Esther Richards takes the stage - preaching John 9:1 - 10:42 from the other side of the world in our most visually stunning talk yet!

Join us as we journey through the story of a blind man being one of the most important witnesses in the world.

-- ORIGIN --

This topic is part of the Origin series where we look at the birth of the church and ask why this Man, Jesus, from 2000 years ago still has a major impact on the world today.

-- MORE INFO --

CROWD Church is a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps 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.

More info: www.crowd.church

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 uh, will last about an hour and in a few seconds you'll

meet our hosts, uh, for our service, who will introduce today's talk.

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

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

that you've posted in the comments.

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

few ways in which you can do just that.

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

livestream, and if you're up for it.

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

See, church is all about connecting with God and connecting with

others, and one of the easiest ways for you to do that is 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 fairly new podcast called What's the Story,

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

More information about all of these things can be found on our website at

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

know what your next steps to take are.

Well why not head over to our website, crowd.church/next for more details.

And now the moment you've been waiting for is here.

Our Online Church Service starts right now.

Hello there.

Hi everyone.

Good evening.

Well, you got a glimpse of who was leading today

because I pressed the wrong button.

So you saw our faces and then we went into the countdown.

But hey, no one's perfect.

It's all working out in the tech here.

Aren't we?

Yeah.

So, um, I'm pressing the buttons today.

My name's Dan and I'm with Anna, and she's gonna help us get through this.

Dan said just before we went on air, everyone, Dan said

he's really good at the tech side.

I was like, Well, I'm not very good at the tech side, so what am I here to do?

Apparently just chat at you for an hour.

So that's all good.

Isn't it?

Yeah, and I'm not quite the tech side.

We've that

Matt Edmundson may not be here, but we've got it covered.

So, yeah.

Uh, how are you, Dan?

How's your week been?

Yes.

Doing very good thanks.

Had a good week, half term kids have been off.

Mm-hmm.

, Uh, I've been at work, but we've had a nice time relaxed, um,

all ready for the week ahead.

Yeah, we've had, um, yeah, in the UK it's been

half term here, hasn't it?

And um, for anyone who's watching internationally, Yes.

But, um, yeah, we've, my family just took the week off.

Um, obviously my little boy has been off school, so we all took a few

days off work and went to North Wales for a few days, which was very nice.

Normally, I think North Wales is like one of those places where

it just rains and it's very gray.

But we had amazing weather this week.

Surprising at the end of October.

Um, yeah, we were, we were truly blessed with some sunny days

and got on the beach and Oh wow.

Went for some nice walks.

It was amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We had a good week.

Oh, brilliant.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You don't always expect that in October, do you?

And no.

Today, literally the clocks have just gone back, so it's, uh, yeah.

Suddenly feeling very wintery and very dark, like I just, as I was

logging on to meet Dan before it was like, It was half five and we

were just logging in, weren't we?

And it was like already pitch black.

It's like, no, we're into winter.

I know the last few times I've, I've had to use this

curtain to block out the sun and now all it's doing is blocking

out the mess on my window sill.

There's no sun streaming through

. Anna Kettle: I love it.

Well that's great.

So, um, what have we got lined up for today?

We got Esther Richards bringing the talk from probably the best location we've had.

So it's, it's not in a room somewhere.

She's doing the talk from a beach in Australia, which is pretty impressive.

So looking forward to it.

Ok.

That pushing that is just pushing out my North Wales trip, isn't it?

Like Yeah, I've been on the beach, but not quite like summer in Australia.

So, Okay, we're bringing the glamour tonight then, aren't we?

And it's truly international.

Yes.

Uh, and then we.

Anna and John Farrington doing worship.

And then we'll be back with some Conversation Street.

So we'll talk about the, the talk.

So, um, put any questions in the comments.

Mm-hmm.

, um, Yeah.

Cause we'd love to have a go at answering them and see what you're

thinking about Esther's talk.

So, Great.

How are you?

Yeah.

Are we all ready to go?

Yeah, let's roll the talk then and let's roll the talk.

As always post your comments and thoughts as we go through.

That'd be great.

We'll see you at Conversation Street.

Hello from Sunny Lord Howe Island in Australia,

I'm Esther and we're gonna be looking today at John 9 and 10.

So first I'm gonna look at John 9.

I'm just gonna read it out for you.

Jesus heals a man born blind.

As he passed by, its Jesus.

He saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned?

This man or his parents that he was born blind?

Jesus answered.

It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works

of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Having said these things, he sat on the ground and made mud with the saliva.

Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in

the pool of Siloam, which means sent.

So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this

not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said it is he.

Others said No, but he is like him.

He kept saying, I am the man.

So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened?

He answered.

The man called Jesus made mud, anointed and anointed my eyes and

said to me, Go to Siloam and wash.

So I went and washed and received my sight.

They said to him, Where is he?

He said, I do not know.

They brought to the Pharisees, the man who had formally been blind.

Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight and

he said to them, He put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see.

Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God for

he does not keep the Sabbath.

But others said, How can a man who is sinner do such signs?

And there was a division among them.

So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him

since he has opened your eyes?

He said he is a prophet.

The Jews did not believe, the Jews did not believe that he had been blind

and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had

received his sight and asked them, Is this your son who you say was born blind?

How then does he now see?

His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

But how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him, He is of age.

He will speak for himself.

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews.

For the Jews had already agreed if anyone should confess, to confess

Jesus, to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, his parents said he is of age ask him.

So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and

said to him, Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

He answered whether he is a sinner.

I do not know.

One thing I do know that though I was blind, but now I see.

They said to him, What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

He answered this.

I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become his disciples?

And they reviled him saying, You are his disciple.

But we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we

do not know where he comes from.

And the man answered Well, here is an amazing thing.

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of

God and does his will, God listens to him.

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened

the eyes of a man born blind.

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

They answered him.

You were born and up to sin, and you would teach us?

And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him, he said,

Do you believe in the son of man?

He answered, And who is he, sir that I may believe in him?

Jesus said to him, You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.

He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, For judgment I came into this.

But those who do not see, may see, and those who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?

Jesus said to them, If you are blind, you would have no guilt.

But now that you say, we see, your guilt remains.

So in this chapter, We see Jesus healing a man who was born blind.

Jesus does this in seem a quite strange way.

He spits on the grounds and makes mud with saliva with his saliva and rubs

that mud on the man's eyes and sends the man to go to the pool of Siloam to

wash, which he did and he was healed.

So it's a pretty amazing healing.

Then there's this whole kerfuffle about it with the Pharisees afterwards, and

they're questioning how it happened.

They ask the man who was healed, they ask his parents, they ask the man who was

healed again, and in the end it becomes a conversation about who Jesus actually is.

The Pharisees are saying that surely Jesus cannot be from God.

Cuz the day that he performed this healing was the Sabbath day or the

Jewish Holy Day where they're not supposed to do any work, and they reckon

that healing somebody counts as work.

So if he doesn't keep the Sabbath, then surely he's a sinner.

Surely he can't be from God.

The parents of the man, uh, when asked are too afraid to say who

they think Jesus is in case they get cast out of the synagogue.

So the man who was healed then explains what he knows and

what his experience has been.

And he does that in verses 25 to 33 where he says, um, whether

he is a sinner I do not know.

One thing I do know though that though I was blind, now I see.

And then he continues on to kind of talk about why he thinks who

Jesus is, who he says he is.

Um, because he talks about, you know, we, we've never seen a man, uh, who's

been blind from birth to be to see again, people can't do that surely.

And we know that God speaks to his people and speaks to good people.

So he kind of uses his own logic to, um, see what he knows, see what

he's experienced, and understand who Jesus is, who he believes

Jesus has revealed himself to be.

So this gets him cast out of his synagogue and Jesus hears about

this and goes to talk to him, and Jesus then explains to the man who

he is, which is in verses 35 to 38.

All right.

I'm just gonna read again.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him, he said,

Do you believe in the son of man?

He answered, And who is he, sir?

That I may believe in him.

Jesus said to him, You have seen him.

It is he who is speaking to you.

He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.

You have seen him.

It is he who is speaking to you.

Jesus is basically saying, It's me.

I'm here.

You've seen me, you can hear me.

And the Pharisees got so caught up in the law and all the technicalities,

and ticking the boxes and getting the days right that they miss Jesus.

Don't get caught up.

Don't get distracted by religion, by ticking boxes, by

trying to get everything right.

And miss who Jesus really is and who he's calling you to be, He has

already revealed himself to you.

The whole of the Bible is Jesus revealing himself and his nature.

You have seen him.

It is he who is speaking to you.

That is relevant for all of us even now.

We can also learn a whole lot from the response of the no longer blind man.

The way the man responds to the questioning of the Pharisees is a really

beautiful example of being a witness.

We know that we are called to be witnesses to Jesus and to who Jesus is,

and we see it many times in the Bible.

I'm just gonna give you a few examples.

So we see it a few times in Acts in chapter one, verse eight, which says,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come up on you, and you'll

be my witnesses in all Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth.

You see it again in Acts chapter 22, verse 15, which says, For you will be a witness

for him, to everyone of what you have seen and heard and earlier you see it in

Isaiah 43, verse 10, You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom

I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.

Before me no God was formed nor shall there be any after me.

You are my witnesses, declares the Lord.

So we're told to be witnesses for Jesus and it's a vital part of God's

mission of what he's calling us to.

But how do we do that?

Well, in acts 4:20.

Um, it tells us a little bit how to do this very briefly and simply, but in a

really simple and easy to understand way.

It says for we cannot, but speak of what we have seen and heard.

That's it.

That's all it takes to be a witness is to speak of what we see and what we hear.

So Acts four tells us how to do it.

Um, and the man in this story in John shows us how to do it.

Cause in verse 25, he says very simply.

One thing I do know that though I was blind.

Now I see.

He even admits that he doesn't know the full extent of everything he says,

whether he is a sinner, I do not know.

He doesn't take a really long time researching and, and trying to make sure

that he knows all the answers and has all the understanding and all the technical

words and everything worked out perfectly.

He just says what he knows and what he's experienced, and that's

what it means to be a witness.

That is what we are called to do as well, to be a witness.

And this man is an excellent example of that.

So I'm gonna move on to John chapter 10, um, which is a brilliant chapter.

It's a classic, you probably heard many parts of it before.

Um, it's entitled, I Am The Good Shepherd.

I'm gonna especially talk.

Well that, that aspect of it, of Jesus being the good

shepherd, I'm just gonna read it.

Truly, truly, I say to you, this is Jesus speaking.

He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another

way, That man is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters ny the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the gatekeeper opens.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep

follow him for they know his voice.

A stranger, they will not follow.

They will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand

what he was saying to them.

So Jesus said to them.

So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the

sheep did not listen to them.

I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the

wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me.

Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for

the sheep and I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them

also and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life

that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down at my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from my father.

There was again, a division among the Jews because of these words.

Many of them said he has a demon and is insane.

Why listen to him?

Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon.

Can a demonn open the eyes of the blind?

At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.

It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long

will you keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them.

I told you, and you do not believe.

The works that I do in my father's name bear Witness about.

But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

And no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to

snatch them out of the father's hand.

I and the father are one.

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them.

I have shown you many good works from the Father.

For which of them are you going to stone me?

The Jews answered him.

It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy,

because you being a man make yourself God.

Jesus answered them is it not written in your law?

I said, You are Gods, if he called them Gods, to whom the word of God

came and scripture cannot be broken.

Do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into the

world you are blaspheming cuz I said, I am the son of God.

If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me.

But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that

you may know and understand the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.

Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hand.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John

had been baptizing at first.

And there he remained.

And many came to him and they said, John did no sign.

But everything that John said about this man was true and many believed him there.

So it's chapter 10.

So Jesus says that he is the good shepherd.

That he is the good shepherd who will lay down his life for his sheep.

And actually, it talks about how he chooses to lay down

his life for his sheep.

Says no one takes it from me.

He's talking about laying down his life and giving up his life.

He says, No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

Jesus was not forced to die.

Um, he was not made to do it.

He wasn't bribed into it.

He chose to die for you.

It was always his choice.

It was always in his control.

Whether he wanted to do it said that he had the authority to lay his life down,

and that's what it talks about in verse 18.

This is clearly talking about what Jesus did on the cross,

that he chose to die for you.

Jesus always had the choice and he chose you.

He desires to know you.

Later in the chapter, he tells us, um, that it is he who gives us eternal

life and no one can take that away.

Verse 27 says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

And this is really similar to part in the last chapter where Jesus.

Um, reveals himself to the healed man where he says It is me.

It's he who has been talking, speaking to you, and the man believes and worships,

he hears his voice and he follows him.

This is a really clear call as to who we are supposed to be and

what we are supposed to do in response to Jesus calling to us.

Jesus is constantly revealing himself to us in the Bible, and this is our, this can

be our only response to believe to hear.

To listen, to believe, and to follow him.

To fall down in worship.

So I just wanted to make one last brief, very quick link,

um, between these two chapters.

In chapter nine, Jesus heals and reveals himself to one man.

And in chapter 10, he is talking about his devotion to the whole flock of sheep.

Jesus knows and loves us all as a group, every single one of us together.

But he also knows and loves you as a distinct individual.

He is always revealing himself to us because he wants you.

He wants to know you, and he wants you to know him.

Pay attention.

Don't get caught up by other things.

Know that you are loved, and be a witness to everything he is doing for you.

Wow.

Hey everyone.

Looking back, what did you think about the talk?

It was amazing, wasn't it?

I mean, yeah, as an aside, I think we should have wave noise at

the background of all our talks.

It was kind relaxing, wasn't it?

It was very relaxing.

Um, yeah, But I thought it was a brilliant, brilliant talk.

Um, there was a lot of content in there, wasn't there,

because they covered two chapters of the Bible, so she had a lot to cover,

but just some amazing points in there.

I mean, what was kind of something that really struck you about it, Dan?

I think, and I think you picked up on it in the comments as

well, that right at the beginning, this, this man gets healed.

He's blind from birth.

He can now see, but all the Pharisees are worried about is

Oh, but did he do it on Sabbath?

Yeah.

And I think we can miss the amazingness of what happens trying

to find fault and did someone break the rules or what's going on?

And yeah, Well, a thing that they missed.

This man's blind.

And that's the secondary part of the, you know, the, the story, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's amazing, isn't it?

And you kind of think, Oh, the Pharisees are, they're such fools, Like they

always seem to miss it cause they're so stuck on their religious rules and,

and their sort of way of thinking.

But then I, then it, then when I sit back and think about it challenges me

because I think, well, maybe I'm not stuck on that kind of religiousness,

but we're all, we all have.

Kind of preexisting beliefs and views and way of seeing the world,

don't we, in our own lens and how we think about God and what he's doing

in the world, and who he can and can't use, and who he works through.

And, you know, we all have our biases, I think.

And it, it really challenges me to think, you know, it's exactly what Esther said.

Like, don't miss what God's doing right in front of you, because it doesn't fit

your narrow view of how you think God should work in your life or in someone

else's life or in the world around us.

I think so often what God's doing in the world doesn't necessarily

fit on the boundaries of what churches is or religion is.

And um, yeah, God's just so big, isn't he?

I don't think he fits in this of narrow boundaries of, you know,

human understanding full stop and yeah, kinda know that, but it's still

challenging to think about isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely.

And but the one, the one thing, one person it wasn't challenging

for was the man that got healed.

So when some, when God doesn't think in you or to you, or for you is that's when

he was just a natural witness, wasn't he?

He was like, Well, you know, I know that sinners don't do these things, so

therefore he must have been from God.

You know, look at me.

I, I can see now.

It was just, it flowed out of him because of what God had done for him.

Yeah, and I think, I think the other thing that really struck me

about the talk was when she started talking about the Good Shepherd in the

second chapter, and she talked about like how he chose to lay down his life.

Um, Like he did it of his own accord.

And I think, I'm just looking in the, the, um, comments bar actually.

And Nicolas said, um, when you think about how Jesus had a choice to go through what

he went through or not, and he, and he knew how much pain and abuse he would

suffer, and yet he still chose to do it and think that's it, isn't it That.

Just blows my mind.

And I know the cross is kind of at the center of our Christian faith, and I

know we know this stuff, but still, when you stop and consider it, it still,

it still blows my mind to be like, Oh, he didn't do it cause he had to do it.

You know?

He, he chose, he chose that way.

Yeah.

He chose to lay down his life.

And that is it, it kind of blows my mind.

It, it's beyond, it's beyond my comprehension really.

Yeah.

That kind of love and sacrifice.

Dedication.

Um, I don't think it's, um, he, yes, it is in, in, um, in John 10 as well.

It says, Well, if there's a, a shepherd that's a hired shepherd,

he doesn't have that commitment.

You know, when, when a wolf comes, he just legs it, you know, let them, let

them, let the wolf have the sheep.

But he, he's got that personal responsibility.

He, he's, God, he's a son.

He couldn't, he, he chose to die for us, but didn't have to die for us.

But then, yeah, His, his love for us caused him to do it.

You know, it was like, there's probably theologians going to that, don't they?

Did he, could he choose it really?

Because he could not do it.

But, but, but he did.

He chose, and he did it for, he died for us.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Quite mind blowing, isn't it?

It's like big stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, the other thing that I found, um, just really good was like what she was

saying at the end about um, how Jesus is like, you know, goes back it linked

back to her original point, which is Jesus is always revealing himself and

so he was revealing himself, you know, through healing that blind man and yet.

Lots of the religious people around, didn't, didn't recognize, recognize how he

was working, didn't recognize the miracle he was doing right in front of their eyes.

They sort of missed it because were hung up on the wrong stuff and you

know, and there was that challenge at the end wasn't there to like pay

attention and like that, that kind of call that like Jesus is always

revealing himself, He's always working in the world, he's always doing stuff.

And like how much, how much are we paying attention?

How much do.

Do we see it?

Or how much do we miss kind of what God's doing right in front of us?

And that, that's challenging, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, through John's gospel, he keeps revealing himself and he keeps speaking to

different people, the Samaritan woman, and you know, I am the Messiah, um, the feed

of the 5,000, and they're asking who he is and he keeps saying, You know, I'm God.

And they say all these miracles of wonders and right back to that first

point that they miss it because they're trying to nitpick and trying to find

out, well, you know, does this, does this put me out of a job as a Pharisee?

Am I, I, I, yeah.

Will, am I, will I lose my standing if I side with this man?

Um, yeah.

Yeah.

What are we going to, what we're gonna lose to side with Jesus?

What's it worth losing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a, it's a big thought, isn't it?

I, um, I obviously just think that whole thing of like paying attention to, you

know, just being, being sort of aware and paying attention and looking for where

God's at work in your sort of everyday.

I think it's something that I'm constantly challenged to do.

It's like you.

Like Jesus wasn't always working in the sort of like obvious places

in the synagogue or in the temple.

He, you know, in the religious spaces of his day, he was like, you know,

working with someone, you know, he's just sitting on the pavement.

He's a blind man or.

You know, he, he was teaching kind of crowds, um, who were passing by.

And I just, it makes me think like some, quite often God's at work in

the places where we least expect it or we're not necessarily looking for him.

So for me, I know, you know, I'm expecting God speaks to me when I work

into, walk into a church or, you know, maybe when I spend a bit of time reading

my Bible or when I come something like Crowd Church like this, I'm expecting

God to speak to me through the talk.

Like, how much do I pay attention in my day to day life as I'm walking

around working, taking my little one around, you know, whatever it is,

like doing the jobs around the house.

How much am I looking for God to be working when I'm on the

school run, or you know, in my everyday non-religious like space.

And that's the thing that always challenges me.

It's like, you know, God's, you know, the Bible shows us that God's really at work.

In those ordinary spaces and the everyday spaces of life and yeah,

that's, I find that challenging too.

Yeah.

Um, it's,

I'm trying to form, form the question, but Yeah.

I agree with you..

Yeah.

If God.

Perhaps some of it comes back to religion, doesn't it?

Even just in our, how we live our lives that, like you said, when we're reading

a Bible, we expect God to speak to us.

When we're at church, we do, and that's, Yeah, some it, it's good.

Absolutely.

But it can be that religion bit as well, that God surely speaks

to us just in the day to day.

Just when we're, like you say, just when we're out and about because he's.

He doesn't confine himself to church.

He doesn't confine himself to those dedicated times, which is, which is

amazing that, that we serve a God.

We don't serve religion, We don't serve a set of rules.

We serve a living God.

I love, Yeah, I love that.

Yeah.

Makes all the difference, doesn't it?

And I think that that call to pay attention as well.

It's, you know, it rings really true to me because, um, I think we live

in such a distracted age, don't we?

Like, you know, we just have a lot of entertainment and social media and.

You know, we, we we're always on our devices and our mobile phones, like

we're not, a lot of the time, we're not paying attention to what's in front

of us or to people who are in front of us or the things that are happening

in front of us, because we're kind of half somewhere else, aren't we?

We're always mm-hmm.

Multitasking and like technology's wonderful.

It's like, you know, enabling us to do this now and we've got people in

Australia and we've got people, I think we've got someone from Kenya.

Yeah.

All sorts of places.

Wales, it's a great technology is such a blessing, but it's also like

because of so much of the technology we carry in our own pockets and

the ability to always be online and always be somewhere else, we also.

Can miss what's in front of us, can't we, in our day-to-day life?

And I am terribly guilty of that.

I am a very easily distracted person.

And um, you know, I do just think that challenge for me is massive

that, um, , you know, it, it's that thing of like, um, you know, do I

notice and am I making space for God in, in those everyday moments?

Because I think our culture and the way the world is now, it's,

it's harder and harder to be fully present, isn't it, in the moment

and with what's in front of you.

And I think, how much am I making space for God?

How much am I just filling every spare second my day, scrolling online or you.

When God could be speaking to me or be wanting to do something, and I

dunno, I find that that's a constant challenge to me at the moment.

I just, it's something I'm mulling on a lot.

I feel like we're not very present as a tendency, like our whole culture.

It's not, it's not about being present here and nose Yeah.

Wanting to work in the moment.

We, we sort of think it is with information, don't we think?

Well, we've got, we must be present because we get information constantly

to us about what's happening.

But that's just living.

It can just be living a different life, living a life of, of other people or of

events, not, not what we're doing now.

Just having a look at what comments we've got.

So Miriam saying that she thought it was special talk because it

was really about God loving us.

And I think that goes back to the, the point about, um, Jesus

choosing to lay down his life.

And I think, yeah, that was incredible.

Yeah.

And I was just, as, as Miriam said, that I thought he, um, healed that

blind man, but he, he risked his life.

Just to heal him in a way, didn't he?

Yeah.

He, the, he could have got away with things.

He could have just talked.

Um, but the Pharisees wanted to stone him doing it on a Sabbath,

But that man was worth It.

Was worth, Yeah.

Um, being potentially stoned.

It was worth all the abuse that that man could now see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's all right.

That's.

So look what else we've got here.

I think it's such a great analogy that we don't, we don't

even have to stretch it too far.

You know, he's blind and he can see that God wants to come just in

that's that, that he wants to bring clarity, but it's, it's that big.

He wants to give us life so we can be.

We're alive without.

I think we sang a song at church this morning.

It had something like lines saying where we were alive without breathing.

We're here.

But God wants to come and bring that breath he wants to bring.

Um, John 10 10 says that life in all its fullness, all its abundance.

Um, yeah.

Esther read that, didn't she?

That was part of the passage.

So yeah.

He wants to give, give us fullness.

Um, yeah.

Matt, let's put it on Matt crew, put it on about, um, getting in contact with us.

Cause if you've got, if you're watching this at a later date or even now,

please just, um, feel free just to send DM through, uh, at Crowd Church.

Get in contact with us.

If you want to know more about God, you want to know more about who he is.

Um, we don't do this for fun or to be on YouTube, , Um, we do this to tell

cause we're not that professional.

No, I'd have to get my buttons pressed much, much better..

Um, we do it because we wanna tell people, tell you about Jesus

because his worth it is that's, it's night and days, black and white.

It's being blind and it's being able to see that's who God came

for, came for the individual.

I wrote that down in my notes.

That, um, and Esther meant to do it, that he came first as individuals.

So he came for the, the Good Shepherd as a flock, but he came as individual sheep.

He wasn't gonna allow one of us to get out.

And he says he's come to give us eternal life.

Hmm.

Yeah.

And there's, there's quite a lot in the Bible about like, um, The good Shepherd

isn't there, and him being willing to go for one, you know, it's that, that

thing of like, he'll leave the 99 to go and look for the one lost sheep.

So it is about the whole flock, but it's also about, again, it's about individuals

and that that's what springs to mind.

I, I sort hear that and yeah.

I loved what Esther had to say about it was they seeing him

move and reveal himself to an individual in a really personal way?

And meeting their really personal needs.

And then it was a really practical need, wasn't it?

Like you couldn't say.

Yeah.

Um, and, and yeah.

And will say that thing of like, he's, you know, the good

shepherd to everyone and Yeah.

I like, I liked how she pulled the two quite different

chapters together in a way.

Yeah.

And there's that thread through all of that about Jesus revealing himself.

Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah.

Cause yeah, definitely.

. Yeah, the, shepherd says that he keeps us, he keeps us, that we can't

be snatched from his hands as well.

Um, and that's quite a big promise, isn't it?

That he's not just a one trick pony, he's not just gonna come and give you

some good feelings now and then, and that God came that we can have eternal

life and that we can be protected, that he comes to help us through when times.

When times are rough, when things are going on, it's not about the

good times, it's about that he's here for the hard times as well.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

Um, there's also lots of jokes here about like, when is Matt

gonna fly us all out to Australia?

Yes, that's definitely a budget Question back to Matt.

I think, well Matt says he'll take the plaster or visit.

Hard but someone's got to do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We've got Matt Crew asking for birthday shoutout.

So there we go.

Happy birthday on Friday, Matt.

Hope you have a, have a good day.

Catching up a little bit to um, me and Matt, my ages.

Cause he's nearly, nearly that old.

And we've got, um, we're continuing the series next week.

Um, John, chapter 11 next week.

Mm-hmm, We've got Dave Con coming to talk.

Not Coming to talk.

He will be talking online.

You can't really come to talk online.

Um, he's talking online, um, with Matt and Phil Watson next week.

So tech will be much better.

Oh, it's been great tonight.

Don't, don't do yourself down Dan.

It's better than if I was yes, we're here.

Everyone can see us.

We're good.

That, that's great.

So, uh, yeah, definitely tune in again next week.

Cause Dave Con's a great guy.

He's got lots of good stuff to say, so Yeah, that'll be good.

And they're doing John 11.

So it's following on in the series on the gospel of John.

Is that Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Fabulous.

I think we're a bit early, but I think we've

answered everyone's questions.

So like I say, if you want to get in touch, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you wanna get in touch, please get in touch.

If you've got any questions, just send them through.

If you've got any Prayer requests, then we'd love to pray

for you really, really would.

So, yeah.

Thanks Anna.

Thanks for being on today.

Pleasure.

And thank you very much, Esther, for bringing that amazing word.

Yeah.

All the way from Australia.

Indeed.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

And we'll see you all next week.

Yeah.

Tune in next week guys.

Have a great week.

Have a great week Dan.