In this inspiring talk, John Harding guides us through a spiritual journey, encouraging us to see 2024 not just as another year, but as a unique opportunity to experience and embody God's presence in every aspect of our lives. Here are the key takeaways from this enlightening talk:

Reflection on the Past Year:

• Understanding the significance of God’s presence in the past year.
• Moving beyond categorising experiences as simply good or bad.
• Finding God’s purpose in both triumphs and challenges.

Setting Goals with a Spiritual Perspective:

• Integrating God's vision in our personal goals for 2024.
• Aligning our aspirations with spiritual growth and divine purpose.
• Embracing God’s active role in our life planning, inspired by Revelation 1:8.

Envisioning a Heavenly Impact in 2024:

• The concept of bringing heaven to earth in our daily lives.
• Applying the teachings of Revelation 11:15 to our modern context.
• Translating spiritual beliefs into practical actions for positive change.

Practical Steps for a Spiritually Enriched Year:

• Encouraging listeners to seek peace, advocate for justice, and share love.
• Inviting personal reflection and transformation aligned with God’s teachings.
• Fostering a community of faith, hope, and love throughout the year.

Well, hello, and welcome to Crowd Church.

My name is Matt Edmundson.

And beside me is, is the very funny, actually, Sadaf Beynon.

We've just been, as you can see, if you're watching the video,

we've got our headphones in.

And during the intro, I was talking to Sadaf.

You know, like when you talk to a kid when they're listening to something

with their headphones, and it's like their volume just goes up exponentially.

Hello!

What do you want?

That was me.

That

was Sadaf.

And I'm just going to stop laughing, actually, just before the intro ended.

But welcome to Crowd Church.

Yes, so it's great that you're here joining us New Year's Eve.

And just for, you know, full disclosure, if you're joining us

live, this is what we call a non live live stream on Crowd Church.

There'll be people in the comments.

Do come join us in the comments.

Say hi, say where you're watching this from.

But it's non live in the sense that Sadaf and I aren't really here.

We're recording this actually pre Christmas.

Uh, mainly because everyone's taking the week off between Christmas and New Year.

Um, and so we do these non live livestreams, just give people

a chance to rest, recuperate.

Uh, we value rest.

We value Sabbath.

So, uh, yes, that's what we are doing.

So we're kind of pre recording this.

So we will not be responding directly to your comments.

Verbally like we would normally do, uh, on a live stream.

Um, but there will be people in the live stream so you can join

in and say, you know, join in with the comments, et cetera, et cetera.

Uh, today Sadaf, what do we have today?

Today we are listening to John Harding, John Harding, and, um, he is

going to be talking about heaven on Earth.

You're just making it up.

Is that like one of those, it's a Christian talk, I don't know what it is,

you're going to be talking about Jesus.

Something about the New Year and

the New You.

The New Year, New You thing?

Yeah.

Okay, have you actually listened to the talk?

No.

So, are you just making all this up?

A little bit.

Yeah, okay, good.

Well, we're going to find out.

We're going to find out what this talk is all about in just a minute.

We have John doing the talk, then after that, Sadaf and I will be back

for a form of Conversation Street.

It won't be massive, but it will be a form of Conversation Street, which is where

we're just going to talk about the talk.

Yes.

And ordinarily, we would talk about your questions, but obviously, do

put the questions and comments below.

It'd be great to see them, even if we can't respond to them directly.

Um, but yeah, that's what we're going to do.

If you're new to Crowd Church, warm welcome to you.

It's great that you're here every Sunday.

I say every Sunday, most Sundays because I've just disproved my own point.

Uh, but most Sundays we live stream our online service 6pm here in the UK, which

I think is 1pm Eastern Standard Time.

What's the time in Vancouver when we do

this?

Um, it is 10am.

10am.

Yeah.

So you're eight hours on you.

So Those sorts of times.

If you don't know what time it is for your time zone, go to the website, www.

crowd.

church, there's a little time check thing on there which will tell you where it

is, or when it is, but it'd be great to meet you in the livestreams, come join

in the comments, it'd be great to hear what you've got to say, and also, just

to let you know, we have on our website information about community groups, if you

want to join a sort of an online community group, it'd be great to see you in And

of course, if you've got any questions, um, or prayer requests throughout the

week, and you want to reach out to us, you can do that through the website, www.

crowd.

church.

In fact, if I press this button here, does it, yeah, look at

that, it comes up on the screen.

Uh, you can also reach us at social media at Crowd Church.

And if you go to the website, www.

crowd.

church, you'll also find our WhatsApp number, uh, which, uh,

comes straight through to us.

So yeah, definitely reach out to us and let us know what's going on.

Um, Yeah, so I well Christmas when this comes out as has happened.

Did you have a good Christmas?

I'm having

a great one.

I'm having a great Christmas.

What about you watching?

Did you have a good Christmas?

That's right.

Yes or no in the comments with maybe some explanation if you feel like you're

up to it But we do like Christmas.

We have our Christmas jumpers on we get I mean You and I did

that thing, didn't we, this year?

Your family joined our family.

Yes, we did.

We have a new

tradition.

We have a new tradition.

So every year we have this tradition.

The first Saturday of every December we go out and we buy the Christmas tree, right?

And, uh, the tree then gets delivered.

So we choose it as a family.

We go through this sort of walk through the park at the bottom of our road.

It's called The Mystery.

It's a mystery as to why it's called a mystery, um, but, uh, we go through

the park, we buy the tree, we choose, well, we choose a tree, the guy opens

up all the trees that we want to see and then we choose the one and then they're

going to deliver it a few hours later.

We get the deckies down, we do the house, we do the hot chocolate,

but this year there was 16 of us.

Yes

there was.

With some amazing

food.

Thank you, Matt.

Yeah, no problem.

We had a great time.

There was a whole bunch of us walked down, wasn't there, to choose the tree.

You chose a tree, you and Jeff chose a tree, and the kids.

It's me, Sharon and well, my daughter, cause my two sons are, you know,

apparently they're leaving home, living the university life, God make it back,

you know, um, and who else, Johnny and Rob, uh, Jenny and Rob, yeah, Jennying, we

came up with this new word, the new verb, Jennying, so Jenny, uh, for years lived

with us, she was our lodger, um, and just lovely, uh, she got married last year.

I walked down the aisle, which was great.

Mm-Hmm.

did the whole father of the bride speech thing, which was amazing.

Um, we all love Jenny and her twin sister Cat.

They're all big part of the family.

In fact, Cat came up from London.

Just did, she was a tree.

She came to stay with us the weekend.

So we have this mad Christmas tradition, but whilst we were all together

just having a very raucous time.

Yeah, it was very funny.

It was very fun.

Plain articulate.

Who came up with the verb?

Jennying?

Rob, I think , I think it's

Rob, is her husband.

And just explain what Jennying

means.

So Jennying is basically showing off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So if you're showing off, you're jennying.

You're jennying.

So we're just trying to get this word to catch on around the world.

So yeah, use it in the new year, new word.

Just ask people, are you jennying?

You're jennying right now, aren't you?

Which was just hysterical.

So yes, that was our tradition which you joined.

So we have our trees.

We love Christmas.

But alas, Christmas has passed is the time of your reading, listening to this.

So we're looking forward to the new year.

What are you guys doing New Year's Eve?

Um, I'm coming

to yours.

Are you coming to ours?

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

I

just invited myself.

It's the first time I've heard about it,

but it'd be good to see you.

It would be good to see Jeff, anyway.

The kids.

You're more than welcome, by the way.

Jan's coming to ours.

Jan Birch with Tim and the kids.

Jan's been on Crowd.

Sue Erdin, who's been on Crowd before, she's coming to ours,

so yeah, it's gonna be fun.

Fun and games, as they say.

So all the kids are coming.

Basically, all the kids invite their mates and the parents

to sort of get dragged along.

Just hang out.

That's normally how it works.

Anyway, we digress.

We talk about the fun and frolics of Christmas.

Uh, but yeah, absolutely.

Hope you had a good time.

Uh, we are going to play John's talk.

We're going to do that right now.

After the talk, Sadaf and I will be back for Conversation Street.

Don't go anywhere.

I'm looking desperately for the button.

There it is.

I've not got my glasses on.

I've no idea what's going to happen.

I'm going to push this and hopefully it works.

We'll be back shortly.

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.

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 our live

stream, and if you're up for it.

Why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together?

You see, church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others,

and 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.

It'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 are.

to take our, 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.

Hi there Crowd Church, a very happy Christmas to you and a

very happy New Year to you.

I hope that you have had a joyful, peaceful, Christ centred Christmas.

Maybe, maybe not, maybe to some extent or another.

I think it's funny the idea that Christmas might be entirely peaceful and joyful

as if somehow we're entitled to that.

There's so much out of our control, out of our influence, to

ensure that our Christmas would be entirely joyful and peaceful.

We can't control if the relatives are going to behave, or if the kids

are going to have meltdowns or not.

These things are not guaranteed to us.

But I think we can focus on Jesus over Christmas.

We can keep Him at the centre, and that's what makes Christmas, Christmas.

That's what's making all the difference at Christmas.

So focus on Him, don't get distracted from Him.

So I hope you have had a joyful and peaceful Christmas, but most

of all a Christ centred Christmas.

And I hope you have a sense of faith and hope and vision.

for this new year ahead of us.

Faith, hope and vision for the new year ahead.

Are you crazy, John?

I am barely holding on.

I have dragged myself kicking and screaming through 2023.

I've just about fallen over the finish line.

Faith, hope, vision for the year ahead.

It will be a miracle if I don't kill someone by the end of next week.

Well, yeah, I get it.

Uh, life is like that, but I do think it's really important, I think it's really

healthy, really good for our mental well being to take a moment at the end of

one year, at the start of a new year, to pause, to reflect, to give thanks, and

to listen to God for his perspective.

That's something I always try to do in the space between Christmas and New Year.

I don't want to share with you a lens Through which you can view

the past, present and future.

A little framework to help you reflect on the past and to find

a focus for the year ahead.

I'd really encourage you to mull on this, maybe journal

on it over the next few days.

I've been doing that and I've found that really, really helpful.

So the lens, the framework is taken from Revelation chapter 1 verse 8.

A man called John, a church leader, he was on an island off

the coast of Greece called Patmos.

He was there as a prisoner.

This was a forced labour camp.

His crime was to be a follower of Jesus.

It was illegal in that place and in that time to do that.

And it says in Revelation chapter 1 that John was worshipping the Lord

with other believers on the Lord's Day.

That's when he had a vision, a vision of Jesus.

Jesus revealed himself to John, and Jesus said to John, Revelation 1.

8, Jesus said, I am the Alpha and Omega, the one who is, the one who

was, and the one who is to come.

John had a vision of Jesus as the one who was.

The one who is and the one who is to come.

I want to encourage you to use that as a lens and a framework in this present

moment to help us look back at what was, and to look ahead into what may come.

So my first question is this, where was God in your past year?

Where was God?

What was he doing?

What was he doing in you?

What was he teaching you?

How was he transforming and refining you?

Where was God in your past year?

Because he is the God who was.

He is the God who was present.

He was God in every moment.

I think it's easy to look back at the year gone and make a list of good and bad.

We might even rate the year.

It was a good year, it was a bad year, it was an okay year,

it was the worst year ever.

I've lived through enough years to know that's always how it's going to be.

Good stuff and bad stuff, uh, amazing highlights, crushing lows, every year

I've ever lived has been a mixture of battle and breakthrough of joy and sorrow.

So the real question, I think, is not how was your year.

The real question is, where was God in it?

Because I know, I know with every fibre and ounce of my being that,

that God was there with you in every moment, however dark, however painful.

I find that really helpful, I find it really redemptive to look back at some

of the challenges of the past year and say, Okay, well, Lord, where were you?

Where were you in that?

What were you doing in me in the midst of all of that?

How were you refining me and transforming me into your image?

Now if you've faced major trauma or disaster in the past year,

you might find it helpful to reflect on that with a counsellor.

But for most of us, in the general ups and downs of life, I think it's really

healthy, a really healthy process.

I know it's helped me to just leave some of the past in the past.

Because he is the God who was, and he is the God who is to come, the God

who will be in each and every moment and every happening of the future.

So how does that shape how we view the future, and how we plan for the future?

Well, you know, it is good to set goals and targets for the year ahead, it can

be good to do that, nothing wrong with it if you, like me, work In a certain

setting you might have to set some goals and targets and write some stuff down and

capture a map out where you want to head.

Over the year, what you want to achieve in the year ahead.

You might do that personally, you might set some resolutions, you might be well

like, This year ahead I'm going to be healthier, I'm going to eat less meat, I'm

going to train for a marathon, I'm going to take a course, I'm going to learn a new

skill, I'm going to save up for something.

Not bad things to do.

And of course, God will be with you in all of those things,

because that is his promise.

He is always with us.

But let me give you a little twist on that today, about

thinking about the year ahead.

From this verse in Revelation, we've, we've read it in Revelation chapter

1, how Jesus is the one who was, and who is, and the one who is to come.

He is God of the past, of the present, and he's God of the future.

But there's this interesting switch that takes place in the book of Revelation.

And 11, John has a vision of the very end of time.

And in this vision of the end of time, If you're into the book of Revelation,

the 7th trumpet has sounded, the 7th seal is open, at that moment, heaven

fully descends to earth, Jesus returns as a conquering king riding a white

horse accompanied by heaven's armies, heaven invades earth and all things

are made new and perfected forever.

There is a day that all of creation is waiting and longing for when Christ

will return and make all things new.

I believe it, I long for it, the longer I live, the more I become aware of

the pain and the brokenness of the world, the more I find myself praying

for that day, a day where sin and pain and death are finished forever.

But this song that is sung in heaven of Jesus, the one who was and is

and is to come, at this point in Revelation, chapter 11, from the

moment that heaven invades earth.

Verse 15 says, Revelation 15, the kingdom of this world has

become the kingdom of our Lord.

At that point, this song changes.

And now the hosts of heaven are no longer singing to the one

who was and is and is to come.

Revelation 11, 17, they sing to the one who was.

And who is?

Same thing in Revelation 16.

5, the angel says to Jesus, you who are, you who were.

So the is to come bit gets dropped, it's no longer needed because in

that moment, the future has arrived.

The future is here, the job has been done.

And when I read that in my Daily Readings last week, it really inspired

me to think about the year ahead.

To set some hopes and dreams and aspirations for the year ahead.

You see The big goal, God's big ultimate outcome, is that heaven would invade

earth forever, that's the end game.

So in the past week or two, I've been trying to imagine that, reflect on that,

what might it look like for more of heaven to invade earth over this coming year,

to set some goals in the light of that.

For more of heaven's peace to invade my life, because heaven

is a place of perfect peace.

For more of heaven's For to invade my life, because heaven

is a place of perfect health.

For more of heaven's joy to invade my life, because heaven

is a place of perfect joy.

And not just for heaven to be in me, but also through me

and into the world around me.

Somehow through me, more of heaven's justice would be outworked.

That somehow more of heaven's provision would be released.

Because injustice and, um, poverty are displaced as heaven invades earth.

Just that little bit more.

And if you think about it, as followers of Jesus, we are heaven to earth people.

That's why at the core of our faith we pray, Father in heaven, whose name is

holy, let your kingdom Let the kingdom of heaven, let your kingdom come to earth,

and let your will, the will of heaven, be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And Jesus says to us, pray, pray that it will be on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord, may there be more peace in my family as there is peace in heaven.

Lord, may there be the release of resourcing into Liverpool as

we serve the poorest in our city.

Let there be provision here on earth.

As there is provision in heaven.

So what might it look like this year, if each one of us committed to living Out,

a little bit more of heaven on earth, bringing about a little bit more of heaven

to earth, because he is the God who was, and the God who is to come, but he is

also the God who is, he is the God who is, he is with you right now, he is the

God in your present moment, he is with you right now, he is with you right now.

Right now, whatever your present moment looks like, He is with you.

He wants you to become more aware of His presence.

He wants to bring His peace into this moment.

His perspective into this moment.

Just tune into Him right now.

Just allow yourself to focus on Him and become more aware of Him.

If it helps you as I'm talking, close your eyes.

Maybe hold out your hands in front of you as a symbol to receive from him.

And I want to finish just by praying for you at the start of this new year.

A prayer of blessing.

So let's pray, shall we?

God, we thank you that you are with us right now.

You have been with us every step of the way.

There has never been a moment that you have not been with us.

The God who is with us, the God who loves us, the God who is for us, the God

who is present with us in every moment.

And we thank you, Lord, that you are with us right now.

And Lord, as we think about the future, we don't know what the future holds,

but we know you hold the future.

You are Alpha and Omega, you are Beginning and the End, you are First and Last.

The God who who is to come.

And so, Lord, as we think about this year ahead, Lord, give us a confidence that we

might know you in every moment, that we might live out your kingdom, that heaven

may invade earth in us and around us.

Heavenly Father, let your kingdom come and let your will be done on earth as it

is in heaven throughout this year ahead.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Well, welcome back.

What a great talk by John.

That was really good.

I got lots of notes, actually.

I don't know about you.

I've always done this thing where Probably until about 10 years ago, maybe 7, 8, 9.

It was until a recent time.

At some point in my 40s, I decided to stop doing it.

But every year I think about my resolutions for the year ahead.

And I would set these targets and set these goals for the year ahead.

Um, and actually listening to John talk, I've kind of understood

why I've stopped doing them.

Why they kind of felt like I don't know, they weren't quite meeting

the mark, if that makes sense.

Um, but yeah, so we're going to get into that.

Do you set, did you, do you, while you're coughing.

Uh, just bring it, just come a little bit over here.

Don't be on so much of the edge.

There you go, don't be afraid.

All right, there we go.

Um, hopefully I don't smell.

No.

So let's talk about New Year's resolutions.

Have you ever set any?

Um, yeah, yeah, I used to, but I don't anymore, because it

feels like it lasts for about a week.

And also they're quite, um, they last that long?

Yeah.

Um, if that.

Um, I think they were also quite, uh, I don't know how to, uh,

how to word it actually, but quite superficial in some sense.

I think, um, like what John's talked about today, there's so much

more weight to what he's saying.

Yeah.

What you want to focus on for the year ahead and what you want to think

about and how you want to frame it.

Um, so

yeah.

Yeah.

No, very, I like you very, I found that I just, the traditional

resolutions, uh, want to get fit.

Yeah.

Lose weight.

Stop eating as much chocolate.

Mm hmm.

Um, and then he's, like you say, last about a week and then you've just,

you're just totally forgotten about them.

Um, and then I started to realize, actually, I don't need to wait

until the other thing I find myself doing is waiting for new year.

So you just.

You'd go totally nuts in December.

Yeah.

Okay, and then I'll

make some resolutions in the new year.

I'm back till the 31st.

Well, actually, no, you can just start right where

you are right now, and that's probably the best thing to do.

So John's talked the three lenses, the God who was, the God who

is, and the God who is to come.

So his first question, where was God in you all last year?

Got any stories about that?

God was very present in my last year.

I have, I've had a lot of, um, really wonderful experiences of

reconnecting with family and old friends, um, like throughout the

year, I think it's been marked by that, which has been really nice.

Um, and, um, it really does help you kind of keep going.

So yeah, I would say I would

say that.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

It's been a, I think it's when you look back over 2023, it's definitely

been a mixed bag for a lot of people.

Um, and I think I would probably say it's fair for us

actually, it's been a mixed bag.

There's been some good things, there's been some bad things, like John

said, you could almost make a list.

The good, the bad, and which one, therefore, if there's more in the

good column, it was it a good year?

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Um, but rather reframing it and going actually, whether it was good or whether

it was bad, God, where were you in that?

Mm hmm.

And.

I was, uh, someone, I was replying to a text earlier, someone sent

through, um, and she mentioned in the text, uh, that it felt for her life

was a lot like Groundhog Day, right?

Like she was just repeating the same thing.

She was on this treadmill trying to get a new job, um, just sick kids, um,

trying to get a job at the same time was in this cycle of she couldn't get a job

cause she didn't have the experience.

But, but no, if they gave her the job, she would come up to speed very quickly.

So without the job, she can't get the experience.

And so it was a catch 22 situation for her, caught in the same cycle that I think

a lot of people have found themselves in, especially in the UK with the cost

of living where her rent is going up and up and up and it becomes problematic.

She uses phrases just like I'm on a treadmill, it feels like Groundhog Day.

Which I thought was a really interesting way to sort of phrase it, I don't

know if you've ever seen, have you seen the movie, Groundhog Day?

Yeah, I don't

like it.

You don't like Groundhog Day?

No, I don't.

What's wrong with you?

It's just, it just goes around in circles far too many times.

I think there's the point, and Sadaf is here,

and you missed it, so we have the point here, and you're way over

there.

I really like the movie Groundhog Day.

Um, and it's, it's always interesting.

It's like, you know, a lot of the conversations that came out of that

movie were if you were going to have a day like that repeat over and over

and over again, um, what would you do?

What would you learn?

And what was interesting about that movie?

I was thinking about this when, when I was responding to that text

message, because in a lot of ways.

If I was living in a day that really was truly repeating, I don't know if

I, how would I feel about work that I'd done that day, just not counting

for anything, do you know what I mean?

And then having to do that day in, day out.

But actually the key for me in that film was when his heart

changed, his life changed.

And it was what he learned on the journey.

And I think actually this is probably what John's trying to say, isn't it?

In the sense that on the journey, on the way through.

Over the year, God, where were you?

What did I learn?

Yeah.

You know, you were with me throughout all of that.

I might not always have felt it.

I might not have always understood it.

There were good times.

There were bad times.

But what have I learned as a character?

And um, I think that's a really interesting question, you know,

what's the, what's the big thing God's taught you in 2023?

Um, we've not planned for these questions, by the way, and I appreciate

I'm totally springing them on

you.

No, that's fine.

Um, I'm okay with that.

Um, yeah, I think.

Something that I've been reflecting on recently is, um, how I choose to obey God.

So there'll be parts of the Bible that I'm like, yeah, okay,

we'll open that another day.

But you know, it's like when, when God asks you to do something, I want

to know which part, we

won't record that one.

No.

Um, uh, so yeah, when God asks you to do something, or if he changes the

plans that you had, your carefully, you know, laid out plans, and he changes

them, um, our, our, um, Obligation, can I say, is to obey Him, is to

do whatever He's asking us to do.

The outcome is not in my control.

And it's not my problem.

I have to obey the Lord in the here and now, and what comes, comes.

And the Lord's in that.

And trusting that process.

Yeah, it has.

So yeah, I've been reflecting on that, that there's, you know,

some parts, yeah, no problem.

Other parts, like, yeah, we'll just open up a different part of the Bible.

But now I'm out.

Yeah.

No, but I mean, like, I know, that sounds like I'm ignoring parts of the Bible.

I'm not.

And the reason that I'm reflecting on it is because I'm very aware of what's

there and what the Lord's asking me to do.

And I'm just, um, Taking my sweet time, which again is not right,

but it's something I am, to be fair, being refined and reformed

Yeah.

But to be fair, it's what we all do, isn't it?

It's not.

This is not just you and getting, and I think we're all

very much works in progress.

Thank, thank the Lord for grace.

Mm-Hmm.

. But it's an interesting point, isn't it's, I think there is something,

people find it really hard, I think if you're not in church or if you're

outside of church, to, to look at the Bible and accept that this is God.

Mm-hmm.

God's Word and the actually obedience to it is probably a smart thing to do.

Can seem counterintuitive.

It can seem complicated.

It can seem like it's destroying your fun.

It's like, there's a million reasons why I think you wouldn't do this if

you're outside of the church, why this actually sounds really odd and why

people think it leads to dogma, it leads to intolerance and so on and so forth.

But here's the thing that I, I find immensely freeing about this.

Everybody I speak to, and I'm going through my head thinking it's

everybody that I speak to that is going through something in life.

You've got to come to a point where you realize you are not in control.

Now that doesn't mean to say you cannot control response.

As in how you respond to things, which I think you totally can, you can

choose how you respond to things, but I cannot control the situations in life.

And actually, when a lot of stuff happens, it usually happens either

because we've been stupid, we've made some foolish decisions or it's

extenuating circumstances, there are circumstances beyond our control.

So, uh, I speak with one guy on a regular basis, suffers from severe mental illness.

always looking to blame somebody else for his problems and he often uses this

phrase I was in total control and it freaks him out that he's not in control

and I'm part of my conversation is you had no control whatsoever it was an

illusion yeah I mean yeah and the reason I mention this is because actually when

you when you say I think when you get to a point of submission which says

God Not my will, but your will be done.

In other words, let me do what you've told me to do.

Focus on that as best as I can.

Not get too caught up in the outcome because that's, you

know, that's your responsibility.

That actually becomes immensely freeing because that's the one, that's

one thing that I can choose to do.

I can choose to obey God.

I can't control my life, but in obedience to God, I can trust God for the outcome.

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

Totally.

And I think.

There is a liberation in that that is quite extraordinary.

I think it's a good lesson to learn.

Yeah, I think we're all learning it.

If you figure it out, let us know.

Watch this

space.

Next week on Crowd Church.

Sadaf gives us the five top tips on how to fully obey God in your life.

The following week, Jeff is going to come on.

Jeff is her husband.

And tell us what really happens behind the scenes.

I think it's a really good lesson, a really good lesson.

I think for me in 2023, if I look back, if I reflect on it, the one thing that

I think we have grown in where I see God really working in us as a family.

It's actually in the whole community aspect, so we've always, I say always,

ever since we've been married, we've had people live with us, um, roommates,

lodgers, whatever you want to call them, um, and we've always, we've always done

extended family, and I think as, as we're getting older and more experienced

in life, I think we're doing extended family better, if that makes sense, so

when you're in your early 20s, living with someone in their early 20s, it's

kind of like, well, we're just mates.

Um, but as I'm approaching 50, I've approached 50, I've gone past 50.

That's why I'm in 2023.

I went straight through that number.

Um, I think it, the thing that I've noticed is, and one of the things I think

God has been speaking about to me over the last few years is, is you become much more

of a father figure to a lot more people.

Um.

Which is kind of cool.

And so just doing that extended family an awful lot better.

Like it was really cool.

You guys came and joined us on whenever it was two weeks ago,

the first Saturday of December.

That, I love that.

And I think we've done that much more intentionally in 2023 when we've had

people connect with us a lot more in 2023, which has been awesome.

So yeah.

Yeah.

You and the Edmundsons are so great.

Awesome.

They are also very great.

We're so humble as well.

Yeah.

No, honestly, the fact that I can just invite myself over for New Year's Eve.

Yeah.

No one's going to be in.

They're going to knock on the door.

I'm still coming.

Um, yeah, brilliant.

You guys are wonderful like that.

But I think it's one of those things that God's been teaching

us, you know, uh, and drawn us into.

So yeah, 2023.

And I think if I reflect on some of the harder times in 2023, one of the things

that I, I won't go through them, maybe not the right time or place, but I, I

think one of the things that I noticed that made the hard times harder or easier.

Does that make sense?

Uh, so I could, if I'm going through something, the way I make it harder is

to not create space to hear God, right?

To not go, God, where are you in this?

What are you saying?

What's the right direction here?

To get some sense of what God is doing in the midst of what I'm going through.

And I tend to find that I can become so busy that that's very easy to.

And before you know it, four weeks have gone past and you're like, well, you know,

I've prayed, I've read my Bible, but have I, have I really had any sort of good sort

of conversation with any quality time?

I don't, you know, I talk to my wife every day, you know, we connect

every day, but if we don't, if we don't intentionally spend time

together, it's very superficial.

Do you know what I mean?

So I'd say that's another learning.

Yeah.

I've actually, I have a list in my, in my prayer journal of things

that I still need to talk to God about.

I've written them down as just finding the time and space, like you say, I need to

go and you know, see what the Lord has for

me in this.

Dave Connolly, bless him.

If you're a regular to Crowd, you'll know who Dave is.

If you're not a regular to Crowd, stay tuned in, you'll find out who he

is because he is a regular on Crowd.

David's a legend, founder of the church that John is now the senior pastor of,

Frontline Church, um, awesome guy, father figure to me, absolute legend, took me, he

said, Matt, let's go grab a coffee, went and had a coffee with him last week, just

trying to remember when it was, and he's like, right, God's given me a word for

you, I just was writing it down, streams, and basically started off with, you need

to go and find a way to create more space.

Awesome.

Okay, thanks, Dave.

Appreciate that.

It was right too.

Um, and so, you know, thank God for Dave Connolly.

That's all I'm saying.

Uh, so, uh, the screen's gone blank and it's your computer.

So I've no idea what the next, uh, the God who was, uh, the God who is to come.

So the God of the future.

Uh, I'm looking forward to the future, which was an interesting question.

How can you bring more of heaven to earth in 2024?

Um.

I think, like, reflecting on what John was saying, my thought

was, like, how we plan and prepare for what's in 2024 or in the coming

year, how much of that is actually, um, gonna, how much of that are we

actually taking to heaven with us?

How much of that is here and now the material and how much of that

is actually character building?

How much of it?

Yeah.

And I think for me personally, I would want the majority of my planning and

preparation to be for, um, planning for heaven, that my character is, as

he said earlier, like, you know, we use the words being reformed and refined.

I would want more of that.

And sure, that probably welcomes a lot of, um, lows in the new

year, but I'm okay with that.

As John said, you know, you, you get, you get a mix of both and, um, yeah, so

I have not had the time and space, the word keeps coming up, um, to think about

what I want to do in the new year or what I, what, you know, I want to plan

and prepare for, but that is something I will definitely be taking with me.

Um,

yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's a good question.

I don't know.

So I think I did say to Sharon the other day that I wanted to take some time

out and just really spend a few days.

I might just go up some hills somewhere, take a tent.

I know it's January.

I would go stay in a hotel or something.

Wander around, do some long walks, clear my head, connect with God,

have some good conversations.

I think if I think about 2024, on the whole, I'm pretty excited.

Um, I mean, you and I work together, so, you know, the company that we're involved

with, I see what's going to happen.

But in my head, I see what's going to happen, but the reality will be

very, very different, obviously.

Um, but I, I do, I'm excited about as a company where we're going

in 2024, I'm excited about Crowd Church 2024, seeing what God does.

Um, but I think in terms of areas that I want to intentionally grow in,

in 2024, the big one for me, I think there's two things that are on my list.

Okay.

One is gratitude, uh, and actually, uh, just as a short heads up in hopefully next

year, it depends, because we've got this new teaching series coming up, haven't we?

The Healthy Christian.

Uh, it may change its name, but we might as well call it The Healthy Christian.

What does it mean to be a healthy Christian?

What does wellness look like as a Christian?

It's not a few weeks worth of teaching.

There's a lot, there's a lot we're going to get into, um, and that's probably going

to take, if I, if it doesn't take all of the year, it's going to take most of it.

I think we've got five parts, that teaching series and part

one takes us up to August.

Uh, yeah.

Almost.

June or July, I can't

remember.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like a few weeks away from the non live livestreams in August, I think.

Yeah.

So I'm looking at it.

So, but once this is finished, there is a really strong chance we're going

to do a lot of stuff on gratitude.

Um, and see where that takes us.

It may be even a separate devotional thing that we do.

Cause I'm really keen to, to dig into this topic a little bit more.

Um, we've been writing behind the scenes.

Not many people know this, but we've been writing, writing, writing,

writing, uh, we've been writing a gratitude journal, um, that

people will be able to buy.

Um, specifically aimed at Christians, um, and what does it

mean to be people of gratitude?

And the Bible tells us that is God's will, that we are grateful.

I mean, that's quite insane, isn't it really?

Um, so really want to grow in gratitude.

Um, and the other thing that I really want to spend some time looking at next

year, maybe the second half of last year, once I've, once I've got through the

gratitude stuff, uh, will be identity.

Okay.

Okay.

So when.

When I first became a Christian, so we're going back to the early nineties now.

There was a, I don't know if you remember this, there was a big

thing about who you are in Christ.

It was the big question.

Do you remember the guy in Love Flight?

You weren't even born then, were you?

That

was

a big thing about who you are in Christ.

The whole question about who you are in Christ, who, what is your identity as a,

you know, where do you find your identity?

And so in my early Christian years, we did this whole thing on finding

your identity in Christ, which was so life giving and so amazing.

And I think it's been so foundational for us.

We looked at books like, um, Victory Over the Darkness by Neal T.

Anderson and things like that.

Amazing books, amazing, amazing books.

Very freeing.

Um, especially because I, you know, I had, I had a past that I

became a Christian when I was 18.

There was some stuff I needed to deal with.

Just amazing stuff in there, but that was like 30 years ago, and I think one

is going to be good to revisit it, and two, I'm, I was really intrigued by a

conversation with Carey Newhoff and Tim Keller before he passed away, so Tim

Keller, if you don't know, he passed away recently, he was the senior pastor

at Redeemer Church in New York, very well known speaker, very respected,

um, incredible, very gifted speaker.

I mean, just loved Tim Keller and what he stood for, man of

integrity and so on and so forth.

Great guy.

He did an interview with a chap called Kerry Newhoff, who's a

podcaster, a pastor, no, an ex pastor now, I think, and a podcaster.

I was listening to Kerry interview him and said to Tim, if you were starting

all again today, what would you do?

You know, if you're going to plant a church in New York, he said he would

spend all his time talking about identity.

That's interesting.

Which I thought, that's when the light bulbs went off for me.

And so, um, I thought it would be good to get into that.

So after gratitude is identity.

Okay.

Yeah, that's for me.

That's for me.

So what about you?

What does 2024 look like?

How is God going to use you to bring more heaven to earth?

Maybe for some of you, actually, that's just taking the next

step on your Christian journey.

I know a lot of people watching this don't, are unchurched people,

don't go to church, wouldn't really profess to have a Christian faith.

That's cool, man.

Uh, you're welcome here.

We love, we love, uh, having you at Crowd and feel free to ask your questions,

WhatsApp us, we'd love to hear from you.

Uh, but I also appreciate that you are definitely on a journey.

And so for some of you, you may be on a scale of one to 10,

you know, between one being.

Uh, like, you know, the Apostle Paul before he met Jesus, just like

so anti faith, Richard Dawkins.

Well, he'd maybe be number two, number three.

I don't think he's killing people.

No,

not that we know of.

So you, all the way to, you know, number 10, the Tim Kellers

of this world, you know, where you are in your sort of journey, uh, in faith,

you may be at a number two, maybe at a number three, maybe your aim for

2024 is to go from a three to a four.

Maybe if you're at step seven, you know, you like me, I'd probably put

myself at maybe a seven on that journey.

How do I get from a seven to a 7.

125?

Um, what takes us further on, on that journey in Jesus?

I think it's always a really important question.

You know, God, what, what have you got planned?

And I think that's really, that's really key.

And I like what you said Sadaf about, I can build the material stuff.

Can't really take that with me.

I mean, that's a, I think that's a side effect.

I mean, I can't diminish the value of it, but I, it can't be all that life's about.

I mean, there's got to be more to it than that.

So wherever you are on the journey, it's great that you're here with us.

Anything else on what John said?

You took way more.

My notes here look empty.

Sadaf's notes.

To be fair, I typed them out on the computer before it went off.

Yeah.

I did like how he pointed out in Revelation 11 where.

They are in the future, and Jesus is the one who was and is.

I like that.

That's something to look forward to, for sure,

which is exciting.

You're looking forward to it?

I mean, it's not a stupid question.

I genuinely, I think it's a really interesting question to ask Christians.

Yeah, I absolutely am.

Why?

Uh, well, um, I want to see Jesus face to face.

I want to see my parents again.

I want to see a lot of other.

Friends and family that have gone before and, um, it's going to be perfect and,

uh, I won't have any problem loving other people because they will also be perfect.

So that is good because now, you know, it's hard work sometimes.

Um, yeah,

I just love, I can just hear you saying to, uh,

maybe I'm just going to pick on Jeff, maybe to Jeff on an occasion.

Jeff.

You're going to be so much easier to like when you're in heaven.

With all my crayons, I mustn't forget my

crayons.

That's awesome.

You know what I'm going to do when I get to heaven?

I'm going to slide down those streets in my socks.

Of course you are.

I heard a speaker say that once and I thought, you know what?

That is perfect.

I just, I am so looking forward.

Because the Bible talks about having streets of gold, you know, paved with

diamonds and all kinds of things.

And I'm just so looking forward just to sliding down those things in my socks.

Because I think that me and your kids will be doing it.

Hudson and

Lincoln, we're going to be

like, come on Matt, let's do it again.

Yeah, let's do it again.

Yeah, that would be

good.

I'm very much looking forward to heaven.

I really am.

But it's interesting, isn't it, because there's this real tension.

Between looking forward to heaven and then not wishing your life away, uh,

which you have to hold, uh, maybe we should do something on that at some point.

Yeah, it was really interesting.

So 2024, we hope it is a fantastic year for you.

But more than that, whether it's good or whether it's bad, prayer is that you

just see God in whatever you're doing, that your experience with God grows,

that your journey with God grows, and that you know him more and more in 2024.

And I think if we all do that.

Life's ultimately good.

So anything else from you?

No, I'm good.

Awesome.

Well, that's it for me.

That's it from Sadaf.

Thank you so much for joining us on the non live live stream.

Thanks for all your comments.

I'm saying that assuming that people maybe not, no one's watching this.

I don't know.

But if you have written a comment, it's great that you joined in.

Do come and join us on our actual live stream.

I'm thinking a week ahead of When this is going to come out and it's

going to be live, I'm looking at you.

Um, it is.

Yes.

It is.

Yes,

yes it is.

Sadaf said a production, that's why I'm looking at Sadaf.

So we are back to our livestreams next week.

I'd love to tell you who's hosting, but I genuinely have no idea.

It might be me, it might be somebody

else.

I think it's you, no.

Me and Anna.

No, you're speaking.

I'm not.

Not speaking.

No, I don't think so.

He is not speaking.

It will, uh, yeah, you'll find out, it's all going to be very exciting.

It's our attention to detail that everybody loves, right?

Uh, we're just throwing off because we're recording this in advance.

Um, but yeah, do come join us, 6pm, like I say, here in the UK,

1pm Eastern, 8, no, 10am, we said, uh, on the, uh, eastern coast.

Uh, so yeah, uh, no, west coast.

West coast.

Yeah.

Time zones in America, right, Matthew?

Yes, wherever you are in the world, do come join us.

We'd love to see you in the live stream.

It'd be great to hear from you.

Like I say, any questions, any comments, you can reach us on the

website or through the website, www.

crowd.

church.

You can get a hold of us on social media at crowdchurch.

org.

Uh, and on the website, there's also a WhatsApp number, which you can

text through your prayer requests.

I know some people do try to call it.

It's not a calling number.

It's a texting number.

So just text your messages, uh, on there and we'll try and respond

to you as quickly as we can.

Uh, but I think that's it from me.

I think that's it from Sadaf.

I think all that's left to say is Happy New Year.

Yeah, Happy New Year.

Hope it's a good one.

We'll see you in 2024.

Bye for now.