How did a humble carpenter become the greatest King of all time? | Mark 11:1-11

How did a humble carpenter become the greatest king of all time_ Church Livestream Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, our welcome to Frontline City. My name is Matt Edmundson and it is great to be with you. Now I apologize for the severe echo in [00:01:00] sound. Uh, we have been redoing. The cave, you know, where we do the live stream from. And so it's a bit devoid of furnishings right now. You can see it a little bit if I move. Uh, but what that means is it's a little bit ey. So, uh, apologize if you hear me twice in your ears now. Uh, it's great to see you. Great that you are here. Uh, I, like I said, my name is Matt Edmundson and I get to lead this amazing online church. Yes, you heard that right? This. Is an online church and why not now? It doesn't matter where we meet or how we meet. Just that we get together, right? So it's really great that you are here with us and I know many of you watching this are new to Frontline Signal. Let me move this close, see if that makes any difference. There we go. Uh, I know many of you watching this are new to Frontline City. Uh, so just to give you a bit of context, we are part of Frontline Church. We are based here in Liverpool, in the uk, uh, and we are [00:02:00] just, we are here just to inspire you about how, uh, about Jesus. And really how amazing he is. That's the plan, that's the aim, that's why we're here. Uh, so please feel at home with us now. If you are watching this live, you can join in using the comments below the live stream. Just say hi. Let us know, uh, what you think of the live stream. Ask your questions, debate what we say. Just put it all in the comments. Bloke, the only thing that I ask is that you do it respectfully. Yes, that's right. Now, if you are watching the replay of the live stream, uh, you can also use the comments. We do monitor them as well. Uh, and you can also message us on WhatsApp. You can see the number in the. Corner of the screen. I always get it wrong. Anyway, you can see the number, uh, in the corner of the screen and we especially love it when you send us your photos. Uh, be warn though. I may just show them. On the live stream. Uh, but do you [00:03:00] can, uh, WhatsApp your photos. So why not send us a photo of where you are right now and how you are watching the stream Get out your cameras. Any excuse for a selfie, right? We just why not? Why not Indeed. So as well as comments, uh, give us a, like, if you are happy to do so, um, why not share out the stream? Uh, shout out the live stream too. It's always great to reach out to new folks around the world. So let me give you, uh, a little, um, what's the word I'm looking for? A little info on what's coming up. Okay. What's coming up in today's live stream in just a few minutes after this. Welcome. We are gonna jump straight into today's talk, which is called How did a Humble Carpenter become the Greatest King of All Time With our very own pastor, John Harding. Can you believe it? Yes. He is here with his cup of tea. Which is important when you're live streaming. Uh, and after that we're gonna have a brief time of worship. I'm [00:04:00] gonna talk a little bit more about that later. Uh, and then we're gonna have notices and this week's catchup video, which Josh has done. So all in all, that should take us about 45 minutes to an hour. And for those of you, uh, that would like to, we are gonna meet up on Zoom after the live stream, and I'll put a link. To, uh, zoom in the comments, it'd be great to see that. If you want to join us, zoom is back. Okay. So, uh, let me put into the comments. Let me do that first, the Zoom link while I've just mentioned it. Otherwise, I'll forget and I don't wanna do that. Let's look at the comments that are coming in. So afternoon, all afternoon, sweetheart. Uh, Matt, Crew there. Hey, Matt. Apparently he's just woke up. Well, why not? Uh, as they say, uh, what did you put here? You look like you're in a and e. No, no, no. We're in a partially decorated, uh, room. Uh, a and e, cheeky little tyke. Uh, we've got John Harding here [00:05:00] himself. Hey, John, how's it going? Uh, and uh, where's my lasagna? John Harding. Do I need to know what that's about? I don't think I do, but anyway, let's put that in there as well. Uh, I'm sure that'll be sorted out between you and John. Right. Let's look at the, uh, so here is photo number one that has come through on what? Oh, hang on. Let me drag that to there and drag that to there as well. So, uh, let me, oh. Technology, man. It needs to definitely work better than this. Okay, so this was a photograph sent in. These are socks. Uh, and this is from Sharon. Apparently she is, uh, painting socks. I think that's meant to say pairing. I'm guessing or are you actually painting them? It does say painting in the text. I just wanna point that out. Uh, so, oh, [00:06:00] apparently you can pair socks whilst all paint socks whilst you are on the, uh, on the church live stream whilst you're watching it, so, you know, it's good to multitask. And what else have we got here? Let me pull this one in. We have, oh, here's, here's Zoe Knitting. Oh, so she's knitting whilst we've got the live stream going on, which is great. Uh, and, uh, knitting a blanket. I do know this because I have seen this said blanket and uh, yeah, so Zoe's knitting a way so you can knit whilst watching the live stream or paint socks or pair them entirely Up to you. Okay, thanks for sending your photos. If you would like to sending your photos of how you are watching the live stream, we would love to see them. Send 'em to that comment. That's the WhatsApp number there. It does come through to my computer. And it'll be great to see all of that on here, right? Lemme just have a quick check of where we're up to. We are all good. Okay. So what we are [00:07:00] gonna do, we are gonna jump into today's talk. Okay. Now, this is, uh, my good friend and Pastor John Harding, he's gonna be sharing today from Mark's Gospel. And to give you just a little bit of context, uh, before I bring John onto the screen, um. We are working our way through the Gospel of Mark, which is a book in the New Testament that chronicles the story of Jesus. Okay. And we're getting to a really interesting point in that story. I know I say that every week, if you watch every week, you'll know I say that every week. Uh, but we are getting to an interesting point in that story. Uh, and John is gonna pick up what is known as. The triumphal entry. We're gonna get into that. So let me bring John onto the screen. I'm gonna push a button. I'm gonna bring him on, and then I will be back once he has finished, uh, his message. So here it is. How did this humble, humble, humble, humble carpenter become the greatest king of all time? [00:08:00] John: Well, hello everyone. Hello, Frontline city, and hello to all of you watching online. For those of you who don't know me, my name is John Hardin and I have the wonderful privilege today of being asked to speak from the Bible to share some thoughts, and the passage I've been asked to speak on is from Mark's Gospel, chapter 11 verse one. Two 11, here's the passage in a sentence. So Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey as a way of signaling to the world around that. He is a new kind of king. Starting a new kind of kingdom. That is the passage in a nutshell, but please do read it. It's a fantastic passage. Read it for yourself as you're listening to me now. Have a Bible open or on a device as I just unpack [00:09:00] some thoughts for the next, um, 15 minutes or so. Follow it along in your bibles. Jesus rides into Jerusalem. On a donkey. Now, last week we had a little family holiday, a few days in rainy Scarborough on the East coast. And if you've ever been to Scarborough, you will know they have donkey rides on the beach. And quite honestly, they were advertising these donkey rides as the world. Best donkey rides. Well, I don't know about that. All I know is the poor kid was sat on this donkey getting dive bombed by seagulls after his ice cream. But I do believe that this passage in Mark contains the single most important donkey ride in all of history. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. And for me, this raises a [00:10:00] massive question. The question is this, how on earth did a humble carpenter from the middle of nowhere rise to become the greatest king of all history? That is a big question, isn't it? And there might be all sorts of elements in that question that you're not sure about or don't agree with, but I just want to try and show you from this passage of the Bible today that is exactly what is happening. That is what is beginning to happen as Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on this donkey. And there are quite a few details that Mark includes in this story, in this record that might seem a bit insignificant to us today in our context. But actually they are details of real importance. Uh, the first [00:11:00] is quite simply that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem. Really significant. The symbolism of this would've been obvious to the crowds in this part of the world, the ancient world, the ancient Near East. At this time in history, conquering Warrior Kings would ride into a city after the battle was ended to be installed as the new King. A triumphant procession. That's what the Caesars had done before this time. It was called the Roman Triumph when Jerusalem finally fell in Ad 71, uh, Titus rode into the city on a chariot pulled by horses. The Spartan Braas and Alexander the greats were all recorded to have ridden on horses into cities after [00:12:00] they had defeated them as Warrior Kings. And the inhabitants of those cities that were left alive, well, they would've bowed the knee to their new incoming king. So Jesus riding into Jerusalem, it demonstrated that he was claiming to be a king. And the crowds, they clearly got this because they responded appropriately. They spread their cloaks on the road. They took palm branches and waved them and spread them in front of this, uh, donkey as a path on the floor. They are symbols. Of how this people would've welcomed a king into their new kingdom, onto their new throne. They cried. Hosanna. Hosanna. That means savers, deliverers. They sang ancient songs from the Psalms, like Blessed is he who [00:13:00] comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father, David. They were singing songs written to be sung for Kings over Kings sung to welcome a king. The king Jesus, he rides into Jerusalem, not on a warhorse stallion, but it says on a humble donkey, on the cult of a donkey, a young donkey. I find that so interesting. Jesus is indicating that, yes, he is a king, but he's a different kind of king. He's the ruler of a different kind of kingdom. And, and the donkey contrasts with the warhorse. Uh, as, as a symbol of humility, the donkey contrasts as a symbol of peace and the ancient prophecies. They foretold this, the prophet [00:14:00] zacharia, some 400 years before Jesus' birth. He prophesies. Over Jerusalem. He says, Jerusalem, your king will come to you. A a righteous king bring in salvation. Riding on a donkey, riding on the cults of a donkey. Zara. Nine. Nine. So Jesus was not entering Jerusalem as a warrior King. But we know as we read on through Mark, he was entering as a suffering servant. He wasn't riding in on a warhorse to overthrow the Roman occupiers, to overthrow the the puppet king Herod. Jesus was riding into the city to suffer and to die because that was exactly how he was going to bring about. This totally new kind of kingdom God. And [00:15:00] Jesus gives his disciples some clear instructions and specifications. Go into the village and you'll find a cult tied there that no one has ever ridden a cult. It's a young donkey under the age of four and, and again, there's some really powerful symbolism here. When you go back through the Old Testament and you look at the. The specifications for temple sacrifices, uh, for the animals that were to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. These were usually juvenile animals and ones that had never been ridden. And you can see that when you look in numbers Chapter 19, the cows and the heifers that were sacrificed. So this unridden juvenile animal represented. Sacrifice. And I think now we really get to the crux of our question, our question, how on earth did a [00:16:00] humble carpenter from the middle of nowhere rise to be not just aching, but the greatest king of all the earth? Well, I think that when you read the Bible through again and again, the from cover to cover the whole sweep and arc of the Bible, the big story, what is apparent is that there are only really two kingdoms. There are only ever two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of this earth and the kingdom of heaven. There's a physical kingdom and there's a spiritual kingdom, two kingdoms. Now there have been throughout history, some pretty amazing kings and kingdoms in that physical world. If you were to type into Google who were the greatest rulers in history, you would not get Jesus as an answer. You would get answers like Caesar [00:17:00] Augustus, who extended the Roman Empire as far as Egypt in the East, to England in the West, and create the of this time of peace. What about Jenga Khan, the Mongolian Emperor? He ruled over a region of 9 million square miles, making it the largest continuous empire land empire in world history closer to home. What about our very own Queen Elizabeth, the first rule, Britannia and all of that sort of stuff in, in some ways actually quite a low point, one of the lowest points in our history. As an empire. At its peak, it included something like 23% of the world's population, great kings, queens, and rulers. But here's the thing, all these rulers and all their kingdoms, they were restricted by time and geography, time and place. Kingdoms come and [00:18:00] kingdoms go, and all we have left to remind us of them are some statues and some ruins. It's the stuff of history books. But Jesus, through his death and resurrection, was building a totally unique new kind of kingdom. Not an earthly kingdom or a physical kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom, a spiritual reality, an eternal and infinite kingdom. One that required him to go down through death and be raised up into new life to establish. And so when Jesus, this new king rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey, the crowds were right in a sense to sing. Hosanna, hosanna in the highest savers, rescuers. Not because King Jesus was going to rescue them [00:19:00] physically from their Roman occupiers, not even because King Jesus was going to rescue them from their own religious leaders who equally oppressed them with their rules and regulations, but rather, this new king was going to rescue them from their sin and rescue them. From their brokenness and rescue them from their spiritual death. And this new king was going to welcome them into a new kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and what a kingdom it is. It's an enduring kingdom. It's a kingdom that's been growing and advancing over 2000 years. Nothing can stop this kingdom. It's a kingdom that has thrived in times of persecution and it is thrived at times of plague. It's [00:20:00] a kingdom that knows no geographic borders of boundaries. It's a kingdom that is growing behind the scenes today, right now, almost invisibly in some unlikely places like Iran and China. It's a kingdom whose citizens are so diverse from every ethnic group, every tribe, every tongue, female and male, young and old, black, white, rich, and poor. One kingdom. It's a kingdom characterized by love and joy and peace. And I'm not talking about like Christianized countries. I'm not talking about geographies like the UK and states or Christian countries. No. There are people within those countries, those boundaries that are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and there are those. Who are not. I'm talking about something very different about a people past, present, and future. A great [00:21:00] uncountable multitude of people who have one thing in common. This humble carpenter riding on a donkey. Well, they've bowed the knee to him. They've made him their king. They've invited him to come and sit and reign and rule on the throne of their hearts to be their king. And that is how a humble carpenter from the middle of nowhere became the greatest king in the greatest of all kingdoms in history. Now, before I, uh, hand back, I would love to pray for. Us all, each and every person watching this. But before I do that, I just want to, um, put out a couple of questions to help you develop this further, to help you take hold of it and apply it to your life. So firstly, reread the passage, [00:22:00] and I'd really encourage you as you read it, to think about how you see Jesus. If you are a follower of Jesus, if you've known him a day or decades, then you will know him as a friend. You name as the greatest love of your life. You'll name as your savior and rightly so. He's all those things and so much more. But he's also a king. He's a king who wants to reign in our hearts and reigns when we give him permission to do so. And so just really encourage you to, uh, as you discuss it in groups or through the week, to take time just to ask, well, to what extent is King Jesus reigning and ruling in my life? And if you don't know Jesus in that way, in that personal way, then please do get in touch. We would love to help you to understand what it means to, to, um, accept Jesus as your king, to making [00:23:00] him your king. And to, uh, re be received by him as a citizen of heaven. Second, uh, question for group work or reflection is this, we are citizens of heaven. We are ambassadors of heaven, and as citizens and ambassadors of heaven, we have a responsibility to advance that kingdom, to advance the reign and rule of king Jesus on earth, to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth as it is in heaven. So let it be on earth. In other words, to bring the. The justice of heaven, the love of heaven, the peace of heaven, the health of heaven, the provision of heaven into those places where we live and work and spend our time. So to what extent are we advancing the kingdom as citizens of the kingdom? But like I said, I'd love to pray for us today. So, uh, just wherever you are, perhaps you'd like to close your [00:24:00] eyes. It's up to you. Maybe hold out your hands as a, a way of saying, I surrender. I surrender a fresh to you and king Jesus, we thank you that you are a king. Unlike Noah, you reign and you rule in all the earth throughout all history. You are God. You are Lord, you are majestic. You are. The mighty one who has defeated sin, defeated death, and has brought about a new kingdom, your heaven brought to earth. And so this day we choose once again to humbly bow before you, to acknowledge your reign and rule in our lives. Come and take your rightful place on the throne of our hearts, king Jesus. And as you do so, your promise is that you would empower us to build your kingdom. Those places that you have put us, we pray this in the precious and powerful name of King Jesus. Amen.[00:25:00] Matt: Well, wasn't that fantastic, John, thank you so much for doing that talk. Uh, I loved it. I was like, the fourth time I've heard it now, and it just, it's just such a good, powerful talk. Uh, you could hear it many, many times. Uh. What's Matt put here? Thank you. SPJ John Harding. The angels are rejoicing at your preach today. Cool. That's good to know. Thanks Matt. Uh, so, um, so that was John talking about how this humble carpenter. Uh, goes from this sort of position, uh, to being the greatest king of all time and ask those questions at the end there. To what extent is Jesus king Jesus reigning and ruling in my life? Um, and to what extent am I advancing and building his kingdom as a citizen of that kingdom? So, uh, the first question is. Is, is a, is a super powerful one. And if you don't [00:26:00] know Christ today, if you don't know him as King and ruler and Lord, then just connect with what we're doing. We'd love to introduce him to you. We would love for you to find out more about Him and be inspired about how amazing, uh Jesus is. And if you are a Christ follower, uh, the second question really applies, isn't it? To what extent are you advancing in the Kingdom as a citizen of. The kingdom. I mean, that's just cool right there. I'm a citizen of heaven, which is just superb, let me tell you. Absolutely superb. Now. Whilst we're contemplating those, uh, two questions, to what extent is Jesus ruling and reigning in my life, um, and to what extent am I building his kingdom? Uh, whilst we're sort of thinking about those, what we do now typically is we do a worship track, A worship psal, which has been done by the amazing John Farrington, uh, who is also a legend, also ironically called John. Dunno what it is about Johns being legends, but there you go. [00:27:00] Um, and so I'm gonna play this track now. If you are new to worship here online, um, lemme tell you how this works. We play the track. You are more than welcome to sing along 'cause the words will appear on the screen as well. Um, obviously if it's safe for you to do so, you're more than welcome to sing along or you can just sit there and quiet. Uh, and again, if it's safe to do so, I, if you're not in the car or anything like that, you can just let the song minister to you and the words minister to you. So, however you wanna worship, join in, uh, would be, you know, what we want to see. Now, this song talks about a man. Who is sort of, he searches high and low, uh, for meaning. He searches in different places. He goes through the world, he searches, uh, through the adoration of others. Uh, but he comes to a place where he is vulnerable with God and realizes that there is only Christ who can fill, uh, his heart with joy and satisfaction. And that's what this song [00:28:00] is all about. So, uh, let me bring that on and. I will be back in just a few minutes, uh, once this song's done, but for now, just sort of, like I say, just worship God, have you do it. If you're not a Christian, if you are new to this whole idea of worship, just let the, the song and the words minister to you and I'll be back in a few minutes time. Worship: I searched and. Then you came along and put me back together.[00:29:00] Every design is now satisfied. Hearing your love. Oh, there's nothing than you. There's nothing than you. There's nothing. Nothing is you. To show you my, you see, and you still call me the God of the mountain, the.[00:30:00] Grace won't find me again. Lord, nothing than. Than, than you Lord, than. You turn on dancing. [00:31:00] You give beauty for you turn. Shame in glory. You are the only. Future. The only one. The only one. Nothing is than you.[00:32:00] Oh, there's nothing than you. There's nothing than you. There's nothing. Nothing is than you. Matt: What a great track that is. There is nothing better than you. And like I said, it's a really fascinating song, isn't it? About a guy who's. Uh, or a girl, uh, who has looked for meaning everywhere, but can only find it in God, in Christ, that actually there is, as the song says, a God shaped hole in all of us. Uh, and he's the only one who can fill it. So I really, really love that song. So, uh, great. That I've just noticed here some people have been sort of joining us. Join, uh, the last part of that. So if you are new here. Uh, if you wanna know who we are, [00:33:00] we're an online church. Um, and we've just had John talk about, uh, the, the sort of the king, uh, the kingship of Christ. Uh, and that was a great talk and, uh, you can catch up on that if you've missed all of that. And then we've just had a song by, uh, very own talented John and Anna Grace Farrington, uh, who, who, and we've just sort of gone through that, which is great. So now what tends to happen in this part of the service? Is I go through your comments. So, uh, write down in the comments what you took away from this service, what your main, um, point was, what your main takeaway is, what did God say to you? Um, all that kind of stuff, questions that you've got. Even things you don't agree with, we'd love to hear from you what they are. So put those in the comments. Um, and we will go through those, uh, and let's have a look and we're gonna do the notices. And once I've done that, we are gonna do catchup. So, uh, that is all coming up very, very soon. Now, I wrote in the comments actually [00:34:00] that that was the first time I'd heard that song. It's called Graves Into Garden. Uh, and uh, John sent it through this morning, bless him. And I did the words for it so you could see the words. And I'm like, this is an amazing song. So, uh, I really liked it. Uh, and Matt was the same way. Finally hearing this for the first time too. A few, oh, here we go. I can add it to the broadcast. You can read it. A few of the Frontline staff was saying this was a song them during lockdown. It is a great track, there's no doubt about it. Um. So, yeah, I What did you think? What did you think is the worship track? I, I, it is the first time I've heard it. I don't dunno if you're familiar with it, but, um, we will be playing that again. I have no doubt. So for me, uh, one of the things that, um, what's it, Matt put here? Loving your Edmundson. I really need to get a haircut. I appreciate that. Uh, but for me, one of the things that, um, that really sort of sticks out to me about this talk is, um, [00:35:00] was just how counter-cultural Jesus was. Do you know what I mean? As in. Yes, there were things that people expected him to do, like the triumphal entry and sort of, you know, like John was talking about, how, how the conquering King would do that. But he comes in on a donkey rather than a, a massive stallion. And it's, it's quite fascinating how, how that. I, I, I just try and picture in my head what that meant and what that looked like and how countercultural it is. Um, and a lot of things that we learn about and a lot of things that we understand and get inspired about, about Christ as we grow with him is he's just so countercultural, uh, for his time, even today. Some of the stuff that he brings up and shares is just so countercultural, and this is one of them. It's like you don't need a stallion. Donkey will do. You can change the world with a donkey. I mean, it's, it's just, it's, it's brilliant, isn't it really? Um, so yeah. What about you? What's Abby put [00:36:00] here? Uh, absolutely love that song. Thanks John and Anna Grace. Absolutely. Absolutely. And Abby, uh, is on Thursday heading off to Uni. So, uh, go with all our love and blessing. Abby, uh, you're have an amazing time down there. Um, she's going to Birmingham as some of you may or may not know. Uh, so whether we'll see her again, I don't know. Uh, they seem to be locking down some of the major cities in the uk so hopefully we'll see her again at Christmas. Um, but yeah, just, it's just, it's just great, isn't it? When you think about how counter-cultural Jesus was and how he didn't, he wasn't born into the top. Do you know what I mean? He wasn't, he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he did it anyway. And that, that, that just really blesses me because I wasn't really born with what you'd call a silver spoon in your mouth. Uh, and you know what? That's okay because with Jesus, I'm the majority, right? Uh, there's a beautiful scripture that says, greater is he who is in you than he [00:37:00] that's in the world. So, you know, with God, we have everything that we need and we've already arrived and already attained, and that is fantastic. Okay, so what I am gonna do now, uh, whilst you are writing your comments, let's play this week's catchup video. I know for some of you, this is the main reason you watch Frontline livestream, and that's okay. Um, I don't take it personally. Uh, Josh has managed to crank out another Catchup video, so here it is. I'll be back in just a few minutes time. Josh: Hello and welcome to this week's Sunday catch up. For those of you who dunno me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh Edmundson and I'm a first year student here at the University of St. Andrews. For those of you who have not been on the stream before Sunday catch up, is that part of the, the church service where we get to look at videos sent in from the community to see what we've been getting up to during the week? This week, uh, was [00:38:00] my freshest week or orientation week, which was a bit odd because with COVID raging around the world right now. All the events that would typically be be done in person were online, or at least socially distanced, socially distanced. So for instance, I attended a couple of Give it a Go sessions for the different sports societies. And one of them was for jujitsu or something. And let me tell you, jiujitsu looks like great phone, right? But when you are trying to do it two meters apart from everyone else, it's very, very awkward. There is only so much you can do in a full contact sport with no contact. Another large part of my week look like this. Yep. I think glamorous or exciting here, just trying to work out what the heck I need to do over the next few weeks. Looking at the different societies events online, uh, trying to find out what modules I'm taking and when. [00:39:00] I find out what all my lectures are, what I need to do to prepare ECEC lots and lots of admin This week I also, very exciting news, did my first batch of laundry here, and you know what? Nothing's gone pink. Nothing's shrunk. I count it as an unmitigated success. Now that's, that's enough. Talk about what I've been up to. Let's get two, some of the videos that we've had in this week from the Frontline city community. Sharon: So this week I'm painting the shed where Matt does his work and recording. Matt: So we're in the park, wandering around and this is Wilson. Hi. Who is leaving? So if you've been, uh, to any of the Frontline c me and you have met Wilson, um, but you are heading off on Friday? Yeah, I'm heading off on Friday. And you are gonna [00:40:00] travel around the uk? Yeah. First I'll go to Newcastle. Yeah. And then hopefully onto Durham, York. Yeah. Durham, York. Yeah. So if you're in Durham, York, watch out. And then, um, you're going back to Taiwan in October? Yeah, in October 10. October 10th. And have you had a good time in Liverpool? Yeah, I love Liverpool very much. Yeah. Is the right answer. And Liverpool Football Club as well, which is important. So Wilson, it's been great to get to know you. Yep. Me too. Uh, thanks for coming along. Appreciate it. And safe Charles. No problem. Josh: Well, thank you very much for sending in all those videos. It's always great watching what you guys have been up to. If you have any videos that you would like to feature, you've been up to something interesting, even if you've not been up to something interesting. Even if, like me, you've been sat at a computer for like 90% of the past week. Send me in a video of you sat at a computer. It's, it's always nice just to see what other [00:41:00] members of the community have been up to, regardless of whether it's fun or dull. Because you know, sometimes dull things are a necessary part of life, and sometimes it can be quite reassuring just to see that other people have to do them too. But thank you very much for watching. I will catch you next time. See you later. Matt: So there you go. That was the catchup. This week's catchup. Uh, it was great to see. Um, it was great to see Wilson actually before he meant it, before he flies off in a couple of days time. It's been great to get to know him. Uh, and if you are around Liverpool and you are. Even if you're just here for a temporary season, lemme tell you, Frontline Church is a great church to get connected with and get connected to. Uh, and we love meeting new folks, uh, like Wilson. So, uh, Wilson, all the best safe travels, uh, as you go traveling around the UK and back to Taiwan. Uh, and we know Lewis, for those of you who knew Lewis, who also went back to Taiwan. Um, a [00:42:00] couple of weeks ago, he has now finished his quarantine period. Apparently you have to go into quarantine for two weeks, uh, once you hit Taiwan. Um, and family life is getting back to normal, which is fab, uh, uh, for him. So good to see. Uh, I'm loving all the Josh love, uh, during the catch up. That's awesome. Um, and what's, what's been going on here? Add to broadcast the painting looks great. Shaz as this Jenna fab job. She's fab at this kind of thing. My wife. It will get better and less echoy. I'm, I'm, uh, uh, it was too neat painting for, for it to be Edmundson. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks Matt. Appreciate the, uh, the confidence. Right. So let me show you, um, this photo which was sent to me, uh, let me take that out. Um, and I'll show you this photo here, which I thought was lovely. So Deanna sent this, um, through, and so this is how they're watching the service at the moment. Um, and we have Hillary and we have Patrick joining us. [00:43:00] So, hey Hillary. Hey Patrick, great that you are here. Thanks for joining in. Um, and uh, great that you are watching what's going on. Hope you can understand me. Um, so great that you are here. Thanks Gianna, for sending that. And I thought, you know, what I'd do is I would show you, uh, how I watch the service, uh, especially with how the cave is sort of changing, uh, with Sharon doing all her stuff. So where's that? Here's, here's what it looks like. Uh, here's what you all look like to me every Sunday so you can see we've got it all going on there. Uh, we've got monitors, we've got comments, we've got live streams, we've got switches and boards, and yes, yes. On the bottom left you will see. I also sneakily have the Grand Prix on, but it's on quietly. So, you know, I like to, I like to keep it with my sports while we're doing the live streams. Um, and so that is mission control. Uh, that's how it, how it looks, uh, from where we're sat. So there you go. That's, uh, that's the news there. [00:44:00] Right. What else have we got going on here? So, I dunno about you, but when Josh was doing the catch up, IWI did have to laugh son. Uh, when you said that it was a mitigated success that you did laundry and nothing went pink, that's the standard, ladies and gentlemen. That's where the bar is at. That is how we define unmitigated success, but awesome. Okay. Right. Uh, now if you would like to know more about Frontline City, if you'd like to know more about what's been going on, if you've kind of joined us halfway through and think what is all of this? Uh, we are an online church and we do have a website, uh, which I will show you now, and the website is Frontline City. Uh, and on the website you can look at, uh, all the last. Messages that we have on there, we turn them into blog posts and you can watch the videos. No problem on there. Uh, [00:45:00] and so you can view all the, all the messages on there. In fact, this is John Harding one, uh, which will be finished off on live probably in a couple of hours time once we've uploaded it to the YouTube, the Y YouTube. Um, the other thing to say is, uh, online Alpha. Now, uh, alpha, lemme just come back here. Alpha is a course for those who want to know more about. Um, the Christian faith who wanna explore life meaning, and the Christian faith, I think is a tagline. And we've got some alpha courses starting September, October time. So if you would like to be on the alpha course, if you would like to know more about this Christian faith, if you would like to know more about Jesus, who we talk about a lot. On this live stream, obviously keep watching the live stream, you know, because we enjoy them. Uh, and hopefully you do too. But you can also register and come and join us on Alpha. And to do that, um, all you need to do is go to the website here, as you can see. And if you just scroll down, you see here where it says Register for [00:46:00] Online Alpha. Just put your name and address email in there, um, and your phone number, and we will let you know when it's starting. Uh, we will not obviously spam you any of that kind of nonsense. We just will keep you upstate with Alpha. Uh, there's a little video here you can watch which tells you more about Alpha and then there's some text on there which sort of tells you what's. Cracking off and you can see some of the sessions as well. So all of that is on the website as our messages and information about us and all that sort of stuff. So do get in touch. It will be great to hear from you next week. Uh, we are carrying on our look through Mark's Gospel and it will be me. Um, we are looking at, uh, some i this idea of transformational leadership. Oh, yes. Sounds like a great title. And you may say to me, yes, that's all fantastic, Matt, but my, I'm not actually a leader. Well, I'm gonna disagree. I think everybody is a leader and we all need to rise up and take our place in leadership and as we carry on our journey through Mark's gospel. [00:47:00] Next week we are gonna learn four. Yeah. Count 'em on my fingers. Four. Dunno what happened there. We're gonna learn four really, uh, interesting ideas and principles from, uh, an event that happens with Jesus and a fig tree. Trust me, it's gonna be worth tuning in for. Uh, so we are gonna be talking about transformational leadership next week. Cannot wait for that. Uh, that is gonna be awesome. And then the week after that, we have the fantabulous Jack, Mariner, uh, who will be sharing with us. So that's all going on. Uh, what else is there to tell you? So we have this, let me bring it on. Okay. That's enough for that. Right. So between Sunday [00:48:00] is content that we put out, uh, between Sundays. 'cause church happens between Sunday, right? It's not just about what happens, um, during this hour's live stream. And I appreciate for the last few weeks, there hasn't been anything going out for reasons which I won't bore you with, but there hasn't. Um, but this week, um, hopefully we will, uh, add some content. Content out, so make sure you subscribe to a YouTube channel to get notified when that comes out. They're just like little bite-sized pieces of content, which answer some really fascinating questions around the topic, around the talk that we do on a Sunday and just. Dive into it a little bit further. Uh, so do subscribe to that. Uh, as Josh requested, please send in your videos. It'd be great if you could do that. We would love to see, uh, what you're up to for the week, you know, just for the catchup stuff, um, and what we've got here. I approve of your t-shirt this week. Matt Edmundson Weldon. Matt, I appreciate that. I, I was not aware I needed your approval, but thank you. Uh, do you like it? Twenty four seven three six five? I [00:49:00] appreciate the microphone is in the way a little bit, but. Uh, there we go. You know, these things are important, aren't they? Uh, well you put Jack as a legend. He absolutely is. And techno Gotta love a bit of techno music you have, and we can do this as well. Yes. Uh, this is. Down that a little bit. There we go. We can have that in the background. Uh, everyone is saying, Josh, in the comments, well done on your successful laundry. Um, we're all pleased for you. Uh, and I think with that, all that's left for me to say is thanks for joining in. Thanks for, uh, commenting and be a part of Frontline City. It's always great to connect with you and see all the people that are watching the live stream wherever you are in the world. Whether this is your first time, whether. Or your 40th time with us, or however many times we've done this now. Um, it's been great to have you. If you would like to, as I said at the start of the live stream, you are more than welcome to join us on Zoom, where we're just gonna catch up face to face. Uh, the link is in the comments, and in fact, what I can do [00:50:00] is I can add. The link again, so it is more refreshed in the comment feed. Click that link. Uh, in about five minutes time we will be in that Zoom session and Sharon's gonna lead us in that, which will be fantastic. So, uh, if we don't see you in there, have a fantastic week, wherever you are, and with whatever you are doing. Thanks for being a part of what's going on here, and we will be back again very, very soon. Okay, bye for now guys. Bye.