Saturday, June 27, 2015

God crushes rebellion

Numbers 16:1-5,19,32-33 NLT
[1] One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben. [2] They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly. [3] They united against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have gone too far! The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the LORD, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the LORD's people?" [4] When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell face down on the ground. [5] Then he said to Korah and his followers, "Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The LORD will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence. [19] Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire community against Moses and Aaron, and they all gathered at the Tabernacle entrance. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to the whole community, [32] The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. [33] So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel.

Korah and his follower tried to bring down Moses and Aaron by saying that him and his people were just as Holy as the chosen servants of God (Moses and Aaron). It was rebellion and God dealt with them swiftly. Never underestimate the power and favor God has given a leader in your church because if you go against Gods chosen, you could be dealt with in a way that is not so wanted. Also, recognize that if you are a leader in your church, there will most always be someone that doesn't like or appreciate you. 

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Using the table value constructor to specify multiple values in the FROM clause of a SELECT statement

SELECT a, b FROM (VALUES (1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6), (7, 8), (9, 10) ) AS MyTable(a, b);
When I first saw this syntax, I wasn't sure if it would work. However, after testing, this worked perfectly.
This tsql statement could save alot of time for the people that don't need to create a permanent object in the database, but is looking for a quick fix.
This statement could be used as a function or it could be used to select multiple values to insert into a table.

Here is a situation where it could be used in the place of a function.
EX:
Select @dCollected = (SELECT a, b FROM (VALUES (1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6), (7, 8), (9, 10) ) AS MyTable(a, b))

Here is a situation where it could be used in the place filling a temporary table and selecting from it.
EX:
SELECT a, b FROM (VALUES (1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6), (7, 8), (9, 10) ) AS MyTable(a, b)
Union
Select a, b From PermanentOrTempTable

This is a good use of this syntax.
However, I would not recommend using this often as it could lead to spagetti code and cannot be reused unless pasted over and over again which is bad development.

Reference: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd776382.aspx