Getting to the heart of the matter: character issues that leaders must deal with

Getting to the heart of the matter_ character issues that leaders must deal with - LIVESTREAM Matt: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] [00:02:00] [00:03:00] [00:04:00] [00:05:00] Well, hello. Hello. Good afternoon, good evening. Good night. Good morning. After wherever you are in the world and country. It is good to see you. [00:06:00] Uh, right. Welcome to Frontline Church. We're a little bit behind here. Little bit behind, but that's okay. I think we're good to go. Um, and I hope you've been in, like me and Matt, we've been enjoying the music, the sort of dance, long as we've been getting ready to go, uh, and launch. So, uh, it's good to see you, good that you are here. Welcome to Frontline City, an online church where we bring the good news of Jesus to the world. Well, at least we hope to. That's the plan. That's the dream, right? That's the goal, that's the aim. Uh, and yes, before all the comments start, I have had a haircut this week. Finally, uh, the locks have gone. So, uh, let me know what you think to this new dude. 'cause I'm not quite sure, if I'm honest with you, the, um, I, the, the, the chap that did it for me was a new guy, 'cause Ben's still not around. Uh, Matt just wanna point that out. Ben's still not around. And so the new chap that did it just kind of, I said I had long hair. Just have a go see what you think. And this is what he came up with. So we're gonna have a little play around and see what's going on. Now [00:07:00] let me just, uh, bring this up onto the screen. This ladies and gentlemen, is our church WhatsApp number. Oh, yes. Take note of said number, because we have the ability now to throw WhatsApp into the mix, which is awesome. So hopefully, uh, you have seen, uh, have seen Matt's comment here. Your hair looks no different. Thanks Matt. Appreciate the, uh, the, the comment. Um, just so, um, so yes, so where are we up to? Here we go. Look at this. So use that WhatsApp number that was on the screen. Send me a photograph of what you're doing right now as you're watching the live stream. I, I appreciate for some of you, you'll be watching the football, uh, as Liverpool are playing the final game of the season. I have the score on my phone as we are going along and already it looks like in one minute Liverpool are down, [00:08:00] one nil to Newcastle. Not quite sure what happened there. Who knows? Okay, so, uh, what have we got here? Sharon's got this going on. She says hello. We've got, uh, Matt Crew on the line. Hair looks no different, uh, yes than most people watching football today. So we'll wait and see who turns up. Shall we? Uh, see who joins us. Um, we have, oh, how do I. Uh, put the phone number up for longer again. Oh, yes, let me do that. Um, let's bring this up onto the screen. So you have got that there. That is the WhatsApp number. Um. So you can check that out. Hi Abby. How you doing? Great to see you. Uh, Martin told me to put the phone number up on the screen again because, you know, apparently it wasn't up there for long enough, so I'm gonna leave that there, um, for now as I chat away. [00:09:00] Um, so what you are doing, you are taking that number. Um, you are, it's not automatically removing from broadcast today. I have a new computer this week. Um, so all the settings for how I had, how I had, how I did the live stream, everything that I wanted, which was in perfect order. After many weeks of trial and error, uh, we had all set up and, and the computer anyway, ended up having to go to Apple, apple repaired something, lost all my data, had to rebuild everything. So, um, things might not be as slick today, but that's okay. 'cause you know, we're family. Uh, and I appreciate you, you know, helping me along, uh, as we get, as we do. Uh. So make sure you grab that WhatsApp number. Like I say, send me a photograph of what you're doing right now as you're watching the live stream. That will be superb and we'll put some of it up on the screen. Uh, 'cause why would we not, right? Why would we not? So I'm just gonna create actually a little folder. [00:10:00] Lemme just figure this out real quick. Um, so if this is your first time with us, a big, fat, warm welcome to you. It is great to see you. Um, thanks for joining us. I hope you enjoy the fact. Uh, we're online. We're a dig. Like I say, we're a digital church. We're trying to do this whole thing digitally. Uh, and so do come along, do stay involved, do get in, get involved in what we're doing. We have, uh, a photograph here. Let me put this on the screen. There we go. That's the Langstons. Check out the Langstons watching the live stream as it, I can maybe put that a little bit more in the middle. There we go. Look at that. So we've got the Langstons, the Langston kids all huddled in the garden around the laptop watching the live stream. Great. That you guys can be with us. That is awesome. So, um, what else have we got going here? Matt's put here. What's [00:11:00] this? You've put Pizza Fairy wants a number up longer. What a surprise. That's Martin Langton's, new nickname. Awesome. Uh, hey Mona. How you doing? Good to see you. Good that you are here. Uh, right. Let's get onto the next slide, shall we? So hopefully you've got that WhatsApp number in your little, um. Little system. It will keep coming up as I keep remembering to put it up. I've just not got it on every slide yet. Uh, let's have a look at what's going on here, right? Let's play this one, like comments share. So the way this works, we are a digital church. We are broadcasting live over Facebook. I'm assuming you can hear me okay. 'cause of the comments coming in, and I'm assuming you can see me okay. But one of the things that we really love it when the, we love what you do is we love it when you like, comment and share. So get in the Facebook comments and comment away. If you're not on Facebook and you're watching this on the website, you can still comment via the [00:12:00] WhatsApp system. Just get onto WhatsApp and give us a shout. In the next few weeks, we'll be figuring out how to simultaneously broadcast onto Facebook and YouTube. Uh, we've got all of that coming, so we will be out there in, in more and different places, but make sure. Uh, you are liking, commenting, and sharing what is going on. It would be great if you could do that and just stay in touch. Uh, read them. Uh, I've just got a comment here actually from Martin. Can't read the comment color. Can you make them white? Hmm. Probably. Uh, let's, so this is what Mona's doing right now. Uh, whilst we're doing the broadcast. Oh, lemme just download the picture so you can see it. And this is what Mona's doing right now. Oh yes. Check that out. Supporting a mask. Uh, where are you? Just outta curiosity. I'm not quite sure what's going on [00:13:00] in the background there. Can anyone figure that out? Are you on a bus? I can see the tape behind you. I'm not quite sure what's, uh, what's going on there. So, uh, but I'm loving the mask, Mona. That's awesome. That's genius. Loving it. Okay. Don't forget to send me your photos of what you're doing right now so we can, uh, show the world how you're watching the livestream, which is always good for folks to see. So like, comment, share, like in the Facebook comments, like on WhatsApp. Um. Put your comments on Facebook, put your comments on WhatsApp and share it out there. Just say, Hey, listen, we're doing church. Come along, join church. Enjoy the fun and the festivities as we are going along. Macros replied that, uh, mana is on the bus. I think I'm going with the bus as well, Matt. I think that's my theory. Okay, let's do the kids bits. Oh yes, we actually added applause this week. Uh, we are gonna work on a little bit of funky [00:14:00] music for you, but kids make sure you download this week's sheets. So let me show you how you do that. Uh, let's pull up the website. Where's the website gone? Um, oh. Here it is. So if you go to the Frontline City website, click on the online church service. You can download the kids sheets for download here. God looks at the heart today, so you can download that. This week's theme is all about God looking at the heart. We have got the right Reverend Dave Connolly coming to share with us. Um, and, uh, which is gonna be great fun. I'm looking forward to that. But that's where you click to download your sheet. If you download it, it looks like this, and you can color that in. And it's got some questions on there that you can answer. And one of the questions from last week was, kids, can you remember, can you remember? [00:15:00] Oh, can you remember the question four last week was, um. To do with serving, wasn't it? Or the theme, sorry to do with last week was serving. And if you remember, you had the hands thing going on. Um, do you remember that? And you had to color the hands in whenever you serve somebody or help somebody, you could color in the hands. Um, and you can, uh, hopefully send me your completed, um, sheets so we can see how well you've been serving. Right? What else have we got going on here? I'm just looking at your comments. Uh, so, oh look. So this is what Zoe is doing right now. It looks like Zoe is knitting. Oh, yes. Uh, with a smile on her face as well, which is a beautiful thing. So, uh, it is good to see you knitting Zoe. I hope you're having fun. Uh, what else have we got going on here? Martin says it looks like Mona. [00:16:00] So this is Mona, just in case you remember. Forget. This is Mona Mo. Uh, Matt reckons she's on a bus. Martin reckons she's at a crime scene. Yes. Uh, so maybe, maybe, uh, Mona says, actually she's on the bus home. Um, so yes, uh, bus wins, uh, crime scene. No, but it does look a little bit. Crime scene me. Not gonna lie. It's kind of fun. Um, coloring hands when you did something kind of helpful. Says Rebecca, they're gonna go get them now, which is great. So kids, make sure you send me those completed. Um, serving forms, that would be great. Deanna's here. Great to see you, Deanna. Thanks for coming. Thanks for being here. Uh, I appreciate you can't, um, read that text and between now, next week, I'll figure out how to change that as per Martin's request. Um, so that will change in the next few, uh, days. I have no doubt. Oh, so I have just got every, it's just bipping off my ears everywhere at the moment. [00:17:00] So this is one of the coloring sheets from last week. Look at all those hands. They are done and dusted. They are all colored in. Okay. That is beautiful. Oh, and we've got, let's see, another one here. They're all coming in thick and fast. Let me just change this one out. I'll just take that off the screen there and I will bring, oh, which one do I need to now add? I think it is this one here. And there's another one with completed coloring hands. Oh yes. Oh, I'm loving this. The first one was Rebecca's. This one apparently on screen is Abigail's Weldon, Rebecca Weldon, AB Abigail, you, oh, legends. Forgetting all of the hands colored in. So make sure you get this week sheet and start on that. Oh yes. And I hope you enjoyed serving. I hope your parents enjoyed it. It's probably more of a more to the point. Uh, I'm sure they did. So great to see [00:18:00] those. Uh, what's Matt put here, Zoe Knitting ahead to cover your horrendous hair, Edmonds. Okay, Matt, we are gonna have a conversation about what is acceptable and not acceptable to say about my hair in the Facebook comments at some point, just so you know. Okay. Uh, what we got next. So we've done the like comment show, we've done the quids bit. Let's do, uh, let's play a bit of music. Uh, and let's play this. Oh yes, it is between Sundays. You will have noticed, uh, hopefully if you've been on the Facebook page, you will have noticed. We have been putting up the between Sunday session videos, which is cool. Sharon has done two this week. I did that, but I realized that was four. So I went cut and caught my cable. Um, so she's done two [00:19:00] this week, uh, which is fantastic. So between Sundays is going, uh, and I hope you are subscribed to that. I hope you are watching that. So let me show you again using the power of technology, what is going on here. So, uh, if you head on over to our YouTube channel, uh, and to get to our YouTube channel, just go to the website. And you can scroll down to the bottom. See there where it says YouTube. Just click that. That's awesome. That'll take you to here. And we have got our new YouTube channel, our brand new YouTube channel. And you can see that Sharon, uh, has done how to avoid burnout while serving here, uh, which we posted on Facebook. And here she goes, check out that music. Oh yes. So on Sunday I talked about the passage in Mark, where Jesus tells the disciple, which is fantastic. So hopefully you can hear that. Uh, and I'll turn that off. 'cause if Sharon's watching this, she will tell me to turn it off very, very quickly. There we go. Uh, so, um, [00:20:00] Sharon doesn't like seeing herself on the screen, doesn't like hearing herself, uh, on the screen either, although I think she's fantastic. Um, so where's my little, um, my little, uh, here it is, logos. Let's put this on the screen so you've got that back. There we go. The WhatsApp number. Um, so between Sunday right now, this is what we do between Sundays. It's a show between Sundays. So between one Sunday and the next, we put a few bits of content up, which kind of carries on the conversation from the Sunday sermon. Just a few of the thoughts, a few other ideas to throw into the mix. Um, and the videos are like five, 10 minutes long. We don't get in stuff too much. Like Sharon's recommended a book to read, uh, in her one on how to aver avoid burnout. Um, and so you can check out those videos, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, uh, and you know, you'll get those automatically in your feed, which is fantastic, and you can [00:21:00] watch those and we are gonna carry on putting those out. Um, I'm a big fan of doing this sort of in-between Sunday content, which is kind of cool. Um, everyone's saying hi to Gianna, where's my mouse point had gone, uh, and Matt's told me I'm hilarious. Just checking up the comments. Uh, okay. So, um, that is those, let me come to the final notice I've got here. And that is Alpha. Let's swap out what's up for Alpha. Alpha started on Wednesday. We had our first session on Wednesday. It is on Wednesdays at 8:00 PM Uh, and you are more than welcome to come join us on Alpha. It is not too late to join us. If you would like to come do Alpha, uh, alpha is basically a place where we kind of explore, um, life meaning and faith. You know, the sort of small topics. Who am I, what am I doing here? What's the purpose in life? Is there, is there more to life than this? Which was, um, Wednesdays one. So we did, is there more to life than this, which was great. And the, the way it [00:22:00] works is we, we kind of get together 8:00 PM uh, British summertime, 'cause we're not back on Greenwich meantime yet, but 8:00 PM in the uk. Um. And it's, it is about an hour long and we watch a video, uh, which is about 25 minutes long, 30 minutes long sometimes. And then we get into groups and we have conversations around those videos. And so, um, I really, really enjoy Alpha, Sharon, my wife and I, we headed up, um, we got some great guys that come along and help us. Um, some great team leaders, which is fantastic. And so if you have questions, if you're a new Christian or if you're not. You know, if you're kind of exploring Christianity, you're not quite sure where you stand on the whole thing yet. Get involved with Alpha because it's a great place to get those questions of yours answered and great place Sort of come and learn and figure stuff out. So cannot recommend it highly enough. So to get onto Alpha, we do it on Zoom. To get onto Alpha what you need to do, let me bring back up the website. We're gonna go back to the website 'cause everything is centering around that right now. [00:23:00] And you see here at the top where it says Online Alpha course, we're just gonna click there and we get our little webpage coming up. Scroll down. All I need you to do is give me your name and email address. Just put your name and email address in this form. Hit subscribe. Um, MailChimp will then ask you to confirm your email address so we don't get, you know, done for spam. And once you've confirmed it, I will send you the Zoom link to Alpha and you can come and join us and be a part of that and it'll be great to see you. So that is on Wednesday night, so hopefully we'll see you there. So I think I've covered everything. Um, as I said right at the start, don't forget to like, comment and share, especially as the talk's going on, as God's speaking to your thoughts or questions. Put them in the comments on Facebook, uh, and we will be in there with you. Don't forget to share it out. Give it a look, give it a thumbs up. Um, it's always great when you do that. It helps us to reach more people with the content that we do. So just you giving it a simple thumbs up or [00:24:00] a simple, like even writing a comment helps us reach more people. So please do, do that. It is fantastic when you do. Okay. So without further ado, shall we get into this week's teaching from Mark's gospel? I think we should. Let's roll the intro. This week we are gonna get into Mark Chapon and I'm gonna read the scriptures to you. I'm gonna bring them on screen and then we have the amazing Dave Connolly, who is gonna come and share with us. Uh, it is a prerecorded video, so he is already done it. I've already listened to it. I already know it's good. So let's get into it. Here's the scriptures that we're gonna be looking at this week. So we have Mark chapter nine, and we are reading from verses [00:25:00] 38 to 50. Uh, so John answered him. Uh, now remember, let me just bring myself back up. Lemme just give us a little bit of context here. Sharon, last week talked about a conversation that Jesus has with the disciples about who's gonna be the greatest. Right. So they're kind of in this private place and they're having a conversation like, who's gonna be the greatest? And Jesus kind of goes back and forth about, well, if you wanna be great, you've gotta serve and all this sort of stuff. So that's the context they're having this conversation. So now we're coming into the second part of this conversation where John's carrying on. He's got a few questions to ask. And so here we go. So John answered him, Jesus saying, teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us, casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us. So Jesus said to him, do not forbid him for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is on our side, for [00:26:00] whoever gave, uh, gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ. As surely I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a mill stone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. These are pretty harsh words, eh, uh, but if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame rather than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom [00:27:00] of God with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell fire where their worm does not die and their fire, uh, is not quenched. For everyone who, uh, everyone will be seasoned with fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. Wow. They are some pretty deep intense verses, right? So we thought to ourselves, who can we get to come talk to us about these verses That's gonna have something great to say. It's gonna expand on the scripture, uh, and open our eyes to it. Because just on the surface you can read a lot into these kind of things, can't you? Um, so it's good to understand what Jesus is saying, what he means, what he's talking about, and we could think of no one better than Mr. Dave Conley himself. So let me bring, uh, Dave onto the screen and I'll be back when he's finished. Dave: Thank you for joining [00:28:00] me today. It's so good to see you all today. We can continue our series in Mark's Gospel. Our key scripture is found in Mark chapter nine, verses 38 to 50. The topic of today's talk could be God sees the Heart. We're looking at our passage today that's going to be really helpful for each of us, both as the church and as individuals. At a first glance, it looks like a hodgepodge of sayings about different topics, infighting, children exclusion, and temptation. The passages actually one that begins with us as we are, reveals what's wrong with us, identifies the sin underneath the sin, and then it brings the solution, and then it gives us a picture of what the results could look like in our lives. So let's take a [00:29:00] brief look at this passage and let's begin by asking what this passage reveals. What's wrong with us? We've now reached the part of the gospel of Mark at which Jesus focuses the majority of his attention on the training of the disciples. He's preparing them for ministry in order for them to carry on after he's gone. But Jesus knows that there are still some very significant issues in their lives that need to be dealt with. If we too are honest, we're going to ask to that we too have problems. What are those problems that we face? The first problem that this passage identifies is very clearly self-absorption. Let's briefly set the scene from the verse earlier in verse 33 and 34, they came to Cape Tanium. [00:30:00] When he, that's Jesus was in the house, he asked them, what were you arguing about on the road earlier? But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest amongst them. This is shocking, isn't it? We are not usually so blatant as the disciples were, were shocked. When people admit to this problem, their disciples were following Jesus. They understood that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This means that they were closely connected to the deliverer who would rescue Israel and gain status and honor, and even worship. They began to think about how they could see themselves elevated as a consequence of being in relationship to Jesus. I would suggest that many of us struggle with being self-absorbed, [00:31:00] and this passage puts its finger clearly on the problem. Now, this brings us nicely to the scripture and we're looking at today, and the key theme is very closely related, and it's simply this judging others based on our own insecurities. Mark 9 38 says, teach us, said John. We saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he was not one of us, literally because he was not following us. This may look very wise at face glance, but Exodus of the day would use the name of any God or idol that they thought would work in order to cast out demons. It. It's very impossible that this man didn't even believe in Jesus. [00:32:00] He hadn't been with Jesus. He hadn't been trained by Jesus like them, the disciples. It's interesting that John did not say teacher. We saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following you. What John actually did say was teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not one of us. The real issue is revealed here. Let me say again that the concern as the appearance of being a noble one, but it's hiding something far more sinister. This man was a blow to their sense of identity. It undermined their special status. [00:33:00] They had just failed to cast out a demon shortly before this. And here was this man who wasn't even one of them casting out demons apparently. Um, with success, they were not happy, but it wasn't primarily outta concern for Jesus, it was outta their own insecurity. Again, this still happens today. Jesus spoke of love as the distinguishing mark that characterized his disciples. We aren't generally known for our love. We've become pretty good at naming other groups who say that they follow Jesus. And we're very good at naming them and identifying what's wrong with them. We can even make it sound good and noble, but often it's just a cover [00:34:00] for our own insecurity. This isn't just about churches. It can also apply to us as individuals. The real reason, of course, is because they are a threat to our identity. We dress it up, but that's the core issue. The other serious issue we see here in the scripture is not taken sin. Seriously. Seriously, and we can read about this in verse 42 to 48. You can't help but notice the over the top language used. You've got people being drowned, body parts being cut off, people being thrown into hell. This sounds like fairy excessive language. It is not at all the type of language that you would expect to hear from Jesus. Of course, you're right to be surprised by this type of [00:35:00] language. Jesus is using a language here that's not meant to be taken literally. He's intentionally overstating his point. We know this because scripture, um, says elsewhere, um, that it forbids self-mutilation. For example, Jesus is intentionally overstating his case so that we understand the severity of sin. No sin is worth going to hell for. It's far better to deal with sin and temptation rather than to lose our souls to sin and destruction. Nothing less than eternal life and death is at stake. We can't afford to fool around here. We must deal with sin. Why does Jesus say this? Because he's putting his finger on, um, this [00:36:00] issue. We tend to minimize sin and its effects. Sin will always cost you more than what you would like to pay. I heard it said once we think it's not a big deal, we don't take the necessary steps to eradicate sin in our lives. Jesus says it will destroy us, and that dealing with these areas is more important than even the things that are indispensable to us. So let's briefly look, what is this passage clearly putting its finger on? These are three areas that probably characterize everybody here. We're self-absorbed, wanting to be noticed, wanting to be somebody. We put others down and make it look good, good, or even make us look good when the real issue is we [00:37:00] are actually insecure. It's our insecurity. We don't take our own sin seriously. We are far too ready to tolerate things that can destroy us and destroy others. As a result, we have broken relationships, broken relationships with God, family, friends, and society. This is the pattern when sin is nurtured rather than dealt with, and it's not a pretty picture. Ed SSO says this. A mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable situations that we know our country to the will of God. He's talking about sin here. I also read, um, a quote that said, stronghold or mental habits, patterns of thoughts that are not consistent with God's word.[00:38:00] Why does this passage so clearly put its finger on these issues? It's because they are characteristic of a pattern of behavior that reveals an underlying issue or problem or sin, and we need to see this. Let's look at the sin that's underneath all the sins that this passage has identified. At first glance, we said, this looks like a hodgepodge of unrelated issues. It almost seems like somebody who's confronting you and making a list of all the things about you that really bugged them. You feel like saying, just deal with one sin. I struggle with the process of seeing them going through their shopping list of sins. [00:39:00] If we look carefully at this passage, though, we will realize that Jesus isn't dealing with a shopping list of sins. Under all these sins is one underlying sin. There is one underlying issue that shows itself in our pride, our judging others, and our willingness to tolerate sing. You might be thinking. What do you mean, Dave? Listen, if you study more carefully, you'll notice that Jesus repeats the same pattern here that he did back in chapter eight. He predicts his own suffering. He corrects a mistake in the disciples, and then he clarifies what it means to follow him in the light of his suffering. In other words, the fundamental issue here [00:40:00] is a failure to understand that we serve a savior who went to the cross and you invites us to follow him and suffer. This is a huge issue for us today. I think one of the most serious theological blind spots Western Church as is a defective understanding of suffering. We have lots of teaching on how to avoid sin or how to get free from sin, and then there's counseling and therapy and a whole lot of resources. But these resources are inadequate teaching about the theology of suffering. See, Christians are not taught why they should expect suffering as followers of Jesus Christ and why suffering is so important for healthy growth as a Christian. Do you know why the disciples were struggling with all these problems? [00:41:00] I would suggest is because they hadn't yet grasped what Jesus was going to do. They thought Jesus was a victorious conqueror. They had no, um, category for a Messiah who would suffer and be killed. We read, they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching the disciples. And he said to them in Mark chapter nine, verse 30 to 32, the son of man is going to be delivered over to human hands. He will be killed, and after three days he will rise. But they didn't understand what Jesus meant, and they became afraid to ask him about it. The fundamental problem is that the disciples fail to grasp the way to [00:42:00] the cross as not only the path of Jesus, the path that Jesus would take, but the path that they were called also to take. You see, if they understood that Jesus was walking on ahead of them to a sacrificial death, they would've had to have realized how ludicrous it was. For them to be pushing and shoving so they could be seen to have pride and place. When you are marching to a cross, you stop pushing to get to the front of the line. If they had understood that Jesus was laying his life down in service by going to the cross, they wouldn't be threatened by somebody casting out demons who wasn't part of their group, because servants don't get threatened. See, servants aren't worried about their position. They are worried about [00:43:00] saving. That's where their focus is. If they would understand the length to which Jesus would go in order to offer his life for them, they would understand not only the seriousness of sin and offer their lives to God freely. In other words, their problem was not just a whole bunch of unrelated sins. Matt: The Dave: their problem was one underlying issue. They hadn't grasped the cross. They hadn't yet understood that Jesus would suffer and die. They hadn't worked out the implications of this for them and their lives. It can be the same for us today. Whatever issue we are facing in our lives, we can trace it back to one underlying issue. We haven't yet worked out the implications of the cross in [00:44:00] that area of our eyes. I heard somebody once say, the main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel. We have not used the gospel in and on all parts of our lives. I believe it was Tim Kelly who said that most people's problems are just a failure to be signposted to the gospel, a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. When we understand the cross and when we understand that we have been called not only to enjoy the benefits of the cross, but to follow Christ in giving ourselves sacrificially, then we will be transformed in these areas. So let's look as we close at what would happen if we live this way. Do you know where this really [00:45:00] works itself out? It works itself out in our relationships if we have gained an understanding of the cross, that understanding. Will shape and affect our lives and how we live our life in community. When we see ourselves as servants and when we understand how Christ has welcomed us, then we'll be ready to welcome others as well. Jesus calls each of us to live our lives in the shadow of the cross, a life of humility and a life of service. We could say there's so much wrong with us, but we will never deal with the sins until we get to the underlying issue of coming to the cross. When we learn to come humbly to the cross, our focus is on him and not on ourselves, [00:46:00] and then we are filled with thankfulness to him and to him alone. See, it's all about Jesus living in him. We'll see our lives transformed by his love and his mercy and his grace. Can I encourage you today to be determined to fix your eyes on him as he knows the desires of our heart? Don't settle for less when God as an amazing plan and papers for your life in him. God bless you all. Thank you for letting me be with you today. Matt: Well, wasn't that fantastic? Thank you, Dave. Thanks for doing that. [00:47:00] Uh, thanks for taking the time to put that together. I, um, I love the music at the end there. I, I think we, we've got a bit of a, a bit of a techno kind of funky music sort of competition going on, I feel. Uh, but, but yeah, thank you so much for doing that. It was great. Uh, really got a lot out of it. I got pages of notes, uh, and as always got challenged, um, which is great. So, uh, what we got here, Abby, uh, that said that, um, Abby just said amazing. Great. Um, oh, what else have we got? Matt says, fix your eyes on him. Amen. Which is cool. Sharon says, thanks Dave. Lots of good stuff to think about. Macro, brilliant stuff with an emoji. That's how we roll on city. We have emojis and everything. Thanks for your comments, guys. Do keep them coming. [00:48:00] Uh, as always, we are gonna go into a time of worship now, John Farrington, the legend that he is, is again, sent us some more tracks that we can use, which is cool. Um, and we are gonna go into a time of worship. I will bring the questions up on the screen during the worship. Um, but in the meantime, let me just, where did I put them? I'll bring them up on the screen again, uh, just so we can go through those. So question number one, uh, is very simply this. What has God been, uh, what has the Holy Spirit highlighted to you during this talk? Was there something that you felt challenged about, convicted about? And all that sort of stuff. Um, if you are able, feel free to write in the comments and share what you've, um, thought below. And then David just put here, he says, you know, most, um, most scholars and theologians, um, don't think that when Jesus said, you know, pluck out your eye, cut off your hand, and all [00:49:00] that sort of stuff was actually being literal. And Dave went through that, uh, during his talk, didn't he? And he expanded on that a little bit, and he talked about how Jesus was being, um, you know, he just wanted to highlight the seriousness of it all. Um, so, uh, what do you think about that? What do you think about that statement? Um, what do you think about, uh, Jesus attempting to teach this to the disciples, um, using these quite graphic illustrations. So, um, so, so yeah, what does he teach him? What's going on? What do you think about that? What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below when you read those verses. Um, they're quite hair raised and verses in some respects, but they're quite, they're, they're obviously very important to Jesus. He does bring them up, so it'd be good to know your thoughts. Do share them in the comments below as we enter a time of worship. I will bring, uh, the worship track up. We will play that. Hopefully it's gonna work. And, um, I'll bring the questions up again, partway through the [00:50:00] track, and then I'll see you back here in a few minutes time. Music: Before I spoke a word you were singing. You have been so, so good to me. Before I took a breath, you breathed your life in me. You have been so, so [00:51:00] kind to me of God. Oh, it chases me down. Fight still, I'm found leaves the 99. I couldn't earn it. I don't deserve it. Steal you. Give your self away. Overwhelming, reckless love of God.[00:52:00] When I was your folk steal your love fought for me. You have been so, so good to when I felt no worth. You paid it all for me. You have been so, so kind to me. Overwhelming, reckless love down.[00:53:00] I couldn't. I don't deserve it. Still, you give yourself. There's no shadow. You won't light up mountain. You won't climb up coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down. Lie you [00:54:00] won't tear down coming after me. There's no shadow. You won't light up mount and you won't climb up coming after me. There's no wall you won't kick down. Lie you won't. The snow shadow. You won't light up mountain. You won't climb up. Coming me the snow, you won't kick down. You won't tear coming after me. The snow shadow you won't light up. Mountain. You won't climb up coming after me. The snow you won't kick down like you won't [00:55:00] tear down. Coming after overwhelming, reckless love of God down the. I, I don't deserve it. Still, you give yourself love of God.[00:56:00] Matt: Okay. Wasn't that fantastic John, thanks again for doing that and taking the time and effort you put into doing those tracks, man, they're awesome. It's just fantastic. I don't know how you do the worship thing. Lemme just get rid of those questions for now. Um, I dunno how you do the worship thing. When we play these tracks, I just, I have it in my ears. I sit and I listen to the song and just let God minister to me, which is fantastic. I know some of you like to sing, um, some of you're in a place where you can't sing. Some of you're probably in a place where you shouldn't sing. Uh, but that's another story. However, um, it works for you. Uh, I hope you enjoy that time of worship. Just let God minister to you as you think about the word and what's been taught and said. And so for me, one of the things that sort of stood out, uh, and whilst I'm doing [00:57:00] this sort of preamble do get right and stuff in the comments, I see some of you put stuff in there already. We'll get to that in a second. Um. This, this sort of, the way Dave talked, he talked about how you have this sort of, you know, they, they were talking about wanting to be the greatest, weren't they? And um, sort of that cell being self-absorbed. And then he talked about how, um, they were insecure and that insecurity led to them sort of telling some guy not 'cause they, he wasn't part of the group, Do you know what I mean? And they were sort of protecting themselves. And then he talked about how, you know, you've got the, um, the fact that they didn't really take sing quite as seriously, maybe as Jesus seemed to be taking it with these, with these verses. And it's sort of good to be reminded of that. And, uh, and then, but then he said, you know, underline all of this is a one key thing and that is not understanding what it means to go the way of the cross, which is, um, is quite an interesting phrase. And, um. And I know Abby put here, let's just bring that [00:58:00] to the broadcast here. Love the quote. No sin is worth going to hell for. Um, so powerful makes me grateful for the cross. Following Jesus and honoring him with every decision is so important. It totally is. And that, that phrase, um, no sin is worth going to hell for is really quite a powerful one, isn't it? And I agree totally with you, Abby. That is not worth going to hell for, but it's like, you know what, um, over the last two weeks I must have had Sharon and I must have had, I'm guessing the best part of 60, 50, 60 emails from people that have seen, um, Christian sort of, you know, videos, um, online asking questions and the people that have been asking the questions, some of them are not Christians, some of them are kind of, um, they are Christians, but they're struggling in certain areas. You know, the common sort of themes are, I'm struggling with loneliness, or I'm struggling with anxiety or depression. Um. I need to change this or I need to change that. I've got family issues, I've got this, that, and the other. And it's like the, the root of everything that, you [00:59:00] know has been coming to us in those emails, the 2030 emails, Jeremy, uh, relationship issues, you name it, whatever it is, um, and people wanting to change and needing to change. That change, I think is very, very hard to do unless you fundamentally get to grips with, you can't do it by yourself. You need the grace of God, which is what the walk in the way of the cross is all about. It's a place of surrender. It's a place of going, I cannot do this, God, I need you and I need your help. And. It's the root of it, isn't it? We, we put in the title is getting to the heart of the matter and it genuinely is fundamentally, without the grace of God, we cannot do this. I like what Matt put here, just reading through the comments. Um, I think if chopping off hands, engaging eyes out was widely, was a widely common practice in today's world, then I, for one would be out of eyes and hands within minutes. And Matt, I know what you mean. That's such a cool observation. I would [01:00:00] be, if, if this was a common practice, I would be out of hands and hands because for me, um, you know, definitely far removed from being perfect, but I can rely wholeheartedly and. Fully on the grace of God, the way of the cross, by looking at him and saying, you know what? All of this other stuff needs to happen. All of this other stuff needs to change. But foundationally without the root of the gospel, without the root of Jesus being down at the center of it and the cross being at the very heart of what's going on, at the very heart of going, I cannot do this. I can only do this, God, in your strength, you're fundamentally gonna have problems. And rarely do you see lasting change. And um, it's such a shame, really. Uh, but it, you know, it, it is what it is. And I, so I, I just want to sort of say a big thanks again to Dave because it was, it's just good to remind ourselves, isn't it, that fundamentally we can try and do all this stuff, but without the grace of God, we're not gonna get very far. And change is [01:01:00] very, very unlikely to happen, um, in people's lives. Certainly not. Not significant change. Um, and so, uh, you know, I, if you are one of these people that's sort of been thinking about Christianity, if you've been thinking, you know, what should I, I, I'd love to know more about it, but before I do that, I need to become a better person or I need to sort my life out in this area. Um, it's not true at all. You don't have to attain a level of perfection because. Whatever you think that level is, it won't be good enough. Let's just, let's just be frank, right? And you'll never get there. So you, you don't have to do that first. You come to him as you are and then he will work with you and he will bring his grace into your life. You don't have to try and deal with stuff. Don't wait. Um, until it's too late. Start today. Start now, uh, and let him work his grace in your life. Uh, Sharon's put here as the culture come around us becomes increasingly different to the way of Jesus following him, we'll [01:02:00] become more challenging and uncomfortable. Do you agree with that? Um, it's quite an interesting statement, isn't it? That actually, um, the culture around it is changing so much that actually being a Christian is, is not. It's not as straightforward as it used to be. Um, and you get judged and mocked and ridiculed and all kinds of things. Uh, if you hold that faith or belief, um, you do by, by a percentage of people. And you know what? God bless them. Um, God bless them. It's an interesting statement. Uh, Abby's put here. Thank you, Dave. No, thank you. Yeah. Appreciate that Dave. Thank you Abby, for your comments. Thank you for all your comments. Um, now let me just in the last few minutes, capture your attention whilst I'm doing this. Kids, remember, if you have done your coloring in sheets and you have a parent with you that can, what's WhatsApp? WhatsApp. Wheres a WhatsApp thing? WhatsApp. WhatsApp. Where's a WhatsApp thing? Sounds like a new wrap, [01:03:00] Josh. I think you should get on that, but I think there's something there. Uh, or maybe not. I don't know. Um, lemme pull this up onto the screen. So kids, make sure you WhatsApp me your, uh, your little heart things, which you've been working on throughout the service. Love to see them. We can put them on screen and show everybody. Now, uh, we are gonna be doing the between Sunday sessions. So we're gonna be looking at what Dave said and putting out a few pieces of content throughout the week. I would love to know, have you got any specific questions you'd like to cover in those videos? Um, you can put them in the Facebook comments or if you prefer to be anonymous, um, just with your questions, at least anonymous to everyone other than me. Send them to that WhatsApp number. Just WhatsApp me on there. I'm the only one that has access to it, by the way. Um, and probably Sharon. Uh, so, uh, you can, you don't have to worry about everybody else in it. If you message us directly on the WhatsApp, um, you can do that, which would be cool, uh, sending your questions. And the other thing I need your questions [01:04:00] for listen up is next week's talk. Now I am back next week. We are looking at. Get ready, singleness, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Oh yes, we have the relationship conversation coming up next week. So it is gonna be epic, um, because there is so much contained in these small verses. Uh, I was saying, uh, to Sharon the other day when I was, um, in my little wood shop, 'cause I've got a little wood shop in the basement of the house. I liked tinker in. Um, I was listening to a guy talk for three and a half. I did this three and a half hour video on divorce and remarriage and I just got absorbed into the whole thing about scripture and what it says and looking at it. And so we have got some great, I'm not gonna go on three and a half hours, don't panic. We'll stick to the 20, 25 minute kind of timeframe, but that is next week. So what I need from you, what are your biggest questions around singleness, marriage, divorce, and remarriage, those four things. Um, because [01:05:00] we wanna start to tackle these and Brett and sort of look at these head on, uh, and bring some biblical teaching. Some biblical perspective on the old thing. Uh, and, uh, we're gonna look into that. Um, we are gonna look at those four areas. Uh, we'll probably focus on one or two more than the other two, but that's okay. We'll get into it. Just send me your questions. We'd love to know them. Um, Abby's put here off. We're ready for next week then. Oh, yes, it's going to be fun. Uh, Matt Crew. Yay. Singleness. Yay. Okay, so we're gonna get into that next week. So do text me your messages to that number on the screen. Um, put those in the, uh, in the WhatsApp message. Um, I would love to know what they are. I will obviously not mention you on. As in, I won't say, oh, so and so sent me this message, uh, during the week, but it'll be just good to know what you're thinking, what your questions are, so we can hit some of the issues head on. Um, that would [01:06:00] be absolutely fan Abby Dozy, as they say. We would love it if you could do that. Now let me bring onto the screen picture number one that I've received. We move that there, which is awesome. I am loving the colors. I'm not gonna lie. These things do look amazing. And I have two of them, I think. Uh, or have you sent me the same one twice? I, I'll I'll show them both because you know, just in case I've missed something. But, um, let's put the other one on the screen as well. Let's move that on there. Spot the difference. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, there you go. Well done. Langston Kids, they are looking lovely. I'm loving all the different colors. It looks fantastic. I love things with lots of color like that. So good job. Well done. Uh, and uh, thank you for bringing those. So carry on with those, which is great, and carry on with your serving things, which we're going to, uh, [01:07:00] you know, carry on. Getting more hands. You can print off more sheets and do more hands things. Maybe convince your parents to give you something if you get a row full of hands. I don't know, maybe, you know, like a comb. Uh, okay, so, uh, what else have we put in the comments here? Uh, let's put, I'm gonna marry my beautiful wife and then remarry her 20 years later through renewal vows. Like you're thinking, like you're thinking there, man. Um, it looks like your hands are holding the pictures. Fantastic. Okay, so, uh, thank you everybody for your comments. I see we've got stuff coming in on WhatsApp, which is cool. So like I say, send me your questions both from today's talk and anything you would like me to cover next week, what your biggest questions are on singleness, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. As we get into that, uh, next week, in next week's topic, uh, I put in the comments earlier the zoom link. Um, [01:08:00] what's this sec sent me? Hang on, let me put this on, on the screen, uh, so I can see what it is. I've got another image here. Um, oh, there it is. So this is me holding both the images. Oh, I see what you mean. It looks like I'm holding both the images. Aha, very good. Okay, well captured. Loving that. It was almost like I'd planned it. I genuinely didn't, but it almost looks like I did. Um, so, uh, you need a comb, Edmundson? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. At least I've got hair to comb. I'm grateful for that. Right. 'cause it, it could be worse for me. So let me, uh, just refer you back to a, a quote, um, a link I put in the comments earlier with the zoom link. Uh, you can check the zoom link out there. If you would like to come and join us on Zoom for a time of conversation and Prayer, which Sharon [01:09:00] heads up. Um, that will be great. Great. So we are just gonna catch up and, um, just chat through a few things and pray. We're gonna do that in Zoom. You can hit the zoom link and find us on Zoom. It'll be great to see you there. Uh, and if you gimme just two seconds, in fact, let me recopy and re paste said link. You will now find that in the Facebook comments. Um, he says, hopefully yes, there it is. I've seen it. I can add it to the broadcast. There it is. Um, so, uh, do come and join us on Zoom. It'd be great to see you there. Otherwise, we will see you either at Alpha on Wednesday night. We will see you in the between Sunday YouTube channel. Check it out. Do come along and join and subscribe to YouTube and, uh, carry on conversing in Facebook. You've got the WhatsApp details now. I will see you next Sunday. Don't forget your questions. Who? I think that, oh, hang on. I've just got a message here. Martin, they were the same, the drawings were the same. He sent me the same drawing twice. I, I thought I was getting [01:10:00] mad for a little bit, but I didn't want to, you know, mess it up. They were the same. They were both Abigail's, Weldon, Abigail, good job. I'm not quite sure why your dad sent 'em to me twice. I think he was trying to trick me. Do you think that's what it was? I think that's what it was. I think that was intentional, uh, awesome stuff today. Thanks all. Thanks Matt. Thanks for your comments. Thanks for being with us. God bless you. Have a great week. Look forward to seeing you in Zoom or in alpha or in between Sundays or next Sunday. We've got it all going on. Alright, have a great week guys. Wherever you are, God bless you and we will be back again very, very soon. Uh, bye for now.