Did Jesus really rise from the dead or is it all one big fairy tale?

Tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you into Galilee, there you'll see him as he said to you.' So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he'd cast seven demons. She went and told those who'd been with him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that he appeared in another form to two of them, and they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. It's no wonder the women were alarmed. How would you react if you turned up to your mate's grave to find it was empty, and instead there were a couple of angels there? I'd be pretty alarmed too. Okay, so let's jump into some of the objections that people have to this story. Will touched on one of them last week, which was maybe Jesus didn't really die. If you haven't already heard Will's talk, you'll find it on our website, which is www.crowd.church, or on our YouTube channel. It's a great talk and worth listening to. I don't have time to look up all of the objections to the resurrection, as we try to keep these talks short. So I'm going to briefly cover these three. So objection one, we can't trust the gospel accounts of the resurrection because they all say contradictory things. Objection two, miracles like the resurrection just aren't possible, are they? And objection three, what if the tomb was empty because the body was stolen? So objection one is we can't trust the gospel accounts of the resurrection because they all say contradictory things. If you're not familiar with the Bible, it's a book that's made up of 66 books. Of those, four of them, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are known as the four gospels, and they claim to contain eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The problem is, the accounts are all slightly different. Here are some examples from Dr. Bart Ehrman, who used to be a Christian but now is an agnostic. What day did Jesus die on? That's a simple question. And luckily, we're told in both Mark and John. In Mark's gospel, we're told that Jesus died the day after the Passover meal was eaten in Jerusalem. John tells us explicitly, chapter 19, verse 14, that Jesus died the day before the Passover meal was eaten, on the day of preparation for the Passover. That's different. He couldn't die both days. What about the time? According to Mark, he died at nine in the morning. According to John, he wasn't condemned to death until afternoon, John 19, 14. These are accounts that differ from one another. So if the eyewitness accounts all say different things, can we actually trust them? Do they actually say different things? Do the differences really contradict each other, or do they just look like they do? Do the differences undermine the main message of the passages? So let's pick one of them and investigate. Let's look at the contradiction in the number of women who went to the tomb. The passage we read from Mark's gospel mentions three women who went to the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Matthew's gospel said that Mary Magdalene went with the other Mary, that's two women. Luke's gospel said it was the women who'd come with Jesus from Galilee and certain other women who went to the tomb. That's a group of women of unknown number. A bit later on in Luke, it says that the women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women. John's gospel verse 1 says this. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So he only mentions one woman, Mary Magdalene. But if you read the next verse, it says this. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they've laid him. Who's the we she's talking about in John's narrative? So John's narrative doesn't exclude other women being involved. In fact, it suggests that there were more than one, but it just focuses on one of them by name and what she said. You see, as we dig a bit deeper, we see that different accounts actually clarify their apparent contradictions. There's a guy called J. Warner Wallace, who's a cold case homicide detective. He used to be an atheist, but after investigating the gospels using the same skills he uses as a cold case detective, he became a Christian and wrote a book about his process, which he called Cold Case Christianity. This is what he has to say about the differences in the accounts of how many women went to the tomb. So what we have here is really the question, not a question about how many were there. And there's some difference between how many were there based on the account. Instead, there's a question about who gets highlighted in each account. That's really the only difference in accounts is why would this gospel author choose to highlight this one, but not another. And that's really where we want to kind of, and this is the, by the way, this is so, so common to eyewitness accounts that I work in homicides, unless you're going to stop them and say, okay, timeout, I noticed you said so-and-so, but you didn't mention these other, were they not there? Oh no, they were there too, but you know, okay. If I don't stop and make each person specifically give me the rich kind of unmentioned detail that I know is missing, because I've already talked to somebody else about this. This is not what's happening in the gospels. There's no detective interviewer who's making sure that this is an exhaustive list, or this is an exhaustive account. That's an important principle, by the way, folks. When you look at these accounts, you sometimes look at them, and I, as a detective, I'm also examining these as eyewitness accounts, right? But remember, there's no eyewitness interviewer, and without the interviewer who typically asks you to empty out everything you saw, you're only going to get a partial account. I even get partial accounts when there is an eyewitness interviewer who is asking you to empty out everything. So don't be surprised if we're going to get something that's slightly, a small variation in it when you don't have an investigative interviewer who's asking you to go further. The differences don't mean that the accounts are not true. It just means the writers have highlighted different women depending on their focus and what the focus of their writing is. In fact, if all witnesses say exactly the same thing, you'd tend to think that they'd just come up with the story and have rehearsed it together. There are other valid reasons for the differences too, but we won't go into all of those right now. So we'll move on to objection two. Objection two says miracles aren't possible. Now Google defines a miracle as an extraordinary and welcome event that's not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency. Many dismiss miracles because they're committed to a naturalistic explanation for everything. Here's what Richard, I've forgotten how to pronounce his surname, Luantin, a biologist and geneticist has to say about this idea. It's not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but on the contrary, that we are forced by a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door. Historians too can reject claims of miracles, not because miracles are not possible or haven't been seen, but because they're committed to explaining everything by natural causes. Some have made the claim that because we can explain many things by science, it proves that God doesn't exist. But as John Lennox, who was a professor of maths at Oxford, Oxford University, explains there are different levels of explanation. He takes the example of a kettle boiling and asks, why is the kettle boiling? You could say that it's boiling because a large electric current flows into the heating element of the kettle. The element's resistance turns the electrical energy into heat, which passes to water, to the water. The reason John Lennox says the kettle is actually boiling is because he wants a cup of tea. Now, these are two very different explanations, but just because they're different doesn't mean they actually conflict with each other. They explain things on different levels, one on a natural level and the other on a personal level. If nature is all there is, the miracles are not possible by that definition, the definition that I gave before. But if the God of the Bible does actually exist, then miracles are not really that big a deal. I mean, would it really be that hard for the God who created the whole universe and everything in it to interact with what he's made to heal somebody's body or to raise someone from the dead? I don't think so. So why don't we see miracles all the time? There are probably loads of reasons, but here is one that Pete Gregg mentions in his book How to Pray. The laws of science are explanations of the ways in which God mostly chooses to act. But sometimes he exercises his right to go off piste. When Jesus turned water into wine, he broke the laws of chemistry. When he walked on water, he defied the law of gravity. He even broke the second law of thermodynamics by rising from the dead. C.S. Lewis says, but God can and does on occasion modify the behavior of matter and produce what we call miracles as part of the Christian faith. Before he adds, but the very conception of a common and therefore stable world demands that these occasions should be extremely rare. God can and does work through miracles, but not all his work involves miracles. So on to objection three, the body was stolen. Some have said that Jesus' body was stolen by either the disciples or the authorities. It doesn't make sense for the disciples to have taken the body, because they nearly all went on to be killed for their faith. Many people are prepared to die for their beliefs, but it's not common to die for something you know isn't true. The martyrs would often die in horrific ways, and so would under duress have admitted that they'd really stolen the body and made up the story. Think about Peter. Tradition records that he was crucified for his faith, but he felt it was appropriate to be crucified upside down, and from that position he gave his final speech. Why would he do that if he was complicit in stealing the body of Christ? But could the authorities have stolen it? Well one of the main strategies the early believers had of sharing their faith was to talk about the resurrection of Jesus, and as far as the authorities go, if they'd stolen the body it would have been to their advantage to produce the body to stop the rumours about Jesus rising from the dead. So what does all this mean? We can debate the authority of the Gospels as eyewitness accounts, we can debate about miracles and we can look at the idea that Jesus' body was stolen. I believe that answering these objections I actually find evidence for the resurrection, and to be honest I've barely scratched the surface. In jury trials the evidence is laid out, witnesses are cross-examined, and then the prosecution and the defence make their case using the same evidence. The jury then consider the evidence to decide which interpretation best fits beyond reasonable doubt, not beyond all doubt. Regarding faith, I think there will always be unanswered questions and things that we don't know, and I find that when I start studying any subject the more I get into it the more there seems to know and the more complex things get, but we're a bit like that jury, looking at the evidence and the opposing arguments and trying to work out what is the truth. For me the evidence points beyond a reasonable doubt to the resurrection, and when I look at both sides of the argument my faith is strengthened as a result. So if you're a follower of Jesus already I encourage you to investigate this more for yourself so that you can give multiple reasons for your faith, and if you're not a follower of Jesus I encourage you to investigate this more yourself and search for the truth. This is good news that is too good to miss out on if it is true, that there is a God who has created us for a purpose, that he loves us enough to come down to our level and to suffer so that we can be forgiven and have a relationship with him, with our Father God. It's not necessarily an easy path to take, it means giving up our own way of living, and it involves suffering and sacrifice, or it can do, but it's worth it. Now I usually like to leave you with a quote, so today's quote is from the writer and theologian C.S. Lewis. He says, Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. Wow, thanks Sharon, what an amazing quote to finish on as well, I think we need to come back to that and have a little think through that whilst we go into a time of worship in just a minute. We would love you to get involved now, we would love you to put your thoughts and comments down and what would you like us to discuss in Conversation Street, what particularly came out for you in that talk that Sharon's just done there. I think there's loads that we could discuss, so put down your thoughts and ideas and the things that you would like Matt and myself to talk about. We're going to go into a time of worship, we're going to have this amazing song now, it's called Your Love is Amazing, and it's all about the love of God, the incredible love of God that he has for you, that's whether you believe or not, he still has that amazing love for you. There's a brilliant line in it that says, when I am surrounded, your love carries me. So maybe that's something for you today, maybe you feel like you're surrounded, the love of God is for you as well. So we're just going to listen to this song, you can sing along if you know it, or just let the words kind of speak to you as you read them, put your comments in and Matt and I will be back shortly afterwards. Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me, when I am surrounded, your love carries me. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising, all the joy that's growing deep inside of me. Every time I see you, all your goodness shines through, I can feel this God's song rising up in me. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging, your love is a mountain from beneath my feet. Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me, when I am surrounded, your love carries me. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Your love, oh, your love, your love makes me sing. Your love, oh, your love, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Hallelujah, your love makes me sing. Your love makes me sing. Your love makes me sing. Very good. Very good. Love that song. Love Dan Pryor's voice. Yeah, thanks Dan for that. Yeah, thanks Dan. Absolutely. Well, Sal, what do you think to that talk? Wow. Loads to kind of think about really, isn't there? I think, you know, there have been lots of people in the past who've sort of said to me, oh, I can't believe all that. I can't believe that Jesus rose from the dead. And I've never been able to kind of go, well, you know, here's the sort of good stuff that you can kind of say in reply. So that was really helpful, those kind of three points of the most common arguments against it. And then, you know, the counter arguments, really. So really helpful. Thanks, Sharon. Really good. Yeah, no, it's great. I like the analogy. I love the analogy. Right. That it's a bit like being in a court of law and you're the jury and the evidence is presented by both the prosecution and the defence. Right. Those for the resurrection, those against the resurrection. So John Lennox, who is for, who's the maths professor from Oxford. The Kettle analogy was from John versus, say, Richard Dawkins. And they have these debates and they take the evidence and they both interpreted it in quite different ways. But that's what jurors do, isn't it? And so you're presented with the evidence and you kind of have to make a decision for yourself. And I love that. I really love that. So I think it's a great analogy. Yeah, me too. I'm a massive fan of a courtroom drama. Oh, I love that. A Few Good Men. It's one of my, you can't handle the truth. You know, it's one of my all time favourite films. Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's really good to question these things, to not just kind of accept what you're told and just go, oh, OK, then someone I trust told me that. Therefore, you know, that's it. I'm not going to kind of question it or find out for myself. I think it's really important. God can handle that. He doesn't mind us questioning these things. He wants us to look into these things more deeply. And I think that that's, you know, that's really what we should be doing, not just accepting everything that we're told, but questioning things. But also for me, it was that sort of, you know, that kind of balance between proof and faith. You know, you've got to have both. You can't have one without the other. And there is an element of faith involved here. And you have to get to that point as well where you've got the evidence, but your faith takes you that final step, doesn't it, to actually believe. Yeah. So I think that's that's really important. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, we get a lot of emails and messages from you good folks during the week. A lot of people question, you know, the faith and hasn't you know, is there any proof? Is there any evidence? And quite often the first thing I'll say to people is exactly what Sharon said at the start of the talk. Go and look at the resurrection. Right. Because if there's no resurrection, there's no Christian faith. And if there is if there is a resurrection, I can't even say if there is a resurrection, there is definitely something that you need to think about. And so that, I think, is a really, really great starting point. You know, look at the resurrection. And Sharon, as she said, is just literally scratched the surface of it. That book, actually, you know, the guy Jay Warner Wallace, the American guy that was talking during her talk. Yeah. That book, Cold Case Christianity. It's a bit like I don't know if you've ever read the book, The Case for Christ. Have you come across that one by Lee? No. If you like a good courtroom drama, get The Case for Christ. That's what I'm saying. OK. So this is I think Lee Strobel was on it. lawyer, an atheist lawyer looking to disprove the resurrection, looks at the evidence, becomes a Christian. Jay Warner Wallace, he was an atheist and I think his partner had become a Christian, somebody in his family had become a Christian and he was a homicide murder detective, right, he investigates for a living, murders and so he was like I'm gonna use everything I know about detectivism, that's the wrong word but you know what I mean, we'll go with it and I'm gonna disprove Christianity and he ended up becoming a Christian and they've both written these books looking at the evidence of these kind of things and they're definitely worth reading. Just say the names of the two books again Matt. So Jay Warner Wallace, Cold Case Christianity and then Lee Strobel, A Case for Christ, it is a proper meaty and there's another one called Evidence Demands a Verdict if you if you really want to get into it as well, I mean just three outstanding books, really helped me in my early Christian faith to go yes okay this was very helpful. Yeah I think especially if you are somebody who you know perhaps you're very scientific minded or you know you really want those answers and the evidence, I think these things are really really helpful as long as we sort of understand that they go hand in hand with faith as well, we can't possibly, you know we can't talk you around into believing someone said this someone very wise actually said this to me a long time, it's not our responsibility to convince you that this is true, you know we can tell you, we can kind of go through the Bible, we can talk about these things but actually that's your choice then, that's your decision as to whether or not you're gonna take that final step. I loved that quote that Sharon ended with, it was a bit of a, I was sort of like a rabbit in the headlights a little bit because she said that amazing quote and then and then it was me. I wanted just to kind of, there it is again, I wanted us to just kind of bring that up again and just have a little think about this, so let's just read it again, Christianity is a statement which if false is of no importance and if true is of infinite importance and the one thing it cannot be is moderately important, that's an amazing quote isn't it and so it's worth finding out isn't it, whether we believe it's true or not. Yeah absolutely, it's definitely like you say putting the time in. Have you ever been asked, right Sal, a question by someone and you've not known how to answer it and it's kind of made you feel a little bit unsure about your faith? Yeah any question, well I'm a teacher so yeah that's a daily basis, why is the sky blue? On a regular basis, yeah, Alexa amazing but not for everyone, you know yeah yeah of course there are there are so many questions that I don't know the answer to and have have made me kind of go oh, or you know when you hear people say those things you think oh actually you know have I just blindly believed without actually having a you know a really good foundation but my the faith part of it for me has been I've seen the truth of it in my life and the life of those close around me and I want to understand and know more about the theology of it but the faith for me is it's kind of proved itself and those other things kind of come afterwards but that's how I work and I know that not everybody works in the same way. As may I expect Matt, you wanted a lot more proof did you Matt? Yeah I wanted, I like the, I mean I like books like Cold Case Christianity, I like books like you know Evidence Defends a Verdict because it's very, it's good for me to think those kind of things through and I come from a more science-y background and it's like when I'm at work I like data do you know what I mean and I like to look at hard data and I like to run things through numbers and understand stuff like that but I've just read, I've just read, it's not a Christian book at all, I've read a book recently called Alchemy right and this was I can't remember the guy's name actually Jonathan somebody or other from Ogilvy and Ogilvy and they were a marketing agent or they are a marketing agency one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world and his whole thing in the book was yes data exists but sometimes you just need a little bit of alchemy do you know I mean a little bit of that kind of magic and a little bit of that kind of faith and and I and I really really like that sometimes you just need a little bit of alchemy and and I think it's very true I think it's very very true I can look at the data I can look at the numbers in working Christianity I can look at the evidence but like you say sometimes you just need that that faith that little bit of alchemy that says it's it's not just about all the data but the data is powerful if that makes sense yes it is yeah definitely I think the two go hand in hand very much so and there's a lot of I'm just looking at the comments here and there's a lot of comments about speeding if you're not quite sure what that's referring to this is not from me no that's helpfully another Matt thank you Matt who's referring to a talk that I did a while ago about justice and I did mention slightly regretting it now that I'd kind of gone on a speed awareness course I like his question miss miss miss why have you been banned from driving I haven't I went on a speed awareness course that was all I'm very good now I've learnt my lesson I tell you what Sal right here's the I don't know if they taught you this at teaching school surely if you just ignore that comment eventually Matt will just stop I know but it's kind of funny isn't it okay I don't mind if you give it you've got to be able to take it as well that's true yeah so it's really important and whilst we are on important matters can we just have a little look at that photo again please can you magically make that appear I can just give me one second and I will I you know we cannot let this go by a brilliant talk from Sharon I love the little kind of you know analogy of Matt giving her a present at the beginning but can we just look at this photo again it's not honestly Sal it's not coming on I don't know why oh I'm just gonna make this work you get there we go keep everybody entertained for a little while and then I'll be I'll be with you directly okay what I want what I wonder is what do we think that Matt had this photo taken for you know what was the purpose of this particular pose is it a catalog shoot I mean what is he actually doing is he trying to be like down with the kids or what is Matt what were you thinking what's going on tell us talk us through this so what happened was this is a really boring story but what happened was we did a photo shoot at work and so every member of the staff had to get their photos taken and you know what it's like some people in front of a camera quite stiff and rigid and so I was just clowning around to try and you know get everybody a bit more at ease with themselves and the fabulous Lindy Rogers you know Lindy I do know Lindy was taking these photos and that was one she decided to keep and send to me okay well have you got like a six-foot picture of that in your house I can just imagine that I'm kind of like you know you walk into Matt's house and there is a life-size picture of Matt well I tell you I know what you're getting for Christmas now so oh wow that would be amazing that's so you can use it as a bow and arrow target at the end of the garden right put it on your door right love it yeah now back to the comments here Nicholas said someone I know once said once the resurrection has to be true if it was a lie it would have been uncovered the Watergate scandal lasted only three weeks and Jesus's resurrection it's obviously this debate has been going on for thousands and thousands of years I thought was a really interesting comment actually yeah but actually a lot of time you kind of you figure these things out and here we are still 2,000 years debating it fascinating yeah exactly exactly I think that all adds to the evidence of it isn't it if you look at you know these incredibly intelligent people scientists and detectives and you know all sorts of people who believe this to be true you know I'm happy to go along with that and as I said for me it's you know it's about the actual reality of it that I've seen in my life and the lives of people that I know and how you know having Jesus in their lives has made such a difference and as Sharon said you know it's not easy you still get the same difficulties in life you still experience the same things but having somebody to walk with you through that is is incredible it is and that's a really interesting point at some point it goes beyond looking at the evidence to experience and yes I'm fairly sure I can hold my own in conversations about Christ and various different levels but fundamentally one of the things you cannot take away from me is my experience and my experiences of God and Christianity and what I've seen and what I've been involved with and what I've known to be true yeah and that's that's the fundamental point in all of this and that's like you say it's where our faith gets strengthened talking of faith we're gonna need some because I've just had a notification here that Liverpool are down 1-0 oh gosh right okay we better we better quickly wrap this up come on there's things to do so Lord yeah there's less evidence for that than the resurrection but we like to finish these sections with with a different type of question so Nicola has a question this week and it is what's the weirdest thing a guest has done in your house oh wow oh well I'm not sure where that question's going oh let me think I can tell you the it's not really it's funny now it wasn't funny at the time one of the stories I do like so at the top of our house we put in a bathroom you know I could a toilet at the top of our happy it's a four-story house so going all the way downstairs the toilet was a long way so we put one in at the top but to make it work we had to put in one of those sunny flow things you know the macerators the pump sit up and over pipes so there's a sign in the bathroom saying do not put down the toilet anything that is not paper basically because yes it doesn't shred you know like certain items let's just leave it there right so yeah we've got imagination that's fine yeah classic one toilet wipes right you know you throw them down and anyway they don't go through a macerator very well they clog it up and it so Anna then Nicholson now catchpole was our lodger at the time managed to put something down that toilet which blocked it I think it was some kind of wipes and there was literally water cascading all the way down our stairs from that toilet oh wow all the carpet had to come up I mean it stank and I oh it was just I like how you named the person as well so big up to them for you naming the person that blocked your toilet okay I can't think of anything weird that someone's done in my house but I did find out recently my nephew lived with us for a while and it was only a couple of years no no just found out recently what he got up to whilst he was living with us and he yeah so he lived with us it was all great and then he moved out to do kind of other things and then he was here a little while ago and he said oh um yeah how good a mood are you in auntie Sally I'm like yeah I am fine why and he's like well just something I wanted to tell you about when I lived with you I had a couple of parties while you were away tell me about all these like taxi loads of people that had come to the house and yeah all the stuff that was going on in the house and they were really good poise oh did you all right brilliant thanks for telling me I was like I had no idea he I think he's kind of woken woken up probably like an hour before we were due home and managed to kind of clean all the traces of everything yeah and I had no idea at all well that's quite impressive the fact that you didn't know that hats off to him for doing that yeah he's obviously very good at cleaning or I'm very unobservant well here's the weirdest thing I am gonna I am gonna say this one last story because it has come to my right this is the weirdest thing that's happened in my house okay and it involves my wife and it involves my eldest child right okay so and I know they're watching now going what is he gonna talk he's gonna tell the story yes he is Josh when he was a wee young nipper so when he was like 18 months old something like that two years old he decided he was gonna be helpful for his mum and cleaned the toilet right another toilet story cleans the toilet in our house with my toothbrush okay somehow got my toothbrush clean the toilet bowl with it awesome Sharon right Sharon sees this okay takes the toothbrush off Josh right and doesn't throw it away for whatever reason puts it back in the toothbrush holder so the next day I said Sharon I'm feeling really rough right and she says to me oh that reminds me don't use your toothbrush fortunately fortunately I've you know forgiveness reigns in our house but I do not tell the story I like that that is a good story yeah brilliant right should we move on to our catch-up let's do it let's do it this week yeah let's run the catch-up VT here we go hello everyone my name's Eliza and welcome to Sunday catch-up now in case you're new around here Sunday catch-up is a little section we talk about what we've been doing in the week this could be anything like a walk in the park nice meal trip to the beach anything anything you want personally I have a very interesting experience of getting my hair braided which you should see a photo of in a second and personally I don't think it looks good but you know I'd be interested to hear what you think in the comments when you see the photo feel free to check that out now I'll hand over to everyone else clips and remove you want to send it any clips you can text the whatsapp number on the screen hopefully it's above my head or I'm gonna look quite stupid uh-huh or you can use the hashtag crowd catch up on Instagram thanks everyone and see you next week there you go I'm not gonna lie I thought the braided hair look good yeah well done Elias so send in your stuff to catch up so that you can be on there we can see what you have been up to in the week we would love to see all your pictures absolutely and Josh I'm curious to know why you've been writing dramatic music yeah isn't physics keeping you busy enough Josh come on they're clearly not working you hard enough if you've got time to do that he's got exams this week and everything maybe this is just his way of chilling out I don't know just write maybe Sharon says there may be forgiveness but definitely not forgetfulness that toothbrush story has been told so many times it's a good one though I'd be telling that to everybody I met absolutely and Matt well done for getting your jab dude that was good see yes I have yeah I've had AstraZeneca and I'm waiting for a date for my second jab but yeah everyone needs to get vaccinated oh well I wonder when we'll hear it here oh there it is we're a few seconds behind you it's nearer you than it is me Wow yeah and I don't know if that's coming through the microphone actually that's really loud in my ears Wow okay Wow yes so next week we have John Harding speaking the final installment well I say it's a final installment what we're gonna do is have the final installment with mr. John Harding next week but then for a few weeks after that up until Father's Day we're gonna cover the stories so one or two of the stories in mark which we've not already covered if that makes sense because when we started doing mark in the live streams we were like at chapter six or seven or something because we've done all the other stuff when we met up as a church so we're gonna take one or two of those stories from mark so this is in fact John's talk is the last bit of Mark's gospel before we go back and pick out one or two things from the early part of the gospel and then that's it we're done with Mark's gospel that's right and then we're gonna move on to something new something new and something wonderful no doubt watch this space as they say now we've got a whole bunch great stuff coming up over the summer you're definitely gonna want to connect with us and stay in touch so make sure you do like or follow on social media wherever you're watching this broadcast and if you if you're so inclined head on over to our website crowd.church and there you can just put in your name and email address and we will email you once a week to let you know what is coming up in the live stream yes we will so you can do that anything else from you Sam? No that's it just to say I hope everyone has a brilliant week I won't be with you next week we are at last able to go and visit some family down south in the south of England so really looking forward to being able to do that so I'll leave you in Matt's capable hands for next week capable or I'll just leave you with Matt actually Rach is with me next week so you're alright she'll keep me in order but no it's been great see we are gonna close out the service with some more worship feel free to stick around enjoy the worship sing along with it if you want to but make sure you're back here next week at 4 p.m. as we live stream again it's been great to chat to you Sal great having you back. Oh yes it's been brilliant Matt oh thank you thanks everyone thanks for all your comments and for getting involved have a brilliant week and see you soon. Indeed we shall bless you have a great week bye for now. Bye. father you will I have no righteousness in my own I have no right to join a throne father you love me still and in love before you lay the world's foundation you predestined to adopt me as your own you have raised me up so high above my station I'm a child of God by grace you race alone you left your home to seek out the lost you knew the great and terrible cost Jesus your face was set I worked my fingers down to the bone nothing I did could ever atone Jesus you paid my debt by your blood I have redemption and salvation Lord you died that I might be able to pass on and you rose that I might be a new creation I am born again by grace and grace alone I was in darkness all of my life I never knew the day from the night spirit you made me see I swore I knew the way on my own a head full of rocks a heart made of stone spirit you moved in me at your touch my sleeping spirit was awakened on my darkened heart the light of Christ was shown called into a kingdom that could not be shaken heaven's citizen by grace and grace alone yes I'll stand in faith by grace and grace alone I will run this race by grace and grace alone I will reach the end by grace and grace alone heaven's citizen by grace and grace alone you