Unshakeable Faith In The Darkest Hours

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 we will start with a time of worship after which you will meet our hosts for our service who will introduce today's talk after the talk we head into conversation Street where we look at your stories and questions that you've posted in the comments throughout the live stream I want to invite you to connect with us here at crowd church and there are a few ways that you can do just that firstly you can engage with crowd from any device during a live stream and if you're up for it why not invite a few friends over and experience this service together you see church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others and one of the easiest ways for you to do that is to also Join one of our midweek groups where we need online together to catch up and discover more about the amazingness of Christ you can also subscribe to our 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 that I've mentioned can be found on our website at www.crowd.church or you can reach us on social media at crowd Church if you're new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know what your next steps to take are well 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 our online church service starts right now wow good evening welcome to crowd Church my name is Matt beside me is my beautiful wife hi everyone it's great to see you great that you're here uh wow welcome to the studio we have changed the layouts and it's your first time in the studio as well isn't it it is yeah I've been given instructions about what camera to look at when so uh should we try it let's try it let's see look at that camera there and say hello hi hi very good oh look at that camera there and say hello and then we'll go back to that camera there and we'll say hello uh for those of you who are joining and going what on Earth we are in a new studio we're still trying to figure out the tech we've moved things around slightly let us know do you throw it this way or if you've seen the other uh live streams that we've done do you prefer it the other way I think this is a bit better a bit more intimate but um I don't know why I'm looking at you asking you the question because you didn't do it the other way uh but there you go yeah so welcome warm welcome to you got Sarah in the comments got Jenny we've got Andy Matt hey guys how you doing uh Sarah good to see you Jenny good to see you uh Andy good to see obviously in Matt good to see you as well Matt crew called me uh before we went live saying Matt there's a spelling mistake on the thumbnail there is there is a spelling mistake on the thumbnail where I'm very sorry ladies and gentlemen we will Rectify that uh so yeah spelling mistakes aside uh welcome to Frontline F online Church welcome to Cratchit it's not Frontline crowd church is part of Frontline uh but welcome to crowd church it's great that you're here what we've got this afternoon slash this evening so we've got uh the lovely Dave Connolly speaking to us uh we've been working our way through the book of Acts from the Bible and he's doing the next portion of that um I'm just looking at my notes here um after that we're going to tell you a little bit more about our what's the story podcast um and then we're going to have conversation Street which is basically where me and Matt are gonna take your comments and just talk around the talk and talk around the talk talk about the talk absolutely yes we are I'm just getting my iPad set up here sorry about this um for some reason it's not showing me the live stream so I'm hoping we are actually in fact live I think we are because I'm seeing comments on the screen over there so um yes so yeah we are working our way through the book of Acts uh we've been doing this for a little while now uh and uh we are in our time we are we're just moseying on through we're not in a rush we're enjoying the book of X um and so yeah we've got Dave con talking with us tonight you've actually heard the talk I have yeah I like to listen to it beforehand so I've got my notes Here things I'd like to talk about in a very bright pink pencil I noticed I make that from downstairs [Laughter] okay so yes so we are going to get into Dave's talk uh as Sharon said as we said at the beginning we are going to do conversation Street afterwards so be busy in the comments uh write down your questions thoughts ideas all that sort of stuff once I've got my iPad working I will join you in the comments um and yeah we'll be back shortly so I'm gonna push this button on here we are going to get Dave up I'm looking for the talk button there it is uh we're gonna get Dave up and we'll be back soon today I want us to consider what the apostles preached as they went throughout the world declaring Jesus as their lord unresurrected savior in the book of Acts is on the ministry work of Paul and his co-worker Barnabas they have been set apart by the Holy Spirit to travel through various areas of the Roman Empire preaching this good news message they've been going into Jewish synagogues proclaiming that Jesus is the Fulfillment of all of God's promises they Proclaim that we are being forgiven and freed from all that we could not free ourselves from 14 opens by showing that Paul and Barnabas are going into more cities proclaiming this good news they have a mixed response from those people who hear their message we read in Acts 14 verse 1 that Paul and Barnabas went into Iconia and as usual went into the Jewish synagogue there we read that a great number of both Jews and Gentiles received their message and become believers yet we read in this too that there are unbelieving Jews who are steering of trouble amongst the people and poisoning their minds against Paul and Barnabas What's Happening Here is that the enemy is using these people to poison the minds of the people in order to turn their hearts against Paul and Barnabas and their message this is what the enemy does poison Minds to turn them against the truth and against those who speak the truth verse 4 tells us that the city of Iconium was completely divided some sided with the apostles and some sided with the opposition we go on to read in verse 5 how the opposition becomes so great that the Gentiles and the Jews along with the leaders of the city daughter conspire to attack Paul and Barnabas and to kill them by stoning we read that Paul and Barnabas find out about the plot and Escape so they go to another city and what do you think they do well verse 7 tells us where they continue to preach the gospel this is the same message the same gospel in verse 9 Paul and Barnabas enter the city of lystra and there they find a man who's been lame since birth he's never walked the man was listening to Paul's preaching then Paul looked at him and seeing his faith declared in a loud voice in verse 10. stand up on your feet immediately we read that the man jumped up and began to walk that must have been an amazing sight to see the crowd that was listening to Paul was so astounded but notice what these observers say we read in verse 11. they shouted in the laconian language the gods have come down to us like in human form these people actually thought the Greek gods have come to where they call Barnabas Zeus and they call Paul Hermes Priests of Zeus bring out oxen so that they can make a sacrifice to um Paul and Barnabas because they think they're Gods and the crowd want to be part of this when when Paul and Barnabas understand what the people are doing please note their response they do not accept this they do not receive the praise and the flattery of the people they are not happy about what is happening Paul and barnabas's response is that they tear their clothes and they run into the crowd to tell them to stop doing what they're doing could we just pause for a moment I believe that there's a warning for us here today in this scripture it is so important that we do not make celebrities of our pastors or worship leaders Etc let's not turn them into gods or idols their primary responsibility is to honor God in all that they do My Friends by all means honor and respect them and be thankful for their Ministries but let's make sure that we give all the honor all the glory all the focus to God let's return to our reading in the book of Acts we read their message in verse 15 and 17. people why are you doing these things we are people also just like you and we are proclaiming good news to you that you will turn from these worthless things to the Living God who made the heaven the air the sea and everything in them can you hear the thrust of their message we are bringing you good news but we are to turn from these worthless things to the Living God who made all things the good news is that we do not need to worship what has been created because doing so is worthless useless and empty friends if we are involved in the worthless things of this world how can we ever tell people to turn from the worthless things of the world we must show by our actions our words and our attitudes that we value relationship with Jesus are both The Emptiness of the world with this response in lystra we would think that the rest of the time would go well for Paul and Barnabas they are barely restraining the people from worshiping them in verse 18 but look at verse 19 some of the opposing Jews from Antioch and Iconium persuade the crowds they Stone Paul and they drag him out of the city believing that he was dead what a change in their opinion the crowd go from trying to worship Paul and Barnabas to declaring that their actions are where they are death after the crowd leaves the disciples gather around him and we read that Paul gets up and went back into the city yes that's right he went back into the city then the next day Paul and Barnabas leave for the next city even stoning does not stop Paul weary they preach the gospel in the next city in Derby as well they don't stop they don't think we must be wise here we mustn't be foolish what they thought is this is where God has called us to and we know what God has called us to say and do so we must do it I want us to focus our attention on verse 21 and 22. Paul and Barnabas return to lystra that's the city where Paul was stoned to Iconia the city where the crowds and the leaders were planning to Stone them but where they escaped from then to Antioch where the people were stirred up against Paul and Barnabas and they were driven out of that City and yet we read that they return to those same cities and met with the disciples they had made probably so you wondering what Paul and Barnabas are going to share with these new disciples After experiencing persecution and hardship what are they going to tell these disciples well verse 22 says this we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God let me remind you the points of going back was to encourage these new believers encouraging them to stay true to their Newfound faith Paul and barnabas's message is this it's necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God is that encouraging to you does that strengthen you on the surface I think my immediate response is that it's not very encouraging you know to be honest my preference would be not to go through hardship and persecution I don't want it to be hard to enter the kingdom of God yes I want us to see why this is an encouragement Paul and Barnabas are meeting with these disciples I wonder what these new disciples thought when they saw Paul bruised and beaten what was Paul trying to tell these I think he's simply telling them that nothing went wrong this was not a mistake we so often equate pain with making a mistake Paul is telling us that going through hardship for the sake of Jesus is not a it is through our hardships not our ears that we will enter God's Kingdom I want to say it again nothing went wrong there is going to be opposition but the mission must continue we must continue to carry the good news of Jesus whether it's received or rejected I think it would be true to say that many Christians can have a tendency to think that if they encounter resistance or hardship something is wrong my friends can I just suggest maybe it's just time to lean harder into God and trust them even more I conclude with this one of my favorite quotes of all time is from a book I read as a very young Christian a book by a guy called Jim Elliott and the quote says simply this he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose such a wonderful quote that quote speaks so much of the heart of that man my friends can I encourage you to be faithful to the call of God take every opportunity he sets before you trust him because he is faithful always God bless you coming up we have conversation street but before we get into that here's a clip from our podcast of what's the story which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps I always think about what my husband said something to me early on if we don't get the answer for your health situation the way we want all we're doing is trading what we can't keep for something we can never lose it made so much sense because I wanted that healing but you know any healing any physical healing is only going to be temporary and I think God has a sights on something so much more permanent than that he's always been about seeking a relationship with us and and he'll go to any links you know any cost to him any cost to us to have that relationship one of the real bonuses of having this long-term health condition has shown me is that what I really needed and wanted was that relationship and not so much that healing that I started out thinking that was what I really needed welcome back welcome to conversation Street great you are here uh like Matt creeper in the comments what I love about Dave con is that he fits his talks within 12 minutes succinctly puts everything in I like that uh so other than the fact he'd put that on the there you go you see uh other than the fact that it was 12 minutes long what else did we think Dave Connolly's talk Pastor Dave who has been a friend of ours for a very very long very long time yeah we've got quite a few points to pick up on but just listening to that what's the story um intro I just thought it was interesting that what that lady said really linked with that quote that Dave said um the quote Dave said was he is no fool that gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose and she kind of yeah the same but in slightly different wording so apparently that wasn't planned hey definitely wow I say that um Tanya who does all the clips um and does all the editing May well have planned it uh but I knowing Tanya and I love Tangy to bits I don't think it was planned female I guess I will find out next week actually I'm very quite interesting that was the story episode with um I think her name is lorianne if I remember rightly um have you heard that episode no oh it's just as remarkable uh really compelling story that she has um just later on in life found a heart condition and unless God does a miracle um things aren't looking great so just the way she talks about that and the way she talks about her story and her journey with God through it just remarkable um lorianne go check out that episode what's the storypodcast.com you will be genuinely inspired uh what a lovely lady what a brave lady um and yes uh that quote tied in very well with uh was it Jim Elliott uh yeah he is no what was it he is no fool to he has no fool that gives what he cannot there you go oh yeah roughly roughly translated uh yes no cool so let's get into conversation Street and uh let's dig uh India Matt Cruz says it is Laurie and I thought it was um and uh Anna doing remarkable job there with what's the story and the interviews just some incredible stuff coming out I love in the podcast genuinely loving the podcast but let's talk about the talk because that's what we're doing conversation Street we talk about the talk uh so babe um sorry we are married uh if you've just done this lately well at least I hope not well Dan orange may be on occasion uh um but no listen uh yeah if you've just joined us welcome my name is Matt this is Sharon uh we are some of the leaders here at crowd Church um I say some because one of the things that Dave said and one of the things that we've tried very hard to avoid is the celebrity culture of the pastor um which is it's a lot easier to do when your church is smaller like Crown it's not so easy to do when you've got the mega church you know and everything's geared around quite a charismatic pasta um yeah yeah that was one of the points like oh I could really do picking up a nose and celebrity was one of those because I think we have seen um a lot of difficulties within churches where that is an issue yeah where everything kind of focuses more on the church leader or the worship leader rather than actually on Jesus but on the flip side of that I thought actually sometimes it can like if if we're getting a lot of Praise from people we're doing something good it can be easy for us to kind of get into that oh I'm the celebrity kind of thing or do you know I mean just soak up the praise of people rather than going hang on a minute it's great to be encouraged isn't it yeah but there's a difference between encouragement and having that whole kind of celebrity culture yeah there is and it's it's a really interesting one isn't it about um you know where do you boast uh you know where it's it's because here at work for those of you don't know I run my own company in fact the studio is at my warehouse we are right now Warehouse as we speak um and so we have this studio here I run a company um I get invited to go speak all over the world I'm involved in stuff um it's easy to fall into this idea of building your own brand right which is this is a really popular thing in the business world at the moment you need to build your own brand and there is some I get why people are saying it from a marketing point of view you know we need to build our own brand the CEO needs to have his own brand he needs to have his own Twitter feed and uh all that sort of stuff and I get it I do understand it I get the pull of it and the desire of it but I felt challenged I think when we started crowd to pull away from that to stop building the Matt Edmondson brand for want for better expression um and so haven't done that for the last two or three years and I have to say it's been quite liberating yeah I don't know if it's helped us as a business uh I'm not gonna lie I don't know whether that's helped us or not um but I do get this desire this pool to be the celebrity to be the leader to be the person whose name is on the you know on the top of the document or whatever it is whether that's as a pastor whether that's as a business leader and it's not wrong obviously because it is it works our company uh it is um our name at the top of the piece of paper um but it's not about me and church is not about the pastor is it and this is what we talk about with the celebrity side of things yeah like church should be about Jesus about God it's like he is celebrity in a sense obviously a lot more than that yeah what do you think are some of the downfalls of the current sort of celebrity Pastor culture that we have um I think it's place it's making an idol of things that it's like um the way we're designed to be is with God is the one that we looked here for everyone think he's meant to be our main priority and everything falls under that but with celebrity culture I think we can tend to elevate people to a position that they were never designed to be in yeah um so then it can go to people's heads so our our affection is kind of misplaced and I think we can put um too much stock and what our expectations of people and give um yeah put false expectations for people um but at the same time can lead them to then getting prior proud and abuse in power and yeah all that kind of thing which is not designed for it even though we tend to be draw we want to be light don't we we want to be encouraged and I think yeah the Bible tells us to encourage each other but God's designed us to work in a certain way and he's not designed us where we're like idolizing people yeah it's very true he's uh the Bible calls Jesus the head um so he's he's the head isn't he and it's it's it's interesting you know there have been some high-profile pastors who have been in the media um who have for what what you know one reason or another celebrity culture has not helped them they felt the pressure of that they've either ended up having an affair or there was abuse that came out of it and there's the problem when you put too much power in one person's hands isn't it and so um it's I get the need for leadership I do and obviously the bar was very clear on leadership um but yeah that celebrity culture the lack of accountability that would be another thing that we see a lot in that culture isn't it that um you you start to become unaccountable for a lot of your actions because it's like well no God it's when you use phrases like what God said you know what God's told me I'm the pastor God's told me we ought to do dot dot dot therefore there's it's very hard to argue against that if you're a lay person I think it's um and Jesus modeled the sort of leadership that is part of his kingdom which is a servant leadership yeah and he says he said his disciples that um in the world leaders tend to Lord it over yeah people under them but he's like that's not the way this Kingdom works yeah to serve people and to lift other people up not lift yourself up yeah yeah absolutely and this is what Dave was trying to draw out of that passage wasn't it when um the crowds were going the gods have come amongst us I mean that that's going to sound really good isn't it I you know uh God's using you that much that people think you are in fact God you know and there's the Miracles the signs the Wonders and all that sort of stuff which is fantastic following him around the gods have come down amongst us and they're like no no hang on a minute uh this is it's not right to call us gods and I think um as Leaders we should probably just take that on board shouldn't we really yeah um oh I've switched the wrong cat there we go good camera switching Matthew uh but no we should we should definitely take that on board shouldn't we and and um and remember that this is all about God it's all about glorifying him and when we lose that when we lose that ability to do that when we stop seeing him and start falling back on our own ability to do stuff then we've got um we have got problems and it's not like you say it's not just related to celebrity pastors um I think it's it's true in all walks of life we can all fall danger of this yeah uh Andy says here God is CEO of all churches like the language there andy foreign I think it's very very true um uh what's this Nicholas said never designed or sometimes wanted I'm assuming we're talking about the celebrity Pastor thing um so yeah it's it's one of those where uh we won't show him back thanks that's going through the comments obviously talking about my dodgy camera switching so it's a celebrity passed her aside um what Dave said there's this very interesting phrase that he used about honoring your pastors and honoring your leaders which we do talk about a lot in church now this is going to sound like a really fascinating conversation given that we are the leaders I suppose of crowd in many ways and there's obviously there's Anna and and Dan and people as well who aren't on the live stream so it's not just us just want to point that out there are other people involved uh just so you know what do we what do you hear and understand by the phrase honor so when you when you when we talk about honoring leadership what what does that mean to good question um I guess to be respectful and thankful and I don't think it's just within the church context I think that works within any context that we work in yeah um that the Bible does tell us to like pray for our leaders and yeah there's that whole respect within leadership even when they might not always be easy it might not be easy to do that all the time and it doesn't mean that we um like if somebody's doing something very wrong it doesn't mean that we just gloss over it and pretend that's not happening but I think yeah just having that sense of respect and thankfulness yeah for the good things yeah yeah I think so I think it's a good match of their great answer yeah absolutely a great answer and I think it did I think that's very good I think I I don't know if I can add anything to it I was so I think it's interesting that the Bible does tell us to pray for our leaders whoever they might be and uh they need it don't they because they're leading people with it it's difficult and also as people as Leaders everybody's flawed so they really need a lot of our prayers and that's probably something I forget to do on a regular basis but it's easy to moan about our leaders when they're getting it wrong and doing a bad job but actually we have a responsibility to pray for people yeah and actually you could argue other leaders doing a bad job because the church isn't praying for them especially like political leaders um you know uh it's always one of my favorite questions to ask questions who are moaning about state of the country it's like it's great but how much have you prayed for them recently it's not sad our leaders are above reproach they're not especially the political leaders and it's good to course like you say we call stuff out you know there's when it's a lie it's a lie we've got to call that out you know things like um putting refugees and Asylum Seekers on a boat and shipping them off to another country is just things like that are wrong and we should we should you know call that out shouldn't we but at the same time these are imperfect people who have an immense role and need air press and it's the same in church you know leadership I think is one of those things that everybody wants until they get it and then it's like oh actually this thing is not as good as I thought it was going to be which I mean I have to do things I have to sacrifice I have to serve I have to do this that and the other um at least that's the leadership we feel we should be modeling yeah that's I think the leadership that Jesus modeled is one of sacrifice and service like you said not one of power and loading it over people yeah yeah fascinating isn't it fascinating um so anything else on that uh uh points okay let's go pick up on the other points you go for it let me do this yeah I think it was interesting that Dave was talking about hardship and how Paul went and encouraged the uh the people that had become Christians by and his encouragement was to say you're gonna have a hard time right I'm definitely with Dave on this one would much prefer a lovely easy time um we've just come back well not long ago come back from holiday and it was like so nice and relaxing sorry I'm losing a has it falling out yeah um yeah it's really lovely and relaxing and you know and then you come back and it's like all this stuff going on and problems in your life um yeah it would be nice if life was like one big holiday but the reality is it's not um but I think as Christians we can sometimes think that if things are going wrong it can be like oh why are they going wrong I'm full of God surely everything should be fine and I think sometimes things do go wrong because we've been stupid or we've made the wrong decision mentioning no names live on air but if you look life is just hard um and they're doing they're doing exactly what they've been called to do like Paul and Barnabas um they're where God wants them to be but things just keep going wrong yeah so I don't think we can judge what whether we're in God's will or not or whether you know we've done something wrong just because life's difficult and things are going bad we kind of need discernment to know what's going on in those situations sometimes it is just because we are directly in God's will yeah and the Bible talks about that we have an enemy losing it again my ears must be small um yeah we have an enemy who wants to pull us away from the truth wants to pull us away from God um and we'll do anything to try and do that and we're living in this broken world so stuff is gonna happen and that's just a fact of life yeah which I don't really like but it's effective life yeah no one wants it no no one wants it but you um you can't get away from the fact the Bible talks about it and warns us against it warns us against it warns us about it really um you're going to face hardships you're going to face trials and tribulations and persecutions and we're not immune from it right which is why I think Dave I think quite well pulled that out that on the surface of it that doesn't sound like an encouragement but actually it is an encouragement because if you're going through a hard time it doesn't mean that you're in the wrong place or doing the wrong stuff or that you've missed it it might be that that's just the way it is right now yeah no it's very true very true it's um it's we we always say it's it's very difficult to judge the will of God by what you're going through in life right um because again the will of God is not about how you feel about it um and Dave talked about this didn't he did you know I think if you have a good sense of mission a good sense of purpose it's a lot easier to face those hardships so Paul again Dave Drew this out in the talk that Paul goes back to the place that stoned him practically to death yeah I mean I'd have PTSD you'd have flashbacks wouldn't you when you sort of go back to something like that um but Paul had back there to encourage the church at that place doesn't he sort of it's really interesting his approached the whole thing um I don't think he was blase about it no um you don't get that sense I don't get that sense reading scripture but I get the sense that he was Fearless about it Jeremy kind of he had the sense of Mission sense of call he knew what he was doing yeah which I think is another point on here because Dave as well brought that out about that Paul and Barnabas knew what they were called to and they were very much focused on that and he was talking about the different reactions of different people to what they were doing and some people loved it and responded to the message some people hated it and it's like we can be doing what God wants us to do but we're going to get different reaction from different people but I get the impression that Paul and Barnabas was so focused on their call and what they were meant to do that it's almost like you can kind of drown out these other voices yeah in a sense and just kind of go okay God's pleased with me that's all I need to focus on yeah and forget about that and again I think that's quite a good principle for life is knowing what God has called us to do which I realize can be a tricky subject yeah topic on its own right yeah personally I think from scripture I get the impression that we've everybody's got this General calling which is a lot easier so things like give thanks in all circumstances um and if um in all the work you're doing work as if you're working to God so whether that's paid work or voluntary work or whether you're at home with the kids whatever productive kind of stuff that you're involved in it's like we're not working for people and for people's praise but let's let's do it to God yeah so I think just that whole thing of knowing what we're called to do whether that's in a very general sense yeah uh sometimes I think we can possibly get too hung up on I don't know what God's called me to do and get a bit Paralyzed by it so it's just like let's just start with the simple stuff that we know is for everybody and yeah work from there yeah absolutely um just going back to this uh back to the comments Nicholas says hardships make you who you are it's what you do with it that counts very true yeah um you can grow through what you go through as a phrase I use all the time or you can just let it mess you up I suppose Andy said as long as you're in God's Mission and you're heading in the right direction um which is very very true and that again coming back to calling because like you say a lot of people get caught up on this you know what are my calls to do what's God's calling on my life and for some of us I in fact let me say for the majority of us that is a lifelong process of finding out right and I do think that just like Paul goes on this missionary journey what we see in X it's like God um calls Paul to go here then to go there then to go there and as Paul just knows this bit he doesn't know all of this he just knows this bit and that tends to be how life is we just know the next little bit and somehow God works it all together um but calling is like you say there are some general points to our calling and if you're wondering what your calling is if you're wondering what your mission in life is and you're not sure start with what you know right and so where exactly where are you at and calling is a lot like a coin you know I I know we don't use cash anymore since covid um but if I had a coin I'd show you but I've not seen a coin for a long time uh but on the British coins uh we still have the Queen's head on one side or now the new King and then we have the you know a specific value on one side and common to every single coin is the is the crown right that's common to every single coin so King Charles will be on every single coin at some point right it was Queen Elizabeth now it's going to be King Charles and for us as Christians our lives there are things which markers which are the same for all of us so things like give thanks in all situations you know there are certain things which we are called to do live a life that is pleasing to God um there are all of these things right pray for your leaders we talked about that all of these things that you know are General things which we are called to do that's the crown side and then when you flip the coin over you get the specific value of that coin the specific thing that it's you know its denomination what it's there for um and that's you know these specific callings that God gives us understanding what that is for this season in life this point in time and it may change over time and that's fine but understanding that is not as important as you think it is and it's not as complicated as we think it is um and I like what Andy said we put it on the screen as long as you're on God's Mission uh you're heading in the right direction I actually think it's if you're a Christian who is praying and you know trying to do the right thing you're you're listening to the voice of God as best as you can you you may not be perfect but it's actually I think it's much harder to miss the will of God for our lives yeah yeah than we than we think it is do I mean if you are a Christian with the holy spirit inside you guiding you I wouldn't worry about it and stress about it too much so hopefully that's an encouragement to you if you're wondering about you know what God what does God call me to do if you focus on the Royal side first focus on the crown focus on the things of God the other stuff becomes clearer as you go through that's my observation Nicola so she's called to be awesome I like that I do like that Nicola Zoe my daughter our daughter as well what you know she's yours and mine we've been working on these t-shirt designs called created awesome I am created awesome it's just a burden I have to bear um it's one of the phrases that I use on all the podcasts that I'm involved with and so I totally agree Nicola I'm cool to be we are all called to be awesome we are created awesome although somebody did misread one of the t-shirts recently and went what's grated awesome take whatever I can get I suppose I'm great at awesome uh created awesome it's just a burden I've got a bear you've got to Bear it I've got to Bear it Sharon's got to Bear it we've all got a bear it's just a bird but like you know Que Sera Sera #first world problems Stephen with Awesomes that's awesome so what's next on your little list well I mean pick up them yeah there's a number of things isn't there I mean we've one other thing going back to the hardship thing we've talked a lot about that over recent weeks it seems to be a recurring theme in the book of Acts God moves God does a miraculous but persecution hardships sufferings tribulations trials whatever language we want to use life not going the way we expect it to go also seems to be one of the key themes of Acts which is why we've talked about it so much over the last few weeks because you can't you can't read the book of Acts and think everything is Rosy in life right I'm always amazed when I mean I don't do pastoral counseling that well mainly because when I sit down with people who are not happy that life's not going well and I don't get me wrong I understand it and there is empathy you know it is hard it is tough but when life's not going well but you kind of have this entitlement belief that it should go well I'm like I really struggle with that I'm like okay so you're the one person that the Bible does therefore not apply to because you can't read scripture and escape this that life is is in Seasons that there's going to be UPS there are going to be Downs um and God Is With Us regardless you know and judging what God is saying judging what God is doing on the basis of how I feel is always a dangerous place to be um and so um so yeah that's a reason why we've talked about it so much um if you've been following us on recent live streams you can't escape it you just it can't it's in Acts it's just it's the theme of Acts you know there's these amazing things happening but there's incredibly hard things happening at the same time and in fact I remember a guy called Peter Daniels who was um I don't know if he's still around actually Peter Daniel I assume he is um he became a Christian Australian guy became a Christian very wealthy businessman and he started going around doing these different um talks just you know some people would say it was self-help he brought the gospel into it really I really appreciated his talks um from this wealthy business guys and he said um it was talking about problems and he made this statement which I've never ever forgotten he said if you've not got any problems in life you need to get on your knees and say to God do you not trust me anymore and I thought that was a really powerful thing to say which I mean it's like if you've not got any problems does God not trust you anymore and I um you know God gives us things doesn't need to deal with and and to work through and to to bring his gospel to to the world so um yeah I just wanted to round that bring that uh in there just in case you could we're going to be talking about it again um there's no doubt it's coming up a lot in Acts um I think one of the things Dave I think said towards the end was about um using every situation just to press more into god um and you could potentially say well is it if we're going to have all these problems as a Christian is it actually worth it I think you're going to have problems whether whatever Faith or whether you've got no faith and I kind of feel like it's better to do that with God than without but it also reminds me I think there's um a story that Jesus tells about a guy who discovers that there's treasure in a field so he sells everything he's got so that he can buy this field and to get the treasure and it is saying that whatever the price that we have to pay that actually knowing god is actually worth it and it sometimes depending on what we're going through and where our emotions at that are at that moment it doesn't always feel that way but I think it's hanging on to that truth that actually God Jesus he's worth giving all that stuff up for because he is so much more yeah yeah exactly and that's what lorianne makes clear in her podcast I don't know if you heard that at the end she said what she discovered throughout that whole process was the relationship that she uh you know has just transformed her life was more important than the healing that she started out to to get she she started searching for healing and she discovered relationship with God whatever that means and looks like for her you know but she Drew near to God and in that met him in a very real and Powerful way and this you know is now telling a story and encouraging people she's written a book called Divine detours there's all kinds of stuff going on God is using her in that situation um and I think yes press into good I think the only other thing from uh my notes from what Dave was saying was that the gospel in the mind of the Christian is good news it means good news right not everybody receives it in the same way and that's that's something else that we learned from this isn't it it's like every not everyone's happy to hear it and you might you you might go well hang on this is the greatest news why would you not want to uh understand this why would you not want to receive this because it's been so transformational for you it's been so life-giving you know this gospel this Jesus who has changed our lives we think everybody's would be mind-blowing if they you know receive this gospel but actually some people don't receive it particularly well so some people will be like yeah whatever some people were so angry with Paul and Barnabas that they stoned him practically to death I mean praise God that doesn't happen today what in this country in this country it does it does yeah yeah that's true yeah it does happen around the world but you know praise God not hit not here um I don't think I've got a Lynch Mob waiting outside waiting to Stone me for doing the live stream but it it it is one of those things that we have to be aware of that when we're sharing the gospel when we're sharing the good news so when we put stuff out on social media not all the comments are positive as we've discovered right and so when people put negative comments on the social media don't have a go at them just invite questions just ask some questions about what they've put and start the conversation and see where it goes because you never know um but you know not everybody's going to receive the good news not everybody's ready to receive it at that point and actually for a number of people it might make them angry and you we shouldn't be surprised at that yeah um because the but the gospel is actually also quite offensive because it challenges you and it challenges your personal beliefs um and so I think just be aware of that and be sensitive to that that maybe the person that you're trying to share the gospel with at the moment maybe now is not the best time because it might make them angry but we can lead with some kind of questions we can go into that a little bit further but don't be surprised Always by the reaction that people have and we it's like we don't have to control other people's reactions we're not responsible for how people react to the message we just have the responsibility to bring the message yeah yeah absolutely and one of the things that we'll see with Paul's journey is actually the way he brings the message differs between different people groups he is very aware of who he is speaking to and he brings a gospel in a way that's going to best connect with that people group right so it's not just a case of one message for everybody it's like understanding who's our audience who are we trying to reach what's the best way to connect with them so we know for with crowd for example a lot of people who watch it aren't are unchurched people and if you're unchurched if you're still searching for in the Christian faith you're so welcome him we love the fact that you know people come along Texas all the time questions which I just love a question is a stupid question I just want to point that out love getting all the questions um but that has an implication that means when we we don't always do a great job but it means that when we communicate we try and communicate without all the Christian ease uh that is you know prevalent um if we use words like salvation or redemption or all those sorts of words um we we at least try and explain what they mean because we're aware of who the audience is or you know predominantly watching the the live stream and what's really cool uh Pastor Alexander who was also on the podcast if you haven't heard his story you know Pastor Alexander from the Congo I know that there are people in the Congo watching crowns awesome uh that you are you know uh and I just love that I love the fact that it goes Global um but being aware of your audience and sharing the gospel uh we're going to see that as we go through just a little heads up we're going to see that as we go through which is going to be great so so the message stays the same but the method of communicating that potentially changes you're a genius love that I've done about genius but you know she said it perfectly I'm just going to stop talking now I'm in fact here just do this you go ahead okay well it is uh coming up to the top of the hour so I think we will close conversation Street there uh so that's in the comments uh next week is about freedom and relationship I do believe um Matt you will probably know more than me given that you manage all of this sort of well involved in all of this sort of stuff uh Anna Kettle is involved next week yes she is Anna who hosts a lot actually um on crowd who is an absolute Legend in her own right is doing the talk next week and we've got Dan and Ruth orange who are hosting her brother and sister yeah awesome they did it when they did it a few weeks ago together and that we all thought this is really cool brother and sister hosting crowd and so they are back next week hosting crowd we've got the amazing Anna Kettle talking uh and so really really looking forward to that I know Anna's just another one of those person you mentioned earlier on she's like you know because she's been through a lot so you hear her story on what's the story you hear you learn about miscarriages that her and Andy a husband have been through and she said the same thing she I remember her saying you know if I didn't have God I would still have to face all of this but without him better with him than without him and so really looking forward to Anna coming onto the show uh we live down in Ruth we live there's a lot of love in the in the comments for these guys which is great uh so yes do promote the zoom thank you just like collect work do you want to promote the zoom uh yeah if you'd like to connect with us more we have a midweek Zoom um where we just catch up with each other and pray for anything that's going on with crowd or with each other and it's just a good chance to connect so how do people do that if they want to uh simple you just go to the website which I think is this button here there it is Instagram or Facebook at crowd Church uh just DM us do you like that DM direct message or shoot us an email you'll also find on the website crowd.church you will find the what's app number you can reach us on WhatsApp by message uh I know some people do try and call but we don't get the calls don't come through but the messages do um so do messages on that and we'll send you the details of the zoom and hopefully starting in I don't know why I looked at my watch hopefully starting in October because uh you know now September hopefully starting October we'll be doing the post live stream zoom on after the Sunday service so after this service uh will be doing a 10-15 minute Zoom after the service just to catch up for any of you on the live stream as well there are some other things that we're looking into we will of course keep you updated with all the changes and stuff coming as we continue to grow and uh just do this journey online which is I'm loving it actually it's quite nice it's nice and easy he says with three cameras pointing at him and lights and switches and all that sort of stuff so so I think should we end it there thanks for joining us thank you so yeah yeah thank you so much from us do join us do make sure you like And subscribe and we'll let you know what's going on if you haven't done so already head over to the website sign up to the newsletter and we will email you all the good stuff uh whenever we are going live thank you for joining in the comments great to see you in there thanks for your thoughts conversation is always better conversation street is always better when you're involved hashtag dissane um but yes stay awesome because you created awesome that's where the comments are in terms of my eye line um but now great to see you uh this week thank you so much for joining us uh from Sharon and myself have a fantastic week goodbye for now thank you so much for joining us here on crowd church now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit the Subscribe Button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live and of course if you are listening to the podcast uh the live stream podcast make sure you also hit the follow button Now by Smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform it helps us reach more people with the message that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life so if you haven't done so already be sure to check out our website www.crowd.church where you can learn more about Earth as a church more about the Christian faith and also how to connect into our church Community it has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome it's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time that's it from us God bless you bye for now