Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service.
We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps
us live a more meaningful life.
We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith and a place
where you can contribute and grow.
Our service, uh, will last about an hour and in a few seconds you'll
meet our hosts, uh, for our service, who will introduce today's talk.
After the talk, we will have a time of worship and reflection after which we
head into Conversation Street, where we look at your stories and questions
that you've posted in the comments.
Now, we want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church, and we've got a
few ways in which you can do just that.
Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our
livestream, and if you're up for it.
Why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together?
See, church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others,
and one of the easiest ways for you to do that is join one of our
midweek groups where we meet online together to catch up and discover
more about the amazingness of Christ.
You can also subscribe to our fairly new podcast called What's the Story?
Uh, where we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people.
More information about all of these things can be found on our website
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If you are new to Crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to
know what your next steps to take are, well why not head over to our website,
www.crowd.church/next for more details.
And now the moment you've been waiting for is here.
Our Online Church Service starts right now.
Wow.
Good evening and welcome to Crowd Online Church.
My name is Matt Edmundson, also known as Batman.
And Dan, uh, is sat right next to me, also known as Dan.
Where's your Christmas jumper, bro?
I know, I, um, I need to do something about that.
Yeah, it's that time of year, isn't it?
Um, yeah, we're almost there.
Tree's up.
The trees up aren't quite there.
Well, the trees up and I turned the decorations, the
lights in the garden on before.
But they tripped all the electrics in the house, the electrician.
I was like, oh dear.
So I, yes, I need to do some, um, some work on that.
And just remind what you do for, for a living again Dan.
Yeah.
At least I know how to fix it.
Yeah.
I was gonna say, just, just remind me what you do for a living again?
Yeah.
Electrician
That's awesome.
Uh, if you are joining us for the first time, warm welcome to you,
welcome to our online church.
It's great that you are here.
Great that you could come join myself and Dan, we're gonna get
into, uh, the resurrection today.
We got Pete Farrington doing the Talk on the Resurrection, so look forward to that.
We got that.
I do have to explain a little bit about what's gonna happen.
Cause it is a, it's only a little bit different to note.
Uh, but that's okay.
If you are watching on Facebook, a very warm welcome to you.
Um, we've pinned the link to the YouTube channel.
So do come join us on YouTube if you can as we are migrating.
Uh, Crowd livestream to just livestream on YouTube only going forward.
So we're still doing both, still doing YouTube and Facebook.
Um, so you can still watch us on Facebook.
Uh, but if you can join us on YouTube, that would be great.
Uh, good evening Nicola.
Hey Matt, have you worn this shirt yet?
Nichola says, no.
That will come out.
Nicola Trust me.
Oh yes, we've got a very special Christmas shirt, uh, which Nicholas
sent into me, which is awesome.
Uh, and so yeah, I'm really, really excited.
That.
So, dang.
You've got, you've got some catching up to do, bud.
I, I have, I definitely, um, yes.
Need to dig out my jumper.
Yeah.
The very least.
At the very least, yes.
Get, get on it.
Now, if you, uh, if you do have a photo of yourself in a Christmas
jumper, we would love to see it.
And if you don't mind it being on the live stream, send it through.
Uh, you can WhatsApp that through or you could email it through.
Um, uh, we would love to see it.
Just like I say, just be warned if you send me images.
There is a chance that it might appear on the livestream.
Just say hashtag the same.
Okay.
So let uh, I was just about to say, Dan, tell them about the little
error that we've got, but it's probably best that I explain it.
Cause lemme just explain it to you.
So what has happened, uh, is that, We have Pete Farrington this week
speaking to us about John's Gospel.
If you are, uh, new to crowd or if you're just joining us.
We have been working our way through the Gospel of John, right?
Um, in a series called Origin, where we're looking at the start of
the church, sort of the Christian movement, the church movement.
And we've been working our way quite rapidly through John's gospel with an
idea that in the new year, we're gonna slow down a little bit and work a little
bit more methodically through the Book of Acts, which I'm very excited about
because Acts is just a stonking book.
Some amazing stuff happens in acts.
And so, um, we asked our speakers to, to speak on certain things.
Now, John, uh, Pete, uh, say John, uh, Pete, Pete Farrington is gonna be
talking, like I say about the resurrection for the keen odd amongst you, you
will, you'll go, hang on a minute.
We seem to have missed it.
Yes.
We, we've missed it.
We missed
He's resurrected without, um, a critical portion of, of Jesus' life.
Yes.
Now, let me just say this is not Pete's fault.
This is entirely my fault, um, uh, that we missed out a piece of scripture.
So this week and next week, uh, we've got both Pete Farrington and John
Harding talking about the resurrection, uh, which is great and wonderful.
And we've got both talks and they're both phenomenal, uh, as you would expect.
So we've got some good stuff coming.
So but I did realize once we'd got Pete's talk in, I was like, oh, we seem to
have missed a little bit of scripture.
Uh, which is the death burial, uh, of Jesus, the sort of, the bit the
sort of leads up to the resurrection.
Um, and so what we're gonna do is just bring everybody up to speed.
Uh, we're gonna talk about the death of Christ in quite rapid fashion,
which is, I appreciate not giving it its due care and attention.
Uh, but it, it, unfortunately, it is what it is on this occasion.
Um, but we have talked about the death of Christ quite
significantly in past livestreams.
If you would like to know more about that, especially the online
alpha course, you can, uh, you can go and look at it in there.
Was that clear enough, Dan?
Did I explain that well enough or did you just zone out when I was talking
? Partially ? No, I think you explained that well.
Good.
Yeah.
Good.
So we're jumping straight in.
So we're gonna jump straight into Conversation Street.
Yeah.
No.
Well we're gonna do a bit of Conversation Street now we're gonna
talk about the death of Christ.
We're gonna bring it up to speed and then we are gonna hit, uh, our normal stride.
And then we're gonna have a short Conversation Street at the end.
So we're mixing it up a little bit, but that's okay because I'm Batman.
Uh, and so it's just.
It is, is the way it's now.
So let's talk about the death of Christ.
Why do Christians talk about the death of Christ?
Why do we walk around with crosses on our necks or on our
t-shirts or printed everywhere?
Why are we so fascinated with this instrument of torture and death in
what can only be described as a very odd, um, in a very odd sense, Matt Crew
put in the comments, I'm not Batman.
All I'm saying is you've never seen me and Batman in the same room.
I just, I don't need to say anything else.
Um, so Dan, any thoughts on this?
Why?
Uh, not whether I'm Batman, but you know, why do Christians, uh,
why do we talk about the death of Christ as much as we do?
It's it, when you, we get so used to it, don't we?
Get so, so used to seeing that cross around, like you say,
around people's necks on churches.
That's amazing that.
The symbol of, of Christians all over the world.
Um, forgetting that it was a torture symbol that, um, but I suppose
the, we were, were, let's put it into just one sentence, almost,
that Jesus died, tortured, punished for a crime he didn't commit.
Yeah.
For, well, for more than, for all the crimes that we committed.
He died.
And that's why it's central to our faith that Jesus took on all our, our
sin, all the things we've done wrong.
The reason that we can't be, couldn't be righteous.
The reason that we couldn't be made holy.
He said, I'm gonna take all those things on because I'm holy and I'm gonna die
with the great news of what's coming up.
Yeah.
Resurrection.
Yeah, absolutely.
The resurrection's a critical part.
It's a really interesting thing.
Have you, have you heard of the Divine Exchange?
You've heard of substitute, let's use a theological term, substitutionary,
substitutionary atonement.
Uh, a very posh term and it's a really interesting idea.
You know, why did Jesus have to die?
Well, the Bible says the wages of sin is death.
So there had to something somewhere had to, had to give away with all this sin.
Um, and there was a, I remember years ago my, uh, little sister Amy,
um, she was born 18 years, uh, I was 18 years old when she was born.
So there's, there's quite a big age gap between us.
And I remember standing in, um, her bedroom when she was a couple months
old and we were changing her nappy.
And I was up there with my dad.
Uh, so changing her nappy or a diaper for anybody outside of England,
um, and she was really not well.
She was really, she was quite poorly.
I mean, nothing life-threatening, but she was just, you know, you
know what it's like when you've got little kids and they're poorly.
My dad said something, which actually is the heart of every dad that I've known
since, um, I was not a father at the time, but I remember dad saying this
and I remember it sticking with me.
He said, you know what Matt, he said, I wish I could be sick for her.
I wish I could take that sickness out of her because she doesn't
understand what's going on.
Poor little thing.
And I wish I could give her my health.
Right.
So what my dad was expressing was what theologians call substitution.
Substitutionary atonement was this divine exchange.
Yeah, yeah.
Thanks, Dan.
Uh, was this desire to take something, uh, bad away from your
child and give them your good stuff.
And so in the Bible we have this, this, um, picture where Jesus takes
upon himself our punishment, our sickness, our disease, our sin, our
angst, our anxiety, our brokenness.
He takes all of that upon himself, but then he gives us his righteousness,
his peace, his joy, his salvation, his, um, all of these amazing things,
which have taken me 30 years, and I only feel like I'm scratching the
surface of what they actually mean.
Right.
Um, but it's this divine exchange and that happened at the death of Christ.
So he took upon himself all of that stuff from us and gave
us, uh, his amazing stuff.
And it's, it's the story of the gospel.
But like you say, Dan, it's nothing without the resurrection.
Right?
It was, I mean, it was amazing that he did that for us.
But it was the conquering of death, wasn't it?
That that's the, the, the celebration that it, um, he died for us, but in that
death, he, he conquered death because we're gonna find out, he rose again.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
So we're gonna get into Pete's talk, um, about the resurrection.
Then Dan and I will be out back after that, uh, for,
um, uh, Conversation Street.
But actually after the talk there's a brief time of worship and then we'll
be back for Conversation Street.
So, uh, get busy in the comments.
We'll be in there.
Dan and I jumping in saying hello.
Uh, so it'd be great to see you in there and we'll be back in just a few minutes.
I'm just looking for the button on my.
I'm just gonna click the mouse thing on my screen cause it's probably easier.
Uh, so here is Mr.
Pete Farrington, uh, talking about the resurrection of Christ.
Hello Crowd church.
It's fantastic to be with you again.
And today I'm gonna be walking us through the final part of the Gospel of John.
Um, while I do that, I may, uh, glance to my right.
Now and then, uh, it's not because I've got the footy on, it's because
I've got a baby monitor here and my little boy is asleep upstairs.
And hopefully he will stay that way, uh, for a little longer.
Um, so today we're looking at John chapter 20, and, uh, we'll start
at the very beginning, verse one.
So on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while
it was still dark, and she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus
loved, and said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we
do not know where they have laid him.
Um, so here we see that the first eyewitness of the empty tomb,
Mary Magdalene, we've actually met her a few times before.
Um, she's the one who Jesus cast seven demons out of.
And, um, this is massive that she's the first person to see the empty tomb.
Um, the Jewish historian Josephus just a few decades after this said that a woman's
testimony at the time was not deemed acceptable in a court of law because of
"the levity and boldness of their sex".
Um, a guy called Calsus in the second century scoffed at the idea of Mary
Magdalene being the first eyewitness, calling her a hysterical woman.
Um, and he, he talked about her being, uh, deceived by sorcery and all this.
Um, and then a guy called Philo, who was a contemporary of Josephus,
said of women that "she easily gives way and is taken in by plausible
falsehoods, which resemble the truth.
The female sex is irrational and akin to bestial passions, fear,
sorrow, pleasure and desire from which ensue, incurable diseases
and, uh, indescribable weaknesses."
I would like to point out at this point that not all views expressed
in this talk are my own, um, but I, I include those quotes here to give
you a, a little bit of a, um, glimpse of how women were viewed at the time.
And, uh, this is really important because if you were going to make up a story and,
and try to make it sound credible which is what many have argued, um, that the,
the disciples did with, uh, with the tomb and the whole story of the resurrection.
Uh, if you wanted to come up with a mad conspiracy theory and, and you really
wanted it to catch on, well, probably the very last thing you would've done
in the first century would be to have had a woman as the first eyewitness.
Um, but let's go back to, uh, and continue in verse three.
So, Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb.
Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in he saw the linen cloths
lying there, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus'
head not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in.
And he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture
that he must rise from the dead.
So here, um, we get our first admissible testimony, really,
um, the presence of two men.
But if you still want to try and argue that this whole thing was fabricated,
uh, by Jesus's disciples so that it would all kind of match up with what they, uh,
thought Jesus had been predicticting, um, you've, you've, you've got a big problem.
Um, because clearly resurrection hadn't even crossed their minds.
Uh, it says, for as yet, they did not understand the scripture
that he must rise from the dead.
And even Mary Magdalene hadn't considered this a possibility either.
She'd only said, uh, she'd only reported to Peter and John.
They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they've laid him.
Um, and I think this.
Uh, this passage also shows us the importance of God's word, um, because
it's God's word that helps us make sense of the things that we see and
experience and walk through in life.
It's, it's God's word that helps us to think rightly about him and about
ourselves, um, and, and about life.
And this is why I, I kind of take issue a little bit when people say
things like, we don't need more theology, we need more experience.
I'm like, If that's, if that's the case, how are you going
to understand your experience?
Um, we, we, we shouldn't be pitting the two things against each other.
We, we both need to experience God and we also need to understand
him and think rightly about him.
Uh, and so studying his word uh, is vitally important, um, to
understand what, what we experience.
Um, but we've talked a little bit about the fact of the resurrection.
Um, but let's now think a bit about the meaning of it because we want
to, we want to see the resurrection.
Um, a little bit like how the wise men saw the star in the sky.
It wasn't just, oh, I see a new star in the sky.
I see it and I believe it.
Um, they, they saw in the sense that they, they perceived it.
They, they understood the, the meaning and the significance of it.
Um, so what does the resurrection mean?
What is its significance?
Um, I think firstly, the resurrection was validation of Jesus' deity.
In Romans one verse four, it tells us that.
Jesus was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness
by his resurrection from the dead.
So it's a, it's a declaration of his deity.
Um, John actually alludes to this a little bit, I think in verse seven of our
passage today, where his language kind of contrasts Jesus' resurrection with
the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
Um, earlier in the gospel of John in chapter 11, um, it, it says of
Lazarus that the man who would come out of the tomb, um, his hands and
feet bound with linen strips and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to him, unbind him and let him go.
Um, but Jesus didn't rise in the same way that Lazarus rose.
He didn't stumble out of the tomb with his hands bound and his face covered.
Um, he, he even neatly folded up um, the face cloth.
And later in this passage we'll see that Jesus says to Mary,
I am ascending to the Father.
So he didn't rise like Lazarus to die again.
And we see this all throughout scripture where Jesus is shown to be the better.
He's the better Moses, he's the better David, he's the better Lazarus.
Um, the resurrection was also the authentication of
the claims that Jesus made.
And, and I wonder a bit what, what Peter and John might have said to
each other on their way back at home as they tried to come to terms with
what they'd seen and make sense of it.
Um, you know, I wonder if they'd been like, Hey John, were you, were you there
when Jesus said all that stuff about the son of man rising after three days?
Do you think like that's, do you think that's what we've,
what we're seeing right now?
Um, cuz Jesus had said in Mark eight, verse 31, and he began to teach them that
the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief
priests and the scribes and be killed.
And after three days rise again.
Um, without the resurrection, Jesus' death would have been rendered
ineffective and insufficient.
Uh, in Romans four verse 25, it says that he, Jesus was delivered up for
our trespasses, for our sins, and he was raised for our justification.
So without the resurrection, we are not justified, before God.
Um, in one Corinthians 15:17 it says this explicitly, and if Christ has
not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
There is no forgiveness without the resurrection.
Um, and, and there is no hope that we have outside of the resurrection.
Um, but the resurrection also means that death has lost its sting and
death does not have the final word.
In, in one Corinthians 15, verse 55 to 57 tells us, oh, death.
Where is your victory?
Oh, death.
Where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks
be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Um, and 1 Thessalonians four verses 13 to 14 tells us, but we do not want
you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not
grieve as others do, who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again.
Even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
So death is not the end.
Um, we will rise.
We too will rise again.
Um, and the resurrection also means that Jesus's ministry continues.
I absolutely love this verse in Hebrews seven.
Um, this is 24 to 25 it says, but he, that's Jesus, holds his priesthood
permanently because he continues forever.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost, those who draw near
to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
So Jesus's resurrection means that Christ's ministry has not ended.
And if you are in Jesus, you had an intercessor yesterday, you
have an intercessor today, and you will have an intercessor tomorrow.
He always lives to make intercession for us.
He's able to save us to the uttermost.
Um, now going back to our texts, um, we see that Peter and John, uh, go
back to their homes, but Mary stays and is weeping outside the tomb.
Um, she, she goes into the tomb and she sees two angels there.
And, uh, we'll pick up the passage again.
Verse 13.
So, um, the angel said to her woman, why are you, why are you weeping?
She said to them, they have taken away my Lord, and I do not
know where they have laid him.
So still she's not thinking about resurrection.
Verse 14, having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but
she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be the gardener she said to him, sir, if you have carried
him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.
Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic,
Rabboni, which means teacher.
Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and
your Father, to my God and your God.
Mary Magdalene's, uh, deeply troubled past didn't disqualify her from,
from being the first commissioned messenger of the resurrection.
It's incredible.
She's the first person to see the risen Jesus.
Um, and I, I imagine the disciples must have been beside themselves,
uh, at this point when, when Mary came to bring them the news.
It's like, Jesus, you're really not helping us here.
If anybody, how is anybody gonna believe us uh, if you keep choosing to reveal
yourself to women, Um, but what, what Jesus says to Mary is so beautiful.
Uh, remember, these are the guys, um, his disciples were the ones,
uh, who, who, well, most of them deserted, uh, and even denied Jesus.
And yet he identifies himself with them.
He, he says, uh, go to my brothers.
Um, he, uh, he says, I'm ascending to my Father and your Father.
To my God and your God.
Not just my God, but your God.
He identifies himself with us.
It's incredible.
Um, John 20 verses 19 to 20, um, says on, on the evening of that day, the first day
of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.
Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, Jesus said to
them again, peace be with you.
So just imagine what's going on in the disciples' heads, um, they had
left everything to follow this guy.
Um, they'd, they'd then watched Jesus die, or, well, most of
them deserted him, but they.
You know, their hero died, the one they pinned all of their hopes on died.
They're now scared for their lives.
And they've, they've now got this, this woman claiming he's alive.
Um, and they, they must have been racked with, with terror and doubt.
You know, like, was everything that, that we'd seen just Crowd hysteria?
Was it just hype?
Was it just smoke machines?
But even with the doors locked and barricaded, Jesus can
reach you wherever you are.
Jesus can do things that no one else and nothing else can do.
And the disciples, they, they didn't just need, uh, to read the latest
self-help book or do the latest personality test or just find the
road back to their true selves.
They needed to see the risen Jesus.
Nothing else, nothing else can bring us hope.
And Jesus comes to these weak, uh, these sinful, cowardly, and
faithless men who had deserted him.
And the words that he chooses to greet them with is just astonishing.
He says, peace be with you.
We, we cannot miss the significance of this.
Um, the disciples must have been stunned because not only is this
the man that, that, uh, had been crucified before their very eyes,
but perhaps even more astonishingly, he claims to come with peace.
How could there possibly have been anything but disappointment, anger,
fury, and condemnation in Jesus' face?
But what Jesus does next answers that very question cuz what does he give as
a symbol or, or a sign or justification of, of, uh, of him coming in peace?
He shows them his hands and his side and it, it is only then that we are
told that the disciples were glad to see the Lord because you see their,
their shame and their guilt actually rightfully told them that, but for some
miracle, but for the blood of Jesus to stand before him, to stand before
the king would be a terrible thing.
Because they were, as are we deserving of nothing but punishment and wrath.
Jesus is telling them that the resurrection is the receipt, the debt
that was owed has been paid in full.
God's wrath for those who are in Christ Jesus has been, has
been fully, uh, laid on Jesus.
It's been fully spent on Jesus and there's nothing outstanding.
Um, Paul tells us in Romans eight verse one, that there is now, there
is, therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus then repeats the greeting, um, to make sure they've got it.
He says it again, peace be with you.
The resurrected Jesus brings peace.
He's um, and he, he, he shows them his hands and his side.
Um, because that is how God demonstrates his love for us.
Romans five verse eight says that, but God shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This is how he demonstrates his love for us.
He, he points the disciples to that demonstration of his love.
He points them to the cross.
And I wonder if at this point, uh, it occurred to any of the disciples that
Jesus had already said this to them.
At the last Supper, Jesus had said to his disciples, uh, in John
14:27, peace I leave with you.
My peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you?
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
And this really begs the question, well, how does the world give?
In what way does the world give?
And I think at least one way that the world gives is that, um, or at least
one way that, that, that we as humans give is that it's really much easier
to, um, give extravagantly to someone who is maybe quite well off, um, who,
you know, is very good at giving gifts.
Uh, someone who, who just really gets you, um, and you know, and
whose gifts you won't end up.
Just taking to the charity shop the first week of January or trying to palm after
someone else as a gift next Christmas.
Um, but it's different with God, isn't it?
Because all that I have to give to God is dust and yet he gives me life.
All I have in my heart to give him is chaos and confusion, and he brings peace.
He gives me peace.
This is true generosity, um, because I cannot pay back, um, what he's, what he's
given, you know, if someone, um, it's just so easy, isn't it, to give to someone
who, um, who, who you think probably has the ability to give you something
really good at some point in the future.
Um, it is not so with us.
All I have to give him is myself and, and, and he gives me everything.
Namely himself.
Um, we, we have the tendency to, to be fascinated and get distracted
by, uh, the peripheral benefits of the Christian life when the greatest
treasure that God gives us is himself.
And there really is no miracle greater than a sinner and a traitor standing
before the risen king and hearing those words, peace be with you.
My peace I give you.
He is so generous that even though we can give him nothing, we can only give
us, we can only give him ourselves.
He gives us everything himself.
So thank you very much for listening guys.
And um, yeah.
Well, that's it.
Bye.
Welcome back.
Uh, great talk Pete.
Uh, great talk.
I was grateful that his son didn't wake up, or maybe he did and he just paused
it in the middle and we never knew.
Cause it was edited out but is great, great, great talk there from Pete.
Always love, love when Pete talks.
Just the simplicity of the gospel.
He's great at bringing that, which is fantastic.
So Dan.
I'll ask the first question, bud.
Go on then.
Let's go for it.
Uh, excuse me.
Um, what stood out to you most about Pete's talk?
I like you say, he, he's really clear, isn't he?
He brings across the message in ways, um, when this is, I've heard
this, the story so many times and read it and just different bits.
He, he, he brought out and, um, uh, the big bit at the start was.
If this was a conspiracy, why use a woman's testimony as the first testimony?
I love it.
I love that Jesus said, Mary Magdalene, I love you.
You're gonna be the first person to see me.
I love it that she was a woman in that culture in that time.
That wasn't the done thing to do.
I love it that now when we are in an age of political correctness
and making sure, you know, he was there, this was 2000 years ago.
Been there, done that.
Uh, I just, yeah, I love how, and I love that he said Mary, and
that's when she knew it was him.
When he calls us by name, when he speaks to us, that's just a beautiful thing.
Yeah.
Sounded like you now saying that, beautiful thing.
My work here is complete.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm off.
No, it's totally true.
It's funny, isn't it?
How, um, she, the, the conversation that Jesus has with Mary and
Mary doesn't recognize Jesus.
It's really intriguing to me.
I read that and I go, how is that possible?
Yeah.
Cause it's not like, think as is talking about it.
Yeah.
How did, how did she not know?
And there's, when you read, uh, I think it's in Luke's gospel, he goes, He sort of
appears to people on the road, doesn't he?
And they're talking for ages and they don't know, recognize it's Jesus either.
And so it's not just Mary, it's the fellas as well who don't
recognize the risen Jesus.
And it's really intriguing to me how, how that actually works because
she would've met him, she talked to him, she was familiar with jesus.
And yet she didn't recognize that this was the risen Jesus and he can.
It's interesting, isn't it, that um, you look at that and go, goodness.
Now how many times Jesus, have you been stood there?
How many times have you been speaking to me and I've just not recognized it?
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
You're just kind of like, yeah.
It's a lot, right?
I mean, there's, there's, I'm gonna have more than Mary.
I know that.
Yeah.
And just have more than Mary.
But it's interesting.
And it's not until he says her name that she goes, aha.
Now that's really interesting, isn't it?
So, Yeah, I was fascinated by that.
Uh, Dan, I was, and I, I'd not really pulled that out, just as Pete was talking.
He was like, yeah, this is a really interesting part of
the conversation that she has.
And I think for us, we can be like that, can't we?
We can.
Jesus can be talking to us and we just don't recognize him.
But somehow when he calls our name, we, something just happened.
And I guess this is my testimony as a Christian, it like, It wasn't until I
felt him call my name that everything sort of fell into place and I went,
ah, now I understand the risen Christ.
Yeah, Do you know what I mean?
Amazing.
Yeah.
I'm the same.
It wasn't, uh, I was brought up in a Christian family.
Um, my dad is an evangelist who'd go around the, around the world.
Um, speaking about Jesus, I'd heard the gospel lots of time.
So I knew I knew the gospel, but it's when I knew it was for
me, that was the difference.
Like yeah.
That's when he called your name.
Yeah.
And you, I guess in some respects, like Mary had heard Jesus talk about
all these things all, all that time, just like you'd heard your dad say
the same message over and over again.
I mean, I didn't grow up in the church, so I'd not, um, but for you,
you'd heard the message over and over again, but when he called your name,
that's when it was personal to you.
Yes.
Yeah, that was that moment that that happened, uh, which is just fantastic.
So, yeah.
Love it.
Love the topic.
So one of the things, uh, that also intrigues me about this story, right,
is the fact that Jesus has to show them his hands, uh, and his side.
And the reason he does this, if you're not familiar with the story, is he
was nailed to the cross in theory.
The nails went through his hands.
And there was a spear thrust into his side.
And so it's only when they saw those that they were like, okay.
And was it at the end of the, the movie, I dunno if you remember that.
It's been a while since I've seen it.
The, um, the passion of the Christ where at the end Yeah.
The sort of the camera shows him standing up and you saw the light
shining through the hand Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
Really quite intriguing.
You know what this tells me?
Um, This was a risen body.
This was a risen, healed body, but it still had scars.
And I think, um, I remember once being in, it sounds a bit odd, I suppose,
but I remember once being in a church, uh, church meeting, and I remember I
just felt, God tell me I needed to say something to somebody in the meeting.
I, in church circles, we would say, he gave me a word for somebody and I, I
said this to this, uh, beautiful lady.
I said, listen, here's the thing.
I know that God has healed you, right?
Because I can sense I just, God has healed you of something and I, I appreciate
that he's healed you of something, but there are scars that still remain
and we have to deal with the scars.
Uh, and it was just a really, it was just really interesting revelation.
I'd not really thought about it until that very point that actually as Christians,
we can be healed of all kinds of things.
I mean, even non-Christians can get healed.
I mean, you don't have to be a Christian to get healed, but,
um, but sometimes the healing is good, but the scars still remain.
Yeah.
Do you know, what I mean and, and actually being aware of that
I think is really important.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So just throwing that, that's a free one.
Just throwing that out there.
Just throwing that out.
Well, that, um, Pete goes on to talk about, um, the difference
between Lazarus rising rom the dead and Jesus rising from the dead.
Jesus didn't need any help.
He came out of that too.
Um, he didn't stumble out.
Um, he didn't have someone come to him and have to take off those, um, death clothes,
those, you know, the clothes of the tomb.
He, he came out because he.
He was done and he came out in his own power.
Um, like Lazarus was raised by Jesus' word, but then still is told his
friends say, oh, go and help him.
Mm-hmm.
go and take those bandages off his eyes.
And um, he still needed that help.
Mmh.
Yeah, it's the, and the fact that Jesus took his time to fold his clothes,
I just find that most extraordinary.
It's, yeah, you, you sort of read what is going on.
It's the most extraordinary event, and he takes the time to make
his bed and fold his clothes.
Take notes.
My teenage children take notes.
If Jesus can fold his clothes, then so can I.
Uh, and, uh, it's something I have to learn.
Nichola's has put here in the comments, um, Sometimes the change in people,
um, be it good or bad, can make them unrecognizable which is actually,
that's actually, I like that.
I love that.
Nicola very insightful.
That actually, um, when there has been a significant change, people
do become unrecognizable in a good way, hopefully, and not in a bad way.
Um, and that's, that's, that's, that's quite nice actually, when
you've met with the Risen Christ.
Do you become unrecognizable?
I like that.
Yeah.
I like that.
Good thought.
So I noted Pete's comment here, Dan.
Um, we do not need the latest self-help book or personality test.
Um, hope is found in seeing the risen Jesus.
Really interesting comment, isn't it?
Because there is this, There is this self-help kind of trap.
I think for Christians it actually you, you fall into this trap of if I just do
this a bit better, then I will be better.
Live your best life.
Yeah.
I can live my best life Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
And it sounds all very nice and warm and fuzzy and lovely and all a bit self-helpy.
Do you know what I mean?
I just need to have a positive mental attitude.
I just need to do this.
I just need to do that.
Um, but the reality is, without Christ self-help is just that, it's just,
you're just relying on yourself, right?
Yeah.
But it's only when you meet with the risen Christ that as Nicola says that
maybe you find that unrecognizable change.
Dunno, what's your thoughts on that?
Yeah, yeah.
No, I, I like that.
I, um, that he, yeah, I put that, that he's, he's our hope.
Yes.
It's not to say, that reading books, learning from people
isn't, we don't need that.
Cause we do.
But sometimes we can put that above that what, what God has done.
Yeah.
We can raise that higher.
We can try and do it in our own strength.
Um, and that's what other religions do.
They try to, it's all about you.
It's about what can I do to attain perfection?
We can't attain perfection.
We just got to have that hope, which is Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
And in him, yeah, in him we have that hope.
And I always, um, I used to have a, like a church used to have
small, small, um, youth groups and some lads in my youth group.
And, um, I'd talk about hope and say in the UK, if you're not in church
circles, hope can be a bit like a wish.
We use it in the same way.
Ah, really wish that I'd get a bike for Christmas.
Really hoped that I'd get a bike for Christmas.
Yeah.
It's not that.
Our hope is, is steadfast.
It's not a wish.
It's something that's happened.
It's something that Jesus is our Yeah.
Is that fixed?
Steadfast.
Steadfast, yeah.
Yeah.
In Hebrews where Pete brought out that he saves to the uttermost.
Yeah.
I love, I love the Bible cuz it has all the.
The definite words, not the great words or the, you know, uttermost.
Yes.
Um, uh, hope a steadfast rock, you know?
Yeah.
I love that.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's, um, no, it's great.
It's wonderful, isn't it?
And, and I think again, you're right.
I think you're right that actually it's not bad to learn things.
It's not bad to read the self-help books, but if they're in place
of Christ, I always liken it to.
You can spend all your life trying to become perfect to realize that you are
not perfect or you can come to Christ.
He makes you perfect, and then you can spend all your life working for him.
And that's one way you are.
You are trying to build something that Christ freely gives you.
And then you, you work out of that.
Now am I saying that I don't sin or I don't do anything wrong?
No, not at all.
But that doesn't change the fact that God made me righteous.
Right.
And, um, that, and, and all of that, just so I don't need to attain something
I've been given, but because I've been given it, I can, uh, build God's kingdom.
That's my plan.
Right.
You know, kingdom builders, that's what we are.
So, um.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
So, uh, Matt's put in the comment, so just a reminder there are
no midweek Prayer zoom groups.
Uh, that's true.
There are no Prayer groups this week, um, as we are meeting in person
at Chester Cathedral, if you are around, uh, we're gonna go to the
Carol Concert, um, as put on by Mr.
Mark Mitchell, who coincidentally has just been on what's the story?
So if you're not subscribed to What's the Story podcast.
Uh, let me tell you to head over to Crowd Church, www.crowd.church the website, or
you can go to whatsthestorypodcast.com.
Take you exactly the same place.
I'm not gonna lie.
Uh, uh, and you can listen to Mark Mitchell's podcast and you can
listen to him tell his story about how he lost his car dealership when
he decided not to open on Sundays.
Uh, but how a very short time later, some really incredible things happened
as a result and how he's got, you know, he's, he's thriving as a Christian
entrepreneur, really phenomenal story.
And actually a few years ago, had a brain hemorrhage, uh, and almost died.
So, um, real, real, incredible stuff.
So, dig into that.
That's on.
What's the story.
He's, um, made?
He doesn't know it, but there was a, he had impact on my life
because I bought a car from him.
I took my then girlfriend with me to get the car.
He gave me some flowers, which I then gave on to, not that I'm trying to do
things on cheap, but, lot of nice flowers.
Um, but then we went out for our first date, which I say to was TGI Fridays.
And um, Lisa says, was.
Chiquitos.
I think I'm right, but we, we never know.
No, you're not Dan.
Don't let just, what's wrong with you, man?
Your wife is right.
Dude.
Come on
Excellent.
So you got your flowers and gave them to your now wife.
So Mark Mitchell, you have just no idea of the impact that you've had.
So yeah, Lisa's put in the comments.
Oh, no.
Uh, Lisa says, I assume Lisa, you are saying he's wrong not I'm wrong.
Cause I'm saying that you are right.
Just want to point that out.
I know who's side I'm on, right In this conversation while we're live on air.
Dan, when we're off, it'll be different, but when we're live, there's no way.
Uh, so yeah, checkout what's the story with Mark Mitchell.
We've also recently released an episode called The Need to Encourage Men.
That was my conversation with the legendary Al Marshall.
So they're both on what's the story?
Do check them out.
www.crowd.church or whatsthestorypodcast.com.
Uh, Dan, next week, tell the good folks what's happening.
Next week we have the resurrection again, but this is with John Harding.
Um, so I'm, yeah, really interested.
He'll pick out some different points of what we've spoken well
about what Pete's spoken about today and what we've discussed.
Yeah.
And you've got Anna hosting with John Farrington, who will be
great in Conversation Street.
Looking forward to hearing what they've got to say.
So do come and join us again next week.
If you haven't done so already, make sure you like and subscribe
to Crowd Church on YouTube.
Just hit that little bell notification.
Um, you will, uh, you'll, you'll see, uh, when we go live.
Uh, so thanks everyone for joining us.
Uh, we've got Caleb Mark watching from Kenya.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Great to have you bud.
Uh, it's great that you are here.
Great that you are joining us.
Um, so.
That's it from, uh, I was gonna say we're gonna finish a few minutes
earlier tonight at the request of Mr.
Matt Crew, uh, actually, and also because, um, the England football
is on basically, and we, we, you know, we all wanna go watch the game.
So Isaac's also watching from Kenya, we've got a lot of people from Kenya watching.
So, uh, great that you are joining us.
Uh, all the comments are coming up now.
Uh, so that's it from myself.
That's it from Dan.
Like I say, any questions, head over to our website, www.crowd.church
where you can connect with us.
You can subscribe to our newsletter, you can reach out to us on
social media at Crowd Church.
We would love to hear from you.
Uh, you can send in Prayer requests.
We do pray for you throughout the week, which is just great fun.
Uh, and um, yeah.
Loving the fact that, uh, international, got folks from Kenya, folks all over
the world watching what's going on.
Uh, and great that you are here.
So Merry Christmas to you.
We are in the season of Advent now, so, uh, we will be ramping
up to Christmas for our Christmas service on the 18th next week.
Like Dan said, we have got, um, John Harding.
The week after that we have got a talk called Finding Peace in
Difficult Times, carrying on Pete's revelation about peace earlier.
Uh, so we're gonna get into that a little bit.
So wherever you are in the world, thank you so much for joining us.
It's been an absolute treat and pleasure to be with you.
Anything else from you Dan?
I just wanted to finish with, um, I wrote it down here.
He can reach us anywhere.
Pete just briefly said, he said, um, they were in a locked room and Jesus
was there, and if you think that you can't be reached, if you think you are
in a place that God can't get to you.
He can, even if it's your locked room.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
That's a great final thought.
Maybe we should have a slot called the final thought slot.
We'll think about that.
Uh, no doubt.
Matt Crew remind me.
Um, so yes, goodnight all.
Thank you so much for joining us.
God bless you.
We'll be back next week.
That's it from myself.
That's it from Dan.
The livestream is now gonna end.
uh, and we we're working on a slightly better outro type thing, so it doesn't
end as abruptly as it's going to do right now, but, um, yeah, that's it.
Uh, God bless you.
See you next week.
Bye for now, folks.
See you.