The final words someone speaks tend to carry the most weight. We look at what Jesus chose to say in his last moments with his closest friends and why those parting instructions still demand attention two thousand years later.
01Why the Last Words of Jesus Still Matter
Imagine you knew you were about to leave everything behind. Your job, your friends, your family. You had one final conversation with the people you loved most. What would you say?
That is essentially the situation Jesus found himself in at the end of Mark's Gospel. And the words he chose to speak in that moment tell us something remarkable about what he thought mattered most.
02A Room Full of Imperfect People
The setting for this final conversation is worth paying attention to. Jesus had been crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. He appeared to his disciples — and the first thing he did was rebuke them. Not exactly the warm reunion you might expect.
As the talk explains, "The Christian faith is not a faith for perfect people. It is for those who recognise their imperfection. It is for those who are aware of their need, of their weakness. Jesus calls to himself imperfect people and invites them to be part of his team."
That framing changes things. These were not spiritual superstars gathered around the table. They were fishermen and tax collectors. People who had doubted, denied, and run away when things got difficult. And yet these were the people Jesus chose to entrust with everything.
If you have ever felt too flawed, too ordinary, or too far gone to be useful — you are exactly the kind of person Jesus picked first.
03The Commission Nobody Expected
What Jesus said next has shaped the course of history for two thousand years. He told his followers to go into all the world and preach the good news. Not some of them. All of them. Not in private. Everywhere.
The talk highlights a problem that has developed over the centuries within churches. "In the history of the church, we have at times got this so wrong. We have separated out ordinary people and special people — the clergy and the laity, the non-professionals and the professionals who wear the special uniform and do the special stuff."
That separation was never part of the original plan. According to Jesus, the moment someone decides to follow him, they receive what the talk describes as "a royal commission — their marching orders to go into the world."
Now, in modern culture, we are often told that religion should be kept private. Don't talk about faith at work. Don't bring it up at school. Keep your beliefs to yourself. The talk addresses this head-on with two responses.
First, Jesus specifically told his followers to share the message. Keeping it private would mean directly ignoring what he asked.
Second, and perhaps more compellingly, "The message of Jesus is just such good news. It's like the best thing that ever happened to me. It's so life-transforming that I simply couldn't keep it to myself even if I wanted to."
That is not the language of obligation. That is the language of someone who has found something too good not to talk about.
04Ordinary People, Extraordinary Power
Here is where things get interesting. Jesus did not just give his followers a job to do and walk away. He promised to equip them for it.
The talk uses a brilliant illustration. "I remember when I was a school teacher, my classroom overlooked a busy dual carriageway. Regularly there would be a police officer outside with a speed gun. When he clocked an approaching speeding vehicle, he would step out into the road, put his hand up, and the car would stop."
The point being made is that the officer did not have the physical power to stop a speeding car. But he carried the authority of something much bigger than himself. "He was acting with the full weight of the law, with that commission behind him."
The same principle applies to followers of Jesus. The commission comes with empowerment. The talk does not shy away from the supernatural dimension of this — healing, freedom, restoration. These are not abstract theological concepts. They are described as lived experiences.
"God healed my grandmother of Parkinson's disease. God healed my brother at the age of ten in a near-fatal road accident — just given a few days to live. Just a few days ago, I'd had terrible pain in my shoulder. I was maxing out on painkillers. I'd lost sleep for forty-eight hours. So I asked a few friends to lay hands on me and pray for me, like we've just read in this passage. And almost instantly, the pain went."
Whether you find those claims easy to accept or not, they represent something important about the Christian faith. It has always been, at its core, a supernatural faith. Remove the miracles, the resurrection, the divine encounters, and there is not much left.
05What This Means for Real Life
So what do you do with all of this? Three things stand out from the talk.
You do not need to be qualified. Jesus chose people who were below average by every measurable standard of their day. If you feel like you are not good enough, clever enough, or sorted enough — that is actually the entry requirement, not a disqualification.
You have something worth sharing. If you have experienced anything of what Jesus offers — forgiveness, purpose, hope, peace — then talking about it is not religious obligation. It is a natural response to something genuinely good. You do not need a theology degree or a pulpit. You just need your own story.
You are not doing it alone. The promise of empowerment is not a one-time event from two thousand years ago. The talk presents it as an ongoing, present-tense reality. "God still calls imperfect people to be his followers. God still commissions all of his followers to do all of his work. And God still empowers ordinary people — people like me, people like you — to do the extraordinary."
06Your Next Steps
Read Mark 16:14-20 for yourself. It is short — only a few verses. But sit with it. Ask yourself what stands out.
Think about what you would say. If you had one final conversation with the people closest to you, what would you talk about? That exercise reveals what matters most to you.
Consider your own story. Have you experienced something of God at work in your life? Even something small? Sharing that with one person this week does not require a stage or a microphone. It just requires honesty.
Ask for help. If the idea of supernatural empowerment feels foreign or uncomfortable, that is perfectly normal. Start by simply asking God for it. The disciples did not understand it either — and they were in the room.
07One Final Thought
The departing words of any person carry weight. We lean in closer, listen more carefully, and remember them longer. The departing words of Jesus were not about theology or ritual or rules. They were about people — imperfect, ordinary, doubting people — being sent out with extraordinary power to share the best news the world has ever heard.
So here is the question worth sitting with: if Jesus trusted that kind of mission to a group of fishermen and tax collectors who had already let him down, what might he be trusting you with?
Topics in this talk
View Full Transcript
uh so foreign oh me do my well good afternoon and welcome to crowd church a little bit different today a little bit different not gonna lie next to me is well we actually have a real person hi everyone hi it's great to see you we're out loud this is allowed we're not breaking rules are we we are doing the right thing right now being in the same space we are and it's great it's great for you to be with us here on sunday afternoon now rach let's be honest this was not our intention i got here five minutes ago everyone my internet was not playing at all it was not working we've restarted it matt knows all what to do all the buttons to press and everything and it was not working and so good job i only live a two-minute drive away it's worked out well and it's worked out well for us yeah yeah it's worked out really well no it is yeah so uh welcome to crowd church we are a digital church an online church for those that might not see the point of church it's great that you're here we are just looking for answers aren't we we're just trying to figure out how to do life and how to do the christian life yeah and it is i'm not gonna lie it's a little bit disconcerting having someone next to me because normally normally i'll see rage in the monitor and so and so and this is what the second time you've led now isn't it it is so welcome to the deep end thank you right so all pray for rach [Laughter] so yeah so hopefully actually as lock down lives we're going to start doing crowd a bit more together like this so this is actually a really impromptu test which is that's pretty good isn't it and well sometimes my mum always says necessity is the mother of invention and what that means is basically if i if i didn't put it round here i would not be on screen so um and it's paving the way hey a little bit earlier than you thought maybe absolutely yeah absolutely yeah so welcome to everyone uh do say hi in the comments let us know where you're watching from uh great to see you matt's here john's here sharon's here nicholas here uh which surprises me because sharon said nicola wasn't coming this afternoon but it's great that you're here nicola actually it's great that you're here yeah um welcome everybody welcome to crowd church do say hi in the comments um let me explain to you what is going to go on this afternoon or at least what we think is going to happen this afternoon um and uh just so you you know what's coming up right so in a few minutes time we are going to have uh talk from do you know who is it pastor john harding it is oh good tick got that one right she looked very very worried right then um so we've got john harding coming on yeah in just a few seconds which would be great yeah uh whilst john is talking feel free to write your comments your questions uh about what john is saying uh the cool thing is after the talk we're going to have a little entire brief time of worship and reflection and then john's gonna be with us oh yes where we can ask him some questions and interview him a little bit about his talk which will be great so that's gonna be awesome so john's coming to join us live hopefully his internet's working it will be yeah yeah otherwise john you need to hightail it around here it's getting a bit cramped but it'll be it'll be fine i'll go to the back so uh with all of that said um if you have any questions any comments obviously do let us know we do actually i'm gonna push this button here we have a whatsapp number which is on your screen now uh it says john harding says i'm heading to your shed right now cool come on round john come on around to party he does like a party just so you know uh we will be keeping you up to date with the liverpool scores throughout today's live stream so you'll you know uh we will be ending around quarter to four five o'clock so you'll get the second half but world of being here at church yeah that's pretty good that that's dedication that is yeah absolutely awesome so do you want to explain what the whatsapp number's for okay the what's up number and i'm getting it right i think this time is for you to um just throw your comments via what's up to us and also if you've got any um prayer requests or anything you want us to support you in then we can and we will and um i know last time i was on i said you know you're not just flinging something out into the air and nobody cares it's like you're gonna share your concerns or things you want prayer for and the team will pray for them and they will um consider and you know just wait for the response and the answer and um i heard um a good old friend of ours um pastor dave used to say um god will either answer yes no or wait so not yet yeah not yet yeah so um we will pray for you absolutely yeah so if you'd like to send us your prayer request do that on the whatsapp number on your screen or you can get in touch with us on the website right there and there's a little form on there that you can reach out to us so do do that we do prayed like rachet right shall we get into it yes do you want to intro the talk uh yes but i don't know what it's on proper planning and preparation there boys and girls you intro john and then our talent okay so along um who's the person that's going to speak to us now john some of you will have heard him before he is a pastor of a church whenever i say pastor before a name um it's out of respect to their role and what they do um he's also a good friend of ours and um he really does love what the bible says and he studied it at university so he's got a lot of knowledge but he's also got a life um application he can bring to it so i just really hope it it it sort of like gets you thinking gets you wondering and maybe ask more questions or maybe it even answers some of your questions so just enjoy sit back and relax and enjoy what you've got to share with us now absolutely here we go let me just push my button and here's john hi the crowd church hi there everyone watching i'm just going to speak for about 10 minutes or so from uh our next section of the bible that we are up to from mark chapter 16 verse 14 to 20. and in fact this is the final section in mark's gospel his closing words in his book recording the life of jesus mark has faithfully and accurately captured a biography of jesus his life his death his resurrection uh we were thinking about his resurrection last week at kraut church the actual physical miraculous bodily resurrection of jesus from the dead and i just want to go on record saying that i believe it a hundred percent and if you missed the talk from last week i'd encourage you to go back and to watch that talk on the resurrection of jesus and as we've journeyed through mark's gospel we've not just seen the events of jesus's life but we've seen through his words and his works exactly who jesus really was so jesus really is none other than god in human for form the most amazing unique person who ever lived someone with the power to completely transform your life today in today's reading the resurrected jesus meets up with his disciples and and three things happen in our reading the first is that he tells them off he rebukes them the second is that he sends them out into the world to preach and the third thing is that jesus leaves them he ascends up into heaven we call it the ascension he delegates and entrusts them enough to complete the mission he started so let's just read our passage mark 16 verse 14 to 20. later jesus appeared to the 11 disciples as they were eating all of what happens in mark's gospel is around food if you read it carefully he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen verse 15 he said to them go into all the world and preach the good news to all people whoever believes and is baptized will be saved whoever does not believe will be condemned and these signs will accompany those who believe in my name they will drive out demons they will speak in new tongues they will pick up snakes with their hands and when they drink deadly poison it will not hurt them at all they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well after the lord jesus had spoken to them he was taken up into heaven and he sat down at the right hand of god then the disciples went out and preached everywhere and the lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it that's today's reading the final part of mark's gospel uh the end of his story i think it should have a a tbc at the end of it uh to be continued because it seems to me like the end of jesus story is in fact just the beginning it's the start of the story of the christian faith and the expansion of the church and and if you think about it let's just think about what's happening here you've got this one guy jesus born into poverty and obscurity he's not an earthly king or ruler or politician or military leader just a carpenter and this guy's message and life was so captivating so compelling that within just 300 years there were christians across the middle east across north africa armenia had become the first christian nation there were christians as far as india and the uk the roman empire the world superpower that tried to crush christianity had become an official christian nation by around 330 a.d today half the world's population follow the teaching of this one man this humble carpenter from nazareth his life has been so inspirational that the world's greatest music and art and literature are based on it i mean talk about market penetration talk about global expansion and how did that happen well we see the start of that journey and that process in today's reading i think and i want to just sort of break that down to help us into three points today the first point is this uh that jesus calls imperfect people this incredible expansion of christianity was not down to the quality of those first leaders these first disciples were middling to below average at best fishermen tax collectors if you were picking teams they would have not been your first choice and what we see in today's reading well jesus he rebukes them from their lack of faith for not believing in him he rebukes them for not taking him at his word for their stubbornness the christian faith is not a faith for perfect people it is for those who recognize their imperfection it is for those who are aware of their need of their weakness jesus calls to himself imperfect people and invites them to be part of his team that's point one the second point is is this that jesus commissions all of his people jesus commissions all of his followers when jesus says go into the world and preach the good news he is literally giving them their military orders it is a commission it is a formal appointment to a mission and i think in the history of the church we have at times got this so wrong we have separated out ordinary people and special people the the clergy and the laity the non-professionals and the professionals who wear the special uniform and do the special stuff and yet the moment a person receives jesus into their hearts in that moment they receive a royal commission their marching orders to go into the world and to make jesus known to invite people into god's family through baptism now in today's world i think we are particularly our part of the world we are told religion is private keep it personal keep your religion and your politics to yourself we're told well you shouldn't talk about jesus in your workplace or in your school or in the public domain but there are i'm sorry there are two big problems with that the first problem is this jesus told his followers to do it he commissioned them to do that and i just need to be obedient to jesus but i think probably the bigger problem with that keep it private is well the message of jesus is just such good news it's like the best thing that ever happened to me it's like so so good and so life transforming that i simply couldn't keep it to myself even if i wanted to so as followers of jesus we have been commissioned he commissions his followers to do his mission and the third and final point that i want to make is that jesus empowers ordinary people i don't know if you've ever been asked to do something that felt beyond you maybe you were asked to do a task that you felt you simply didn't have the the skills or the abilities or the experiences or the energy to complete and if you've ever experienced that you'll know it's a pretty awful miserable stressful situation to be in but that is not what jesus is doing here in our reading when he says to his disciples go into all the world and preach jesus commissions his followers and he equips his followers actually the um the two things go hand in hand commissioning and empowering i remember when i was a school teacher my classroom overlooked a busy dual carriageway a 30 mile an hour zone and regularly there would be a police officer outside the classroom with a speed gun and when he clocked the approach in speeding vehicles he would step out into the road in front of the car put his hand up and the car would stop which my the kids in my class would find that immensely funny watching the driver do the walk of shame to the police car to get the fine but the point is this that police officer did not have the power in and of himself to stop a speeding car but because he was because he was clothed in that uniform well the motorists always stopped because they knew he was acting with the full weight of the law with that commission behind him and i think that's what's happening in this passage how it works for us as followers of jesus that that commission closes and empowers us to do the things that jesus did we saw it in the passage to heal the sick to set those demonized captives free these are supernatural powerful activities available to followers of jesus and of course yes they seem a bit odd they seem a bit weird to many people outside the christian faith of course they do but our faith christianity is fundamentally a supernatural faith it is not natural in the sense it hinges on certain supernatural ideas that god was born in human form to a virgin that he performed miracles that not only did he die but on the third day he was raised to new life the christian faith is miraculous and supernatural so much that if you removed all those bits from the christian faith you wouldn't have much left i certainly wouldn't follow it but for those who whose hearts are open to say yes to jesus to believe it for those who will take that leap of faith and embrace the truth of the claims of jesus what we find is this that our lives too become supernatural his experience becomes our experience and i could tell you story after story after story about this about how god has healed me or my family or healed people through me how god healed my grandmother of parkinson's disease how god healed my brother at the age of 10 in a near fatal road accident just given a few days to live how just a few days ago i'd had terrible pain in my shoulder i was maxing out on painkillers i'd lost sleep for 48 hours so i asked a few friends to lay hands on me and pray for me like we've just read in this passage and almost instantly the pain went so much so that i spent the next day loading a skit with bricks pain-free just a few days ago the christian faith supernatural it is an invitation a commissioning and empowering to do the things jesus did and i mean even if you try to argue it's mind over matter then i would say well that's god-given ability um something given to god to draw us closer to him so the end of mark's biography of jesus story to be continued that is continued as you and i get woven into the story of jesus god still calls him perfect people to be his followers god still commissions all of his followers to do all of his work and god still empowers ordinary people people like me people like you to do the extraordinary the supernatural the evidence 2 000 years of church history the stories of ordinary followers of jesus like my story like the story that of the people you'll see on crowd church and it's an invitation to join in that story and to experience god's power at work in your life and through your life as we outwork the mission of jesus amen okay hopefully you can hear us now not sure what's going on there uh just give us a little thumbs up in the comments if you can now hear us that would be great i'm fairly sure you can there is a little delay between us talking and people actually hearing us anyway uh so uh as i was saying but not that you could hear yay we've got sound again awesome thanks john uh so as i was saying um but you couldn't hear and if you could lip read i'm sorry you're going to get this twice uh john is going to be with us in just a few minutes time so do get busy writing your questions and your comments uh in the feed and we'll get to those with john looking forward to having him on uh it's going to be great in the meantime we are going to do worship and reflection uh what we call worship and reflection so we're going to play a song now it's going to last a few minutes uh sing along if you want to and if it's safe to um but obviously don't feel like you have to and a lot of people use this time just to kind of think about what john was talking about think about the talk think about the song the lyrics in the song because this song is called overcome and it's all about how jesus has literally overcome everything which is kind of where we end up on mark's gospel isn't it so i'm gonna look for my mouse pointer i'm gonna play this song and we'll be back in a few minutes with mr john hodding here we go now the darkness fades into new beginnings as we lift our eyes to a hoping or creation wait with an expectation to declare the reign of the lord our god we will not be moved when the earth gives way father is overcome and for everything there's an empty gray for there is overcome now the silence breaks in the name of jesus as the heavens cry let the earth respond well creation shouts with a voice of triumph to declare the reign of the lord our god we will not be moved when the earth gives way father is overcome and for everything there's an empty grave for there is a warmth is overcome he shall reign forever strongholds now surrender the lord our god has overcome who can be against us jesus our defender he is lord and he has overcome he shall reign forever strong holds now sooner the lord our god has overcome who can be against us jesus i defend that he is lord and he has overcome we will not be blue when the earth gives way father is a one who's overcome and for every fear there's an empty grave who's overcome for there is a one who's overcome okay thanks mr john farrington for doing that song i love that song do you like that song overcome i do like that song but i especially like the way he leads it yeah he's quite chilled out yeah he's a great musician and worship leader he's fantastic yeah he's a good guy yeah good guys there john good guy okay so i'm just checking everyone can hear us which is the main thing right so without further ado i'm going to click this button here and hopefully uh if technology is working right we've got john harding with us john can you hear us oh let's do you both how you doing good to see you with your liverpool mug there bud yeah it's it's still nil nil just to you know give a quick update i know it's nil you would hear my house explode oh sorry i just dropped my pen and pulled the earphone out i reaches it so the most important question john who did you vote for in your revision last night um it sort of passed me by your revision marks the first night that cursed and i spent in liverpool when we moved to liverpool in 1998. oh wow so he does a short place in our hearts but um yes i i think i enjoyed ralph beryl's eurovision film so much yeah i've watched that as well i love anything eurovision me and my sister text each other after every song and then she gives it whatever out of ten and i'm and then sadly i heard our song and said nice song no one's gonna vote no no no england just don't the englanding eurovision is not right but you know what when i was a school and the kids on the school yard and all the kids and the kids they like or no one will play with me and um i thought oh england we ought to really put a sense of how we loved or not in europe i know i know i don't mean it well i don't know how other way to mean it but it's like they they just don't like us very much at the moment do they no well it's not even so much that is it it's just we just don't put the effort into it i mean when you look at my favorite song i'm not gonna lie iceland i was like i was iceland all the way yeah i had so as iceland switzerland reminded me of the 80s so new romantics loved it reminded me of a few people and then um i just thought they were fantastic and then russia i thought quite a brave song i thought from russia yeah quite like that one as well so yeah yeah anyway we're not here to talk about your opinion as as interesting as that would be yeah yeah we should next time we should do eurovision we should livestream our commentary rage yes it would be quite interesting commentary on eurovision yeah yeah you could get what would your vision any true entrance couldn't you well i'm probably like one of the older ones aren't i on this i'm 50 next year just for the record anyway that um father ted they did when ireland didn't want to win anymore father ted and dougal made an entry called my lovely horse just and it's because ireland didn't want to win any more because it cost too much money to put it on well yeah there we go this is just when we talk about church yeah right let's talk about your talk take us forward yeah let's move on yeah um how did you find it doing that talk but because i find you know whenever i do a talk on scripture even if i've read it loads there's just always something new and fresh which jumps out right what was what was that new and fresh thing that jumped out to you well i think today's pentecost sunday and at the time of prepping i hadn't quite connected that together our church tradition is not one that particularly follows the church calendar closely yeah and so i was just thinking of all films and books that we see someone in that final moments passing on their requests to either a family member or a follower and and how the story then continues into the next generation and um i i was just thinking about that really that um these are jesus's final words but they're not the end of his story and how we get grafted into his story by invited into the same uh words and works and wonders to live and love like jesus um as a church leader that really helps me to understand my job actually um in continuing his work that's really good that's really interesting i mean one of the things that i loved you started off with this phrase that jesus calls imperfect people right and you and you you likened it straight away to the disciples if you're going to choose a team they're not the team you choose i think that was a phrase you use right that these disciples would not be your first primary choice would they um has that changed how you do church leadership as well yeah i mean just watching it with you guys now i thought it was probably worth saying and i include myself in that um it's easy when people look at a church leader and think oh they're a different type of person i'm very aware of my imperfections i'm very aware of my substandard education i'm very aware of my own flaws and failures and yet um jesus invites me into his team yeah and empowers me to do his work so first of all i look on everyone as a leader a potential leader um and we have the range of excuses i've appeared as a church leader of why people couldn't step up and serve and make a difference in their community two years too old to reach two parts of education and educated and then we are the right racial background or gender or not uh and yeah we've seen something beautiful unfolding in this gospel uh which is all are invited in all of all they're empowered to play their parts um so it really does change how i view myself and how i view those around me um inviting them into that story with me yeah i like that i love that i like how that comment we see everyone as a leader jamin and actually no one then is excluded on the basis of all of those things you listed education race gender none of it excludes you it's just you're in right and and jesus calls him perfect people so you you're gonna start with the knowledge i'm not perfect but yes nobody else is so you're in good company right exactly yeah really interesting really interesting you've got a lot of notes there right oh i like writing notes yeah she was scribbling away while you were talking i was well i was thinking because when you said about mark's gospel and he's always you know there's always talk of food in the bible isn't there and particularly jesus food is uh it's important isn't it and like um i've just written down like as soon as you started talking like jesus cooks his disciples breakfast doesn't he like after he was raised from the dead is that right john is that what you do absolutely yeah and that's why i say it's like well in our reading today jesus sits down yeah we i think it's important because it demonstrates he's done his part yeah um but the rest of the time he's walking probably at three miles an hour like the rest of us catching people along the way yeah being interrupted along the way yeah um and doing a lot of his work and teaching in homes around meal tables yeah and i've said as a church leader um the when buildings have been locked down uh obviously the church hasn't been locked down but i've often said if i could pick for us freedom to be in each of us homes around a meal table verse freedom to be in a building with musicians and uh an actual church building i would pick homes any day of the week something else in jesus name and that's you know yeah eating celebrate together yeah we talk better don't we when we sit down together and eat i think it's just something that flows in the conversation probably yeah it's an interesting one isn't it and and i like how it's how it's that practical it's the practical and the spiritual right and actually food is important and food's good yeah and and i almost wonder if it's almost become a bit of a lost art to mean that um is your house screaming by the way john it's almost become a bit of a lost art hasn't it that um that this inviting people around a dinner table thing which i mean it's like yeah yeah why do you think that is well i think first of all i don't want to play down what we're doing online now i think it's it's church in the right sense of the word uh in the underpinning belief about what makes church church but hopefully supplements and empowers people in their relationships to build community and um you know we i think one of the reasons why the christian faith is such good news is because um one of the ways of thinking about it is we become adopted into a spiritual family yeah our fan is all around meal table isn't it yeah and so um we live in quite a disconnected society and the last year has really further disconnected people um so i think we've got this like negative momentum to work against to sort of model what it really means to be family together so you guys you know you gave me a lovely introduction rage before but for you guys we've spent lots of time in each other's gardens and around each other's meal problems over the years um it's how we do church it's like you're saying the guard gets dropped so so i think that um whilst christina doesn't have a monopoly on it by any means i think in our part of the world in our part of history we've lost a little bit of the art of that and the necessity we probably swing more toward radical individualism and um we've lost the true power of being with others who are different from us yeah and i think the very vulnerable thing really i've learned so i've learned more sat around meal tables with other christians and they are in church of buildings yeah wow that's that's the name it's quite a profound statement yeah i mean i love what nicholas put because she said um people debate when they're sat down eating together more opened and relaxed and more open and relaxed and i feel like we might have those awkward questions or things we might feel a bit like oh how do i ask that and then you relax together and then you can ask answer it and yeah i agree with you i i totally agree with you i think and and serving people with food it's like we want to be together don't we and and have that those good relationships together yeah definitely yeah yeah oh brilliant one of the other things you talked about john just to change tax slightly mainly because i'm starting to feel hungry um but change tax slightly one of the other things you talked about was about how jesus um empowers people so he calls as he commissions us and he empowers us um now when i when i was growing up right so we're going back this probably as the dawn of the internet empowered was the key word right it was like the success buzzword we just got to empower people and what do you think it means when when it says that jesus empowers and what does that actually mean though do you understand what i'm saying what do you what do you understand by that word well i mean first of all i'm hungry too because i've got a little chicken curry taken away in the oven for afterwards so and you can smell it right yeah i think jesus empowers there's one specific and primary way which you'll come to in a second i think jesus empowers us in so many ways so my family came into the christian faith um through my mum receiving jesus um from a really very poor broken um background um it changed for example how she used her money it was how she viewed education it it allowed her to perhaps relational poverty is the the great spawn of poverty that people face uh related is the greatest resource we have so just to talk back to that previous talk around how like we got a dinner table you know i mean it changed dynamics around psychologists call it redemption lift the the encountering of god in a way lifts people almost of this other social status really yeah we want people about it that's just observable what happens i know which you work with a lot of people that are struggling and the work that you helps to lift their aspirations so it empowers them in so many ways but the primary way people are talking about here is um the gift of god's holy spirit the third person of the trinity that comes not only lives within us as followers of jesus but rests upon us and empowers us being able to do um things that are far beyond us yeah and that is primarily what i think jesus is talking about here even though i think the empowerment of living and walking through life with affects every aspect of our life in so many ways that's primarily what i think jesus is talking about why i said is not just asking you to do the things he he did he's empowering you to do that by his spirit that's really important isn't it because when empowerment was a big deal in the business community basically it meant you need to give people permission to do stuff maybe that they're not already doing right but i when i hear you talk it's more than permission you're more god it's more than permission from god it's actually the ability to do it as well it's the it's the stuff you need to do that so you take for example you talked about when you're you know getting your shoulder healed empowerment is is not only saying yes you can go and ask now for healing you can go and pray for healing but actually it's it goes beyond that isn't it it's it's his ability in you to do what you don't have the ability to do which is to lay hands on a sick person and see them recover right oh absolutely and that's a very exciting prospect isn't it and i accept the book with the folks watching that seems like that is so beyond their reality um but i'm interested in rach you used the word um like one dance when you prayed at the start and the word here in the scripture is signs and these things are described in the bible signs of wonders signposts that point you to jesus and wonders that make you think i wonder what that's all about and i think that's the point isn't it that um they're about jesus getting our attention and about um us helping helping us to connect with jesus more deeply i think that's why that's such an important aspect of our faith something for all of us to step into yeah that's brilliant that's brilliant listen john thanks for thanks for taking the time to come talk to us but it's always great i feel like we could go on for ages i've got more questions but we haven't got time are we yeah yeah we we've got we've got a bit of a schedule yeah yeah and john's got a courage and he wants to go and see that goal which he missed so um i wish i would do too listen john really appreciate you being with us now just quickly um for those of you who watch craig crowd is uh part of frontline and you are the senior pastor or the senior leader of frontline church right uh but you are you're going on sabbatical right just briefly tell us tell us about that because we're not going to see you for a couple months and i just want people to know that actually it's not deliberate like we've not fallen out or anything good well it is deliberate but it's positively deliberate yeah yeah river built into church work um sabbatical just means like sabbath a day of rest um and so i take one day a week where i completely rest for more work even if that works incredibly important or urgent i take a weekend every couple of months and we often take a week or two in a year don't be for a holiday a holy day of being set apart from god and after working for the church for nine years and seven in leadership um the the church that i lead have very um graciously empowered me to take some extended time off um more than anything just to help me connect more deeply to jesus without what pressures of leadership and church community in the mix of all of that so hopefully i'll be doing some traveling if things open up and uh i'll certainly be doing some some sort of resting and reading and learning that's what we use one yeah yeah no absolutely absolutely well listen but i we pray that it just goes super well man yeah you know you yeah you need it you deserve it you have at it enjoy it and we pray that god speaks to you in a way that you've never heard before because that just you know it's brilliant for you guys so uh love to you guys live on the family you're amazing we love you lots and thanks for being with us today john really appreciate it yeah thank you thank you good question thanks john well that is uh pastor senior pastor john harding who is an absolute legend nine years he's been working for church can you believe that oh no i can't it's just gone a bit too quick though hasn't it but um yeah well done john yeah legend absolute legend so uh we are now going to play this week's catch-up video yes we are and then rachel and i'll be back in just a few minutes time so here is i'm just looking for the button here i'm further away from the desk than i normally am um so here is this week's sketchup video hello and welcome to this week's sunday catch up for those of you who don't know me allow me to introduce myself my name is josh edmondson i'm a student at the university of saint andrews studying physics and i'm a member of the team here at crowd church if you are new to crowd welcome it's great to have you here let me just quickly explain what catch up actually is every week we're getting pictures and videos from members of the community which we put up in this segment called catch up just so that we get to see what everyone else is getting up to in usual fashion i will kick things off with something that i have been up to this week this week i had my final exam so that means that i'm now actually done for my first year at university which is slightly crazy it feels like it's gone by very very quickly now because of all the kerfuffle with covid i've been studying at home from january so i came home for the christmas holiday in december and then just never really went back so over the weekend me and my parents drove out to edinburgh stayed the night there and then went on to st andrews the next day to go grab my things that had been left in my room all those months while we were over in edinburgh i got the opportunity to meet up with one of my friends because he's studying at edinburgh university so we spent part of the day together wandering around catching up and it was really really nice it was a really fun trip actually i'm not a big fan of long drives but the scenery in scotland is really quite stunning that's enough for me let's get on to the catch-up clips thank you so much for sending all those in i really love watching the ketchup we all really love watching the catch up so if you would like to see your pictures and videos on catch up please send them in to the whatsapp number that you see on the bottom of the screen or you can use the hashtag crowdcatchup on instagram that's all from me this week thank you very much for watching and i will catch you next time oh wrong screen hang on no we'll get it right there we go thanks josh for doing the catch-up always great to see your videos and like josh said if you've got any videos or photos make sure you send them in use the hashtag crowdcatchup and you can send that stuff in and we'll feature it on the catch-up videos which always cool to watch and elias i hope you got your backflip dude i hope you did because that that looked you know like a lot of work to me i don't know have you ever done a back clip on a trampoline yeah it was about 10. okay would you try it now no way yeah me either to be fair so max respect to you but yeah uh and so yeah what have you been up to this week because i didn't see any of your photos i know i was thinking i promised i would and i didn't but we've just been to anglesey this weekend which has been really really lovely the weatherman said it had rain all day yesterday and it didn't don't you love it when you prove the weatherman wrong oh you proved the weather yeah it was sunny on anglesey it was beautiful yeah well yeah me and a few other hundred people yeah was this just a vacation time we were blessed with a weekend away in in a house in someone's beautiful home and um yeah it was it was it was brilliant and it sort of links in a bit with when john said about you know we're part of a community and and um sometimes people are very generous and bless you with their blessings and that's what happened to us so oh that's fantastic it's great i'm glad you enjoyed it thank you we did it yeah yeah we went to scotland as john josh showed you in the video yeah we drove up to scotland yeah five hours there five hours back just want to say i was a lot of driving no no we stayed overnight in edinburgh very good which was nice i love it yeah it's good to get out it's good to get out and about isn't it so yeah and now we can a bit more and um yeah so if anyone's out and about this week let us know yeah yeah yeah send it into catch up yeah take a picture take a video send it to ketchup awesome so and you can send it to the whatsapp number which is on the bottom of your screen here you can also connect with us via the website and as we said at the start if you have any prayer requests do let us know by the whatsapp number we would love to pray for you yeah yeah indeed we would i think sometimes getting those prayer requests out it it lifts something from you and hope and um maybe even a bit of faith can just get a bit bigger and um god always hears us when we pray always he does it yeah which is great it's always good to know yes so that's it for this week thanks to my beautiful co-host rach thank you dealing with all the technical dramas oh my god banging it around here in a million miles an hour just so we can sit uh cozily in my shed yeah um nice shed so no it's great to have you uh thanks for doing that rich thanks for being with us next week uh we have all right now next week actually is an interesting week because sue urden is going to be leading with me awesome good fun that well so sue's hosting so make sure you can watch sue if you've not met sue before yeah she's a force of nature she's just and hysterical yeah and uh love that ladies a bit so she's gonna be joining me next week to host which is great yeah now although we have finished our study through mark's gospel that was the little bit that uh maybe you didn't pick up uh from john's talk it was the final part we have been literally spending 18 months going through mark's gospel and today is marks the end of that journey that said i am aware that there were a few things that we didn't cover on the live stream because of the way covered happened um like the first four or five chapters so what we're going to do for the next three weeks is we are going to take one story that we've not covered and just go through that just because you know we can and because we we like that and so although mark's gospel is technically finished it's not technically finished we've got another three weeks to go and then it's father's day which i'm very excited about my kids need to be watching this i'm expecting good things yeah that's all i'm saying right is alex expecting good things uh as long as he gets a bag of jelly babies he's all right maybe a bottle of guinness ali's rachel's husband yeah if you don't know who i'm talking about and if you ever want to know how to win hell over yeah happy men yeah and it's jelly babies it also appears yeah yeah yeah yeah so uh that's it for this week do come back and join us next week we live stream 4 p.m every sunday uh be great see you here rachel have you enjoyed this week yeah i've loved it i i did arrive a bit but i've really enjoyed it and i just think what you're doing is brilliant matt you know and you're and the the gang that connects and through the week as well if you're listening to this on another day you know it's it's brilliant isn't it being part of crowd church so it's well done yes fab glad you're with us yeah and matt thank you sir thanks for being with us saw that in the comments nicola i'm sorry i didn't get to your question there's just been so many things going on today which are different to the norm uh nicholas question kind of slim on mine but you know come back with one next and we will do that yeah now we're going to close out the service the way we do that is we're just going to play uh another worship song which again you can sing along with just think about uh if you're hanging around once that song's finished the live stream will end but from myself and from rach have a blessed week a fantastic week and we will see you next week awesome all right bye for now bye god of goodness anything blessed and all of you anything less than your life giving true never satisfy my heart only in you do i it all only in you jesus do i have it all anything less than all of you anything less than your life given true can never satisfy oh chasers how great you are how great am beyond measure how great ambiance how great and beyond measured how great you are in you jesus you
