I AM The Way, The Truth and The Life

welcome to this week's crowd church service we are a digital Church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps us live a more meaningful life we are a community a space to explore the Christian faith and a place where you can contribute and grow our service will last about an hour and in a few seconds you'll meet our hosts for our service who will introduce today's talk after the talk we will have a time of worship and reflection after which we head into conversation Street where we look at your stories and questions that you posted in the comments now we want to invite you to connect with us here at crowd church and we've got a few ways in which you can do just that firstly you can engage with crowd from any device during our live stream and if you're up for it why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together you see church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others and what are the easiest ways for you to do that is Join one of our mid-week groups where we need online together to catch up and discover more about the amazingness of Christ you can also subscribe to our fairly new podcast called what's the story where we Deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people more information about all of these things can be found on our website at www.crowd.church or you can reach out to us on social media at crowd2 are new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know what your next steps to take are but why not head over to our website crowd.church forward slash next for more details and now the moment you've been waiting for is here at online church service starts right now wow good evening and welcome to crowd Church online my name is Matt and beside me is the beautiful Anna Kettle Anna how are we doing this evening I'm good thank you yeah happy to be here happy Sunday evening now do forgive me uh ladies and gentlemen for the very croaky voice uh let's just be grateful I actually have one uh tonight uh it's one of those isn't it I'm trying my best uh Barry White impression so um we'll do the the deal and people will say it's a benefit that Matt can't talk myself so maybe maybe not I'm not sure yeah that's very very true actually it uh it could be cleft as a benefit uh but you just never know right so one of the things that we're wanting to do ladies and gentlemen if you are watching this hey Matt hey Miriam great to see you in the comments um in the face book Channel we have put a link to the YouTube channel and we're asking if you would mind coming and joining us on YouTube over the next few weeks we will be transitioning uh from Facebook we will be moving to a YouTube only stream and we're going to test and see how that goes it may change in the new year but until for the rest of the year we all shift to new to YouTube an experiment just to see how it goes so if you could come join us on YouTube write your comments and say how's it in YouTube that would be great as I said the link is in the comments uh yes Matt I am ill I just might I didn't wake up one day and just sort of thing oh I'll talk with a deep voice it's um it's not something that I did yeah yeah uh but let's be grateful like I say I've actually got a voice um we have uh how's your weekend been Anna it's been good actually yeah we haven't done too much it's been quite a relaxed one um had yes some had a friend's party this afternoon with some friends which is nice and relaxing went to church this morning um yeah just done some nice family stuff together this weekend that's yeah just been kind of a quiet one which is nice sometimes to just slow it down a bit isn't it what about you you just been recovering from illness or uh no well yes sorry yes I have been recovering from illness it was funny last week I had to do it like on Thursday I had my voice was slightly deeper than it is now I am slowly getting better but I had to do a whole bunch of uh recordings so podcasting um videos I mean just a whole bunch of stuff happened and on every single one of them I just said listen I'm really sorry I'm just it's just the way it is this is not my voice uh and so yeah I've been recovering but I've been recovering instant Andrews so we popped up to Saint Andrews to see Josh uh my son if you're familiar unfamiliar with who Josh is Josh is my son he wrote The Crowd church music theme um and he is at University of Princeton Andrews up in North Scotland uh it's about six seven hours away from Liverpool with crazy traffic that we experienced today um and he is turning 21. happy birthday our Miriam is now on YouTube excellent Matt's like I hate YouTube mate you're just gonna have to get over it uh just get on to YouTube man some people hate Facebook so there's no pleasing everyone on this one that's very true that is very true so yeah if you are just joining the live stream uh we are in the and you're joining us on Facebook do come and join us over on YouTube the link is in the comments um over the next few weeks we will be migrating front lighter not Frontline crowds get the right Church man uh we will be migrating crowd church over to YouTube only so do come and join us on YouTube if you can the link is in the comments Miriam is over there now uh let me just write in here hey Miriam Miriam spelling right sorry about that she's joined on YouTube so it's great come join us on there come say has it in the comments be great to see you now Anna what's happening today so today we've got your beautiful wife Sharon speaking to us um our series that we've been on the gospels and um yeah we've got worship coming up and then we'll have conversation Street which is a chance for everyone to ask their questions post their questions on their comments so do be thinking about that and posting as we're sort of listening to the talk yeah and yeah and just then General feedback and chat from me and Matt yeah yeah I I always enjoy the um the conversation Street I do I do I think it's great fun I think we're both talkers right Matt so like we could just like talk on any give us any subject so please every every you know add your comments and opinions otherwise it's just me maths which is boring for everyone wow uh I actually think you're quite interesting yeah yeah and so no no don't don't don't say you're born it's totally not true uh share the love with Anna in the comments tell her she's not boring uh and uh so I'm not saying I'm boring I just think it's for it's more interesting if everyone has something to say that's very true that I agree with actually I think the more the merrier uh they comments exactly we're Democratic here is that what we are I'm never quite sure it's brilliant yeah the Democratic Church of crowd welcome oh brilliant absolutely brilliant do you know one of the things I'm really curious about um there is on my uh soundboard in front of me this voice digitizer thing that makes your voice deeper so I'm just going to press it uh see what happens okay so this makes it oh that's better it feels like you've just swallowed helium or something yeah it does yeah don't don't do the idiom think it's uh publicly my voice as well or can I not pick it or play for the computer uh no it yeah I think it won't do anything each day that yeah I think you need like a proper microphone wow spoiler alert I don't know actually I know I think I've told you this I've not told it like on the live stream yet spoiler alert we have a new studio being built where we will be able to host crowd together in the same room because this room here is tiny um so yeah we we have a a great sort of project on the go uh which will be finished hopefully in the next few I'm hoping by the end of this month I think that might yeah and then we'll be like professional rather than doing an nrm bedrooms steady on don't well yeah more professional than we are today people yeah that's that's not um let's not do ourselves that's really funny professional I've never used that word but we are building a studio and um it will have some more space my deadline uh is the end of this month I think that is optimistic I think realistically probably in the new year we'll be streaming from there so um we'll find out and then we'll be able to be things like do silly voices together in the same room absolutely that's the plan yeah yeah absolutely yeah so if you've just joined us and you think what on Earth have I tuned into uh this uh believe it or not we are an online church so it's great that you're here great um to be with you on this very chilly Sunday evening uh we are now gonna bring on the beautiful Sharon Edmonds my gorgeous wife who is carrying on our journey in Mark's gospel after that will be a time of worship then as Anna said we'll be back for conversation Street do write your comments and stuff uh be great to hear from you and one last time if you are on Facebook there is a link for our YouTube live stream it'd be great if you could join us on YouTube we would love to see you in there as we are migrating pretty sure much better uh pretty sure Matt Edmondson is sponsored by YouTube this week by the amount of times he's promoted YouTube just thinks about that is I should have a YouTube t-shirt uh so yes brilliant right well we will see you in YouTube uh with the exception of Matt Cruz live I just can't be bothered uh and so um yeah we'll be back after this here's Sharon the passage of the Bible we're going to look at today is from The Book of John chapter 14 verses 1 to 14. to give you some context for this passage Jesus is with his friends celebrating the Passover meal which is a meal that the Jews celebrate every year remembering how God delivered the Jewish people from Egypt even though he's their leader Jesus has washed his friend's feet which is the role of a servant and one of the group has just left in order to betray Jesus and Jesus knew that he was being betrayed and was about to face a brutal death and that those still present at the meal were about to abandon him to save their own necks even though they thought they were Brave and up to everything and giving it all the talk talk about trauma they weren't for a really bad week where everything they thought they knew would appear to fall apart have you ever felt like that it's in this context that today's um passage and the passage just before it Jesus is preparing his close friends his followers for the dark time that they're about to go through although his words were originally meant for that specific group of people they also speak to us today about handling our own difficult situations we'll also look briefly at a couple of questions firstly is Christianity exclusive or inclusive and secondly is the Christian faith a blind faith a faith that believes despite evidence to the country so how did Jesus prepare his followers for the horror to come he said this do not let your hearts be troubled okay thanks Jesus for the great advice it's okay there is more you believe in God believe also in me my father's house has many rooms if that were not so would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am you know the place you know the way to the place where I'm going he's basically telling them not to let their circumstances or their troubled feelings have the last say in the situation because there's a bigger picture now there are plenty of verses in the Bible that talk about how God's concerned with the details of Our Lives the Bible says that God cares so much for us that even the hairs on our heads are numbered that is a lot of care especially in our house where the vacuums hit cleaner has a really hard time keeping up with the hairs that keep falling out of our heads the Bible also says that we can learn about God's character through the world that he's made now our eldest son Josh is studying theoretical physics at University and I was talking with him one day about the different branches of physics one of them is quantum physics and it deals with the smallest components of the universe and then there's astrophysics which looks at the bigger picture of the universe in quantum physics we see God's care for the minute details in the structure of molecules and atoms and in astrophysics we see his care for the big picture in the awesomeness of our galaxy and Beyond and how everything is fine-tuned to work together so what's God's big picture in terms of Our Lives it's this that there's more to life than what we see now and there is life after death that all the things are that are wrong in the world we put right that will be able to live with God in an amazing place that he's prepared for us have you ever felt like the moment you're in as in eternity I certainly have maybe you've been waiting for your perfect job or your perfect partner and nothing's happening maybe you're going through cancer treatment or you've got another long-term illness or you've Loved Someone lost someone that you love God says although things on earth can be really tough a better day is coming even if we get better days on Earth that won't compare to what God has waiting for us in eternity but back to our passage in John so how do we get to this place that Jesus is preparing for us Thomas one of the guys who's with him asked the same question Thomas said to him Lord we don't know where you're going so how can we know the way Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me if you really know me you will know my father as well from now on you do know him and have seen him Jesus is making three claims about himself here one that he's the way the only way to God two that he's the truth and three that he's the life let's look at those three things one at a time so number one Jesus says he's the way and that no one comes to the father except through him but hang on a minute isn't that a bit narrow-minded don't all religions lead to God not according to Jesus Jesus says he is the only way to God because he's the only one with the real solution to the real problem in this Christianity is exclusive it excludes all other possible ways to God so what is the problem with the world how would you answer that question Jesus disciples might have answered that question by saying the problem was that they were an oppressed Nation as they were being ruled by the Romans and that that was the issue that Jesus should be sorting out there are many people today who would say the same thing not about the Romans but that the problem with the world today is oppression that one group is oppressing another that men are oppressing women or that one ethnic group is oppressing another or that parents are oppressing children and so on we all know that oppression is a reality I think of a lady I know who came to this country thinking that she had this great new job opportunity only to find out that when she arrived in this country she had her ID papers taken off her by her host family who made her work for long hours for them she wasn't allowed out she wasn't allowed to learn the language her new job opportunity was in fact modern day slavery or we hear about the men who abuse their wives and control everything that they do or the other way around and people are discriminated against because of the color of their skin maybe you've experienced one of these forms of Oppression Jesus is against oppression Psalm 9 says this he rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with Equity the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed a stronghold in times of trouble the Bible definition of Oppression is different to some of the definitions of Oppression that are going around today we're not necessarily being oppressed if we're not allowed to do the things we want to do for example when our kids were younger they had a limit on the amount of TV they could watch every day this rule was unpopular with them and it did stop them watching the amount of TV that they would have liked but the rule wasn't there to oppress them it was there to help them to learn to have healthy boundaries and it was there to help them have a life it's one I think I probably need to relearn for myself as I've gotten into bad habits during covid and I still haven't kicked the Habit however long later that is we're not also necessarily being oppressed if someone tells us that our lifestyle is wrong and what they say makes us feel upset if a friend of yours was convinced that they'd just met the perfect man for them but you knew he was an abusive man the loving thing would to do would be to warn your friend even if they didn't like what you had to say and thought you were interfering love isn't just one-dimensional it's not just about being patient and kind and all those nice fluffy things it's also about courage and Justice and confronting what is wrong Proverbs 27 verse 6 says wounds from a friend can be trusted but an enemy multiplies kisses but although oppression is a problem in the world and as we've seen God is against genuine oppression Jesus could see a deeper problem not just in one group of people but in all of us that is the fact that we're all lost we're all spiritually dead and we're all disconnected from God and in that Christianity is very inclusive we're all part of the problem we're all included in that we may not necessarily be oppressing other people or be what we would consider the worst people on the planet but we've all missed God's standard we all oh God a debt we can't pay I've heard it said many times how can a loving God send anyone to hell but how can a holy God and a just God allow anyone who is Unholy into heaven C.S Lewis the writer and theologian said that God in his Mercy doesn't thrust in eternity with him onto people who have actively chosen to live without him in this life you know he passionately wants all of us but he lets us choose the Bible tells us that God himself came down to earth in a human body as Jesus to pay the debt we owe so that he can be both loving and just and that anyone who allows him to pay their debt for them is able to stand in God's presence now and be with him and for eternity in this Christianity is also inclusive the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life the second claim that Jesus made about himself here is that he is the truth a popular phrase we hear nowadays is you live your your truth and I'll live mine and there are some good things about that statement for example when our son Josh first went to university on the very first night his flatmates decided to play a drinking game that involved drinking lots of alcohol after various rounds of something Josh didn't want to drink loads of alcohol so he said he'd play the game with water the others thought it was a little bit unusual but they were fine about it in this case live your own truth is a helpful thing and living your own truth also allows people not to have to conform to ever-changing beauty standards but there is a negative side to live your truth the implication to this statement is often that truth isn't knowable and it's whatever you decide and that can change from person to person and from day to day and through emotion to emotion that's okay if it's talking about food preferences or study Styles but if it's talking about anything deeper than that Jesus says not only is truth knowable but it's Noble not just on an intellectual level but on a relational level he defines what is true and what is good and what is right and I've already done a talk about Truth for crowd which you can listen to on our website so I'm not going to go into that into any more detail about that subject now but you know the whole thing of Truth there have been times in my life when I wasn't doing well mentally or emotionally and I felt like there was this Mist where I couldn't see anything around me and didn't know which way was up on which way was down and I felt like a pilot in a cloud who couldn't see anything out of the windows because of all the fog and had to rely on the instruments in front of them to tell them what's what God's word was like that for me telling me what's true and showing me the step um each way the third claim that Jesus made about himself is that his life he's not about dead boring religion but following him brings life um into every area of life for example the Bible says that I'm made in God's image that automatically gives me value and significance just by existing regardless of what I've done and God says he's got a good plan for my life that I'm part of his body carrying out his plans on Earth that gives me purpose he tells me to take ownership for the things I do and say that are wrong he shows me how to forgive um but not to facilitate anyone's bad behavior that gives me peace with people but it also gives good boundaries and all of these things are great for my mental health which is a big thing at the moment I could go on like every area of life it impacts but back to today's passage where we were talking about going through tough times have you ever thought if only I could just see God and hear his voice audibly that will get get me through any tough time that would be enough for me I certainly have Philip one of the group with Jesus thought this too he said Lord show us the father and that will be enough for us Jesus answered don't you know me Philip even after I've been among you for such a long time anyone who's seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father don't you believe that I am in the father and that father is in me the words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority rather it's the father living in me who is doing his work if you've ever wondered what God looks like look at Jesus in the Bible he claims that he is God come in human form we can read about him but we can also experience God through his holy spirit the next verses say this believe me when I say that I am in my father and the father is in me or at least believe on the evidence of the work themselves Jesus tells us to believe him and contrary to what many people think Christianity isn't a case of believing despite the facts Jesus says if you can't believe in me just because of my words alone look at the evidence of all the things that I've done and you might yes he's looking saying you can look at the evidence to support the claims that he's made you might think how can I look at the evidence when all this stuff happened for so long ago well I'd like to recommend a book called forensic faith that looks at those sort of questions it's written a guy by it's written by a guy called Jay Warner Wallace and he's a homicide detective in the states he specializes in cold cases in other words murder cases that are old and unsolved he was an atheist but decided to investigate the Christian faith as if it were one of his cold cases to prove that it was a load of rubbish but he actually found the evidence really compelling and ended up committing his life to Jesus one of the things he says is that in any of his cases he gathers all the evidence but he's never a hundred percent sure but you can come to a conclusion where you are Beyond Reasonable Doubt there'll always be unanswered questions and things we're not sure about but it's the same for any world view it's the same if you're an atheist or a Hindu or a Buddhist or whatever and that's where faith comes in with Christianity evidence takes us so far and Faith takes us the rest of the way very truly I tell you whoever believes in me will do the works I've been doing and they will do even greater things than these because I'm going to the father and I'll do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son you may ask me for anything in my name and I'll do it if you love me keep my commands and I will ask the father and he will give you an another Advocate to help you and be with you forever a spirit of Truth there are loads of things in here that I don't have time to pick up on uh but one thing I will pick up on is that a friend from a Muslim background wanna once asked me if God just forgives you for all this bad stuff you do what is this to stop you from carrying on doing all the bad stuff the suggestion of the question is that we only do good things so that God won't punish us verse 15 that we just read tells us the answer it's love love is a much healthier motivator than fear in relationships and when we give our lives to God he makes us new on the inside so that we can do things out of love let me give you an example so when our kids were small they often did the right thing to avoid the consequences of doing the wrong thing and we made sure there were consequences so it means so much more the times when they've like offered to help me with something not because they have to but because they love me and they want to help they've chosen to do it out of their own free will and as Christians when we remember who God is and how much he loves us we don't do stuff to get him to love us we already have his love we do good things because he loved us first and we love him back so we have a hope for the future but we also have a relationship with God himself in the present and that is good news the father you loved me still and in love before you laid the world's Foundation you predestined to adopt me as your own you have praised me up so high above my station I'm a Child of God by Grace Grace alone you left your home to seek out the lost you knew the Great Ness your face once said I work my fingers down to the bone nothing I did could ever return Jesus you paid my dad by your blood I have Redemption and salvation tonight I was in darkness all of my life I never knew the day from the night Spirits you made me see I swore I knew the way on my own head full of rocks the Heart Made of Stone at your touch my sleeping Spirit was wicked on my darkest heart delighted Christ to show called into a kingdom that could not be shaken having citizen by Prince yes I'll Stand in faith by grace and grace alone I will run this race by grace and grace I will reach the End by grace and grace praise foreign welcome back to conversation street with myself and Anna here at crowd online Church a warm welcome to you if you've joined us all and your likes are doing funny things there yeah I think that's what it is I just thought it was an electrical fluctuation but let's go with that yourself yeah yeah so welcome to uh crowd online church if this is your first time with us warm welcome to you if you are watching catch up uh do come and join us on Sundays as we live stream at 6 p.m UK time that's 1pm eastern time uh and if you're in other parts of the world if you head over to the website crab.church uh it will has a little link on there which tells you what time that is uh according to your local time which is a wonderful thing be great if you come join us and uh yes if you are watching live on Facebook there is a link which you can click which will bring you to YouTube and you can join us on YouTube which may explain why there's not as many comments on Facebook uh because people have tuned into YouTube to help uh watch the service we are sort of testing the waters of whether we become a YouTube only kind of live stream so uh that's what we're doing we're experimenting a little bit so do come join us on YouTube great you get there uh so yes Anna Sharon's talk should we talk about that I think I've got all the notices either way yeah less I mean there was a lot in that wasn't there it's quite a quite a deep talk lots of content I I thought there's lots of Challenge on that um you have like I don't know it's hard to know where to begin isn't it it's a fascinating structure yeah it is it's a big topic because it was a massive claim made by Jesus wasn't it uh I am the way the truth and the life it was a huge claim and then of course all the stuff that Sharon talked about before Jesus sort of uh runs up to that claim was also pretty significant so yes very meaty verses uh so do let us know what you got out of that in the comments uh Miriam I got that you need to know life fully to find comfort in Jesus that's fair play that's a fair comment Murray yeah yeah uh you've got to know I think you've got to know Jesus fully to find a oh God's no life fully to find comfort in Jesus so if you know Jesus fully you find life I think it works both ways right right yeah I am I love to say what she had to say on like how it you know like start she started talking about the theme of Oppression didn't she and yeah but I love to say about like how faith is inclusive um in that that like claims that Jesus made were like that we've all we've all fallen short I think you know it's inclusive and that the offer of salvation and hope in Jesus is for everyone um but also the claim that we've all fallen short is also applies to everyone even those of us we're doing pretty well as we are it's not those that think they really need it but actually we're we're all we're all in need of it and I I know that that's kind of so that's so basic in some ways isn't it such a core part of our faith and yet I think it's so easy to to forget really yeah I think you're right it's an interesting wasn't it that when you think about this concept of Oppression and Sharon said this and I I wrote it in the comments so I thought it was a wonderful comment that actually the Bible definition of Oppression is different to what we would probably currently use at the moment um and we We There is part of society that I think is very quick to use the word oppression uh for meaning I don't like what you're saying to me uh and it's it's like I don't like what you're saying to me therefore you're oppressing me I think I think we have to get over ourselves a little bit in some respect sorry to step on people's toes because there are genuinely people who are oppressed uh out there uh and I think it sometimes makes a mockery out of you know genuine oppression but I I find um you know acute comments now uh but I find that um the the story of this fascinating because there were people who were being oppressed and spoiler alert again I'm planning Christmas's talk called how to find peace finding peace in difficult times I think is entitled at all and we're going to talk about this a little bit in that in the sense that um you have a bunch of people who are oppressed who are waiting for a messiah to come and free them you know and the what they're expecting is they're expecting a messiah to come and take over their enemies Andrew and Ryan with fairness and Justice which obviously we think ultimately happens but didn't happen at the birth of Christ the way that it happened at the birth of Christ was Jesus came and said right boys and girls yeah oppression the best way to deal with this is to look at your own hearts and you kind of go that's that's not what I expected and they were waiting for like you know the Jewish people at a time of Christ's birth they were waiting for a kind of religious like leader to rise up when they were a political leader who would even go through their kind of physical oppressors and yeah and kind of create a new nation for them as it were so they were looking for like a political hero who would rise up in power or like a you know overthrow the Roman Empire as I was at the time and you know I still think we think of power um kind of that overthrowing of a you know it's the whole thing of the kingdom of God doesn't work way we often think so it's like they're looking for this kind of military power almost weren't they someone who would come and overthrow the current way that things were in the current order and and yet the way that he comes is as a baby um it's so counter-cultured the way we think you know and I I think you can look at you can look at so much the world now and we still think oh the way that Injustice will be overthrown and that peace will be brought on Earth is through political change or kind of change in ideologies um like you know and that would happen through you you know we we fall for it over and over again don't we that idea that it's through war that is through military or kind of political like of overturning and not people and I'm not saying any of these things are wrong like God can work through those things too but like so often God comes in a small ways and yeah and and that you're right matters it's like what Jesus teaches us that changes in your own heart and in the human heart not kind of in World Systems um yeah it's not you know the change starts so much closer to home and I think I think that's kind of more than anything that's what the Christmas story teaches me probably like getting ahead of ourselves a monthly around me you you preach it girl you preach I think you're totally right Anna and I think it's good to remember that especially in the UK at the moment with the political upheaval we have it's easy to blame politicians for problems that we are experiencing and I hands up I can do that just as well as anybody right I I'm good at those kind of arguments and conversations but fundamentally the the answer to the problems that we face is not found in a better leader I don't think I think the answers to the problems that we Face are found in Jesus and the first thing that Jesus does is he makes his exam in our own hearts and um and in that way like Sharon said Christianity becomes insanely inclusive because it's like well actually we've all got to take our own piece of responsibility it's easy to shift the blame because guess what that people group over there is oppressing me because they say things that I don't like well therefore you're a person it's taking responsibility isn't it and saying actually no I've got a part to play in this both the both the reason that we're here and also the solution um and I I yeah I don't think you can get away from that I really don't I think it's quite a hard-hitting message actually yeah and you look at some of the big issues we've got in the world today like things like climate change and you know big macro problems like yeah climate change like Global Wars and arrests and economic issues that are international and um and you just think yeah that big and it's easy to say oh it's nothing to do with me I I can't do anything but isn't that the point like we if we all did a little bit things would change um I don't know I I always think you know when when Sharon was talking about oppression before it just made me think we so often think don't we we're not the oppressors like oh we're not we're not pressing anyone like yeah I'm I'm a good person I'm not you know it's people like Putin and Putin is obviously an oppressive regime at the moment his the Russian regime but you know it's easy to to like just look at the big oppression that's happening globally but actually we're all part of a system an economic global system that oppresses other people like we live in the west so by you know when I actually step back and think about it just the way I shop the way I live you know in order for me to have plenty as you know someone else is being oppressed somewhere else in the world with or without my you know I prefer that wasn't the case but that is the global system we're part of it I mean but like I go and shop for like fashion in the UK and someone else on the other side of the world has been oppressed in order to make quite close cheaper and you know we're all on some implicit in it I know it's hard for you know it's hot and these are big issues aren't they and it's hard for us to individually we can all make small consumer choices and small changes on a sort of very personal level but you know it's hard for us to return those huge systems that are international and Global and and just been going on for a long time but at the same time I don't think any of us can wash our hands a bit and say well I'm not oppressing anyone else because I think it'd be very hard for you know I'm holding my like iPhone here and it's like he's been impressed to build that iPhone yeah for me you know we all the way we live um you know there's it's it's built into the way our world is and I don't think any of us get a kind of get out card so yeah yeah it's very true very true and a very hard hitting isn't it it's like um Jesus uses this phrase you know before you try and take the plank out of somebody else's eye look sorry before we take the spec out somebody else I try and take that you know have a look at the plank that's in your own eye and that I think is one of the things that when you come face to face with the gospel of Christ that's one of the things it causes you to do is it causes you to reflect on your own attitude on your own Lifestyle on their own way that you do things um and you you can't escape it is super confrontational uh you know super confrontational so let's get into um what's Matt put here join us join us for our midweek crowd prayer Zoom 8 PM Wednesday if you do want to come join us by the way we've got midweek groups uh do get in touch with us about the website let us know we'll buy WhatsApp which is also on the website crowd.churchshop with a little link on there thanks for the reminder Matt hey buddies put here join us for our midweek crowd prayers in 8pm Wednesday UK time that's 3 P.M Eastern Matt Edmondson will probably get us off Zoom onto a poorer platform shortly for our midweek so I think Matt you've got issues uh about the Facebook thing you need to let it go but but I do appreciate what you're saying and um you know if you've got any thoughts on whether we should just be YouTube only or whether we should actually still be on Facebook do let us know we genuinely would love to hear from you it is an experiment um so yeah so uh Jesus being the way the truth and the life and I think it was a really interesting uh Paradox that Sharon brought out here about how Jesus is in some ways quite exclusive saying I am the way and excluding every other route to Christ it started to rain really heavy you might be able to hear this uh it's just properly bucking it down right now uh that might explain why your power was going out uh I'm already running out get Andy pedal on his bike quicker uh Andy is uh and he's Anna's husband by the way who's uh I'm sorry uh generating electricity right now um so yeah so in some respects Jesus is saying I am the way is quite exclusive um and people have a hard-ish hardish time with that statement um but also uh it's very inclusive because he's he's the way for everybody right and um he doesn't leave anybody out and it in effect it comes down to you your choice it's not a birth thing it's not a um you know where you were born what family you're with it's actually it's open to everybody so at the same time the gospel is both inclusive inclusive and exclusive and I thought that was quite an interesting point she bought out yeah I think so and you know I mean she picked up a bit on this as well but I think it's it's quite a as you said it's a really bold statement to make in this kind of world view that we live in now where it's like well that's your truth and this is mine and we can all leave something different and all of it's true and you know to laugh about Facebook but you know algorithms give people different truths you know hot you know not I don't want to get too political but like half of America thinks one person won the last election any other half of America think the other person won and they can't both have won somebody won and someone lost that yeah it's not both those things can be true like he's right and he's wrong and then I think we live in this weird world where we believe that we like it sounds inclusive doesn't it say well everyone's right but actually when you really comes down to her to push unsure of like somebody there has to be an ultimate truth there not everyone can be right if two people are saying the opposite things like you know it's not just you could say to a republican he's saying Trump won the last election you could say well that's your truth and it's right for you but you know it's got to be right for the whole of America because it happens it works and actually when you follow that argument through it doesn't make huge intellectual sense and then I love what she said about it it's both intellectual and it's but it's also a relational truth and and I think that's the thing it's like it doesn't make total intellectual sense when you you follow that argument through but also it doesn't make relational sense either because like yeah it's it's a personal it's a personal truth that you experienced and like um yeah no it's true yeah well it's funny isn't it it's true it is and I I I I find it fascinating this whole you know you in effect you have said something I don't like it because it has consequences for me therefore I feel oppressed and therefore what I'm going to say is that's that's your truth that's not my truth and actually we've substituted the word truth with experience in other words that's your experience that's not my experience um and we start saying you know you live your truth which like you I find a very peculiar in a lot of ways because how can you how can how can both sides of the uh presidential debate be right they can't right yeah it's a really I think it's on your spot on and also even when you take it to a more personal level than that it's like how can like we all we all believe at some level as kind of unorganized society that there's there's things that are true and false that there's things that are good and bad there's also there's certain behaviors and things that we all agree or wrong like you shouldn't murder someone you know and and we live in a lawful Society where because we all saved as an ultimate truth that certain things are okay and certain things aren't so I think at some level everybody would agree that that is that is an absolute that is a right and a wrong a black and white somewhere and yeah of course there's lots of areas that are more great but it just feels to me that it's disingenuous genuine and like you can't really argue that through and nobody really wants to live in a society where there's no truth and there's no absolute right or wrong it sounds nice when as you say it's like therefore I don't have to be challenged on anything but actually when you follow that through to conclusion nobody really believes that I don't think no not when you look at the big picture yeah like you say there are certain things that they'll go well no that of course that's you're right you can't murder somebody and why would we call Putin's War an unjust War if there was no absolute truth or if there was no objective morality because it's kind of like well what how what makes it unjust Jimmy answer me that question he was in some respects he was responding to the fact he didn't want the Ukraine's joined forces with NATO right he felt inside of what Putin felt to be fair I died opinions on that aside but it's that kind of thing where his truth or his his understanding of facts was very different to the rest of the world and he and you know and we call it unjust he calls it just unrighteous he is freeing the oppressed right um and so again we can't both be right and so we call it fake news don't we yeah we do you know Trump talks a lot about this as well but we call it fake news so he's telling his country a whole different version of reality to the rest of the world um you know because of carefully and state media they hear a very different truth to us but not both of those sites can be true you can't know yes yeah I think we've kind of bought this view quite a lot in certainly my generation and younger younger Generations uh Millennials and what have you ate but um yeah I I just don't I don't think it's all that helpful uh yeah I just think actually when you step back from it it sounds nice but it doesn't actually yeah it doesn't actually lead to like the way the truth and the life as Jesus said like there has to be an obsolete to to find the way the truth and the life doesn't that like to be an absolute um it does and it's I think it's an interesting order of words you start with Jesus being the way you then end up with Jesus being the true thing you end up with Jesus being the life and it's kind of like there is this routine which says I somehow have to wrestle with the fact that Jesus is who he says he is or he isn't right and because he makes this statement I'm the way the truth of Life he's either lying or is not right he can't he can't he can't be a nice guy because he's either a blatant liar or a lunatic or is actually telling the truth right and it's not just you know my truth or Jesus the truth this is just common sense and so you wrestle with this idea it is Jesus away and then you are confronted with truth and so you then wrestle with the fact well am I going to live my life according to his truth according to the truth of Christ and this is where a lot of people struggle because a lot of people want control and it's like no no I want to make my own choices and it's like well you can still make your own choices but there's a fundamental truth here that we have to surrender to and if we do that then I think we find life but I think a lot of people are wanting to skip the way and the truth and just go straight to having a great life and so if I ignore the rest of it um I.E there's no truth and Jesus is not the only way my way is the right way for me because that's my truth then surely I have found life and you kind of go have you really I don't know do you mean that there seems to be some kind of structure in the statement here maybe I'm over analyzing it I don't know yeah I think that's interesting I think in a sense they do follow on from each other don't they and um yeah and I think what you end up with if you follow that three to conclusion is like so choose my way and my truth and then what I'm left with is my life the life I've already got not the life the eternal life that you know what offers that it's the fullness of life that Jesus promises it's like what you end up with is just life you have as I asked your life your kind of your your way your truth but it's not eternal life and it's not fullness of life it's just I don't know yeah it's it yeah it's um I don't I don't think you can mix the tea together can you and somehow get to eternal life well it's not according to um not according to Jesus uh you know you may have a different you I I know there's people going to be listening to this game guys just come on you can't sing that way anymore and I'm but it's I struggle with this be your own truth because it's so uncertain and because I I'm going to change my opinion every other day because my feelings my emotions change every other day right so what am I basing my life on and I think one of the things that we would say that characterizes Christians um certainly hear a crowd is actually we base our life on the truth of God that we as much as we can submit to his truth we're gonna we're gonna find out a lot more about what that actually is um you know and some of the statements that Jesus continues to make as we go through the Gospel of John as in the New Year we're going to hit the book of Acts um and we're going to find some incredible stuff uh in there and it's not all bad news let me tell you it's actually all good news uh and it's it's all wonderful stuff but I think that that should be one of the things that characterizes as Christians is we actually go there is a version I I always describe it like this right let's take a little quiz uh Mrs Carroll uh this is not a trick question uh let me just clarify I'm not trying to catch you out if I was to ask you ready yeah yeah how fast are you traveling right well I'm sitting still but I suppose I'm traveling if I'm if the Earth is spinning and I'm on it exactly right so you're sitting still so relative to everything around you you are not moving but if you look at how fast the Earth spins you know how fast it spins okay thousand miles an hour there are there abouts so if I said to you how fast are you traveling and you say to me I'm moving at about a thousand miles an hour actually it's probably quite a reasonable statement to make and then you think about well hang on a minute the Earth orbits the Sun do you know how fast the Earth orbits the Sun no I think it's just shy of around 30 000 miles an hour uh and so uh I've never been done for speeding and had to go to court but part of me is tempted if that ever did have ever did happen and the Jewish history how fast are you traveling I got about 30 000 miles from uh let's see what see what fines you come out with no don't do that obviously uh but it in one sense this here's the thing relative to how I feel right now I'm not moving right but it when I understand the truth that is beyond my circumstance and Beyond what I feel I have a different understanding if I understood how fast the Galaxy was spinning maybe I'd have an even bigger understanding and what we're saying is is the ultimate truth is Christ right and that there are things that we perceive to be true but actually when we take a step back and look at things in the context of Christ there is absolute truth and that's why we say that there is absolute truth and that that truth is Jesus does that make sense it does there's a really good way of looking at it actually I haven't thought about it like that before but perspective is everything isn't it like we only see life through the some narrow perspective of our world view and the way we look at life but God's perspective is so much bigger than ours and so much you know with so much wider lens isn't it as it were and and we only see part of the truth and that that's what the Bible says and he sees the whole of Truth the whole of time the whole of the story in one go and we only see that tiny moment that we're in now and how we're feeling it and I don't know to make that the center point of all of it seem as a little bit egocentric doesn't it and small it really does it it it really this egocentric is a great word it is a good word Pete Farrington uh gave a great example a couple of weeks ago when he talked about his little lad and he said you know what my little like I think it's two years old something like that cute little boy actually uh and he says he was talking about how when he disciplines his son his son has a very limited view of what is right and what is proper and what is good and so when he takes something away from his two-year-old son and he kicks up a fuss the opinion of his two-year-old son is this is not right but him as a father has a slightly bigger view of what's best for his son it's not like Pete's trying to hack him off he's just doing what he thinks is the right thing to do to be a parent and I think we are like that two-year-old kid throwing a tantrum quite often yeah and we just don't see the bigger picture the truth of God and stretching that out so Anna listen as you said we're talkers we are talkers we do like to have a conversation thank you uh yeah it's good I enjoyed that there's some good Systematic Theology there so uh if you're still with us it's great that you're still here if you are watching on catch up um do come and join us on the live streams and this way you should get to join in the conversations let's see Sarah's been in the comments uh yeah Matt says we're heading over to YouTube only within the next few weeks uh we won't be able to have the same level of banter due to the public Arena of the platform but we'll have the memories that Facebook live streams gave us so uh if you're wondering what Matt is talking about we are uh sort of moving away from doing both YouTube and Facebook to just focus on our live stream on YouTube and we're going to experiment and see how that's going so uh do come and join we will post links still on Facebook and links to the YouTube channel and all that sort of stuff so you will be able to come join us but if you haven't done so already head over to YouTube subscribe to crowdchurch get the little bell notification and um and when we're live it will come up hopefully on my little phone and tell you that we're live and come join in the conversation as normal uh but yeah Anna what's coming up next week next week we have um a friend called Sherlock coming to speak to us on the next session from the gospel of Mark um John sorry what gospel are we in again John and Shalon is um his friend of ours from church isn't he he's a great guy he's a teacher isn't he yeah he is his day job yeah he's a bad guy dad of two and yeah I'm sure I'll have loads of great stuff to talk about so I'm looking forward to that one yeah I have no doubt I actually used to live with Sherlock you know yeah yeah a long time ago before we were both married uh and so yeah I lived with sherlon uh absolute Legend he's an athlete he would tell us a regularly when we were living together I'm an athlete and um with an F not with a th not an athlete but an athlete and love show on to bits he's an athlete so come and join Cheryl on the athlete next week you know it's going to be good he's an absolute Legend he's spoken on crowd before uh love the Manta bits he's such a cool dude I wish I could be as cool as shirlon he just he just has this sort of swagger about him doesn't he and he's just like yeah he's very laid back Mr chill to me so yeah he does everyone get on some banter next week athleticism yeah absolutely you'll enjoy it uh but yeah come join us on Facebook uh Facebook YouTube I will put the notes on Facebook uh but yeah that's it for me that's it from and as Matt said earlier if you would like to join us joy midweek it'll be great to see you we do have midweek groups uh and if you uh before I come join us on Zoom come say how's it uh you don't have to be a Christian at all uh we enjoy the debate and we enjoy the conversation more information can be found on our website crowd.church or you can reach out to us on social media at crowd Church there's also a WhatsApp number on the website which you can reach us on we would love to hear from you uh we get prayer requests all the time and so we appreciate you guys sending those in we do pray and we'll continue to pray uh going forward so yes uh Matt says remain blessed everyone au revoir Facebook he's speaking French now I mean that it's it's getting bad uh he's speaking French uh but yes uh that's it from us uh thank you for joining us it's been an absolute treat to be with you talking about this topic um if we have said something which you have found that may be controversial or slightly offended please don't be a we're not here to offend you we're just here to have a conversation come join in the conversation that's the beauty of this kind of stuff right it's uh it's just we like debate we like conversation so we would love to hear from you uh that's it from myself that's it from Anna uh have a fantastic week uh anything else from you Mrs Kell no just enjoyed the conversation tonight and everyone have a lovely week we'll see you soon absolutely we're going to end the live stream now see you next time