1 00:00:03,290 --> 00:00:06,350 Matt Edmundson: Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service. 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,709 We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps 3 00:00:10,709 --> 00:00:13,370 us live a more meaningful life. 4 00:00:13,690 --> 00:00:18,060 We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith, and a place 5 00:00:18,060 --> 00:00:20,000 where you can contribute and grow. 6 00:00:21,029 --> 00:00:25,019 Our service will last about an hour, and in a few seconds we will start 7 00:00:25,019 --> 00:00:30,729 with a time of worship, after which you will meet our hosts for our service, 8 00:00:31,009 --> 00:00:32,619 who will introduce today's guest. 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,720 After the talk, we head into Conversation Street, where we look at your stories 10 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:43,250 and questions that you've posted in the comments throughout the live stream. 11 00:00:43,980 --> 00:00:48,549 I want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church, and there are 12 00:00:48,549 --> 00:00:51,710 a few ways that you can do just that. 13 00:00:52,070 --> 00:00:56,830 Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our live 14 00:00:56,830 --> 00:00:58,680 stream, and if you're up for it. 15 00:00:59,135 --> 00:01:03,614 Why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together? 16 00:01:03,935 --> 00:01:08,875 Church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others, and 17 00:01:08,875 --> 00:01:13,485 one of the easiest ways for you to do that is to also join one of our 18 00:01:13,554 --> 00:01:18,574 mid week groups where we meet online together to catch up and discover 19 00:01:18,584 --> 00:01:21,155 more about the amazingness of Christ. 20 00:01:21,675 --> 00:01:26,520 You can also subscribe to our podcast called What's It's the story where 21 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,399 we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people. 22 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:36,189 More information about all of these things that I've mentioned can 23 00:01:36,189 --> 00:01:39,320 be found on our website at www. 24 00:01:39,379 --> 00:01:39,749 crowd. 25 00:01:40,019 --> 00:01:43,619 church or you can reach us on social media at crowdchurch. 26 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:47,550 If you're new to crowd or new to the Christian faith. 27 00:01:47,570 --> 00:01:50,900 Faith and would like to know what your next steps to take are. 28 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:51,750 Why not? 29 00:01:51,750 --> 00:01:58,140 Head over to our website, crowd Church slash Next for more details. 30 00:02:01,390 --> 00:02:05,110 And now the moment you've been waiting for is here. 31 00:02:05,590 --> 00:02:08,230 Our online church service starts. 32 00:02:09,660 --> 00:02:12,300 Now, wow, good evening. 33 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:14,610 Welcome to Crowd Online Church. 34 00:02:14,630 --> 00:02:19,469 My name is Matt Edmundson and beside me is absolutely no one. 35 00:02:19,479 --> 00:02:24,260 Now, if you're a regular to Crowd, you know that there's normally 36 00:02:24,260 --> 00:02:26,169 two of us side by side today. 37 00:02:26,169 --> 00:02:31,784 But Anna, my Co host is MIA, so if anyone's seen Anna, just give her a 38 00:02:31,784 --> 00:02:34,034 little nudge, tell her she's supposed to be here, she's not answering the 39 00:02:34,034 --> 00:02:35,334 phone, so I hope everything's alright. 40 00:02:36,244 --> 00:02:38,624 But that said, we will crack on. 41 00:02:38,825 --> 00:02:41,174 How has your Sunday been? 42 00:02:41,634 --> 00:02:43,195 Hopefully it's been good. 43 00:02:43,574 --> 00:02:45,154 Let's see what we've got going on in the comments here. 44 00:02:45,334 --> 00:02:47,554 You're going to have to join me and help me in the comments, folks, because 45 00:02:47,554 --> 00:02:50,614 if I'm flying solo I'm going to, I'm going to need that conversation. 46 00:02:51,384 --> 00:02:52,754 Do write, say hi in the comments. 47 00:02:53,264 --> 00:02:54,105 Hi Miriam. 48 00:02:54,105 --> 00:02:54,885 Miriam's in the comments. 49 00:02:54,885 --> 00:02:56,055 Hey Miriam, how you doing? 50 00:02:56,475 --> 00:02:59,595 Tobias, even in first time joining the live stream, but have been 51 00:02:59,595 --> 00:03:01,455 enjoying the Alpha Series videos. 52 00:03:01,455 --> 00:03:02,805 Tobias, great to have you, man. 53 00:03:03,185 --> 00:03:04,515 Great that you're here with us. 54 00:03:04,544 --> 00:03:06,134 Glad you've been enjoying the Alpha Course. 55 00:03:06,514 --> 00:03:07,284 They're great, aren't they? 56 00:03:07,304 --> 00:03:08,614 They're, not because we did them. 57 00:03:09,065 --> 00:03:11,354 I just want to point that out. 58 00:03:11,524 --> 00:03:13,684 They're great because they're great because it's Alpha. 59 00:03:13,694 --> 00:03:15,094 Great to have you, Tobias. 60 00:03:15,154 --> 00:03:15,894 Hi, Sarah. 61 00:03:15,904 --> 00:03:19,674 Hi, Keith and Peter from Spain joining us again. 62 00:03:19,674 --> 00:03:20,274 Great to have you. 63 00:03:20,274 --> 00:03:21,324 Week number two, guys. 64 00:03:21,324 --> 00:03:21,844 Welcome. 65 00:03:22,044 --> 00:03:23,034 Great that you're joining us. 66 00:03:23,464 --> 00:03:23,714 Whoop. 67 00:03:23,714 --> 00:03:24,034 Here we go. 68 00:03:24,034 --> 00:03:24,274 Yeah. 69 00:03:24,274 --> 00:03:25,524 Mine has been really special. 70 00:03:25,524 --> 00:03:27,094 According to Miriam, her Sunday has been good. 71 00:03:27,954 --> 00:03:28,844 Just jot in the comments. 72 00:03:28,844 --> 00:03:30,324 Let me know what you've been up to this Sunday. 73 00:03:30,964 --> 00:03:32,184 It'd be great to hear about it. 74 00:03:32,494 --> 00:03:35,684 I have been not that you really want to know, but I've been 75 00:03:35,684 --> 00:03:38,094 busily installing a diesel heater. 76 00:03:38,494 --> 00:03:43,134 For some strange reason, I decided that installing a diesel heater in my 77 00:03:43,134 --> 00:03:47,009 kitchen would be a good Thing to do. 78 00:03:47,349 --> 00:03:49,639 And test number one has worked pretty well. 79 00:03:49,639 --> 00:03:53,209 I'm not gonna like pretty stoked but it may means my hands out. 80 00:03:53,209 --> 00:03:53,299 You. 81 00:03:53,359 --> 00:03:53,869 It's good job. 82 00:03:53,869 --> 00:03:55,999 You can't smell my hands 'cause they do smell a little bit like diesel. 83 00:03:56,049 --> 00:03:57,069 What have you guys been doing? 84 00:03:57,169 --> 00:03:58,609 Enjoying your Sunday afternoon? 85 00:03:58,609 --> 00:04:01,769 Hopefully Keith and Peter also enjoying the alpha course here. 86 00:04:01,889 --> 00:04:02,789 You know what, this is great. 87 00:04:02,789 --> 00:04:03,959 Let me just mention this. 88 00:04:04,019 --> 00:04:05,270 If you are new to crowd. 89 00:04:06,389 --> 00:04:07,019 And you're watching this. 90 00:04:07,049 --> 00:04:09,859 So if you're new to the Christian faith, you want to know more about the Christian 91 00:04:09,859 --> 00:04:14,149 faith, you've got questions, want to explore it, do check out the Alpha Course. 92 00:04:14,149 --> 00:04:17,549 Now if you go to the website, I'm just going to check on 93 00:04:17,549 --> 00:04:19,399 the URL here, it's crowd. 94 00:04:19,449 --> 00:04:20,409 church, www. 95 00:04:20,409 --> 00:04:20,449 crowd. 96 00:04:20,449 --> 00:04:20,799 church. 97 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:20,879 org. 98 00:04:21,779 --> 00:04:23,419 Let me put it up on the screen. 99 00:04:23,429 --> 00:04:25,429 He says, I think it's that one there. 100 00:04:25,499 --> 00:04:26,699 Yes, look at that. 101 00:04:27,029 --> 00:04:29,649 If you go, who says I can't multitask. 102 00:04:30,029 --> 00:04:31,309 If you go to crowd. 103 00:04:32,079 --> 00:04:36,429 church and click on, there's various links to get to alpha, but the best way 104 00:04:36,429 --> 00:04:40,879 to get to it, I think it's probably just to scroll to the bottom and the fourth 105 00:04:40,879 --> 00:04:43,369 link down says alpha course online. 106 00:04:43,779 --> 00:04:46,539 And then all the alpha series talks are there. 107 00:04:47,374 --> 00:04:49,694 Things like, is there more to life than this? 108 00:04:49,694 --> 00:04:50,534 Who is Jesus? 109 00:04:50,934 --> 00:04:52,094 Why did Jesus die? 110 00:04:52,124 --> 00:04:53,994 Why did we proclaim that as, Christians? 111 00:04:53,994 --> 00:04:55,094 What's that all about? 112 00:04:55,384 --> 00:04:56,634 How can I be sure of my faith? 113 00:04:56,634 --> 00:04:57,644 What's prayer all about? 114 00:04:57,644 --> 00:04:58,984 What's the Bible all about? 115 00:04:59,719 --> 00:05:00,599 Does God guide us? 116 00:05:00,599 --> 00:05:01,739 Who's the Holy Spirit? 117 00:05:01,889 --> 00:05:02,859 Making the most life. 118 00:05:02,869 --> 00:05:04,439 How do I resist evil? 119 00:05:04,449 --> 00:05:05,849 Still one of the most popular talks. 120 00:05:06,249 --> 00:05:08,029 And should we talk about our faith? 121 00:05:09,399 --> 00:05:09,849 Excuse me. 122 00:05:09,859 --> 00:05:10,679 Should we share it? 123 00:05:10,689 --> 00:05:13,719 Should we do all of those things? 124 00:05:14,649 --> 00:05:17,109 Does God heal today is a big question. 125 00:05:17,129 --> 00:05:21,019 Anna, who is MIA, answers that question, and in fact, Anna's just texted me. 126 00:05:21,769 --> 00:05:23,109 Shall we see what she has to say? 127 00:05:23,559 --> 00:05:24,509 Put my glasses on. 128 00:05:25,949 --> 00:05:31,549 Oh my gosh, so sorry, we went to Andy's Mums and I totally forgot I was on again. 129 00:05:32,074 --> 00:05:39,744 Just seeing this now, okay, for those of you who know Anna, give 130 00:05:39,744 --> 00:05:42,744 her some grief, because frankly, I think that's fair enough. 131 00:05:44,444 --> 00:05:47,894 She's gone to her husband's, to her mother in law's and is her husband, by the way. 132 00:05:48,554 --> 00:05:50,114 So hopefully they're all right over there. 133 00:05:50,734 --> 00:05:52,264 But yes we'll crack on, shall we? 134 00:05:52,264 --> 00:05:55,464 Today we have the talk by Dan Orange. 135 00:05:55,624 --> 00:05:57,584 Dan is one of the regulars here at Crowding. 136 00:05:57,584 --> 00:05:59,504 You can You can get your notepads ready. 137 00:05:59,504 --> 00:06:02,364 This is actually his first talk, which I'm really excited about. 138 00:06:02,494 --> 00:06:04,634 I've not heard it yet, and I'm really excited to hear it. 139 00:06:05,224 --> 00:06:08,024 I've been friends with Dan for a very long time, so super keen 140 00:06:08,024 --> 00:06:09,064 to hear what he's got to say. 141 00:06:09,414 --> 00:06:13,804 Now, we have been working our way through the book of Acts, and for 142 00:06:13,884 --> 00:06:18,014 you, if you're new, like to buy us with us, Acts is a book in the New 143 00:06:18,014 --> 00:06:20,844 Testament, after the four Gospels. 144 00:06:20,884 --> 00:06:23,704 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which chronicle the story of Jesus. 145 00:06:24,289 --> 00:06:27,589 And then you have the Book of Acts which chronicles the sort 146 00:06:27,589 --> 00:06:29,199 of the beginnings of the church. 147 00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:33,099 What happened after Jesus goes to heaven? 148 00:06:33,419 --> 00:06:35,909 What happens those sort of first few years in the church? 149 00:06:35,909 --> 00:06:38,259 That's what we find out in the Book of Acts and we have been 150 00:06:38,269 --> 00:06:40,359 busy working our way through it. 151 00:06:40,899 --> 00:06:43,199 It has taken a very long time. 152 00:06:44,329 --> 00:06:45,619 We were joking about this last week. 153 00:06:46,099 --> 00:06:49,789 It seems to have taken us a bit of an age, but we are getting there, which is good. 154 00:06:50,609 --> 00:06:50,969 But you know what? 155 00:06:50,969 --> 00:06:53,469 Even though it has taken a long time, I have really positively enjoyed it. 156 00:06:53,894 --> 00:06:55,724 It's been absolutely phenomenal. 157 00:06:56,064 --> 00:06:57,774 I've got a lot out of this Alpha Series. 158 00:06:57,784 --> 00:07:01,144 So Dan's going to do his talk on Alpha. 159 00:07:01,494 --> 00:07:03,634 Write your questions, write your thoughts in the comments below. 160 00:07:03,764 --> 00:07:07,184 And I will be back by myself because Anna's not joining me. 161 00:07:07,574 --> 00:07:08,914 Matt, you're doing amazing. 162 00:07:08,964 --> 00:07:10,224 You're doing amazing on your Todd. 163 00:07:10,224 --> 00:07:10,634 Bless you. 164 00:07:10,644 --> 00:07:11,194 Thanks, Miriam. 165 00:07:11,674 --> 00:07:14,894 I will be back after the talk to do Conversation Street. 166 00:07:15,234 --> 00:07:16,754 So yeah, do get right in the comments. 167 00:07:16,754 --> 00:07:18,794 Do write your thoughts, write your questions, write your ideas. 168 00:07:18,839 --> 00:07:19,259 Down. 169 00:07:19,259 --> 00:07:23,939 It talks about 15 minutes I think, and then I will be back and we'll 170 00:07:23,939 --> 00:07:25,109 carry on a conversation about it. 171 00:07:25,109 --> 00:07:26,609 I'm just looking for the button on my notepad. 172 00:07:26,909 --> 00:07:27,569 I think it's this one. 173 00:07:27,569 --> 00:07:28,439 So I'm gonna push this. 174 00:07:28,679 --> 00:07:31,599 Here's Dan I'll see you in just a few minutes. 175 00:07:34,159 --> 00:07:36,379 Dan Orange: So on to Acts chapter 25. 176 00:07:36,799 --> 00:07:40,279 I thought I'd give a little recap of where things are up to in Paul's life so far. 177 00:07:41,149 --> 00:07:45,379 So Paul has completed many journeys visiting the Scattered early church. 178 00:07:45,804 --> 00:07:48,374 He's currently on his third missionary journey around the area of the 179 00:07:48,374 --> 00:07:52,034 Mediterranean and Middle East, traveling miles by sea and foot. 180 00:07:52,634 --> 00:07:58,754 Most scholars believe in his lifetime, he traveled and walked over 10, 000 miles. 181 00:07:58,774 --> 00:08:02,024 So he sailed and walked 10, 000 miles, which is pretty impressive 182 00:08:02,024 --> 00:08:03,294 even by today's standards. 183 00:08:04,114 --> 00:08:07,994 He spent that time teaching, spending time with the new Christians, 184 00:08:08,024 --> 00:08:10,314 the followers of the way that they were called at that time. 185 00:08:10,884 --> 00:08:12,094 He's already been stoned. 186 00:08:12,104 --> 00:08:13,124 He's been jailed. 187 00:08:13,654 --> 00:08:17,364 Shaved his head for a vow, but seen many miracles and many come to hear 188 00:08:17,364 --> 00:08:21,794 and know about this wonderful Jesus, the Messiah, the forgiver of sins. 189 00:08:22,464 --> 00:08:25,734 He spends lots of time in the synagogues teaching, questioning and 190 00:08:25,734 --> 00:08:27,604 preaching over many days each time. 191 00:08:28,124 --> 00:08:32,294 He didn't just come along, preach and dash off, he dedicated time 192 00:08:32,294 --> 00:08:33,544 and energy to the good news. 193 00:08:35,094 --> 00:08:37,694 He's already written some of the letters that we have in the Bible, the letter 194 00:08:37,694 --> 00:08:41,084 to the Galatians and Corinthians, and the letter to the Romans. 195 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:45,779 He's approximately 53 years old now, and he's under arrest again. 196 00:08:45,780 --> 00:08:50,699 23 years after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. 197 00:08:51,669 --> 00:08:53,639 There's now a new Roman governor holding him. 198 00:08:54,409 --> 00:08:58,169 Felix had held him for two years, hoping for a bribe to give him an excuse to 199 00:08:58,169 --> 00:09:00,879 release him, and now Festus is in charge. 200 00:09:03,039 --> 00:09:07,309 Do you feel that your life has ups and downs, Paul must have, been those 201 00:09:07,309 --> 00:09:13,234 hard times, there, the times that, Often where God is teaching us, and 202 00:09:13,234 --> 00:09:15,204 in Paul's case here, protecting him. 203 00:09:16,394 --> 00:09:18,624 Let's read the first section, chapter 25. 204 00:09:19,554 --> 00:09:23,514 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea 205 00:09:23,604 --> 00:09:27,764 to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him 206 00:09:27,764 --> 00:09:29,644 and presented the charges against Paul. 207 00:09:30,394 --> 00:09:34,164 They requested Festus as a favour to them, to have Paul transferred to 208 00:09:34,164 --> 00:09:37,644 Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 209 00:09:38,234 --> 00:09:43,139 Festus answered, Paul is being held at Caesarea and I myself am going there soon. 210 00:09:43,599 --> 00:09:45,449 Let some of your leaders come with me. 211 00:09:45,879 --> 00:09:49,599 If the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there. 212 00:09:50,569 --> 00:09:54,699 After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. 213 00:09:55,319 --> 00:09:58,799 The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. 214 00:10:00,219 --> 00:10:02,669 Paul had been held in prison two years so far. 215 00:10:03,129 --> 00:10:09,149 The Jewish leaders hadn't given up their petitions and desire to get rid of Paul. 216 00:10:10,304 --> 00:10:11,844 I'd like to pick out two things here. 217 00:10:12,384 --> 00:10:13,964 Paul has to be patient. 218 00:10:14,364 --> 00:10:15,414 He's got no choice. 219 00:10:15,414 --> 00:10:20,414 He simply can't do anything else, but he can choose how he is alone. 220 00:10:20,954 --> 00:10:24,844 Paul was stuck under arrest and couldn't do much, but he could have just sat 221 00:10:25,354 --> 00:10:27,244 and stewed in his own self pity. 222 00:10:27,434 --> 00:10:28,034 But he didn't. 223 00:10:28,524 --> 00:10:32,324 He spent his time listening to God, studying, and probably writing. 224 00:10:32,325 --> 00:10:38,564 In his next prison situation he wrote Philippians, Ephesians, so I don't know. 225 00:10:39,234 --> 00:10:40,634 He was just sat there doing nothing. 226 00:10:42,064 --> 00:10:46,124 I know in the time that we live in, it's rare, there's nothing to do or look at. 227 00:10:46,604 --> 00:10:48,714 I'm a dad, a husband, a business owner. 228 00:10:48,864 --> 00:10:52,614 There's always something to do, and always something to distract. 229 00:10:53,284 --> 00:10:56,454 Perhaps it's, Furtling on your phone, what a great word. 230 00:10:56,844 --> 00:10:59,724 My father in law used this word a lot when he was alive. 231 00:11:00,244 --> 00:11:01,174 What have you been doing, Roger? 232 00:11:01,574 --> 00:11:02,424 That's my father in law. 233 00:11:02,924 --> 00:11:07,174 Oh, just been furtling, reading an article on social media, playing online. 234 00:11:08,089 --> 00:11:10,869 Playing online Scrabble, just furtling. 235 00:11:10,869 --> 00:11:15,939 It can be good to keep our minds active but sometimes we need time 236 00:11:15,939 --> 00:11:20,739 from distractions, time on our own, time where it's easier for God to 237 00:11:20,739 --> 00:11:22,979 speak to us, less distractions. 238 00:11:24,049 --> 00:11:30,429 Let's slow down, take five minutes when it's just you and God. 239 00:11:30,959 --> 00:11:33,439 I'm speaking to you but also to myself. 240 00:11:34,359 --> 00:11:37,639 Every time I'm alone with God I think, why don't I do more of this, 241 00:11:38,139 --> 00:11:41,249 and I'm back in my life, and I've got to do this and got to do that. 242 00:11:41,719 --> 00:11:43,559 Put some God space in your diary. 243 00:11:43,649 --> 00:11:46,469 I have it now in my diary, it actually says God space. 244 00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:50,599 Siri will pop up and say God space, just to encourage me to stop the 245 00:11:50,599 --> 00:11:52,839 busyness of life taking over. 246 00:11:53,769 --> 00:11:58,739 Jesus says in Luke's Gospel, by your patience possess your souls. 247 00:11:59,159 --> 00:12:00,809 Let's not be so busy we miss out. 248 00:12:01,584 --> 00:12:04,264 I need to learn more patience, more listening. 249 00:12:05,784 --> 00:12:09,734 Second point is that these Jewish leaders had a grudge and they weren't giving up. 250 00:12:10,484 --> 00:12:14,534 They'd already put pressure on the previous governor for two years and now 251 00:12:14,544 --> 00:12:16,494 hassled the new guy for ten days straight. 252 00:12:16,994 --> 00:12:21,134 Persistence is a good thing, working towards an outcome is a good thing, if 253 00:12:21,174 --> 00:12:22,814 it's the right thing we're working for. 254 00:12:24,144 --> 00:12:25,984 I'm from Liverpool and I love this city. 255 00:12:26,005 --> 00:12:29,674 But in 1989 in Hillsborough, England, there was a horrific 256 00:12:29,704 --> 00:12:33,754 disaster of a football match where 96 Liverpool supporters died. 257 00:12:34,644 --> 00:12:36,704 The people of Liverpool, families and friends of those 258 00:12:36,704 --> 00:12:38,144 who died, fought for justice. 259 00:12:38,654 --> 00:12:41,944 There'd been incorrect allegations made, cover ups by the authorities, 260 00:12:42,374 --> 00:12:45,274 and the people of Liverpool, especially Liverpool supporters, were put down 261 00:12:45,274 --> 00:12:46,924 in the press and by the establishment. 262 00:12:47,784 --> 00:12:50,914 But they persisted, and the truth was eventually told. 263 00:12:51,344 --> 00:12:54,444 This took a long time, and a favourable outcome has now come. 264 00:12:54,544 --> 00:12:55,554 They didn't give need to give. 265 00:12:56,154 --> 00:12:57,064 They didn't give up. 266 00:12:57,984 --> 00:13:01,684 We need to strive for what's right by keeping up, but by keeping 267 00:13:01,684 --> 00:13:06,654 our focus on Him who is right, listening in the quiet times. 268 00:13:08,304 --> 00:13:14,124 Jesus said this famously, come to me all you who labor and are heavy 269 00:13:14,124 --> 00:13:15,684 laden and I will give you rest. 270 00:13:16,304 --> 00:13:21,264 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart 271 00:13:21,384 --> 00:13:23,214 and you will find rest for your souls. 272 00:13:23,734 --> 00:13:24,984 For my yoke is easy. 273 00:13:25,464 --> 00:13:26,634 And my burden is light. 274 00:13:27,944 --> 00:13:29,624 Rest in him and take his yoke. 275 00:13:31,154 --> 00:13:34,664 A little note from this is that we can give him our burdens, but we still 276 00:13:34,664 --> 00:13:36,704 need to take a yoke, a light burden. 277 00:13:37,304 --> 00:13:39,634 We don't walk around skipping with nothing to do, no work. 278 00:13:40,254 --> 00:13:43,004 We are to do his work, whatever that may be for us where we're at. 279 00:13:43,734 --> 00:13:46,504 We're not carrying around the things that are too heavy for our backs. 280 00:13:47,024 --> 00:13:48,504 That's what we put on God's shoulders. 281 00:13:49,274 --> 00:13:51,394 Not to do nothing, but we're to do his work. 282 00:13:51,934 --> 00:13:55,194 This applied to Paul too, so we can see it's not always easy. 283 00:13:56,069 --> 00:13:59,239 Jesus when he spoke those words was talking about all the oppressions 284 00:13:59,239 --> 00:14:01,819 and laws that the people at the time had put on themselves. 285 00:14:02,349 --> 00:14:05,429 We can put our own things on us that are not for us to bear. 286 00:14:06,349 --> 00:14:09,709 Give your troubles, don't have things that aren't for you. 287 00:14:10,719 --> 00:14:13,859 Some people can make it their life's work to take on the troubles of 288 00:14:13,859 --> 00:14:16,959 others, the worries, disguising it as empathy or compassion. 289 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:22,739 We need to make sure we're just taking on what he's asked us to take on. 290 00:14:24,009 --> 00:14:26,249 On to the next part of the story which reads like this. 291 00:14:27,149 --> 00:14:31,049 When Paul came in, the Jews had come down from Jerusalem and stood around him. 292 00:14:31,579 --> 00:14:34,349 They'd brought many serious charges against him, but 293 00:14:34,349 --> 00:14:35,339 they could not prove them. 294 00:14:36,119 --> 00:14:37,559 Then Paul made his defence. 295 00:14:37,779 --> 00:14:40,359 I've done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, or against 296 00:14:40,359 --> 00:14:41,919 the Temple, or against Caesar. 297 00:14:42,759 --> 00:14:46,669 Fester, wishing to do the Jews a favour, said to Paul, Are you willing 298 00:14:46,669 --> 00:14:50,439 to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges? 299 00:14:51,174 --> 00:14:51,924 Paul answered. 300 00:14:52,404 --> 00:14:55,524 I'm now standing before Caesar's Court where I ought to be tried. 301 00:14:55,944 --> 00:14:59,664 I've not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. 302 00:15:00,174 --> 00:15:04,704 If however, I am guilty of doing anything disown death, I do not refuse to die. 303 00:15:04,884 --> 00:15:07,704 But in the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true. 304 00:15:08,059 --> 00:15:12,714 But if the charges brought against me by the, these Jews are not true, no one 305 00:15:12,714 --> 00:15:14,184 has the right to hand me over to them. 306 00:15:14,604 --> 00:15:19,674 I appeal to Caesar after Festus had confirmed with his counsel, he declared. 307 00:15:20,024 --> 00:15:21,624 You have appealed to Caesar you will go. 308 00:15:23,134 --> 00:15:26,974 Paul had to give God his troubles to trust him, but also to listen to God. 309 00:15:26,974 --> 00:15:31,984 I believe God gave him wisdom on how to answer and when to answer. 310 00:15:33,774 --> 00:15:37,714 He brought the law to his advantage so the Jewish leaders couldn't get to him. 311 00:15:38,124 --> 00:15:41,144 It may have seemed that this just prolonged things, but God used that 312 00:15:41,144 --> 00:15:43,024 time for Paul and for the church. 313 00:15:44,104 --> 00:15:46,424 In our lives we need to bring our concerns and our trials 314 00:15:46,424 --> 00:15:47,724 before God and ask for wisdom. 315 00:15:48,614 --> 00:15:51,714 To ask for him to move mountains when necessary, but we need 316 00:15:51,714 --> 00:15:53,354 to do what we can as well. 317 00:15:54,454 --> 00:15:58,924 In my own life, my son is having a lot of trouble at school with his education, 318 00:15:58,924 --> 00:16:02,544 and we're praying a lot about things, we're asking God for wisdom, asking 319 00:16:02,544 --> 00:16:04,724 God to come to speak to us and to Luke. 320 00:16:05,694 --> 00:16:08,694 And he has, and he's bringing his peace, and he's brought his peace 321 00:16:08,694 --> 00:16:13,024 to him and to us, but we still have to push and strive in this world. 322 00:16:13,524 --> 00:16:15,964 For the law says that Luke should have a good education 323 00:16:16,394 --> 00:16:17,514 in the country that we live. 324 00:16:18,144 --> 00:16:22,544 Me, my wife mainly, she's amazing, studying, petitioning, getting things 325 00:16:22,544 --> 00:16:26,744 done, submitting formal complaints if we have to, works not done, 326 00:16:27,074 --> 00:16:29,024 getting our counsel on board, etc. 327 00:16:29,444 --> 00:16:32,504 But in all this, God has to be our focus still. 328 00:16:33,384 --> 00:16:35,184 He's got to be the most important thing. 329 00:16:36,364 --> 00:16:37,934 Otherwise, we can just go. 330 00:16:39,089 --> 00:16:43,429 Off on a tangent and miss out, if God is our focus and we put our trust 331 00:16:43,429 --> 00:16:47,179 in him, then we can look back at trials and problems and rest in the 332 00:16:47,179 --> 00:16:51,349 decisions that were made, knowing that he has made, he has the best for us. 333 00:16:52,649 --> 00:16:58,499 Romans 8, 28 which Paul wrote in a similar situation to he is now, and we 334 00:16:58,499 --> 00:17:02,619 know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those 335 00:17:02,619 --> 00:17:04,839 who are called according to his purpose. 336 00:17:05,439 --> 00:17:07,029 Paul knew his rights on the earth. 337 00:17:07,299 --> 00:17:11,479 He knew he was a Roman citizen and that this meant he should be tried in Rome. 338 00:17:11,969 --> 00:17:13,199 This decision saved him. 339 00:17:13,719 --> 00:17:16,459 It stopped that trip to Jerusalem where the leaders plotted to kill 340 00:17:16,459 --> 00:17:19,839 him, but it also set off the chain of events that would cause him to be 341 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:21,859 incarcerated for another two years. 342 00:17:23,179 --> 00:17:26,369 This is what I mean by knowing his word and resting in it. 343 00:17:27,279 --> 00:17:28,449 In those two years. 344 00:17:29,044 --> 00:17:32,494 Do you think Paul thought, why don't I stick to my guns, or why did I not just 345 00:17:32,494 --> 00:17:36,914 go to Jerusalem, it probably would have been alright, it probably wouldn't have. 346 00:17:37,994 --> 00:17:40,334 The last thing I want to mention is something that's not written here, 347 00:17:40,334 --> 00:17:43,744 but it is implied, it's forgiveness. 348 00:17:44,344 --> 00:17:48,384 I mentioned about fighting for the truth, for standing firm, in that we can 349 00:17:48,384 --> 00:17:52,074 come up against others that are against us, others that can and do hurt us. 350 00:17:52,999 --> 00:17:57,709 If we dwell on those things and deeds, they can occupy more than our noble goal. 351 00:17:58,249 --> 00:18:01,099 The fight can become a grudge and can eat away at us. 352 00:18:01,949 --> 00:18:04,669 This is where sometimes the hardest step has to happen. 353 00:18:05,129 --> 00:18:08,279 We have to forgive those that have done wrong toward us. 354 00:18:09,239 --> 00:18:11,079 Paul had plenty of people to forgive. 355 00:18:11,449 --> 00:18:15,379 Those that stoned him, those that lied to put him away, those that 356 00:18:15,409 --> 00:18:17,109 hurt and killed others around him. 357 00:18:17,909 --> 00:18:24,059 I've had people that have hurt my son with their I have to forgive, and 358 00:18:24,059 --> 00:18:27,979 it's hard when it's not even against you, it's against someone you love. 359 00:18:28,309 --> 00:18:32,369 The people of Liverpool have seen justice for what was said about them 360 00:18:32,369 --> 00:18:36,409 in the press and what I spoke about earlier, but without forgiveness 361 00:18:36,419 --> 00:18:38,449 there can still just be hurt. 362 00:18:39,589 --> 00:18:43,089 These grudges and strivings can bring anger, they can limit our 363 00:18:43,089 --> 00:18:48,329 life, they can occupy time, they can come in the way of our destiny. 364 00:18:49,394 --> 00:18:50,844 God can and does forgive. 365 00:18:50,894 --> 00:18:54,264 We need to take his example and we need to forgive. 366 00:18:54,265 --> 00:18:56,254 We need to give our fights to God. 367 00:18:57,144 --> 00:18:59,484 Don't let your grudge be your life. 368 00:19:01,154 --> 00:19:04,544 God in Jesus came and died that we may know freedom from sin 369 00:19:04,544 --> 00:19:05,714 and that we can be forgiven. 370 00:19:06,754 --> 00:19:10,014 All the things that we have done that are worthy of death have been wiped away. 371 00:19:10,294 --> 00:19:11,724 We've been forgiven much. 372 00:19:11,904 --> 00:19:14,744 It's for us to know that eternal forgiveness and ask for God's 373 00:19:14,744 --> 00:19:16,834 grace to enable us to forgive. 374 00:19:18,509 --> 00:19:20,959 Maybe we need to forgive those that are close to us. 375 00:19:21,889 --> 00:19:26,099 Paul, in his letter to the Romans, is speaking to some of the church 376 00:19:26,129 --> 00:19:29,049 members about others that have done wrong and been punished. 377 00:19:30,389 --> 00:19:35,789 Then he says, let's not add more sorrow to them that they can bear by holding 378 00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:37,547 back our forgiveness toward them. 379 00:19:37,547 --> 00:19:41,914 I've just read the autobiography of Bono from U2, and it's 380 00:19:41,914 --> 00:19:43,502 a really interesting book. 381 00:19:44,182 --> 00:19:48,752 And he has a Interesting and tricky relationship with his dad, Bob Hewson. 382 00:19:50,142 --> 00:19:53,312 Even after he died, he realised he needed to forgive him and 383 00:19:53,312 --> 00:19:54,602 to ask for his forgiveness. 384 00:19:55,442 --> 00:19:57,062 Here's the passage in his own words. 385 00:19:58,022 --> 00:20:05,632 Easter 2002, Ali and I visited the little chapel in Eze France, a fisherman's church 386 00:20:05,632 --> 00:20:07,612 with a hilltop view that has seen it all. 387 00:20:08,372 --> 00:20:13,732 From the baroque pulpit, a lone arm sticks out of the wall holding the cross, and 388 00:20:13,732 --> 00:20:15,352 a fishing boat hangs from the ceiling. 389 00:20:16,332 --> 00:20:20,052 After the service, sometimes improved I find if you don't speak the language that 390 00:20:20,052 --> 00:20:22,672 well, I returned to the pews on my own. 391 00:20:23,202 --> 00:20:26,782 I sat there and apologised to my father, Bob Hewson. 392 00:20:27,642 --> 00:20:30,672 I had forgiven him for his own crimes of passion but I'd never 393 00:20:30,692 --> 00:20:32,522 asked for his forgiveness for mine. 394 00:20:33,542 --> 00:20:37,652 I'll never know if it was related to me asking for this forgiveness 395 00:20:37,762 --> 00:20:41,382 in that little chapel, but after my father died something changed. 396 00:20:42,202 --> 00:20:44,542 I felt I got an extra couple of notes on my range. 397 00:20:44,542 --> 00:20:47,712 I felt I was becoming a real tenor as opposed to a pretend one. 398 00:20:48,142 --> 00:20:51,172 I could ring those high notes like a church bell as 399 00:20:51,172 --> 00:20:52,452 I had never hit them before. 400 00:20:53,042 --> 00:20:56,912 Makes no scientific sense of course, but I've heard it said that when someone 401 00:20:56,912 --> 00:21:01,252 close dies, they leave you a kind of passing gift, some invisible will 402 00:21:01,262 --> 00:21:02,742 where you inherit a special blessing. 403 00:21:03,532 --> 00:21:07,502 Bob Hewson's final gift to me was to enlarge the one he gave me long before. 404 00:21:08,257 --> 00:21:12,607 I was now a true tenor, no longer a baritone, I only thought he was a tenor. 405 00:21:12,608 --> 00:21:18,447 I thought it was a really interesting example of what forgiveness 406 00:21:18,887 --> 00:21:23,497 can do for us in real life. 407 00:21:23,497 --> 00:21:28,287 Sometimes the burden we're holding on to is unforgiveness and it 408 00:21:28,297 --> 00:21:29,707 does literally hold us back. 409 00:21:30,887 --> 00:21:34,587 Perhaps we need to come to him and cry out for his forgiveness. 410 00:21:35,552 --> 00:21:38,202 And get that extra octave in our lives. 411 00:21:42,302 --> 00:21:44,042 Matt Edmundson: Welcome back. 412 00:21:44,052 --> 00:21:45,812 Thank you, Dan, for that great talk. 413 00:21:45,812 --> 00:21:46,292 Loved it. 414 00:21:46,342 --> 00:21:48,022 Dan's first talk, ladies and gentlemen. 415 00:21:48,312 --> 00:21:51,362 I wish I had a button on my desk at home, which gives a round of applause. 416 00:21:51,362 --> 00:21:51,832 Don't have it here. 417 00:21:51,832 --> 00:21:52,322 But it's great. 418 00:21:52,342 --> 00:21:52,992 I loved it. 419 00:21:52,992 --> 00:21:53,322 Loved it. 420 00:21:53,322 --> 00:21:53,632 Loved it. 421 00:21:54,527 --> 00:21:56,677 So Dan's tour, what did you think? 422 00:21:56,677 --> 00:21:57,927 What did you take away from it? 423 00:21:58,327 --> 00:22:00,847 Hello to you if you've joined us during the talk. 424 00:22:00,897 --> 00:22:02,877 If you've joined us live, my name is Matt Edmundson. 425 00:22:03,447 --> 00:22:08,187 I'm the pastor here at Crowd Church, just in case you want to know, and normally 426 00:22:08,187 --> 00:22:10,147 there would be somebody sat beside me. 427 00:22:10,337 --> 00:22:14,577 We would normally be co hosting the online church, but Anna she just, 428 00:22:14,587 --> 00:22:16,167 let's just put it, she just forgot. 429 00:22:16,237 --> 00:22:17,737 She just forgot she was hosting. 430 00:22:17,737 --> 00:22:19,797 It totally slipped her mind, as these things do. 431 00:22:20,107 --> 00:22:21,667 And so she went and visited a mother in law. 432 00:22:22,167 --> 00:22:24,067 Which is, probably one of those God things really. 433 00:22:26,957 --> 00:22:31,277 But needless to say, I will be able to reminder of this every week for 434 00:22:31,317 --> 00:22:33,167 the next probably year or two really. 435 00:22:33,497 --> 00:22:35,647 So it's not a total loss. 436 00:22:36,237 --> 00:22:38,127 But yeah, if you've just joined us, welcome to Online Church. 437 00:22:38,127 --> 00:22:40,457 That was Dan speaking Keith and Peter. 438 00:22:40,487 --> 00:22:41,397 Brilliant talk, Dan. 439 00:22:41,397 --> 00:22:42,557 Very thought provoking. 440 00:22:42,567 --> 00:22:43,247 Thanks for sharing. 441 00:22:43,247 --> 00:22:43,797 Yeah, I loved it. 442 00:22:43,797 --> 00:22:44,537 We're going to get into it. 443 00:22:44,537 --> 00:22:45,627 What did you like about it? 444 00:22:45,727 --> 00:22:47,197 Some of the thought provoking things. 445 00:22:47,827 --> 00:22:52,017 We have Pastor Alexander in from the Congo on Facebook joining 446 00:22:52,017 --> 00:22:53,017 us all the way from the Congo. 447 00:22:53,037 --> 00:22:54,197 I love technology. 448 00:22:54,197 --> 00:22:56,217 So people from Spain, people from the Congo, people from the 449 00:22:56,217 --> 00:22:58,737 UK, just all over the world. 450 00:22:58,737 --> 00:22:59,647 Welcome to you. 451 00:22:59,677 --> 00:23:01,447 Great that you're with us Pastor Alexander. 452 00:23:01,467 --> 00:23:02,857 I hope you guys are doing well. 453 00:23:02,907 --> 00:23:07,577 If you haven't heard yet Pastor Alexander's talk on, I say talk, his 454 00:23:07,577 --> 00:23:09,717 podcast we recorded on what's the story. 455 00:23:09,717 --> 00:23:10,627 So what's the story? 456 00:23:11,097 --> 00:23:11,507 If you don't know. 457 00:23:12,527 --> 00:23:18,407 It's a podcast where either me or Anna when she turns up, you 458 00:23:18,447 --> 00:23:19,217 can see where this is going. 459 00:23:19,218 --> 00:23:25,137 And Sadaf we get guests onto the show and we just interview them about their story. 460 00:23:25,537 --> 00:23:28,487 And Pastor Alexander was over from the Congo, which was amazing. 461 00:23:28,497 --> 00:23:31,807 And so I got a chance to sit down with him for about an hour and 462 00:23:31,807 --> 00:23:33,497 just listen to his story about. 463 00:23:34,107 --> 00:23:37,967 How I became a Christian, what it's like running a church in the middle 464 00:23:37,967 --> 00:23:41,727 of a war zone, the hospital that's being built over there, some amazing 465 00:23:41,727 --> 00:23:43,597 stuff, real, really great stuff. 466 00:23:44,217 --> 00:23:46,567 And so if you haven't done so already, check it out. 467 00:23:46,577 --> 00:23:51,057 You can find out more information on the website which I'll put on the screen. 468 00:23:52,242 --> 00:23:54,362 Just click the podcast link or if you just want to go straight to it, 469 00:23:54,362 --> 00:23:56,432 just type in whatsthestorypodcast. 470 00:23:56,502 --> 00:24:00,752 com and that will take you to that specific section of the site. 471 00:24:01,282 --> 00:24:03,692 Now what I'm going to do, I'm going to press my button there, in the 472 00:24:03,692 --> 00:24:07,322 comments I have added a temporary link. 473 00:24:07,712 --> 00:24:11,202 So given that I'm flying solo and we've never tried this before. 474 00:24:11,512 --> 00:24:13,962 Let me just point out to you what's going on with that link and then 475 00:24:13,962 --> 00:24:15,382 we'll get into Conversation Street. 476 00:24:15,932 --> 00:24:19,302 If you are so inclined, if you click that link it's a temporary 477 00:24:19,302 --> 00:24:20,622 link, it only lasts about an hour. 478 00:24:21,152 --> 00:24:23,712 Bless you BadgerDragons is writing some really nice stuff in the comments. 479 00:24:23,782 --> 00:24:29,542 If you click that link, it will take you to a page where you can copy a 480 00:24:29,552 --> 00:24:33,982 URL, which will actually get you to dial into our live stream, right? 481 00:24:34,022 --> 00:24:36,972 Now, bear in mind, it's going to ask you To approve your microphone 482 00:24:36,972 --> 00:24:38,232 and to approve your video. 483 00:24:39,352 --> 00:24:45,552 But if you do that, the computer here will ring and you will come up on my computer 484 00:24:45,562 --> 00:24:49,657 and I can add you to The live stream. 485 00:24:50,177 --> 00:24:51,607 That's in theory how it goes. 486 00:24:51,607 --> 00:24:55,727 I have done this with other podcasts that we do and so I do know the technology 487 00:24:55,727 --> 00:24:57,907 works, we've just never done it on crowd. 488 00:24:57,907 --> 00:25:01,107 If you want to join me, if you've got something you want to share, if you've 489 00:25:01,107 --> 00:25:04,397 got a question you want to pose, if you've got an idea you want to talk about 490 00:25:04,397 --> 00:25:07,577 from Dan's talk, we would we'll try it. 491 00:25:07,587 --> 00:25:08,307 We'll see how it goes. 492 00:25:08,337 --> 00:25:09,647 I don't know how well it's going to work. 493 00:25:09,647 --> 00:25:10,567 I genuinely don't. 494 00:25:10,567 --> 00:25:12,977 I don't even know if any of you are actually that interested in dialing in. 495 00:25:13,417 --> 00:25:15,237 But the link is in the comments if you want to join us. 496 00:25:15,328 --> 00:25:19,188 Do so Dan's talk, what did you think of his talk? 497 00:25:19,208 --> 00:25:19,728 I loved it. 498 00:25:20,068 --> 00:25:23,968 One of the things that's been coming out of the Book of Acts is this sort of 499 00:25:24,018 --> 00:25:30,408 theme and this theme is, It's very much a case of the Holy Spirit turns up, Jesus 500 00:25:30,408 --> 00:25:33,798 goes, the Holy Spirit turns up and he starts doing some amazing things, right? 501 00:25:33,798 --> 00:25:38,028 So as a Christian, we believe the Trinity exists, that God is three in 502 00:25:38,028 --> 00:25:40,848 one, that he's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 503 00:25:41,208 --> 00:25:44,868 The gospels were all about God, the Son and Acts is really all 504 00:25:44,868 --> 00:25:48,588 about the God, the Holy Spirit telling everybody about God the Son. 505 00:25:48,918 --> 00:25:50,858 And what we see happening a lot. 506 00:25:51,793 --> 00:25:55,283 As we see the Holy Spirit coming down, there have been some quite significant 507 00:25:55,293 --> 00:25:56,683 encounters with the Holy Spirit. 508 00:25:56,723 --> 00:25:58,183 People's lives change. 509 00:25:58,898 --> 00:26:03,318 And what happens is the Holy Spirit empowers ordinary people 510 00:26:03,318 --> 00:26:06,558 to do extraordinary things. 511 00:26:06,618 --> 00:26:09,458 Sometimes that's working a miracle, sometimes that's just telling the 512 00:26:09,458 --> 00:26:12,638 story, sometimes that's just actually surviving and living, to be fair. 513 00:26:13,228 --> 00:26:17,458 And so the Holy Spirit comes down and he enables and empowers people. 514 00:26:17,458 --> 00:26:18,918 He, in effect, gives them a mission. 515 00:26:18,918 --> 00:26:19,818 He gives them a plan. 516 00:26:19,818 --> 00:26:23,368 He gives them a purpose, a reason to live. 517 00:26:24,298 --> 00:26:30,448 And what we see and what we saw today in Dan's talk was, although there is 518 00:26:30,448 --> 00:26:34,548 a divine call, although there is this sort of divine plan that God gives 519 00:26:34,548 --> 00:26:37,968 us, doesn't always mean it's easy. 520 00:26:39,113 --> 00:26:44,043 And life can be complex and hard, but in, because we I suppose in our 521 00:26:44,063 --> 00:26:47,313 modern day thinking, we're like if God's real and God's going to give 522 00:26:47,313 --> 00:26:50,693 me a plan to do, surely he's going to make it easy for me to do it. 523 00:26:50,993 --> 00:26:53,723 And life will be fun and a ball of laughter along the way. 524 00:26:53,723 --> 00:26:56,803 And apparently there's not quite how it turns out, but God is with 525 00:26:56,803 --> 00:26:57,913 us throughout the whole thing. 526 00:26:58,503 --> 00:27:02,203 And in the complexity and in the nuances and in the difficulties 527 00:27:02,203 --> 00:27:05,868 in we learn to trust him. 528 00:27:05,868 --> 00:27:08,818 We learn to understand what it is that God's actually doing 529 00:27:09,198 --> 00:27:10,278 in the midst of everything. 530 00:27:10,278 --> 00:27:12,638 And we see this over and over again in the book of Acts. 531 00:27:13,598 --> 00:27:17,288 It's this sort of constant theme, which I find quite staggering. 532 00:27:17,288 --> 00:27:20,898 It's probably one of my biggest takeaways is actually God does amazing 533 00:27:20,908 --> 00:27:23,898 things, but it doesn't mean that my life is going to be amazingly 534 00:27:23,928 --> 00:27:26,768 easy, but I do get to make a choice. 535 00:27:26,828 --> 00:27:31,188 I get to determine whether I keep going after God or whether I shrink back. 536 00:27:32,508 --> 00:27:36,048 And so that seems to be the sort of the main theme, the main feel, 537 00:27:36,088 --> 00:27:39,658 or one of them that we take from the, there are obviously others. 538 00:27:39,658 --> 00:27:46,758 So that said, Dan then obviously talked, I loved his, this phrase that he used. 539 00:27:46,758 --> 00:27:49,948 I wrote it down here, how he talked about the noble goal. 540 00:27:50,348 --> 00:27:54,298 And now we have this noble goal, this sort of noble goal from God, this 541 00:27:54,328 --> 00:27:57,098 calling, this plan, this thing to do this. 542 00:27:57,868 --> 00:27:59,848 Sense of purpose, sense of mission. 543 00:27:59,938 --> 00:28:02,408 I love that phrase, noble goal, totally stealing it, Dan, not 544 00:28:02,408 --> 00:28:03,848 going to lie, thought it was great. 545 00:28:04,638 --> 00:28:08,198 What is your noble goal, do you think? 546 00:28:08,938 --> 00:28:11,188 Do you have a noble goal? 547 00:28:11,188 --> 00:28:12,948 What do you think God's saying about that? 548 00:28:12,948 --> 00:28:14,778 What's a noble goal for you? 549 00:28:16,008 --> 00:28:20,138 And one of the things that happened then is, Dan then immediately starts 550 00:28:20,138 --> 00:28:24,478 talking about forgiveness and how the pursuit of a noble goal, and for him, 551 00:28:24,903 --> 00:28:29,423 The noble goal he was talking about was the stuff with Luke, his son, and trying 552 00:28:29,423 --> 00:28:34,883 to sort out with the educational system here in the UK, how to fix something 553 00:28:34,883 --> 00:28:36,853 that's quite broken for them, right? 554 00:28:37,873 --> 00:28:39,023 And God love them. 555 00:28:39,023 --> 00:28:42,693 They've been through it Luke, Dan and Lisa, just a really incredible 556 00:28:42,693 --> 00:28:45,793 story really, but it's, and it's not over, so do pray for them. 557 00:28:47,463 --> 00:28:50,503 But in the midst of that, so his noble goal is obviously to get this 558 00:28:50,503 --> 00:28:54,223 educational thing for his son sorted out to fight for that to do his thing. 559 00:28:54,783 --> 00:28:58,643 I loved his comment about how his yoke is easy and his burden is 560 00:28:58,643 --> 00:29:02,143 light, we come to God and we give him his things, but it doesn't mean 561 00:29:02,143 --> 00:29:03,873 we don't have a yoke to pick up. 562 00:29:03,893 --> 00:29:05,483 It doesn't mean we've not got anything to do that. 563 00:29:05,483 --> 00:29:06,433 We just float around. 564 00:29:06,433 --> 00:29:07,523 I think it was a phrase he used. 565 00:29:07,523 --> 00:29:11,213 I thought it was great, pondering around, floating around. 566 00:29:14,248 --> 00:29:18,408 And yeah, I thought the noble goal is then linked to forgiveness. 567 00:29:18,408 --> 00:29:20,958 The thing that we have to do is linked to forgiveness. 568 00:29:20,958 --> 00:29:26,278 And one of the comments here that Miriam wrote, sometimes I don't know 569 00:29:26,278 --> 00:29:32,198 how to forgive friends when they do the same things over and over again, 570 00:29:32,878 --> 00:29:35,818 but God will be with me, so it's okay. 571 00:29:36,778 --> 00:29:38,398 It's a really powerful thing, isn't it? 572 00:29:38,398 --> 00:29:40,428 And we've talked a lot on Crowd about forgiveness. 573 00:29:41,723 --> 00:29:44,493 We've had quite a few talks about it from Sharon, my wife, she's 574 00:29:44,493 --> 00:29:45,893 done a few talks on forgiveness. 575 00:29:46,333 --> 00:29:48,093 We had one from Jenny Taylor. 576 00:29:48,113 --> 00:29:50,433 She talked about forgiveness, remarkable story. 577 00:29:50,433 --> 00:29:51,823 She's had to forgive a lot. 578 00:29:52,603 --> 00:29:54,843 And they're definitely worth checking out if you do struggle with the 579 00:29:54,843 --> 00:29:58,463 topic of forgiveness do go dig those out there in the archives. 580 00:29:58,463 --> 00:30:01,233 Again, just head over to the website, crowd church, the links at the bottom. 581 00:30:01,643 --> 00:30:09,853 You can go to the website and search for Jenny Taylor, search for 582 00:30:09,853 --> 00:30:15,063 forgiveness and the talks will come up and go into it in an awful lot more 583 00:30:15,063 --> 00:30:17,933 detail because I think Dan's right. 584 00:30:17,933 --> 00:30:23,073 I think sometimes we pursue these noble goals these things that seem righteous, 585 00:30:23,073 --> 00:30:28,373 these things that seem good and we can get quite angry in the process. 586 00:30:29,103 --> 00:30:30,683 And we can get quite bitter. 587 00:30:30,683 --> 00:30:36,890 I think Dan said don't let your grudge become your life. 588 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:39,210 That's an amazing quote, that, isn't it? 589 00:30:39,210 --> 00:30:41,140 Don't let your grudge become your life. 590 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:45,140 So let's think about that, right? 591 00:30:45,150 --> 00:30:50,110 If we have a noble goal, whatever that is at the moment, something 592 00:30:50,110 --> 00:30:52,310 that we're fighting for, something that we're striving for, something 593 00:30:52,310 --> 00:30:54,810 that we're praying for, something that we're believing God for. 594 00:30:55,410 --> 00:31:01,430 If we have a noble goal, is there an element of anger or bitterness or 595 00:31:01,430 --> 00:31:07,950 resentment or something that could creep in and derail you in the pursuit of that? 596 00:31:09,010 --> 00:31:10,190 It's a powerful question, isn't it? 597 00:31:10,590 --> 00:31:15,550 And so then thinking that through and what that means and analyzing that, journaling 598 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:17,370 about it, God, what are you saying here? 599 00:31:17,860 --> 00:31:22,690 I think is a, is really powerful because It can you can be trying 600 00:31:22,690 --> 00:31:26,030 to do the right thing, but we can be doing it in the wrong way. 601 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,000 And unforgiveness, unfortunately, is one of those things that is trying to 602 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:31,540 do the right thing in the wrong way. 603 00:31:31,540 --> 00:31:38,790 Okay, Keith and Peter, we've had mega problems. 604 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,590 Okay, not just problems, but mega problems in our church here in 605 00:31:42,590 --> 00:31:45,250 Spain, causing anger and pain. 606 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,080 But we have all forgiven and moved on and think we're all stronger for it. 607 00:31:51,855 --> 00:31:52,695 On Facebook there. 608 00:31:52,695 --> 00:31:53,775 In fact, let me put that on there. 609 00:31:54,045 --> 00:31:54,945 I can do this, can't I? 610 00:31:54,945 --> 00:31:56,025 You can all read it as well. 611 00:31:57,435 --> 00:31:58,125 There we go. 612 00:31:58,130 --> 00:32:03,855 In fact, let me let me do that. 613 00:32:04,395 --> 00:32:05,025 There we go. 614 00:32:05,175 --> 00:32:06,375 'cause Anna's not here. 615 00:32:06,895 --> 00:32:11,120 So yeah, so there's what Keith and Peter have said, we've had mega 616 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,730 problems in our church here in Spain, interestingly, isn't it? 617 00:32:13,730 --> 00:32:15,195 If you've been around church for a while. 618 00:32:16,215 --> 00:32:18,725 If you've been a Christian for a while, when we read about Paul's 619 00:32:18,735 --> 00:32:22,605 story, his grief came from the Romans. 620 00:32:22,685 --> 00:32:25,505 Felix Festus, throwing him in jail, trying to get bribes, trying to 621 00:32:25,505 --> 00:32:26,785 get money, trying to win favour. 622 00:32:26,795 --> 00:32:28,385 The Romans weren't doing him any solids. 623 00:32:29,910 --> 00:32:32,110 But why, the Romans were the Romans, why would they, this is the 624 00:32:32,110 --> 00:32:33,450 way that they thought about life. 625 00:32:33,950 --> 00:32:37,160 What's interesting is a lot of what we read, a lot of the grief that Paul 626 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,300 was experiencing was from his own people, it was from the Jewish people. 627 00:32:40,900 --> 00:32:45,815 Now that's not to, obviously, blame the Jews because I think that's just wrong. 628 00:32:45,815 --> 00:32:49,475 But what tends to happen is the most hurt comes from people that we know, it comes 629 00:32:49,475 --> 00:32:54,795 from our tribe, it comes from those around us, those that we're supposed to, press 630 00:32:54,795 --> 00:32:58,575 into and those that we're supposed to trust and love and all that sort of stuff. 631 00:32:59,025 --> 00:33:03,145 And it tends to be our tribe, though, our community that can 632 00:33:03,145 --> 00:33:04,695 cause the most pain, the most harm. 633 00:33:05,615 --> 00:33:07,865 And church is a classic example of this, I think. 634 00:33:09,285 --> 00:33:14,575 It's one of those where those who are hurting, those who are wounded, 635 00:33:14,585 --> 00:33:17,045 even those who are just living life, the church can actually 636 00:33:17,045 --> 00:33:18,415 cause more problems than it solves. 637 00:33:18,415 --> 00:33:20,985 And let's be real, I'm a big fan of the church. 638 00:33:20,985 --> 00:33:24,435 I'm a big believer in the local church, especially, and I'm a big believer in 639 00:33:24,485 --> 00:33:26,155 church being the hope of the world. 640 00:33:26,155 --> 00:33:28,535 And I think church is marvelous and wonderful. 641 00:33:29,005 --> 00:33:31,885 And I've 30 years while we do crowd, right? 642 00:33:31,885 --> 00:33:33,445 But let me tell you, church is not perfect. 643 00:33:34,575 --> 00:33:36,445 Because it's made up of imperfect people. 644 00:33:36,445 --> 00:33:41,735 And actually, in church, we tend to find a lot of broken people as well. 645 00:33:41,735 --> 00:33:44,525 And broken people and hurt people can hurt. 646 00:33:45,285 --> 00:33:48,355 And it's just the way it works, unfortunately. 647 00:33:48,355 --> 00:33:53,365 And so I tend to find if I go back throughout my own life, and Keith and 648 00:33:53,365 --> 00:33:55,625 Peter, I don't know if you're, if this is what happened, I'm not saying this 649 00:33:55,625 --> 00:33:56,765 will happen with your church at all. 650 00:33:56,765 --> 00:34:02,385 But I'm just saying for me, the most hurt that I've experienced has come 651 00:34:02,385 --> 00:34:08,045 from People in my tribe has come from Christians, close friends who are 652 00:34:08,045 --> 00:34:10,385 Christians from church Christians. 653 00:34:13,705 --> 00:34:19,175 And the, in some respects, they're the hardest people to forgive, 654 00:34:20,355 --> 00:34:22,205 because they should know better. 655 00:34:23,185 --> 00:34:25,035 And this was my thinking for a little while. 656 00:34:25,035 --> 00:34:29,155 And they read the same Bible I do, they pray to the same God that I pray to you. 657 00:34:29,155 --> 00:34:31,535 So how do they see things so differently? 658 00:34:31,535 --> 00:34:33,905 How do they think this behavior is okay? 659 00:34:35,260 --> 00:34:39,030 And of course, in that I have to go to God and go, maybe my behavior is not okay, 660 00:34:39,030 --> 00:34:42,840 I have to be open to that possibility, which is, humbling to say the least. 661 00:34:43,570 --> 00:34:45,100 And so yeah, how do you do that? 662 00:34:45,110 --> 00:34:46,040 How do you deal with that? 663 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,720 And I think you can only deal with that through the grace of God. 664 00:34:49,260 --> 00:34:53,690 And walking in the light of that and that forgiveness and understanding 665 00:34:53,690 --> 00:34:57,310 actually that is a, that is what happens in church sometimes. 666 00:34:57,890 --> 00:35:00,290 And I see a lot of people deconstructing faith actually as 667 00:35:00,290 --> 00:35:03,590 a result of that, that they've got hurt from the church in some way. 668 00:35:04,310 --> 00:35:08,860 And so walk away from their faith, which I heard a quote the other 669 00:35:08,860 --> 00:35:10,980 day, which I thought was really fascinating on this whole thing. 670 00:35:10,980 --> 00:35:15,770 They said that, walking away from church because of the way some Christians 671 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,755 behaved is like, You decide to stop supporting your football team because of 672 00:35:19,755 --> 00:35:23,725 the way some of the supporters behaved. 673 00:35:24,055 --> 00:35:25,255 Doesn't make sense, right? 674 00:35:25,545 --> 00:35:28,235 I'm a big Liverpool Football Club fan because why would I not be? 675 00:35:28,695 --> 00:35:31,445 But I am a big Liverpool Football Club fan, but I'm not a big 676 00:35:31,445 --> 00:35:32,435 fan of all the supporters. 677 00:35:32,435 --> 00:35:36,275 They do some insane things and and quite rightly have been 678 00:35:36,275 --> 00:35:37,365 punished as a result of it. 679 00:35:37,365 --> 00:35:39,405 But it doesn't mean I stop supporting Liverpool Football Club. 680 00:35:39,445 --> 00:35:41,495 And the church is the same, it's got broken people in it 681 00:35:41,505 --> 00:35:42,715 who do some insane things. 682 00:35:42,715 --> 00:35:48,880 But it doesn't mean that the church actually That I should walk away from 683 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:50,660 that or that I should walk away from God. 684 00:35:50,660 --> 00:35:53,230 It just does not make sense to me in any way, shape or form. 685 00:35:53,330 --> 00:35:55,370 So hopefully that's helpful to somebody. 686 00:35:55,370 --> 00:35:59,550 And thank you, Keith and Peter, for sharing about the problems 687 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:01,990 with your church in Spain, praying that it works out. 688 00:36:02,190 --> 00:36:04,700 It's great that you've moved on great that you're stronger for it. 689 00:36:04,700 --> 00:36:06,940 And it's one of those things I find in those periods. 690 00:36:07,010 --> 00:36:13,620 I don't know about you guys, but for me, I come through it more and more. 691 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:18,800 aware of my own need of forgiveness just, and I'm very grateful 692 00:36:18,810 --> 00:36:20,110 for God's forgiveness for me. 693 00:36:20,450 --> 00:36:23,800 So I come through these things more aware of that and the grace 694 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,570 of God and the graciousness of God. 695 00:36:26,540 --> 00:36:29,680 But I also sit down and try and understand, what can I learn 696 00:36:29,890 --> 00:36:31,440 from what I've been through? 697 00:36:32,060 --> 00:36:35,640 So if I go back to your question, Miriam, earlier about I don't know 698 00:36:35,660 --> 00:36:38,600 how to forgive friends when they do the same things over and over again. 699 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,660 And again, friends, your tribe, right? 700 00:36:40,660 --> 00:36:43,860 The people close to you, the people who should know better, surely, doing 701 00:36:43,860 --> 00:36:45,310 the same things over and over again. 702 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:52,000 I think we just have to, but I think also at the same time, it makes 703 00:36:52,010 --> 00:36:53,810 sense to put in place boundaries. 704 00:36:54,245 --> 00:36:55,785 And boundaries aren't a bad thing. 705 00:36:55,845 --> 00:36:58,375 If people are constantly hurting us, boundaries can actually 706 00:36:58,375 --> 00:36:59,625 be quite a helpful thing. 707 00:36:59,825 --> 00:37:05,245 It's one of those things where, there's a great book. 708 00:37:05,275 --> 00:37:10,225 If you've not read it, there's a great book by Henry, oh, what's his name? 709 00:37:11,815 --> 00:37:12,745 It'll come back to me. 710 00:37:12,765 --> 00:37:17,025 It's actually called Boundaries by Henry, oh, come on, brain work. 711 00:37:17,045 --> 00:37:22,180 Anyway, if you Google boundaries The book, it will come up, great book on boundaries 712 00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:26,960 actually, super helpful, Christian guy, and a psychologist, very helpful to 713 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:31,890 understand about this idea of boundaries and what we should do and shouldn't 714 00:37:31,890 --> 00:37:33,130 do where boundaries are concerned. 715 00:37:36,110 --> 00:37:39,540 But like you say Miriam, God's with us, and so we just have to keep giving. 716 00:37:39,700 --> 00:37:40,810 70 times 7, right? 717 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:41,690 Just keep going for it. 718 00:37:43,170 --> 00:37:46,320 But I do have to be aware that I'm not putting myself in the same position 719 00:37:46,330 --> 00:37:47,610 with them over and over again. 720 00:37:48,265 --> 00:37:50,345 It, it makes a lot of sense. 721 00:37:50,855 --> 00:37:54,465 So Keith and Peter here, because of the problems we encountered, we have 722 00:37:54,515 --> 00:37:58,595 taken on the warden's job to try and bring change and bring us together. 723 00:37:59,255 --> 00:38:00,325 See, I love that. 724 00:38:00,345 --> 00:38:07,415 That is so cool because fundamentally, I think there are two responses. 725 00:38:07,895 --> 00:38:10,085 It's interesting how we've gotten to this whole conversation about 726 00:38:10,085 --> 00:38:12,585 church, but I think fundamentally there are two responses when 727 00:38:12,585 --> 00:38:13,875 it comes to problems in church. 728 00:38:13,921 --> 00:38:15,811 Response number one is to go, I'm out. 729 00:38:16,021 --> 00:38:16,831 I've had enough. 730 00:38:16,851 --> 00:38:18,191 I don't want to be here. 731 00:38:18,211 --> 00:38:19,831 This is not what I signed up for. 732 00:38:21,271 --> 00:38:23,031 And sometimes that's the right response. 733 00:38:23,701 --> 00:38:30,501 But I often wonder if it's the easy response to walk away, to 734 00:38:30,501 --> 00:38:32,661 just to, go and sit, I'm out. 735 00:38:33,091 --> 00:38:35,731 The other response, what you guys have done, which I absolutely love is to go. 736 00:38:36,696 --> 00:38:38,106 How can I make a difference now? 737 00:38:38,896 --> 00:38:39,986 How can I get involved? 738 00:38:39,986 --> 00:38:40,766 How can I help? 739 00:38:41,426 --> 00:38:46,296 And so I remember we were talking about this yesterday, actually, my wife and 740 00:38:46,296 --> 00:38:52,351 I are sorting through some Sharon, I say I, I can't really take that much 741 00:38:52,351 --> 00:38:53,471 of the credit if I'm honest with you. 742 00:38:54,011 --> 00:38:58,611 Sharon is, she is sorting out, hi Nicola, oops, sorry, just woke up. 743 00:39:00,901 --> 00:39:04,281 Hopefully not from me or Dan's talk, just the way it is. 744 00:39:04,841 --> 00:39:08,461 But yeah, Sharon, my wife, is sorting out the attic she's sorting out the 745 00:39:08,461 --> 00:39:11,401 loft at her house, and that means all kinds of stuff is coming down. 746 00:39:12,531 --> 00:39:17,201 And one of the boxes I had to sort through is, we call them memory boxes 747 00:39:17,201 --> 00:39:20,931 in our house and it's just full of stuff that contains some kind of 748 00:39:20,961 --> 00:39:26,531 memories and one of those memories was a t shirt and on that t shirt is was 749 00:39:26,531 --> 00:39:28,951 a symbol of a hawk and it said Hawks. 750 00:39:29,431 --> 00:39:35,121 And Hawks was was a kid's kind of church that we did. 751 00:39:35,781 --> 00:39:39,221 My the problem was my kids were going to church every Sunday, which I wanted 752 00:39:39,221 --> 00:39:42,111 them to do, but they weren't engaging. 753 00:39:42,391 --> 00:39:44,291 They're about, about 10, 11, somewhere around there. 754 00:39:45,581 --> 00:39:47,151 And they found church really boring. 755 00:39:47,151 --> 00:39:48,261 So there's a problem. 756 00:39:48,261 --> 00:39:49,981 There's a disconnect there. 757 00:39:50,831 --> 00:39:53,991 And there, so I can look at the problem, I can go I just need to go 758 00:39:53,991 --> 00:39:56,001 find a church where they can engage. 759 00:39:56,451 --> 00:40:00,051 Or I can go what can I do to make a difference? 760 00:40:00,291 --> 00:40:01,051 Which is what we did. 761 00:40:01,991 --> 00:40:06,291 And so we set up Hawks, which was like a cross between, it was a cross between 762 00:40:06,371 --> 00:40:14,591 army cadets and scouts and boys church and we did church for boys called Hawks 763 00:40:14,651 --> 00:40:20,031 and Zoya and the other guys did something called Cookies, which was for the girls. 764 00:40:21,161 --> 00:40:25,741 And honestly we dress them up in camouflage, give them Hawks t shirts, 765 00:40:25,751 --> 00:40:27,571 rang them, we ran them ragged. 766 00:40:27,861 --> 00:40:30,641 But what happened was they absolutely love church. 767 00:40:31,061 --> 00:40:35,311 And even now people, and we're talking this was 10, 12 years ago, people 768 00:40:35,311 --> 00:40:38,141 every now and again will still mention it, still had an impact on them. 769 00:40:38,821 --> 00:40:40,351 And I guess the reason I'm saying this is not because I 770 00:40:40,351 --> 00:40:41,311 think you need to set up Hawks. 771 00:40:41,321 --> 00:40:43,961 The reason I'm saying this is because I love what Keith and Peter did here. 772 00:40:43,971 --> 00:40:48,061 It's because of the problems, let's take on some roles here. 773 00:40:48,586 --> 00:40:52,086 And then let's bring change that's going to bring us together. 774 00:40:52,136 --> 00:40:53,056 Super powerful. 775 00:40:53,066 --> 00:40:54,106 Love that attitude. 776 00:40:54,106 --> 00:40:58,116 How can I solve the problem versus, and how can I get involved, rather than how 777 00:40:58,116 --> 00:41:00,066 can I just either leave or complain? 778 00:41:00,896 --> 00:41:01,536 Henry Cloud! 779 00:41:01,536 --> 00:41:02,923 God bless you, Nicola. 780 00:41:02,923 --> 00:41:07,776 That's it, the book by Boundaries Henry Cloud do check out that by Dr. 781 00:41:07,776 --> 00:41:08,470 Henry Cloud. 782 00:41:08,470 --> 00:41:09,510 That's the book. 783 00:41:09,510 --> 00:41:12,284 Nicola, you're a legend for sorting that out. 784 00:41:13,064 --> 00:41:14,234 So yeah, do check that out. 785 00:41:14,784 --> 00:41:18,474 So hopefully Miriam, that's also helped on forgiving of your friends. 786 00:41:18,474 --> 00:41:22,844 Like I say, if you want to know more, do check out the talks on forgiveness. 787 00:41:22,904 --> 00:41:25,834 There's an awful lot more in there. 788 00:41:26,274 --> 00:41:28,914 So yes, very good. 789 00:41:29,344 --> 00:41:33,874 So I think what I'm gonna do is, I'm just gonna go through my notes. 790 00:41:33,944 --> 00:41:36,204 I'm gonna put my glasses on because I can't actually see what I've written 791 00:41:36,204 --> 00:41:37,974 without them because I'm an old man now. 792 00:41:38,334 --> 00:41:39,414 Excuse me, I'll have a little drink. 793 00:41:43,704 --> 00:41:46,444 Like I say, for those of you just joining us, my name is Matt, I'm 794 00:41:46,464 --> 00:41:47,874 part of the team here at Crowd. 795 00:41:48,214 --> 00:41:51,774 And like I say, normally there is another person with us, but Anna is not 796 00:41:51,784 --> 00:41:54,604 here today, simply because she forgot. 797 00:41:55,504 --> 00:41:57,034 I went to her mother in law's instead. 798 00:41:58,094 --> 00:42:00,814 So if you see her, give her grief, because frankly, I think you can. 799 00:42:02,184 --> 00:42:05,634 So just going through my notes here. 800 00:42:07,969 --> 00:42:13,229 This idea that Dan, this phrase that Dan used, partnership, I thought was 801 00:42:13,229 --> 00:42:19,229 interesting, seeing life as a partnership with God versus seeing life as a slot 802 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,909 machine with God, that if I just pull the right levers in the right order, 803 00:42:22,909 --> 00:42:25,899 I'm going to get the right outcome, I'm going to hit the three cherries 804 00:42:25,899 --> 00:42:27,449 or whatever it is and get my jackpot. 805 00:42:29,069 --> 00:42:32,119 But rather seeing it more as a relationship, seeing it as a partnership, 806 00:42:32,669 --> 00:42:36,779 Seeing it as something you do together, irrespective of whether life is, 807 00:42:36,819 --> 00:42:40,669 whether you're mountain high or valley low, God is still king, isn't he? 808 00:42:40,669 --> 00:42:41,629 He's still on the throne. 809 00:42:42,049 --> 00:42:43,439 That was a really interesting phrase. 810 00:42:43,489 --> 00:42:46,359 And I don't know how you view God. 811 00:42:46,359 --> 00:42:51,249 I don't know how you see him, whether you are in church, whether you're enjoying 812 00:42:51,249 --> 00:42:53,929 church, when you're enjoying your relationship with God, whether you talk 813 00:42:53,929 --> 00:42:56,829 to him on a daily basis or whether you've never actually talked to him before. 814 00:42:57,439 --> 00:42:59,369 Nicholas says, let me put this in the comments. 815 00:43:00,619 --> 00:43:03,719 Or whether, like Nicola, you try and be a legend. 816 00:43:05,309 --> 00:43:06,489 She is an absolute legend. 817 00:43:06,489 --> 00:43:09,039 It's interesting how you view God. 818 00:43:09,619 --> 00:43:13,369 Someone who is with you, someone who is a partner in life with you, 819 00:43:13,369 --> 00:43:15,279 someone who is committed to you. 820 00:43:15,749 --> 00:43:20,679 Versus someone who is absent, maybe, or a God that doesn't care. 821 00:43:21,154 --> 00:43:24,384 Or a God that's not actually that interested in what's going on. 822 00:43:25,584 --> 00:43:31,074 And I think the whole partnership thing, just throws a really, it's just 823 00:43:31,074 --> 00:43:32,824 something worth thinking about actually. 824 00:43:33,064 --> 00:43:34,264 Yeah how's that going? 825 00:43:34,334 --> 00:43:35,804 How's the relationship with God going? 826 00:43:35,804 --> 00:43:37,414 I'm just going to scroll through the comments here. 827 00:43:37,424 --> 00:43:40,134 If there's any other questions or any other thoughts that you've got, please 828 00:43:40,134 --> 00:43:43,324 fire them in the comments now, and I'll do my level best to try and answer them. 829 00:43:44,454 --> 00:43:47,224 It's been really interesting doing this solo actually. 830 00:43:47,224 --> 00:43:53,244 Normally when I do these kind of things like podcasts, normally 831 00:43:53,244 --> 00:43:54,384 there's always people with me. 832 00:43:54,384 --> 00:43:55,834 So doing it solo is always interesting. 833 00:43:55,834 --> 00:43:58,594 So I actually quite enjoy the challenge if I'm honest with you. 834 00:43:59,984 --> 00:44:00,814 What's Nicola put here? 835 00:44:00,814 --> 00:44:05,084 I like not using God as a slot machine, but as someone who wants to walk with you. 836 00:44:05,474 --> 00:44:05,854 Yeah. 837 00:44:06,504 --> 00:44:07,534 Yeah, I'm with you. 838 00:44:08,234 --> 00:44:11,534 It's I think it's easy to fall into the default to forget God exists 839 00:44:11,534 --> 00:44:13,094 until you need a prayer answered. 840 00:44:13,114 --> 00:44:15,824 Rather than seeing him who wants to someone who wants to walk with you on a 841 00:44:15,824 --> 00:44:19,854 daily basis who is constantly with you and understanding what that looks like 842 00:44:19,854 --> 00:44:25,114 and feels like and seems can be quite tricky because I don't know about you, 843 00:44:25,124 --> 00:44:31,614 for me, I can, I've run my own company, I run this church, but also I've got my 844 00:44:31,624 --> 00:44:35,574 own business, we have two businesses, which I won't bore you with, Because it's 845 00:44:35,574 --> 00:44:37,044 definitely not a sales pitch, just saying. 846 00:44:38,254 --> 00:44:39,464 But I've got two companies. 847 00:44:40,004 --> 00:44:42,884 It can take a lot to run them, right? 848 00:44:42,934 --> 00:44:44,744 And you can get your head down. 849 00:44:44,744 --> 00:44:52,784 And you just, you, my wife will often call me and go, do you realize what time it is? 850 00:44:52,784 --> 00:44:56,354 And I'll have been doing some and I've got in the zone, in the flow, as they call it. 851 00:44:56,874 --> 00:44:59,944 And eight hours can go by in a blink of an eye for me, just can. 852 00:44:59,954 --> 00:45:02,864 And I'm just like, I get my head up and go, wow, that was incredible. 853 00:45:03,949 --> 00:45:05,029 Where did that time go? 854 00:45:05,819 --> 00:45:10,309 But not once during that time would I have thought about God, would I have 855 00:45:10,309 --> 00:45:12,389 gone, God, what are you saying here? 856 00:45:12,389 --> 00:45:14,279 Have you got any thoughts about this? 857 00:45:14,989 --> 00:45:20,799 And actually just, I find that if I can somehow break myself from the 858 00:45:20,809 --> 00:45:24,099 drive that is in me and just take a few seconds every now and again, 859 00:45:24,109 --> 00:45:27,874 just to go, God, What's going on? 860 00:45:28,014 --> 00:45:29,054 Or, what do you think? 861 00:45:29,054 --> 00:45:32,654 Or, thanks for being with me, or just super grateful for this job, or super 862 00:45:32,654 --> 00:45:36,924 grateful for this client, or just acknowledging that God is there makes 863 00:45:36,924 --> 00:45:38,914 a massive difference when I do it. 864 00:45:39,774 --> 00:45:42,054 Question, of course, is why do I not do it all the time? 865 00:45:42,464 --> 00:45:45,114 If I knew the answer to that, I would let you know, write a book about it, 866 00:45:45,114 --> 00:45:46,294 make a fortune, I'm not going to lie. 867 00:45:46,754 --> 00:45:47,004 But yeah. 868 00:45:49,094 --> 00:45:49,734 Oh, bless you. 869 00:45:50,454 --> 00:45:52,644 You have certainly raised the challenge, well done. 870 00:45:52,664 --> 00:45:54,374 Thank you, Keith and Pete, I really appreciate that. 871 00:45:55,204 --> 00:46:01,414 So let me tell you what is coming up next week, because normally I 872 00:46:01,414 --> 00:46:05,754 would talk about this beforehand with whoever I'm hosting with, but 873 00:46:05,754 --> 00:46:08,374 of course, not with Anna right now. 874 00:46:08,374 --> 00:46:10,350 Let's have a look. 875 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:18,330 So next week, we are carrying on our conversation in acts. 876 00:46:18,330 --> 00:46:19,880 We have, oh, here we go. 877 00:46:19,970 --> 00:46:20,840 Yes. 878 00:46:21,380 --> 00:46:22,420 I'm hosting again. 879 00:46:22,710 --> 00:46:23,160 Yes. 880 00:46:23,170 --> 00:46:23,620 Three in a row. 881 00:46:24,470 --> 00:46:25,230 Good skills. 882 00:46:25,780 --> 00:46:30,050 So you've got me again next week, hopefully with John Harding, who's 883 00:46:30,090 --> 00:46:31,470 one of the pastors of the church here. 884 00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:33,390 What a legend that guy is. 885 00:46:33,390 --> 00:46:34,540 He's just moved house. 886 00:46:34,650 --> 00:46:38,060 So hopefully he won't have too much dust on his face and all will be good. 887 00:46:38,075 --> 00:46:39,615 And when he's not, oh I love that. 888 00:46:39,905 --> 00:46:41,045 So well done Nicola. 889 00:46:41,345 --> 00:46:44,205 When he's not walking with you, he's often carrying you. 890 00:46:44,365 --> 00:46:44,805 Yeah. 891 00:46:45,595 --> 00:46:45,985 Yeah. 892 00:46:46,155 --> 00:46:46,825 Get that. 893 00:46:46,925 --> 00:46:48,375 That's like that poem isn't it? 894 00:46:48,375 --> 00:46:49,305 Footprints in the sand. 895 00:46:49,865 --> 00:46:52,225 So yeah, John and I will be back next week to host. 896 00:46:52,225 --> 00:46:59,705 We have got Dave Connolly speaking about Acts 25. 897 00:46:59,725 --> 00:47:01,235 We're carrying on with Acts 25. 898 00:47:01,735 --> 00:47:03,645 So yeah, we've got Dave Connolly, just to let you know what's 899 00:47:03,645 --> 00:47:04,905 coming up in the weeks to follow. 900 00:47:05,015 --> 00:47:09,275 We've got Pete Farrington sharing with us, Will Sopwith love, Will Sopwith. 901 00:47:09,325 --> 00:47:15,815 And then in one, two, three, four weeks time, we've got John Harding rounding 902 00:47:15,815 --> 00:47:20,315 off our story and journey through Acts. 903 00:47:20,705 --> 00:47:22,795 So yeah, four weeks to go until we finish Acts. 904 00:47:22,815 --> 00:47:24,565 John's going to be rounding that off, which would be great. 905 00:47:25,575 --> 00:47:28,195 And then, like I said, in the last week, next. 906 00:47:28,820 --> 00:47:32,220 The next series we're kicking off is Becoming Whole. 907 00:47:32,230 --> 00:47:34,700 It's all about becoming whole, which I'm really looking forward to. 908 00:47:35,250 --> 00:47:37,940 I've been really enjoying doing the study on this and getting 909 00:47:37,940 --> 00:47:39,110 all the teaching notes prepped. 910 00:47:39,110 --> 00:47:41,970 Me and Sadaf, we've been talking a lot about it, which has been great. 911 00:47:42,570 --> 00:47:45,010 Yeah, we've got that series coming up, Becoming Whole, so 912 00:47:45,010 --> 00:47:47,040 do make sure you stay with us. 913 00:47:47,390 --> 00:47:48,900 And I'll just close out the Acts series. 914 00:47:48,900 --> 00:47:50,420 Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. 915 00:47:50,420 --> 00:47:52,500 If you've caught the tail end of it and you've just joined us, 916 00:47:52,500 --> 00:47:53,620 a bit like Tobias did earlier. 917 00:47:55,390 --> 00:47:55,970 Rewind. 918 00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:56,870 They're all online. 919 00:47:58,760 --> 00:47:59,710 You know what we have? 920 00:48:00,260 --> 00:48:03,050 I'm always amazed, actually, how many people contact me and just say, Oh, 921 00:48:03,070 --> 00:48:04,690 Matt, I was listening to the podcast. 922 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,450 Loved it, decided to go back to episode one. 923 00:48:07,590 --> 00:48:11,420 And we're like 300, however many episodes into them or whatever. 924 00:48:11,450 --> 00:48:12,790 I don't know what the exact number is. 925 00:48:13,620 --> 00:48:15,550 And they just work through it one at a time. 926 00:48:15,550 --> 00:48:18,480 I'm like, wow, that takes some dedication, but God bless you. 927 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:19,450 If that's you. 928 00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:21,960 That's incredible, really. 929 00:48:24,820 --> 00:48:29,890 So yes, make sure you do subscribe to the Crowd channel wherever you get it 930 00:48:29,890 --> 00:48:32,280 from, whether you're listening on the audio and you're listening to this on 931 00:48:32,300 --> 00:48:38,280 Apple iTunes, I didn't call it iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whether 932 00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:41,840 you're on YouTube, whether you're on Facebook watching on CatchUp, or 933 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:44,520 whether you're joining us live, make sure whatever your platform of choice 934 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:46,300 is, you hit that and subscribe button. 935 00:48:46,590 --> 00:48:49,220 You can of course go to the website, www. 936 00:48:49,260 --> 00:48:49,570 crowd. 937 00:48:49,750 --> 00:48:51,200 church, we'd love to hear from you. 938 00:48:51,605 --> 00:48:55,755 And on there, there's a small form, where you just put your name and email address, 939 00:48:55,755 --> 00:48:59,705 and we send you an email once a week, just letting you know what's coming up we send 940 00:48:59,705 --> 00:49:03,980 you the links to what happened last week, plus what's coming up this week, just 941 00:49:03,980 --> 00:49:07,180 so you stay all up to date and that's, we don't bombard you with email, we just 942 00:49:07,180 --> 00:49:11,530 send out one a week, very occasionally we might send an additional one, but you 943 00:49:11,530 --> 00:49:14,750 can sign up for that on the website, www. 944 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:15,160 crowd. 945 00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:19,370 church, be sure to do that, we'd love to connect with you and it 946 00:49:19,370 --> 00:49:21,240 just helps to ensure you don't miss anything that's going on. 947 00:49:21,710 --> 00:49:25,800 Thank you so much for joining us today, thank you for all the comments and all 948 00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:29,720 your thoughts, thank you for bearing with me, and yeah, welcome to Crowd Church, 949 00:49:30,550 --> 00:49:34,420 where things, if technology don't always work out, the people might not always 950 00:49:34,420 --> 00:49:35,480 do what they're supposed to as well. 951 00:49:39,700 --> 00:49:44,160 Oh, I tell you what you can do just write in the comments as we close. 952 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,120 If you've got like the perfect one liner for Anna. 953 00:49:47,065 --> 00:49:50,645 Kettle would love to hear it because I'm definitely going to be thinking 954 00:49:50,645 --> 00:49:52,045 of a few just when I see it. 955 00:49:52,305 --> 00:49:54,555 In forgiveness, obviously, there's, there's not a forgiveness issue 956 00:49:54,605 --> 00:49:58,065 given what we're talking about, but there is a banter issue and taking 957 00:49:58,065 --> 00:49:59,825 the opportunity to create banter. 958 00:50:02,530 --> 00:50:03,390 Oh, bless you guys. 959 00:50:03,390 --> 00:50:05,940 Listen, have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world, whether you're 960 00:50:05,940 --> 00:50:08,540 in Spain, whether you're in the Congo, whether you're in the UK 961 00:50:08,590 --> 00:50:09,630 or wherever you are in the world. 962 00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:10,830 Thank you so much for joining me. 963 00:50:11,260 --> 00:50:13,260 Have a fantastic week wherever you are. 964 00:50:13,300 --> 00:50:17,110 I will see you with John next week along with Dave Connolly. 965 00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:18,220 God bless you. 966 00:50:18,230 --> 00:50:19,580 Bye for now. 967 00:50:19,770 --> 00:50:20,480 Have a great week. 968 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:26,180 Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church. 969 00:50:26,530 --> 00:50:31,440 Now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit the subscribe button as well 970 00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:37,410 as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live. 971 00:50:37,525 --> 00:50:41,755 And of course, if you are listening to the podcast the live stream podcast, make 972 00:50:41,755 --> 00:50:48,205 sure you also hit the follow button now by smashing the like button on YouTube or 973 00:50:48,205 --> 00:50:51,475 writing a review on your podcast platform. 974 00:50:51,655 --> 00:50:54,445 It helps us reach more people with the message. 975 00:50:54,675 --> 00:50:59,925 that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life. 976 00:51:00,275 --> 00:51:06,455 So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website www. 977 00:51:06,525 --> 00:51:06,895 crowd. 978 00:51:07,195 --> 00:51:11,825 church where you can learn more about us as a church, more about 979 00:51:11,825 --> 00:51:16,795 the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community. 980 00:51:17,525 --> 00:51:22,855 It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome. 981 00:51:23,005 --> 00:51:28,045 It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time. 982 00:51:28,225 --> 00:51:28,975 That's it from us. 983 00:51:29,115 --> 00:51:29,835 God bless you. 984 00:51:30,475 --> 00:51:30,955 Bye for now.