If you're feeling stuck in life, you're not alone. In this week's online church service, we look at the story of the first miracle in the book of Acts and see that Jesus still lifts us up out of what holds us down. Through the story of the lame man at the temple gate, we see the central point of faith in the name of Jesus and that Jesus' authority and strength can transform our lives and lift us up from where we are to where we should be.

Matt shares his own experience of being transformed by Jesus; he encourages us to follow the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, to understand His timing, and to be brave enough to act in faith. Whether you're feeling stuck in life or want to help someone else become unstuck, this talk will inspire you to remember who it is you serve and represent and to have faith in the name of Jesus.

We are reminded of the incredible transformative power of Jesus, encouraging us to let His love lift us higher and transform our lives. So if you're ready to get unstuck and experience the miracles of Jesus, join us online and discover how Jesus lifts us up, out of what holds us down.

If you're seeking to grow your church or be part of a growing, vibrant church or just wondering what a church should look like and what to expect at church, don't miss this talk. Join us for a live stream or online service at Crowd Church, where we're committed to helping you grow your faith and find meaning.

So, grab a cup of coffee, find a comfortable spot, and join us for this thought-provoking service. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and reflections in the Livestream or in comments section below.

And, as always, we invite you to join us for our upcoming services and events. Thanks for tuning in!

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Do you feel stuck?

You know, like life has mapped out a path for you that you can never, ever

escape, like it was kind of preordained in the stars that you would never be

able to deal with that one life defining thing that seems to hold you back.

Every single day.

Well, today we are gonna read about a guy who has been stuck his whole life.

We're gonna see that he was not where he could be, but one day in one divine

moment, everything changes for him.

And we see that Jesus lifts us up out of what holds us down.

And it can be the same for you too.

So let me give you a little bit of context here.

We are about to read about the first miracle that happens in the Book of

Acts, a book that we have been working our way through here at Crowd, and this

miracle kind of becomes the foundation for the next few chapters of Acts

in the next few weeks here at Crowd.

And there is one central point that we're gonna keep coming back to, and it's this.

Faith in the name of Jesus.

Now, according to the dictionary, to do something in someone else's

name is to do something with the authority of a specified person.

The key word here being authority.

For example, let's say I want to make some reservations at a very busy restaurant.

Uh, and in fact, it's so busy, so popular that it is booked

out for the next six months.

It is solid, no one's getting it.

And I call them up and I go, hi, it's Matt Edmundson here.

I'd like to book a table for two, please for tonight.

Well, they're just gonna laugh at me, aren't they on the phone because I

don't have the standing or the authority required to action that to them.

I'm a nobody asking the impossible, but what would happen if I called

on behalf of somebody else?

Well then it all becomes about who they are rather than me.

So if I call him and say, hi, uh, my name is Matt Edmundson

and I am calling on behalf of his Royal Highness, King Charles.

Well, now that starts to take on a very different field, isn't, it's a very

different conversation because King Charles has way more authority than I do.

The restaurant doesn't see me anymore.

They see King Charles.

Well, I'm just a messenger aren't I?

And we also see this with the police.

Like, if I stand in the middle of a busy road, just dressed like this and try and

tell traffic what to do, well, I don't think it's gonna go down very well, is it?

I mean, at best I'm gonna get abuse.

At worse, I'm gonna be run over by some irate driver or someone that

just didn't recognize that I had, uh, you know, that I was sort of

stood there trying to direct traffic.

But I'll tell you what, if I put on a police uniform, Everything changes.

It stops being about me, and it becomes about who I represent.

So this central idea of faith in the name of Jesus means that I understand

that I am Jesus' representative using his authority and strength.

It stops being about me because it's all about him.

So let's read today's passage from Acts chapter three.

One day at three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their

way to the temple for a Prayer meeting, and at the same time there was a man

crippled from birth being carried up.

Every day he was sat down at the temple gate, the one named beautiful,

to beg from those going into the temple, and when he saw Peter and

John about to enter the temple.

He asked for a handout, Peter, with John, uh, at his side.

Looked straight at him, looked him straight in the eye and said, look here.

and he looked up expecting to get something from them, and Peter said,

I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you in the name

of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Walk.

He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up.

In an instant his feet and his ankles became firm.

He jumped to his feet and walk.

The man went into the temple with them walking back and forth, dancing and

praising God, and everybody there saw him walking around and they praised God.

They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Temple

Temple's gate, beautiful and rubbed

their eyes astonished, scarcely believing what they were seeing

and the man threw his arms around.

Peter and John, ecstatic.

All the people ran up to where they were at Solomon's porch

to see it for themselves.

Acts chapter three from the message translation there.

I mean, no kidding.

Right.

No kidding.

This guy was dancing and praising God and that he was ecstatic.

I would be too.

I mean, if I'd been lame from birth, couldn't walk, and then

one day everything changes.

I mean, talk about getting unstuck.

Very story here.

Now, I appreciate it is not always straightforward, uh, to

believe that such miracles happen because, well, let's just be real.

It's a miracle.

It's supernatural.

It's above the natural order of things, but that by very definition

is where God operates because he is supernatural and our supernatural God

lifts us up out of what holds us down.

So what can we learn from this?

Well, 2000 years ago, the life of a Palestinian disabled man, uh,

well, let's, let's just be real.

It's not gonna be an easy one, is it?

Uh, he would've been malnourished, probably lived in a slum,

leaving him prone to all kinds of sickness and disease, and to

really rub salt into his wound.

Society at large would've even told him that God was against him as well.

That this was likely to be some form of divine judgment.

Something that no doubt he deserved.

I mean, talk about being down on your look, but the odds of him

getting out of there were worse than my chances of winning the lottery.

He was stuck.

Have you ever felt like that, that you are stuck and that things will

never change and what's worse?

You didn't even cause it.

Like this guy.

You were kind of belt, uh, belt?

Dealt bad cards in life, but others kind of make you feel like it's your fault and

now you have to rely on charity as well.

But remember, Jesus lifts us up out of what holds us down.

So here he was at the temple.

Why was he at the temple?

Well, the Old Testament is pretty emphatic about the just treatment

of the disabled, including.

The lame and how you show them sort of like a special kindness.

The warm place he should have been treated well was the temple

and that's why he was there.

And Peter and John though, well, today at least they're gonna do

something a little bit different.

They start by telling him that they too don't have any money, not a

nickel to my name as the message.

So, Uh, pictorially describes it, and this is particularly relevant to the

story because it kind of distinguishes Peter and John from magicians who accepted

payment for their services at the time.

And Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, is kind of letting his readers know

that Peter and John were not magicians trying to make a fast book here, which

would've been very common at the time.

And the other thing that sort of really drives this home is that Peter says

this, he says, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Walk, there's our

central point in the name of Jesus.

But notice that Peter specifies Jesus from Nazareth, Jesus, the Nazarene.

You see, being from a great city would be a great thing in

the eyes of the people, right?

I mean, just was if you were from a great city, you were kind of great, but

Nazareth, yeah, that wasn't a great city.

So Peter is saying, I don't have any money, and in the name of Jesus,

who is also from this sort of very inconspicuous place called Nazareth Walk.

You see, there's no show.

There's no tell.

There's no pomp.

There's no regalia.

There's no ceremony.

There's no extravagance, no TV evangelist, sort of no private jet, just a humble man

that couldn't give charity to the person in need, but they could do something that

would remove the need for that charity.

And that is powerful.

I mean, really, really powerful.

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when backed by the power of

God representing the risen Christ.

You see, it stops being about what they have or don't have, and it starts being

about Jesus' desire to bring about transformation in the lives of people.

His desire to get them unstuck, his desire to lift them out of what

holds them down.

Now, some of you may identify with this lame guy stuck in life, and

there are times when I've been there, when I've been stuck too,

and that feeling of being stuck.

Well, if I'm honest, kind of sucks because you often feel powerless.

But the truth of the gospel is that Jesus lifts us up out of what holds us down.

He can make strong what was weak, and I know this because I've experienced

that and I've experienced the sort of transforming power of Christ.

I can also identify with the disciples and find ways, uh, to help

others become unstuck in life too.

It's one of the great joys, isn't it, of being a Christian, that God can use

me to bring about his transformation in the lives of other people.

But here though, I can, I can be all too aware of the resource that I don't have.

I'm challenged because it's easy to look at what I don't have

rather than who I represent.

I mean, wow.

Right.

I mean that hits.

It is easy to look at what I don't have, rather than who I represent.

This lame man was at the Temple every day asking for charity every day.

How did he get there?

Well, he would've been carried and placed there.

Maybe the people carrying him were helping him.

Maybe they were making money off him.

I don't know.

I kind of like to think that this guy, as bad as his life was, had some people

that were helping him doing what they knew to make his life better in some way.

But I also wonder if those that were helping him also got a sort of bit

stuck in their thinking as well.

they would take him to the temple because that's all they could do.

That's charity.

Doing what you can do.

Charity is great, but what if you can remove the need for charity?

You see, if they looked at only what they can do.

Well, there's a limitation.

They can carry the guy, and that's about it.

But when you add faith in the name of Jesus into the

equation, everything changes.

So I kind of asked myself, whose chains am I enabling and promoting even through

my well-intentioned actions and words, because I'm looking at what I don't

have rather than who I represent.

am I as lame in my thinking as this man was with his walking?

Have I also become stuck in my thinking and missed the opportunity to show

people that Jesus really can lift them up out of what holds them down?

I have to constantly remind myself that this is all about

Jesus and it's not about me.

It's not about my resource or lack of it.

In the name of Jesus, he can pull you up from the things that hold you down.

He takes you from where you are to where you could be.

He heals the brokenhearted.

He makes them whole.

He makes the blind see and the lame walk, and he also lifts me out of my

limiting beliefs as well, which, Let's be real is absolutely awesome, right?

I mean, positively.

Awesome.

So why don't I then cast off all restraint and pull everyone

I see out of the wheelchair?

Well, this is another subtle part to this story, isn't it, that we

need to understand, and I think it's, it's that of God's timing.

If that man sat at the temple gates every day, how many times

had Peter and John walked past him?

Did Jesus ever walk past him?

And what about others begging around the temple?

Why didn't the disciples go and heal everybody in the name of Jesus That day?

Timing.

There is something about God's timing and to understand that we

need the Holy Spirit to guide us.

What was different for Peter and for John that day as they walked to the temple?

What was it?

Why then?

Was it because the Holy Spirit whispered to them, it's time

for this guy to get unstuck.

You see as Christians, I think it's easy to get stuck on methodology.

We hear that somebody went forward at a specific meeting

and got gloriously healed.

And so we kind of think to ourselves, well, I'll go to that same meeting

and the same thing will happen for me.

Or we hear of someone who was incredibly generous and gave away

an entire house, uh, and was given something even better as a result.

So we think well we could give away a house and get a better house only

it doesn't work for us because we get too focused on the methodology

rather than following the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Now sure methodology has its place.

But it's never been about a specific formula, a specific

Prayer or a specific act, has it?

It's always been about following the leadership of the Holy Spirit,

understanding his timing and being so brave, uh, brave enough, in fact, to

act in faith at that point in time.

that divine moment, and to believe that the name of Jesus is all you

need to bring about transformation because it's not about you.

It's all about him.

So are you stuck in life?

Now, I believe that for some of you watching this, you're not

watching it by accident, and this is a divine moment for you.

It is time for you to get unstuck in the name of Jesus, to rise up from what

is holding you down, to receive Divine strength into what was weak, and to do

something you have never done before.

For others of you today, maybe it's a reminder to remember who it is you serve.

And who you represent, that you carry the name of Jesus, that you

are his ambassador, and maybe just maybe today is a day that you hear

the voice of the Holy Spirit and you step out of your comfort zone.

Not relying on methodology, not looking at what you don't have, but

with faith in the name of Jesus, you help pull someone out of where they

are to where Jesus wants them to be.

Because the truth for all of us is that Jesus is still working today.

He is still in the business of transforming lives, whether through

physical healing with this lame guy, whether we are stuck, uh, thinking like

his friends, Jesus still takes us from where we are to where he wants us to be.

He lifts us up out of what holds us down, and at the end of this chapter,

in this particular story, the lame guy discovers that he can leap.

I just love that.

I mean, that's a full transformation, isn't it?

Right there.

And that's the gospel.

You see the gospel fully transforms, our lives, especially our hearts, and

we can go from a place of shame and feeling like an outcast, just like this

lame guy to leaping and praising God.

Now, of course, You might not feel shame, just like the folks

that took the lame guy there.

Every day you might feel pretty good about what you are doing.

Why feel shame?

You're helping people, right?

There's no need for it.

Let me ask you a question.

Are you stuck in your thinking?

You see, Jesus helps lift us out of what holds us down, whether it's weak

legs, society's demands on us, whether it's experience, um, experiences that

we've had in life that are our fault, whether they're experiences in life

that we've had that aren't our fault.

Whether it's our thinking or our shame or even our pride,

it is Jesus that transforms.

Meeting Jesus changes this man's life and he changed the lives of those that

carried him to the temple every day.

But let me tell you, not all of it would've been easy.

His identity changed.

He would no longer beg.

He had to find a different way to live and that.

that can be a little bit scary.

That can be hard.

And I think, I dunno how easy it was for this guy, but experience tells

me it's probably gonna be pretty easy to fall back into old patterns,

especially after the euphoria had died down and he got used to having legs.

but for now at this moment, Jesus lifted him up out of what was holding him down,

and that transformation caused joy and leaping and rejoicing and praise and

worship and excitement because that's what happens when Jesus transforms us.

When Jesus lifts us up out of what holds us down.

Coming up, we have Conversation Street.

But before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast.

What's the story which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps.

And because God loved these people who were like me, that God had sent him to

bring hope and, and you know, I think my brokenness was making me angry.

I don't know how long he spoke for, but I, I was definitely a tipping point

of jumping in the ring, honestly, you know, not because I'm some big bad guy.

I was just angry.

I wanted to hate him.

Yeah.

And he said, okay, that's enough for me.

I want, I've told you about Jesus.

I've told you that he loves you and you are never gonna be good enough

to receive his love and forgiveness.

None of us are.

He says, well, I'm gonna give you opportunity to

receive Jesus into your life.

And I thought, oh, this is just one of those big, freaky religious things.

He says, I'm gonna count backwards from three to one, and when I get

to one, you need to be here and I'm going to introduce you to Jesus.

He went three.

And I thought, no way is anybody so stupid to..

People are moving.

No way.

And I'm like, what?

I'm looking around.

I can see people, you know, um, from gangs who I was involved moving forward.

I'm like, God, he went two.

And I can still see people moving.

Before he said one Matt, I was stood there.

Well, two, two great things there.

The talk, which we'll get into in a second.

Mm-hmm.

, and also that little snippet.

From What's the story podcast looks good, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I mean, I love Dave Connolly and, um, yeah, I'm, I, I mean, I'm

just intrigued to watch more of it.

Well listen to more of it now and sort of find out the whole

story, on that one to be honest.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, what's the story is just well worth listening to if anyone mm-hmm.

, I'm, I'm a big podcast.

I don't know, I dunno about you, Dan, but I listen to a lot of podcast when

I'm cooking and when I'm driving.

I've just got really into them.

So yeah, I highly recommend some great people's, you know, ordinary

stories from real people and yeah, just it's great to listen to.

Yeah, I've started listening to them, really enjoying them, like

you say, just ordinary people.

excuse me.

And just getting to here why, why they want to do this, why they wanna talk about

Jesus or what Jesus has done for them.

And yeah, it's brilliant.

Really, really enjoying them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

So shall we dig into the, uh, talk tonight then?

I thought that was a lot of great content from that actually.

Yeah.

It's hard for me where to begin, but, um mm-hmm.

just a really good challenging talk, wasn't it?

Yeah, like you say, it's where to begin.

I've got something I'll keep looking to my, well, it's my left, your right.

Probably something like that.

I'll keep it in my head.

Just don't worry.

I've got some notes up here.

Um, yeah.

Um, yeah, I thought it was really, really good.

The first, the first thing that got me was the, um, in the name of Jesus, that

authority that it's not, it's not us.

That does the healing.

It's not, it wasn't, um, Peter and John, it was, you know, in the name of Jesus.

It made me think of, um, when the centurian, um, the

centurian came to Jesus.

Um, I think it's in, where is it?

Uh, Matthew's Gospel.

And he says, you know, my servant's ill.

Um, but I'm, I'm like a, I'm a man with authority.

I've got people under me.

I just say, do this and do that, and I know you are the same.

You know, whatever you say, you have the authority, you can do it.

And Jesus says, absolutely.

Um, go, you know, your, your servant's being healed.

And that always makes me, yeah.

When I think of authority, I think of that, that story.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

I mean, I, I just like that, um, phrase it, it started with like,

one day everything changes and isn't that kind of what we all want?

Right.

In our situations where we, you know, I'm sure most of, most of us have got

different situations going on in life, either now, currently, or, or we can

think of once in the past, where would you like, I just need some breaks.

We were like, I feel stuck.

Like, I need some change.

Um, isn't that what we all want?

Like just, Jesus to walk in the room and for everything to change.

Yeah.

And um, it's so encouraging their story.

Cause it's like when Jesus turns up, everything really can change in the, in

that moment you can, I dunno, both you and I have been Christians for a long time

Dan and you can sort of forget, can't you?

But.

Jesus actually has that power.

And when we, yeah.

When we pray out it and we pray, or we ask God for something in Jesus'

name, that we do actually have that authority and that we can see

everything changed in an instant.

And, and yeah.

It's so easy to lose sight of that, I think, in everyday life, isn't it?

And it's, yeah.

I, I know I'm guilty of that.

Sometimes I forget that actually Jesus could just step in the room and mm-hmm.

, you know, lift you out of the situation or get you unstuck.

It's as simple as that.

Simple as it was for him that lame guy, you know, outside the temple that day.

And so easy to forget, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think you're right.

And we can also look back at that one time where we did, like we saw at the end, uh,

in that little snippet of the podcast.

Mm.

Where I presume that was Dave Connolly talking about when he became a

Christian, that that one step that he had to make and that was a big decision

and his life changed from there.

And that's happened to me and it's, it's happened to you, but it doesn't just,

and it happened to that, that lame guy that, you know, that there was that

point where everything changed, but he still had to do stuff after that.

He still had to use those legs, you know, the next day it wasn't, um, he,

he had to, well he would've, you know, Learned to run, he would've done, you

know, so much stuff he couldn't, um, do before that we can, like you said, we

can get used to being a Christian and perhaps forget those times when we're

stuck to, to cry out to him, to ask for, ask for that help ask, ask for that,

and it's, it's interesting.

Yeah, it's interesting isn't it, when you, when you think about stories in the

Bible, cause I always think you get these snippets recorded in the Bible of people's

lives or their encounters with Jesus.

It's like he had this moment, like Matt's just said it there in the comments, like

this one divine moment in the, in that instant, everything changed for him.

But you wonder kind of what does story like five or 10

years down the road, you know?

Cause we, yeah, as Christians, we've all had those moments where

we really encountered Jesus, right?

Yeah.

And yeah, I know that I can so quickly forget again.

And I just, in some ways I wish the Bible told you more about what happens later.

Like how does their life look five, 10 years later?

Do they get, you know, presumably they have other moments in life

where they get stuck again in other ways because that's life, right?

It's up and down.

It's not, it's not like you have a moment's encounter with Jesus,

everything's flying forever.

Like life throws up challenges continually, doesn't it?

Yeah.

And you know, I'm sure we could all talk about.

We could probably talk about our own times where we've been stuck, haven't we?

Like do you have any examples Dan where Yeah.

Well you've been, you felt particularly stuck and then

Yeah, and I was looking at the comments cuz Nicola said she's been

waiting for a breakthrough for months.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, yeah, life is hard.

And I, I used to work for, I work for myself now.

Back.

Well, I dunno, when it was now, 15, 20 years ago.

Makes me sound really old.

I'm not , I'm not that old.

Um, I used to work for BT and I had, at the start, it was an

interesting job, but I went through a period of horrendously dull job.

There was no work.

I was, I didn't know it at the time, but I was depressed, you know, I took

time off when I could use my holiday up because I just didn't want to, to go in

and it was a horrible, horrible time.

But I know, um, it, it had to be God that helped me, that

helped me through that time.

Um, got me out, um, got me to different, um, different people, different

group of, um, work colleagues.

And we, yeah, I started some other projects and traveled

around the country and stuff, but it, it did drastically change.

But it was, um, yeah, me praying, but people praying for me as well, which,

just, just a little snippet just to say if, if you do want us to pray, um,

Nicola and I'll, I'll be praying for you and if anyone else wants to, wants

us to pray, please do just let us know.

Yeah, definitely.

That's a really good point.

And I, I think you are right Dan.

I, I think, you know, it's, it's interesting that you say like

the way you got unstuck there, it wasn't like this big moment.

So like, no, Matt talked about sometimes these miracles come, but actually it's

quite of timing and there's no formula to the way God moves and God intervenes.

Yeah.

And God comes and helps us out of situations and lifts us up.

So you know.

I think you probably can look at moments that are like that, but actually, you

know, in that instance, for example, your, you know, it's much more of a slow,

sort of gradual change it sounds like.

Like you were asking friends to stand by you and to pray with you, and

you were praying and crying out God.

And then over time, you know, your work situation changed and presumably

you've got different job opportunity and you're able to move on, but you

know, it, it's interesting is that, that sometimes, you know, it's a big

moment, but actually in my experience, a lot of those times of unstucking are

sort of slower, smaller moments as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, trusting moments.

You just got to rely think they probably that Yeah.

It's a, it is a question of God's timing and God's divine

moment quite often I think.

Um, yeah, I think it came up about, Matt said about methodology that

it's not always the same every time.

And, um, and Julie in the comments talked about, um, in C.S.

Lewis's book about the Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe.

I didn't, I didn't know this.

I've never, I've watched the film and I've read little bits of the book,

but I've never read the whole book all the way through that apparently

there was no one way to Narnia.

You never got there the same way twice.

And that's, that's brilliant.

That Narnia sort of represents, uh, getting to be with Aslan or with God.

And so it is different every time.

Yeah, I like that.

I mean, I noticed just there, um, Nicola's said in the, in the comments

as well that, you know, she's been waited for months for some kind of

breakthrough, um, some depression that she's been going through as well, like,

um, Just, you know, took a similar thing to what you mentioned Dan and Yeah.

And then she said, you know, it hits hit me at 2:00 AM this morning

and I, you know, had to pray and ask God for that breakthrough.

And, and I think that's it, isn't it?

Sometimes it's, sometimes it's instant and sometimes it's more of a slow process.

I mean, I, I feel like, you know, there's been lots of times in life where I felt

stuck in different ways and it's so often known for worrying you know, it's

a work situation or it's a relationship, or it's maybe singleness and you're

waiting for a right relationship to come.

You know, I, I've been in that season of be years when I was younger, like, God,

when am I, when am I gonna meet someone?

Like who, you know, you bring along and I believe it's right.

And, you know, and then, you know, other situations like infertility where it's

like really a bit like the lame man, it's, it's an area of life where like

anything to do with health is very hard.

You don't have very much control at all.

You know, you can seek medical help, but actually there's lots of things that

medicine can't do a lot with or that, you know, it doesn't create instant healing.

And it, you know, and you cry out so many times and you think, why

is this breakthrough gonna come?

And, and the other thing that strikes me is that sometimes, you know,

what was that phrase Matt said he.

have we become lame in our thinking and that, that really challenged me.

Cause I thought, you know what, yes.

Sometimes actually need to get unstuck in our thinking first.

Mm-hmm.

, we get into like, you know, we can pray and cry out and feel

quite negative about things.

And actually we need to some change in our thinking and our thinking about God and

about so we can break through and we need to have faith to come sort of before we

actually get the physical breakthrough.

You know, and there's some situations that, um, you know, that there just

isn't an easy resolution to, like, we didn't get any, you know, I've talked

about this before, but we didn't get any breakthrough with our infertility.

We just aged out of fertile years with no answers.

And, um, yeah.

And yeah, even so, it's like I do feel like I have breakthrough

in my thinking about it.

You know, like, I feel healed.

And whole and not heartbroken about that in the way that I was in the

middle of it, even though I didn't get all of the answers that I wanted.

Yeah, yeah.

That's interesting too as well, isn't it?

Like that breakthrough and unstuckness doesn't always look

necessarily like the solution we are expecting or wanting either.

No.

Yeah, it can look, yeah.

Very different.

It is.

Yeah.

I just, um, I just wanted to point out, Nicola's put in the, the comments

that just feel like, um, a huge hood has been taken off her head

and she can breathe the first time.

So.

Amazing.

Thank, thank you Jesus.

That's awesome, Nicola.

It is awesome.

Yeah, it's awesome.

Nicola.

I remember we used to, at church, we'd both go to Frontline Church,

we'd have, um, healing rooms.

And, um, a guy came in who was feeling, was feeling really

depressed, and we prayed for him.

And he, that's the exact words he said to us when we prayed.

He said, I feel like I had this hood on, this cloak, and it's just gone.

It's just lifted.

And it was a, um, transformative time for him.

We just felt that, that, that lifted.

So we do pray, Nicola, that can, that continues to get to know

more of that, that, that freedom.

Brilliant.

Good Lord mm-hmm.

That's so interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll be praying for you Nicola that keeps, keeps on,

uh, being your experience.

Yeah.

And just, um, some other, another point that, that Matt talks and, and brought

up was that, um, who do we represent?

And I think sometimes we might be in a good place.

But who do we?

So, um, Peter and John, they were in a, a good place, weren't they?

It was the lame man that was, that was sick.

And we represent that same God.

And that's, yeah, that's, to me, it's really challenging that what we, what

we're gonna do about it, you know?

Um, What, what person situation can we speak into with that same authority?

Well,

yeah, it's, uh, yeah.

That's massively challenging, isn't it?

Yeah.

And I think I, I love what Matt had to say about the fact that it's not, uh, it's

not what we can do in the physical, like, you know, we, it's like you can, I dunno.

You can do so much in your own strength, could be give to

charity, you can do good works.

You can encourage someone.

But actually it's like the thing that we bring situations as Christians

that is quite unique is that we stand in the authority of Christ.

Um, and we are able to kind of bring a divine authority into the moment.

And, um, I think we don't always stand in that authority enough or we don't remember

that we carry that authority always.

Like, I know I, I'm guilty of this all the time, right?

Like a friend says, oh, I'm having a really rubbish time, you know, such

and such is going wrong with my kids or works really hard cuz of this and

you know, and I'll sit there for half an hour, have a cup of tea, give my

best advice, you know, cheer them up, say nice things, be a good friend.

All this stuff, none of that's bad is it.

Give some good self-care advice and then, but you know.

So often I think we can miss that.

Can't we miss that?

We, we sit there and we stand there in the authority of Christ, actually we could,

you know, like the disciples did that day, speak like God's divine healing and

lifting up and lifting out for someone.

Yeah.

And, and offer to pray for them and so often I just miss it.

Cause I'm so still relying on that kind of, and I, my what

I can do in my own strength.

Gosh.

Yeah, that I found that a bit challenging cause I think I am so guilty of that

so often that I just missed the moment cuz I'm so stuck on my own advice

and my own kind of ability or Yeah.

And you know Yeah.

Like what authority do we really carry?

You know apart from Christ.

Yeah.

It's very easy just to Yeah.

To sit there and just agree with people and be, um, sympathetic

to their feelings and yeah.

You.

Um, but perhaps, yeah, just be going off on one, thinking about, well, I'm

gonna have a tea, and, but actually thinking, you know, we can, we can not

just listen, we can impart something of what God wants to do or can do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

It's a massive challenge, isn't that, and yeah.

Think.

I think we could all be better at that.

I mean, that's not to say don't be a good friend to people don't listen and

everything, but I just think perhaps or could offer so much more and that

actually sometimes are we missing those divine moments where God wants

to move in someone's life because we don't think I could step out and

pray for someone to get unstuck or if it's about ourselves like we have.

I mean, that's the other thing I challenge anyone watching.

It's like if you're feeling stuck in your own life, right now, you know, you have

everything you need, you know, to get unstuck because you've got, you know,

you've got Jesus right there and you can cry out to him and believe that he's gonna

lift you up and out of that situation and, and move things on and, yeah.

You know, if I, I'd definitely say if, like Dan said before, if you are, if

you're struggling to believe that, if you're struggling to do that on your own,

then get some friends around you, you know, find another Christian friend or two

to stand with you and agree it together or, um, you know, or reach out to one of

us, send a text in the week, drop us an email, whatever it is, let us know and

we'll happily be those people as well and pray with you and stand with you.

But yeah, please don't miss the moment.

Don't, don't miss the challenge that, that, um, Matt gave tonight

really to, you know, to step out and.

You know, sometimes it takes courage, doesn't it?

It it takes courage to, to step out and say, I want to get unstuck,

or, Hey, I'm a bit stuck here.

Yeah.

Sometimes it even takes courage to admit we're stuck, I think.

Um, yeah.

So, so please, please do.

Yeah.

Do ask if you need that.

Yeah, definitely.

In, um, so we get, we get notes about this talk before we've heard it.

And um, one of the, the bible verses that was linked to that is in, in Romans

chapter seven, and they're talking about, um, I suppose in some way they're

talking about the law, but we could also look at as, as, as self-help.

So self-help is not, not bad, it's a good thing, but we've got this extra,

and, and the law is, is a good thing.

It helps us, you know, it corrects us when we've done wrong, but Right.

The law in itself doesn't stop us doing wrong.

And um, and in Romans, in the, in the message it says, tried

everything and nothing helps.

I'm at the end of my road, at end of my rope.

Is there no one who can do anything for me?

Isn't that the real question, the answer, thank God.

Is that Jesus Christ can and does.

Um, and it's great that we have more, this isn't, this isn't a self-help livestream.

This isn't, um, something just, oh, we're coming to listen to Dan and Anna.

Thank, thank goodness.

It's not that.

Thank goodness we do not have all the answers here.

Yeah.

This is a sort of a direction, um, livestream.

It's saying we're, we are just here to say, look to Jesus.

Cuz it, yeah, you can do so much on your own, but you can't.

do everything.

Uh, he's, he's got the authority to come and transform us, change us,

give us life changing experience.

Mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

And just give us that change of perspective.

Like, um, you know, it's, I think Matt touched on this as well, but it's

that thing of like, sometimes when.

When you pray and you get your, you know, and you bring God into a situation,

it gets your eyes off the problem a little bit and off your circumstances

and it, yeah, I'd certainly know

this for me is often the biggest change when I pray.

It's like it gets my eyes off the problem, off the situation.

And back onto God where they should be and.

. It just helps me.

The first change is like, it helps me get perspective.

Yeah.

I get fresh perspective of how big God is and actually this problem

tend to get smaller when I put them alongside God and get that perspective

right Again, you know, like you're not just staring at the issue, you're

staring at who God is, and how much he loves you and how he feels about you.

You know how powerful an almighty and wonderful he is.

And I think it that has the ability to change your perspective and to

change your view on everything.

And sometimes even that shift is significant, isn't it?

Yeah.

Just that kind of making problems smaller, making God bigger and Yeah.

I, that for me is always the most powerful thing when I pray.

It just reorders my perspective.

and I need that.

So,

yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

I think we're almost coming to the end, but there was just one point,

and it's, it's leading on from that in that that man's identity changed.

So he was probably called, you know, the beggar at the temple.

He was called, you know, lame man John, whatever that was his, his title.

But when he became unlame, when he, he stood up and he

had life in those legs again.

I couldn't call him lame John.

He was, um, his identity changed.

And I think sometimes we can, right.

Yeah.

Not look at what we, what we were.

God wants to change our identity, our identity now, our situation, it's,

it's, it's who God has made us to be.

That yeah, that true identity.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we're kind of coming to the end of the Crowd Church, but um, what have

we got coming up next week, Matt?

Uh, Dan, do you know?

Um, yeah, so we've got John Farrington, he's gonna do the talk.

He's continuing Awesome.

In um, Acts and it's Matt and Rachel hosting, so yeah, looking forward to that.

That'll be great.

Yeah.

I love Rach.

Is that Rachel Marshall?

I think.

I think so.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She's awesome.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

That'll be great.

So please do tune in next week.

That'll, that'll be the fab again, I'm sure.

But I've really enjoyed this.

I've enjoyed, I've enjoyed this talk tonight.

I think there's just so much in it.

In fact, I'll probably go back and watch it again, because I think there's

a little good challenge in that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When just reading the final comments, lame man John, love it.

Your identity will always change when Jesus transforms you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's so true.

This something will always change because even if your circumstances sustain your

identity and how you see yourself does.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, brilliant.

Thank you very much, Anna.

Thanks everyone for commenting and getting involved and just to reiterate

again, if you do want to get in touch, please just contact, yeah.

Uh, on the email visit crowd.church.

Um, yeah, there's a few ways to get in there.

There's even a WhatsApp, so you can send a voice note, a

message, send a a text message.

Would love to hear from you and we'll see you all next week.

Take care guys.

Have a great week.

See you.

Bye.

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