Some people, a deaf man and Jesus - Mark 7:31-37

Some people, a deaf man and Jesus - Mark 7_31-37 Matt: [00:00:00] So. We are gonna carry on, uh, like I say, our study in Mark's gospel, and we've been going through it. If, if this is your first week with us, if you're new with us, what we've been doing is we've been going through Mark's Gospel week by week, and we take like a section of the gospel and we just look at that section and then next week we look at the next section and so on and so forth. Uh, and we've. Been doing that, and the last few weeks have been absolutely fascinating because the stories have taken this sort of real interest in twist where, uh, two weeks ago we talked about how Jesus deals with prejudice and what he, what, you know, his response to prejudice. Um, and last week Sharon talked about, um. How Jesus deals with sexism. And she was great, wasn't she? Sharon? Loved that. Uh, loved that word that she bought. Absolutely fantastic. Uh, and just sort of Jesus' challenging everybody's at, uh, everybody's attitudes towards women at the time, which was amazing. [00:01:00] And so, uh, Mark's kind of taken this interest in turn, and we're gonna carry on a little bit in that vein it seems, with this week's story, because Jesus, um, is, is sort of challenging, a few preconceptions, but there's, there's so much in this story. I've been kind of chewing on this all week, let me tell you. And, um, the hardest thing is figuring what to leave out when you prep these talks. Um, let me tell you, it's just insane. Uh, but. We are gonna get into it. So that's sort of the background. We're in Mark's gospel. Jesus has challenged people's perceptions about different people groups. He's challenged people's perceptions about women. And we are gonna pick up the story in Mark's gospel at chapter seven. So let's bring up the Bible verses here. So it says this after this, after, uh, after Sharon's talk, that's what it means. Uh, after Sharon's talk, Jesus left the coastline, uh, of Tarn came through Seden and on his way to, uh, sorry, came to Seden on his way to Lake Galilee over into [00:02:00] the regions of Syria. Now, some people bought to him a deaf man with a severe speech impediment. Uh, they pleaded with Jesus to place his hands on him and heal him. Now, let me. There we go. Uh, so Jesus led him away from the Crowd to a private spot. Then he stuck his fingers into the man's ears, uh, and placed some saliva on the man's tongue. How did he do that? Uh, then he gazed into heaven, sighed deeply, and spoke to the man's ears and tongue. Uh, epatha. I dunno if I'm pronouncing that right, but let's, that's a good go all Say that with me. Epatha, uh, which is Aramaic for Open up now. And so, um, at once the man's ears opened and he could hear perfectly, and his tongue was untied, and he began to speak normally, which is amazing, right? And Jesus ordered everyone to keep this miracle a secret. The, but the more he told them not to, the [00:03:00] more the news spread. Uh, the people were absolutely beside themselves and astonished beyond measure, and they began to declare everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf here and the mute speak. Okay. Oh, some great verses there, isn't there? And so there's three, three specific groups or three specific people, uh, that I wanna look at, uh, in this story if I can. And the first group, uh, is this group here, some people. Um, so there's a Crowd of people and out of this Crowd, some people emerge and they bring to Jesus, uh, the deaf man with a severe speech impediment, which is the second person I wanna look at. Um, and the third person I wanna look at, of course, is Jesus. Because as we all know, every good story is centered around Jesus. And this one is no exception. So let's deal with some people. Let's look at h who these people are. So when I read, um, [00:04:00] stories like this, um, and I read just these little phrases, like some people, the first question in my head is, well, who are those and why? Uh, why is the Bible sort of bringing our attention to some people? Okay, so we read, uh, here in the verse that Jesus is in a place called s. Uh, and Seden, just so you know, was a bit of a bustling city at this point. It was a thriving town, lots of trade. It's in modern day Lebanon and it's up on the coast north of Israel. Um, and actually Seden is mentioned quite a lot in the Old Testament, and not in a good way, if I'm honest with you. Um, there's a lot of Old Testament prophecies. Sort of rallying against, uh, side and prophesying its destruction and it's, you know, the fact it's gonna get conquered, which happens numerous times, right? Every single one of the Old Testament prophecies comes true. Uh, another bit of an interesting fact for you, Siden gets his name. Does anybody know from where? From Noah's great [00:05:00] grandson for those of you who like Bible trivia? Uh, so Noah's great grandson was called Seden, and this is where the name came from. So at the time of Jesus, it had been conquered and destroyed many times. But under Roman rule, it was again, a thriving city, a port city, but it was a pagan city. And throughout the Old Testament and in the time of Jesus, people from side and oppressed Israel, there's this big sort of tradition and history of oppression, right? Um, and yet Jesus goes there to sort of minister. And this is, this is carrying on this theme, isn't it, of, uh, of dealing with sexism and prejudice. The last, the last two weeks we've been talking about. Because here's another people group that have historically persecuted Israel and the Jewish people, they don't worship the same God that, you know, they've got all kinds of issues going on. And yet Jesus goes there to preach the gospel again, tearing down these walls and these barriers of segregation. [00:06:00] Um. In people's minds, Do you know what I mean? And just going to these places that everybody, at the time, all the religious people at the time thought you just should not go. And Jesus goes there, uh, and shows us a great sort of attitude. And in the scripture it says here, when he gets there, some people bought to him a deaf man. Now some people. So it is reasonable to assume, um, that some people were probably, uh, IANS. Or Ians Sidon, IANS people from Sidon or Sen. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that right. It's getting all wrong today, isn't it? Um. So they were from Seiden, so there were side audiences. It's reasonable to assume that, and actually if you head back a few chapters in Mark's gospel, you know that these people would've, um, more than likely seen and encountered Jesus already. It's not the first encounter Jesus has with them, and it's not the first time that he sort of does a miracle amongst these sorts of, you know, amongst these guys, amongst [00:07:00] these people. And the interesting thing to notice about 'em, not only were Ians not religious, um, but they, they weren't really. In the eyes of the church or the, the religious institutions at the time, they weren't really clever people. Um, they weren't smart people. They were just regular people, right? Ordinary people. People not particularly liked by the religious folks. They didn't have any special skills or abilities, it seems. They weren't leaders, they weren't kings, they were just. Ordinary people. So some people were ordinary people just like you, just like me. And they make this amazing difference to this guy's life, right? Because they bring to Jesus this man with a severe speech impediment. Okay? And here's the thing, here's a question for you. What would've happened had they not have brought this guy to Jesus? Um, the guy with a severe speech impediment who was deaf. I kind of wonder if he had a, died, a deaf guy with severe [00:08:00] speech impediment because some people didn't intervene and didn't bring him to Jesus. And I wonder if sometimes the thing that stops Jesus doing things in people's lives is fundamentally because some people haven't intervened. Um, normal folks every day. Folks, people like you and me who have encountered Jesus before we, we haven't intervened and, and brought somebody to Jesus. Does that make sense? So these guys, they bring, uh, the deaf man with a speech impediment, Jesus. And it says here, they pleaded with Jesus to place his hands on him and heal people. So if I look at this and go, well, what's the challenge for me here is the challenge actually, that there are people around me who are so hurt, that are so broken, that are so ill that they don't know to actually go to Jesus for themselves. They need somebody to take them, somebody to guide them, somebody to show them, somebody to help them, somebody to intervene. And so if that's me, if I, if I [00:09:00] take that as a challenge to myself, who do I need to bring to Jesus? Who around me is hurting that I need to bring, I then kind of go down the question of, well, well, how do I do that? Because obviously, you know, I, there's not a Crowd I can just take people to, and there's Jesus standing doing his thing. Uh, we can get into church in a minute, but Do you know what I mean? It's how do I bring people to Jesus? And there's a clue here where it says they pleaded with Jesus to heal, uh, to lay hands on him and heal him. And, and in Christians circles, we talk about this like intercession, Prayer and intercession. And that for me is what Prayer and intercession is. It's where we stand before Jesus and ask him to do something for someone else who, who don't know to ask for themselves to do that. Do you see what I mean? So there. Here we are standing before Jesus. We are some people and we are asking him to do stuff for somebody else that doesn't know, to ask him to do that because we know he can do it, because we've [00:10:00] experienced that, because we've seen him do that kind of amazing stuff. And that's what intercession is. That's what's Prayer. That's what Prayer is. So how do we bring people to Jesus? Well, we can do it with Prayer. We can do that with intercession, can't we? And that's what bringing to people is all about. And that's the some people in this story. Uh oh. Sarah just put a comment up here. I like that some people equals ordinary people like me and you. Yeah, absolutely. It is definitely ordinary people. I like that as well, because I, you know. We're not all kings and queens. Uh, Martin, you don't need to correct my theology just there, just, just say, uh, what Sharon's put here. Sharon's James four, two. You do not have because you do not ask. That's right. That's a great thing, isn't it? We, we have to ask and sometimes people don't know to ask. They dunno how to ask. They dunno how to ask for themselves. So they need people to, to intercede and act on their behalf, to ask God to do something, [00:11:00] to lay hands on people and to bring that healing. Abby's put here. Love it, Matt. Amen and amen. Amen. Okay, so. Notice the Crowd for a second here. And this is an interesting thing, isn't it? There's a Crowd of people and the Bible draws our attention to the fact there's a Crowd of people. Um, and outta that Crowd comes some people. And what I find fascinating about this is sort of a great picture of modern day, the modern day world, isn't it? Uh, there are people who would've stayed at home, they would've heard, oh, Jesus is around. I just can't be bothered. I don't want to go and find out. I don't want to go and explore. I don't want to go and see if all of this stuff is real, all I don't wanna know if the rumors. I hear a true, I just can't be bothered. I'm happy in my own happy world, I'm gonna stay at home. And then there are people which go, you know what, no, I want to go find out. I want to go see if Jesus is all he's cracked up to be. Right. I want to know the truth of what's going on here. And so that's the Crowd of people. They get outta their house, they hear Jesus around and they go searching for him. And there are people in that [00:12:00] Crowd of various different types of sort of, um, ideology aren't there? There's gonna be people there who are hurt and who need healing. There are people who are just curious, just trying to find out. People have never heard of him before and just. Wanna know what's going on. There'll be people there that are just there to cause trouble. They're like, you know what, this is all nonsense and this is all there. And I, you know, uh, I I, I don't want to, I don't wanna be here, but I want to, I wanna talk down everything that you are doing. And then there are some people which step out of the Crowd and do something a little bit different to bring to Jesus those whom society. Let's face it, had written this guy off. Um, and who was be beyond that kind of help. And so, I dunno about you, but I want to be like some people. I don't just wanna stand in the Crowd. I mean, the Crowd for me is a, is a sort of a picture of modern day church. We, we go to church to find out about God, to see God, to experience God, and the crowds would've done that. Um. There has [00:13:00] to be more than just being in the Crowd. There has to be that element of bringing the hurting and the, and the sick, and those that need that transformation of Christ into their lives. There has to be that element of it. Does that make sense? So for me, that's some people. Okay, so let's move on to the third group, uh, which is the, or this third group, head of myself here, the second guy, right? So some people brought to him the deaf man with severe speech impediment. Now, this is fascinating for me. Um, this guy obviously needed a miracle, needed some help. Um, he was deaf and he needed a speech, and he had a speech impediment. He didn't need one. He had one and he needed to get rid of it. Um, and as far as I know, again, I'm gonna stick with this regular guy. As far as I know, this guy was a regular guy. He wasn't a city leader. He wasn't, um. You know, a, a, a businessman necessarily. I dunno who he was. We don't know about him. His background, his history, his education, his, uh, his class, his status. None of that makes any difference [00:14:00] in the Bible. Um, we just know that this guy stands there before Jesus and Jesus does something quite miraculous, uh, in his life. Right? But I want you to picture the scene. Okay. Um. Again, if it helps close your eyes, just think about what's going on and set the scene in your mind. Right? We know there's a Crowd of people we know. It's a hot day. The sun is gonna be strong and relentless, right? You can smell the sands that is moving in the air on the on the light offshore breeze coming in. You can hear the noise of the Crowd, you can see them, you can probably smell them, right. Uh, you have people just hanging around, watching and waiting. You have people crying out for help trying to get to the front of the Crowd to see Jesus. Um, you've got people shouting, obscenity and blasphemy because they don't know any better. Kids are running around not sure how, what to make of the whole thing, right? It's chaos, it's loud, it's bustling, and there's life in it. And at the edge of [00:15:00] this Crowd. You have the disciples and you have Jesus, and they're talking to some people, um, and their standing with them is this chap who is deaf and mute, and he's standing there in front of Jesus and he's standing there in front of this whole Crowd of people. And the reason why I find this fascinating is because I'm trying to imagine now, right? How this guy is feeling. Does he feel like he's on show? Do you know what I mean? He's, he's sort of this public spectacle for all to see does he feel nervous? Is he supposed to act in a certain way? Is he supposed to do something? Is everybody looking at him because he is a freak? Um, maybe this is just one big elaborate joke, you know, that, that people are playing on him. And he, he doesn't really sort of the last person to know about it. And I guess we've all had those same thoughts, right? We all can stand before Jesus and we can feel exposed. Um, and like the attention of the world is upon us. Um, like we've been set up maybe, and this is all one big [00:16:00] hoax, and I'm the last person to know about it. And I wonder if this is the reason that Jesus takes him aside. So let me, uh, where's that? I just need to move. There we go. So it says here, Jesus led him away from the Crowd to a private spot. Jesus withdraws him, uh, to the private spot, to this private place. And that, let me tell you, that intrigues me. No end. What did Jesus say to the Crowd to get them to stay where they were as he wanders off with this guy? What did they think when he did that? What wa what was going on in their mind? So they were, they kind of thinking, this guy is way beyond help and maybe Jesus has taken him aside to let him down gently. Do you know what I mean? Be and just sort of send him on his way. Uh, I don't know, but for me. I think the [00:17:00] reason Jesus did it, and I'm, I'm kind of happy with this theory, is that he didn't need to put on a show for this guy to get him healed. He didn't need to put on a show for the Crowd. And I wonder whether the dignity of the person was more important than the, than the show. Do you know what I mean? Than the extravaganza, than the, the lights, the smoke machines and all that sort of stuff. Was the dignity of that person more important? And don't get me wrong, sometimes Jesus heals in crowds. He heals at big meetings. He heals, uh, in those environments. And there's faith there and there's a buildup of faith there. And it's great and it's wonderful, but quite often Jesus will take you to a private spot, to a private place, and he can do miracles there too. And, and I love that, uh, about Jesus and I love that, that he's, he's, he's God in the crowds, but he's God in the private space. And it's, it's a beautiful thing. And again, I look at this and I kind of think, well, the guys, there's some people said, no, no, no. What, what I want you to do, Jesus. I want you to lay hands on him. And [00:18:00] so he gets healed. And, but that's not what happens, is it? And I, and I kind of think, well, oftentimes, if I think back on my own life, Jesus doesn't always answer Prayer in the way that I'm expecting it. Right. The mechanism, if you like, of Jesus's healing here is he shives his fingers in the fell's ears and spits on his tongue. Uh, that's, that's a little bit different to laying hands on somebody, right? And so how many times have you seen it? How many times have you experienced this? How many times have you experienced it whereby you've gone to God and you've said, God, I need such and such, I need to be healed. Um, and here's the, here's the methodology you can use to do that, right? Which is what some people did. They, they went to Jesus and said, this guy needs healing, so lay your hands on him to do that. So this is what I want and this is how I want you to do it. Um, so this is the methodology, this is the mechanism of how you are handsome. My Prayer. Um, but Jesus doesn't. He doesn't answer the Prayer in the way that they [00:19:00] expect. He doesn't follow their methodology, he doesn't follow their mechanism. Uh, and I think I've got here in my notes that sometimes we have to deal with the fact that the journey to answered Prayer is as important as the answer itself, but the journey may not be what we expect. Lemme say that again. The journey to answered Prayer is as important as the answer itself, but sometimes the journey might not be what we expect. Right. Uh, as Matt has just put here, Jesus certainly is unpredictable. He is totally right. He's not confined to our box or our methodology or our mechanism, um, but. There's one thing that I do know that whilst the journey may look different, whilst the mechanism, whilst the methodology looks different for everybody, um, for some folks it may be as straightforward as just Jesus laying his hands on you or you gonna church getting someone to lay their hands on you, and you get praying, you get, you know, you get healed. For others. Others, it may be in a [00:20:00] private spot, it may be in a secluded spot. It may be upon a mountain where we've taken four days out to be with Jesus. There could be all kinds of things, right? Our journeys are gonna look different. But I do know one thing at the end of it. The fundamental thing that Jesus is concerned about is the wholeness of the person stood in front of him. Um, Jesus always brings about wholeness is another way to put it. And I think, uh, I think that's super important. What have you put here, babe? Uh oh. There we go. God really answers my prayers in the way I think he will. It generally looks very different in reality, doesn't it? Doesn't it just, I mean, you prayed for a husband and look what he sent you. Very different. Anyway, so let me go back to this point. Jesus fundamentally is concerned, I think about wholeness. Wholeness of your, the, of the totality of your being. The, and the journey, the mechanism that he takes you [00:21:00] on. Uh, the methodology that he uses to get you to that place of wholeness is not predictable. It is not always, uh. Safe. So don't lose heart if you've, if plan a, plan B or even plan C is not quite working out how you think it should, um, because it doesn't matter. Jesus is still involved. He still cares and he's still concerned about your wholeness. And that's his ultimate aim is the wholeness of you and this world that is before him. Right? And so, uh. I have no doubt that what Jesus does in your life and what he does in my life is a beautiful thing. It's a miraculous thing. It is a whole thing and will be transformed, and we will have all these amazing stories. Uh, like this deaf and mute guy had this amazing story to tell afterwards. Um, but the journey to get there wasn't predictable. And so, uh, which I was good news for me. Uh, I very, very good news. [00:22:00] Yes, she is. Matt. I'm not gonna lie. She is, but not as blessed as I am. Okay, so let's carry on with this. So we've got, uh, in this, the, some people, we have got the deaf man with a speech impediment. Um, and I think Jesus saves his dignity and brings about wholeness in such a special and phenomenal and fantastic way. Um, but of course we've got Jesus. Uh, Jesus is the center of this story. Like I say, Jesus is the center of every good story. And so let's look at uh, what has happened in this. Lemme see if I can bring up the verse here. So, Jesus leads him away to the private spot, sticks his fingers in his ears, spits on his tongue. Gaze into heaven and commands everything to be opened. And that once the man's ears were open and he could hear perfectly and his tongue was united and he began to speak normally, look at that for me [00:23:00] is the very definition of wholeness. Actively working right? Um, Christians use this word salvation a lot. I dunno if you've come across this, but we use the word salvation a lot. And salvation, um, is when you get into what it actually means. It's. It's such a big word. It's such an amazing word. It's such a fantastic word. It means nothing missing, nothing broken. It is wholeness personified. I mean, it is just the whole big picture. So not only did Jesus get this guy's ears to ho to open, but it once, and he could hear perfectly right, but his tongue was untied and he began to speak normally. This guy never spoke normally his whole life, yet in an instant he speaks normally. And so he is not just, uh, you know, interested in getting the guy's ears open and then saying they go have at it, go figure out how to talk now. And no, Jesus is all about wholeness. Do you remember the story? Um. In chapter five where we looked [00:24:00] at, uh, the woman with the issue of blood. So she'd been bleeding out for 13 years and she said, if I touch the hem of his garment talking about Jesus, she spent everything she could with all kinds of doctors, but nothing had worked. She'd grown worse over the years. She was an outcast. There was, she was unclean. Nothing was going well for this lady, but in an instant, she touches the hem of his garment and she says, if I touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. And what's really fascinating in that story is instantly she feels healed and there's a big difference between healed and wholeness, right? And so she feels healed. She feels that healing in her body straight away, but that wasn't wholeness. And so Jesus stops and he goes, oh, hang on a minute. Someone's just touched me, who touched me? And this woman comes before him trembling and tells him the whole story. And then he says to her, this fascinating word, daughter. Your faith has made you whole. And I, I just find it fascinating that not only [00:25:00] did she get healed, but she wanted to be made whole. And Jesus was concerned about wholeness and for her wholeness was being restored back to the family. She'd been an outcast, uh, from society. She thought she was unclean, that God didn't care, that God didn't love her. And in an instant, God just demolishes that whole thing by calling her daughter and takes her from healed. To whole. And that is a beautiful thing, let me tell you. Uh, and that's what Jesus does. And when he does that, we see here that, uh, where are we? Here we go. They were absolutely besides himself and astonish beyond measure because that's what Jesus does, right? When you, when you encounter him, when you see him, you become astonished. Beyond measure, I think is such a great phrase. We become besides ourselves and we become astonished beyond measure because that's just how it works, right? It doesn't matter who you are. I dunno. What you've had in life, I dunno. What you've not had in life, I [00:26:00] dunno what you've missed, I dunno what you've, um, missed out on. I dunno what was taken away from you. I dunno what was not given to you or what was given to you. What I do know is that he will astonish you beyond measure because that's Jesus and that's the gospel. When we encounter him, he makes us whole, not instantly all the time. Let me get you, there is a process. Definitely I'm on a journey, but he's, he cares about wholeness and he's all about taking me on this journey to being whole. Everything he does, look at what the people say here. Everything he does is wonderful. Everything he does is wonderful. This is a true statement today as it was back then. Um, he's still astonishes today. You know, when I was 18, I'm, I moved abroad. And lived outside of the UK for a little while, and while I was away, I, I came fa I had to some friends in effect brought me to Jesus, is the best way to describe it. Some people acted in my life and they brought me to [00:27:00] Jesus and I stood before Jesus, just him and me in that private spot. And I had to answer, um, some, I had to go and find the answer. I had to search out and dig in. Is this true? What's the evidence? Am I just missing out on something? Uh. When I began to see him and experience him and experience the miraculous touch of Christ, that transforming grace that brings about the change of a person's heart, that deals with the sin, that deals with the bitterness and the anger, and the loneliness, and the resentment, and the anxiety, and the fear, and the worry, and the death and the sickness, and. All of the evil and contract things in my heart, when he took them aside and started to transform me, I was absolutely beside myself. Uh, and astonished beyond measure and have been every day since for the last 25 years because this is what Jesus is. He's a transforming God. And you see this [00:28:00] in this story, right? And so, uh. They're, they're the three sort of people groups from the story that I wanna draw your attention to. There's some people who do we need to bring before God that cannot speak for themselves, that cannot ask for themselves, that dunno what to ask that dunno how to behave that, think that they're not quite right for the touch of God. Um, if we're the, the, the deaf guy, um. Where do we need to stand? Where is Jesus positioning us? Is it in a Crowd? Is it in a private spot? What's he saying to us? What's the wholeness that needs to come into our lives? What's that area that he needs to, to transform and to change in our lives? Um, and if you've, if you've never experienced Christ, if you don't know him, if you've never actually. Encountered him in a way that this guy did in the story in a way that I [00:29:00] did 25 years ago and just about every day since. Um, can I encourage you to do so? Can I encourage you to get before God and stand before him? And if you need somebody to take you there, then do get in touch. 'cause we'll happily do it. Um, and it can be as simple as God just changed my life. Um, take my life. Whatever you, whatever you can do with it, it's yours and I'm happy that you take it, which is what I said 25 years ago. I dunno what I've got, I dunno what I can give. I dunno where we're gonna go to. Alright, let's see where it goes. And so amazing stuff, right? So they all, sorry I've been, all your comments are coming in now. Oh, we've got Al Marshal on. Excellent. Hey Al. Great to have you buddy. One of our fantastic NHS guys. Uh, yeah, he met Edmundson. Found Jesus. Our lives are greatly enriched. Absolutely. I did. Well, maybe he found me. It's probably more important. Um. Heal anyone Lord who [00:30:00] feels incomplete, heal, reach and love. Amen. So if you're watching this, um, and you need that healing touch, if you need healing, if you need to be made whole, I pray that you will know without I pray that you will know, uh, that touch, uh, and that you will feel that touch in Jesus' name. Okay? So I hope you've got something outta this. Uh, let me, why does that not come up? Oh, press the wrong button. There we go. So, questions, what's your takeaway from this talk? So here you go. You've heard me ramble on for a little while. Um, probably slightly longer than normal. I do apologize for that. Um. What did you get at What's God been saying to you during this talk? Share your thoughts and the comments. Um, share them with everybody. What you are thinking. Uh, what's God been saying to you? What have you feel challenged about? Maybe, um, what do you feel thankful for? Uh, what how's God made you whole? Um, to share those things in the comments so people can see. 'cause we all get blessed and encouraged by [00:31:00] different people's comments, which is fantastic. Uh, be good to see those. I'm just getting set up here so I can see the comment feed better. So yeah, keep, keep, keep, keep your comments coming. It's great to have so many people with stake. Great to see you. Um. As I said in a few minutes where I'm gonna go through the comments in just one second in a few minutes, we are gonna head over to Zoom. So hopefully you are typing your comments as we speak. I always, I know there's always a bit of a delay. Um, we're gonna, so in a few minutes time, we're gonna head on over to Zoom and carry on conversations over there. We're gonna pray, um, and catch up with each of the Sharon, my beautiful wife. Um, you've seen a popup on the feed every now and again, uh, is gonna be leading that section. Um, in fact, let me. Is it still in there? It is. I'll put the link in the comments below to Zoom so you can join us on Zoom there if you'd like to. It'd be great to see you over there. Um, so what's Matt [00:32:00] put here? Thankful for community, even in isolation and lockdown. Absolutely. Uh, and that's, that's a, that's another cool thing, isn't it, about what you read in this story. Um, some people bought their friend. Uh, they were community. They looked out for this guy even though he was, um, even though he was maybe not supposed to be there. And, uh, I kind of think community is such a powerful thing. Such a lovely thing. Uh, and so even simple things like al knocking on the door today and catching up. Just wonderful. Just lovely. Um, going over to Zoom, catching up with you would be fantastic. Love, community. Uh, what have you put here, babe? My takeaway is to take people to Jesus. Whether that's through Prayer or conversation or another way. Amen. Absolutely. Do you know one of the things that amazes me, can I just share this? Of course I can share this. I've got the mic. Who's gonna stop me? Uh, unless the power suddenly goes off and it's gone. Um, what fascinates me in all of this, [00:33:00] uh, as I was thinking about this, you know, how, how do I, what are the ways I need to bring people to Jesus? I've been doing a few experiments with these Facebook Lives, you know, these talks that we do. Um, on the Facebook Lives and, uh, the best way to reach people when we do our church plant in Liverpool City Center, just giving you a few numbers. We have about 20 to 25 people turn up, um, and it's beautiful and it's fantastic. It's great. And as soon as we can, we are gonna get together with everybody and do a meal and have a big hug and all that sort of stuff. Um. I'm really looking forward to that. Uh, but when you guys share, you know, on Facebook, like I know Matt did it earlier on, he just shared out the fact that Facebook live, um, the Facebook live feed for this to all of his community, to all of Matt's tribe. Um, and I try and do the same, share these things out on Facebook. It's just a simple thing, takes 10 seconds to share it out on Facebook. Do you know we reach hundreds and sometimes [00:34:00] thousands of people with these videos and there's hundreds of engagements with them. It's incredible. And like I said at the start, one in four people are now watching a church, church broadcast. Amazing stuff. Uh, so for me, um, just coming back to this comment here, uh, that Sharon made, whether that's through Prayer conversation or another way, one of the ways for me is just simply sharing the Facebook feed. Um. What's map his zoom with the head shas. The head shas not happening, but you just need to deal with it. Okay. Abby, uh, I love the part you said about praying and eding for others, bringing them and their situation before Jesus and asking on their behalf one of the most powerful and loving things we can do for a friend. Absolutely. And you know, one of the cool things about this is actually telling them. So we can do it in private, of course, you know, there's a whole bunch of people I'm praying for, but I love to tell people that I'm praying for them, um, and that I'm, I'm Eding on their behalf [00:35:00] because I wanna see God do something in their lives. And it is just taking that time to step out, put yourself in an uncomfortable position, and ask God to do something, uh, would be amazing. Sharon, sorry, sorry. No head shave on Zoom today, but we'll pray and worship together, followed by general chitchat. Thank goodness for that. My boys aren't gonna come in and pin me down and shave my head. That's the beautiful thing, uh, let me tell you. So, well, thank you for your comments guys. Great to have those. I think, um, it's been great to sort of share God's word with you. So, uh, next week we'll be back on Sunday. Uh, one of the langstons, I think it's gonna be, Martin is gonna be sharing next week, which would be cool. Um, so, uh, who knows where he'll take us with his green screen. Would, you're just gonna have to come next week to find out. Um, so we've got that to look forward to next week. Just to give you a sort of quick inventory of the [00:36:00] week. On Wednesday, we have community, uh, on Friday nights, we have Alpha Sunday, we've got the church broadcast. Uh, Al says here, be blessed you two my friend. Be blessed. Uh, great to have you. Uh, so that's what's going on. This week, if I don't see you at any other place, I'll see you here next Sunday on Facebook Live. But for those of you who want to join us, um oh, got more comments coming through. Idea. There might pay money to see that too. Uh, are you talking about my head being shaved? Because if you are repent and pay the money anyway for penance, hopefully, you know, it'll sort you out. Um, so yeah, so, uh, join us on Zoom for some conversation. General chitchat, bit of Prayer, worship. It'll be great to see you in there. I am now gonna stop the Facebook live feed. Thank you so much for being with us. It has been an [00:37:00] absolute pleasure. Looking forward to seeing a few of you over in the Zoom room. Anyone's welcome to join us. By the way, even if you've never been before, come join us. Come say hi. We'd love to see you. Um, I'm gonna open that up in about two minutes time. I'm gonna get a drink, uh, and then I will see you in there. God bless you each and every one of you. And I'll see you at some point during the week, in some digital form or another. Have a fantastic week. Um, may the God of all peace fill you, uh, with his amazing love and grace, and may you experience his wholeness this week. Amen.