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Who is Jesus? The Truth That Transforms Lives
Episode 5513th February 2024 • CROWD Church Livestream • Crowd Church
00:00:00 01:02:53

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In this talk from Crowd Church, we explore the profound question at the heart of Christianity: Who is Jesus? Drawing from the final chapters of the Book of Acts, we delve into the transformative journey of the Apostle Paul and the pivotal role Jesus plays in our lives. This service is not just a narrative recount; it's an invitation to explore, understand, and respond to the most significant question you'll ever contemplate.

Show Notes:

  • Introduction to Paul’s Journey: Understand the historical and personal context of the Apostle Paul, from persecutor to proclaimer of Jesus. Discover how his journey encapsulates the transformative power of truly knowing who Jesus is.
  • The Central Question – Who is Jesus?: We discover the significance of Jesus' identity, not just as a historical figure, but as God incarnate. 
  • Eyewitness Accounts and Historical Evidence: Explore the authenticity and reliability of the Gospel accounts, emphasising the undeniable impact Jesus has had on history and individual lives.
  • Invitation to Explore Faith: This talk is an open invitation for everyone, regardless of where you are on your faith journey, to explore the Christian faith and discover the transformative power of knowing Jesus.

Join us as we explore the depths of this question and many more, seeking together the truth that has the power to transform not just individual lives but the very essence of our community and world.

Transcripts

Matt Edmundson:

Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service.

Matt Edmundson:

We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps

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us live a more meaningful life.

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We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith, and a place

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where you can contribute and grow.

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Our service will last about an And in a few seconds, you'll meet our hosts for our

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service who will introduce today's talk.

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After the talk, we will have a time of worship and reflection, after which we

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head into Conversation Street, where we look at your stories and questions.

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Now we want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church, and we've got a

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few ways in which you can do just that.

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Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our live

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stream, and if you're up for it Why not invite a few friends over and

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experience the service together?

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Church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others.

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And one of the easiest ways for you to do that is join one of our

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mid week groups where we meet.

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Online together to catch up and discover more about the amazingness of Christ.

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You can also subscribe to our fairly new podcast called What's The Story,

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where we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people.

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More information about All of these things can be found on our website at www.

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crowd.

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church or you can reach out to us on social media

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at crowd.

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church.

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If you are new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know

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what your next steps to take are, why not head over to our website crowd.

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church Next, for more details,

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and now, the moment you've been waiting for is here, our online

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church service starts right now.

Matt Edmundson:

Good evening and welcome to Crowd Church.

Matt Edmundson:

My name is Matt.

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Beside me is the beautiful Claire Gare, who is, you got, can you see

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it on camera just about, show it.

Matt Edmundson:

Brought me

Claire Glare:

knitting.

Claire Glare:

And, just so you know, I've got a hot Ribena in here.

Claire Glare:

I am bringing the chilled, relActsd vibe.

Matt Edmundson:

You so totally are bringing the chilled, relaxed vibe.

Matt Edmundson:

We were getting drinks earlier, I said to Claire, do you want a drink?

Matt Edmundson:

She went, oh no, or maybe a hot water.

Matt Edmundson:

And then you saw the Ribena, it's a bit dull, and then you saw the

Matt Edmundson:

Ribena and you thought, I'm in there.

Matt Edmundson:

And then you got your knitting

Claire Glare:

out.

Claire Glare:

And then, yeah, just to completely flummox them, and then I was like,

Claire Glare:

oh, I'm matching with my knitting.

Claire Glare:

There we go, we'll see if I get any more knitting done.

Claire Glare:

I've got my notepad and pen as well.

Claire Glare:

So

Matt Edmundson:

you can take some spiritual notes whilst you're knitting.

Matt Edmundson:

Indeed.

Claire Glare:

And learn, live and learn.

Claire Glare:

We are here to learn.

Matt Edmundson:

We so totally are.

Matt Edmundson:

A very warm welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

It doesn't matter if you don't have knitting.

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You can still join us.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't have knitting.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, Miriam.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, Andy.

Matt Edmundson:

It's good to see you.

Matt Edmundson:

Do say hi in the comments if you're watching us.

Matt Edmundson:

We can see

Claire Glare:

them there as well now.

Claire Glare:

Oh, I like that.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, I love that.

Matt Edmundson:

See tech is getting better, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

So good.

Matt Edmundson:

It's getting better, yeah, the

Claire Glare:

carpet's nice in here as well.

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Random.

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Just a random.

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We have very plush carpets because we like the soundproofing is the right answer.

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And

Claire Glare:

I quite fancied nicking a bit, so for our

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house, much more plush than my house.

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Just going to steal the carpet from the Crowd Church studio.

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God won't mind.

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But yes, welcome to Crowd.

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We're an online church who, welcomes all people, whether you knit, whether

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you don't, whether you like plush carpet or naff carpet, whatever your carpet

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is in your house, you are welcome.

Matt Edmundson:

You're welcome here.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, Chris.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, Jenny.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, guys.

Matt Edmundson:

Doing great to see you in the comments.

Matt Edmundson:

Warm welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

If this is your first time with us, very warm welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

Crowd is an online church.

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We just love churchy stuff, don't we really?

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Church, that's probably not the right thing to say, is it?

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We love Jesus.

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We do.

Matt Edmundson:

Just pull your microphone towards your mouth a little bit.

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There you go.

Matt Edmundson:

See,

Claire Glare:

I can't even work microphone.

Claire Glare:

That's

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why I come.

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That's why we've got the knitting.

Matt Edmundson:

We've got the knitting.

Matt Edmundson:

We have.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

Great that you're here.

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We live stream from our studio with the plush carpet every Sunday evening and

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we have a different set of hosts today.

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You've got me and you've got Claire and we've got, who's speaking today?

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The lovely John Harding.

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The right reverend John Harding is speaking today.

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And the girl, I should Is he a reverend?

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know.

Claire Glare:

I have no idea.

Claire Glare:

Okay.

Claire Glare:

All right.

Claire Glare:

Sorry, John.

Claire Glare:

We don't

Matt Edmundson:

know.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know what He's a good, he's a good egg.

Matt Edmundson:

Can you wear a collar around your neck

John Harding:

if you're a good egg?

Claire Glare:

I think you can wear a collar around your neck if, don't we all

Matt Edmundson:

have collars?

Matt Edmundson:

No, do you know what I mean, like a right reverend dog collar.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, okay, find out, we'll go and investigate.

Matt Edmundson:

That light is really bright, I'm going to have to turn

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that down when we do the talk.

Matt Edmundson:

Anyway, uh, yeah, we've got John Harding tonight talking to us.

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We actually close out the series in acts today.

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Boop, which is a beautiful

Claire Glare:

thing.

Claire Glare:

And I launched into song, been around the world and aye aye.

Claire Glare:

Finished acts today.

Claire Glare:

I don't know when, I don't know why.

Matt Edmundson:

I totally wondered where you were going with that.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm not going to lie.

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With that song.

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Aye aye.

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Write in the comments, who did that song?

Matt Edmundson:

Who was the artist?

Matt Edmundson:

I think

Claire Glare:

it's Lisa Stansfield.

Claire Glare:

I think

Matt Edmundson:

you're right.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm an 80s girl.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I think you're right.

Matt Edmundson:

I think it is Lisa Stansfield.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, there we go.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, been around the world.

Claire Glare:

Other people are good singers as well.

Claire Glare:

I think that was a one hit wonder.

Claire Glare:

So don't worry if you've never heard of her, that's okay.

Matt Edmundson:

Or if you've never actually heard of the 80s either.

Matt Edmundson:

If you

Claire Glare:

weren't born, we'd recommend it as a decade.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, totally.

Matt Edmundson:

It was, I still maintain the 80s was probably the best decade.

Claire Glare:

In fact, my daughter, random, was singing Cindy Lauper's Girls

Claire Glare:

Just Want To Have Fun the other day.

Claire Glare:

And she, and then I started joining in and she was like.

Claire Glare:

You know this song and I was like yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

you didn't know I am from the cool decade.

Matt Edmundson:

Of course I know this song.

Matt Edmundson:

Why would I not know this song?

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

80s music aside I totally lost my train of thought.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm sorry.

Claire Glare:

This is why I'm here.

Matt Edmundson:

This way to totally distract me.

Matt Edmundson:

No, not at all.

Matt Edmundson:

It's great.

Matt Edmundson:

We love the banter.

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As you can tell.

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From our light hearted nature.

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Oh Miriam, we love you too.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh yeah, bless her.

Matt Edmundson:

I love you both.

Matt Edmundson:

We love you.

Matt Edmundson:

And you make us laugh and feel comfortable as well.

Matt Edmundson:

You're a legend.

Matt Edmundson:

Thanks for joining us.

Matt Edmundson:

And yeah, like I say, if you're just joining in, if you're just connecting

Matt Edmundson:

with us, warm welcome to you.

Matt Edmundson:

We are an online church.

Matt Edmundson:

We just do this.

Matt Edmundson:

We're going to do the talk with the Right Reverend John Harding.

Matt Edmundson:

We're not entirely sure who's the Right Reverend, but we're

Matt Edmundson:

going to do it with him.

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And then Claire and I are going to be back for Conversation Street where we're

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going to look at some questions, we're going to carry on the conversation, we're

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going to have a bit of a chat, aren't we?

Matt Edmundson:

We are.

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About all kinds of things.

Matt Edmundson:

And as you can tell, we're chilled at the same time.

Matt Edmundson:

We have a bit of fun.

Matt Edmundson:

We love the banter.

Matt Edmundson:

We do.

Claire Glare:

And I think we'll just, see what the Holy Spirit's got to say.

Matt Edmundson:

Exactly.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm all ears.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, look, Donna Jo.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, Donna Jo.

Matt Edmundson:

DJ's in the comments.

Claire Glare:

I almost rang you today, actually, DJ, on WhatsApp.

Claire Glare:

That is a total side of Grab your cup of tea.

Claire Glare:

Really just miss you, my lovely DJ.

Claire Glare:

She's a legend, DJ.

Claire Glare:

Too long to not have a chat.

Claire Glare:

We will do it soon.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, DJ.

Matt Edmundson:

DJ, I'm going to be in North Carolina at some point.

Matt Edmundson:

Just pointing that out.

Matt Edmundson:

I think I'm going over, I think it's June, don't know.

Matt Edmundson:

Anyway, DJ's in North Carolina.

Matt Edmundson:

She's an absolute legend.

Matt Edmundson:

So talk about 80s, Top Gun mug, Highway to the Danger Zone, ladies and gentlemen.

Matt Edmundson:

Speaking of Highway to the Danger Zone, I'm not, we're not

Claire Glare:

going to do the karaoke, there's all sorts

Claire Glare:

of karaoke there, we're going

Matt Edmundson:

sticking, yeah, no.

Matt Edmundson:

Everybody's going, please don't sing Highway to the Danger Zone, Matt.

Matt Edmundson:

What we are going to do, Highway to the Danger Zone,

Matt Edmundson:

speaking of Top Gun, Maverick.

Matt Edmundson:

That's again, it's John Harding's talk.

Matt Edmundson:

Then Clare, and did you like that segue, then Clare and I will be right back

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after the talk for Conversation Street.

Matt Edmundson:

Grab your notebooks, grab your pens, get busy in the comments.

Matt Edmundson:

We'd love to hear your questions, your thoughts on what John's got to say,

Matt Edmundson:

and we'll be back shortly after this.

Matt Edmundson:

Here we go.

John Harding:

Hi there Crowd Church, today we are in the final section of the

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Book of Acts, the story of the birth of the earliest church and the expansion

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of Christianity across the known world.

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Today our reading is from Acts 28 verse 11 through to the

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very end of the Book of Acts.

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Now if you've been tracking with us in Crowd Church you will know that the

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Apostle Paul, once appointed by the Jewish people to persecute the first Christians.

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He is now preaching Jesus and planting churches and he has got

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himself into a lot of trouble for it.

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The Jewish people considered this message about Jesus the Messiah blasphemy.

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There could be no God except Yahweh.

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And the Romans who occupied the whole region they considered it treason.

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There could be no king.

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Except Caesar.

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But at the heart of this new faith, the way of Christianity, was the

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message that Jesus was both the one true God and the one true King.

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And so those who proclaimed this message, like Paul, often ended up persecuted,

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imprisoned, Now when things got really bad for Paul, he used his leverage as

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a Roman citizen to demand his right for a trial and audience with Caesar in

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Rome, and that's been the story so far.

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Paul, under arrest, accompanied by armed guards, is heading to Rome.

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We pick up the story that after three months shipwrecked on the island of

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Malta, they set sail over to Rome, where Paul is placed under house arrest.

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It's quite a relActsd arrangement, probably because He'd rescued the

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soldiers when the ship went down at sea.

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Now Acts ends with uncertainty.

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We do not know how it ends for Paul.

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Was he released?

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Did he see how his days in prison in Rome?

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Did he get an audience with Caesar?

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What was the outcome of that?

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We don't really know, but our best guess is that after two years in prison, Paul

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was released and he went straight back to his work planting churches in Macedonia.

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That's hinted at in 1 Timothy 1.

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3.

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And then in Spain, Romans 28, before being re arrested and then executed

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by Nero around 68 AD, is the context.

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And I want to draw out three points for us today from the story.

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I want us to think about the primary question.

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Number two, I want us to think about the primary Conversation.

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And number three, I want us to think about the primary context, the

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question, the conversation, the context.

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Not quite alliterated, but near enough.

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Point one, the primary question.

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What is the most important question that we will ever have to wrestle with in life?

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The number one question or issue to which all other questions

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and issues are secondary.

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What we see here when Paul gets to Rome is he calls his fellow Jews,

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his ethnic people group, and it says each day, from morning till

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evening, Paul tried to convince them About Jesus, that's verse 23.

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The most important fundamental question for any person is this, who is Jesus?

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Who is Jesus?

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There is no question more important than that.

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Some people think Jesus never existed but, there is no academic historical doubt

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that Jesus of Nazareth walked this planet.

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Others say he was just a teacher or a prophet.

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Even to this day, in the Muslim religion, they teach that

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Jesus was the sinless prophet.

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But when you actually read the eyewitness accounts of Jesus life,

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when you read the words that Jesus said of himself, you realise that Jesus

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left no room for those perspectives.

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Jesus, according to Jesus, Jesus was God on Earth, God as one of us, God in flesh

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and blood so that flesh and blood could be sacrificed for our sins on the cross.

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Jesus was God in human form, the man who would rescue us from our sin.

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Now with this, C.

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S.

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Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, is trying to stop people saying, to quote,

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foolish things about Jesus, like Jesus was just a good moral teacher but not God.

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And Lewis writes, a man Who said the sort of things that Jesus said

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would not be a great moral teacher, he would either be a lunatic or he

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would be a liar like a devil of hell.

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You've got to make your choice, lunatic or liar.

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Either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse.

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You can shut him up for a fool.

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You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and

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call him Lord and God, but let's not come up with some patronising nonsense

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about him being a great human teacher.

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He has not left that open to us, and he did not intend to.

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So the most important question in life is this, who is Jesus?

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The only satisfactory answer to that, according to the Bible, according

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to Jesus, is that he is God's Son, our Saviour, and that he is worthy

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of our worship and our very lives.

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It's about who Jesus is.

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Point two, the primary conversation.

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I want us to think about the topic of our conversation, how we talk to people,

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and what we talk about with people.

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Here's Paul, he's under house arrest, his freedom's restricted, he's awaiting trial.

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Which could lead to death, but he's talking about Jesus.

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And the thing is some of them were convinced and believed, but

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others, many of them, were not.

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But that doesn't seem to surprise Paul.

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It doesn't seem to put him off.

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And then in verse 26, there's a quote from the Old Testament that basically

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says the Jewish people would hear the message of Jesus, but not understand it.

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They would see Jesus, but not really see him for who he really was.

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They would be blind to who Jesus was.

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And I, I think many of us, in that situation, we would use that as an excuse.

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What's the point of speaking to people about Jesus because they won't respond?

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They might reject him, they might reject me, people won't be interested, they

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don't want to know, so why bother?

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That does not put Paul off at all, he simply shares the message, he

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simply speaks of who Jesus is.

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And I want that to be a challenge to me, to you, to all of us,

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those of us who know Jesus.

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To speak of Jesus.

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What if people are not interested?

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Speak of Jesus.

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But what if they've got difficult questions about church and ethics?

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Speak of Jesus.

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But what if they say no, I'm not interested, what if they reject me?

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Speak of Jesus.

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I would say one of the biggest problems facing the church in the western world

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is that we simply don't speak of Jesus.

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Jesus is not the primary topic of our conversation.

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We'll talk about how to make our churches more attractive to people.

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We'll talk about what people can and can't do to their bodies, their ethics.

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We'll talk about how to be better people and succeed at life, but we need to

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focus on actually speaking about Jesus.

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I read a great book a number of years ago by a guy called Karl

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Madaris, called Speaking of Jesus, The Art of Non Evangelism.

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This guy'd spent decades living in Muslim countries, and what he'd

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learnt was that if you talk about Christianity, people are put off.

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If you talk about church, people are put off, but when we talk

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about Jesus, people are interested.

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They're drawn in, they're attracted, there is something compelling,

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attractive about this person, Jesus.

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There's this quote that people tend to use in response to what I'm saying, in

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response to any call to speak about Jesus.

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They say, ah yes, don't forget Saint Francis of Assisi.

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He said, preach the gospel and if necessary, use words.

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Preach the gospel, if necessary, use words.

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It's a call, to make sure our actions reveal something of who Jesus is.

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I've got a bit of a problem with that quote, not least because there's

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no evidence whatsoever that Saint Francis of Assisi ever said that.

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In fact, if you read about his life, everywhere he went he spoke about Jesus.

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He used words.

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He proclaimed the Gospel.

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But actually, whilst actions are vital, in and of themselves they won't lead anyone

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into a saving relationship with Jesus.

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We need words, works and wonders.

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So point one, the primary question, who is Jesus?

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He's God, He's King, He loves you, He's the one who can

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free you from shame and guilt.

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Point two, the primary conversation is about Jesus.

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As humans, we talk about what we love, we talk about what we enjoy,

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what's important to us, so let's talk about Jesus with those around us.

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And finally, the primary context.

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In other words Where and when should we speak of Jesus?

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What is the optimal place for it?

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Where has God called me to share the message of Jesus?

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I think the lesson we learn from Paul in this passage in the end of

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Acts is this, share about Jesus.

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Wherever you are, just where you are, Paul is in prison under house

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arrest, chained to a guard, and he's still speaking about Jesus.

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It's not a good place, it's not a good time, but he's doing it anyway.

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It reminds me a little bit of my nan the lady who took my mum in when she left

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home, not a blood relation, I called her nan, a lady called Ellen Nell.

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When she was in her 80s, my mum would take us to the new shopping mall in

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the city and mum would go round and do the shopping, me and my brother would

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wander round the shops and my nan, Nell, she would be left on her own,

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on a bench, a seat, to wait for us.

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And time again we would meet up at the bench at the agreed time and there

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would be someone sat next to my nan, often in tears, with my nan praying

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for them or leading them to the Lord.

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She just took an opportunity to speak of Jesus.

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I want us to consider the Apostle Paul here at the end of his life,

John Harding:

chained to a guard, awaiting trial, helping people to answer the

John Harding:

question of who Jesus really is.

John Harding:

Speaking of Jesus, even when he knew people would reject him and the message,

John Harding:

and he's doing all of that from a context that we would describe as less than ideal.

John Harding:

Why?

John Harding:

Why would he do that?

John Harding:

Jesus is God.

John Harding:

Jesus is King.

John Harding:

Jesus loves you.

John Harding:

He knows you, he's got a great plan and purpose for your life, he's revealed

John Harding:

himself to us, and as we respond to him, he rescues us, he saves us, he cleanses

John Harding:

us, he brings us into his family.

John Harding:

He is so wonderful.

John Harding:

There's no one like him, no one compares to him, and why would we not want to share

John Harding:

such good news with everyone we meet?

Matt Edmundson:

Welcome back.

Matt Edmundson:

Thanks, John.

Matt Edmundson:

That was, for John Harding, that was actually quite a remarkably short talk.

Claire Glare:

It was extremely succinct.

Claire Glare:

I

Matt Edmundson:

like that word.

Matt Edmundson:

Succinct.

Matt Edmundson:

Amen.

Claire Glare:

Great talk.

Claire Glare:

It

Matt Edmundson:

was a great talk.

Matt Edmundson:

Great talk.

Matt Edmundson:

I think we're just a little bit flabbergasted, John, I'm not going to lie.

Matt Edmundson:

Maybe he was busy that day.

Matt Edmundson:

Who knows?

Matt Edmundson:

Who knows?

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, welcome back.

Matt Edmundson:

It's great that you're with us.

Matt Edmundson:

If you joined us throughout the talk you are watching

Matt Edmundson:

Crowd Online Church Livestream.

Matt Edmundson:

My name is Matt.

Matt Edmundson:

Beside me is the beautiful Claire Glare and her knitting.

Claire Glare:

I'm halfway through because I don't think I can

Claire Glare:

talk and knit at the same time.

Claire Glare:

I'm not that clever.

John Harding:

No, but you can talk.

Matt Edmundson:

You were knitting whilst you were listening to the talk

Claire Glare:

knitting.

Claire Glare:

I've done about three rows.

Claire Glare:

That's as quick as I am.

Claire Glare:

That's why it took my daughter's scarf a year to be knitted.

Matt Edmundson:

Wow.

Matt Edmundson:

There we go.

Matt Edmundson:

Fair enough.

Matt Edmundson:

Fair enough.

Matt Edmundson:

It's great to have you back.

Matt Edmundson:

Great that you joined us.

Matt Edmundson:

Now if you've got any questions, any thoughts, write them in the comments

Matt Edmundson:

because it's Conversation Street.

Matt Edmundson:

We're going to get into them.

Matt Edmundson:

And so what's Miriam put here?

Matt Edmundson:

This is a great talk, John.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, absolutely.

Matt Edmundson:

Andy, often when people talk about Jesus in this country,

Matt Edmundson:

it's not in a positive way.

Matt Edmundson:

Agree or disagree?

Claire Glare:

Yeah, I agree.

Claire Glare:

Oh no, actually, sorry, Andy,

Matt Edmundson:

put this down slightly, and that's good.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay, so we can see you.

Matt Edmundson:

There we go.

Claire Glare:

There we go.

Claire Glare:

And I think I would say that when you get people talking about Jesus, I,

Claire Glare:

unless you're like, A devil worshipper, which I would say the vast majority

Claire Glare:

of people in this country are, in this country, we're talking about the UK.

Claire Glare:

I think that people, like the C.

Claire Glare:

S.

Claire Glare:

Lewis quote would, they would say Jesus is a nice person, but, and so

Claire Glare:

I think that they would they would be positive about Jesus, less so maybe

Claire Glare:

about the church, less so maybe about Christians, less about, about other

Claire Glare:

aspects, but yeah, I but but I think it's that challenge, isn't it, that

Claire Glare:

John has given us of, but actually when we really get down to discussing who

Claire Glare:

Jesus is, then I think probably the heckles raise up and it's you're saying

Claire Glare:

that Jesus demands something of me or, or is expecting a response from me.

Claire Glare:

Then, oh, I'm not sure about him now.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, I don't know.

Claire Glare:

What do you think?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I think it's an interesting point, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

Because you totally, there are people that don't talk about Jesus in a

Matt Edmundson:

specific, in a positive light, who I think, they're usually associating

Matt Edmundson:

the negative comments with.

Matt Edmundson:

The Church, like you say, the Jesus Followers, the Jesus

Matt Edmundson:

Freaks, as we like to call them.

Matt Edmundson:

Great song.

Matt Edmundson:

Jesus Freaks, again, 19, yeah, we've moved on a decade.

Matt Edmundson:

We've moved on from the 80s, which we were talking about earlier, if you're confused.

Matt Edmundson:

But, so I think it's interesting that not a lot of people talk about Jesus

Matt Edmundson:

positively, they're often referring, like you say, to his church, to the

Matt Edmundson:

believers, for a number of reasons.

Matt Edmundson:

They can get angry, they can be hypocritical, they can be very judgmental,

Matt Edmundson:

they can be graceless, they can be greedy.

Matt Edmundson:

They commit every single atrocity known to man, but they do it under

Matt Edmundson:

the guise of being a Christian, right?

Matt Edmundson:

And, And so that I think quite rightly causes people to get really

Matt Edmundson:

knocked off, which is another good phrase knocked off to get, I think

Matt Edmundson:

that causes people to get angry.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think I can understand why that is because I get angry with it.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know what I mean?

Matt Edmundson:

You read about scandal, you read about that kind of stuff and you just go,

Matt Edmundson:

this is just so wrong on so many levels.

Matt Edmundson:

So I think, I agree in that sense that actually.

Matt Edmundson:

The church has not done Jesus any favours in its representation

Matt Edmundson:

of him in a lot of ways.

Matt Edmundson:

The thing that surprises me in all of this is that knowing that,

Matt Edmundson:

Jesus still chose it anyway.

Claire Glare:

His way of saving the world.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Honestly, if we'd have had it in our hand, in our gift to do it,

John Harding:

we'd have done it completely differently.

John Harding:

We

Matt Edmundson:

would.

Matt Edmundson:

We'd have been like, you're not in.

Matt Edmundson:

I

Claire Glare:

think, just come on, get with the program, sort it out.

Matt Edmundson:

Will you please sort it out?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

I've died for you.

Matt Edmundson:

Enough already.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

It's funny, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

And but I think you're right.

Matt Edmundson:

It's it's still his chosen vessel to bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Matt Edmundson:

And you, so being a part of the church, I say that the church

Matt Edmundson:

is the hope of the world.

Matt Edmundson:

I love that phrase that the church is the hope of the world.

Matt Edmundson:

But I look at the people in the church and go, Oh my goodness.

Matt Edmundson:

Now I'm not judging other people.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm counting myself in that.

Matt Edmundson:

We are broken people in a lot of ways.

Matt Edmundson:

And we and we I mean, we can have faith and we can trust God and we can see

Matt Edmundson:

mountains move and we do and we know God and we understand God, but we are

Matt Edmundson:

far from perfect in a lot of ways.

Matt Edmundson:

And

Claire Glare:

and I think the more actually we recognize the sin in

Claire Glare:

our own lives, the greater our understanding of the gospel and Jesus is.

Claire Glare:

And I think when we make our own sins small.

Claire Glare:

And I do it every day.

Claire Glare:

I am sure.

Claire Glare:

Do you know what I mean?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

We don't practice that repentant heart each day.

Claire Glare:

Then I think Jesus isn't magnified.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

In the, in that way.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

It's an interesting one, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

I totally agree with you and I think that, I remember something Ian

Matt Edmundson:

Morrison said to me years ago, Ian Ian.

Matt Edmundson:

Love Ian.

Matt Edmundson:

Love Ian.

Matt Edmundson:

An old friend of, a mutual friend of ours, going back a long time, and

Matt Edmundson:

I remember something he said to me, he said, you know what, the more,

Matt Edmundson:

the closer I get to Christ, the more aware of my own sin I become.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's a really interesting one, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

So you, it's not a case of the longer I work, walk with

Matt Edmundson:

Christ, the less sinful I become.

Matt Edmundson:

I think it's the longer I walk with Christ, the more aware of my sin I become.

Claire Glare:

If we allow it.

Claire Glare:

And I think that's my, yeah, that's my, that was what I was thinking today when I

Claire Glare:

was, we were talking about this and I was like, oh God, help me to give you time.

Claire Glare:

Because actually we do have to stop and listen.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, we do.

Claire Glare:

And ask the question.

Claire Glare:

Hi.

Claire Glare:

Check in with God.

Claire Glare:

Rather than just assume that everything is all hunky dory and just ask and wait,

Claire Glare:

not rush on and just give that space.

Claire Glare:

And is there anything?

Claire Glare:

Okay.

Claire Glare:

I'm listening.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Oh yeah.

Claire Glare:

I'm

John Harding:

so sorry.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Very true.

Matt Edmundson:

So this is a long answer to the question when people talk about Jesus in the

Matt Edmundson:

country, it's not in a positive way.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Chris has written one.

Claire Glare:

Do you think some people believe that Christian faith has been watered down?

Matt Edmundson:

I believe that Christian faith has been watered down.

Matt Edmundson:

I think I water it down.

Matt Edmundson:

It's your fault.

John Harding:

It's not my fault.

John Harding:

Will you just stop it?

Claire Glare:

Trying.

Claire Glare:

I chose Ibiza instead of water.

Claire Glare:

No, that's a

Matt Edmundson:

digression.

Matt Edmundson:

It is a digression.

Matt Edmundson:

So why do you think it's been watered down?

Matt Edmundson:

Let's maybe start there.

Claire Glare:

Because we, I think we are fearful.

Claire Glare:

We are fearful that we'll be rejected.

Claire Glare:

That, that, that we'll be persecuted, and people are persecuted around the world.

Claire Glare:

Faith.

Claire Glare:

Do you

Matt Edmundson:

mean Christians, as in Christians don't want

Matt Edmundson:

to stand up for their faith as much because of the backlash?

Matt Edmundson:

Is that what you're talking

Claire Glare:

about?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Okay, cool.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

That, yeah.

Claire Glare:

I think, yeah.

Claire Glare:

And then I guess it's that thing of being diluted when you mix.

Claire Glare:

Isn't it that actually when you don't spend time with other believers,

Claire Glare:

when you don't spend time reading the word of God in God's presence,

Claire Glare:

that, that you become less like him.

Claire Glare:

And I think I was just when I think when you listen, I, it's a

Claire Glare:

bit warm in here, but um, when you listen to a really good talk, like

Claire Glare:

we've just listened to with John.

Claire Glare:

I can feel, I don't know about you, but I feel myself getting all excited, and

Claire Glare:

and I feel a little bit like Moses, a tiny little bit like Moses, like what

Claire Glare:

is it we all with unveiled faces will reveal and, and when we don't do that, we

Claire Glare:

don't listen to the word of God, we don't talk about our faith of other people.

Claire Glare:

As much with people who don't know Jesus yet, because I think that's as faith

Claire Glare:

building as, to answer their questions legitimately and genuinely then we

Claire Glare:

don't experience that nearness of him.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's a powerful point, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

And I've funnily enough, I've been thinking a lot about this week because

Matt Edmundson:

interestingly, I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about

Matt Edmundson:

how one of the things that we've managed to do in the West, which hasn't helped

Matt Edmundson:

us is we've connected church with a building rather than a people group.

Matt Edmundson:

And so we talk about going to church rather than being part of a church.

Matt Edmundson:

And so when we go to church, we then get to a point where actually

Matt Edmundson:

church We take it or leave it, right?

Matt Edmundson:

And then it becomes about consumerism.

Matt Edmundson:

So then it becomes about I don't the worship, so I'm not going anymore, or I

Matt Edmundson:

don't like this, so I'm not going anymore.

Matt Edmundson:

And so it becomes about what I get out of church, rather than seeing the church,

Matt Edmundson:

which is the body of Christ, right?

Matt Edmundson:

And family.

Matt Edmundson:

And family, and that whole sense of community and understanding,

Matt Edmundson:

actually, if I don't get involved with church, not the church, the

Matt Edmundson:

building, but if I don't get involved with church, The whole body suffers.

Matt Edmundson:

And it, and Paul uses this great analogy, doesn't he?

Matt Edmundson:

And it's in essence, he's saying just your foot can't be bothered to get

Matt Edmundson:

out of bed today, it's not going to bode well if I want to go off and do

Matt Edmundson:

something, do you know what I mean?

Matt Edmundson:

Or it so I think by connecting church with a building rather than understanding

Matt Edmundson:

that we are the church, we've watered faith down and I think we've.

Matt Edmundson:

And again I'm moaning about the West Church, the Western Church, because

Matt Edmundson:

that's the church that I'm part of.

Matt Edmundson:

And I feel like I can talk about it.

Matt Edmundson:

But we've also taken Christianity to a point where we just say, what you have

Matt Edmundson:

to do is get to a place where you say this prayer, and then you're a Crisbo.

Matt Edmundson:

You're in.

Matt Edmundson:

Well done.

Matt Edmundson:

Part of the club.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Matt Edmundson:

But very

Claire Glare:

individual thing.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's a one time event.

Matt Edmundson:

I've just, like a buy in a house, I just signed the mortgage.

Matt Edmundson:

And then it doesn't matter what, and it's not it's not like that, really

Matt Edmundson:

Jesus never said, can be a Christian.

Matt Edmundson:

But what, when you read the gospels, Jesus said, follow me, that's a lifestyle.

Matt Edmundson:

That's a life thing, right?

Matt Edmundson:

And so I think with a mixture of those

Claire Glare:

two things, not even make Christians, but make disciples, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

It is.

Matt Edmundson:

And the word disciple is an interesting word, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

And what that actually means, and I think it's Oh, what's the new book?

Matt Edmundson:

Following the Way, Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer, who did

Matt Edmundson:

the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, all about Sarah.

Matt Edmundson:

I thought he was the hurry one.

Matt Edmundson:

He's the hurry one.

Matt Edmundson:

No, don't, no, the opposite of hurry.

Matt Edmundson:

I, no.

Matt Edmundson:

There's a Phil Collins song.

Matt Edmundson:

There is, I was just thinking that.

Matt Edmundson:

You can't hurry love.

Matt Edmundson:

And back to the 80s again.

Matt Edmundson:

But he's written this book called Practicing the Way and

Matt Edmundson:

interesting how similar sort of phraseology is coming out of that.

Matt Edmundson:

It's like actually the word disciple means the word apprentice, to be

Matt Edmundson:

apprenticed by Jesus, that's a lifestyle thing, you go and sit under him,

Matt Edmundson:

you be with him, you become like him and you do the things that he does.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think because in the West we've got so busy, churches are building

Matt Edmundson:

in a program and because becoming a Christian is, a one time event, that

Matt Edmundson:

then I think waters down the faith of the actual believers themselves,

Matt Edmundson:

they become weak, they become sickly.

Matt Edmundson:

Which then leads to this whole thing about Christians not

Matt Edmundson:

being seen in a positive light.

Matt Edmundson:

I think the Christians that have a strong close walk with God, they might

Matt Edmundson:

have a theology which is different to yours, or they might have an opinion

Matt Edmundson:

about certain, certainly a lot of cultural things they'll have an opinion

Matt Edmundson:

about them, but most of the time you you go I don't necessarily agree with

Matt Edmundson:

you, but I I want to be around you.

Matt Edmundson:

Attractive, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

It's attractive, yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

The Christians that are half-hearted, half in, half out, can't make

Matt Edmundson:

their mind up one way or the other.

Matt Edmundson:

They're the ones that people really struggle to be around 'cause they're

Matt Edmundson:

the ones which are angry and bitter.

Matt Edmundson:

They're the ones making all kinds of weird and wonderful statements that

Matt Edmundson:

just, aren't loving, aren't kind.

Matt Edmundson:

They're the ones that often get included, that's why you would often

Matt Edmundson:

use the word intolerance when talking about some of the Christian beliefs.

Matt Edmundson:

And yeah I've just gone off on one now.

Matt Edmundson:

Sorry, Chris.

Matt Edmundson:

Hope that answers your question.

Matt Edmundson:

Do I think some people believe that Christian faith has been worn down?

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, I think we've not helped ourselves in that sense.

Matt Edmundson:

But I guess

Claire Glare:

we, we are called to be salt and light, aren't we?

Claire Glare:

Yes.

Claire Glare:

And gosh, this is a really old one.

Claire Glare:

Do you know this old Christian song who be the salt if the salt loses its flavor?

Claire Glare:

Yes,

Matt Edmundson:

I do and I'm not gonna sing it.

Matt Edmundson:

There

Claire Glare:

we go.

Claire Glare:

But it's a good one.

Claire Glare:

. And so we are that salty

Matt Edmundson:

nurse and that actually is all about being distinctive.

Matt Edmundson:

Salt is not, do you know what I mean?

Matt Edmundson:

Salt is distinctive, it's flavorsome.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think.

Matt Edmundson:

When Christians just try to blend into the background, I think we have a

Matt Edmundson:

problem, and I just, I don't, I think, do you remember the movie Karate Kid,

Matt Edmundson:

80s reference, 80s movie reference, not my cup of tea, Karate Kid, Mr Miyagi,

Matt Edmundson:

he says to Daniel san in the movie, when you walk along the road, walk left side,

Matt Edmundson:

safe, walk right side safe, walk middle of the road, squish, just like grape.

Matt Edmundson:

And what he's doing, it's a great reference, by the way.

Matt Edmundson:

What he's talking about is this, do one thing or the other, be in, be

Matt Edmundson:

out, and if you're in, do it properly.

Matt Edmundson:

But when you try and walk this middle line, where you can, you you're not

Matt Edmundson:

giving everything over to God, or you, do you know what I mean, there's

Matt Edmundson:

things which you're trying to hold back on, where you're just like I'll

Matt Edmundson:

do that bit of Christianity over there, and I'll do this bit of what I want

Matt Edmundson:

to do over here, and it's not living a life of, It's an unpopular word.

Matt Edmundson:

It's not living a life of surrender, it's living a life of doing what I want to do.

Matt Edmundson:

That is what Mr.

Matt Edmundson:

Miyagi talks about, squish,

Claire Glare:

walking in the middle of the road.

Claire Glare:

But I think surrender is a really good word, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

And actually, I don't think anyone can argue with you personally

Claire Glare:

surrendering your life to God.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

And I think, it does come down to those choices that we make each day, doesn't it?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Daily.

Claire Glare:

Choice to pick up our cross and, surrender.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Matt Edmundson:

I agree.

Matt Edmundson:

Jenny, you're the second person to mention that book to me today.

Matt Edmundson:

Shall I be the third?

Claire Glare:

Yeah, go for it.

Claire Glare:

I can't remember the title.

Claire Glare:

The guy, Coma, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

John Mark Comer.

Claire Glare:

Not Girlfriend in a Coma, which is another 90s, 80s Smith song.

Claire Glare:

I don't know.

Claire Glare:

Anyway, Jenny, I'm sorry.

Claire Glare:

But yeah, I think you should read it.

Claire Glare:

It sounds like a good

Matt Edmundson:

one.

Matt Edmundson:

Have you not read The Ruthless Elimination of Harry?

Matt Edmundson:

Confession.

Matt Edmundson:

No.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay.

Matt Edmundson:

You're too busy.

Matt Edmundson:

I

Claire Glare:

just don't read Christian books.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, controversial.

Matt Edmundson:

Controversial.

Claire Glare:

Sack me.

Claire Glare:

If I could get out the door, he'd have thrown me down.

Claire Glare:

I'm locked.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey, I don't mind you not reading Christian books as long

Matt Edmundson:

as you read my one when I write it.

Matt Edmundson:

Are you writing one?

Matt Edmundson:

I'm trying to write one at the moment.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, all yeah, it's taken me three years so far, but about halfway through.

Matt Edmundson:

I think

Claire Glare:

that's the general way for writing a book.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, it is.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it is good.

Matt Edmundson:

Or maybe we're not talking about the ruthless emanation of hurry.

Matt Edmundson:

There's the other one that you do, which has just come out

Matt Edmundson:

called practice in the way.

Claire Glare:

That's the one that you're talking about is Jenny, which one are you

Claire Glare:

talking about the ruthless hurry one Or the way one, I don't know, Jesus, he's the

Claire Glare:

way, the truth and the life, let's stick

Matt Edmundson:

to the main menu.

Matt Edmundson:

Let's stick to that yeah, absolutely.

Matt Edmundson:

Miriam, sometimes when I talk to people, I don't know what to expect,

Matt Edmundson:

but all I can do is trust God to give me the right words to say back.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you find that's the truth?

Matt Edmundson:

. Claire Glare: Yeah, there's a great verse, isn't there?

Matt Edmundson:

I dunno where it's from.

Matt Edmundson:

Somewhere in the Bible, , it basically says I think it's either a Psalm

Matt Edmundson:

or Isaiah or something like that.

Matt Edmundson:

Old Testament.

Matt Edmundson:

Open your mouth and I will fill it.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, and I rea I use that for kind of those sorts of conversations where I

Matt Edmundson:

don't know what to say, or I'm meeting somebody and I'm asked something and I'm

Matt Edmundson:

put on the spot and I'm just like, Jesus.

Matt Edmundson:

God help me.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Put your words in my

Matt Edmundson:

mouth.

Matt Edmundson:

There's also a scripture in the New Testament about

Claire Glare:

it.

Claire Glare:

I suspect there's a few.

Claire Glare:

It's probably a

Matt Edmundson:

theme.

Matt Edmundson:

Don't worry about what you shall say.

Matt Edmundson:

That's what the Holy Spirit does.

Matt Edmundson:

He helps us give us the right words.

Matt Edmundson:

It was actually bizarrely in the context of courtrooms, going to, when someone

Matt Edmundson:

takes you to court for your faith.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know what to say.

Matt Edmundson:

There's another

Claire Glare:

scripture that I've written down here that I've not got a quote for.

Claire Glare:

But it's in be prepared in season and out of season.

Claire Glare:

Yes, Paul said that, didn't he?

Claire Glare:

I would say that

Matt Edmundson:

was Paul.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes.

Matt Edmundson:

It's very Paulinian.

Claire Glare:

Pauline.

Claire Glare:

Pauline.

Claire Glare:

I think is actually the word that you were searching for.

Claire Glare:

And I

Matt Edmundson:

like Paulinian, I'm just making words up, that's

Matt Edmundson:

what we do, it's a Christian thing.

Matt Edmundson:

It was Practicing The Way, according to Jenny, so yeah, do check out that

Matt Edmundson:

book, it's a really interesting book.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm about halfway through it, I've been enjoying it, um, it's, I've

Matt Edmundson:

listened to a few of his podcasts now where he talks about it.

Matt Edmundson:

And really powerful stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

And actually going forward with Crowd, some of the stuff he's talked about,

Matt Edmundson:

I'm like, this is great because there was some of the ideas and thoughts

Matt Edmundson:

we have going forward with Crowd and he's put some language to some

Matt Edmundson:

stuff, which has been super helpful.

Matt Edmundson:

So we are going to be getting into that.

Matt Edmundson:

That's how we

Claire Glare:

live, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

As a community together, how we are on this journey together, how we can

Claire Glare:

encourage each other, how we can exhort each other and challenge each other.

Claire Glare:

In love cause it's hard, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

It's a narrow way.

Claire Glare:

It's it's not a straight way.

Claire Glare:

Oh, it is a straight way, but it's a narrow,

Matt Edmundson:

It's narrow, but straight.

Matt Edmundson:

It's interesting because you're right.

Matt Edmundson:

I think, I don't think being a Christian is easy and I don't think

Matt Edmundson:

it's not like I, every morning when I sit and read my Bible, sometimes

Matt Edmundson:

it's really, it's awesome, and you're just like, Oh, thank you, Jesus.

Matt Edmundson:

And then other times you just feel like you're pulling teeth a little bit.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know what I mean?

Matt Edmundson:

Like you just try and just going through the motions in some respects.

Matt Edmundson:

And it's, and there are times where you're like, you feel God's

Matt Edmundson:

telling you to do something, but you want to do entirely the opposite.

Matt Edmundson:

You're like, no, get somebody else.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't want to do it.

Matt Edmundson:

But again, it comes back to that surrender aspect, doesn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

And surrender is never straightforward.

Matt Edmundson:

It's never easy.

Matt Edmundson:

And living in that surrendered life, just get married.

Matt Edmundson:

You'll, it's marriage will tell, will show you that surrender

Matt Edmundson:

thing is not straightforward.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah have we had many tech issues today?

Matt Edmundson:

No, not a single one.

Claire Glare:

Apart from you not turning the mic on earlier, but that

Matt Edmundson:

was a, Oh yeah, that was pre live stream.

Matt Edmundson:

That was a simple fix.

Matt Edmundson:

If in

Claire Glare:

doubt, turn it off.

Matt Edmundson:

Claire's microphone wasn't working.

Matt Edmundson:

We're like, why is that not working?

Matt Edmundson:

And it's Oh, I've not turned it on.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay.

Matt Edmundson:

Simple things, but this is why we have, the sort of the 10 minutes beforehand.

Matt Edmundson:

What else is in your notes?

Matt Edmundson:

I,

Claire Glare:

The art of a non evangelism book sounded good

Claire Glare:

that John was talking about.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

When I say that I don't read books.

Claire Glare:

I could be tempted by that one.

Matt Edmundson:

If you ever wonder what to buy Claire for Christmas,

Matt Edmundson:

not what to buy Claire for Christmas.

Matt Edmundson:

You might not know what to buy, but what not to buy is now quite clear.

Matt Edmundson:

Anything that's Christian other than the Bible.

Matt Edmundson:

Is this a deliberate thing?

Matt Edmundson:

Is this just, you never really got into Christian

Claire Glare:

books?

Claire Glare:

No, I think it, maybe I shouldn't say it I just think that we aren't

Claire Glare:

very succinct as a Western church.

Claire Glare:

So I I, my, my take has been that the ones that I've read, They could

Claire Glare:

have just written it in a chapter.

Claire Glare:

Oh, you think they're

Matt Edmundson:

waffly?

Matt Edmundson:

A

Claire Glare:

bit waffly.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

And and that's not true for all, and I have read some brilliant Christian books.

Claire Glare:

And but I think I prefer a novel.

Claire Glare:

Which is awful.

Matt Edmundson:

Sorry.

Matt Edmundson:

You're just seeing Claire come under conviction on the live stream.

Claire Glare:

I'm so sorry.

Claire Glare:

Do I say no, I do?

Matt Edmundson:

No, that's not true.

Matt Edmundson:

There's Dave sat at home going, thank you, Jesus, finally.

Matt Edmundson:

Who's

John Harding:

Dave?

Claire Glare:

My husband's called John.

Claire Glare:

Is that

Matt Edmundson:

what you were talking about?

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know why I said Dave.

Matt Edmundson:

Maybe I was thinking about Dave Connolly.

Matt Edmundson:

Dave

John Harding:

Connolly's

Claire Glare:

going, I've known Claire for 30 years.

Claire Glare:

Finally she's experiencing some conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Claire Glare:

Good to do it publicly.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah apparently Andy says there's a lot of good Christian stuff in

Claire Glare:

podcasts.

Claire Glare:

You are so right, Andy.

Claire Glare:

It's true.

John Harding:

It's

Matt Edmundson:

true.

Matt Edmundson:

I have to be honest, I do prefer a good podcast where

Matt Edmundson:

people sit and chat about it.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah take John Mark Comer's new book, Practicing the Way.

Matt Edmundson:

I've read the book, it's great.

Matt Edmundson:

I've made lots of notes on it but I much prefer sitting and listening

Matt Edmundson:

to him talk to somebody about it.

Matt Edmundson:

What are you laughing at?

Claire Glare:

Sorry, Matt's little comment about sending me a

Claire Glare:

thousand balls of wool, I think.

Claire Glare:

Of a Christmas turkey.

Claire Glare:

Sorry, I was just distracted.

Claire Glare:

No, please don't, I'm not that quick.

Claire Glare:

I'll be drowning in wool.

Claire Glare:

Drowning in wool.

Claire Glare:

Sorry, we digress.

Claire Glare:

Because of me,

Matt Edmundson:

I'm so sorry.

Matt Edmundson:

That's alright.

Matt Edmundson:

I was saying now.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, Podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

What podcast would you recommend, Andy?

Matt Edmundson:

Jenny says.

Matt Edmundson:

So write your podcast recommendation.

Matt Edmundson:

In fact, let's just do that.

Matt Edmundson:

In the comments, write down your favourite Christian book and

Matt Edmundson:

your favourite Christian podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

We'd be

Claire Glare:

very interested to know.

Claire Glare:

I think that would be a really useful thing.

Claire Glare:

It's Today we were talking about What's The Story.

John Harding:

Ah,

Matt Edmundson:

love Andy.

Matt Edmundson:

You should come host.

Matt Edmundson:

That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

What's The Story, by the way, that Andy's put in the comments,

Matt Edmundson:

is a crowd church podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

And so do check it out, whatsthestorypodcast.

Matt Edmundson:

com.

Matt Edmundson:

I love the plug there.

Matt Edmundson:

We've just released the episode with Tom Grant.

Matt Edmundson:

Have you heard that one?

Matt Edmundson:

You don't do podcasts either, do you?

Claire Glare:

I'm just I'm proper 20th century, 19th century

Claire Glare:

if I can get away with it.

Claire Glare:

Pen, paper.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

So what's the story?

Matt Edmundson:

I do know what it is.

Matt Edmundson:

It's where we sit down and we just talk to people about their

Matt Edmundson:

story, their Christian story.

Matt Edmundson:

How did they, the three key things we want to know, how do people become a Christian?

Matt Edmundson:

What's the biggest challenge they faced in life that God's helped them overcome?

Matt Edmundson:

And what's their sort of one thing, their one message that God's

Matt Edmundson:

taught them throughout all of this?

Matt Edmundson:

You've not been on yet, have you?

Matt Edmundson:

No, you

Claire Glare:

have asked me a few times and I've just not

Claire Glare:

got round to replying to you.

Claire Glare:

I will one day.

Claire Glare:

I'm a bit of a, I'm not very speedy.

Matt Edmundson:

Not very speedy.

Matt Edmundson:

We've just done an episode with Tom Grant, who he is a Baptist minister.

Matt Edmundson:

That works as part of the Eden Project up over in Netherton.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay, I saw that, yes.

Matt Edmundson:

And so he, him and his wife moved up from the South just felt God.

Matt Edmundson:

It's really interesting because, most people want to go to a

Matt Edmundson:

nicer house when they move.

Matt Edmundson:

They want to go to a nicer estate.

Matt Edmundson:

There's this sort of idea of promotion.

Matt Edmundson:

I want something bigger, I want something better.

Matt Edmundson:

Tom, Emma, no, totally the opposite way.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm from down South to an estate in Neverton.

Matt Edmundson:

And I imagine pretty rough.

Matt Edmundson:

They've been there 10 years and God's done some insanely cool things

Matt Edmundson:

and they have this great church.

Matt Edmundson:

And just listening to Tom's story about some of the stuff

Matt Edmundson:

that is going on is fantastic.

Matt Edmundson:

So do check it out.

Matt Edmundson:

wts.crowd.church

Claire Glare:

Is there merch?

Claire Glare:

Crowd Church merch.

Claire Glare:

I was asked whether I wanted a merch and I said yes, but I've not got one yet.

Matt Edmundson:

I've not sorted it out yet.

Matt Edmundson:

Sadaf was asking me about this the other day.

Matt Edmundson:

I do have a Crowd Church hoodie.

Matt Edmundson:

They are not for sale as of yet, but they will be for sale soon.

Matt Edmundson:

We're going to have a little Crowd Church merch store.

Matt Edmundson:

They won't be merch, though.

Matt Edmundson:

It's not like we're going to make any profit out of them,

Matt Edmundson:

but people do ask me for them.

Matt Edmundson:

Do they?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Can I get a crowd hoodie?

Matt Edmundson:

I'm like, this is for a church.

Matt Edmundson:

And they're like, yeah, this is really cool.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm like, knock yourself out, son.

Matt Edmundson:

I'll send you the link when they're up and running.

Claire Glare:

My husband continues to wear welcoming t shirts that have been

Claire Glare:

rebranded from our church during the day and he can, he just wears them for work.

Claire Glare:

Yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

why not?

Matt Edmundson:

It's great.

Matt Edmundson:

Why not?

Matt Edmundson:

Why it's not a whatnot, right?

Matt Edmundson:

Church merch.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

So yes, there will be available at some point.

Matt Edmundson:

There is no doubt about it.

Matt Edmundson:

Alan Finnegan needs prayer.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, actually, for those of you that know Alan Finnegan, he's the

Matt Edmundson:

guy that passes the church with Tom, Tom Grant, and he does need prayer.

Matt Edmundson:

He's been diagnosed with quite a severe illness, and without a miracle, things

Matt Edmundson:

are not looking good for Alan so do pray for him and pray for his family praying

Matt Edmundson:

that God does some good stuff for him.

Matt Edmundson:

So yes hopefully that's answered all the questions.

Matt Edmundson:

I just want to go back to what John was talking about, because, Bring it back.

Matt Edmundson:

Some sense of control.

Matt Edmundson:

One of the things was interesting was he read that quote, which

Matt Edmundson:

was ascribed to, was it Assisi?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And he said, I've got a few issues with this, mainly because there's

Matt Edmundson:

no actual evidence that Assisi said that quote, I'd never even thought

Claire Glare:

about it, but it's really

Matt Edmundson:

true.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Now this I thought was interesting because I was thinking about this earlier as well.

Matt Edmundson:

This whole concept is a very popular phrase at the moment, critical thinking.

Matt Edmundson:

We like critical thinking, which is where we don't assume knowledge or anything

Matt Edmundson:

about something just because something is somebody has said something about that.

Matt Edmundson:

So the one the example that I saw was to do with J.

Matt Edmundson:

K.

Matt Edmundson:

Rowling, who is obviously slightly controversial at the moment

Matt Edmundson:

because of a perception of how she views Transgender Issues.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

And so she's been called transphobic.

Matt Edmundson:

And I was watching a conversation where I think it was a teacher said to a student,

Matt Edmundson:

What do you think about JK Rowling?

Matt Edmundson:

And he said she's not doing very well at the moment.

Matt Edmundson:

She's transphobic and people aren't a big fan.

Matt Edmundson:

And so the teacher said to him where did you get that idea from?

Matt Edmundson:

And he said, it's just common opinion.

Matt Edmundson:

It's yeah, but have you actually gone and figured it out for yourself?

Matt Edmundson:

Have you read what she said?

Matt Edmundson:

And it's no, so he's why didn't you read what she says?

Matt Edmundson:

And so he pulls up some tweets where he reads what she has said, and it's the

Matt Edmundson:

complete opposite of what he believed.

Matt Edmundson:

So this whole concept of critical thinking, I think is really interesting.

Matt Edmundson:

This whole idea of just not accepting something because we've been told it,

Matt Edmundson:

or because that's what general, the general public believe, but actually

Matt Edmundson:

fact checking things ourselves and thinking through things critically.

Matt Edmundson:

To say this is what that means, this is what that means and so on and so

Matt Edmundson:

forth and having some kind of opinion.

Claire Glare:

But I think that generally goes against, oh I can

Claire Glare:

hear myself a bit more there, that's a bit weird, a bit echoey.

Claire Glare:

I think I would put my hand up, lazy, I'm lazy and so actually if I have to go

Claire Glare:

away and do my own research and check it.

Claire Glare:

It's actually, it's easier to absorb that common opinion, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

And it demands something of us.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

But I think, but what I love about the Bible and Jesus is that they do

Claire Glare:

stand up to that critical thinking.

Claire Glare:

And that when you poke oh, oh, yeah, that's what Jesus said.

Claire Glare:

And, actually when people might say.

Claire Glare:

Oh, Jesus was, he, he taught about good morals or whatever.

Claire Glare:

Oh, actually, but he also talks about this and he talks about this and he talks

Claire Glare:

about this and he said that about himself.

Claire Glare:

I was like, oh, yeah, but it's it's fab, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

I love the fact that God can cope with our questions.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, absolutely.

Matt Edmundson:

No, totally right.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think it's, again, it comes down to what.

Matt Edmundson:

You wrote C.

Matt Edmundson:

S.

Matt Edmundson:

Lewis on your notes, didn't you?

Matt Edmundson:

So C.

Matt Edmundson:

S.

Matt Edmundson:

Lewis, when he says, no, Jesus is either the son of God,

Matt Edmundson:

he's a lunatic or he's a liar.

Matt Edmundson:

And he can't be just a good guy.

Matt Edmundson:

Because again, this comes down to critical thinking.

Matt Edmundson:

So a lot of people have just gone Jesus, yeah, he was

Matt Edmundson:

around, he said some cool stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

Church is a bit weird.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't see why what he said 2, 000 years ago should really impact me today.

Matt Edmundson:

But there's no critical thinking done around Jesus, it's just an acceptance,

Matt Edmundson:

or the other one that I hear a lot of science has disproved religion.

Matt Edmundson:

And so you go has it really?

Matt Edmundson:

Let's just prod that a little bit, because if that was true, you'll have

Matt Edmundson:

heard me say this before on Crowd, there would be no such thing as a

Matt Edmundson:

Christian who is involved in science.

Matt Edmundson:

Not a Christian scientist.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, saw what I did there.

Matt Edmundson:

. I saw the mental leap.

Matt Edmundson:

There are definitely Christian scientists.

Matt Edmundson:

They're not the kind of people that I'm talking, but there would be people who

Matt Edmundson:

aren't who you couldn't be a scientist and be a Christian if that was true.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

You just, so where I've got an honor degree in

Claire Glare:

science.

Claire Glare:

Who knew?

Claire Glare:

Have you?

John Harding:

Yeah, 2

Matt Edmundson:

2.

Matt Edmundson:

Ooh, well done.

Matt Edmundson:

In what?

Matt Edmundson:

What was the science?

Matt Edmundson:

It was

Claire Glare:

countryside management, it wasn't a proper science degree.

Claire Glare:

It wasn't very academically rigorous, in fairness, and they sacked

Claire Glare:

it off about a few years later.

Claire Glare:

It was a brilliant degree.

Claire Glare:

I loved it.

Claire Glare:

It was basically how to be a park ranger.

Claire Glare:

. It was fab.

Claire Glare:

Loved it.

Claire Glare:

That sounds amazing.

Claire Glare:

But it had ecology in it.

Claire Glare:

So that's science.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, it had biology it so it's a BSc Science.

Claire Glare:

It was a BSc.

Claire Glare:

I was shocked that I had

Matt Edmundson:

a BSc.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm always shocked when I've got, when I say to people, I've got a ba yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Shock, because I'm not an artsy person.

Matt Edmundson:

We should probably swap.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, my, my Bachelor of Arts.

Matt Edmundson:

We're more rounded

Claire Glare:

as a result of the fact that you've got an Arts degree and I've got

Matt Edmundson:

a Science degree.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, you can't, the critical thinking where Jesus is concerned,

Matt Edmundson:

you have to push on this stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

So you can't say, and this is where C.

Matt Edmundson:

S.

Matt Edmundson:

Lewis was right when he said, because of the claims Christ made, you

Matt Edmundson:

cannot say he was a moral teacher.

Matt Edmundson:

Because if he was just a moral teacher, someone who was moral would

Matt Edmundson:

not say the things that he said.

Matt Edmundson:

It's a circular argument, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

And so it becomes self refuting if you follow it through.

Matt Edmundson:

So if you're moral, you can't make the claims that he did, because if

Matt Edmundson:

he's not the son of God, they were claims of either a lunatic or a liar.

Matt Edmundson:

Lunatics and liars don't make good moral people.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know what I mean?

Claire Glare:

Or just downright evil,

Matt Edmundson:

yeah, being malicious, very deceptive etc.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, just pushing through a little bit is a really interesting idea.

Matt Edmundson:

This idea of critical thinking, this idea of Francis Assisi

Matt Edmundson:

not saying certain things.

Matt Edmundson:

Matt's put in the comments, fake news is a horrendous part of modern day life.

Matt Edmundson:

And the problem you've got, I think, with social media is once you start,

Matt Edmundson:

Facebook's listening now, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

It's goodness knows what's going to come up on my Instagram stream.

Matt Edmundson:

But as soon as you start reading something that is slightly geared, say, more

Matt Edmundson:

liberal or slightly more conservative, it starts feeding you more and more of that.

Matt Edmundson:

And so actually you then start, it takes you down this road and you miss

Matt Edmundson:

out all the other stuff from over here.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think it's, I think it's super dangerous.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think it's so powerful.

Matt Edmundson:

In the modern world, this belief that actually what's

Matt Edmundson:

on social media is correct.

Matt Edmundson:

Wow, it's dangerous.

Matt Edmundson:

That's why you need real people.

Matt Edmundson:

Real people who knit.

Matt Edmundson:

Who will come and listen to you ramble on while you sit and knit while she does it.

Matt Edmundson:

The joys.

Matt Edmundson:

The joys.

Matt Edmundson:

I think we'll end conversations.

Matt Edmundson:

I enjoyed that.

Matt Edmundson:

That was good.

Matt Edmundson:

That was great.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Good little natter.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it was great.

Matt Edmundson:

Did we get through all your notes?

Claire Glare:

I didn't make many, as you can see, three or four lines.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, but no, it's great.

Claire Glare:

And, just that accountability, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

Of talking.

Claire Glare:

And you do a midweek one, although Matt has said.

Claire Glare:

I've got to

Matt Edmundson:

remind you about the Zoom.

Claire Glare:

The Zoom, no, none this week.

Claire Glare:

But just that thing of talking to people about actually, what am I talking about?

Claire Glare:

Thinking about what our conversation is.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

And how.

Claire Glare:

You know how we are influencers, aren't we?

Claire Glare:

I always remember somebody talking about being a thermometer or a thermostat, in,

Claire Glare:

in your relationships, am I a thermometer that I just test the temperature or am I

Claire Glare:

a thermostat that changes the temperature?

Claire Glare:

That stayed with me.

Claire Glare:

It's a good little analogy.

Claire Glare:

I want to be somebody who does talk about Jesus, who does alter, if people

Claire Glare:

are gossiping that I divert the

Matt Edmundson:

conversation in a way.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, no, totally.

Matt Edmundson:

We really need to do a What's The Story episode, because you, you

Matt Edmundson:

went to foreign lands to do this.

Matt Edmundson:

I did.

Matt Edmundson:

You went like proper full on missionary.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah,

Claire Glare:

but I wasn't allowed to be.

Claire Glare:

Allowed to be.

Claire Glare:

It was

Matt Edmundson:

a secret place.

Matt Edmundson:

It was a secret place with a secret title, with a secret name.

Matt Edmundson:

Shhh.

Matt Edmundson:

But, yes, normally now, talking about community, normally during the

Matt Edmundson:

week we have midweek Zoom groups.

Matt Edmundson:

You'll be more than welcome to join them.

Matt Edmundson:

Great to see you in there.

Matt Edmundson:

We don't have one this week because it's half term, apparently.

Claire Glare:

Yeah, we're going to Cambridge.

Matt Edmundson:

Very posh.

Matt Edmundson:

Posh.

Matt Edmundson:

Very posh.

Matt Edmundson:

Very posh.

Matt Edmundson:

So we don't have groups this week, but if you'd like to join us next

Matt Edmundson:

week, you are more than welcome.

Matt Edmundson:

Just reach out to us through the website or through social media, www.

Matt Edmundson:

crowd.

Matt Edmundson:

church or at Crowd Church and we'll let you know and we'll send

Matt Edmundson:

you all the details, which would be great to see you in there.

Matt Edmundson:

Hooray!

Matt Edmundson:

Acts is done.

Matt Edmundson:

We have finally made it through Acts.

Matt Edmundson:

So next

Claire Glare:

week.

Claire Glare:

But actually.

Claire Glare:

Acts isn't done, because Matt and all of us It continues doesn't it?

Claire Glare:

Because it's not the Acts of the Apostles, it's the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

Claire Glare:

You're being profound

Matt Edmundson:

now, aren't you?

Claire Glare:

Just trying.

Claire Glare:

Yeah.

Claire Glare:

That's what you pay me for, isn't it?

Claire Glare:

A bit

John Harding:

of profundity.

Matt Edmundson:

It is.

Matt Edmundson:

You're worth every penny.

Claire Glare:

Every hot Ribena.

Matt Edmundson:

Every hot Ribena.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, no, you're very true.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, it's just the beginning.

Claire Glare:

We've only just begun.

John Harding:

That's the

Matt Edmundson:

70s actually.

Matt Edmundson:

It is, you've gone back too far now.

Matt Edmundson:

I've lost you all.

Matt Edmundson:

Should be dancing, yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Acts is done.

Matt Edmundson:

Next week we are starting a brand new teaching series called Becoming Whole.

Matt Edmundson:

So we're going to talk about what does it mean to be whole

Matt Edmundson:

as a person, to be complete.

Matt Edmundson:

Those kind of phrases, what does wholeness look like as people?

Matt Edmundson:

Is it something that we as Christians can achieve on earth before we get to heaven?

Matt Edmundson:

Yes or no?

Matt Edmundson:

And if yes, well, we're obviously going to say it's at least some kind

Matt Edmundson:

of yes, because we've got months and months teaching me how to do it.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know you're doing a lot of this?

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, there's a lot.

Matt Edmundson:

There, we're going deep.

Matt Edmundson:

There's another song there.

Matt Edmundson:

I wanna go deeper.

Matt Edmundson:

Is that what you had in your head?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, that is,

Claire Glare:

totally.

Claire Glare:

We know each other too well.

Claire Glare:

We've been in the same, what is it, an

Matt Edmundson:

echo chamber for too long.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Everyone's watching this going, what is in that Ribena you've been drinking?

Matt Edmundson:

Who are they?

Matt Edmundson:

So yeah, so we're going to go deep diving into what wholeness means.

Matt Edmundson:

We'll take the odd break like Easter, we'll do something different on Easter.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, we're getting into wholeness.

Matt Edmundson:

And so next week I'm going to be explaining all about the series, what's

Matt Edmundson:

coming up, the kind of things that's going to get involved with it, the kind

Matt Edmundson:

of topics we're going to be talking about.

Matt Edmundson:

We are going to go deep.

Matt Edmundson:

So I'm really looking forward to this, which leads me actually to remind

Matt Edmundson:

me to say to you, if you don't use the YouVersion of the Bible on your

Matt Edmundson:

phone, it's an app, it's a free Bible app, YouVersion, download it onto

Matt Edmundson:

your phone and connect with Crowd Church on YouVersion on your phone,

Matt Edmundson:

because we're going to start putting some of the scriptures and stuff out.

Matt Edmundson:

Hopefully through YouVersion, there's going to be some daily

Matt Edmundson:

readings and stuff in there as well.

Matt Edmundson:

We're not going to have it sorted out for next week but we're slowly

Matt Edmundson:

going to be building that into the series so you can follow along during

Matt Edmundson:

the week as well with what's going on through the YouVersion Bible app.

Matt Edmundson:

Just go on there, search Crowd Church, connect with us on that app.

Matt Edmundson:

It'd be great to see you in there.

Matt Edmundson:

It's a phenomenal app, by the way.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't

Claire Glare:

use that app actually.

Claire Glare:

So yes, I will.

Claire Glare:

I will.

Claire Glare:

If I could reach my phone, it's hiding under the desk.

Claire Glare:

I will download it.

Claire Glare:

I've got a posh phone now, I can do that.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, now you've got a posh phone, now you can download things.

Matt Edmundson:

Smartphones.

Matt Edmundson:

21st century.

Matt Edmundson:

You don't have to press a number four times when you're saying it in

Matt Edmundson:

text, just to get the letter D up.

Matt Edmundson:

No, but that's yes, that does sound good, Jenny.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it.

Matt Edmundson:

It is a great app.

Matt Edmundson:

You are right.

Matt Edmundson:

So the U version is a free app.

Matt Edmundson:

The Bible version is a free app.

Matt Edmundson:

Do go on there, register and just connect with us on Crowd.

Matt Edmundson:

It'd be great to see you in there.

Matt Edmundson:

We are loving that at the moment.

Matt Edmundson:

Can highly recommend it.

Matt Edmundson:

There's some great stuff on it as well.

Matt Edmundson:

And actually, I used, until last week, I used a different app.

Matt Edmundson:

And still use it actually, because I know how it works.

Matt Edmundson:

I used the Olive Tree app, which was great, but with a YouTube, with

Matt Edmundson:

a new version of the Bible app.

Matt Edmundson:

There's so many cool things that we can do with it.

Matt Edmundson:

Life Church has done some amazing stuff with that app.

Matt Edmundson:

It is free.

Matt Edmundson:

No hassle.

Matt Edmundson:

Do take it.

Matt Edmundson:

Do come join us on there.

Matt Edmundson:

Anything else from you?

Claire Glare:

No, so long,

Matt Edmundson:

and thanks for all the feedback, I was going for actually,

Claire Glare:

you need to cut,

Matt Edmundson:

quit while you're ahead.

Matt Edmundson:

Before we get into some major song issues going on.

Matt Edmundson:

Hey listen, it has been an absolute treat and a real pleasure

Matt Edmundson:

to be with you today at Crowd.

Matt Edmundson:

Hopefully you've enjoyed it, hopefully you got some good stuff out of it.

Matt Edmundson:

I've enjoyed the conversation, you are an absolute legend.

Matt Edmundson:

Enjoyed watching you in it as well.

Matt Edmundson:

It's been lovely.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's been great, thanks for stepping into the breach.

Matt Edmundson:

Because this is not Ellie, by the way, which was put out on social media.

Matt Edmundson:

Ellie had to drop out and you stepped into the bridge, which is great.

Matt Edmundson:

So really enjoyed the conversation.

Matt Edmundson:

Hope you enjoyed it as well.

Matt Edmundson:

It's been great to be with you.

Matt Edmundson:

Have a great week, everybody.

Matt Edmundson:

Matt says please don't sing.

Matt Edmundson:

Just hold it.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from me.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from Claire.

Matt Edmundson:

Thank you so much for joining us.

Matt Edmundson:

Have a fantastic week.

Matt Edmundson:

God bless you.

Matt Edmundson:

Bye for now.

Matt Edmundson:

Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button, as well

Matt Edmundson:

as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live.

Matt Edmundson:

And of course, If you are listening to the podcast the live stream podcast, make

Matt Edmundson:

sure you also hit the follow button now by smashing the like button on YouTube or

Matt Edmundson:

writing a review on your podcast platform.

Matt Edmundson:

It helps us reach more people with the message.

Matt Edmundson:

that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life.

Matt Edmundson:

So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website www.

Matt Edmundson:

crowd.

Matt Edmundson:

church where you can learn more about us as a church, more about

Matt Edmundson:

the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community.

Matt Edmundson:

It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from us.

Matt Edmundson:

God bless you.

Matt Edmundson:

Bye for now.

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