[MDQ])
Version 0.23a (438 kb) 03-08-2006
* Save/load works on Windows again. (emh, rspoerri for bug report)
- Updated option help (emh)
Version 0.23 (438 kb) 03-06-2006
- Fixed bug that allowed access to uncompleted bases. (emh, Borg[MDQ] for report)
* Added ability to destroy bases. (emh, multiple people for suggestion)
* Reduced (real-world) processor usage. (emh, anonymous for suggestion)
- Moved savefile location to ~/.endgame/saves (emh, Nescius for patch)
* Added finance screen. (emh, many for suggestion)
- Construction time bonus actually works now. (emh)
- More numbers use commas now. (emh)
- Increased cost of clusters. (emh)
- Adjusted button positions for greater usability. (Phil)
- Minor typo fixes and tightened grammar. (Phil)
* Further massive reduction in processor usage using new Clock class. (Phil, Adam Bark for original patch)
- Can destroy bases under construction. (emh, Tim Freeman for suggestion)
- Bases under construction are no longer protected indefinitely from being discovered. (emh, Tim Freeman for noting problem)
- Automatically bump machines working jobs to new job levels when they are researched. (emh, Phil for suggestion :)
- Tweak Suspicion and Detection displays for readability. (Phil)
- Move around the various displays on the base screen for parity with the map screen. (Phil)
- Display the name of the base at the top of the base screen. (Phil, Ticho for suggestion)
- Reduce discovery chance to 0% after the game is won. (Phil, Szabó Roland for suggestion)
- Properly localize win screen. (Phil)
* Right-click will exit from all menus. (emh, mandos for suggestion)
- Warn players when research selected on the Research screen will not use all available CPU. (Phil, mandos for suggestion)
- Note bases that are under construction in the base list. (emh, Ticho for suggestion)
- Display the right construction time for items when you have technologies that speed up construction. (emh)
- Items will no longer give benefits while under construction. (emh)
Version 0.22 (383 kb) 05-10-2005
NOTE: Save files from versions 0.21 and above should work. Save files from versions 0.20 and before will not work.
- At the start, money gains a minimal amount of interest (as opposed to none). (Phil)
- Make the 'change research' button more obvious. (Phil)
- Change the way that technologies/items are stored. There is now a separate text file detailing the technology tree, and another with all of the text strings. This will allow localization of the technologies. (emh)
- When technologies are completed, we can now display a string detailing the result. (emh)
- Complete rewrite of technology descriptions, better matching the new names. (Phil)
- Minor cleanup of base descriptions. (Phil)
- New default font (Bitstream Vera Sans), especially useful for systems that don't have a default Pygame font for some reason (emh; reported by Brian Ropers-Huilman)
- Hotkeys for the various speed settings (1-4). (emh, Borg[MDQ] for suggestion)
- Call the 'per day' code for however many days is necessary since the last call. (emh)
- Change the grace period for bases to start when construction is complete. (emh)
- Keys can repeat/mouse can be used when in textboxes. (emh, Phil)
- Reduce discovery chances for most agencies for most bases. (Phil)
- Added a new cheat. (Phil)
- Fixed tech studying when money is needed. (emh)
- Added next/prev base buttons. (emh, Borg[MDQ] for suggestion)
- es_AR translation (our first!) (Borg[MDQ], very minor fixups by Phil)
- Moved more things into data files. (emh)
- Flavored names and numbers for the bases. (idea by heatsink, implementation by emh and Phil)
- Translation-related crash fix. (emh)
- Global Research Screen; allows changing research for all bases. (emh, very minor fixups by Phil)
- Items give dialog upon completion. (emh; Jens Becker for suggestion)
- Expanded a few listboxes in order to fit the larger base names/techs. (emh)
- Various and sundry bugfixes across old and new code. (emh, Phil)
Version 0.21a (325 kb) 19-9-2005
- Added '.sav' extension to new save files. Old ones will still load, but they will save with a .sav extension, and the old save will not be used any more. (Phil)
- Fixed loading 0.20 saves with technologies currently being researched. (emh)
Version 0.21 19-9-2005
- Game will not crash when building a base or item in rare circumstances. (emh; Christan Brink (among others) for bug report)
- Fixed a few broken keyboard shortcuts, and redid the code to make this bug harder to create. (emh)
- Renamed almost all technologies. (Phil) [NOTE: The descriptions of the technologies have not yet been changed to match their new names. This will be done by the next release.]
- Various typos. (Phil)
- The current speed will be highlighted. (emh; solitonwave Borg for suggestion)
- Changed endgame tech name. (emh; Daniel Radetsky for suggestion)
- Simplified savegame format. (emh; anonymous for suggestion)
- Fixed crash when loading a game, then starting a new game. (emh)
Version 0.20 14-9-2005
- Adjusted the README. (Phil)
- Added suspicion display. (emh)
- Slow time back to normal when a base is discovered. (emh)
- Redid base display. (emh)
- All clicks only accept the left mouse button. (emh)
- Scrollwheel works. (emh)
- Balancing. (emh)
- Various bugfixes. (Phil, emh)
- Future cash is displayed next to current cash. (emh)
- Code refactoring. (Phil)
- Bases and savegames can be named. (Phil, emh)
- Default base names are unique. (Phil)
- Suspicion reduces automatically over time. (Phil)
- Reduced cost for reactors and fields. (emh)
- Bases now have a 14-day grace period before they can be discovered. (emh)
- New technology. (emh)
- Various typo fixes. (Phil, emh)
Version 0.16 12-9-2005
Changes: Moved code to subdirectory. Added Changelog/AUTHOR files (Phil Bordelon) Research and jobs are displayed better. (Phil Bordelon) Fixed job crash bug. (Phil Bordelon) Current research is listed next to the base name. Invisible buttons cannot be clicked anymore. Bases can be discovered/the game can be lost.
Version 0.15 11-9-2005
Changes: Slight performance increase. Added help text for researching nothing. Added some sound. Covert bases are now constructable. Locations will only show up if bases are constructable there. Jobs added.
Version 0.14 10-9-2005
Changes: Fixed a crash when building some bases. (Phil Bordelon) Reduced speed when completing research and bases. (Phil Bordelon) Savegames will properly store research cost. (Phil Bordelon) The "Build Item" screen will only come up once. Fixed overpaying for bases. Construction of bases that require CPU time is now possible. Maintenance costs for bases correctly taken.
Version 0.13 9-9-2005
Changes: Bases give a notification when completed. Fixed a few spelling mistakes. (Phil Bordelon) Fixed a crash. (Phil Bordelon)
Version 0.12 8-9-2005
Changes: Number of bases for each location listed on world map. Closing game window from map or base screens no longer results in a traceback. Buttons light up when hovered over. Fixed crash from undefined tech.
0.11: First bugfix verion 5-9-2005
Changes: Saving/loading. Game will no longer crash in listboxes when choosing a blank item. Long listboxes handle clicking correctly. Fixed crash related to building new bases. Shortcut for building base items works. Shortcut for building new bases added. Network items work now.
0.10: Version used for the compo entry
logbook of the compo


text:
The IEEE Communications Society has recently chosen Joao Barros, national director of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program as the recipient of the Young Researcher Award for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Region.
This award honors researchers who have been very active in IEEE ComSoc publication and conference activities over the last three years. The upper age limit is 35. The award letter states that the awards committee "had received a large number of excellent submissions, which were assessed by the Awards committee for ComSoc EMEA Region. The assessment was carried out against a very stringent set of criteria.".
The awards ceremony will take place in June 2011 at the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2011) in Kyoto, Japan.
Joao Barros is best known internationally for his research on physical layer security, network coding and sensor networks, all of which can be used as building blocks for future internet architectures and applications. By applying fundamental principles of information theory, his research group at Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) and Instituto de Telecomunicacoes (IT) has found new ways of communicating securely and efficiently in highly dynamic environments such as wireless networks and peer-to-peer networks. Physical-layer security technologies in the form of codes and protocols developed under his leadership allow wireless systems to exploit the noise in the communication channel to prevent eavesdroppers from extracting key information. The use of network coding in combination with some of the algorithms developed by Barros' group enables telecom operators to decrease the overall delay and increase the robustness of their network. Instead of storing and forwarding copies of whatever they receive, nodes in the network use simple linear operations to combine the different data packets. The destination no longer has to wait for a specific data packet, because it only needs to receive a sufficient number of combinations to recover the original information.
Recently, Barros has been active in the area of vehicular networking as a key enabler in intelligent transportation systems. Together with colleagues at the Department of Computer Science (DCC-FCUP), Universidade de Aveiro, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon University, Barros is investigating how cars, buses, and other vehicles can be used as a massive urban scanner by picking up large quantities of measurements from different sensors, sharing this data over wireless channels and delivering the information to a data center for further processing.


text:
Email : email@example.com
Dr. Domb, Thanks a lot for getting my hip right. Looking forward to a full recovery and a great season. Thanks again for everything.
Corey Wootton
Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions
Thank you for all that you have done for me and the team. My hip feels so much better, and because of you I'm pain free.
Sylvia Fowles
WNBA Finals MVP, 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist
Thanks for all the love and positive energy that was put into my surgery. May the Lord bless you and your family!
Atari Bigby
Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers
Huge thank you to Dr. Domb for always taking care of me and getting me back on the court in no time!
Elena Delle Donne
Chicago Sky, MVP of the WNBA
Dr. Domb, Thanks for fixing me up!
Rashied Davis
Chicago Bears
Dr. Domb, Thanks for taking care of the hip! All the best to you and your staff!
Roosevelt Colvin
Chicago Bears' All-Decade Defense team
Thanks doc for fixing my hip!
Ryan Chiaverini
Windy City Live Co-Host on ABC7
"Thank you so much Dr Domb for taking care of me. Hip #2 - Let's Do This!"
- Helia "WarriorPrincess" R