The Unexpected Mission That Changes Everything

(00:14) this before welcome welcome to crowd Church great that you're here my name is Matt Edmonson and beside me is the very beautiful and talented anael hello it says mat Edmonson on you yeah that's a little weird I'm not Matt Edmonson yeah there you go there we go that's who I actually am just in case you wondered yeah just in case um yeah I'm not Anna and this is not Matt so just get me the right way around welcome to crra great that you're here if this is your first time with us a very warm welcome to you uh do give us a nod a wake or a a shout or a wave or (00:48) whatever in the comments um let us know the live stream's actually live that would be super awesome uh because we don't actually know now today we are in a different location so if you're used to watching crowd used to joining us you will know that we are not in the usual Studio we are in fact in church we are indeed and um yeah this is the first isn't it so we're excited to be here and a little bit apprehensive about how all the texts going to work but bear with us please yes indeed well apparently the there's comments coming in which is great uh Welcome Matt great Pete uh great to see you um it's live he (01:27) says it's live that's reassuring yeah yeah it's always reassuring so thanks for joining in uh do let us know where you're watching from as well if you're watching uh from around the world always great to hear you so tonight uh in this new season this new chapter of crowd we've got some really cool things going on haven't we well I say cool it's the same as usual but we're small but different I was in a Tie Restaurant last night and it had that really big on the wall same same but different it just made me think of it (01:57) same same but different so me that's what we should do with crowd same same but different uh so yeah we're going to have a talk uh which is done by yours truly and actually we're going to do it live uh which is something unusual for crowd we I used to do talks live in the very early years of the live stream and then we got into recording them and it just became easier uh so uh do give us Grace tonight as we're try and figure all the stuff out that's going on um but yeah after the talk we've got the usual conversation Street uh so leave your questions leave your thoughts leave your comments below and we'll hopefully get (02:28) round to them have you got access to the comments by the way I don't but I'm just going to follow your lead oh I need to get my glasses to read them I'm not going to lie so uh yeah so do comment during conversation street during the talk any questions anything things that come up uh do let us know if you would like to know more information about crowd about what goes on here um then check out the website which Dan's going to hopefully make come uh up on the screen it's really weird not having all the buttons to touch this is how it is every week (02:59) for me I don't do any of the technical stuff people I just I feel slightly uneasy right now I feel slightly uneasy because Matt's not Matt's not used to like not having clickers in front of him I'm not used to not being in control is the uh saying you're a control freak basically probably yeah yeah yeah uh so yeah you can head to did that come up then oh yeah it's just gone uh crowd Church um or you can follow us on social media at crowd Church we'd love to see you there so have I missed anything I don't think so no no I don't (03:31) think I have Matt hasn't actually pre- briefed me about what we're doing so by the way even if he had missed something I wouldn't actually know everyone wouldn't you do know you've done this in enough now geez okay so what we're going to do now is we're going to jump straight into the talk which means I'm going to change locations uh and whilst I do that really quick Dan's going to play a video and we'll be back for the talk uh in just a little sec [Music] I on pitching home oh here we go welcome back so yes let's jump into this shall (04:31) we now it's great to be with you on this inaugural service where we merge crowd online church and the Frontline evening service together um I'm excited you know it's been a it's been a long time coming I've been let me grab my clicker here I've been part of crowd for no front line for 30 years and if I press this button here does the does it work there we go I Came As a student right 30 years ago that's me in the box there uh in our boy pan uh boy pan boy band pose I can't even speak um and I came uh like I say as a student and it (05:09) totally changed my life in so many ways and I pray if you're a student starting out watching this um involved either in front line In Crowd or wherever you are you know what it's such an exciting time that sort of age and if that's you then fantastic and I pray that you just have a lifechanging Time which is what happened to me when I was at Uni so it's great to be with you and you know what I am so grateful to God for the last four years of crowd some really incredible stories that have come out of his (05:40) faithfulness of his goodness but I am in total faith for the good stories for the next four years as well you know seeing what God's going to do I keep knocking this table in front of me um really excited to see because if there's one thing that I know for sure it's this that Jesus is still in the business of changing people's lives he's still in the business uh of given us a purpose and a mission Way Beyond anything that we could possibly ask or imagine uh and I'm excited and I hope that you are too so what's it all about right what what are we doing here at crowd what's crowd all about if it's your first time (06:15) with us what are we doing here um I just thought I'd probably just talk about that today because we've not talked about it for a little while so the title of this talk uh is the unexpected mission that changes everything it's got a nice hook to it right um when I read it I have a series of questions in my head what is the mission what is so unexpected about it and why does it change everything that's the question and that's what we're going to dig into and to get into it we're going to look at the Bible um to see what the mission of (06:52) Jesus is what is this Mission um and the gospels Chronicle The Life of Christ in such a way that we can understand it and it's important to understand the mission of Jesus because it's there we find what our mission should be as well because the mission of Jesus is the mission of the church and as Christians we should probably align to that and of course if you're not a Christian if you're not yet a Christian understanding why Jesus came and what his purpose is I think is part of understanding how the gospel how the good news relates to you so just what is (07:29) this Miss Mission well the Bible tells us a bunch of different things about the mission of Jesus it tells us that he in Luke 19 for example uh that Jesus came to seek and save the Lost which is kind of cool very grateful for that in John 10:10 it tells us that Jesus came to give us Abundant Life the mission of Jesus is Abundant Life which to me sounds phenomenal and you know what I'll take it I'm H I'll happily take that thank you Jesus uh Abundant Life sounds good but one of the most interesting statements Jesus makes is at the start (08:05) of his ministry the start of his uh life uh doing all the amazing things that he did in the Gospel of Luke he stands up before a crowd of people and he starts to unpack his mission a little bit and it says uh this let me pull the Bible verse up as was his custom he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read that's what his custom was and I just want to pause here for a quick minute because jesus' custom or jesus' habit was to actually go to the synagogue every week it's a Community of Faith a church if you like now I know at that (08:44) synagogue Jesus would have had questions over their theology there would have been times where the worship maybe was questionable uh I don't know but he went every week and not only did Jesus go every week but we know that he's stands up to read in other words he gets involved and there's something really interesting about this and why scripture points us to this at the start of Jesus's mission because I think foundational to accomplishing the mission which God has given you is being committed to an involved with a (09:17) community of Believers and so if you have yet to find a church we would love it if you make this place your home we would love for you to join us on this journey and we would love to partner you uh partner with you on it because I think it's so so critical to everything that we do is to be plugged into to that Community whether online or in person so Jesus goes to church he stands up he unpacks his mission and he says this he says the spirit of the Lord is upon me now the spirit of the Lord the Holy Spirit uh the holy spirit is the presence of God (09:56) and the spirit of the Lord is upon me we want to be a place right where the presence of the Lord rests where the presence of God rests we want to be a people that know what it is to be in the presence of God and this is how Jesus starts off God is with me the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me now anointed just means empowered right so we want to be people who walk in the presence of God but also walk in the power of God so the presence of God and the power of God go hand in hand why would would we want to do that why would you not want to do that um if (10:34) the power of God is available to you right um so the presence of God and the power of God is with me to Proclaim good news to the poor so this is now we're talking about the mission of Jesus to Proclaim good news that money and Status are not what you need to be part of his kingdom he welcomes the marginalized the outcasts the healthy the righteous all of us all of us are welcome into the mission of Christ and he has sent me uh to Proclaim Liberty to the captives is the next phrase that Jesus says to Proclaim Liberty to the captives (11:13) those who are held by fear and failure and sin and bitterness and all those kind of things which turn Humanity into the worst of itself Jesus comes to bring us Liberty from that he goes on to say uh recovering of sight to the blind I mean this has turned out to be one heck of a mission right and I think he's still doing this you know I think this is talking you can talk about this metaphorically and I think Church could should be a place where you come and get your eyes open where you see Jesus maybe in a way that you have never seen him (11:47) before but I also think it means physically as well I think it means that Jesus is still in the healing business I'm convinced of it uh which is why we still pray for the sick in church because I think church is a place place where you can go and get healed uh he talks about how he is here to set at Liberty those who are oppressed now we say all the time in church that Jesus will set you free right that's the thing that we say all the time but free from what what does Jesus actually set you free from he sets (12:23) you free from what oppresses you so what oppresses you I mean the list is long right right and pretty much endless fear shame anxiety guilt indifference greed anger I mean we could talk all night about that but Jesus um has come to set us free from that because I think Jesus as we'll see has a very different way of living and then finally he wraps it up with this sentence here he says uh to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor which just sounds like Abundant Life doesn't it the year of the Lord's favor we get to live in favor where all of our debts are wiped out the debt of our sin or missing the standard where (13:07) God's concerned this is where it's all paid for it's all done we get to live in his grace where nothing is missing and nothing is broken which sounds very much like I have come to give you life in all its abundance it sounds like one heck of a mission and I'm excited by it and our mission here at crowd is simple it's simply to point to the one that is still doing all of these things so what was so unexpected about the mission well I think there are many reasons actually if you think it through logically I mean Jesus if he was who he says he was if he was God if he was the (13:49) Messiah the Christ the son of God I mean it's a bit mindbending that he would come in the form of man and actually all you've got to do is look at I don't know the latest Marvel movie right to get an understanding of what we think God coming down would look like you know the all powerful being or the Conquering King like Thor that's what we think but Christianity of course is very different we know that Jesus came as a servant which is a really interesting idea isn't it and actually it's one that say people in the Muslim faith struggle with that God himself (14:27) would come down as a servant it does doesn't make sense it does not compute why would he do that it's totally unexpected of course the Jews expected Jesus to come uh to seek and destroy their enemies which at the time was the Romans who occupied their land but you know we heard earlier Jesus comes to seek and save that which is lost so he doesn't come to Seek and Destroy but he comes to seek and to restore it's an unexpected Mission and we see this outplayed really really well in something called the parable of the lost sheep uh which is found in Luke's gospel (15:04) it says this now the tax collectors and sinners were all Drawing Near to him and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man received Sinners and eats with them okay so let's just pause here and bring some clarity to what's happening let's just think about what's going on the Pharisees they were the religious leaders at the time right they were very moral but very hypocritical very self-righteous and very judgmental in other words not the kind of people we like right we just don't like these kind (15:38) of people and they were complaining that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners now Tax Collectors they were Jewish people who were collecting taxes from Jewish people to give to the Roman occupiers and skimming money out of it which was of course leading to more oppression of the Jewish people the Jewish people did not like tax collectors they just didn't and they especially don't like Sinners because Sinners they kind of live outside the moral standard Sinners are the ones outside of the kingdom of God (16:10) if you like these are the corporate uh Executives who are involved in some kind of an ethical practice they're the the corrupt politicians you know the uh the outcast of society someone who's been cancelled someone we simply don't agree with if I'm honest with you we don't like these people either and so it's an interesting audience for Jesus two groups of people two codes two sets of inter two ways of interpreting the world two sets of beliefs neither a fan of each other which all sounds well it sounds very familiar doesn't it really because we live in a world which is getting more and more (16:48) polarized so the Pharisees the complaint was that Jesus was eating with them they thought that by sharing food that was a sign of acceptance Jesus was somehow giving a stamp of approval to their behavior behavior that was let's face it in clear violation of the scriptures in other words the Pharisees thought that to belong to the kingdom of God you had to behave in a certain way so to belong you had to behave but Jesus I think sees it differently and he doesn't get drawn into well what only be described as a very unhelpful argument (17:32) um so instead he tells them a parable he says this what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep sheep that was lost just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons (18:09) who need no repentance what an incredible story this is and I love this imagery of Jesus leaving the 99 and going after the one so what did Jesus mean when he talked about repentance he was talking about Sinners that need to repent well simply put repentance is this it is it's a turnaround right it's a change uh if I bring up our crowd branding you can I hope you like our new crowd branding by the way uh you can see in one sense you're head in One Direction but you turn around and you go the other this is repentance you go a completely different (18:48) direction in other words you change your position you change where you belong so for a sinner which is what we're talking about here someone who is outside the kingdom of God repentance is coming into the kingdom it's coming and belonging to Christ and living uh out his plans for your life and Jesus knew right that you don't change where people Belong by marking them as Outsiders which is what the Pharisees were doing you don't cancel people groups you get involved Jesus is fellowshipping with them he is sitting (19:25) down and eating and I think the Sinners here would have enjoyed hanging out with Jesus I don't know about you I would love to have been at one of those meals I don't know if you've ever seen the the TV show The Chosen you see some of these scenes in there and it's just quite a inspiring but as well as having fun and enjoying Jesus's company I think the people around the table would have known that Jesus was different and that he lived a different way and that they were okay with that he was still welcoming he (19:56) was still inviting uh he didn't shun them he didn't judged them he didn't look down on them but he knew who he was he knew it was them that needed to repent and not him for example right now my theology on let's take a a non-c contentious issue for now uh but my theology on something like sex before marriage is pretty clear I read scripture and go yeah you're not supposed to do that are you really and I think there are consequences to that behavior if you do but that doesn't stop me being friends with people that do (20:31) have sex outside of marriage because if it did I would probably not have friends outside of the church right and just because I don't agree with them on this issue doesn't mean I don't like hanging around with them because I do I don't have to agree with them to accept them and I'm not I don't think I'm intolerant of them if I have a different opinion I just want to sit down with them I just want to eat with them I just want to have you know a time of what church calls Fellowship just hanging out and when the opportunity arises I want to talk to them about Jesus not in a (21:08) condemning way but in a way which talks about what it's like to belong to the kingdom of God to belong to Jesus what that looks like so I would want to say to anyone you are welcome here you are welcome here at this church yes we have a theology we have a standard to which we think God has called us as Christians to live and we will unpack that I have no doubt in coming live streams I will happily tell you what they are on all kinds of issues and I do think actually it's also right to hold people to account over Behavior especially leaders (21:44) but I also think we need to talk about what it is like to belong what it is like to belong to Jesus and how lifechanging that actually is he invites us to belong to his kingdom which is unexpected that's the unexpected part so how does this change everything 2,000 years ago this was very very countercultural right it just it was um and it seems that when it comes to the 99 that's not good enough for Jesus he wants a 100 he's not wanting anyone to be lost he wants us all to belong and today I think this is still countercultural so here at crb we want to be about the one we want this to be a (22:31) place that thinks about the one and not just the 99 and I pray that God sort of spares us from the complacency and the apathy of just being happy with the people that we see but what about the behavior right I mean I I can't get away from it that the Pharisees as much as we like to criticize them and I know they get a hard time but there isn't one of us watching this that hasn't judged People based on their Behavior we have all done it just like the Pharisees did because we judge ourselves by our intentions but we judge others by their behaviors two standards now I think of (23:13) it like this right when I got married uh to my beautiful wife who sat over there hey babe um when I got married my identity changed I went from being single to being married obviously I now belong to someone my wife to our marriage right that's what I now belong to so as a result my behavior changed I stopped acting like a single man and I started hopefully acting like a married man not because I had to but because I wanted to because that's the nature of a good and loving relationship now I do not for one minute think that Jesus is indifferent about sin or missing the mark where God's concerned I just don't (24:00) I don't think as a Christian you confound with sin it's definitely not how I read scripture and I don't think that by eating with the tax collectors and sinners Jesus was actually affirming them in the way that they were living I don't think he was accepting of it I just think he was showing them that they could belong to something bigger something better than where they were already living so if you're uh not yet a Christian if you don't belong to Christ then honestly I don't believe your behavior is the primary issue I think (24:32) the primary issue is where you belong my job is not to convince you not to have sex before getting married that won't change anything other than it will probably make make people miserable right it's not about as we like to say in the church it's not about cleaning the fish before we catch it but when you repent when you turn around when you change your position when you belong to Jesus what I can guarantee is the holy spirit will come and live inside the spirit of the Lord is upon me that's what Jesus said the presence of God and as the Holy Spirit lives in us we start (25:06) to see life through a very very different lens and our Behavior starts to change gal G Galatians Galatians chapter 5 uh is all about this you start to realize that maybe God does actually know best and that he actually has got a good plan for my life and actually following that is probably in my best interest you want to start to live in a way that pleases God not because you have to but because you want to because that is the nature of a good and loving relationship so if you aren't a Christian yet know this right that Jesus's mission is to find you his love (25:50) is Relentless and he wants you to come and belong to the kingdom of God and he's not satisfied until you are there so I'd invite you to open up your heart to open up your mind to the possibility that Jesus is probably more interested in you than he is in me right now and as we read uh earlier on I think he's probably looking forward to having another party in heaven and if you're already a Christian then Jesus's mission for you is about Abundant Life it's a life of Walking In His grace and the invitation to join him on going after (26:26) the one so let me ask you a question question if you're a Christian who is the one that Jesus has put on your heart can I encourage you don't get stuck in your holy huddles and cleaks have them around for dinner talk to them about what it's like to belong to the source of abundant life so what's a mission of crowd I think it's all of this I think it's to go after the one and show them a Jesus that is still proclaiming good news bringing Freedom bringing healing and helping us live a life in his favor it's (27:01) about Abundant Living that's a mission I can connect with that's a mission worth giving my life for because he gave his life for me and that's why I'm excited and that's why we would love it if you would join with us on this journey that's it from me on the talk I'm now going to go back over there to conversation Street make sure you leave your questions thoughts and comments below uh and Dan you're going to roll VT you've got the questions seamless absolute seamless transition yeah we might need to think about that in the future yeah in the future I'm not speaking and hosting at the same know (27:45) yeah cannot do both and be in two places on different screens at I have to put my glasses on Miriam says she loves the chosen have you ever have you ever watched The Chosen I have I haven't watched it end to end um but I've watched a few of them what did you think I really liked it just because I felt like it kind of just really brought the stories of Jesus to Life For Me Yeah and bible stories that you know I've personally I've grown up in the church so I've been around Bible stories my whole life and it's great to see them on screen like visualized in a really (28:18) helpful way I think yeah no did I tell you that I've been to the set of chosen I think me once or twice yeah I just want to put that in there if you haven't seen the chosen the TV show can I encourage you just to go watch it you should tell that story though briefly for everyone who doesn't know it oh okay yeah sure sorry few months ago I was in Dallas uh visiting some friends and also another conference and the guys at the chosen TV show they kindly invited me to their set which is about an hour outside of Dallas it's this 900 acre lot um (28:50) which is just insane in size it's the most successfully crowdfunded media project of all time yeah they've crowdfunded over 100 million I think um they've recorded Five Seasons or they're recording season five now they've got seven in total and I got to go around the set of the chosen which just is basically about the life of Jesus uh just it's not gospel as in it's not just what's in the Bible they've obviously elaborated on it for TV but I think it's so well done so you can watch it on Netflix I think (29:21) season one and two on there um there's an app where you can watch all the seasons as well so do check it out do go watch it um so yeah like Miriam I think chosen is great uh what can I see down here oh let me check on the um so what do you think uh edmo goes to America in another month you're always off to America yeah what can I say um so what do you think to this idea of going after the one yeah it's really interesting when you talk about it I I was kind of thinking you know like sometimes the Bible can be a (30:01) bit abstract can't it because it's kind of written in a different time and culture to what we live in today yeah and you know this idea of a sheep and 99 and the one and it can seem a bit abstract even though it's a good good illustration like yeah you know sheep really I I don't know I yeah I don't have any sheep do you uh no no we don't have sheep in in a city Liverpool um used to have chickens but not sheep yeah but then I was sort of thinking as you were talking about it just now well it's about the idea of going after something precious and that every single person is precious and I just thought it's like my (30:40) best analogy is like being a parent so you know it's that idea of if you had three children and one of them went off and was in danger yeah you would go after that one you wouldn't just be like oh well the three that I've you know got save at home are fine and never mind about the other one it's and it's the same idea isn't it it's like there's probably other analogies that you can come up with that show the idea of the one in a more modern context for and I was I was trying to think of some like alternative examples and like Parenthood (31:11) was the best I could come up with but you probably can think of others but yeah no no maybe someone else who's on the uh live stream think about it and let us know but yeah I yeah I suppose it's like the point is though going after the one and and I love that I think it's really important because I think for me one of the things that you can do in any organization that you belong to is just get comfortable um and we were always told growing up in Frontline I can't think of a better expression to use um that the church is the only organization that exists for its (31:47) non-members and I think we it's easy sometimes for churches to forget that that's the reason well one of the key reasons why not the only reason but one of the key reasons why we're there um and I think that's one of the things I like about crowd is we try and you know we try and make the church accessible we try and make what we do accessible and understandable and and so on and so forth and it's great when we get the stories from you guys the comments the emails the prayer requests all those sorts of things coming in because it it means that we're we're (32:18) hitting home really um and we don't just want it to be in in the four walls we want to be reaching out and we' I think about 80% of the people that can conect with what we do the last time I checked are people that are unchurched which is I think is quite a wonderful thing and so if you don't see the point of church if you are in church you definitely welcome here it's a good place to ask you questions and obviously you can write them in the comments and we'll well Anna will answer them uh she's she's way smarter than me it (32:48) depends what the question is yeah uh so yeah that's um it's an interesting one isn't it because in that chapter uh of Luke you have the parable of the lost sheep mhm you've got the Lost coin which is a very similar story where um the Widow loses uh some money and she just basically turns the house upside down trying to find it was it money or was it a pool I can't it was a coin it was a coin I'm not going nuts yeah yeah it was a coin yeah yeah just had a a flappy moment there uh and then the the rest of the chapter was taken up with a prodigal son who was actually a talking about your (33:25) parent example was a kid that just kind of went off was a bit of a plonker and then came back and you know was was kind of sort his life out so it's it's really fascinating you know the the whole of Jesus's heart here the whole of Jesus's mission is to be a place that is accepting and welcoming a place where you can belong and come join not a cleck you know like the Pharisees had it where you had to you know do a checklist to get in kind of thing um and I I think that's that's super powerful anyway I'm waffling now so let's get back to the comments yeah I think it's really (34:01) interesting what you say then Matt while you're reading the comments about church being like for the like a organization that exists for its non-members yeah I think like not that's not always the case for churches in reality is it like I've been to all kinds of different churches over my lifetime and and some Churches do it much better than others but I think where it works really well you know you see the church doing things like food thanks to for you know hungry or you know feeding the homeless or yeah running moms groups for you know (34:37) mums who are overstretched midweek and doing lots of community stuff that exists beyond the people that attend church yeah um but yeah I I think the church as a whole in the UK does actually do quite a lot of that yeah um a lot more than it's probably given credit for actually but I think yeah it's something that it's a challenge isn't it it for all of us as Christians like how do we do that in our own lives yeah yeah and it's interesting isn't it how I think the the flip side of that is you argue so the Pharisees were arguing against one group and that (35:16) group was arguing against them and you see this in society today you see in the culture you got one group arguing the other group and they're arguing against each other but the trouble is somebody in the middle is getting caught up in all of this and and actually if those two groups came together if the left and the right came together instead of arguing with each other actually solved the problem and made life better for this person in the middle how much better would that be right um I think it's I think it's the further you are away from a problem the easier it is to (35:44) solve um and you you you remain far away from a problem when you do nothing but argue about it but as soon as you get involved life gets messy and I think in a world where busyness is just Paramount you know and time is getting shorter and social media is everything's getting more and more truncated it's easier to shout about somebody than it is to actually get involved um and I think it's a massive challenge um because we're all busy right yeah we're all super busy and I think it's a huge Challenge on all of us (36:17) so yeah yeah a fascinating one Lawrence here says um hi Lawrence I think it's the first time Lawrence we've seen you in the live stream but welcome uh he's talking about chosen best te show love Jesus and the Matthew characters interestingly in the chosen um Matthew is played by someone who got ADHD yeah really fascinating how they've sort of drawn that out um but yes I agree with you Lawrence um it very much so uh apparently Matt says you're gonna hear me say babe A lot in the live stream okay um what else have we got hey uh I got (36:54) Dion in there as well Pete yeah I mentioned Pete I'm just going through the sorry trying trying to multitask see normally we would have a screen in front of us so we and talk seamlessly but Matt's just got it in his hands we might have to think about that one do you think so yeah um yeah it's one of those where I've actually got no internet connection either um someone's put here in the comments soldiers in the Army don't leave a man behind yeah that's very true um I don't actually know if that is true well to be slightly (37:26) contentious maybe someone in the Army can tell me I think it's one of those things that Hollywood likes to portray I'm not sure if it's true for the British army somebody maybe who knows more about this tell us can someone Google that and find out um but the premise is still the same right you don't leave a man behind you go after the one so I think this was a a more Bond example to your yeah yeah that's a example I've take my glass off I think though the thing about um going after the one and um leaving the 99 I think the other thing that struck me (37:57) when you're were talking about it at was that the heart behind it it's not just about the one it's about the heart behind it and it's like actually that passage is about God's love that he loves every single person so much and you know you were talking about how it's easy to be you know more bothered about agree agreeing or being right in an argument or and but actually that wasn't jesus' motivation he he was motivated by love and that's the thing that compelled him to go after the one every and that's thing that strikes me like it's it's the motivation like actually it's Jesus's love that pursues (38:36) and purses and Peres that one and and and that's the driving force of it yeah very good very true how do you burst out of the Christian bubble how do you burst out of the Christian bubble I don't know do you have any examples OAS um I think for me I think one of the things you've got to do is you've got got to take a look at your life right and and ask yourself um who is the one that Jesus has put on my heart so if you're a Christian this is you know who who is the one um I think there has to be at least one uh and if there isn't and and (39:13) and it's because um you get so busy I I see it quite often people get so busy with church stuff that they forget to do the stuff of church right so um you are at all the prayer meetings you go to all the small groups you you know you you go to all the whatevers that's going on at church but join a club you know go to a gym do go go to where people are that aren't church people and just go hang out with them you know you don't have to just go join a gym and wear in a Jesus t-shirt that's not what I'm suggesting I mean you know all power to you if you do but that's not it I think it's got to be (39:52) something along the lines of being intentional and going out and finding people to connect with and just be friends with them for the sake of being friends with them um I think that's I I meet people through work I meet people through the gym through clubs through different activities you're in a tennis club yeah I'm in a tennis club I'm um I've got Mom friends from from where my little boy goes to school yeah okay so you know I've got to know a lot of women through being a mom I've got University friends I lived with I've yeah I've got (40:25) work friends I mean I think if nothing else if you have a day job and you work alongside other people there's an opportunity as well so I don't know I I'm not a Christian who's ever struggled to find non-Christian friends because I just think go out live your life do the things you love Yeah and just meet people as you do it naturally and befriend them like I I've never kind of had a sort of difficulty having like lots of Christian friends and lots of non-Christian friends yeah um I guess I'm quite a sociable person (40:59) anyway but yeah I've I've never been someone who's like you know it kind of annoys me when people live in a Christian bubble and that's it yeah um I feel like yeah if you're living your life in just a normal way going about your work meeting friends doing things how can you not have nonch Christian friends I don't know y uh if God doesn't like my behavior why would he go looking for me that's a good question it's a really good question actually and I think I mean going back to the the parent and child I quite often don't like my son's Behavior talking of ADHD (41:42) he has ADHD so sometimes he can be a little wild um you know but as a parent love isn't motivated by behavior is it no like I don't only love my son when he behaves or performs in the way I want him to I love him because I love him but because I love him because he's mine I love him all the time however he behaves performs and I think you know Bible talks a lot about God having a father heart and it's the same idea father heart and mother heart it's yeah to me it's that thing that love isn't about how you behave you know you might think (42:19) I wish you know you want the best for them you want them to be the best they can be but it doesn't stop you loving someone or wanting to bece them just because they're not behaving the way you think they should yeah I think also you've got a there are two audiences that here um there's the churched and then there's the unchurched and I think how Jesus approaches both these groups is a little bit different so those outside of the kingdom of God those that don't necessarily belong he is more interested about you belonging first (42:51) it's not that he doesn't care about behavior um but I think first and foremost it's about belonging and then the behavioral change will come what this does is it stops you get into a place where you feel like I have to do constant good things to try and earn God's favor right so if I behave in a certain way then God might like me and accept me into heaven and the New Testament if there's one thing which is clear in the New Testament you can never do enough good works to get into heaven to get in the kingdom of God you just can't do it which is why we need God's (43:23) grace and so with Grace Jesus says well now you belong in heaven therefore go and act accordingly so I'm not acting or behaving to try and earn something I'm behaving out of a position of belonging I'm behaving in a way that matches my identity and I think this is really important now if you are a Christian and I think I said in the talk and you are falling around with sin I do think you probably should stop I mean there's no probabbly about it really um I think just I mean you use the example you know with your kids I love my kids irresp of how they behave but if their behavior is (44:00) off I am telling them right I am absolutely having a conversation uh about that and to be fair Sharon has a conversations with me when my behavior is off right just it's just the way it works so we have those conversation I think that that Jesus is very interested in your behavior in terms of he will have conversations with you about it but primarily first and foremost it's about belonging and I think that's The crucial part um I'm aware of time here so let's uh let me just see if there's one more question we can look at um what if I'm one of the 99 how does (44:41) God feel about me go Anna you can have that conversation while I check the rest of the comments I think he feels the same about all of us like he loves all of us so he loves the 99 and he goes after the one who are lost I don't think it's an either or I I think it's a both and yeah um yeah it's I think God is love so how he feels about all of us first like that that sort of face is love um and yeah I think you know if you're one of the 99 he's proud of you he's for you he's yeah he's um just really kind of (45:21) wanting the best for you and probably kind of like cheering you on like with all you're doing yeah it's an interesting question isn't it I but the Bible talks about living in such a way as to please God um as Christians and I think I know this from my own kids there are times when I have more pleasure in my kids but my love remains constant um and I think it's a real it's a really interesting thing isn't it you know I know that God loves me I'm just not convinced he always likes Me Maybe with some of my behavior but um (45:58) but I think how does he feel about me I mean like you say he fundamentally he died right he died for you so um I think he he loves you in a way which we cannot comprehend or understand um Dave who's regular on crowd Dave con and I used to have this uh We've not done it for a while we should probably resurrect it we used to have this thing all the time when we'd see each other and i' go he'd say well how you doing and I'd say well you know I've got to be doing all right cuz I'm God favorite right that was um (46:30) and Dav would go how can you be God's favorite because I'm God's favorite and I'm going no you're not don't be foolish I'm God's favorite it got to the point where I bought the domain name Gods favor.com why does that not why does that not surprise me and all I did was I I I put my picture on the it's not there now so don't go Google it but um I put my picture up and so I remember one day saying Dave listen go ask Google who God's favorite is and so he Googled it and of course my just my picture comes up his like I can't believe you that's (46:58) just it's taking it way too far and so somebody Google that and see if it's still there it's definitely not there because I've not renewed The Domain but anyway the point of this is uh whilst I'm joking around that I don't think God has favorites I kind of feel like I am his favorite even though even though I'm not because just the way God loves me if that makes sense that's not because I think I'm better than anybody else I just feel the love of God in such a way so next time someone ask you how you do it and just say I've got to be doing all (47:26) right because I'm God's favorite just don't say it to me because you'll be wrong uh but yeah it's um it's one of those listen thank you so much for your questions uh we are going to end the live stream in just a couple of minutes how's it gone the first I noticed your microphone was falling further and further away from my microphone keeps dropping but that's a minor hitch really so we'll figure that one out for next time figure that one out for next time but um it's been great it's been great doing it in front of you guys as well thank you for all joining us and coming (47:53) down uh it's a different vibe isn't it yeah it's good am I am I allowed to use the word Vibe am I too old to use the word I don't know this is a different vibe uh but it's been really good I've really enjoyed it I don't probably kids today don't say that it's probably fine for you to use I don't know someone younger than me maybe I will uh but yeah thank you so much for joining us do you come join us next week we're going to carry on no actually not carry on this conversation we are starting a little mini series into the book of Philippians uh which is (48:25) a book in the New Testament written by by the Apostle Paul St Paul um and he wrote it we fairly sure he wrote it from jail in Rome which I've actually been to I've been to as well have you seen have you been in the jail because last year when me and Andy went to Rome you told me to go and see it and we did and it was amazing incredible tiny little room yeah and um anyway we're starting our journey in through Philippians it's a very small book in the New Testament Jenny Mariner is going to be kicking off is that right yep uh good just check in (48:56) I've got that uh Jenny's going to be speaking to us introducing the book of Philippians so do come join us for that next week it will be great to see you there in the meantime if you've got any questions anything about the Christian faith you want to know about if you've got any prayer requests uh you can find more information at crowd. (49:13) church now one of the big changes that is going to be happening is in about 10 minutes time what time is it now so at about 8:00 uh UK time so in 10 minutes we will be doing online small group so if you want to come join us online uh Matt's going to post the link in the comments I think it is um goo. crowd. Church MeetMe t uh but that will be in the comments below just copy that link come join us uh on Google meets if you're online be great to see you in there if you want to come join us in our online community of course if you're not watching this live and you're watching it on catchup or you're listening to the podcast don't go to that link because (49:50) nothing will happen uh it's only going to be live for the next 40 minutes or so uh but we would love to see you in that we're going to do the small groups after the meetings going forward if people want to keep doing them um so we'll be back doing those again next week as well uh but anything else from you in closing no just to say if you've got any more questions or you've got any prayer points this week then just drop us a line at the website or the we'd love to hear from you yeah absolutely or you can WhatsApp us the number's on the website or it's on the screen I think if Dan does his job correctly uh if is not (50:21) falling asleep back there um so yeah there it is there it there we go there's all the stuff coming up ever he's on it tonight Dan you're a legend for making all the tech work uh so yes and thank you for Grace like I say as we try and figure out how we do this uh crowd stream in person and online as well so it's been awesome to be with you thank you so much for joining us have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world Anna and I will see you again at some point in the future um but that's it from us bye for now see (51:10) [Music]