God not doing something the way you think He should? Mark 8:31-33
14 June 2020 · Sharon Edmundson
14 June 2020 · Sharon Edmundson
This week, Sharon carries on our journey into Mark's Gospel and looks at what happens when God doesn't act or respond as you think He should. What happens when He doesn't something different? What if you don't understand that?
01Talk notes
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.””
-- Mark 8 v 31-33
02Peter, go to the top of the class…oh wait…forget that
When Matt first asked me to speak on this passage, one of the first thoughts I had was, ‘Is there going to enough to say? It’s only three verses. What was I thinking? There is so much in this small section.
So last week we saw Peter in his moment of triumph correctly identifying Jesus as the Messiah. Top of the class for Peter. This week we see that Peter’s time at the top of the class was short-lived. It only took for him to open his mouth one more time and he’s moved back down. Well, not really. But have you ever had a time when you did really well in something and felt proud of yourself only to do really badly in something the next minute?
03The Son of man
'And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things’
Sometimes Jesus is referred to as the son of God meaning that he has always existed as the second person of the trinity. If you’re not familiar with the term trinity it’s a word that we use as Christians to refer to God who is one in being but three in person: the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. It’s quite a complex idea to get our head around but why should God be more simple than the complex world he has created? If you want to understand this more I really recommend that you watch Nabeel QurAyshi on YouTube explaining the trinity.
In this passage, Jesus doesn’t refer to himself as the son of God but as the son of Man referring to the fact that he is fully human too. But there is another level to this title. The book of Daniel in the Old Testament in the bible has a prophecy about a son of man in chapter 7, but this son of man wasn’t just human he was a divine person who would come in the future to put everything right.
So when Jesus says he’s the Son of Man he’s referring to the fact that he’s fully human but he’s also identifying Himself as this divine being mentioned in Daniel.
04The suffering servant - why Peter fails so badly here
This passage is the first of three times that Jesus in the book of Mark tells the disciples he will suffer and be killed. As we’ve seen Peter is really upset by this idea and rebukes Jesus. Jesus who also happens to be God. It’s never a good idea to tell God off. He’s the one who sets what is right and what is wrong.
But why was Peter so upset? Since he was a child Peter would have been taught the prophecies in the scripture that talked about a Messiah who would come to set up a kingdom and make everything right. At this point in time, the Romans were the occupying force in the nation and the Jews were desperate to be free of them. They were expecting a powerful Messiah who would come and overthrow the Romans. They weren’t expecting someone who was going to suffer and be killed.
When we’ve been brought up to think in a certain way it can be hard to change that thinking in an instant especially when there’s a lot of emotion attached like there was for Peter.
We’re going to watch a short clip now from our friend John speaking. He mentions someone called Lindsey in the clip. Just so you know, Lindsey is his wife.
Check out the YouTube Video link above and fast forward to about 24 minutes into the video.
After recording that video John messaged me to say that the lodger he spoke about is now his honorary daughter and she is his honorary dad as her own dad died a long time ago.
Just as there were prophecies about a Messiah there were also prophesies about a suffering servant such as in Isaiah 53 but until now no-one had realised that they were talking about the Messiah. No-one had connected the dots. I often feel like I’m not connecting the dots. Even in something simple like organising my diary. There have been a couple of occasions when I’ve been our doing something when I’ve had a call from Matt to say that someone I had arranged to meet had turned up at the house. I’m not sure I’d had done any better than Peter in this.
I wonder how often we miss what God is doing because we expect Him to answer our prayers in a certain way or act in a certain way. Sometimes it looks like God has forgotten us or doesn’t hear us. Everything looks like it’s unraveling and falling apart and yet God is at work. We can get so caught up in how we think things should go that we actually miss the bigger picture of what God is doing. We’ve got our mind on our own agenda and not God’s bigger agenda. We like things to go smoothly but we don’t like discomfort or suffering.
When I agreed to get involved with this church plant as part of our existing church, in my head I was going to be a small part of a big team and we would meet people face to face. I’m still waiting for the big team. Then a few months ago some of the main leadership team of our sending church had a sense that God was saying that the church as a whole should be more public. They shared the verses that say ‘you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden’. My thoughts on that were ‘no thanks’. I’m not a particular public person, I’m quite private. And then COVID happened and lockdown and here we are with everything online. The goal is still the same but it doesn’t lookout all how I was expecting it to or how I wanted it to. Matt on the other, hand as you can probably tell, is in his element.
Jesus' response to Peter was to rebuke Him back. But not really Peter. I think Satan was using Peter to tempt Jesus to compromise or go an easier route. To try to stop Him from doing the very thing he had come to do.
I think this is quite challenging. Do we live as people trying to get God to go along with our little plans or do we live as people who ask ‘God, what are you doing and how do you want me to join in with that?’ When we’re thinking about moving to a new city for a higher paying job are we looking to the benefits for ourselves or are we asking, ‘Lord, is this what you want me to do?’. When we’re choosing someone to marry are we asking God’s opinion or do we just want him to rubber-stamp our plans.
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
-- Mark 8:31
How can the poor be blessed if blessing is about stuff?
Blessing has to be about much more than just stuff. Peter, who was having this conversation with Jesus on the road, would later go on to write…
“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.””
-- 1 Peter 3:14
05What’s the problem?
Jesus didn’t just say these things WOULD happen he said MUST happen. But why must they happen? Why must Jesus die on the cross?
Peter wanted Jesus to sort out the problem out there with the world, but Jesus saw a bigger problem, The problem in here in each person’s heart. The problems out there begins in here.
On social media and in the news we see a lot of condemnation about racism and sexism and so on and rightly so. We should stand up for what is right and for justice. But I think there is sometimes another element going on under the surface. If someone says or does something that goes against society’s current moral code, everyone associated with that person is quick to condemn their actions so that everyone knows that they are not one of those bad people too. We don’t want to be tainted by the wrongdoing and the shame of someone else. We want people to know that we are ok. We are one of the good guys. It’s us, good people, against those bad people. Some people know that they miss the mark but for most of us, we like to focus on our good points.
In 2017 the BBC News website had an article about a guy called Eddie Maher. In 1993 Eddie had stolen £1.2 million pounds and then fled to the USA. He had sent his partner, Debbie on holiday to Boston a few weeks earlier with their toddler, Lee.
He only explained to her they were on the run when he met up with her again in the America. They changed their names to Stephen and Sarah and they had another son. When their first son Lee was a teenager he started getting into trouble. Eventually, he got married and when he was drunk he confessed to his wife that he thought his dad might be a fugitive. They later split up and she did some digging into the family and tipped off the police and then the whole story began to come out. What I found fascinating about the story was this. Eddie is quoted as saying, ‘My sons had a good upbringing. I taught them to be law-abiding citizens. But when Lee got to the age of being headstrong and stupid that put pressure on us. He was a problem and in the end, that's the problem that brought everything to a head.”
‘My sons had a good upbringing. I taught them to be law abiding citizens’. Do you know what, there could have been loads of things about their upbringing that was fantastic but there were a few little things that weren’t…. like their parents not being who they said they were and being on the run from the police to name just two.
The problem is out there….
It’s an extreme example but I think we can all be a bit like that. We can see the problem as being out there and not in here.
We can deny the evil in our own hearts because to admit to it would be to risk rejection, condemnation and shame. If we look at the best part of ourselves we can think we’re ok. If we take the worst parts of other people and compare them with the best parts of ourselves we come out ok. We can do really well in one area but do really badly in another. We’re created in God’s image so we’re all capable of great and wonderful things.
But if the standard is God then that is a different matter. God’s standard is perfect and He is more Holy than we can imagine. The bible says that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’. It’s not us and them, its’ just US.
Sin breaks relationships. Firstly it breaks our relationship with God but also with other people.
I remember when our oldest child Josh, who is now 18, was small and he’d done something he shouldn’t have done and he knew he shouldn’t have done it. I can’t remember what it was now. What I do remember is that he couldn’t look me in the eye. His wrongdoing affected our relationship. And our wrong doing affects our relationship with God.
Sin wrecks our relationship with God. We become separate from Him. When are spirit is disconnected from our body our body dies. When our spirit is disconnected from God our spirit dies. We are spiritually dead.
The heart of our problem is that we are spiritually dead. Our relationship with God, the source of all life and love is broken.
Sin is more serious than we think and God is more Holy than we imagine. Because God is so Holy even the smallest sin can break our relationship with Him
06Why can’t God just let us off?
So why can’t God just let us off? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, if he just let us off there would be no justice. We all have a deep sense of when there is an injustice against ourselves.
Even small children can sense this. The son of a friend of mine came out of school one day really upset. This was in those distant days when all the children went to school. He was upset because he and his mates had been playing and they had said some stuff and a teacher overhead them. What they had said sounded really bad but actually it was all said very innocently and without any malice. And the fact that they were wrongly accused and got into trouble was deeply upsetting. There was a real sense of injustice.
Again, I think we want justice because we’re made in God’s image and He’s a just God.
Secondly, there’s always a cost to forgiveness. When we do something wrong there is always a cost that someone has to pay? A few years ago there used to be a lot of car crime down our street. There have been all sorts from car tyres getting slashed to windows broken, cars getting keyed or stolen. When our car window was smashed someone had to pay for that to be fixed. As it turned out that person was us because the person who had done it was nowhere to be seen. Or if someone gossips about you and spreads something that’s not true, even if they come to you and say they’re sorry and you forgive them there is a cost to that. Your reputation can still be affected.
07The dilemma and the answer
How can God be any less than perfect in justice but also perfect in love and mercy at the same time? The answer is through Jesus dying on the cross.
When we sinned he didn’t distance himself from us - he came to us and died the death we should have died and took our shame and condemnation on Himself so that God could show mercy and love to us, not so that we can go on living our own way but so that we could have that relationship restored and be transformed. That transformation is both instant and takes time. It’s instant in that when we repent of our sins and give our lives over to God our relationship with Him is instantly restored. It takes time in that once our relationship is restored it takes time getting to know God and his ways and letting Him transform us from inside out. How effective that depends on how much we allow him to do that.
It’s through Jesus that we can fully face up to our sin and bring it out into the light without the seriousness of it being diminished or brushed of, but also without fear of being condemned, shamed, or rejected. Jesus says to each of us, ‘your sin is bad enough that I must die to pay for it’ whilst at the same time saying you are loved enough that I don’t want you to live in shame and condemnation. This is real love where we can be totally honest about who we are (including all the bad bits) without fear of rejection.
The verse in Romans that says we have all sinned carries on like this: and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Jesus took our place.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Tim Keller about the gospel, or good news of Jesus. He says:
The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
— Tim Keller
Topics in this talk
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God not doing something the way you think He should_ Mark 8_31-33 Worship: [00:00:00] You call me out upon the great unknown and they. My faith will stand and.[00:01:00] [00:02:00] And.[00:03:00] You call me. In the.[00:04:00] And and my eyes above[00:05:00] when. Matt: Well, good day, good evening, and good morning after. I've just, um, I was listening to that on the computer as well as on my phone, so I had it coming outta multiple ears. Wasn't that fantastic. Now, for those of you who don't know, the video we were playing there in the countdown time. It was actually, uh, done by the Frontline youth band and it was all put together by [00:06:00] the amazing Mr. Daniel Pryor, which is absolutely fantastic. And, uh, what a fantastic job that they did. Those guys were amazing. And we will be coming back to that song, uh, in just a little bit, uh, as we're gonna mix things up a little bit later, which is fantastic. So who have we got on here? Hey, Abby. How you doing? Yes, we, uh, love that video too, which is just, it's such a fantastic video, isn't it? It's amazing. So good to have you. Good that you are here. Matt, what have you put here? Yes. For anyone who doesn't know the song on the Countdown is today's very own Frontline youth band with their own version of oceans. That is correct. Uh, uh, thank you Matt. Um, and it was, uh, it was, it was brilliant and awesome and Zach was in it, uh, as well as a few others. Elias was in there as well, so you may recognize some of the faces. Now, Martin is saying I'm quite quiet, not quite sure why. [00:07:00] Can hear us though, uh, we're getting the text messages through. We're about 15 seconds, uh, behind the rest, uh, of the world. In other words, I'm about 15 seconds in front of you, so when you text me. Uh, Martin, it was for about 15 seconds ago. So, uh, what else have we got going on in here? So, Sharon's here. Welcome. Now, if this is, uh, if you're new to Frontline City, welcome. Frontline City is a church based here in Liverpool. We are live streaming from, uh, well, from my shed really, uh, just because that's the world in which we live right now. And, um, Matt's uh, I'm reading the comments as they're coming up. So do comment in the Facebook comments. If you're joining us through Facebook Live, do uh, put stuff in the comments. It'd be great to see what you've put in there. Um, we love the comments. We do respond to them. Uh, and so Sharon's on here. She says hi to everyone. I think I've added that. Matt says, [00:08:00] have you had a trim? No. Oh, I've got my sunglasses on. That's, yeah, there you go. It's my hair band. My man, hairband. There we go. How's, oh, goodness me, Mona. Hey, how you doing? It's good to see you. Good that you are here. So good to see this, the youth doing that. Some familiar faces, a winky face. Absolutely. There are definitely some familiar faces in that video. It's all I'm saying. It's all I'm saying. Uh, but it's great that, um, you're all joining us, Martin. Are we back up to normal now? Uh, and Sharon's just responded to Matt. Yep. Absolutely. Thanks babe. You see the, the glasses there? Uh, I, it was, it was a secret. Matt, you, you weren't supposed to mention it. I was kind of hoping I'd get away with that, but apparently no. No, I'm not going to. So there we go. So for, like I say, Frontline city is a church service. We are a church based here in Liverpool, England, and you are more than welcome in the service [00:09:00] today. It's great to have so many of you joining us from around the world. Uh, still a touch choir according to Mr. Langston. Um, see if I can, uh, increase said levels. We'll try that and see how we get on. Um, but it's great that you are here. Great to have you. Um, I wonder actually if I just change, there we go. Let's turn that up just a little bit more and I think, well, it's definitely louder in my ears, Martin, so I'm hoping it's gonna be louder in yours too. But, uh, I think that solved the problem. Wow. Lemme just turn that right down. Uh, I can hear you. Okay, Matt. Are you okay? That's cool. Uh, I assume you mean me there, Abby. Um, but I'm, I hope you can hear Matt as well. Um, so, uh, I'm just going down the comments on my [00:10:00] phone just to make sure I've not missed anything. Welcome. Lemme start again. It's Frontline city. It's Sunday afternoon. It is church service. Uh, so lemme just say that Matt Edmo here. Autos to Matt Crew. That's, that's quite a compliment for me. Uh, Matt, I'm sorry about that. That you are gonna get confused with me. But, you know, hey, host such as life, uh, it's great to see you. Great that you are here. We are, like I say, broadcasting live from Liverpool, England, uh, from my shed. We are doing church online and you're more than welcome to join us. And if, if this is your first time with us, then please do join in as much or as little as you like. Join in the comments. You'd be more than welcome to do that. Say hi, uh, let us know who you are. Um. At the end of the Facebook live stream, this is kind of like first one or part one of the church service, right? So this is kind of part one. Uh, part two will be held [00:11:00] over on Zoom. So we're gonna do the live stream bit first, and then we will move over to Zoom, uh, where we will do the Zoomy bits. Um, and we'll just catch up and have a conversation. I know some of you have messaged, messaged us already and say that you can't say that you can't join us, which is it's fair play. Um, but it'd be great if you could come join us, uh, in the Zoom and have a chat and a conversation afterwards. It'd be great to see you there. So that's what we're gonna do afterwards. In part one though, this is the live stream. This is on Facebook. Uh, and feel free to comment, write stuff in the comments. It's great to see you. It's great that you are here. Uh, and we love the fact that we can just. Talk to you. Well, directly down the camera, can't we? Which is amazing. Using fascinating technology. Uh, so yes, brilliant. Now for those of you who don't know, uh, or you maybe know Frontline City, which is what this service is currently called, and I use the word currently because I just wanna give you a little, a little heads up. We may be changing the name from Frontline City to something else and we're not entirely sure what yet. So please write your name, [00:12:00] uh, suggestions in the comments below. Um, and the reason we might, I'm not saying we will, we might be with Chuck, we're having a conversation about it just so it makes a bit more sense. 'cause Frontline City doesn't really make a whole great deal of sense and we get that, especially with online church service. So, uh, have any thoughts, suggestions? By all means put 'em in the comment. Matt, I know you are gonna have some, so, you know, go for it. Um. But currently Frontline city, as it is called, is a part of Frontline Church here in Waver Tree Liverpool. Uh, and we are a church plant coming outta Frontline, uh, trying to just, you know, work along the rest of the church to build God's kingdom here in Liverpool because why would you not want to, right? Uh, it's amazing to be able to do that. Real privilege, real honor. Uh, my name is Matt Edmundson and I headed up, uh, with my beautiful wife, Sharon, who you'll get to hear from in just a few short minutes, as Sharon is gonna be sharing God's word with you today. Uh, Frontline world.[00:13:00] No, uh, try harder, Matt. That's, uh, come on you. I know you've got something really. We just need to let it out. Just bring it out. Um, and so, uh, I totally lost my train of thought there, but nevermind. Uh, so yeah, Sharon's gonna be sharing God's word with us in, in just a little minute, which is fantastic. She's gonna be carrying on our conversations in Mark's gospel, which I'm super, super excited about. And in fact, if I'm honest with you, because Sharon has prerecorded said teaching, I've already heard it, and so I know it's gonna be good. So you're definitely gonna wanna stick around for that Frontline Cory House in chat. We're getting better. We are getting better. I'm not sure how we do the Courier House thing online though, just saying, uh, hashtag the same, but, you know, come on. Let's, let's keep going. Dig deep people. Anybody else got any suggestions? Other than that? Uh, I'd love to hear them. It'd be great to hear your thoughts and suggestions on it. Right. So, uh, just to give you some notices, a bit of a heads up this week, we have a [00:14:00] penultimate alpha on Friday night. The talk on Friday night, uh, in this coming alpha is, does God heal today? Which is, well, it's what we call a meaty topic. Uh, and so I am really looking forward to this one. So if you're part of Alpha welcome, uh, and do come along Friday night to find out all about God's healing power and whether or not God still heals today. Like, you know, we read all these stories in the gospels about Jesus healing. Uh, and so, you know, come along, join us. No, no, obviously just saying hashtag, just saying there are no barbers here. Although I did cut Zach's hair. I just wanna point that out. And it's not, it's not great, but it's not bad. We're okay. Um, he's still talking to me. Uh, so maybe Frontline barbers. Maybe Frontline barbers, shop barbershop, string quartet, I dunno. Uh, barbershop Quartet. [00:15:00] Uh, no, let's not do that either. So, uh, yes, Friday is alpha. Um, loving these mats. Ha ha ha. Yeah. Come on, Abby. Where's where, where, give us your own versions. We'd love to hear them. It'd be great. Uh, so Friday is, uh, is alpha and Sunday is in fact the gorgeous Miss Abby Sharples is gonna be carrying on the study in Mark's gospel. So you'll hear from Abby next week. Very exciting. Uh, it's gonna be Abby's first time sharing with us on the live stream. I mean, Abby's done bits, and Bobs actually in videos, so it won't be the first time, but it'll be the first time where she's just totally going for it. Uh, with the, the, the passage in Mark, and again, just giving you a little bit of insider knowledge, I've, I've read the notes, I know the passages that are coming up. So, you know, it's gonna be good. So again, put it in your diary. Uh, you will not want to miss, uh, the beautiful Miss Abby Sharp's next week. So [00:16:00] that is what's coming up. And then the week after that, if we're going way into the future, it's one of the langstons. Um, and maybe Mr. Langston, you can tell me which one it's gonna be at some point, because it'd be good to know that, but it's gonna be one of the langstons carrying us on in Mark's gospel, which is great. So I hope you're enjoying this series in Mark's gospel. We are literally just going through the entirety of Mark's gospel. It started, um, just in one of the community nights. Uh, we used to do commun, well, we still do community, but it's now online on a Wednesday night, and we just got our Bibles out and we started going through Mark's Gospel. Literally every week. We would just go from one passage to the next. And when we started doing the live streams, we thought, you know what? We should just bring this online because it's just such good fun to go into so much detail into one of the gospels. And we're in no hurry. We have no fixed agenda. That's okay. We're just enjoying what we're doing and we are just literally taking the scriptures. As they come to us, uh, and we divvy them up amongst the guys doing the teaching, which is great. Um, [00:17:00] and we're just loving it. So I hope you're getting a lot out of it because it is some good, good stuff. Let me tell you, um, I can't actually put this in the comments because my wife's just texted me. Uh, she didn't write the message on Facebook. She just sent me a text saying, do not forget to read the passage, because I have the duty to read the passage before Sharon speaks because she doesn't read the passage in the video that I'm gonna play for you. Uh, and so I, I must remember to say it, which is fine. And I did say to Sharon earlier, don't you know, do remind me to do that? Um, so thank you, babe. Message received and understood. I will bring that passage on. Um, oh, here we go. Matt's on another one. Front lounges. That's your best one yet. I'm not gonna lie. That's your best one yet. I'm, I'm enjoying that one. Keep going. Keep bringing them up. Keep putting them in the comments and we'll add them through the broadcast as we go Now. As always, uh, do comment, uh, on the, on the teaching, [00:18:00] on the notes, anything you've, you like, you know, if someone says something, which is great, if you hear something from God, which is great, anything you wanna share, whack it in the comments because it would be great to hear from you. Um, just say, put it in there and share it and bless everybody. You know, it's, it's good to sort of put these things in. We, we do the comment thing really well, I think in Citi. So it'd be great to see you do that. Um. And yeah, enjoy it as they say. Now let me bring up my, uh, notes from one screen to the other. So for the past two Sundays, I have looked at, uh, mark chapter eight, and a conversation that happened right between Peter and Jesus. Now, in these verses, Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I, uh, they say that I am. And more importantly, who do you say that I am? And we looked at what it means to be blessed last week, if you remember that, and how it is not really about having stuff. Uh, and the passage [00:19:00] ends with Peter, one of the disciples, correctly identifying Jesus as the Christ. That is the chosen one. He's the anointed one. Come to set us free. All this amazing stuff. We looked at the word Christ, went into that in a shed load of detail, which was fantastic. And so this Christ has been prophesied about and waited for for years and years and years, right? So that was last week. And this week is literally carrying on. This week we are gonna look at the next section of the book, which is Mark chapter eight, verses 31 to 33. And this is what it says. Now my wife will be pleased, I've remembered to do this. Now let me bring up said scripture, uh, and you can all read it along with me. And he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again, he spoke this word openly. And then Peter took him aside and began to [00:20:00] rebuke him. Uh, but when he turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Jesus, rebuked Peter, saying, get behind me. Satan, uh, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. So that is today's scripture. Now, without any further ado, let me bring in my amazingly beautiful wife, uh, and let's see, what should I say? We're using the magic of television. We are literally gonna switch places in the blink of a night. You'll be amazed at how quickly this is gonna work. Watch. Sharon: Hi. When Matt first asked me to speak on this passage, one of the first thoughts I had was, is there gonna be enough to say it's only three verses? What was I thinking? There is so much in this small section. So last week we saw Peter and his moment of triumph correctly identifying Jesus as the Messiah. Top of the class for Peter this week. We see that Peter's [00:21:00] time at the top of the class was short-lived. It only took for him to, is open his mouth one more time and he's moved back down. Well, not really, but have you ever had a time when you did really well in something and felt really proud of yourself? Only to do really badly in something. The next minute before we get into that more, let's go back to the first part of verse 31, which says, and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things. Sometimes Jesus is referred to as the Son of God, meaning that he's always existed as the second person of the Trinity. If you're not familiar with the term Trinity, it's a word we use as Christians to refer to God, who is one in being, but three in person, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's quite a complex idea to get our head around. But why should God be more simple than the complex world he's created? [00:22:00] If you under, if you want to understand this more, I really recommend you watching Nabil re sheet on YouTube explaining the Trinity. I'll put the link up for you. Hopefully. Yeah. In this passage, Jesus doesn't refer to himself as the Son of God, but as the son of man referring to the fact that he's fully human too. But there's another level to this, um, to this title. The book of Daniel in the Old Testament in the Bible has a prophecy about a son of man in chapter seven. But this son of man wasn't just human. He was a divine person who would come in the future to put everything right. So when Jesus says he's the son of man, he's referring to the fact he's fully human, but he's also identifying himself as the this divine being mentioned in Daniel. This passage is the first of three times that Jesus in the Book of Mark, tells the disciples he will suffer and be killed.[00:23:00] As we've seen, Peter is really upset by this idea and rebukes Jesus, Jesus, who also happens to be God is never a good idea to tell God off. He's the one who sets what's right and wrong. But why was Peter so upset? Well, since he was a child, Peter would've been taught in the prophecies in the scripture, uh, or he would've been taught that the Messiah, uh, would come to set up a kingdom and make everything right. And at this point in time, the Romans were the occupying force, um, in the nation, and the Jews were desperate to be free of them. They were expecting a powerful Messiah who would come and overthrow the Romans. They weren't expecting someone who was going to suffer and be killed. When we've been brought up to think in a certain way, it can be hard to change that thinking in an instant, especially when there's a lot of emotion attached like there was for Peter. Um,[00:24:00] we're gonna watch a short clip now of our friend John speaking. He mentioned someone called Lindsay in the clip. Just so you know, Lindsay is his wife. Let's get this clip up. Video: Hello. Sharon asked me to share something about changing our views, changing our thinking, changing our preconceptions. And this relates to someone that I met two years ago. But before that, the background is that I was brought up by an Israeli Jewish mother in England, and so I grew up. For lots of historic reasons with a bias against Arabs. And when I became a Christian, a believer, I knew that that was wrong and I dealt with it as much as I could and repented and understood, of course, that God loves everyone equally, everyone's of equal value. Um, but it still hadn't worked out in actuality. Now, interestingly, two years ago, [00:25:00] Lindsay and I were in Jerusalem, uh, doing some talks and meetings, and a young Palestinian Arab lady, Christian, Palestinian Arab lady came to this meeting to hear what we had to say. And uh, the next day she said, come to Bethle. And we went to her house, had a meal, and got to know her. In the end, to cut a long story short, she came to live with us for six months last year, the first half of last year. And it was just an amazing time where, you know, the final bits of my. Perhaps, I dunno, emotional feelings and her preconceptions about Jews. The Lord just broke down and um, did something new. And it reminds me of just looking down the scripture of, um, Ephesians two 14 for he himself is our peace who has made both. One has broken down the middle wall and made the one new man. And, uh, I just thank the Lord [00:26:00] that he did that. Amen. Sharon: I love that. After recording that message, John messaged me to say that the lodger who spoke about is now his honorary daughter and she is, uh, and he is her honorary dad as her own dad died a long time ago. Back to the passage, just as there were prophecies about a Messiah, there were also prophecies about a suffering servant, such as in Isaiah 53. But until now, no one had realized that they were talking about the Messiah. No one had connected the dots. I often feel like I'm not connecting the dots, even in something simple like organizing my diary. There have been a couple of occasions when I've been out doing something, when I've had a call from Matt to say, someone I'd arranged to meet had turned up at the house. I'm not sure I'd have done it any better than Peter in this. But I often wonder, um, or I, how often we miss what God is doing because [00:27:00] we expect him to answer our prayers in a certain way or act in a certain way. Sometimes, um, it looks like God has maybe forgotten us or doesn't hear us. Everything looks like it's unraveling or falling apart, and yet God is at work. We can get so caught up in how we think things should go, that we can actually miss the bigger picture of what God's doing. We've got our, um, our mind on our own agenda and not God's bigger agenda. We like things to go smoothly, but we don't like discomfort or suffering. When I agreed to get involved in this church plant as part of our existing church, in my head I was gonna be this small part of a big team. We'd meet people face to face while I'm still waiting for the big team. And then a few months ago, some of the main leadership, um, of our sending church had this sense that God was saying that as a, the church as a whole should be more public. They shared the verses that say, you are the light of the world. A [00:28:00] town built on a hill cannot be hidden. My thoughts on that were. No thanks. I'm not a particularly public person. I'm quite private. Um, and then also COVID happened and lockdown, and here we are with everything online. The goal is still the same, but it doesn't look at all how I was expecting it to or how I wanted it to. Matt, on the other hand, as you can probably tell, is in his element. So Jesus' response to Peter was to rebuke him, but not really Peter. I think Satan was using Peter to attempt Jesus to compromise or to go an easier route to try to stop him from doing the very thing he'd come to do. I think this is quite challenging. Do we live as people trying to get God to go along with our little plans, or do we live as people who ask God, what are you doing and how do you want me to join in with that? When we're thinking about moving to a new city for a high [00:29:00] paying job? Are we looking to the benefit for ourselves or we ask, or are we asking, Lord, is that what you want you, is that what you want me to do? Uh, or when we're choosing somebody to marry, are we asking God's opinion or do we just want him to rubber stamp our plans? Well, back to thi verse 31. Let's see. Um, and he began to teach them that the son of mam must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Now, Jesus didn't just say these things would happen. He said they must happen, but why must they happen? Why must Jesus die on the cross? Peter wanted Jesus to sort out the problem out there. With the world, but Jesus saw a bigger problem. The problem in here, in each person's heart, the [00:30:00] problem out there begins in here on social media and in the news. We see a lot of condemnation about racism and sexism and so on, and rightly so. We should stand up for what is right and for justice. But I think there's sometimes another element going on under the surface. If someone says or does something that goes against society's current cor um, moral code, everyone associated with that person is quick to condemn their actions so that everyone knows that they are not one of those bad people too. We don't want to be tainted by the wrongdoing and the shame of someone else. We want people to know we are okay. We are one of the good guys. It's us good people against those bad people. Some people know they miss the mark, but for most of us, we like to focus on our good points. In 2017, the BBC news website had an article about a, um, a guy called Eddie Meha, [00:31:00] mea, I think that's how you pronounce it. In 1993, Eddie had stolen 1.2 million pounds and then fled to the USA. He'd sent his partner Debbie on a holiday to Boston a few weeks earlier with their toddler Lee, and he only explained to her that they were on the rum after they met up again, um, in America, they changed their names to Steven and Sarah, and they had another son when their first son, Lee was a teenager. He started getting into trouble. Eventually he got married and when he was drunk, he confessed to his wife that he thought his dad might be a fugitive. Lee and his wife split up and she did some digging into the family and tipped off the police, and then the whole story began to come out. But what I found fascinating about this story was this, Eddie is quoted as saying, my sons had a good upbringing. I taught them to be law abiding [00:32:00] citizens. But when Lee got to the age of being headstrong and stupid, that put pressure on us, he was a problem. And in the end, that's the problem that brought everything to a head. He said, my sons had a good upbringing. I taught them to be law abiding citizens. Do you know what? There could have been loads of things that was, that were really good about their upbringing. That, and it could have been fantastic, but there were a few little things that weren't quite, um, as good, like their parents not being who they said they were, and being on the run from the police to name just two. The problem is out there. Now, this is an extreme example, but I think we can all be a bit like that. We can see the problem as being out there and not in here. We can deny the evil that is in our own hearts because to admit to it would be to risk rejection, condemnation, and shame. If we look at the best part of ourselves, we [00:33:00] can think we're okay. If we take the worst parts of other people and compare them with the best parts of ourselves, we can come out, okay. We can do really well in one area and really badly in another. You know, we're created in God's image, so we're all capable of great and wonderful things, but if the standard is God, then that is a different matter. God's standard is perfect and he's more holy than we can imagine. The Bible says that all have sinned and full short of the glory of God. It's not us and them, it's just us. Sin breaks relationships. Firstly, it breaks our relationship with God, but also with other people. I remember when our oldest, uh, child, Josh, who's now 18, was small and, uh, he had done something wrong. He knew that he shouldn't have done it. Um, I can't remember what it was now, but what I do remember [00:34:00] is that he couldn't look me in the eye. His wrongdoing affected our relationship, and wrongdoing affects our relationship with God. Sin wrecks our relationship with God. We become separate, separate from him. When our spirit is disconnected from our body, our body dies. And when our spirit is disconnected from God, our spirit dies. We are spiritually dead. The heart of our problem is that we're spiritually dead. Our relationship with God, the source of all life and love is broken. Sin is more serious that we can think and God is more holy than we imagine. Because God is so holy. Even the smallest sin can break our relationship with him. So why can't God just let us off? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, if you just let us off, there'd be no justice. [00:35:00] We all have this deep sense of when there's injustice against ourselves, even small children can sense this. The son of a friend of mine came out of school one day really upset. This was in those distant days when all children went to school. He was upset because him and his mates had been playing and they'd said some stuff and a teacher overheard them. What they'd said had sounded really bad, but it was actually all said really innocently and without any malice. The fact they were wrongly accused and got into trouble was deeply upsetting. There was this real sense of injustice. Again, I think we want justice because we're made in God's image and he's a just God. Secondly, there's always a cost of forgiveness. When we do something wrong, there's always a cost that has to be paid by someone. Now, a few years ago, there used to be a lot of car crime down our street. There's been all sorts from car ties getting slashed to windows, broken cars getting keyed or stolen. [00:36:00] When our car window was smashed, someone had to pay for that be fixed. As it turned out, that person was us because the person who'd actually, um, done it was nowhere to be seen. Or if someone gossips about you and spread something that's not true, even if they come to you and say they're sorry and you forgive them, there's a cost to that. Your reputation can still be affected. How can God be any less perfect in justice? But also perfect in love and mercy at the same time. The answer is through Jesus dying on the cross. When we sinned, he didn't distance himself from us. He came to us and died the death we should have died and took our shame and condemnation on himself so that God could show mercy and love to us, not so we can go on living our own way, but so we can have that [00:37:00] relationship restored and be transformed. So that transformation is in both instant and it takes time. It's instant in that when we repent of our sins, that means turn away from our, our wrongdoing, um, and give our lives over to God. Our relationship with him is instantly restored. It takes time in that once our relationship is restored. It takes time to get to know God and his ways, and letting him transform us from inside out. How effective that is, depends on how much we allow him to do that. It's through Jesus that we can fully face up to our sin and bring it out into the light without the seriousness of it being diminished or brushed off, but also without the fear of being condemned, shamed, and rejected. Jesus says to us, your sin is bad enough that I must die to pay for it, whilst at the same time saying, you are loved [00:38:00] enough that I don't want you to live in shame and condemnation. This is real love where we can be totally honest about who we are, including all the bad bits without fear of rejection. The verse in Romans, um, says, we have all, oh, the verse in Romans that says, we've all sinned. Carries on like this. And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Jesus took our place. I'll leave you with this quote from Tim Keller. Um, it's about the gospel or the good news of Jesus. He says, the gospel is this. We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dare believe. Yet at the very same time, we're more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ and we ever dared hope.[00:39:00] Matt: Wow. There we go. Fantastic. Welcome babe. Loved it. Loved it, loved it. Thought she was great. What about you? Give Sharon a thumbs up. Uh, I know she was nervous about doing that, and, uh, bless her. I've just posted a Facebook, uh, Facebook, a photo on Facebook showing what my view is. Uh, when we do a typical live, you, you know, with the, all the tech and all the equipment that's going on. And, um, Sharon today was fab because not only did she need to record that talk in front of a video camera, uh, which is not always the easiest thing to do, but she had to do it in such a way that the slide, you know, the scriptures came upon the screen. John's video kind of played at the right time and all that sort of stuff. And, uh, she kind of was trying to do all that and keep a track of her notes on the screen and look at the camera. There's a lot going on. A lot happens behind the scenes. [00:40:00] Uh, and so babe, I thought you did remarkably well. Uh, and so, uh, good, good on you and I hope you got a lot outta that. And so well done for all of your comments. That's fantastic. So as always, we are gonna do questions which are here. And these are the four questions this morning. Number one, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to smack the microphone there. Number one, are you a Christ follower? And so, you know, Sharon talked about this, didn't she? About how, um, there's a, a cost to forgiveness and how actually, uh, we're always, as people, we look to blame everybody else. And we, we always look out there, we never look inwards at our own, our own shortcomings, our own mistakes. There's a great quote, which I've often said, uh, and I dunno who said it, but it's a really great quote. And that is, we judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge others by their actions. In other words, we don't judge other people the same way we judge ourselves. And, um. And [00:41:00] I think we need to. And do you know what, uh, that passage that, let me bring that Bible passage back up. See if I can do that. There you go. He began to, and look there at the end when he turned around to his disciples and he says, get behind me. You are not mindful of the things of God, but you need to be, you are mindful of the things of man. And there comes a point, I think, where each of us has to go, you know, what, what am I being mindful of the things of God? All the things of man, uh, am I, uh, more concerned about me or am I more concerned about God? And, um, I thought that was a really great, great quote. Uh, I'm just looking through the comments for it here. Uh, here we go. I'm gonna add it back to the broadcast. Are we asking God's opinion or are we asking him to rubber stamp our own plans? So, so good. And so back to my questions. Are you a Christ follower? Have you come to that place where you have gone? You know what, uh. God, not my will, but your will be done. Uh, and we talked about this in the previous [00:42:00] two weeks as well, about how being a Christian is becoming a servant of Christ, a follower of Christ, someone who devotes their life to somebody other than themselves. And Abby has got a lot more to say about that. Next week is gonna be great. So do come and join in that. Um, if you are not a Christ follower, but you would like to give your life to Christ, well, it's as simple as literally just going, you know what, God, not my will, but your will be done. If you can have, if you can do anything with my life, you're welcome to it. Uh, please take it and do with it what you will. Uh, and just praying in that Prayer in your own heart. It's as simple as that, uh, in some respects. But it's complicated 'cause it's gonna demand everything from you, uh, every day going forward. So if you are not yet a Christ feller, I would encourage you, with my whole heart to obviously give your life to him, to put your hand in the air and say. Have at it, God, uh, and teach me, uh, you know, which ways I need to go and get all this sorted out and write. The second question, are you expecting God to [00:43:00] act in a certain way? Love this. Uh, so Peter is like rebuking Jesus. I mean, like Sharon said, you don't tell God off. You just don't. I mean, that's just nuts. I mean, it's beyond nuts, isn't it? Uh, so I thought that was quite fascinating. You know, are you expecting God to act in a certain way like Peter was now? Now, this is not how I expect the Christ to act. You need to what? You, what, what do you mean you need to suffer and die? What's all that about? No, no, no. You're the king. You are God. You don't do suffering. You don't do dying. You do ruling and reigning. Uh, and we just, let's go down that road, shall we? Uh, and so, and this is where Jesus said, yeah, you're thinking about this from, you know, from man's point of view rather than from God's point of view. And God had a very different plan and I'm so very thankful that he did, uh, because my life took a major change as a. Question number three. Have you been disappointed when God hasn't come, uh, hasn't done what you thought he should? You know what, I, I like that question because I, I wonder what [00:44:00] Peter thought here, you know, as Jesus is going get behind me. Satan, just kinda wondering how Peter's feeling at this point in his life going, eh, I, hang on a minute. I was blessed a minute ago last week. I was blessed 'cause I figured out you were the Christ. God had revealed that to me. And now you're calling, you are saying that Satan needs to get behind you. Whilst I was talking in me, what's that all about? I don't understand. And I just wonder how he felt because God was not responding or reacting in a way that he thought was appropriate to the situation. And actually, Peter, you know, had these misconceptions and God didn't. Wasn't gonna do it in a way that he thought. And Peter has to deal with that. Uh, and you know, in the, in the coming stories, we'll, we'll see how he does deal with that. But what about us? You know, has there ever been a time in your life where you thought, you know what, God, I need you to do. Dot, dot. Um, you are, God, you can act in such a way, dot, dot do. And for whatever reason, God has not kind of acted in that way. And we've either got really angry at God or we've got bitter at God. Or [00:45:00] sometimes we just kind of, we just kind of get shamed about it. You know, it's kind of, and we maybe keep silent 'cause we kind of feel like God can't cope or wouldn't deal well with our anger, or we wouldn't deal well with our anger. Do you know what I mean? There's sort of different ways to react into that, isn't there? And I, I just thought, I wonder if, I wonder if. The Holy Spirit's sort of pushing a few buttons, don't they? Uh, question number four, is there an area where your heart needs to change? So you think about someone like John Greaves, um, and, uh, born and brought up by, uh, an Israeli Jew and the feelings he had towards the Palestinian lady and the Palestinian lady towards, uh, the Israeli Jew and how they both needed Jesus to intervene, to change the view for each other. How apt is that in the current moment? Um, and I thought that was a fantastic story, but what about you? Is there an area where something needs to change in your own heart? Maybe towards people, maybe not. Maybe it's towards God, maybe not. I dunno, uh, is the Holy Spirit pointing on anything? So, [00:46:00] as always, I would love for you to respond to this in the comments. And whilst you are thinking about it and praying about it, we're gonna mix it up a little bit. Um, what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna replay the youth band video. It goes on for about four or five minutes, um, and some wonderful lyrics. And you know, I'm sat here as a very proud parent. Uh, and, um, I'm sure you'll recognize some of them. The questions are gonna scroll along the bottom. Uh, as the song is going on, there is a bonus question in there. Do look out for it. Question number five. Um. Lemme do that again. Question number five. There you go. You can see my hands. Uh, so look at the questions, think about them, pray about them. God, what are you saying to me? What's going on through this song as you worship God and pray about these kind of things. And again, I would love it. Just carry on putting stuff in the comments as we do this. And I will see you back here in just a few minutes after this song has played. Here we go. Oh hi.[00:47:00] Worship: You call me out upon the great unknown and they. My faith will stand,[00:48:00] will be.[00:49:00] And. My trust.[00:50:00] You call the, in the.[00:51:00] And.[00:52:00] Matt: There we go. How did you get on with that? Let's have a look. Let's go back to the comments. Love the video guys. Just to say again, um, I know I'm slightly biased 'cause Zach's in there, but, um, Dan and the guys did super well. Uh, and just to clarify, when, uh, will Southworth appears on screen going my bros in that video, I'm guessing Annelise is using her dad's, uh, Facebook. Just guessing. How did you get on with those five questions? Let's have a look. See what you guys put in [00:53:00] the comments. Matt's put something here. Uh, don't give up The struggles. Can the struggles of tomorrow can wait. Concentrate on the waves you need to tackle for today. Love that, Matt. That's in response to question number five. What else is God saying to you? Don't give up. And I love that. Uh, we will reap a harvest in due time if we do not give up. And that's very, very true, isn't it? Uh, thank you for that. Abby. What have you put here? Thank you God, that even if I don't do things the way we expect you to, that you are working all things for our good. That's very true. Uh, you know what? And that's the cool thing, isn't it? Just whilst God. Jesus didn't respond to Peter in the way that Peter was maybe expects him to. And whilst Jesus is saying that things are gonna happen, which Peter doesn't think should happen, you know, why me, God, why? What? What do you mean? S especially when suffering's involved, people don't like that conversation. Right? So what do you mean suffering's involved? [00:54:00] I don't want this, this is not how it's supposed to be. This is not what I understood about the Christ. Thank God. His plan and his ways, his thoughts are higher than my thoughts because you know what? If it all, I don't think I'd be a good God, let's just put it that way. I don't think I'd have the right answers all the time. And, um, but we can trust that it's, even though it's not working out how we expect it to, even, we can trust even though it's not what. Um, is gonna be what we expect or what we desired. He is working for our good at all times. The goodness of God is always there. As Abby said, you are always working for our good. Even if I don't see it, even if I don't feel it, even if I don't necessarily understand it in the second, but at some point, somehow in the throes of eternity, I will get this and understand your goodness never fails. So thank you for that. Abby and Sharon, what have you put here? [00:55:00] Uh, there have been lots of times I've been disappointed when God didn't turn up how I wanted. Uh, especially when praying for people for healing. Uh, and they've died. Though I don't think it was because my prayers that they died, just to clarify. Okay. I don't think so too babe either. Um, but have, how many of you have been there? Right where we hear, like on Alpha we're gonna talk on Friday night about does God heal today? And fundamentally I think that he does. Um, but there are times when. Doesn't quite work out how I think it should do or expect it to. Uh, and we pray, you know, God, would you heal these people? And yet they died anyway and they died in sickness. And it is hard. It is a mental battle. It is a mental struggle. Um, but ultimately we still can trust God is good and neither should we stop actually praying for people to be healed in the midst of that, right? We should still keep going because I still think God's will. Is everybody be healed. Um, just simply because [00:56:00] there's no sickness in heaven, you know? And we're told to pray your kingdom come. We talked about this, didn't we? Your kingdom come. There's no sickness, no sickness in heaven. And I think that's kind of God's will. Um, there's no crying. There's no more tears. There's no more sadness. There's no more suffering. Uh, and ultimately we will end up there somehow and in some way, shape or form. Um, so yes. Mona, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. I think everyone's loving what you said, babe. By the way, we've got some great comments here from Will slash Annalise, uh, from Abby, uh, and from Matt. So thank you for all of those, which is great, Mona. Yeah, absolutely. I love how everybody's now calling you Shaz, uh, not gonna lie. Uh, what's Will slash Annise written? Twa Great. Twa. Uh, and you've written another comment there, Annise. Uh, and I've no idea what it says. What Poofed No, this is, oh, okay. [00:57:00] As in this is not Anna Lee's. Um, yeah, I know your dad and he would never write something like that. Just saying that out there. Uh, getting down with the people lingo, they will. Absolutely. Uh, that's me as youthful as ever. You know what, uh, Anna Lee's, I really hope your dad sees. Video, you should show him this video. Uh, I'm sure he'd be totally stoked. Um, so yes, thank you for your comments. Right. Just to remind you, the next week we have the beautiful Abby Sharples who's gonna be carrying on this conversation, uh, about, you know, what it means to give up your life for Christ. Really, really looking forward to that. Um, ah, dear. So, um. So as Ann Anna, have you not got your own account, you know, you're 13, you can have what? I don't actually wanna interfere with your parents' ruling. Maybe you can't, I dunno, but in theory you could. Um, so next week, Leslie, as I said, we have [00:58:00] Abby Sharples who is gonna be sharing with us. So make sure you mark in your diaries is the four o'clock start for Frontline sitting next week in just a few short moments, we will be heading on over to Zoom. Uh, for our face-to-face conversations, I did put a link in the Facebook comments below. So if any of you are are joining us for Zoom, do come in and say hello and how's it, it'll be great to see you, uh, in there, that's for sure. Uh, it would be lovely to connect with you, but if not, we will see you next Sunday, um, at four o'clock. Now, before we do go, just, I'm gonna send an email out around about this and I'll also put it on the WhatsApp community group. I would love it if people are up for doing a Sunday morning meetup next. Weak. Uh, we're gonna arrange a few of us to go into the park and we are gonna go for a wander, a little wander, a little walk. We're gonna invite some of the guys from alpha along, which would be great. So come along, say, how's it come, meet them. And if, which I [00:59:00] expect will happen more than six people turn up, we will just break out into groups of no more than six and obviously observe, uh, social distancing rules of more of, more than two meters and so on and so forth. Um, because that is safe and right to do so. So we will be careful, uh, with how we meet up and we will follow all the necessary guidelines. Um. But if you would like to meet up in person, we are gonna do that next Sunday at 11 ish, I would've thought. Um, and have a little wander and a little walk. So, uh, do come and join us. It will be great to see you. And then we'll be back, live streaming at four o'clock. As Matt said. Great service. Thanks guys. Great for you guys to be here. Really appreciate it. Really appreciate you taking the time outta your Sunday to join us. Um, oh, sounds like fun. Absolutely. Uh, although Abby, you'll be, um, you'll be getting ready for the live stream, not that you're gonna prerecord it anyway. Anyway, all of that said, uh, have a great week. Boys and girls, or did you actually, Abby, were you saying all sounds fun because you're [01:00:00] actually speaking or because of the walk? Either way. I think you're right. Um, just saying, uh, have, let me recapture my train of thought. Have a great week. Uh, bless you. Uh, have a safe few days and we will hopefully see you at the weekend or we'll see you online streaming, wherever you are. Um, it will be great, no doubt. God bless you. Have a good week. We'll see you in Zoom. I am now gonna close the feed. Thank you for all of your comments. Thank you for joining us, and peace be the journey. God bless you. Bye for now.
