Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service.
Matt Edmundson:We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps
Matt Edmundson:us live a more meaningful life.
Matt Edmundson:We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith and a place
Matt Edmundson:where you can contribute and grow.
Matt Edmundson:Our service will last about an hour and in a few seconds we will start
Matt Edmundson:with a time of worship, after which you will meet our hosts for our service.
Matt Edmundson:After the talk, we head into Conversation Street, where we look at your stories
Matt Edmundson:and questions that you've posted in the comments throughout the live stream.
Matt Edmundson:I want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church, and there are
Matt Edmundson:a few ways that you can do just that.
Matt Edmundson:Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our live
Matt Edmundson:stream, and if you're up for it.
Matt Edmundson:Why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together?
Matt Edmundson:You see, church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others,
Matt Edmundson:and one of the easiest ways for you to do that is to also join one of our
Matt Edmundson:mid week groups where we meet online together to catch up and discover
Matt Edmundson:more about the amazingness of life.
Matt Edmundson:You can also subscribe to our podcast called What's the Story, where we
Matt Edmundson:deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people.
Matt Edmundson:More information about all of these things that I've mentioned can
Matt Edmundson:be found on our website at www.
Matt Edmundson:crowd.
Matt Edmundson:church, or you can reach us on social media at Crowd Church.
Matt Edmundson:If you're new to Crowd or new to the Christian faith, And would like to know
Matt Edmundson:what your next steps to take are, well why not head over to our website crowd.
Matt Edmundson:church forward slash next for more details.
Matt Edmundson:And now, the moment you've been waiting for is here, our online
Matt Edmundson:church service starts right now.
Matt Edmundson:What?
Matt Edmundson:But
Dan Orange:I said, but I said by the van, by the train.
Dan Orange:I can see that.
Dan Orange:Oh, we're live.
Dan Orange:Hello, everyone.
Dan Orange:Welcome to Crowd Church.
Dan Orange:Um, so today it's me, Dan Orange, and we'll start with normally behind
Dan Orange:the non live camera, but you're very excited to be on the live camera today.
Dan Orange:Yes.
Dan Orange:Um, we're having to talk about discussions later.
Dan Orange:So we put that little bit at the beginning to set things up.
Dan Orange:Little teaser.
Dan Orange:Yes.
Dan Orange:How you doing, Will?
Will Sopwith:Yeah, alright, alright, um, Christmas is bearing down on us.
Will Sopwith:Yes.
Will Sopwith:But, um, yeah, I like Advent.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:I enjoy Advent.
Will Sopwith:Advent baking.
Dan Orange:I like that.
Dan Orange:I like Advent.
Dan Orange:I'm more of a turkey, a turkey man than a
Will Sopwith:baking man.
Will Sopwith:You're saving yourself for the big day.
Will Sopwith:No, it's, uh, it's the baking to keep us going.
Will Sopwith:Oh, I see.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:I most enjoy it.
Dan Orange:Brilliant.
Dan Orange:Um, it's great to see everyone joining in.
Dan Orange:So Matt's having a listen, uh, Matt's been on the train today, a little busy day out.
Dan Orange:And, um, uh, Matt Edmundson, I don't think he's been on the
Dan Orange:train, but he has been soaring.
Dan Orange:I called him earlier.
Dan Orange:Thanks.
Dan Orange:Bye.
Dan Orange:I was looking for a file, and all I heard in the background was a
Dan Orange:circular saw just cooling down.
Will Sopwith:Okay, nice.
Dan Orange:So, um, I think let's Get straight into this
Will Sopwith:talk.
Will Sopwith:Okay.
Will Sopwith:Okay.
Will Sopwith:And who we got?
Dan Orange:We got Matt Edmundson, not
Will Sopwith:Anna Kettle.
Will Sopwith:Are you sure?
Will Sopwith:I'm
Dan Orange:sure.
Dan Orange:So, okay.
Dan Orange:Um, recently I've had a bit of a mare with my, my files and I played the wrong talk.
Dan Orange:This is the right talk.
Dan Orange:The right talk.
Dan Orange:It's not my fault, but the wrong name is on the talk.
Will Sopwith:Got it.
Will Sopwith:Got it.
Will Sopwith:No confusion.
Will Sopwith:This is Matt Edmundson.
Will Sopwith:It's not Anna Kettle.
Will Sopwith:Indeed.
Dan Orange:It's pretty obvious from the get go.
Dan Orange:Here we go.
Dan Orange:If you've got any questions, please Um, follow them through Facebook, YouTube
Dan Orange:and we'll aim to answer them afterwards.
Matt Edmundson:Well, hello Crowd Church.
Matt Edmundson:Now for those of you that don't know me, my name is Matt.
Matt Edmundson:As it will undoubtedly say on the bottom of the screen.
Matt Edmundson:I'm one of the pastors here at Crowd and today I get to do this talk,
Matt Edmundson:which is Well it's great and let me tell you, uh, I've found this
Matt Edmundson:one challenging to say the least.
Matt Edmundson:So let me start by showing you a picture.
Matt Edmundson:And here's a simple sketch of a young woman.
Matt Edmundson:She's wearing an old fashioned bonnet as you can see.
Matt Edmundson:Uh, you can see she's looking away from the screen.
Matt Edmundson:She's kind of got this pearl necklace thing going on.
Matt Edmundson:Uh, and if we flesh out this drawing it could look a little Like this.
Matt Edmundson:And so here we see her hair is more defined, uh, the bonnet has been
Matt Edmundson:replaced by a slightly more ostentatious hat that's got a feather on it.
Matt Edmundson:And it looks like she's wearing a fur coat, but still has a sort
Matt Edmundson:of the pearls around her neck.
Matt Edmundson:But all is not as it seems.
Matt Edmundson:Oh no, how you have interpreted this image that I've just shown you
Matt Edmundson:here is based entirely on the first image that you saw, this one here.
Matt Edmundson:What if I told you that this is actually an image of an old woman?
Matt Edmundson:Not a young one.
Matt Edmundson:And this is not an existential observation about the anti aging
Matt Edmundson:rhetoric that mars our society, but it's actually a genuine statement.
Matt Edmundson:What if this picture was of an older woman?
Matt Edmundson:To see what I mean, let's look at this image.
Matt Edmundson:Now let's look at these side by side.
Matt Edmundson:Cause you can see here, this is a sketch, a very rough sketch of an older lady
Matt Edmundson:with Rather a large nose looking sort of down, looking sort of rather for loin.
Matt Edmundson:And if I put that next to that image that you see, you can see in that image the
Matt Edmundson:older woman, not just the younger one.
Matt Edmundson:Now this is an example from Stephen Covey's book, the Seven
Matt Edmundson:Habits of Highly Effective People.
Matt Edmundson:And the, the bottom line here is how you interpret the image.
Matt Edmundson:How you interpret the main image is based entirely on the image that you saw first.
Matt Edmundson:If I show you the picture of the older woman first, you see the
Matt Edmundson:older woman in the main image.
Matt Edmundson:If I show you the young picture first, like I did, you see the
Matt Edmundson:younger woman in the image.
Matt Edmundson:And to quote the Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, you're going to find that
Matt Edmundson:many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
Matt Edmundson:It's an interesting exercise that highlights a key point.
Matt Edmundson:How we interpret things that we see and experience depends
Matt Edmundson:greatly on our worldview.
Matt Edmundson:Now think of a worldview as a pair of glasses.
Matt Edmundson:Just like these, uh, through which you see everything around you.
Matt Edmundson:It's more than just a belief.
Matt Edmundson:It's the lens that colors your understanding of the world.
Matt Edmundson:You see, our worldview shapes our thoughts.
Matt Edmundson:It guides our decisions, frames our understanding of right and
Matt Edmundson:wrong, truth and falsehood, significance and triviality.
Matt Edmundson:And each person has a unique way of seeing the world, a different lens through
Matt Edmundson:which life is interpreted, all shaped by our beliefs and our experiences.
Matt Edmundson:Our world view, if you like, is as unique to us as our fingerprint, and every
Matt Edmundson:judgement we make, every relationship we hold, every goal we pursue is
Matt Edmundson:influenced by this underlying Perspective.
Matt Edmundson:So where does this worldview come from?
Matt Edmundson:Is it shaped by deliberate thought and decision?
Matt Edmundson:Or has it been handed down by those around us?
Matt Edmundson:It's kind of, if I'm honest, it's going to be a mixture of both.
Matt Edmundson:And how does your personal worldview align with the teachings of the Bible?
Matt Edmundson:This isn't just about judging what's right or wrong.
Matt Edmundson:It's about seeking alignment and clarity and truth.
Matt Edmundson:Of our understanding of life, and we call this a biblical worldview.
Matt Edmundson:Now, one example of a conflict between a biblical worldview and a common
Matt Edmundson:contemporary worldview is say the differing perspectives on morality and.
Matt Edmundson:The apparent purpose of life.
Matt Edmundson:You see, the biblical worldview, as understood by many Christians,
Matt Edmundson:holds that morality is absolute and defined by God's word.
Matt Edmundson:You know, the scriptures, the Bible, and this often emphasizes community
Matt Edmundson:and humility and service to others.
Matt Edmundson:On the other hand, many contemporary worldviews influenced by things like
Matt Edmundson:secularism, postmodernism, and Marxism can often hold very different views.
Matt Edmundson:For example, The secular worldview often will inform us that morality is
Matt Edmundson:relative and subjective and that the purpose of life is individual happiness,
Matt Edmundson:often associated with material success.
Matt Edmundson:That conflicts with scripture.
Matt Edmundson:Postmodernism, with its sort of scepticism towards grand narratives and absolute
Matt Edmundson:truths, can conflict with the biblical worldview of absolute moral truth.
Matt Edmundson:Now, Marxism, with its materialistic and class based analysis of society,
Matt Edmundson:can conflict with the biblical emphasis on spiritual matters and
Matt Edmundson:individual moral responsibility.
Matt Edmundson:Ah, these are, you know, sweeping generalizations, I appreciate,
Matt Edmundson:but these differing worldviews can lead to conflicts in various areas.
Matt Edmundson:areas of life, ethics, politics, personal lifestyle choices,
Matt Edmundson:sexual morality, abortion, and the pursuit of material wealth.
Matt Edmundson:We live in a world where the external pressures of societal norms and
Matt Edmundson:expectations are constantly Constantly at play and these forces can be
Matt Edmundson:so powerful that exploring a faith perspective, a biblical worldview might
Matt Edmundson:feel like defying the very fabric of the secular viewpoints we're surrounded by.
Matt Edmundson:So standing for a biblical worldview isn't just met with what?
Matt Edmundson:It's just not.
Matt Edmundson:It really met with adoration and praise, but often ridicule and anger.
Matt Edmundson:And this is not a new thing.
Matt Edmundson:It's kind of been going on.
Matt Edmundson:Since ancient times, as we will see in this week's section from the book of Acts.
Matt Edmundson:So let's read, shall we?
Matt Edmundson:As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the
Matt Edmundson:tribune, may I say something to you?
Matt Edmundson:And he said, do you know Greek?
Matt Edmundson:Are you not the Egyptian then who stirred up the revolt and led the 4, 000 men of
Matt Edmundson:the assassins out into the wilderness?
Matt Edmundson:That wasn't Paul, but it sounds like a very fascinating story.
Matt Edmundson:I mean, there's so much we can learn from just this opening verse.
Matt Edmundson:So to bring you up to speed from last week, Paul was being beaten to death by a
Matt Edmundson:crowd of people that weren't that chuffed with him and his biblical worldview.
Matt Edmundson:The Tribune had come and intervened with some soldiers, uh, and was
Matt Edmundson:offered a variety of claims by the crowd as to Paul's identity.
Matt Edmundson:Now, the crowd is very anti Paul's worldview, which is, I would call, a
Matt Edmundson:Christ centred worldview, a biblical worldview, to the point, like I
Matt Edmundson:say, where they want to kill him.
Matt Edmundson:So Paul, knowing that the Tribune will have the wrong idea about him
Matt Edmundson:and appreciates, uh, appreciating the worldview of the Tribune,
Matt Edmundson:starts by asking a question, and that question changes everything.
Matt Edmundson:You see, asking questions is such a powerful tool in a world pretty
Matt Edmundson:much hell bent on making statements louder and louder and louder as a way
Matt Edmundson:to prove their worldview is right.
Matt Edmundson:Be curious.
Matt Edmundson:Ask questions.
Matt Edmundson:I think most of the time this.
Matt Edmundson:is a great starting point.
Matt Edmundson:This is what we learn from Paul.
Matt Edmundson:You see, for example, people will often say to me, uh, often tell me,
Matt Edmundson:often make the statement that science has disproved Christianity or that
Matt Edmundson:Christianity is just a fairy tale.
Matt Edmundson:It's a common world view.
Matt Edmundson:And you see, I could, in response, I could make statements like, no, it
Matt Edmundson:hasn't, which will quickly fall into the pantomime of, oh yes, it has.
Matt Edmundson:Oh no, it hasn't.
Matt Edmundson:Maybe a better way is simply to ask questions, questions like well,
Matt Edmundson:in what way has science disproved Christianity, or well, if that's true,
Matt Edmundson:how do you account for top scientists who have a strong Christian faith?
Matt Edmundson:But it's not just a question that Paul asks in this passage,
Matt Edmundson:it's how Paul asks the question.
Matt Edmundson:You see, he has, he asks, it's not easy to say, he asks the question
Matt Edmundson:in high quality Greek, which was the language that the Tribune spoke, and
Matt Edmundson:also proof that Paul was educated.
Matt Edmundson:Both things conflicted with the Tribune's thinking.
Matt Edmundson:See, although the Tribune had asked the crowd what Paul had done, he
Matt Edmundson:apparently had not asked Paul himself.
Matt Edmundson:The crowd was telling him that Paul was associated with the Sicari,
Matt Edmundson:which was a Jewish terrorist group.
Matt Edmundson:Cool name though.
Matt Edmundson:In other words, the Tribune had been shown a picture of a young
Matt Edmundson:man, going back to our original example, not even a young woman.
Matt Edmundson:The facts and information he had caused him to interpret what was
Matt Edmundson:happening in entirely the wrong way.
Matt Edmundson:Paul was definitely not a terrorist.
Matt Edmundson:Far from it, in fact.
Matt Edmundson:And this is such an important point for us in the modern world, bringing it forward.
Matt Edmundson:Because so often our views about people, groups, leaders, race are
Matt Edmundson:formed by the people around us.
Matt Edmundson:They aren't formed because we have spent the time to create our own opinions.
Matt Edmundson:And it's interesting when you ask folks who believe science has
Matt Edmundson:disproven the Christian faith.
Matt Edmundson:Where that belief came from, what informed it?
Matt Edmundson:Is it something that has been thought through by them?
Matt Edmundson:Or is it a belief somehow that has been just picked up from others,
Matt Edmundson:from school maybe, from the TV?
Matt Edmundson:You see, in a world that is plagued by biased algorithms in our social media
Matt Edmundson:feeds and news sources with agendas and leaders playing for power or corporations
Matt Edmundson:playing for profit, where you get your information from becomes more and more
Matt Edmundson:important because we are affected by it.
Matt Edmundson:There is bias in social media.
Matt Edmundson:There is bias in search engine results.
Matt Edmundson:We know this to be true and it does affect us and this is why it's so powerful.
Matt Edmundson:But most of the time, we kind of think, you know what, we're okay, aren't we?
Matt Edmundson:We aren't actually affected by this.
Matt Edmundson:Others may be affected by it, but not us.
Matt Edmundson:We're too smart for that, and we definitely shape our own opinions.
Matt Edmundson:But let me tell you, marketers have known a different story for many years.
Matt Edmundson:And for me, this is why it's so important to develop a biblical worldview,
Matt Edmundson:to keep coming back to the Bible, to be what we call Christ centered.
Matt Edmundson:It has to be our source of truth.
Matt Edmundson:Now I'm not telling you to ignore the news, I'm not telling you not to.
Matt Edmundson:Now, of course, the finances hit a point where you're
Matt Edmundson:making a bit of economic money.
Matt Edmundson:That put a lot of financial pressure on you as an individual.
Matt Edmundson:But you can't be rel fiedon you're rebellious as a single parent.
Matt Edmundson:And every bit of money that you make is spent on running the household.
Matt Edmundson:And your spendings on that household.
Matt Edmundson:And every bit of money that you have up your sleeve, Would I turn it back to
Matt Edmundson:you if I could, Sounds simple and it can actually lead to its own set of problems.
Matt Edmundson:Like many Christians, for example, I have often looked for things in
Matt Edmundson:the Bible to back up my thinking.
Matt Edmundson:That's problematic because I'm shaping scripture to fit my worldview rather than
Matt Edmundson:allowing scripture to shape my worldview.
Matt Edmundson:God, please spare us from ourselves.
Matt Edmundson:And I appreciate that this is just the opening verse of what we're looking at.
Matt Edmundson:There's a few more to go.
Matt Edmundson:But there is something else in this verse that we actually
Matt Edmundson:need to see before moving on.
Matt Edmundson:And that is this.
Matt Edmundson:The Tribune is actually insulting, insulting, Paul here.
Matt Edmundson:A subtlety we miss in the text in the modern world.
Matt Edmundson:By associating him with Egypt, uh, the Tribune has insulted him.
Matt Edmundson:You see, Egypt was once this sort of great empire, but now it was
Matt Edmundson:amongst the most oppressed sort of provinces in Rome's empire.
Matt Edmundson:So Greeks, Romans, and Jews typically regarded Egyptians as uneducated.
Matt Edmundson:And this can so often be the case, can't it?
Matt Edmundson:We insult or demean those that have a different worldview to us.
Matt Edmundson:We think of ourselves as better, maybe, than the person in front of
Matt Edmundson:us, especially if we're passionate about that part of our worldview, such
Matt Edmundson:as our thinking on, say, gender, or politics, or even the Israel Hamas war.
Matt Edmundson:We look down on those we disagree with.
Matt Edmundson:We are the educated.
Matt Edmundson:They are the uneducated.
Matt Edmundson:And actually, I think insulting those we disagree with is a lazy response.
Matt Edmundson:We put people down to make ourselves feel better about the view that
Matt Edmundson:we hold, and if I'm honest We can get a little bit ugly with it.
Matt Edmundson:We just insult and we can do that because we're right, surely aren't we?
Matt Edmundson:We can insult them.
Matt Edmundson:We are the educated.
Matt Edmundson:Let's see how Paul responds.
Matt Edmundson:Paul replied, I am a Jew from Tarus in, uh, solicitor, a
Matt Edmundson:citizen of no obscure city.
Matt Edmundson:I beg you, pit me, uh, permit me to speak to the people.
Matt Edmundson:So Paul deals with this insult with a simple correction.
Matt Edmundson:I'm from Tarsus, uh, and I'm super proud, uh, myself of being
Matt Edmundson:part of the city of Liverpool.
Matt Edmundson:On my wall here, if you're watching on video, you see the
Matt Edmundson:Liverpool skyline that I made.
Matt Edmundson:I think it's a great place to be, and I'm thankful that God brought me here.
Matt Edmundson:Tarsus is an ancient version of Liverpool, if you like.
Matt Edmundson:It was a great city, and one that had a lot of civic pride, and it
Matt Edmundson:told the Tribune, when Paul says, I'm from Tarsus, it tells the Tribune.
Matt Edmundson:That again, he has spoken without really understanding the bigger picture.
Matt Edmundson:Now, if it was me talking to the Tribune, I would most likely get drawn
Matt Edmundson:into the fact he just insulted me.
Matt Edmundson:I would probably feel anger rising up inside of me and there would
Matt Edmundson:be a great need welling within my soul to put him straight.
Matt Edmundson:But Paul, it seems, doesn't do that.
Matt Edmundson:He keeps the issue the issue.
Matt Edmundson:He keeps omission and he turns to address the crowd.
Matt Edmundson:So, when the Tribune had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps,
Matt Edmundson:motioned with his hands to the people.
Matt Edmundson:And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language,
Matt Edmundson:saying, Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.
Matt Edmundson:And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew
Matt Edmundson:language, They became even more quiet.
Matt Edmundson:So much in these verses.
Matt Edmundson:Paul is willing to speak to the crowd that has just assaulted him.
Matt Edmundson:That in itself is pretty priceless.
Matt Edmundson:It shows his love for his people.
Matt Edmundson:It shows a willingness to forgive and it shows an openness
Matt Edmundson:to debate and conversation.
Matt Edmundson:Me?
Matt Edmundson:Don't know if I'd have been as gracious.
Matt Edmundson:I probably would have wanted them locked up for assaulting me.
Matt Edmundson:But thankfully, Paul is not like me because this would have
Matt Edmundson:been a very different story.
Matt Edmundson:So he opens up with the phrase, Brothers and Fathers.
Matt Edmundson:Now this is an interesting phrase.
Matt Edmundson:It's both respectful and conciliatory.
Matt Edmundson:It's the exact.
Matt Edmundson:Opposite of the Tribune's insult.
Matt Edmundson:Brothers, you see, emphasises an ethnic solidarity, uh, solidarity?
Matt Edmundson:Solidarity and fathers, uh, is a respectful title for the
Matt Edmundson:elders and people of rank.
Matt Edmundson:This is a masterclass on how to deal with not just those who have a
Matt Edmundson:different world view but those who are even hostile in their world view.
Matt Edmundson:You see, Paul speaks to the crowd in Hebrew, a language that they understand,
Matt Edmundson:which is Super powerful, let me tell you.
Matt Edmundson:I know, for example, that many folks watching, uh, the crowd church streams,
Matt Edmundson:or maybe you're watching on catch up, maybe you're listening to the podcast.
Matt Edmundson:I know that many of you consuming the content are unchurched.
Matt Edmundson:So there's no point in me sitting here, uh, and talking about something
Matt Edmundson:like, I don't know, the sanctification that comes through the atonement.
Matt Edmundson:It's language that won't make sense to many, it's, even though it's sort
Matt Edmundson:of in English, it's not accessible.
Matt Edmundson:So what Paul is doing is he's making what he is saying accessible, a lesson
Matt Edmundson:we have tried to learn here at Crowd.
Matt Edmundson:And because it got that crowd quiet, because it was accessible, they got
Matt Edmundson:even more quiet, scripture tells us.
Matt Edmundson:They sort of leaned in a little bit further, it was ready to listen.
Matt Edmundson:But.
Matt Edmundson:As we are going to see, it's not that easy to listen well to those we disagree with.
Matt Edmundson:We engage in, uh, what my mum, uh, calls selective hearing.
Matt Edmundson:Apparently I suffer from this, according to my mum.
Matt Edmundson:Uh, hearing only what I want to hear.
Matt Edmundson:Listening for things that will support my worldview.
Matt Edmundson:or support my arguments.
Matt Edmundson:So Paul takes this opportunity to simply tell the crowd his story.
Matt Edmundson:See, when it comes to faith and standing for a biblical worldview, sometimes the
Matt Edmundson:best thing to do is just tell your story.
Matt Edmundson:So Paul did just that.
Matt Edmundson:After asking questions, after being conciliatory and respectful, and
Matt Edmundson:using accessible language, after not getting caught up in the insults or
Matt Edmundson:even how badly he was treated, he now has the once hostile crowd at least
Matt Edmundson:willing to listen to something.
Matt Edmundson:And so Paul takes the opportunity to tell his story.
Matt Edmundson:I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, but brought up, uh, in this city,
Matt Edmundson:educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the
Matt Edmundson:law of our fathers being zealous for God.
Matt Edmundson:As all of you are this day, I persecuted this way to the death.
Matt Edmundson:Binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole
Matt Edmundson:council of elders can bear me witness.
Matt Edmundson:From then I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed
Matt Edmundson:toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in
Matt Edmundson:bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
Matt Edmundson:Doesn't sound like he was a pretty nice guy.
Matt Edmundson:I mean, if you're a Christian and Paul was like this, you
Matt Edmundson:didn't want to be around really.
Matt Edmundson:Uh, he's talking to the crowd about how he used to be like them, how he used to.
Matt Edmundson:think like they thought, how he was zealous for the things
Matt Edmundson:of God, like the crowd was.
Matt Edmundson:He had the same worldview that they are having at the moment, but then something
Matt Edmundson:happened to Paul to change that worldview.
Matt Edmundson:You can sort of feel it coming up in the story, can't you?
Matt Edmundson:And he spends the next 17 verses telling them how Jesus met with him and radically
Matt Edmundson:changed how he Thought about life.
Matt Edmundson:He talks about how Jesus called him to live a different life, to walk a
Matt Edmundson:different path and to think differently about his place in the world and his
Matt Edmundson:calling because, well, that's just what Jesus does, and that's my story too.
Matt Edmundson:When I encountered Christ, my worldview radically changed
Matt Edmundson:the way I saw life changed.
Matt Edmundson:And as I've studied the Bible over the years, my thinking
Matt Edmundson:has continued to be renewed.
Matt Edmundson:That's what the Bible talks about.
Matt Edmundson:It talks about how your, your thinking needs to be renewed and it has been.
Matt Edmundson:Now that doesn't mean that I'm there.
Matt Edmundson:It doesn't mean that I'm right.
Matt Edmundson:It doesn't mean that I'm perfect and it doesn't mean that I need to stop being
Matt Edmundson:curious, uh, but I have to be about, I have to be curious about the Bible first.
Matt Edmundson:That's.
Matt Edmundson:The basic principle, I know that I'm on a journey and still learning, but
Matt Edmundson:it's a decision that I have to make on a daily basis to understand what the
Matt Edmundson:Bible says about something and to choose to interpret life through that biblical
Matt Edmundson:Christ centered worldview versus.
Matt Edmundson:And as I have done this, I've noticed that I've become more
Matt Edmundson:curious about the people that I meet.
Matt Edmundson:Like Paul, I don't shy away from meeting people that think differently to me.
Matt Edmundson:I want to engage with them.
Matt Edmundson:I love the conversation.
Matt Edmundson:And like Paul, I've had opportunity to share my own story, the story
Matt Edmundson:of a God who changed my life for the better and in so many ways.
Matt Edmundson:Now, the sad part to this story is that the majority of the crowd only
Matt Edmundson:hear the parts they need to confirm their own bias, confirmation bias, or
Matt Edmundson:as my mum calls it, selective hearing.
Matt Edmundson:And so, they call for Paul's death.
Matt Edmundson:They didn't listen well.
Matt Edmundson:It's a big lesson.
Matt Edmundson:And as a result, they miss the awesome life giving truth of Jesus.
Matt Edmundson:They didn't get to see a bigger God.
Matt Edmundson:Now, I want to have a worldview that has a bigger God at the center of it.
Matt Edmundson:I don't know about you, but that's what I want.
Matt Edmundson:And the Tribune takes Paul back to the barracks to torture him.
Matt Edmundson:Which sounds a bit odd, but it was a common practice at the time
Matt Edmundson:to try and get to the bottom of things, because if I torture you,
Matt Edmundson:you're bound to tell the truth.
Matt Edmundson:But it's at this point Paul tells the Tribune that he
Matt Edmundson:is in fact a Roman citizen.
Matt Edmundson:And that torture of Roman citizens, well, it's just not allowed.
Matt Edmundson:It's not cricket.
Matt Edmundson:It's not permitted.
Matt Edmundson:It's a trim card that Paul held until it was needed, and it's needed now.
Matt Edmundson:And so next week, we're going to carry on the story from this point.
Matt Edmundson:Bringing it back.
Matt Edmundson:There is so much to learn from this story about dealing with those
Matt Edmundson:that think differently to you.
Matt Edmundson:Those that have a different worldview and see it differently.
Matt Edmundson:I read this story and I can be like the tribune and go along with what
Matt Edmundson:others are saying, not really thinking about it, but just kind of go along.
Matt Edmundson:Or I can be like the crowd and only hear what I want to hear.
Matt Edmundson:Be selective in my hearing but miss the bigger picture, miss the bigger God.
Matt Edmundson:Or, I can be like Paul and allow Jesus to change my worldview, to allow me to
Matt Edmundson:see and experience life through his lens.
Matt Edmundson:Because that's remarkable.
Matt Edmundson:When you have a Biblical worldview, everything changes.
Matt Edmundson:You see, you're not surprised by what's going on in the world.
Matt Edmundson:We pray for a better world, but our hope is not in political
Matt Edmundson:leaders, it's in Jesus.
Matt Edmundson:A Biblical worldview is based on a certain and sure hope, an eternal hope.
Matt Edmundson:And that hope, that understanding, well, it reframes how I see and
Matt Edmundson:experience the world every day.
Matt Edmundson:I get to see a bigger God and my prayer for me and for you is that we
Matt Edmundson:get to see a bigger God every day.
Matt Edmundson:So let me end with this question.
Matt Edmundson:How can you develop a biblical worldview?
Matt Edmundson:One that is very Christ centred.
Matt Edmundson:Or, do you even want to develop a Biblical worldview?
Matt Edmundson:Write your answers in the comments, ready for the guys in Conversation Street.
Matt Edmundson:But that's it from me, thanks for listening.
Will Sopwith:Wow.
Will Sopwith:Wow.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:There's a lot in there.
Will Sopwith:There is.
Will Sopwith:So,
Dan Orange:go on then, Will.
Dan Orange:What was the first thing that stood
Will Sopwith:out to you?
Will Sopwith:It's really striking, isn't it, just how current this whole story is, and that
Will Sopwith:whole dynamic of mob rule and mob voice.
Will Sopwith:And everyone just, I mean, not even knowing who Paul was and just
Will Sopwith:kind of joining that bandwagon and it's like, well, yeah,
Will Sopwith:that's just, I'm going to bring
Dan Orange:this just a little bit even closer.
Dan Orange:Okay.
Will Sopwith:I mean, that's just magnified all the more, isn't it?
Will Sopwith:By the kind of global network of communication, but also just how.
Will Sopwith:Unphased Paul was by that and how used to that he was in his life and we've
Will Sopwith:been seeing it through the story of Acts, he'd been there, he knew how to
Will Sopwith:communicate, he didn't jump in as our slightly lame example at the beginning
Will Sopwith:of like, you know, as soon as you get into an argument, you just fight your
Will Sopwith:corner and you stop listening and Paul just doesn't do that, he kind of
Will Sopwith:He stops, he thinks, he steps back.
Will Sopwith:So yeah, just just how current that whole kind of dynamic
Will Sopwith:is and how Paul handled it.
Will Sopwith:And I think that's, yeah, that's the wisdom of God, um, through
Will Sopwith:many years of, of living for him.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:So yeah, that, that, that really stood out as well as, uh, yeah, a lot of challenge.
Will Sopwith:I
Dan Orange:like that.
Dan Orange:And I, I suspect that it wasn't something that, you know, it might've been
Dan Orange:God's wisdom instantly then, a word of knowledge, but I suspect it was, he knew.
Dan Orange:About this guy.
Dan Orange:Yes.
Dan Orange:Terrorist.
Dan Orange:He knew potentially that was going through the crowd, going through the tribune.
Dan Orange:Um, and he'd, he'd researched, not the right, really the right word,
Dan Orange:but he'd thought that's what they're, that's what thinking about me.
Dan Orange:Okay.
Dan Orange:And God gave him that, that wisdom and that ability to, to bring that
Dan Orange:message to say, no, I'm coming from this point, sometimes we can jump in
Dan Orange:without, like Matt says, further on.
Dan Orange:Without any research, we can take the moral high ground and
Will Sopwith:absolutely.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:But it's the message as well.
Will Sopwith:He's absolutely focused on the message.
Will Sopwith:He doesn't care about the fact that he's been insulted.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:He doesn't care about actually the fact that he's been beaten up by this crowd.
Will Sopwith:He cares about the message and he cares about communicating it to this mob.
Will Sopwith:And you know, that shows a humility and a focus on What God's called them to do,
Will Sopwith:which is, yeah, just, just remarkable.
Will Sopwith:Yeah, real challenge.
Will Sopwith:Yeah, it is.
Dan Orange:Um, yeah, there's lots of points in there.
Dan Orange:I, we were talking about, um, sort of off camera before when you, when you came in,
Dan Orange:um, that sometimes we can, especially the media and particularly with friends, um,
Dan Orange:someone can say one thing, And we react to that one thing and we ignore the past.
Dan Orange:We ignore, ignore all the history that we've got with that person
Dan Orange:or everything we know about them.
Dan Orange:And the media does it as well, doesn't it?
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:One statement.
Dan Orange:And we ignore the rest.
Dan Orange:And it, it, the reason I'm saying that takes me a bit to where Matt said
Dan Orange:about we can, we can try and find one verse in the Bible that, that just
Dan Orange:meets what we are trying to get across.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Without going.
Dan Orange:Well, no, the Bible, you have to take as a whole, it should all add up.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:And again, we're more interested in our personal journey or view or opinion than
Will Sopwith:actually, yeah, taking hold of the Bible.
Will Sopwith:There's a couple of, um.
Will Sopwith:shows I've been watching recently streamed and, and in it are these kind of, and
Will Sopwith:you know, the story's hinged on this, but it's people who are responding emotionally
Will Sopwith:to each other, getting there under the end of the stick, and it kind of, you
Will Sopwith:know, the drama kind of creates, and, and I just look at it going, oh, and then.
Will Sopwith:It's kind of, is this just part of our generation, this kind of snowflake, it's
Will Sopwith:like, oh, I'm offended, an easy offence, and then I look at my street WhatsApp, to
Will Sopwith:be honest, and I think, no, no, this is just a human condition, this is nothing
Will Sopwith:generational, how quick people are to take offence, how quick people can be,
Will Sopwith:and we can all be, to stand on opinion and just actually fight, and I just
Will Sopwith:think, you know, just with that moment of stepping back, just like Paul did in
Will Sopwith:this story, Just taking a breath and just thinking about a slightly wider picture.
Will Sopwith:Um, you know, it, it makes all the difference.
Will Sopwith:There's a fantastic verse in, uh, Proverbs 15, which says a soft
Will Sopwith:answer turns away much anger.
Will Sopwith:And, uh, and, and that's something I, I, I remember being modelled by my
Will Sopwith:grandfather and my dad actually on the, a couple of times they were stopped
Will Sopwith:by the police for a start and instead of like the window goes down and like,
Will Sopwith:you know, fighting their corner, just saying, I'm really sorry, I was going
Will Sopwith:a bit fast and it just completely takes the wind out the sails of whoever's about
Will Sopwith:to, you know, lean through the window and, and, and tear a strip off them.
Will Sopwith:And, and, you know, growing up, I really learned that lesson.
Will Sopwith:I'm like, do you know, it's worth just stopping.
Will Sopwith:me.
Will Sopwith:Taking a breath, thinking a bit wider, thinking about the person in front of
Will Sopwith:you, where they're coming from, where their opinions coming from, and yeah,
Will Sopwith:it's not always easy to do in the heat of the moment, but, uh, but here we've
Will Sopwith:got a really great example of, of, yeah, the story going in a completely
Will Sopwith:different way as a result of that.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Uh, Ashton has put on the, uh, on the, the question on the, um, comments,
Dan Orange:am I not correcting that Paul himself did a lot of bad things and he did,
Dan Orange:and he admitted to it then, didn't he?
Dan Orange:He said, I.
Dan Orange:I was doing the same as you.
Dan Orange:I was, uh, a zealot for what I thought was the, um, the right way.
Dan Orange:And people died under my, under my word.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:But God turned me.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:And perhaps that's, that's part of where Paul's humility comes from.
Will Sopwith:He knows he's got absolutely no moral high ground to stand on.
Will Sopwith:It's because of what Jesus has done in his heart and changed that he's able
Will Sopwith:to present the story to the people.
Will Sopwith:Um, he knew he deserved punishment for, actually let's follow up there.
Will Sopwith:He knew he was absolutely deserving of God's rejection and anger and wrath.
Will Sopwith:And yet on that road to Damascus, he'd met, he'd met Jesus and he'd been
Will Sopwith:forgiven and that must have completely changed his whole personality from
Will Sopwith:being this kind of real firebrand.
Will Sopwith:This is the thing I was fighting for, to being just a load more humble, I think.
Will Sopwith:I think
Dan Orange:so.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Knowing that, that knowing that we've talked about it so
Dan Orange:many times because it is the.
Dan Orange:It's the sort of the pinpoint of the gospel that Jesus took our punishment
Dan Orange:so that we can have that forgiveness and it's just huge and transformed Paul's
Dan Orange:life, it's transformed my life, you know,
Will Sopwith:and I think because of that understanding, when we see,
Will Sopwith:yeah, when we see how far we fall short, I think it gives us a lot more
Will Sopwith:patience for each other as we kind of, and again, it helps us not dive
Will Sopwith:into that kind of very You know, it can escalate so quickly, the arguments
Will Sopwith:that you see all around you every day.
Will Sopwith:Um, but actually that the humility comes from, you know, I, I've got, I've got
Will Sopwith:no moral high ground to stand here.
Will Sopwith:It's all just because of what Jesus has done.
Will Sopwith:But, but what about this, this worldview then?
Will Sopwith:Worldview is a kind of a, this is a quite a complicated topic that, that
Will Sopwith:Matt has kind of just dropped in.
Will Sopwith:I
Dan Orange:wanted to, um, let me see if I can.
Dan Orange:Is there a question on that?
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Oh, there we go, look at that, got it working.
Dan Orange:Um, so Dave Connolly put on one of the comments when the God of the Bible is
Dan Orange:rejected, ignored, man chooses a new God and yeah, I really like that because if we
Dan Orange:don't have a, a God viewpoint, we have a God worldview, we have another worldview
Dan Orange:and what are we going to choose, where
Will Sopwith:are we going to have our standard?
Will Sopwith:You hear people talking about, I mean, I've had conversations when I'm talking
Will Sopwith:about faith and people say, well, I've just got a neutral kind of worldview.
Will Sopwith:I don't, I don't have a kind of set of opinions.
Will Sopwith:And that's actually a complete myth.
Will Sopwith:We've all got this kind of Um, and it's, it's very complicated.
Will Sopwith:It's a mixture of our culture, our upbringing, um, our colour, our,
Will Sopwith:there's all sorts of things that can, uh, filter through into a worldview.
Will Sopwith:And we're not aware of it most of the time.
Will Sopwith:It's only when we really get into debates with people with a completely different
Will Sopwith:view of the world that you realise, oh, yeah, that, that's what I think.
Will Sopwith:But one of the great examples, I think, of what Dave's talking about is, um,
Will Sopwith:Reading a number of years ago, um, uh, a book about, um, about British culture
Will Sopwith:and actually Western European culture and, and the kind of the argument
Will Sopwith:this guy was using was that the Bible was translated into German, into
Will Sopwith:English, In Western Europe, part of the Reformation, like, you know, two, 300
Will Sopwith:years ago, and his argument was that actually culture began to be shaped
Will Sopwith:because everyone could read the Bible.
Will Sopwith:It became this, the common man could read what it says in God's word.
Will Sopwith:And I've seen that, um, talking to people from other countries where
Will Sopwith:there's not a culture of fairness.
Will Sopwith:There's not an expectation that people will, um, Be honest with
Will Sopwith:you, for example, and, uh, I'm just really struck and go, well, where
Will Sopwith:is that worldview come from us?
Will Sopwith:And this guy was arguing, well, that's, that's the Bible.
Will Sopwith:Um, that's because when you read the Bible, God treats everyone equally.
Will Sopwith:You know, we've, we've all sinned.
Will Sopwith:We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
Will Sopwith:Um, but this guy that I was talking to, he's like, well, it's no problem lying.
Will Sopwith:There's no problem cheating.
Will Sopwith:If you get found out, that brings shame on the family.
Will Sopwith:But actually those habits is no problem.
Will Sopwith:It's about getting ahead.
Will Sopwith:And I think that was one of the first times I really became aware that
Will Sopwith:we all have this kind of underlying set of assumptions that from birth
Will Sopwith:we're probably not very aware of.
Will Sopwith:Um, but I think the Bible absolutely has got, uh, yeah, has, has, I'm
Will Sopwith:so thankful actually for our system of law, for democracy, for all this
Will Sopwith:kind of This expectation people have of being treated fairly, that
Will Sopwith:fact doesn't just come from nowhere.
Will Sopwith:And actually, that's not a common experience for many
Will Sopwith:people in lots of other places.
Will Sopwith:So I really do see a kind of a biblical ground in
Dan Orange:that.
Dan Orange:And I think, yeah, and, um, I always think, well, where do we, if we didn't
Dan Orange:have that, where would we have a standard?
Dan Orange:Where would we know where we're heading?
Dan Orange:I wrote down, um, in court, and I think you sort of alluded to it then, that You
Dan Orange:put your hand on the Bible, don't you?
Dan Orange:And say, I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth, but the truth, where
Dan Orange:did that, where did that come from that we thought at that time, you
Dan Orange:know, when this started, that we would, well, that was the basis of the truth.
Dan Orange:So we're gonna,
Will Sopwith:but it's my truth, isn't it, Dan?
Will Sopwith:My truth is the thing that matters.
Will Sopwith:And my truth is, and yeah, you very quickly get into this kind of crazy
Will Sopwith:place of like, well, who calls the shots?
Will Sopwith:And actually, if you kind of take it to its logical conclusion, well, it's the
Will Sopwith:people with the microphone, or it's the people with the power, or it's the people
Will Sopwith:with the cash, or the platform, whatever, and that's not, that's not the way to
Will Sopwith:define, to discern truth, is it, just the loudest voice, but actually, that's what
Will Sopwith:we see, as soon as you get into a position where there's no, there's no agreement
Will Sopwith:of any kind of absolute truth, it's like, well, Yeah, what are you left with?
Will Sopwith:It's whoever's shouting louder, basically, who's going to make that,
Dan Orange:yeah.
Dan Orange:Um, this is a question here that Ashton's put on.
Dan Orange:Guys, can you talk a little bit on if there's a sin that God doesn't forgive?
Will Sopwith:Well, there's a question.
Will Sopwith:There is, there's only one that's talked about in the Bible.
Will Sopwith:Um, and, and it's, I think it's misinterpreted all the time and I
Will Sopwith:may well do that myself, but it's, it's, It's the sin of blaspheming
Will Sopwith:against the Holy Spirit, so claiming that the Holy Spirit is not God.
Will Sopwith:That is the only sin in the New Testament that's, that's, that's
Will Sopwith:talked about as unforgivable.
Will Sopwith:But the reason that is, is because it's a complete denial
Will Sopwith:of Jesus ability to save us.
Will Sopwith:So in a sense, it's like, well, if, if you deny that, then, well, you're
Will Sopwith:never going to accept God's forgiveness.
Will Sopwith:So it's not so much.
Will Sopwith:God wouldn't forgive you if you asked.
Will Sopwith:It's like, well, you're never going to ask forgiveness if you're, if you're
Will Sopwith:going completely against what the Holy Spirit does and says in your life, you're
Will Sopwith:not in a place to ask God's forgiveness.
Will Sopwith:So, yeah, it's a tricky one.
Will Sopwith:To be honest, no, I mean, as a short answer, no, there's nothing that God
Will Sopwith:cannot forgive and I mean, yeah, I dunno whether you wanted to share the story, but
Dan Orange:No, I, yeah, yeah, I would say that, yeah, the same thing.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Um, I, I mentioned it, um, two weeks ago, so I've just, this been, this week has
Dan Orange:been a bit of a rollercoaster week for me.
Dan Orange:So I, on Thursday I led the funeral of my grandma who died.
Dan Orange:She was 101.
Dan Orange:Um, and yeah, like I said, I mentioned it two weeks ago that, that.
Dan Orange:When my mum told my grandad that she died, he basically said, what do I need to do?
Dan Orange:What do I need to say?
Dan Orange:So he'd resisted for 98 years with grandma, living a life for God, and
Dan Orange:he'd, for whatever reason, um, he'd seen.
Dan Orange:Like a lot of people of that generation had seen a lot of things in the war, a
Dan Orange:lot of things had gone on, um, but it, it didn't matter that he'd waited that long.
Dan Orange:No, absolutely.
Dan Orange:God still accepted him, still forgave him.
Dan Orange:Just amazing that we have that answer in Jesus, isn't
Will Sopwith:it?
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:There's this fantastic story that Jesus tells, this parable of.
Will Sopwith:This landowner, this vineyard owner going out to the market first thing in the
Will Sopwith:morning as the sun's coming up and Um, and I've seen this actually in Tunisia.
Will Sopwith:This is how people work You go to the street corner and the the trades people
Will Sopwith:or the people who want to work are sat On the pavement waiting for someone to come
Will Sopwith:along and hire them basically So anyway, the landlady comes along sun's coming up.
Will Sopwith:Will you come and work in my vineyard for a dinaris, you know day's wage And he gets
Will Sopwith:a load of people and they go and start working the vineyard as the sun's coming
Will Sopwith:up He goes back two hours later, there are some more people there, haven't got a
Will Sopwith:job, he says come and work in my vineyard, uh, and keeps going back through the day,
Will Sopwith:and then right at the end of the day, with like an hour's work to go, he comes back
Will Sopwith:and there's still some people there, sat there with no work to do, and he says,
Will Sopwith:will you come and work in my vineyard?
Will Sopwith:So it gets to the end of the day and everyone's queuing up to be paid
Will Sopwith:and the ones who've just worked for an hour are first in the queue and
Will Sopwith:the landowner comes to them and he gives them a denarius, a day's wage.
Will Sopwith:For their work.
Will Sopwith:And the guys at the back are going, Oh, this is great.
Will Sopwith:I've been here since six o'clock.
Will Sopwith:I've worked through the day.
Will Sopwith:I've taken the, you know, I've taken the bulk of the labor through the,
Will Sopwith:through the hot sun and everything else.
Will Sopwith:I'm going to get a bucket load here.
Will Sopwith:And he gives the same amount of money to every single worker.
Will Sopwith:And the guys at the back start complaining and say, but wait a
Will Sopwith:minute, I've done all the work.
Will Sopwith:And he said, you agreed to work for me for a day's wage.
Will Sopwith:And that's what I've given you.
Will Sopwith:It What I do with my money is entirely my business and I remember telling that
Will Sopwith:story to someone, um, years and years ago and, and their response was immediately
Will Sopwith:what the crowd would have been.
Will Sopwith:It's like, well, that's not fair.
Will Sopwith:It's not fair.
Will Sopwith:And it's like, that is the amazing grace of God.
Will Sopwith:It is not fair.
Will Sopwith:If it was fair, your granddad wouldn't have a hope.
Will Sopwith:It's like, I'm sorry.
Will Sopwith:I wouldn't have a hope.
Will Sopwith:That is too late.
Will Sopwith:And none of us would have a hope.
Will Sopwith:But the fact that, you know, even just in the, in the twilight of
Will Sopwith:life, the forgiveness, the offer of forgiveness is exactly the same.
Will Sopwith:That's amazing.
Will Sopwith:And I think
Dan Orange:that's, I think that really sums up this biblical worldview,
Dan Orange:because that's not a, uh, current
Will Sopwith:worldview.
Will Sopwith:No, it's not a cultural word.
Will Sopwith:No, it's not.
Will Sopwith:You want the fair?
Will Sopwith:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Will Sopwith:Yeah,
Dan Orange:exactly.
Dan Orange:And I, I liked, um, Matt just said this right at the end.
Dan Orange:He said, we can miss the bigger God.
Dan Orange:We can, if we live our life without basing it on his principles, his, his laws,
Dan Orange:all that he's shown us, we can miss out.
Dan Orange:And I've, I've written down here, miracles.
Dan Orange:If we see God as the God of the Bible and what he's done, we can expect miracles.
Dan Orange:Can't we, we can expect the supernatural.
Dan Orange:Mm-Hmm.
Dan Orange:Because it's there.
Dan Orange:Mm-Hmm.
Dan Orange:We can see his creation.
Dan Orange:We get to partake so much more in awe that he's got for us.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:I, I think expectation is really, really important actually, and this is
Will Sopwith:something I was thinking of as a, as Matt was talking, that what our world,
Will Sopwith:our worldview gives us is an expectation of how things will be in a sense and.
Will Sopwith:And when I, when I first understood about Jesus offer of forgiveness and
Will Sopwith:grace, um, my expectation changed.
Will Sopwith:My expectation of how people responded to me or, or, or what life was going
Will Sopwith:to be like changed because I had that perspective that actually God loved
Will Sopwith:me, loved me enough to die for me, forgive my sins, whatever I had done.
Will Sopwith:And that acceptance completely transformed my life because every situation, I
Will Sopwith:had a kind of an expectation almost of acceptance, which gave me a lot
Will Sopwith:more confidence in, in career, in my studies, in my relationships,
Will Sopwith:because there was a security of, this is what God says about me.
Will Sopwith:And that's a really good example of, of, of what Matt said at the
Will Sopwith:end of like, how do you develop.
Will Sopwith:This biblical worldview, well, it's, it's understanding what the Bible says,
Will Sopwith:and, and, and, and those pictures in the Bible of the fact that I was a
Will Sopwith:child of God and accepted, um, totally changed the way then I live my life.
Will Sopwith:And it can be as simple as that.
Will Sopwith:And again, you're not really aware of it.
Will Sopwith:And then maybe.
Will Sopwith:Years later, you go, what?
Will Sopwith:Why, why am I expecting people to, because sometimes people don't, you , why am I
Will Sopwith:expecting people to gimme a fair hearing or to, um, to, to care about what I think?
Will Sopwith:And it's like, well, 'cause that's, that's what I know God does.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:And so sometimes you, you don't get that and you realize, oh,
Will Sopwith:that's a worldview that's grown up.
Will Sopwith:I didn't always think like that.
Will Sopwith:That had that changed at some point.
Will Sopwith:And that's what, that's what worldview's about it.
Will Sopwith:It kind of.
Will Sopwith:It becomes so much part of our experience, our understanding, our perception,
Will Sopwith:our interpretation of everything that we, we don't notice it anymore.
Will Sopwith:And, and, you know, that's a really great challenge for Matt to get to
Will Sopwith:that point with God's truth, that it's so kind of just ingrained in
Will Sopwith:us that we're no longer really aware of it being a, you know, a thing.
Will Sopwith:It's just part of us.
Will Sopwith:Yeah,
Dan Orange:absolutely.
Dan Orange:I think that'd be my.
Dan Orange:My prayer this week that, that us, that you, you guys listening, people
Dan Orange:that are listening on, um, sort of a rerun of this, that you get to know
Dan Orange:a bit more of God's view for you.
Dan Orange:Isn't it great that he has, he, he knows about us and has a plan for us.
Dan Orange:Um, next week, because we're running out of time here.
Dan Orange:Um, Sharon.
Dan Orange:Oh, has Sharon finished her talk?
Dan Orange:So yes, Sharon will be talking next week, taking this on to the next
Will Sopwith:bit of acts.
Will Sopwith:Fantastic.
Will Sopwith:You left it on a cliffhanger there, Matt.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:A good cliffhanger.
Will Sopwith:What happens?
Will Sopwith:What happens next?
Dan Orange:Tune in next week to find out.
Dan Orange:Yeah.
Dan Orange:Brilliant.
Dan Orange:Thank you so much, everyone, for all the interaction.
Dan Orange:It's been brilliant.
Dan Orange:And if you've got Any questions, please just email in, if you go on
Dan Orange:the Facebook group or the YouTube, um, there's a WhatsApp number, you
Dan Orange:can text them in, we'll respond within the week, we'd love to, um, to pray,
Dan Orange:answer questions, that's why, that's why we do this, because we want to let
Dan Orange:you know more about Jesus, basically.
Dan Orange:Should we just pray
Will Sopwith:now?
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:Yeah.
Will Sopwith:Yeah, Jesus, I thank you for the offer of life, the offer of fullness of life, the
Will Sopwith:offer of your grace and your forgiveness.
Will Sopwith:And I thank you that that really transforms everything.
Will Sopwith:And I pray help us all to take a breath, not to dive in and defend our
Will Sopwith:position, but to try and listen for your voice, to know a little bit more
Will Sopwith:of what you say about a situation.
Will Sopwith:Lord, that's what walking in prayer is.
Will Sopwith:It's asking those questions that Matt has challenged us to.
Will Sopwith:It's asking questions back of you and saying, Jesus, what
Will Sopwith:is going on in this situation?
Will Sopwith:Lord, would we all grow in that understanding and knowledge, I pray, and
Will Sopwith:to know your peace in that journey, Lord.
Will Sopwith:Amen.
Will Sopwith:Amen.
Dan Orange:Well guys, have a great week.
Will Sopwith:Thanks Matt, great talk, lots to, yeah, lots to digest.
Will Sopwith:We'll see you all next week.
Will Sopwith:Alright, bye
Matt Edmundson:bye.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church.
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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.